Going up: GM shares up 10% despite $300 million loss. Going ... where? Ford reports $1.2 billion first quarter loss.

Earth Day Around Michigan

Earth Day ranges from yesterday to Saturday around the state. Here's a few articles to wander through before you head outside...

• EPA Selects Michigan Youth for Presidential Environmental Youth Award ... Kacy Hermans makes rain garden with Michigan wildflowers and plants (PR Newswire)


• Annual Port Huron fair focuses on ways to aid environment ... also looks at those who work year round on behalf of the Blue Water Area's environment (Times-Herald)


• Earth Day in Michigan: Room To Celebrate ... former DEQ director Russ Harding's thoughts (Mackinac Center)


• Students walk on the wildly endagered side ... C.A. Frost Environmental Academy students study rare species (Grand Rapids Press)


• Great Lakes Energy People Fund generates big grants ... northern Michigan utility generates over 70K by rounding up (TC Record-Eagle)


• Spring into action ... As Earth Day turns 36, see how to give a little back to your world (the HUB / Lansing State Journal)


• Keyword "Earth Day" ... from Absolute Michigan

Michigan's New Curriculum a (rare) Bipartisan Success Story

The Detroit News writes:

During an extraordinary bipartisan love-in Thursday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation giving Michigan one of the toughest sets of high school graduation requirements in the nation...

Those involved said the effort was successful because Democrat Granholm and Republican legislative leaders were able to tie the stronger education standards to the urgency of improving Michigan's struggling economy.

Read High school in Mich. just got tougher in the Detroit News

Read Governor Signs Bills Establishing Rigorous High School Curriculum from Michigan.gov

Focus on Hydrogen Fuel Cells

The Ann Arbor News has an in-depth feature that uses the hydrogen-fueled Ford Focus that has been loaned to the city of Ann Arbor as the springboard to discuss the very real obstacles faced by hydrogen fuel cell technology in Michigan.
Read There's something in the water in the Ann Arbor News

Read Earth Day Success Story - One Billion Dollars, 1.2 Million Miles and 60,000 Gallons of Fuel from the PR Newswire

Chef Touts Michigan Cuisine

The City Pulse has an excellent feature on Okemos chef and TV host Eric Villegas and the Michigan cuisine he is creating and promoting. Villegas, who also hosts the PBS show "Fork in the Road" says: "We have everything in Michigan - shrimp, ostriches, cranberries. This is the most diverse state in the nation. When you go to New York or Chicago, they're using Michigan products - they just don't tell you."
Read Michigan-loving chef has diners eating out of the mitten in the City Pulse

Fork in the Road web site

Restaurant Villegas

FCC Pulls Plug on Ypsilanti Pirate Radio

The Ann Arbor News reports that Johnny Danger's Depot Town Radio, an unlicensed, Ypsilanti-based pirate station that could be heard at 89.5 FM, was shut down this week, reportedly by the Federal Communications Commission. The low-power station began broadcasting in January and was apparently quite popular. Over at the ypsi~dixit blog, the station's operator pledged to return to broadcasting, legally and over the internet.
Read 'Pirate' radio in Ypsilanti is scuttled in the Ann Arbor News
Read community reaction (plus Capt. Danger comments) in Ahoy, Cap'n Danger! Still Afloat? at ypsi~dixit