GRAND RAPIDS ? MITechNews.Com is pleased to announce a joint agreement with MIBiz, starting in January 2012, to cover the technology beat for the West Michigan publishing group both in print and online. MIBiz, purchased recently by REVUE Holding Company, Inc., publishes a twice-monthly business newspaper in Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and along the
LANSING - Governor Rick Snyder signed into law Monday two of the most significant legislative packages of his administration to date when he approved bills addressing the state's debt to the federal government for unemployment aid, restructuring what jobs those receiving assistance would have to accept and overhauling the workers' compensation system. Overall, Snyder said
GRAND RAPIDS - Startup Weekend is coming to Grand Rapids on Jan 13 to the Factory, where entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs can develop business plans in just 54 hours. Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists to build communities, companies and projects. It is known
LANSING - The Michigan House and Senate completed a deal on restoring home heating aid for the poor and sent that legislation (SB 364 and SB 864) to Governor Rick Snyder for signature. The House, despite some reticence among conservative Republicans, passed a new structure for the state's film incentive program (SB 569 ) with
LANSING - After eliminating the state's lucrative film subsidy and replacing it with $25 million in incentives, the Legislature approved a framework Thursday to dole out those funds, with an extra incentive to hire Michigan workers. Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), the bill sponsor, has said the intent of SB 569 is to make
LANSING - Governor Rick Snyder signed into law one of the biggest-ever changes to state employee benefits with an overhaul he said would prune $5.6 billion from the state's $15 billion in long-term unfunded liabilities. In signing HB 4701 and HB 4702 , designed to shore up the state's pension and retiree health care benefits,
GRAND RAPIDS ? The good news for West Michigan is for the first time in years the Grand Rapids area will add more jobs, says George Erickcek, senior analyst at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, who projects overall job growth of 1.1 percent next year, though public-sector employment will continue to
GRAND RAPIDS - More than 20 percent of the 1,400 chief financial officers surveyed for the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index said they plan to add full-time accounting and finance employees in first quarter of 2012. Only 11 percent forecast staff decreases. The resulting net 9 percent increase is up four points from the fourth-quarter
LANSING - Lest anyone think the state suddenly has $1.2 billion in extra money, Sen. Roger Kahn, the Senate Appropriations Committee chair, said Tuesday that much of that will get used up on a variety of expenses and other commitments. Gongwer News Service reported Monday that between some $200 million in unspent funds for the
HOLLAND - Fifty-seven percent of west Michigan companies plan to hire new information technology staff during the next six months. ?Employers need to realize that candidates with the computer skills they seek are not easy to find and often have a choice of opportunities,? said Paragon?s chief recruiting officer Beth DeWilde. ?It is great to