LANSING - Robert LaBrant, the general counsel for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, has the lead role in crafting the new maps for Michigan's 14 U.S. House districts, Gongwer News Service has learned. LaBrant, considered one of the foremost experts on election, campaign finance and redistricting laws in the state, is working with Jeff Timmer,
WASHINGTON ? Double dip recession? Not according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who said Tuesday that recent signs of economic weakness had not altered his basic view that the economy was mending slowly and that the pace of recovery seems likely to increase during the rest of the year. Bernanke also said that he
MACKINAC ISLAND - In a drive to create a streamlined yet powerful state economic development engine, Michigan's Economic Development Corporation is embarking on a redrawn strategy to spur growth from the ground up, an official said Friday. "We're going to be starting with our local economic development partners," said Douglas Smith, senior vice president, strategic
WARREN - General Motors will invest $130 million to build an enterprise data center at its Technical Center campus in Warren, adding 25 high-tech jobs and expanding and renovating a former administrative building. Design is under way on the renovation and construction, with the final phase scheduled for completion in 2015. The investment will result
MACKINAC ISLAND - Michigan and all states need to do seven things to be considered business-friendly, Michael Porter, a top business professor at Harvard, told the Detroit Regional Chamber Policy Conference. None of the seven items directly had to do with lowering taxes, and some should not have to cost the state any money, he
MACKINAC ISLAND - A nationally known educator who has developed a pioneering school in Harlem said the United States will destroy itself if it fails to take full notice of demographic trends and educate children to meet the challenges those trends will mean. Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children's Zone, said that by 2040 the
MACKINAC ISLAND - Michigan's new budget has put the state in a better position fiscally than many other states, Budget Director John Nixon said, and after a decade of struggling with budgets Michigan now finds other states contacting it to see how it constructed its 2011-12 budget. Nixon, who will join Governor Rick Snyder in
MACKINAC ISLAND - Nobody is quite ready to claim victory for a new international bridge in Detroit but supporters have expressed confidence that legislation authorizing the bridge will win passage, and legislators once solidly opposed to the project are taking a more open stance on the proposal. With getting a new bridge, called by Governor
TROY - Altair Engineering's staffing division, Altair ProductDesign, after doubling its onsite engineering specialists in the past 12 months, is looking to fill more than 1,000 open positions for skilled engineers and designers throughout the United States. Altair ProductDesign?s staffing business helps its customers to fulfil engineering and design resource requirements by accessing a qualified
MACKINAC ISLAND - Michigan will put special focus on talent development and needs, with it the focus of his November message, Governor Rick Snyder said at the opening of the 2011 Detroit Regional Chamber meeting. In his opening remarks to the conference, Snyder also urged attendees and the state as a whole to be positive