West Michigan In The News

After receiving millions of dollars in grants and private donations, Muskegon's Annis Water Resources Institute is positioned to receive federal stimulus money to further Great Lakes research and create a post-doctoral position to study local water quality.

According to excerpts from the story:

Thanks to a donor with local ties and an interest in furthering water quality research, and to a healthy dose of federal funds, the Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute couldn't be in a better position to help push Great Lakes and local research projects forward, says Alan Steinman, the institute's executive director. The university recently announced the institute was awarded about $1.5 million in federal, state and private funding, but Steinman said those funds could be just the tip of the iceberg.

 "There's so much good happening right now with the funding successes," Steinman told MiBiz. "AWRI is incredibly well-positioned for the stimulus money about to be released through the federal RFP. We're anticipating $200 million will be spread among the Great Lakes states as the first down payment in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative."

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Despite high fuel prices and fewer people traveling, operators of Muskegon's high speed ferry service to Milwaukee say the ship is ending the year on a small wave of success. A variety of discount offers and allowing kids to ride free have generated business.

According to excerpts from the story:

The operators of the Lake Express high-speed ferry between Muskegon and Milwaukee have faced down the current economy and challenging summer tourist season to survive the 2009 sailing year. Company officials say that their special offers such as "kids ride free" and a discounted round-trip fare on certain crossings have kept the turnstiles moving in a difficult year.

With competitor the S.S. Badger announcing last week that it will cut its 2009 sailing season two weeks short due to an early hull inspection at a Wisconsin shipyard, year-end business has been brisk, Lake Express officials said.

"We began receiving calls that very day, and we've been receiving a steady flow of bookings ever since from passengers having to rebook reservations," said Aaron Schultz, director of sales and marketing for Lake Express.

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Organizations across the state tout the internships as an open invitation to young talent to find employment and settle in a region. A recent $1.2 million infusion in a statewide program could help stop the state's brain drain.  

According to excerpts from the story:

The Intern In Michigan program got a big bump this week when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation pledged $1.2 million to support it.

The funding will keep the program up and running through 2012. The program intends to encourage more businesses, big and small, in the state to create and expand internship programs to help staunch Michigan's brain drain.

The Detroit Regional Chamber is partnering with the West Michigan Strategic Alliance to push the program forward. Grants from the U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development program and the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan helped it gain traction in Metro Detroit earlier this year. This new money will help spread the program across the state.

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Grand Rapids-area law firms continue to retain jobs and recruit new attorneys, a practice that flies in the face of a national trend marking the reduction of legal positions in other cities.

According to excerpts from the story:

Big law firms in America's major cities are shedding jobs and many are cutting back on recruitment of new law school graduates, but things apparently aren't that bad in Grand Rapids. The National Association for Law Placement reported this summer that the employment rate of 2008 law school graduates was down for the first time since 2003. In late August, The New York Times reported that there were only half as many openings for new graduates at big name law firms as there were last year.

"We've all been reading those articles," said Danielle Hall, but she added, "We haven't noticed a similar trend here — yet." Hall is career and professional development coordinator at the Grand Rapids campus of Thomas M. Cooley Law School, the only one in West Michigan. "I don't think that we're down in terms of employer recruiting at our school at this point. And our employment numbers are strong," said Hall.

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Urban scenery is the latest hot commodity for photographers shooting senior photos for high school seniors wanting something more hip than park landscapes. And the most popular backdrops aren't necessarily the sleek and tidy settings of modern architecture.

According to excerpts from the story:

 As Grandville High School senior Mary Hall sat atop a flood wall overlooking the Grand River, photographer Greg Schrader encouraged her to work the lens. This wasn't just some modeling shoot for a catalog. This was to be her senior picture.
Forget dramatically lit mugs with dull-colored or fake backdrops. More and more high school seniors are embracing back alleys, old bridges, low-rent industrial buildings and graffiti found in and around Grand Rapids as the setting for their final school pictures. Schrader helped Hall hop off the flood wall, then directed her to a discarded black vinyl couch. It was a perfect contrast for her flowing green dress, piercing eyes and blonde hair.

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West Michigan apple growers hope to bank on the success of a new apple variety that could rival the Honeycrisp, a popular variety with consumers. Besides ripening earlier and having more flavor, the SweeTango apple is one of a new "managed variety" whose production will be controlled for maximum market impact.

According to excerpts from the story:

Fruit grower Ken Hubert picked an apple from a young tree in one of his orchards, pointing out the dark pink color and the spidery design on the skin. "It has more color than a Honeycrisp," Hubert said, holding up the new apple variety called SweeTango. "If people like Honeycrisp, they're really going to like this. It's a great apple." Hubert is betting on the variety's success. But consumers' tastebuds will make that call. You can decide for yourself if you are willing to travel. The SweeTango is available in limited supply at a Hart orchard and will be sampled next weekend at a Silver Lake Sand Dunes barbecue. Hubert is one of about 72 growers in the U.S. and Canada who invested thousands of dollars in a cooperative to grow and market the apple. Sixteen of those growers are in Michigan. The co-op is hoping the SweeTango will be a successor to the popular Honeycrisp, whose taste and texture have people clamoring for it each season.

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Aficionados of micro-brewed beers will find temptation in every corner of Michigan – especially in Holland where one popular producer is now the state's third largest brewer.

According to excerpts from the story:

There are distinctive beer experiences in every corner of Michigan, which ranks fifth in the nation with about 70 microbreweries and brewpubs, according to the Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association. Here are a few up-and-coming companies offering tours and tastings. To plan a beer vacation or find a microbrewery beer near you, visitmichiganbrewersguild.org.

New Holland Brewing Co., Holland

Its motto is “art in fermented form,” and New Holland Brewing Co. has become the state's third largest brewer by testing its palette on patrons' palates.

New Holland, which started brewing in 1997, offers unique local flavor combinations, said co-founder and President Brett VanderKamp. The microbrewery suggests food pairings and recipes for all of its beers, both online and on site.

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The Culinary Institute of Muskegon is an accredited college where aspiring chefs can earn degrees, become certified and graduate with opportunities for careers in culinary arts.   

According to excerpts from the story:

The new Culinary Institute of Michigan will soon welcome its first students. Construction on the $11-million dollar building in downtown Muskegon started in the Spring. The new facility is slated to open to culinary arts students on September 28th. According to John Cappellucci, dean of culinary arts, more than 300-students have already signed up to take classes. "With the advent of Food Network and all the other cooking shows. I think its inspired a lot of young people to consider the culinary arts or cooking as a profession. It's not just a trade. It's not a trade school. We're actually a college," he says. Cappellucci has also noticed a new trend of older students. He says, "With the economy, a lot of people are either finding themselves underemployed or out of work. They're tending to go back to school and really try to pursue something that may have been a dream of theirs for a long time."

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Drawing attention to Grand Rapids'  namesake is the goal of a local artist whose metal sculpture will draw eyes to the Grand River during ArtPrize. One of two works using the river as the basis for art, the work will be illuminated for nighttime appeal.  

According to excerpts from the story:

David Lubbers picked his ArtPrize venue 15 years ago. The unconventional art competition Sept. 23 through Oct. 10 was the excuse he needed to finally get support and permission to place a kinetic sculpture in the Grand River on the old rock piling, located between the Grand Rapids Public Museum and the JW Marriott. Early next week, Lubbers and nine other area businesses that helped create "Grand Dance" will begin to install the 30-by-35-foot steel and aluminum sculpture. About 16 fish-shaped icons attached by ball bearings to steel branches will turn and "school" with the wind. Two softly lit spotlights -- one on top of the museum and the other on a building by the JW Marriott -- will illuminate the pearl-white-painted fish, making them appear as if freely suspended above the river.

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Michigan may be known for camping and fishing destinations extraordinaire, but sculpture and fine arts destinations are high on the tourism radar as well. It all began with Alexander Calder, and now Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park has taken the trend further.

According to excerpts from the story:

Michigan's population may be waning, but there's no question that the state has become a sleeper destination for tourists who are passionate about trout fishing, sailing, camping, Big Ten football, theater or the fine arts. George W. Bush, who always has a way with words, might call Michigan the most "misunderestimated" destination in the land.

Indeed, with 3,200 miles of beaches, arguably the world's best Diego Rivera murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts and thousands of inviting lakes, it's no wonder that Michigan's tourism Web site is now the most visited in the land.

When I moved back to my home state five years ago, I thought I'd seen it all. Greenfield Village, Taquemenon Falls, Pictured Rocks -- been there, photographed that. Then I read that one of my favorites, The Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, was ranked number 13 on a list of the world's must-see museums compiled by Patricia Schultz, author of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die."

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Big energy savings could come to the city of Holland by making small changes in municipal buildings – so says a new report based on a two-year energy audit. Any energy reduction would provide immediate financial results says the report.

According to excerpts from the story:

Energy efficiency is going to come in a bunch of little packages, according to a GMB Architects-Engineering report to the city of Holland.
It could be as simple as turning off lights and computers at night. It could also mean bigger ticket repairs and replacements.
“A lot of these buildings were built 30, 40, 50 years ago, back when energy was cheap. Nobody paid attention to that stuff,” Holland planner Mark Vanderploeg said.
Under a mutually beneficial agreement with between the city and the architecture firm, GMB audited energy use at 14 municipal sites for free. While the city found out how to improve the energy efficiency of the Civic Center, police station, city hall, the Van Raalte farmhouse and other sites, GMB was better able to develop a municipal energy audit business model.
“Any reduction in energy use would benefit the city budget immediately and into the future,” the report says. Wednesday night, the city council adopted a long-range plan based in part on these findings.

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According to excerpts from the story:

For years Aquinas College has been talking about building a new fieldhouse. The talk is now over. The college is ready to tear down the old fieldhouse and build a new 12 million dollar facility. The fieldhouse was dedicated in 1969. At that time, there were only eight varsity sports programs. The building houses a lot of history. But the college has outgrown it. "And frankly as a lot of our students came here, regardless of the high school they came from, their facility was better than their college facility and we kept hearing that over and over again and now it's time," John Jackoboice, co-chair of the Aquinas Sports and Fitness Campaign Drive. The project will be done in two phases. Phase one will include new classrooms, training facilities and a state of the art fitness center. Construction should begin in December. The men's basketball and women's volleyball will give up their home season this year and play all their games on the road while this new fieldhouse is being completed.

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According to excerpts from the story:

It takes a lot of ingenuity to envision turning a former manufacturing facility into a child-care business, but that is exactly what Nancy Leete is doing.  And she's wasting no time doing it.  Leete purchased the former Bold Furniture building at 711 E. Savidge St. in Spring Lake in June for $400,000 and anticipates opening Little Lakers Learning Center by Sept. 8. Leete said she felt she needed to buy the entire Bold building to prevent the possibility of a business that wasn't child-friendly moving in. The business is the latest addition to the retail/service business transformation that has been taking place at what was previously headquarters for manufacturers. Her neighbor to the east is East Village Wine Shoppe and other businesses nearby include Two Tonys Tavern and Grille and Dreese Fine Art and Framing.  Leete, the former director of St. Matthews Christian Childcare in Spring Lake, says that when the estimated $250,000 renovation is complete, LLLC will be able to provide care for up to a total of 100 children at any one time from ages 6 weeks to 12 years. The center will be open 6:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

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According to excerpts from the story:

Improvements to the first three blocks of Washington Avenue in downtown Grand Haven could begin as early as September, according to Ken Shingledecker, Department of Public Works special projects manager.  The Grand Haven City Council voted 3-2 on Aug. 16 to request the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners designate the city as a recovery zone. That would make it eligible for federal recovery bonds. Mayor Roger Bergman indicated the city could know as early as this week if the recovery bond designation is approved, and he was confident it would.  The city was previously pursuing Build America bonds for the $5.6 million Washington Avenue Project when the city's legal staff discovered it could be eligible for the federal stimulus money. City officials determined the federal government subsidizes 45 percent of the recovery bond interest compared to only 35 percent for Build America bonds. City Attorney Roger Swets said it could mean a savings of $100,000 over the life of the bond. 

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