ReutersDetroit's economy has been beaten down for years by wave after wave of job losses in the U.S. auto industry, but locals fear the worst may be yet to come if General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC merge.
"It's already been ripped apart," Tim Jones, 55, said when asked about the economy of the Detroit area.
"People are losing jobs. If you walk down any main street in this area, you see half of the businesses are closed," said Jones, who left the construction industry two years ago to start an online business selling cell-phone batteries.
"A combination of GM and Chrysler will only make things worse
Chicagotribune.comMichigan's major party U.S. Senate candidates disagreed sharply Monday on how to help the struggling domestic auto industry in a debate at the Detroit Economic Club.
Incumbent Democrat Carl Levin and Republican challenger Jack Hoogendyk debated for the second time in less than 24 hours. They met Sunday evening at a Grand Valley State University television studio in Grand Rapids.
Levin and Hoogendyk differ sharply on what to do about the economy, Immigration and a host of other topics. That was evident again Monday in a debate that lasted about 50 minutes and was mostly centered on the economy and related topics such as health care costs and taxation.
Freep.comOakland County Democrats need to gain one seat to take control of the county Board of Commissioners, and they hope Steven Schwartz of Farmington Hills is the person to help them do it.
"We need to make Oakland County the alternative energy capital of the world," said Schwartz, 54.
Schwartz, who began his career as an assistant city manager in Birmingham, wants to see so-called green-collar jobs be a key to economic development in Michigan's wealthiest county. He's challenging incumbent Republican Mike Rogers, who has represented Farmington and Farmington Hills for the past six years.
Freep.comIn the first major sign that the state's grim economy has taken a toll on its banks, federal and state regulators moved Friday to shut down Main Street Bank in Northville.
Main Street is the first bank to fail in Michigan since March 2002, when New Century Bank in Shelby Township was forced to close. With the closure, 15 banks around the country have shut their doors this year.
Monroe Bank & Trust in Monroe will pay a 1% premium to buy Main Street's $86 million in total deposits and purchase some other assets. Regulators said Main Street's customers will have uninterrupted access to their money, with the bank's Northville office and a branch in Plymouth reopening today under the Monroe name.
Hometownlife.comOakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson addressed members of The Engineering Society of Detroit in Novi Wednesday, highlighting initiatives to lead the county through difficult economic times.
Among the initiatives Patterson outlined at the Rock Financial Showplace include maintaining a AAA bond rating for nine years, saving the county millions of dollars a year, and the establishment of a two-year rolling budget, a financial model Patterson said is revered by Wall Street.
The county finance team is now working on the 2011 budget
LSJ.comSales of houses in the Lansing region jumped 20 percent in September, according to data released today by the Greater Lansing Association of Realtors.
But the average sales price of those houses was 17 percent lower than the average a year earlier.
There were 424 houses sold in September, according to the association, which tracks sales in Clinton, Eaton, Ingham counties and surrounding areas by its members. That's up from 352 during September 2007.
ABA JournalNo-shows for jury duty could soon be much less of a problem in one Michigan county, which plans to distribute pagers in the near future so that potential jurors can shop at downtown stores while they are waiting to be called into a courtroom.
The new system will require prospective jurors in Macomb County to return to the courthouse within 10 minutes of being paged, reports the National Law Journal. It is one of a number of new options and incentives being offered at courthouses around the country, to make showing up for jury service less burdensome.
Freep.comThe tainted iceberg lettuce that has sickened 36 people statewide originated in California before being shipped to Michigan, state agriculture officials announced today.
Once in Michigan, the lettuce was sold by local distributors to institutions and restaurants, seeding an E. coli outbreak that started at Michigan State University and Lenawee County Jail in early September before spreading to metro Detroit.
To date, the Department of Community Health has confirmed E. coli O157:H7 in seven people in Macomb County, five in Wayne County and one in Oakland County. The toxic strain causes vomiting, cramps and bloody diarrhea.
The Associated PressA newspaper report Thursday said tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states. Election officials lined up to defend their registration procedures and said they had done nothing wrong.
The New York Times based its findings on reviews of state records and Social Security data, and said it had identified apparent problems in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina.
Two states had purged voters, the Times said. Ohio and three other states were cited only for sending several requests for voter registration verifications to the Social Security Administration.
The Times said voters appear to have been purged by mistake and not because of any intentional violations by election officials or coordinated efforts by any party. It says that some states are improperly using Social Security data to verify new voters' registration applications, and that others might have broken rules that govern removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
WHMI 93.5 FMA Whitmore Lake family arrested Sunday after they were caught red-handed breaking into cars parked during church services have been released from the county jail because charges have yet to be filed. The suspects include a 50-year old mom and three of her children, including a 29-year old daughter, and two sons aged 23 and 16. Commander of the Brighton Michigan State Police post Lt. Gene Kapp tells WHMI during services, the family cruised the parking lot looking for items to steal from cars in the parking lot.
mlive.comThe government says a Washtenaw County couple converted their basement into bedrooms for illegal immigrants who worked in their restaurant.
Trial opened Tuesday in federal court in Detroit for Guan Chen and his former wife, Hoa (Hoy) Le Chen. They're charged with harboring illegal immigrants in Ypsilanti by providing work, transportation and a place to live in late 2006 and early 2007.
The Chens have pleaded not guilty.
ReutersGeneral Motors Corp is looking for support from Detroit city pension officials to refinance its Detroit headquarters and could possibly sell it, but has no plans to move from the iconic building.
GM is meeting with Detroit's police and fire pension board this week to seek money for the building known as the Renaissance Center, GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said Tuesday.
"We have been looking for options to monetize the asset," Wilkinson said. "This particular deal is probably a long shot because the deal we'd like to do on the building is way more than they would typically have to invest."
MLive.comAfter managing the city's day-to-day operations for nearly 22 years, City Manager Kurt Kimball announced today he will retire at the end of the year.
"I really am choosing to go at a good time for me and for the city," said Kimball, 58.
Kimball will leave a city government that has become smaller and leaner over the past seven years as City Hall has struggled to deal with a shrinking manufacturing base, cuts in state revenue-sharing funds and rising health care costs
Freep.comMichigan’s insurance consumer advocate is asking the state to hold hearings on Allstate Insurance Co.’s automotive insurance rate hike.
Melvin Butch Hollowell is asking insurance commissioner Ken Ross to look into reports published by Allstate that claimed Michigan’s drivers were among the safest in the country and had reduced accidents for several years in a row.
The insurance company said its reports were wrong after it filed its newest insurance rates with the state, which included hikes of 5% to 7%. Those rates went into effect July 28.
Detnews.comMichigan Republicans searched Monday for ways to fill the void left by John McCain's decision to pull out of the state, while Democrats were anticipating the benefits of a surge in new voter registration on the final day to sign up before the Nov. 4 election.
In Pontiac, state and Oakland County GOP officials held a news conference to declare their campaigns far from over, despite McCain's abrupt decision last week to pull staff and TV ads from Michigan. A new GOP group emerged in Troy and Grand Rapids, trying to capitalize on vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's weekend comments, publicizing an effort to get 100,000 signatures on an online petition encouraging her to visit the state.
"We believe Michigan and Oakland County are worth fighting for. We're not going anywhere. We're staying right here," Oakland GOP chairman Dennis Cowan said.
MLive.comMichigan's economic misery topped the list of issues in the U.S. Senate race long before the debate over rescuing the U.S. financial industry came up.
It's even bigger now as uncertainty swirls around what's next for the nation's economy.
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, a Detroit Democrat and Michigan's longest serving U.S. senator, said his vote last Wednesday in support of the $700 billion rescue plan was made "with many qualms."
His Republican opponent, state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, said it's a vote he wouldn't have made at all.
ReutersMichigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Monday signed into law legislation that calls for 10 percent of electricity in the state to be generated from renewable sources by 2015.
Just over half the 50 U.S. states have set requirements for renewable power generation.
Also signed into law is a Michigan provision requiring energy efficiency to cut power demand by 5.5 percent by 2015.
A third provision signed by Granholm limits switching by industrial customers from Michigan utilities. This amendment to existing law is seen as helping Consumers Energy build a new coal power plant and for Detroit Edison to build a new nuclear plant by assuring them of an adequate customer base to support the major capital projects.
SI.com
It wasn't exactly a surprise development for Bill Laimbeer.
The Detroit Shock coach fully expected his team to go out this season and win their third WNBA championship since 2003.
And that's exactly what they did.
"This is what we thought was going to happen when we started the season. We knew we had a good team, and we knew we had heart,'' Laimbeer said after the Shock completed a three-game sweep of the San Antonio Silver Stars with a 76-60 win on Sunday.
Laimbeer knows a thing or two about winning, having been the coach for the Shock's previous two championships and also earning a pair of NBA crowns as a player with the "Bad Boy'' Detroit Pistons.
Freep.comMetro Detroit drivers will need to brush up on their wintertime driving skills, as rising salt prices put the hurt on already wounded highway maintenance budgets.
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Road agencies across the state and nation are paying more for road salt this year and, in some cases, planning to use it much more judiciously than in the past. In some parts of the country, prices have tripled, but road officials in metro Detroit said they're largely seeing less severe but still significant increases of $10 or so a ton. That's still a big hike considering cities like Warren can use 10,000 tons in a typical winter and Detroit 30,000 to 45,000 tons.
Freep.comQuick: Tell me how a John McCain presidency would revive Michigan's economy, our beleaguered auto industry, or U.S. manufacturing in general.
If you answered much more than "continue the Bush tax cuts," then you've said more than the McCain campaign has been able to articulate in the past few months.
And that, more than anything else, is the reason McCain packed up his Michigan operation last week. McCain pulled out because he never seemed to connect here, and failed to capitalize on what I think was a golden opportunity to turn this state from mildly blue to solidly red.
FOXNews.com
Sarah Palin criticized John McCain's decision to pull campaign resources out of Michigan in an interview with FOX News on Friday, saying she and her husband Todd would "be happy" to campaign in the economically distraught battleground state.
The Republican vice presidential nominee, on the heels of her debate with Joe Biden, also took a second stab at questions that seemed to trip her up during recent interviews, declaring that she looks "forward to speaking to the media more and more every day."
Palin said the decision to pull out of Michigan, which was announced Thursday, was "not a surprise" to her since polls show McCain slipping in the state.
But Palin said that when she read the news, she "fired off a quick e-mail and said, 'Oh come on, do we have to?'"
livingstondaily.com
One of Livingston County's largest employers is reaching out to help an area family "makeover" their home and lives.
Howell-based Citizens Insurance has helped less-fortunate families refurbish their homes as part of ABC television's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and is now helping a Michigan family in Holt.
Citizens Insurance, along with Lansing-based Rathbun Insurance Agency, will insure the Nickless family's home for one year free of charge once it's complete.
Freep.comThe Macomb County prosecutor's office will not be disqualified from the Michael George case, but to prevent tainting a future jury pool in George's second murder trial, a Macomb County Circuit Court judge instructed attorneys on both sides not to talk about the case.
Judge James Biernat enacted the gag order today during a hearing on the defense's motion to disqualify Prosecutor Eric Smith and his office from the case.
Earlier this year, George was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in the 1990 cold case shooting death of his wife, Barbara George, at their Clinton Township comic book store. Biernat overturned the conviction, in part citing new evidence found after the conviction and prosecutorial misconduct.
The Ann Arbor News OnlineLanguage seeking to recall three Willow Run school board members was approved by a 2-1 vote of the Washtenaw County Board of Election Commissioners Wednesday.
Willow Run First (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Students and Teachers), a grass-roots organization, submitted the language to recall school board President Claudette Braxton, Andy Blakita and Clifford Smith.
Travis Greer, a Willow Run First member and a former school board member, said after the meeting that group members will begin circulating the petitions as soon as possible.
According to the state election law, the group has 180 days to gather 1,583 signatures, which is 25 percent of residents in Superior and Ypsilanti townships who voted in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
detnews.comJohn McCain is ending his attempt to win Michigan, a serious blow to the Republican's presidential hopes.
Chuck Yob, a co-chair of Michigan's campaign, confirmed the decision, as did state GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis.
"I don't think it's a very good decision. I think they're wrong," said Yob, a longtime Republican activist in West Michigan. "But I'm a loyal John McCain supporter. Whatever's good for McCain is good for me."
Yob said the decision was based on internal campaign polls that show Michigan as a more difficult state than battlegrounds such as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.
iWon NewsWith a winning bid of just $1.75, a Chicago woman has won an auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw. Joanne Smith, 30, recently was the top bidder for the home during an auction on eBay, The Saginaw News reported. Her bid was one of eight for the home.
"I am going to try and sell it," she told the newspaper. "I don't have any plans to move to Saginaw."
Smith said she hasn't seen the property or visited Saginaw, which has been hard-hit by economic troubles in recent years
Freep.comWayne County Executive Robert Ficano will lead a trade mission to China for the fourth time in November.
One of the primary events of the trip will be a presentation by the Michigan delegation at the China International Auto Parts Expo in Beijing.
The trip is scheduled for Nov. 7-16 and will include visits to Wuxi, Chongqing, Changchun and Beijing.
C and G NewsRuth Johnson, the current county clerk/register of deeds and a Republican, said the local clerks had a meeting Sept. 24 and learned that about two-thirds of the voter registrations coming into Oakland County this election cycle are invalid, mostly because they’re duplicates.
In Pontiac alone, about 4,500 registrations were duplicates or had something else wrong with them, she said. One person’s name in Oakland County was registered 12 different times with different signatures, she added.
Joe Rozell, Oakland County’s director of elections, chimed in and said that these irregularities are primarily coming from ACORN.
Secretary of State spokeswoman Kelly Chesney told C & G Newspapers that potential evidence has been turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. But she was confident about the integrity of the electoral system and said workers are putting in overtime to prepare for this election.
