If you wondered when news about Aretha Franklin’s gray large-bowed inaugural hat would die down, well… it’s not happening yet.

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has asked the Queen of Soul if she will donate the hat she wore to sing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” (also known as “America”) before the swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol for an exhibit on President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Other items the Smithsonian will have on display in the presidential exhibit include Michelle Obama’s off-white ball gown.

Continue reading: The Detroit News

The pranksters who strung toilet paper on Wall Street broker Bernard Madoff’s home in Florida this past weekend just couldn’t keep mum about their masterpiece.

And for those Michigan teens, that could be their downfall.

On Sunday they called a newsroom in Florida anonymously claiming credit for toilet-papering the Palm Beach mansion belonging to the disgraced money manager.

Once the pair was back in class at Cranbrook Schools this week, the two freshmen reportedly bragged about their deed to friends. And that chest-thumping has now tipped off the Palm Beach Police.

Last month, someone stole a $10,000 lawn sculpture off the property.

According to the Palm Beach Post, it was returned later with a note: “Bernie the Swindler, Lesson: Return Stolen Property to rightful owners. Signed by — The Educators.”

Continue reading: The Detroit News

From tripwolf.com: Four Surprising Sunsets in Michigan

1) Petoskey

Known for its “million dollar sunsets,” Petoskey, Michigan is probably the last place you’d think to look for romance. But don’t miss it.

Take a stop off at Sunset Park along US 31. The park is on top of a bluff that overlooks both Bayfront Park, with its boardwalk and marina, and the breakwall where a lovely, red lighthouse sits. The view will give you goosebumps.

2) Ludington

For the outdoorsy Valentine, take a trip to Ludington, MI. Kayak and dune-buggy by day; walk hand-in-hand on the beach by night. With long grass and the setting sun, the background is incredibly peaceful—and romantic too.

3) Traverse City

Located in Michigan’s northwestern Lower Peninsula, Traverse City is a wealth of sunset opportunity. Look out over Leelanau Peninsula, the Old Mission Peninsula or across Lake Michigan. There’s no way to do the sunsets over Grand Traverse Bay justice, save going there and picnicking on the sun-drenched beach to wait for dusk. Then you’d understand.

4) Oval Beach, Saugatuk

Saugatuck is located on Michigan’s sunset side of the state, near Lake Michigan. Ranked by MTV as one of the top five beaches in the country, the sunset is equally stunning.

Make one big weekend of it and stay at the Zagat-rated Wickwood Inn B&B, known for its beautiful and homey décor, and amazing meals. You won’t be disappointed.

Read the full story here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

When Barack Obama raises his hand Tuesday to take the oath of office, he’ll be standing on a platform built in part by local hands.

Lansing-based Christman Co. led construction of the platform erected on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol for the inauguration.

Christman – which has taken on a number of high-profile projects at historic public buildings – won a $2.3 million contract to build and tear down the 10,000-square-foot temporary platform.

The lumber structure is built from scratch every four years. Officials say they don’t have a way to store more permanent inaugural stands.

“It supports the whole ceremony that the public will see,” said Ron Staley, Christman’s senior vice president who oversees the company’s office in Alexandria, Va. “The company is very honored to be part of it. It’s the type of project we like to do.”

Continue reading: LSJ.com

Publications ranging from the journal Science to Time magazine have blasted biofuels for significantly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, calling into question the environmental benefits of making fuel from plant material. But a new analysis by Michigan State University scientists says these dire predictions are based on a set of assumptions that may not be correct.

“Greenhouse gas release from changes in land use – growing crops that could be used for biofuels on previously unfarmed land – has been identified as a negative contributor to the environmental profile of biofuels,” said Bruce Dale, MSU University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science. “Other analyses have estimated that it would take from 100 to 1,000 years before biofuels could overcome this ‘carbon debt’ and start providing greenhouse gas benefits.”

But as Dale and his co-authors point out in their research, published in the January online edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, earlier analyses didn’t consider a number of variables that might influence the greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuels.

“Our analysis shows that crop management is a key factor in estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use change associated with biofuels,” Dale said. “Sustainable management practices, such as no-till farming and planting cover crops, can reduce the time it takes for biofuels to overcome the carbon debt to three years for grassland conversion and 14 years for temperate zone forest conversion.”

Continue reading: Checkbiotech.org

His raw sound helped inspire a generation of guitarists. On Saturday, friends and fans will remember the late Ron Asheton of Iggy & the Stooges at an elegant farewell set for 9 p.m. at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit.

Word of Asheton’s death spread like wildfire Jan. 6, the day he was found dead at his Ann Arbor home. Fans and musicians around the world couldn’t say enough about the dirty and droning — and often hypnotic — sounds he unleashed from his guitar, which helped sculpt Stooges classics like “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” But the loss was felt especially hard closer to home.

Continue reading: Freep.com

The Political Winery, a partnership of Michigan Democrat Chris Trebilcock and Republican John Helmholdt, announced today that their wines – custom-labeled reds and whites made by St. Julian – will be served at several inaugural balls in Washington D.C. next week.

“It is truly an honor and privilege to know our political wine will be part of the inaugural celebrations during this historic time,” said Trebilcock, president of The Political Winery, LLC. “We are proud that our specialty Michigan wine is continuing to gain national interest.”

Continue reading: Michigan Grapevine

Michigan State University will be home to a first-of-its kind IBM center that will advance new technologies and create up to 1,500 jobs within five years, according to a joint announcement today by MSU, the state of Michigan and IBM.

IBM will open its Global Delivery Center for Application Services in the first quarter of this year in the MSU Federal Credit Union building on campus, creating 100 new jobs by June.

Working with MSU professors and students, the IBM center will develop applications and provide support services to modernize older systems for state and local government agencies and universities. In addition, IBM will work with telecommunications, health care and other U.S.-based clients to upgrade IT applications, according to the company.

At a time when Michigan is hemorrhaging jobs and people, state and local leaders touted the announcement as progress in the state’s long-term goal of transforming from a brawn-based to brain-based economy.

Continue reading: The Detroit News

In the eerie green glow of flashing lasers in a darkened University of Michigan lab, a cylinder on springs moves methodically up and down in a giant tank as water flows over it, simulating a stream.

Whirligigs of illuminated particles form as the water pours over and under the cylinder in rhythmic patterns.

It looks simple, but it’s revolutionary. This is VIVACE, a device to harness energy in slow-moving water currents across the globe and turn it into electricity.

VIVACE, which mimics the way fish swim in currents, is to debut next year in the Detroit River, powering the light for a new wharf between Hart Plaza and the Renaissance Center.

Continue reading: Freep.com

Below the steel blue waters of Lake Michigan, a giant sucking sound is transforming the world’s sixth largest lake in ways that scientists never thought possible.

An estimated 330 trillion quagga mussels carpet vast areas of Lake Michigan’s underbelly. The foreign mollusks literally are sucking the aquatic life out of the water and depositing it on the lake bottom, according to new scientific data.

“It’s unbelievable, the changes that are happening,” said Gary Fahnenstiel, a senior ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Lake Michigan Field State in Muskegon. “The quagga mussel population has exploded and is taking over the lake bottom.”

Quagga mussels are the slightly larger and far more disruptive cousins of zebra mussels. The filter-feeders have been linked to increased algae blooms that have fouled Great Lakes beaches and botulism outbreaks that have claimed more than 70,000 fish-eating birds and countless fish.

Continue reading: The Muskegon Chronicle

The real estate market is so awful that buyers are now scooping up homes for as little as $1,000.

There are 18 listings in Flint, Mich., for under $3,000, according to Realtor.com. There are 22 in Indianapolis, 46 in Cleveland and a whopping 709 in Detroit. All of these communities have been hit hard by foreclosures, and most of these homes are being sold by the lenders that repossessed them.

Continue reading: CNNMoney.com

On Monday, Gordy and Universal Motown Records will launch the 50th anniversary of the iconic Detroit label, which includes an event Monday at the Motown Historical Museum featuring Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, city and state dignitaries and others. Monday will also be declared “Motown Day” by city and state officials.

Continue reading: The Detroit News

The second year of the ROTHBURY music festival is a go even as a complex bankruptcy case of the Double JJ Resort continues in court.

An agreement announced in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Thursday between the bankruptcy trustee and Double JJ lead creditor BankFirst will allow the popular music festival to be produced while the trustee attempts to sell the resort.

In the meantime, co-producer Madison House Productions Inc. of Boulder, Colo. received second-year approval earlier this week from the Grant Township Board of Trustees for the festival at Double JJ in southern Oceana County, township officials report.

“This is very good news,” township Clerk Bill Wagner said on Thursday. “We’re in support of having it return.”

Continue reading: mlive.com

The Treasury Department set a myriad of conditions on GM and Chrysler as part of their plans for survival, under which GM will get $13.4 billion and Chrysler, $4 billion. Those terms had not been fully disclosed until GM filed the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday.

The deal requires the UAW to accept by Feb. 17 a plan to lower wages and benefits for workers to match those of employees at foreign-owned U.S. plants by Dec. 31. It also requires the union to take half of the money it is due for a retiree health care trust fund in company stock, rather than in cash or company debt.

As part of the loan, the treasury defined several conditions that would trigger a default, including that “any labor union or collective bargaining unit shall engage in a strike or other work stoppage.” If the loans are in default, the treasury has the power to call them back immediately and force the automakers into bankruptcy.

Several coal or oil ash waste sites in Michigan and in Wisconsin and Indiana near the shores of Lake Michigan have contaminated nearby ground water and wells that threaten human health, according to a 2007 Environmental Protection Agency study cited by the New York Times.

A New York Times map shows some of the worst offending sites located in the center of the state and near the shores of Lake Michigan.

New York Times, January 7, 2009: Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t regulate the utility ponds because it doesn’t consider the coal ash hazardous material, although it can contain trace amounts of heavy metals.

Continue reading: mlive.com

Frustrated over groundwater contamination at her Fennville-area home, Kari Craton fired off an e-mail about the problem to environmental crusader Erin Brockovich.

It was a way to vent some steam after a day haggling with officials at Birds Eye, a national food processor based in Rochester, NY, and the suspected source of the arsenic, iron and manganese that has tainted wells of about 50 homeowners.

Two months later, the longshot letter appears to be leading Brockovich and her team of lawyers to take a closer look at a years-long problem in this Allegan County community.

Continue reading: mlive.com

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee and AEG Live have come to an agreement on the lease of Double JJ Resort next summer for the second year of the ROTHBURY Festival.

One possible glitch: Federal bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey R. Hughes must approve the camp-in, environmentally themed music festival at the Double JJ in a court ruling.

Financial problems led Double JJ to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after last July’s first ROTHBURY, which was by all accounts a commercial success and a popular hit. The resort is poised to be sold through the bankruptcy proceedings, but not in time for the 2009 version of ROTHBURY to be planned with a new owner.

Continue reading: mlive.com