News

By WKAR

BURLINGTON, IA – The Lansing Lugnuts beat the Burlington Bees yesterday afternoon, 6-5, at Community Field. The Lugnuts have one more game at Burlington tonight at 7:30, then take Tuesday off before starting a series at home against the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING, MI – President Obama is expected to talk about his healthcare reform plan Tuesday in Macomb County. He'll use Michigan as an example of why drastic reform is necessary.

AUDIO:
Michigan's hospitals and physicians face increasing pressure to treat uninsured patients. That's because as the number of people unemployed goes up, so does the number of uninsured.

By Scott Pohl, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will be in Charlotte for a public forum Monday.

Secretary Vilsack's rural community forum in Charlotte is part of the Obama administration's ongoing rural tour.

He's expected to talk about the USDA's efforts to rebuild rural America.

Projects associated with the stimulus legislation known as the American Renewal and Reinvestment Act will be highlighted.

By AP

LANSING, MI – Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is taking her campaign for green technology to the governor's residence.

A wind turbine has been erected and solar panels will soon go up. There's also a new sprinkler system that saves water by taking weather and what's planted into account and a small area of the garage roof covered with sedum as a green roof demonstration.

By Rob South, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – A local group that wants to make Lansing's streets more accessible to bikers and walkers is getting closer to its goal. It hopes to change the city's street and traffic plans to include bike paths, and more pedestrian friendly roads and intersections.

Jessica Yorko is with Walk and Bike Lansing. She says the first step of the plan would be to create a detailed map of where changes are needed.

By AP

DETROIT, MI – A leaner General Motors has emerged. The automaker is making a quick exit from bankruptcy, hoping to make money and build cars that people are more eager to buy.

The new GM is cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans. The U.S. government owns a majority stake, although the Obama administration says it has no plans to run the automaker.

The new GM also emerges amid the worst sales slump in a
quarter-century.

By Mark Bashore, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – On Friday, General Motors announced its emergence from bankruptcy protection. CEO Fritz Henderson says the new GM will build more cars and trucks that consumers want and launch them faster than in the past. Here in Lansing, the automaker builds six different vehicles, half of them Cadillacs at its Grand River facility. To learn more about the outlook for Cadillac, WKAR's Mark Bashore spoke on Friday with Cadillac General Manager Steve Hill.

By AP

DETROIT, MI – DETROIT (AP) - General Motors has emerged from bankruptcy protection.

CEO Fritz Henderson says today the new GM will be far faster and more responsive to customers than the old one, and it will make money and repay government loans faster than required.

Henderson says the Detroit automaker completed its 40-day stay under court supervision far faster than anyone thought it could. He says it will repay about $50 billion in government loans ahead of a 2015 deadline.

By Scott Pohl, WKAR News

LANSING, MI – The Lansing State Journal is laying off 26 employees in the latest round of payroll reductions being instituted by the paper's owner, the Gannett Company. None of those laid off are reporters, but the paper says that virtually every other department is affected.

The layoffs from LSJ media include positions at the Gannett-owned Lansing Community Newspaper weeklies, specialty publications and web sites. There also is a reduction in hours for two positions.

Most cuts should be completed this week.

By WKAR

DAVENPORT, IA – It took 21 innings and five hours and 21 minutes, but the Quad Cities River Bandits swept the Lansing Lugnuts in a doubleheader last night at Modern Woodmen Park. The Bandits won Game 1 in 10 innings, 2-1, before stunning the Lugnuts, 4-3, in the 11-inning nightcap. The Lugnuts wrap up their three game series with Quad Cities tonight at 8 p.m.

By AP

UNDATED – UNDATED (AP) - The Detroit Tigers are opening a three-game set against the Cleveland Indians after having a day off. The leaders of the American League Central will attempt to make it six straight wins over the last-place Indians tonight at Comerica Park.

By AP

AUBURN HILLS, MI – The Detroit Pistons have picked Cavaliers assistant John Kuester as their new head coach.

Kuester was on Larry Brown's NBA championship-winning staff in Detroit five years ago.

Pistons president for basketball operations Joe Dumars fired rookie coach Michael Curry on June 30. Curry led Detroit to a 39-43 regular-season record and a first-round playoff loss to Cleveland.

By Scott Pohl, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – Another round of layoffs reportedly has begun at the Lansing State Journal.

According to the City Pulse newspaper, seven people have been given layoff notices so far. The paper reports they include Circulation Director Diana Kennedy and Controller Mike Wieber. In addition, four have been laid off from the circulation department, and another from the business department.

The State Journal laid off 31 people last December, and 13 in August of last year.

By Mark Bashore, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – $50,000 in federal stimulus money is coming to the MSU Museum.

AUDIO:
The funding is intended to preserve jobs threatened by the recession.

Julie Avery is the museum's acting director.

"This $50,000 will go directly into, um, jobs in our museum that focus on traditional arts and cultural history," she says.

By Gretchen Millich, WKAR News

EAST LANSING, MI – A bookstore on Lansing's east side is looking for volunteers to help convert the store to a member-owned cooperative.

Scott Harris opened "Everybody Reads" on Michigan Avenue three years ago. He carries a wide selection of books geared toward readers outside the mainstream - and offers special projects, including movies, spelling bees, and Spanish and Braille lessons.

Now, Harris wants to turn the store into a non-profit organization, similar to the East Lansing Food Co-op.

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING, MI – A new Epic MRA poll shows Michigan citizens think funding should be cut for the state Legislature rather than for state police and K-12 schools.

AUDIO:
State legislators will return to Lansing next week and hash out budget disputes after a two week summer recess. On the table for discussion are proposed cuts to the amount of money per K-12 student and the elimination of Michigan Promise college scholarships.

By Gretchen Millich

Lansing, MI – A bookstore on Lansing's east side is looking for volunteers to help convert the store to a member-owned cooperative.

Scott Harris opened "Everybody Reads" on Michigan Avenue three years ago. He carries a wide selection of books geared toward readers outside the mainstream - and offers special projects, including movies, spelling bees, and Spanish and Braille lessons.

By AP

LANSING, MI – The U.S. secretary of agriculture will be in Charlotte Monday for a forum with rural residents.

Tom Vilsack's visit is part of a White House tour sending Cabinet secretaries across the country to hold discussions on how communities, states and the federal government can work together to help strengthen rural America. The tour kicked off last week.

By AP

DETROIT – The state-appointed overseer of the cash-strapped Detroit Public Schools is meeting with a retired U.S. bankruptcy judge.

School district emergency financial manager Robert Bobb and his team are meeting in an informational session with retired Judge Ray Reynolds Graves.

Bobb wants to get information regarding Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Bobb said late last month the district's financial situation is so bad it may have to file for bankruptcy.

By AP

AUBURN HILLS, MI – The Detroit Pistons have called a news conference to announce their new head coach, who's expected to be Cleveland Cavaliers assistant John Kuester.

The announcement will be made Thursday in Auburn Hills.

A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the team was near an agreement with Kuester. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal wasn't done.

Kuester was on Larry Brown's NBA championship-winning staff in Detroit five years ago.