LANSING - A plan by Michigan Senate Republicans to create $300 million in new revenue for the current fiscal year in exchange for phasing out the surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax will add to the state's structural deficit in the long run, said Craig Thiel with the Citizens Research Council. The proposal calls for
LANSING - There will be plenty of energy to meet Michigan's needs this winter because electric use is expected to fall 4.3 percent for the year and natural gas could fall 10.1 percent, the Public Service Commission said in its annual energy appraisal released Friday. Some of the use and cost reductions are based on
LANSING - In what could prove to be a major step toward ending the final deadlock on the 2009-10 budget, Senate Republicans developed a proposal Thursday that would raise more than $300 million a year for the next two fiscal years, with the proviso that the money would then go to reducing the surcharge on
LANSING - On Thursday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued orders (E.O. 2009-44 and E.O. 2009-45) creating a new Department of Natural Resources and Environment to encompass the duties of the current departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources as well as some functions of the Department of Agriculture. Administration officials estimated the changes, which would be
LANSING - After so many years of fighting to end what he called the unfair practice of basing insurance rates on credit scores, it's about time the Supreme Court give the state the power to stop the practice that results in higher rates for many Michigan residents, said state Insurance Advocate Butch Hollowell on Wednesday
LANSING - The Michigan Senate passed bills Wednesday that would require the Department of Human Services to work with utilities to identify residents who are eligible for assistance programs. The bills (SB 553 and SB 555 ) are part of a package of bills designed to protect residents from unwarranted utility disconnection, particularly by municipal
ANN ARBOR - eePulse has introduced its real-time employee engagement benchmarking survey that uses the Valour Pulse and Energy Pulse metrics to provide research on what drives company and individual performance. "Using only 20 online questions, participants receive a unique report classifying the percentage of their population that is engaged, disengaged, entitled or resisting change,
MT. PLEASANT - Business Incubator Central Michigan University-Research Corporation has launched a new service to help entrepreneurs, start-up companies and others who need a little help getting the word out on their product or service, and actually making the sale. "The basic concept is, you have the idea and the product or service, and we
ANN ARBOR ? A new study says the "greening" of corporate vehicle fleets presents an opportunity to move a substantial number of highly efficient, clean fuel vehicles onto the road in a relatively short timeframe, results that are both environmentally and economically positive. A newly released report by the Sustainable Transportation and Communities group at
LANSING - Gov. Jennifer Granholm Tuesday announced Georgia-based Suniva will invest $250 million in a new solar manufacturing facility in Saginaw County's Thomas Township, creating some 500 new jobs over the next five years �?? if they get an Energy Department loan guarantee recently applied for. "Today we welcome Suniva to our growing list of