Article Archive |
|
2010 |
|
August |
|
August 30 |
|
 |
A closer look at amended hedge accounting rules
Companies in Grand Rapids and surrounding areas can take a lesson from Irish author George Moore, who was once quoted as saying, "Everybody sets out to do something, and everybody does something, but no one does what he sets out to do."
|
|
|
|
AIAGV will 'join' ArtPrize
ArtPrize won’t be alone in honoring finely crafted works in September. The Grand Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects will hand out its own design awards downtown during this year’s ArtPrize competition.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arbor has its day at city
In an effort to retain the firm’s jobs and to maintain the city’s declining manufacturing base, Grand Rapids city commissioners granted Renaissance Recovery Zone status to Arbor Gage and Tooling last week — just as the company’s 15-year Renaissance Zone designation is winding down.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Best economic sparkplug is lifting energy choice caps
Once again, the governor’s penchant to play favorites comes back to haunt Michigan residents, in the form of planned energy rate increases by the state’s monopoly holders, Consumers Energy and DTE Energy. This comes even after skyrocketing rates that amount to more than 20 to 30 percent hikes for businesses. And it comes at a time when even the Michigan Public Service Commission has announced its anticipation of an increase in demand in every sector for 2010-11.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Consolidation stance misprepresented
Editor,
I was shocked and dismayed to see the words “blinders,” “fighting half the battle” and “hoarding” used in the context of Sandi Frost Parrish’s position on consolidation (Aug. 16, Grand Rapids Business Journal).The entire editorial was poorly articulated and ill-informed. Sandi has progressively and aggressively educated herself on the history of and potential for Kent County’s consolidation efforts, as well as those of peer cities, counties and communities.
|
|
|
|
Contract up for review for top Kent County executive
Kent County commissioners are all but certain to give their top executive another three years in a few weeks, while Grand Rapids city commissioners overcame their consternations and raised the pension multiplier for three of their key public safety officials last week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EMU posts a score of zeroes
When the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents unanimously agreed last spring not to raise tuition and fees for the 2010-11 academic year, the vote reportedly marked the first time in 25 years that a public university in the state had held the line on such a year-to-year increase.
|
|
|
|
Exports from Michigan dropped 6.0 percent in June
Indicators that gauge current economic conditions in industrial countries show signs of an end to a short-lived recovery boom, which followed massive government spending and low interest rates. In line with global business trends is an undergoing slowdown in the foreign demand for American goods.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Forget the ‘Freshman 15’: Loans not pizza rule
New college graduates in Michigan are hitting the job market carrying more debt than ever, thanks to dropping state support and skyrocketing tuition rates, according to a recent study from the Michigan League for Human Services.
|
|
|
|
Frost Parrish responds to editorial
On Aug. 5, the Rotary Club of Greater Grand Rapids asked me to deliver the annual State of the County Address. My comments were directed primarily to consolidation of government services. From small group meetings to large gatherings, consolidation has gained center stage as the 36 units of government (nine cities, 21 townships, five villages and the county) wrestle with the challenge of delivering high quality services with ever-dwindling resources.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MEDC faces the heat
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing last week on the alleged failings of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority and Michigan Economic Development Corp. — and it isn't done yet.
|
|
|
|
Michigan egg producers monitor salmonella woes
The salmonella problem bedeviling a couple of major Iowa egg producers apparently hasn't ruffled any feathers among the eight commercial producers here in Michigan. No Michigan eggs have been subject to recall.
|
|
|
|
Motivated, perceptive and excited for the future
Rob Sears' biggest project to date is being part of the design team for Singapore Dunes in Saugatuck Township.
The year after he graduated from Miami University with a degree in environmental design and the year before he planned to earn a graduate degree in architecture at the University of Kentucky, Rob Sears found himself on Nantucket Island.
|
|
|
|
New group wants higher cap on electricity choice
A new statewide coalition including several West Michigan businesses is supporting two West Michigan legislators who have sponsored bills that could increase the amount of electricity sold on the state grid by suppliers other than the state’s two major utility companies.
|
|
|
|
Renovation lessons learned at GRCC
Grand Rapids Community College took the lessons learned in renovating part of Cook Hall and applied it a few blocks away at the former Davenport University campus.
|
|
|
|
Rental discrimination complaints up, again
The 168 illegal housing discrimination complaints handled by the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan in 2008 set an all-time record and marked the fifth consecutive year that the number of allegations of some form of bias had risen.
|
|
|
|
Some Iowa eggs were distributed in Michigan
The Michigan Department of Agriculture received confirmation that eggs from Iowa associated with the current nationwide recall have been distributed in Michigan. Eggs contaminated with salmonella were traced to two Iowa egg producers and recalls began Aug. 13 and were expanded Aug. 18 and 20.
|
|
|
|
Spectrum rehab bid could hurt Mary Free Bed
Spectrum Health’s tentative proposal to open a 30-bed acute inpatient rehabilitation program by July 2011 at Blodgett Hospital could hamper Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital’s survival, a Mary Free Bed leader said last week.
|
|