October 15, 2013
All airlines are the same — except for their people
As you may know, I’m a regular flyer — about 200 flights a year. The flights are mostly on major airlines, but because I’m more interested in flying non-stop than earning travel miles or points, I take whatever airline is most convenient for my schedule. This past Friday, I found myself flying Alaska Airlines from […]
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Change Ups: GRCC dedicates Meijer Center
Grand Rapids Community College recently unveiled its Meijer Center for Business Studies. Located on the second floor of the college’s Main Building, the center features three computer labs with double projection images and one “learn lab” with triple projection images and powered tables for laptop use; two break-out small group work spaces and one large […]
More public transit — except buses — on road to privatization
LANSING — Most public transit agencies across the country contract with private firms to provide some services and operations, a new federal study shows. A survey by the General Accountability Office found that local agencies across the country are most likely to contract out for paratransit services for disabled riders, dial-a-ride and commuter rail service. […]
Planned giving isn’t restricted to wealthy families
While planned giving might seem like a cumbersome process, estate-planning attorney Jeffrey Beswick said it is often simpler than people would expect. Beswick, an attorney at Varnum in the firm’s Grand Haven office, noted that while some estate planning requires more sophistication, it can also be as simple as naming a beneficiary designation on a […]
AFP strives to create environment of mentoring, networking & training
If a community wants to grow, businesses and nonprofits need fundraising. So the question is: Who’s doing the fundraising in Grand Rapids? The answer is where groups such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals come in. The global organization, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010, aims to foster the “development and growth of fundraising […]
Grant funds children’s cancer research
Milan’s Miracle Fund presented a check for $52,219 to Spectrum Health’s Helen DeVos Children's Hospital Foundation in October to support research for children with cancer. Milan’s Miracle Fund was founded by Philip and Sharyn Capobianco of Ada to honor the life of their daughter Milan. The 8-year-old was in the second-grade at Ada Vista Elementary […]
GR Community Foundation enjoys financial bump
One of the area’s top foundations saw some investments pay off in 2012. The Grand Rapids Community Foundation enjoyed asset growth of more than $26 million — from $249 million to $285 million — thanks, in part, to a better-than-expected return on investments. The foundation raised a little more than $18 million from the community […]
Long-term economic outlook better for West Michigan
Growing very slowly, but growing. That’s the latest word on the West Michigan economy, according to the data collected during the last two weeks of September. New Orders, our closely watched index of business improvement, flipped back to positive at +6, up from August’s -4. The Production index also turned positive at +2, up from […]
Public Record
Selected mortgages filed with Kent County Register of Deeds ATSMA PROPERTIES LLC, Mercantile Bank Of Michigan, Cascade Twp., 9-6-10, $152,500 ATSMA, Henry Trust et al, Mercantile Bank Of Michigan, Byron Twp., 18-5-12, $525,000 STUCKHARDT, Ryan et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Rolling Acres Estates No. 5, Lot 65, $215,300 RUSH, Michelle et al, Mortgage Services […]
Cross-border transactions demonstrate need for analysis
I spent the last week of September in Canada attending the BDO Canada tax conference. The discussion centered on cross-border business transactions and planning. After all, Canada is just behind China as the largest U.S. trading partner. Canada is now the largest source of U.S. energy imports, and the importance of the Keystone pipeline is […]
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Inside Track: Robinson likes being able to change lives
Jamiel Robinson is a busy man who is trying to make a difference in the community, but someday he hopes to live up to the example set by his grandfather. Robinson said that, before the properties were sold in 2005 by his uncle, his grandfather, Ronald Robinson, practically owned the block of Division Avenue south […]
Firms tout GR as ‘hot city with cool lawyers’
In an effort to increase recruitment of minority and female attorneys, the Grand Rapids Bar Association and the 12 law firms that are part of the Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative have launched a web-based marketing campaign focused on Grand Rapids as a place for work/life balance. GRabLAW is a website that includes testimonials from women […]
Marketing Michigan to China
As Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan business and trade delegation reflect on their recent trip to China, the strategy for how to get results is evolving. Snyder is smart to put China on his list of priorities for the state. With rapidly increasing disposable income, Chinese have resources and an appetite for travel as […]
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Surging auto sales a 25th birthday present for Autocam
Making precision parts for high-pressure direct fuel injection systems on automobiles is what drives the growth of Autocam, now celebrating its 25th year, and every time the price of gasoline goes up, it probably adds fuel to that growth. Autocam is “hiring relatively rapidly,” said CEO John Kennedy, with the last batch of new employees […]
Autocam and Obamacare make national news
Autocam got a burst of news media coverage recently when the U.S. Court of Appeals denied John Kennedy’s legal challenge to Obamacare, which will require his self-insured company to provide coverage to employees for birth control and other medical forms of contraception. Kennedy is a Catholic and says Obamacare will force him to go against […]
City millage proposal for parks and pools earns support
City of Grand Rapids voters will find a millage proposal on the Nov. 5 ballot, a request that would raise taxes by 0.98 mills (approximately $3.66 per month to the average homeowner) for the next seven years. The Business Journal finds the issue compelling for a comment of support, especially given the sustained efforts of […]
Developer gets two key agreements from city
The building owner that greeted ArtPrize visitors with “Hi” banners hanging from its structures during the 19-day ArtPrize got the “high” sign from city commissioners just two days after the event ended. CWD Real Estate Investment, which hung those banners from its Goodspeed, Trust, Trade Center and other downtown buildings, got the green light from […]
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Students enjoy international flavor
Beginning Thursday, Oct. 17, two-member student teams from Grand Rapids, Barbados, Canada, Mexico and Scotland will compete in the Nations Cup, a three-day international culinary competition hosted by Grand Rapids Community College’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. GRCC has presented the event every other year since 2005. Each participating country chooses its student team through […]
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Varnum marks 125th year with plans for growth
When Robert Montgomery and McGeorge Bundy founded a law firm in the Ledyard Building on Ottawa Avenue NW in Grand Rapids in 1888, they likely had no idea what they had started. Now, 125 years later, Varnum is one of the largest law firms in the state, with more than 150 attorneys, offices in Novi, […]
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Pharmacists anticipate start of flu season
Meijer has announced that its pharmacists expect to administer 40 percent more flu shots this season than last. Meanwhile, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which keeps tabs on flu reports from around the nation, has had to suspend that work pending a resolution of the funding impasse in Congress. Meijer attributes its […]
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Kate Pew Wolters earns philanthropy award
One of the reasons Grand Rapids is continually referred to as a generous city is because of people like Kate Pew Wolters. Wolters, president of the Kate and Richard Wolters Foundation, as well as a member of the Steelcase board of directors and chair of the Steelcase Foundation, is a busy lady when it comes […]
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Flour is King in Lowell
(As seen on WZZM TV 13) King Milling Co. will start production in its newest mill on its complex in November, bringing the total potential production capability at its Lowell facilities to 16,650 hundredweight of flour. In other words, 1,650,000 pounds of flour. Every day. Motorists often see King Milling’s bulk tank semi-trailers full of […]
Spectrum Health study shows new option for epilepsy treatment
A recently published study by researchers at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit suggests that surgery may be an effective treatment for epilepsy in older patients, a finding Spectrum says runs counter to conventional treatment methods. “Traditionally, there has been a tendency to exclude older patients from surgery for fear […]
Medical manufacturers are making investments
Three local manufacturers that serve the medical industry to varying degrees are asking for tax breaks, and each will tell its particular story to city commissioners next week. Two are making new investments, while one will report that it over invested on an approved abatement. First, Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing is adding a second location. […]
GROW may not be the only loan arranger
If the Grand Rapids Economic Development Corp. can make it work, there will be two. The city’s EDC decided last week to create a three-member committee to explore whether it should become an intermediary for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s microloan program. “I think it’s a good idea,” said Terry Nicholas, EDC chairman. Nicholas will […]
Street Talk: That cheering was from the Michigan Chamber
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce celebrated last week as it announced the anti-fracking group in Michigan failed to get enough signatures to put its proposal on the ballot next year. The chamber said its statewide campaign “to protect Michigan’s energy future” worked, as proponents seeking to ban hydraulic fracturing in Michigan gathered only 27 percent […]
