From 1982 through 1988, the Formula 1 circus included the mean streets of Detroit, Michigan, among its annual stops.

“The racial diversity of the city attracted me,” he said. “Gay people live in all parts of Oak Park. It’s a very accepting city.”

“We have a Jewish community, a Chaldean, African-American, and other significant communities, and they don’t know each other,” he said. “The cultures never work with each other.”

Maybe it’s because Detroit once rivaled Chicago/Toronto/New York in economic power that locals feel the incessant need to compare it to those places. Pick three of the best cities on the continent, and most cities are going to pale by comparison. But we actually come a good bit closer than some. One day, try comparing Detroit to Boise, South Bend, or Waco (though I’m sure they have their charms, too).

The Detroit Regional Chamber and the Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce in Ontario, Canada unveiled a joint venture to boost the business profile of the shared border by establishing an International Business Builder program for members of each business group.

Businesses with 100 or fewer employees can buy an International Business Builder membership for $150 (USD) and receive cross-border networking and advertising benefits in each of the respective chambers of commerce.

The combination is irresistible: Great food and music, funky clothes, and fun stuff for kids. The 2007 Comerica Cityfest in Detroit has it all as it kicks off Wednesday and ends July 8. Best of all, admission is free.

Free music includes Spoon, Cheap Trick, the Wailers, Weird Al Yankovic, Yo La Tengo, Lupe Fiasco, and Bobby “Blue” Bland plus a jazz and blues stage and stages that feature Detroit bands including the Hard Lessons and Detroit Cobras. At least two Toledo acts, Dooley Wilson (July 7 at 6 p.m.) and Polka Floyd (July 8 at 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m.) will perform.

Toward 11 p.m. the line grew to nine people willing to wait all night and all day to get their hands on an iPhone.

Wendland set up a lawn chair at the AT&T store in Shelby Township. He’ll be there till he gets a phone — or they run out. Today, he’ll blog, from the line, shoot a video and report on WDIV-TV Local 4, the Free Press’ reporting partner.

About 10,000 visitors from around the world will descend on Detroit this weekend for the North American Bengali Conference in a vivid display of how Michigan’s immigrant communities have turned the region into a global meeting place.

The four-day conference is expected to be the second biggest convention in Detroit in the past year and the latest to be held in the region by ethnic communities, joining Mexican, Yemeni and Hmong national conferences in recent months. It’s a trend that regional leaders say metro Detroit can tap into in order to help grow the struggling region

The city plans to switch its normal light bulbs in its downtown street lights to LED lights over the next three years. The change will cost $640,000 but is expected to pay for itself over the 4.2 years in energy savings.

Oakland County identifies health care as one of 10 emerging sectors that will lead its economy into the future, and Beaumont has become perhaps the county’s greatest partner in that pursuit. The health system lended much-needed support to Oakland’s biotech initiative when it sent David Felton, Beaumont’s director of medical research, to Sweden.

A midyear look at the area’s office market shows it’s flat overall with a gradually improving vacancy rate for most sectors

M-Bots Inc. is currently producing its first batch of small, mobile robots that can help police and military officials conduct early reconnaissance more efficiently.

In December, four Detroit punk bands and their fans gathered at the 2500 Club, a small downtown punk watering hole where the bands performed live in an effort to raise money for the fight against cancer. At midnight Thursday at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, you can see the event on the big screen in the film “Punks vs. Cancer.”

Soul Revival: Detroit soul legend Nathaniel Mayer, who had a Top 40 hit in the early ’60s with “Village of Love” and then hit the comeback trail a few years back, is set to release his fourth full-length disc, “Why Don’t You Give it to Me?,” on Aug. 21 on Alive Records.

Some basic facts you’ve probably heard:

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