Legal Issues/Law 
06/18/13
Bills to expand Medicaid, allow for the dissolution of deficit-ridden school districts and improve legal aid for criminal defendants are on Michigan lawmakers' agenda before they break for the summer at week's end.
Guest Blog: Saulius Mikalonis
06/17/13
"[C]ollege pride has not been the only source of controversy between Texas and Oklahoma regarding the Red River. The River has been the cause of numerous historical conflicts between the two States, leading to a mobilization of their militias at one time . . . and the declaration of martial law along the stretch of the River by [the] Oklahoma Governor . . ."
06/16/13
Mike Duggan should be back on the ballot. Through a technicality, a judge threw Duggan's name out of the mayoral primary election last week. This is after the Detroit Election Commission, overseeing city elections, had approved him for the ballot.
06/16/13
The
U.S. Department of Labor is suing pension trustees of two subsidiaries of Southfield-based
Revstone Industries LLC and an investment adviser to recover $4.9 million in defined benefit plan assets that the agency claims were misused.
06/14/13
Rapper/reality TV star Flavor Flav and co-owners Gino Harmon and Salvatore Bitonti of Shelby Township-based Forza Development LLC are facing an ouster at Flavor Flav's Chicken and Ribs in Sterling Heights after being accused by the landlord of not paying rent for at least six months.
06/13/13
Southfield-based American Fellowship Mutual Insurance Co. was ordered into liquidation by an Ingham County Circuit judge.
06/12/13
A bill to expand Medicaid to an estimated 400,000 individuals in Michigan was approved this afternoon by the Michigan Competitiveness Committee and now heads to the full House.
Chad Halcom
06/10/13
Now that Detroit's judges have been set straight by the
Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals about regulating bus advertising, Southeast Michigan transit authorities could face thorny new legal questions about ads from nonprofits with political messages.
06/09/13
Whether the Wayne County Consolidated Jail project ends up being a textbook-definition 'boondoggle' remains to be seen, but Michigan has a rich history of bungled projects.
06/09/13
John Bravata may not yet have a new address in the federal prison system for his role in a Ponzi scheme that bilked tens of millions from investors -- but some of his swag may find a new home next week via online auction.
06/09/13
At age 27, he's the youngest of the seven emergency managers now serving in Michigan. But Tony Saunders II appears to be wise beyond his years in the way he wields far-reaching power in running the city of Benton Harbor.
06/08/13
A source says Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr plans to offer Detroit creditors 10 percent of what they are owed; Whole Foods opens its doors in Midtown; Compuware makes changes at the top; musician Jack White paid the back taxes bill for the historic Masonic Temple.
06/02/13
The
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi tribe is redirecting money from its highly successful
Four Winds Casinos in southwest Michigan into brick-and-mortar businesses outside of gambling to build its sovereign nation into an economic powerhouse.
06/02/13
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will appeal a federal court judgment of more than $5.1 million -- in the first case to reach trial among more than 25 lawsuits brought by
Varnum LLP -- on behalf of self-insured employers alleging they were charged hidden fees over many years for use of the Blues' network.
06/01/13
Yes, there were some big stories over the past few days -- the biggest was Pulte announcing it would move its headquarters to Atlanta. Here are some of the other things that happened in business over the past week.
Wayne State's Degree of Difficulty
06/01/13
No one disputes that Auner, who has been at the university since 1990, has had a lot of major grant support. But Wayne State says Auner's research team and lab operations cost more than the research was bringing in.
Special Report: Talent & Retention
05/30/13
In early May,
Crain's and
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP convened a panel of executives for a discussion about how metro Detroit and Michigan can develop and retain talent. The following is an edited transcript. In some cases, comments have been reordered to preserve the conversational thread.
05/26/13
Family members of the late William Davidson are mistrustful of each other's motives and actions, but divided over whether their differences are irreconcilable, documents unsealed in Oakland County Probate Court on Friday show.
05/26/13
More than 600 business leaders from West and Southeast Michigan have been telling Lansing since 2008, through the annual
West Michigan Policy Forum Conference, that business taxes have to be cut, state bureaucracy needs to be reduced, health care providers should be rewarded for prevention, Michigan should be a right-to-work state, and the state's road repair fund is as broken as the streets it is supposed to pay to fix.
05/25/13
Former Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda has started a VC fund and Roger Penske is among the investors; Aco announced the closing of 14 Michigan hardware stores, a new retail and entertainment development is planned for Troy and the Lions plan a bowl game of their own, and the Pizza Bowl may move to Comerica Park.
05/23/13
The state says 62 former workers at a Vlasic pickle factory have pleaded guilty and will make $960,000 in restitution for fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits while continuing to work.
Guest Blog: Saulius Mikalonis
05/21/13
"[W]ater from clay pipes is much more wholesome than that which is conducted through lead pipes, because lead is found to be harmful for the reason that white lead is derived from it, and this is said to be hurtful to the human system." Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, De Architectura, Book VII (~15 B.C.)
Chad Halcom
05/21/13
Mark Brewer, the former
Michigan Democratic Party chairman of 18 years who stepped down in February to end a contentious battle for leadership with Lon Johnson, will blend political consulting with his labor law practice roots at Southfield-based
Goodman Acker PC.
05/19/13
A petition to split the $1 billion-plus
William Davidson Foundation into two pieces was dismissed by
Oakland County Probate Court last week for lack of jurisdiction, but the family differences that led to the request are likely to continue.
05/19/13
When a career fair turned into a disappointment, Jonathan DeWys could have whined that the lack of skilled workers was hampering his company's growth. Instead, he channeled the lessons into developing a better solution: a new, in-house educational program.
