FBI probe latest in setbacks for Detroit
DETROIT (AP) — Auto industry cutbacks, double-digit unemployment and one of the nation’s highest home foreclosure rates have left Detroit with a dreary economic future.
Now, a mayoral text-messaging sex scandal, federal investigation into a City Council-approved $47 million sludge recycling deal, and poorly run and deficit-plagued public school system have dashed inroads toward respect and reopened Detroit to outside ridicule.
‘‘When we’re out doing business and trying to get customers we sometimes get asked ’You’re from Detroit? What’s going on there?’’’ Compuware Corp. senior vice president Jason Vines said. ‘‘As taxpayers and residents, it has to be disheartening. When your city is used as a public joke, it’s not good.’’
Detroit, like most major cities, is no stranger to scandal. Former City Council members, and even a police chief, have been indicted, arrested or imprisoned.
But the current political crisis threatens to bury the city deeper in an eco
Rail line between Ionia and Lowell being shut down
IONIA (AP) — After more than a century of use, a railroad line between Ionia and Lowell is being shut down.
Once an area rail hub with two depots and two train lines running through, an era en
Man injured by firework
PORT HURON (AP) — Authorities say a 51-year-old man was critically injured when he was struck in face by a mortar-type firework while a group of people was setting off illegal fireworks in Port Huron
» Full StoryTwo children fall out window
IONIA (AP) — Authorities say an 18-month-old boy and a 2 1/2-year-old girl were injured after falling from an open second story window of an apartment in Ionia and landing on the sidewalk.
Th
Rosa Parks collection up for sale
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Arlan Ettinger will never forget the response he got when he took one of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks’ hats to a meeting at the Apollo Theater in New York.
‘‘It was a
Is this the future of automobiles in the United States? GMC Gets small
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. is considering a new Chevrolet mini car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic shift from trucks to cars linked to high gas
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