PLEASANT RIDGE - ePrize continues to grow through acquisition, buying one of its biggest competitors, New York City-based Promotions.Com. Terms were not announced. Promotions.com's primary business is sweepstakes, contests, instant-win games and Facebook and Twitter promotions, ePrize said in a statement. ePrize was launched as an online promotions and loyalty rewards management firm in 1999
LANSING - Pure Michigan on Monday kicked off its $5 million summer advertising campaign in local markets throughout the Great Lakes region. The television and radio ads feature 34 private sector partners and will air in key regional markets and statewide through June. The advertising budget for the spring/summer campaign is $4,833,681, including $1,502,779 committed
SAN FRANCSICO - As Consumer Reports shows in its annual "State of the Net" report, carrying a modern mobile phone is a heckuva convenience but creates all sorts of problems that go beyond what most people realize. The magazine interviewed 1,656 adult smartphone users and extrapolated the results nationally, CNET News.Com reported. ? Many users
GRAND RAPIDS ? In June, the state will publish its Michigan Cyber Disruption Response Strategy that will outline exactly how Michigan government and business will respond should the state's electric grid, water treatments facilities, or communications networks get hacked. Dan Lohrmann, Michigan's first Chief Security Officer, disclosed the information during the Great Lakes Great Homeland
LANSING - There are 311 full-time virtual schools nationally, including two in Michigan, and that number should not grow until officials can determine why they are underperforming traditional schools and showing a lack of diversity in their student bodies, the National Education Policy Center said in a report released Thursday. Lawmakers and others have been
LANSING - The Michigan Senate on Tuesday altered its general government budget to spend $50 million on film incentives in the state, a $25 million General Fund increase from what Governor Rick Snyder had proposed in his budget in February. Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) said he was pleased with the changes, especially the
DETROIT - Comerica Bank's Michigan Economic Activity Index increased in February, up 0.1 points to 117.8, 47 points, or 66 percent, above the index cyclical low of 70.9. The index averaged 114 for all of 2012, 11 points above the index average for 2011. January?s index reading was revised up from 101.1 to 117.8. ?Our
LANSING - The International Joint Commission has approved a plan to control Lake Superior water levels and is urging the United States and Canadian governments to consider plans to control water levels in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Under the approved plan, opening of the locks along the St. Mary's River would be limited, as
LANSING - With what could be the biggest policy change of the 2013-14 fiscal year, Medicaid eligibility expansion, still up in the air, legislators and officials in Governor Rick Snyder's administration have been in discussions on developing a new strategy to convince lawmakers to agree to the proposal. With a goal of winning approval of
LANSING - With the U.S. Senate expected to approve the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act when it returns to session in a week, state officials support the measure, especially as the latest estimates from the Michigan Department of Treasury show losses from sales both through mail-order and the Internet could total $491 million in the 2013-14