At Kelly Services Inc., business is good — quite good. In Michigan alone last year, the global staffing company placed approximately 2,500 more people in positions than it did in 2010, spanning industries and all lines of Kelly’s business: temporary help, temp-to-hire and direct hires. There’s been steady, increased demand for Troy-based Kelly’s services as […]
Prospects brighten for Mich. heavyweights
Posted inBusiness Watch
Housing, office furniture still under economic clouds
The economic signs are encouraging; company financials have improved. But some sectors of Michigan’s economy still are navigating bumpy terrain. Office furniture production has climbed up from a 2009 trough, but, after seeing gains in 2010 and 2011, U.S. production is expected to drop 2 percent this year, then rebound in 2013, according to one […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Time to discuss radical options for Detroit
Most of the sound and fury enveloping Detroit these past few weeks has been about the near-bankrupt city’s immediate financial survival, whether via a consent agreement between the city and the state or, failing that, an emergency manager. No one doubts Detroit is in terrible financial shape. The reported annual operating deficit is near $270 million. There’s […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful” — Samuel Johnson, 18th century English essayist. * In our increasingly “yes/no” political world, let’s start off today with a thought experiment about “maybe.” Settle in. What if you were told the Legislature and governor just enacted bills to increase […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan's map of LUST
There are approximately 9,100 underground storage tanks in Michigan (LUSTs in environmental parlance) leaking fuel into the surrounding soils and water. While more than 13,000 such sites have been cleaned up over the years, Michigan’s current backlog is the second-largest in the nation. Half of the current sites fall under the responsibility of the state — and the […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Gang takes over parks — and tidies them
Tom Nardone’s father was an Elk in Wakefield, Mass., and spent time, as Elks do, in the Elks Hall. His son assumed his dad went to the club mostly to have a place to drink with his buddies. “I didn’t know the money they spent there went to children’s charities,” he said. “It never occurred […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Real truth in sentencing could save really big prison dollars
By Richard Stapleton/Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending Ultimately, the least expensive prisoner is one who isn’t there. While the prison population has dropped by about 8,000 over the last five years, the Michigan Department of Corrections’ projections anticipate no further decline. But the projections assume the status quo on policies. Those assumptions can […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform: Back to the drawing board
What would you do if you could reform Michigan’s welfare system? That may be a question state leaders are asking today, after Michigan’s massive welfare reform was thrown out in court. Calling it an “end-run around the Legislature,” a Genesee County Circuit Court smacked down a Department of Human Services policy that knocked between 11,000 […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Pure Michigan equals pure gold
About 50 years ago, an Illinois senator reportedly quipped, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” In 2012, in the world of Michigan tourism, the days of “a billion here” and “billion there” have apparently arrived. A newly released study of the impact of the state’s famous Pure Michigan […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child” — George Bernard Shaw, British playwright * Starting July 1, the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association fee, levied to cover medical costs from auto accidents as part ofMichigan’s auto no-fault insurance regime, will go up $30, to […]