The University of Michigan is poised to strengthen its role as a national leader in solar energy technology after landing a 5-year, $19.5 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The White House has named U-M one of its 46 “Energy Frontier Research Centers” — collaborative research efforts designed to generate breakthrough alternative energy technologies.

U-M researchers, led by Peter Green, will pursue new technology designed to improve the efficiency of solar materials, which are used in photovoltaic solar panels and geothermal technology.

Business Review first reported last month that the university was among 260 applicants vying for EFRC funding delivered through the DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Continue reading: mlive.com

The gray wolf is no longer classified as endangered or threatened in Michigan.

The Department of Natural Resources announced Monday the wolf has been removed from the state’s endangered species list. The move follows the U.S. Department of Interior’s earlier decision to drop wolves in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota from its list May 4.

Read more: mlive.com

The mystery donor who stunned colleges across the country with anonymous donations totaling more than $60 million in recent weeks has struck again — this time in Michigan.

Michigan State University announced today it received a $10 million cash donation from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous — the only requirement is that $7 million of it be used for financial aid and scholarships for MSU students.

…two Michigan colleges are among at least a dozen universities to receive large donations in recent weeks. All came through a third-party banker who would not reveal the identity of the donor. All the colleges so far seem to share one common thread — they are led by women.

Reading the entire article atThe Detroit News website

A three-square-mile section of Grand Rapids will become a huge art gallery this fall as a third generation DeVos throws out his idea for breathing new life into the city.

You will walk past storefronts, public buildings, the riverfront and parks. Everywhere you look there will be art. The area will be Leonard Street to the north, Wealthy Street to the south, College Avenue to the east and Straight Avenue/Alpine Avenue to the west.

Up for grabs will be the world’s largest art prize — $250,000 for the winner.

Artists from around the world and from every medium will display their work. The Internet will play a huge role. Word of the event is spreading by way of social networks and blog Web sites.

And you, the public, will get to vote using computers, phones, PDAs and other devices.

Source: WOODTV.com

Michigan’s still-proud park system is sliding into disrepair, a casualty of state budget cuts, eroding attendance and vanishing funding sources.

Unless reversed, the decline threatens to turn away visitors and close some of the parks. That would endanger not only the state’s quality of life and economic development, but also tourism, one of the state’s leading industries.

One estimate is that half of the state parks and recreation facilities are in bad condition. The Department of Natural Resources has more than 200 infrastructure projects that would cost a total of $341 million and only $2 million earmarked annually to make emergency repairs to deteriorating facilities

Continue reading: The Detroit News

On our Northern Lights Log Crystal writes:

Was up between Pinconning and Standish about an hour ago (midnight) and despite the more than sporadic cloud cover I got to see some of the Aurora. The displays were so strong that it was showing through even the thick clouds. Unfortunately I was with some non-enthusiasts and my viewing might have lasted two minutes at best.

Non-enthusiasts?? Who could be non-enthusiastic about the aurora borealis????

Michigan is receiving $236 million under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan to upgrade municipal water and sewer systems, part of a long-range effort to restore the Great Lakes, officials said today.

The money will boost the state’s effort to reduce sewage overflows, a leading cause of water pollution in the lakes region, said Steven Chester, director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

“It allows us to give financially strapped communities essentially free funds, even better than the low-interest loans we can provide,” Chester said in a phone interview. “The timing is perfect. It’s great for water quality and will also generate jobs.”

Continue reading: LSJ.com

A Kalamazoo-area man who won $10,000 in the Michigan Lottery’s Club Keno game has donated his winnings to a charity.

Soon after winning the money on March 11, Jim Dancy of Richland decided others needed it more than he did. So he gave it all to the Greater Kalamazoo United Way.

“I was heavily influenced by my close friend Julie, who taught me to think of others first, and to stop and think about what life is really about. I know the needs in the community are great right now, so for me it was the right thing to do,” Dancy said in a statement released by the Michigan Lottery.

Continue reading: msnbc.com

A key issue in the battle over a proposed nickel mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will remain unresolved, for now.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked for another extension to evaluate the status of the Coaster Brook Trout and decide whether it belongs on the endangered species list. Environmentalists from the Marquette area have raised concerns about the potential impact of Kennecott Minerals’ planned mine on the nearby Salmon Trout River.

The river is the last spawning ground for the Coaster Brook Trout, and opponents of the mine believe the fish’s existence could be threatened if the project advances. In 2006, the Sierra Club Mackinac Chapter and the Huron Mountain Club filed a petition with the federal government asking for the trout to get endangered species consideration.

Continue reading: The Detroit News

A new film studio in Allen Park hopes to start posting job opportunities within weeks and promised today to offer training in media-related skills to out-of-work Michiganders.

Hollywood entrepreneur Jimmy Lifton, a native of Southfield who heads the Unity Studios project, said his Lifton Institute of Media Skills will implement “one of the largest retraining programs in the state’s history.”

Enrollment and tuition details were being finalized, and a Web site address for the training program and job opportunities will be created when construction begins, possibly as early as next month.

Until the Unity Studio’s Web site is up in a few weeks, potential job applicants can visit the Allen Park Web site at http://www.cityofallenpark.org and leave contact information under jobs bank.

Continue reading: Freep.com

Jennifer Granholm has been governor, or, more correctly, playing one on TV, for more than six years now. So let me start by naming her greatest accomplishment since she took office: 000000.

Sigh. Yeah, I know. There hasn’t been one. True, other people would have done worse. She is not malevolent, or evil. She apparently has good values, and would stand up for them and try to get something accomplished … except that it might make someone mad.

Her real tragedy — and even more so ours — is that she is fundamentally unsuited to govern. She is highly intelligent and educated, but is afraid to make difficult decisions. When she does, with great reluctance, make them, she seldom follows through.

Continue reading: Metro Times

Monday night, in front of 72,922 people at Detroit’s Ford Field, the North Carolina Tar Heels fulfilled almost every preseason prognosis and became the NCAA men’s basketball hoops champs. The Heels dominated this tournament, leading by double digits for a staggering 154 of the 200 minutes they played.

But shed no tears for their vanquished foes from Michigan State. The Spartans finished a surprise run to the finals that singed every nerve ending in the state. They played two games in three days in front of tens of thousands of adoring hometown fans and millions around the country rooting for them to cut down the nets.

Something more substantial than a basketball contest was taking place. It was rooted in the economic insecurity and hardship not of one state, where unemployment is listed conservatively at 12 percent, but of an entire country.

Continue reading: The Nation

Michigan grows a third of all U.S. blueberries, but an increase in global production and imports from South America are threatening to drive prices down sharply for this year’s crop.

About 150 million tons of blueberries are now in storage nationwide, said Carlos Garcia Salazar, a small fruit specialist for the Ottawa County Michigan State Extension office. That’s about double the normal amount for this time of year.

Fresh blueberry prices were above $2 per pound in 2007 and 2008, but this year they will be closer to $1.30 a pound. A pound of processed blueberries could drop from $1.63 to below $1.

Continue reading: mlive.com

Michigan honey prices were up 20 percent last year to $1.43 per pound. That hike came as production increased about 13 percent from 2007 to 5.2 million pounds, nudging the state’s national rank from ninth up to seventh.

Prices normally drop when production goes up. But growing demand for local products and natural ingredients are inflating U.S. prices, industry leaders say.

Continue reading: The Grand Rapids Press

The two dozen or so gray wolves that wander an island chain in northwestern Lake Superior are suffering from backbone malformations caused by genetic inbreeding, posing yet another challenge to their prospects for long-term survival, according to wildlife biologists.

Although confirmed only recently, the problem apparently has been festering for decades in the small, isolated packs in Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. The abnormalities, also found in some domestic dogs, can cause pain and partial paralysis while limiting the range of motion so crucial for predators in the wild.

The discovery raises the ethically thorny question of whether scientists should try to dilute the gene pool by introducing wolves from elsewhere, said researchers with Michigan Tech University in Houghton, which hosts a 51-year-old study of the island park’s wolves and moose.

Continue reading: msnbc.com

A year ago next Tuesday, April 7th marks one year since Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the film incentive package that provides up to 40% percent refundable or transferable tax credit for projects in Michigan, with an additional 2% available for projects in core communities.

According to a Michigan State University economic impact study, the incentives brought 32 projects (including “The Steam Experiment”), creating 2,763 jobs and creating $65.4 million in revenue to the state in 9 months of 2008 (since the incentives were signed in April). Of that, $25.1 million was spent on direct wages and salary and $40.3 million was spent on Michigan goods and services.

Researchers estimate total production expenditures will grow 187% over the next four years (2008 to 2012) based on the experiences of Louisiana and New Mexico, who passed similar, but lower incentives in 2002. Both states continue to experience year over-year growth in total in-state production expenditures.

Continue reading: WOODTV.com

When selecting the best raccoon carcass for the special holiday roast, both the connoisseur and the curious should remember this simple guideline: Look for the paw.

“The paw is old school,” says Glemie Dean Beasley, a Detroit raccoon hunter and meat salesman. “It lets the customers know it’s not a cat or dog.”

Beasley, a 69-year-old retired truck driver who modestly refers to himself as the Coon Man, supplements his Social Security check with the sale of raccoon carcasses that go for as much $12 and can serve up to four. The pelts, too, are good for coats and hats and fetch up to $10 a hide.

While economic times are tough across Michigan as its people slog through a difficult and protracted deindustrialization, Beasley remains upbeat.

Where one man sees a vacant lot, Beasley sees a buffet.

Continue reading: The Detroit News

Detroit could become a center of locally grown food and put large swaths of vacant land back on tax rolls under a proposal to create the city’s first large commercial farm.

Businessman John Hantz of Detroit, in an exclusive interview with the Free Press, unveiled his plans for Hantz Farms — a concept that would convert hundreds, even thousands, of vacant parcels in the city into urban agriculture.

Offering jobs and an ability to produce fresh fruits and vegetables locally, Hantz Farms could help Detroit “become a destination for fresh, local and natural foods and become a major part of the green movement,” Hantz said.

Detroit already is home to hundreds of smaller community gardens. But Hantz’s proposal is the first to envision large-scale commercial farming.

Continue reading: Freep.com

The remains of the steamer the Joseph P. Farnan, which was lost in an inferno on Lake Michgian in 1889, have been discovered, a shipwreck research group announced today.

The ship, which had been abandoned 17 miles west of South Haven, was discovered last year, according to Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, which is based in Holland, Mich.

The organization said today that it worked with noted author Clive Cussler’s National Underwater and Marine Agency in making the discovery.

Continue reading: mlive.com