Article Archive |
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2010 |
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July |
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July 26 |
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Airport fare stats clarified
Editor,
This memo pertains to ongoing references in the news media regarding airfare levels at Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
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Betty Ford to get Hillman Award
The Alliance for Health is presenting its annual Hillman Award to former First Lady Betty Ford for her contributions to health care in West Michigan.
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Cascade expands CRE division
Cascade Engineering is expanding its three-year-old Cascade Renewable Energy division, which produces a small wind turbine and solar energy equipment, with a $2.8 million investment that could create up to 24 jobs in Grand Rapids over the next year.
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Construction backlog indicator expands to seven months
Associated Builders and Contractors reports that its latest Construction Backlog Indicator increased to seven months in May — a 27 percent increase from January of this year. CBI is a forward-looking indicator that measures the amount of construction work under contract to be completed in the future.
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County has CIP budget for next year
A new roof will be put on an addition to the county-owned building at 82 Ionia Ave. NW, repairs will be made to the administrative building at John Ball Zoo, and the information technology department will have its data-storage system upgraded and expanded.
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County offers early retirement plan
Morgan
Kent County Commissioner Roger Morgan said the next step for the county’s new voluntary retirement incentive program is to hear what the employee bargaining units think about the plan the board adopted following an hour-long closed session last week.
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DDA looks to the future to make impact
Fowler
Members of the Downtown Development Authority are looking for ways to continue the district’s long-running economic revival, and they agreed last week to spend $135,000 to determine how to reach that objective.
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Financing found to complete Gun Lake Casino
WAYLAND — The Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians has finalized a $165 million loan to complete the Gun Lake Casino under construction near the Bradley exit on U.S. 131 in Allegan County.
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GR urban market project moves forward
A memorandum of understanding is being written between the Downtown Development Authority and the Grand Action Committee for a proposed urban market on the district’s fringe, now that a design team has been named for the project, which carries a cost estimate of $27 million.
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GRCC joins Farmers to train workers
Grand Rapids Community College is teaming up with Farmers Insurance in Caledonia to train nearly 1,300 new employees between 2011 and 2014, college and company officials said last week.
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Health decisions can’t be driven by takeover mentality
The passage of national health care reform legislation has spurred even closer scrutiny of how services are performed and distributed in communities nationwide. It has accelerated discussions regarding collaboration and partnerships. Such moves to action, however, also should put a sharper focus on the consequences of the big becoming bigger syndrome that appears to be taking hold, at least at the local level.
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Law helps private pensions
The American Benefits Council compared recent congressional action to an economic stimulus when it praised the U.S. House and U.S. Senate for ratifying the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act.
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Lead time, planning essential in implementing VAT here
In Michigan, the debate over a sales tax on services appears to be deferred, if not dead, for the time being. We all remember the service tax’s brief life a couple of years back and its quick repeal (death). Its repeal added the surtax on the Michigan Business Tax that businesses are left to deal with today.
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Leading his agency into the world of 'now media'
Bill McKendry has seen rapid changes in the advertising industry in just the past few years.As the owner of 300 or so baseball caps, Bill McKendry changes hats on a regular basis. But one that hasn't changed since 1994: co-founder and chief creative officer of the Hanon-McKendry advertising firm, which has 45 employees.
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Rates changed little in most regional labor markets
Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates were little changed in most of Michigan’s 17 major labor market areas in June, according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth. Total employment and labor force levels advanced seasonally in almost all regions.
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Recycler to grow in Greenville
GREENVILLE — As a major part of its effort to expand its operations and its work force, West Michigan Compounding has acquired a new building. The five-year-old recycling firm recently bought a 24,000-square-foot building that sits on roughly six acres in Greenville.
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River City Building now Windquest
The former River City Building, a stately old seven-story office building on the northwest corner of Monroe and Lyon in downtown Grand Rapids, has received a top-down do-over, with a 3,500-square-foot condo and rooftop terrace on the top, an “upscale wine bar” on the bottom, and a lot of Windquest Group business in between.
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Spectrum, Mary Free bed linkup considered
Van Vranken
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and Spectrum Health have been discussing a possible merger or other affiliation, hospital officials confirmed last week.
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State OKs Spectrum plan
Adult bone marrow transplants could get under way at Spectrum Health within a few months following the Michigan Department of Community Health’s recent approval of the program.
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Wolverine Glass has a new home
After years of looking, the search is over for Wolverine Glass Products. The company recently bought the building it had been seeking for almost three years. The structure is at 5801 Clay Ave. SW in Wyoming and has nearly 53,500 square feet of industrial space, enough for the firm to consolidate its business under a single roof.
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