LANSING - Proposed rules to regulate the state's new medical marijuana law run counter to that law and are too onerous to be able to help individuals who need medicinal marijuana, witnesses told regulatory officials with the Department of Community Health at a public hearing on Monday. Dozens of witnesses blasted proposals calling for marijuana
DETROIT - Well, we knew they were going to bad and they were. Sales of new cars in the American market fell over 35 percent last month. The hardest hit automakers were Land Rover, Chrysler and Hyundai. The ones who suffered the least were Subaru, Audi and Volkswagen. According to Ward's the annualized sales rate
LANSING - Schemes to take advantage of Michigan's relatively high beverage deposit law by returning containers bought in other states are history with the signing by Governor Jennifer Granholm of a package imposing stiffer penalties and requiring retailers along and near the border to install machines that limit refunds to the in-state containers. Another law
LANSING - The electric restructuring legislation passed this year in Michigan provided little for alternative electric providers and their customers to like. They predicted throughout the process that the bills as structured would mean substantially higher electric rates and little actual development of alternative energy. Legislators can expect to hear from them if those predictions
NEW YORK - Eighty-nine entrepreneurs from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Jordan, Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay reported that the current credit crunch has led to reduced sales, a rise in input costs and difficulty in accessing financing. In the coming year, 55 percent of these entrepreneurs expect that it will be much more difficult to
WASHINGTON - Uncle Sam - in the form of the US Treasury - will inject up to $6 billion into GMAC, GM's financing arm, as part of a plan to pump more cash into GM and aid the struggling auto industry. Under the plan, the Treasury will buy $5 billion in preferred GMAC shares, paying
WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. venture capitalists are forecasting a difficult 2009 for the country's economy, the capital markets, and the venture industry as the global financial crisis takes its toll on the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This bad news was contained in the third annual National Venture Capital Association Predictions Survey, which predicts the coming year will
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Christmas Eve approved GMAC Financial Services' application to become a bank-holding company, a status that would give the auto-financing arm of General Motors Corp. access to government bailout dollars and the Fed's discount window. The move complements a $17.4 billion emergency loan package the government extended to GM
MIDLAND - Nine months after forming, the BlueWater Angels investment group has closed on their first investment in the mid-Michigan region, netting Midland-based Fulcrum Composites more than $200,000 to continue research, development and marketing for their business venture, focusing on alternative energy options. The investment by BWA is the part of a larger investment round
ANN ARBOR - Washtenaw County development agency Ann Arbor SPARK has named Christine Turner as executive director, business development. In her role, Turner will join Vince Nystrom and Ann Arbor SPARK's business development team in managing business attraction and retention efforts, cultivating a vibrant and robust business community throughout Washtenaw County. Prior to joining Ann