WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama's administration and the Congress will need to take more steps to revive the ailing U.S. economy, and the focus should be on strengthening the financial system, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday. "The Federal Reserve will do its part to promote economic recovery, but other policy measures will be
LANSING - The time saving convenience of renewing a license plate tab at a Secretary of State Self-Service Station has expanded to allow Ann Arbor residents to pay parking and traffic tickets, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land announced Tuesday. Customers of the Washtenaw County PLUS Office at 353 N. Maple Road can use the
LANSING - Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday announced the creation of an IBM global delivery center for application services for state and local governments, which will be located on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing. The global delivery center will be the first of its kind in the United.States for IBM. The center
LANSING - After three and a half years of steering Michigan's economic development efforts, James Epolito is returning to the insurance arena, this time as president of Delta Dental of Michigan. At Delta, Epolito will also have executive positions as executive vice president of enterprise sales in the larger company, which has affiliates in Ohio
DETROIT ? Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, announced Tuesday in Detroit that Tesla is producing the battery pack and charger for Damiler AG's Smart EV. The companies, which have been partnering on electric powertrain technology for almost a year and a half, will produce 1,000 vehicles in 2009 and 2010, and Musk said the
LANSING - Michigan, which has struggled economically for the entire decade, now has global company to share in its misery, economists told the state's Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday, as the world is now entrenched in the worst economic slowdown since the end of World War II. As bad as things have been, especially since
LANSING - Slammed by a now-global economic downturn coming on top of the state's ongoing economic woes, Michigan revenues will be lower than initially forecast for 2008-09 fiscal year and lower still for 2009-10 with general fund revenues for that year coming in under $8 billion, the members of the Revenue Estimating Conference said Friday.
LANSING - Provisions in the new Michigan Business Tax that required companies to pay taxes on the amount of sales or other taxes they collected on behalf of the state have now been ended under legislation signed Friday by Governor Jennifer Granholm. The change in the MBT apply retroactively to January 1, 2008. The change
WASHINGTON DC - As the 111th Congress convenes, the National Conference of State Legislatures is urging federal lawmakers to consider an economic stimulus package that will help out the states directly and indirectly, including working on new regulations for the financial and housing industries. Congressional leaders have signaled that a new economic stimulus package will
LANSING - Heavy call volumes from unemployed people have resulted in the state's Unemployment Insurance Agency reassigning staff and adding capacity to its phone server. The agency is also urging people to file their unemployment claims online to avoid long waits on the phone or in person. "January is historically the busiest time of the