On a lighter note and since it is Friday I put together a list of some “April Fools” you might need to be aware of here in Michigan. Don’t get taken in by them now, you hear?

Jennifer Granholm personally solves the state budget crisis by selling the U.P. to Canada.
State highway workers eliminate all [...]

With crummy state news leading newspaper headlines across the state I thought I would just fore go commenting on the bad and show some of the good of our beautiful state. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is home to numerous breathtaking views and Doug Modlin put together some great pictures in a slide show and added [...]

Funny, but they gave the same estimate for growth last year. More money was spent on advertising Michigan as a tourism destination and guess what? The number of tourists in 2006 remained flat - it was pretty much the same as 2005.
Since the results were so good last year (sarcasm here folks) Michigan [...]

The 2007 Michigan Notable Books author tour runs April 5 through May 24. The tour encompasses just about every area of the state giving Michigan residents a chance to meet the authors of the 2007 Michigan Notable Books.
19 of the authors are participating in the tour this year for book signings and discussions. [...]

Back in July of 2006 I wrote about a possible amusement park being built in Grayling. I found an interesting article written by Diane S. Katz and James M. Hohman for the Mackinaw Center for Public Policy that debates the merits of our state subsidizing such things as amusement parks.
Axiom Entertainment, the force behind [...]

Some ambitious Michigander took the Red Hot Chili Peppers song, “Especially in Michigan,” and footage shot around Grand Rapids and created this really neat music video. The video is right around four minutes long and is basically a virtual tour of Grand Rapids with music.
Pretty neat!

If the video player does not work you can [...]

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum plays host to the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival this weekend (March 24). The event celebrates the stringed-instrument history and legacy of Kalamazoo. Guitars have been produced in Kalamazoo for over a century, but Kalamazoo was also home to banjo, basses, ukuleles, mandolins, and other stringed-instrument production.
The event runs from 10 [...]

Picture yourself walking across the floor and sitting on a chair at your kitchen table. Now imagine that the floor, chair, and table are all made from cow manure!
Sound gross?
Researchers at Michigan State University are currently working to use the fiber from processed and sterilized cow manure in place of sawdust in fiberboard. [...]

Stamps will cost $.41 instead of $.39 and a “forever” stamp has been introduced. The “forever” stamp can be purchased at the new $.41 rate and will be valid against future increases. Unfortunately (for businesses that heavily rely on shipping - like us) they also raised their rates across the board for everything [...]

Last year at this time Michigan gas prices were averaging $2.57 per gallon. As of this today, the average price is $2.46. However, here in southwest Michigan I haven’t seen anything below $2.59 yet today.
Prices were in the $2.43 range over the weekend and then jumped $.13 this morning. Why? You [...]