NEW YORK -- Stocks have ended the day sharply higher after a better-than-expected reading on the gross domestic product and a drop in jobless claims gave investors some reassurance that the economy is holding up.

The Commerce Department says the GDP rose at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter. And the Labor Department says the number of newly laid off people seeking jobless benefits fell for the third straight week.

Continue reading "Stocks jump on better-than-expected GDP, jobs data" »

WASHINGTON -- In an unusually aggressive move, Stryker Corp. is resisting an ongoing federal investigation into whether the company illegally pushed sales of its replacement knees and hips.

Stryker says government investigators have issued "oppressive" demands for internal memos on how the company develops, markets and sells its products. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court of New Jersey, Stryker has turned over more than 300,000 pages to the Department of Health and Services in response to two subpoenas issued earlier this year.

Federal inspectors are probing whether the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company billed the government's Medicare program for false expenses and whether the company paid surgeons kickbacks to use its products, according to Stryker's complaint.

Continue reading "Stryker pushes back against government inspectors" »

LANSING -- A water bottling company has won approval from state regulators to complete construction of a well and pipeline in Osceola County.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says Nestle Waters North America's proposal meets permitting requirements. Regulators previously have determined the project isn't likely to adversely affect surface or groundwater resources.

Greenwich, Conn.-based Nestle plans to withdraw 150 gallons per minute from an aquifer in the county 70 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Continue reading "Water bottler wins approval for pipeline in Mich." »

National City Corp.'s monthly index of Midwest small business confidence rebounded in August after steadily declining for four months.

The index for Michigan went in the opposite direction, declining this month after moving upward in July, and is again the worst among seven Midwest states.

Continue reading "National City index dips for Michigan, rises for Midwest" »

JOLIET, Ill. -- General Motors Corp.'s top product executive says the race between GM and Toyota to produce a rechargeable car is meaningless because the companies' vehicles are so different.

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz says Toyota's plug-in hybrid has a much shorter electric range than the Chevrolet Volt and must use a gasoline engine to go any farther.

Toyota's president pledged on Thursday to bring his company's plug-in hybrid to market in 2009, while the Volt is due in showrooms in late 2010.

Continue reading "Lutz says no hybrid race between Toyota, GM" »

DETROIT -- Dr. Herbert Smitherman nervously monitors the city's fluctuating unemployment rate and sinking economy.

As one of about 750 Wayne State University Medical School physicians, he looks at the deluge of job cuts in Detroit's auto, manufacturing and other industries and sees even more people lining up for health care they can't afford to pay.

Doctors at the urban medical school -- working primarily through the Detroit Medical Center -- are feeling the financial and academic strain of treating 70 percent of the city's estimated 200,000 uninsured residents.

Continue reading "Urban medical schools feel weight of uninsured" »

The founder of Michigan State University's neurology department will lead the neurosciences program at Saint Mary's Health Care in Grand Rapids.

The university and health system today announced the appointment of David Kaufman, D.O., as medical director for neurosciences at Saint Mary's Health Care.

Kaufman will lead physician recruitment and oversee the program at Saint Mary's and its Hauenstein Center neurosciences hospital that opens next year, while maintaining his role as department chairman at MSU's College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Continue reading "MSU, Saint Mary's alliance leads to appointment" »

Here's a shocker: People are more apt to buy cars that they actually like. Cars that look cool, have nice interiors and have up-to-date engineering. Hmmm. Who'd have thunk it?

Yes, the new Saturn Vue has sweet styling, a cool sculpted interior and has General Motor's best V-6 engine as an option.

The Vue is just the latest evidence that GM is on a roll. GM's design renaissance started with the beautiful Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky roadsters. Last year, the sharp Saturn Aura won all sorts of awards. The Saturn Outlook/GMC Acadia were very good and the Buick Enclave is simply drop-dead gorgeous besides being almost perfectly executed.

Continue reading "General Motors builds vehicle that should attract buyers: The 2008 Saturn Vue Hybrid" »

Energy Conversion Devices Inc., the parent company of solar laminate maker United Solar Ovonic, said Thursday it closed its fiscal 2008 with rising profits and revenues on operational improvements and stronger gross margins.

The Rochester Hills-based company [Nasdaq:ENER] said it earned $9.9 million, or 24 cents a share, for the fourth quarter ended June 30. That compares with net income of $7 million or 17 cents during the third quarter and a net loss of $13.1 million, or 33 cents, during the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company also has operations in Greenville.

Continue reading "Energy Conversion Devices closes FY2008 on rising profits, sales" »

GRAND RAPIDS -- Spectrum Health plans to enlarge and enhance the helipad atop Butterworth Hospital in downtown Grand Rapids where two people narrowly avoided serious injury in the crash of a medical helicopter.

The health system's Aero Med helicopter service hasn't used the helipad to fly patients in and out of the hospital since the May 29 crash.

Officials said Thursday they hope to resume using the site by early November.

Continue reading "GR hospital to resume using helipad post-crash" »

DETROIT -- Greektown Casino in Detroit has added about 600 slot machines as part of its $500 million expansion.

The casino said Thursday a 25,000-square-foot expansion of the gambling floor is complete. The casino now has more than 2,600 slot machines.

An additional 400 machines are expected to go online in late November when renovations to the casino's VIP room are finished. Two new lounges and a restaurant also are expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Continue reading "Greektown Casino expands, adding 600 slot machines" »

McLaren Health Care Village in Independence Township leads commercial construction projects in Oakland County for 2008 and is, by any standard, a massive project.

With first phase costs of more than $100 million, and total costs as high as $600 million, the facility could be as large as 1 million square feet.

Nearly as impressive as its sheer size is the fact that when the project broke ground in July 2007, it had only been a year since McLaren Health Care had acquired Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center. And less than two months after the groundbreaking at the Independence Township 79-acre site, McLaren made news when it acquired POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac.

The rapid expansion is part of McLaren's model, which led the health care group to achieve on average 20 percent revenue growth for the past 20 years; 2007 revenues were $3.6 billion.

Continue reading "McLaren Health Care Village leads Oakland '08 projects" »

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota is lowering its global sales target for 2009 to 9.7 million vehicles -- down from an earlier 10.4 million vehicles.

Toyota has already trimmed its global vehicle sales plan for this year to 9.5 million vehicles from the previous 9.85 million.

Continue reading "Toyota lowers 2009 global sales target" »

DETROIT -- With U.S. sales continuing to decline, a top Ford Motor Co. executive said he expects to see more Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers willing to consolidate with others, speeding up plans to thin their ranks nationwide.

The automaker outlined its forecasts and product lineups for the Lincoln-Mercury dealership council this week so dealers have the best information possible before making decisions, said Ken Czubay, the new vice president of sales and marketing for the domestic brands.

"The industry forces have been bearing down on the entire industry dealer network," he said. "Frankly in the last four or five months it's been very challenging to our dealers."

Continue reading "Ford exec sees dealership ranks thinning" »

Two weeks ago Ascribe was being used to showcase construction projects in a dozen states. Last week use of the software had spread to 15 states.

The subscription network service may be growing quickly because there's nothing else like it, as far as owners Jason Carpenter and Doug Huyser of Classic Labs in Grand Rapid know. It works something like an Internet social network for construction projects.

Continue reading "Software boosts construction projects" »

With the banks off its back for the time being and a proposal to cut its debts from $411 million to $267 million, Grand Rapids-based X-Rite Inc. [Nasdaq: XRIT] saw its share prices nudging upward last week. From a low of $1.10 per share in May, common shares were pushing $4 August 22. The company also announced it expects to hit $5 per share for the year.

If shareholders approve, the transaction is expected to close in the company's fourth fiscal quarter.

Continue reading "Color tech co. X-Rite aims to switch red ink to black" »

The medical supply industry is helping to keep construction and real estate companies off life support as they seek new facilities for growing businesses.

An old Cracker Barrel restaurant building in Walker will make way for the fifth BioLife Plasma Services donation center in Michigan and the third in the Grand Rapids area.

Continue reading "Medical expansions continue to boost construction and real estate" »

If the prospective clients had the money to do it, Jim Medsker figures his business would generate a lot more revenue than it does today.

A principal at Keystone Product Development, Medsker has seen people approach his firm with good ideas that he believes could become products. They just can't get the capital they need to take it toward commercialization.

Continue reading "Financing tomorrow's economy now" »

Seeing the potential to gain much more business, Edward Jones & Co. is proceeding with an aggressive expansion of its footprint in the Grand Rapids area.

After opening nine offices in the last 12 months, the St. Louis, Mo.-based financial services firm is planning another 42 offices within five years, taking its Grand Rapids-area market presence to 100 locations.

Continue reading "Edward Jones plans to grow Grand Rapids presence" »

He knows he's repeating himself. But David Van Andel believes it's a message that needs repeating: Staying the course and maintaining a commitment is essential for Michigan to continue building life sciences as a larger economic sector.

"As we said from the get-go, this is a long-term play. This is not something that is going to happen overnight. This is a 10- to 20-year horizon for us to be in that game and be doing this thing at the level we had hoped to get to," said Van Andel, chairman and CEO of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, which his late parents, Jay and Betty Van Andel, founded 12 years ago.

Continue reading "Van Andel: Consistency matters in life sciences" »

As the number of LEED-certified projects continues to grow in Michigan, keeping up to date with the latest sustainable practices can be a challenge for Realtors.

By 2010, the green-building industry will be worth $60 billion, according to the 2008 SmartMarket Trends Report from McGraw Hill. The Greening of Corporate America report projects that 80 percent of corporate America is expected to be engaged in green at least 16 percent of the time, and 20 percent will be engaged in green 60 percent of the time.

Continue reading "Realtors doing their homework: Studying green" »

Special: Oakland's Top 10 commercial construction projects
• Paula Gardner: Largest commercial projects indicate optimism
• The biggest projects: McLaren Health Care Village tops list

A few years ago it seemed impossible to drive more than five miles in Southeast Michigan without seeing construction cranes and buildings of all types - office, industrial, retail and public - going up.

But today, the market is more fragile. Oakland Business Review staff writer Carol Marshall recently asked a panel of industry experts to talk about the construction market, especially where it's hot and where it's not.

Continue reading "Oakland County construction panel: health, schools, energy-related projects to remain strong" »

Eastern Michigan University - an institution plagued in recent years by a series of presidential missteps, communication blunders and even tragedy - is scrambling to get back on its feet.

Despite a host of negative publicity, the university is positioned to play a "critical role" in helping Michigan's economy get back on track, said new EMU President Susan Martin.

"Our graduates stay in Michigan, particularly in this region," Martin said. "And if there's anything the state needs right now, it's a more educated workforce, getting jobs and staying in Michigan. Eastern is a critical player in that."

EMU - which has nearly 2,000 employees, some 23,000 students a $262.7 million budget - is one of the county's biggest landowners, employers and budgetary operations.

Continue reading "New President Susan Martin: Eastern Michigan University will play a 'critical role' in Michigan economy" »

New state regulations targeting repetitive-stress injuries on the job would require more employers to offer ergonomic training and work to correct reported injuries.

The proposed rules, outlined for two regulatory panels Monday, would impose new costs on already hard-pressed Michigan, critics say, while supporters call them a reasonable response to growing concern about workplace injuries.

Continue reading "New state regulations on repetitive-stress injuries would cause extra work for employers" »