Gaylord (Otsego County Airport) set a record low of -26 degrees this morning ... raise your hand if you're glad you decided to skip that flight.

Proposed Michigan Business Tax Changes Announced
The Detroit News reports that Gov. Granholm presented a major business tax reform plan yesterday. The proposed tax shift calls for a cut in the Single Business Tax and a reduction in the alternative tax paid by small business. The state would lower payroll tax (weighted more toward profits), allow credits for plants, equipment and research and development, and hike taxes on insurance companies.

Ann Arbor Folk Festival - This Weekend
The Detroit Free Press has a feature detailing the lineup for this weekend's Ann Arbor Folk Festival (the Ark's major fund-raiser, held at Hill Auditorium January 27th & 28th). The lineup includes the Indigo Girls, Lansing's Steppin' In It, Keb' Mo, David Jones and many more.
The Ark web site

Special State School Board Meeting on Watkins' Future
The Lansing State Journal reports that the state Board of Education has a special meeting this weekend to discuss the future of State Superintendant of Schools Tom Watkins. Gov. Granholm has called for Watkins' resignation, but the 8 member board (which appears evenly split) has sole authority.

Honeypot Spam Traps
We may be crossing the line of what is Michigan news with this one, but since Michiganians have email & web sites and suffer from spam, we'll go with it. detrit Free Press tech columnist Mike Wedland has an article on Project Honey Pot. The system generates e-mail addresses that are captured by email harvesting "bots". When the address is spammed, the spamming server is identified and cut off.
Project Honey Pot web site

Michigan Economy Lost Ground in 2004
The Michigan Business Activity Index (compiled by Detroit based Comerica Bank) gained 2 points in December, to close at 108 for 2004, compared with a revised 106 reading in November. This was slightly down from 2003 (114, 2.2%).

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