LANSING - The Michigan Strategic Fund board approval Wednesday a $10 million investment through the Michigan 21st Century Investment Fund to Midwest Mezzanine Fund IV, LP. The fund will focus on investments in Michigan-based businesses in the manufacturing, distribution and service industries. Chicago-based Midwest Mezzanine, is one of the oldest and most experienced private equity
LANSING - The Democratically-led Michigan House moved forward Wednesday with a capital outlay budget expanding the state's bonding to cover construction projects for 39 community colleges and public universities, a move that was criticized by Republicans for creating more state debt for future generations. HB 5221 was sent to the Senate on a near party-line
ANN ARBOR - Michigan's outstanding, award-winning small businesses were honored Thursday night at the Lansing Center as the state's major business organizations and agencies collaborated for the fourth annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business event. The cooperative effort ? which named the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch, Innovation of the Year and many other awards ?
WASHINGTON -The FBI on Wednesday called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for illegal activity ? giving the FBI broad omnibus authority beyond federal-government network to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well. The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller. The surveillance should include all Internet traffic,
LANSING - Touting the largest non-automotive jobs project in her time in office, Governor Jennifer Granholm said the 3,300 promised jobs in Kalamazoo by MPI Research will more than offset the losses that region suffered when Pfizer scaled back its pharmaceutical operations. The governor said the announcement by the bioscience company, as well as Monday's
REDMOND, Wa. - Microsoft's CEO on Wednesday said the company is unlikely to raise its bid for Yahoo and is prepared to walk away from the deal. Steve Ballmer, speaking at a conference in Milan, said, "We know what Yahoo's worth. $44 billion is a lot of money," according to a Dow Jones report published
SOUTHFIELD - In the information technology industry, money talks, but it's not the only employee-loyalty tool, a new survey shows. When chief information officers were asked to identify the most effective ways to keep IT staff, compensation (27 percent) topped the list. Providing opportunities for professional development was close behind, cited by 21 percent of
LANSING - Mid-sized businesses would get some $254 million in annual relief from the new Michigan Business Tax under a bill approved with a nearly solid party-line vote in the Senate Tuesday. The bill (SB 1198 ) increases credits available for owners' compensation and expands entrepreneurship credits. Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) said the bill is
WASHINGTON DC - The saga of Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic and intense interest from the Federal Communications Commission, including a hearing at Stanford University last week--has appended the topic onto at least some politicians' to-do list. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing entitled "The Future of the Internet" on Tuesday, Democratic politicians argued
ANN ARBOR - A record 79 entrepreneurs entered the Spring Cycle of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest business plan competition by the April 18 deadline, besting the previous record of 47 teams registered for the Fall 2007 cycle. Winners will be announced June 12. The GLEQ competition features two tracks to accommodate both ventures in