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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Tech Tuesday Roundup: From big money to tiny tech

By LoRayne Apo-Joynt | 04.15.08 | 7:54 am

Here’s a selection of technology news from around Michigan this past week.

  • Michigan wants high-tech companies to compete for state loans
    A second competitive round for $30 million in awards was launched by Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund this past week. Companies that focus on life sciences, alternative energy, advanced automotive materials and manufacturing, and homeland security and defense are encouraged to apply, provided they can show a sustainable and viable business model along with funds sufficient to match an award by the fund. A total of $126.3 million was awarded during the first round to 78 organizations; 31 university and research projects received nearly a third of the total amount awarded.

  • Wireless power, charging technology may unplug Apple’s iPhone
    Fulton Innovations of Ada has already been working with a number of companies on inductive coupling technology. It allows batteries to be recharged or power to be supplied directly to a device without the need for metal-to-metal contact between the source of electricity and the device.

    This single charging device that doesn’t require contact for all those handheld devices we use regularly — from your iPhone to your PDA and your laptop — could eliminate messy octopus-like dangling cords and powerstrips while creating Michigan jobs.

  • Do emerging economies integrate the Internet better?
    Nigel Melville, assistant professor at Michigan’s Ross School of Business, found that companies in emerging economies are more advanced in some aspects of Internet use than companies in more developed economies.

    Melville, along with colleagues at the University of Richmond, San Diego State University and the University of California-Irvine, studied data from companies located around the globe and predominantly Fortune 500 companies. The data showed that companies in emerging countries excelled at using the Internet to improve profitability and business-to-business communication over developed countries. The same companies in emerging countries lagged behind their counterparts in developed countries on Internet transaction volume, likely due to differences in credit-card usage. Consumers in emerging countries do not use credit cards in the same numbers as developed countries.

    Given the current credit crunch in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, perhaps it’s  not enough to say that emerging countries lag behind developed countries on transaction volume. Perhaps developed countries lead in defaults as well?

  • Multiple Myeloma Foundation awards three universities $2.25 million to uncover biomarkers
    An award of $2.25 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Indiana University and the University of Michigan was announced this past week by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s Proteomics Initiative. Proteomics research looks for identification of new biomarkers and corresponding treatment targets in cancers.

  • University of Michigan expands nanotech center
    The University of Michigan opened its newly expanded $40 million nanotechnology lab this past week. The facility concentrates on research and development of nano-sized products for medicine, computing and energy. The expansion doubles the amount of space that the 13-member National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) has for research. A $14 million National Science Foundation grant launched the NNIN in 2004. Michigan received $1.2 million from the grant, while the balance was distributed across Cornell, Harvard, Howard, Penn State and Stanford universities; the University of California-Santa Barbara; Georgia Institute of Technology; Universities of Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and North Carolina State University/University of North Carolina.

  • Six questions for intelligent bridge geek Jerome Lynch
    Speaking of nanotech products, U-M researcher Jerome Lynch is working on a bridge failure detection system that may consist of a skin or a paint-on coating of carbon nanotubules. The product would respond to changes in strain or corrosion to advise of threats to structural integrity through a meshed wireless network of electric charges carried throughout the coating, mapped in multiple dimensions. A nanotech coating like that Lynch describes could warn in advance of catastrophic structural failure like the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis last year.

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