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« Detroit News Roundup for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 24-26, 2007
» Detroit News Roundup for Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Detroit News Roundup for Monday, August 27, 2007


Detroit For All Ages

Ah, here comes the weekend. Not just any weekend, mind you. But one of those special cluster of days that begins early in the week and lasts until the following Monday.

In other words, a Detroit-style, packed-with-one-of-a-kind events and parties for kids of all ages kind of weekend. Yup, it’s Labor Day in Detroit. A signal that the summer is almost gone, kids are heading back to school, but fun is still on the agenda.

Let’s start off on a Tuesday with Elizabeth Mitchell performing at Ladels. First off, what’s Ladels? It’s a new, independently owned kids’ bookstore in Corktown next to Eph McNally’s Deli. This is not the first big event at the little shop. They’ve had a series of children’s tea parties and of course the requisite Harry Potter bash since the June opening.

[via Model D]

Detroit lands shot on “Making the Band” group

Robert Curry of Detroit has made the band.

After initially tricking fans of the popular MTV Making The Band series, music mogul Sean (Diddy) Combs held a live season finale of the 4th installment on Sunday and announced the 5-man line up for his new R boy band.

Curry attended Kettering High School and graduated from the Detroit School for the Fine and Performing Arts.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Restaurant planned for Jewel Heart building-The Ann Arbor News

In a deal that took more than a year to finalize, a group of partners led by restaurant and real estate investors Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell bought the historic Sudworth Building in downtown Ann Arbor from Jewel Heart last week.

The duo — who own 2Mission Design and Development — plans to open a restaurant called Blue Tractor Cook Shop there, adjacent to the Cuban eatery Habana under construction next door in the old Cafe Shalimar space.

By October, Jewel Heart — a Tibetan Buddhist learning center — will move to a temporary location. It’s still searching for a new permanent home here for its worldwide headquarters, said president and founder Gehlek Rimpoche.

[via MLive.com]

Firestone dedicates new Belle Isle playground

There is plenty of summer left for kids to try out a new 2,700-square foot playground, donated to the City of Detroit by Firestone as part of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix Initiative. The playground was dedicated on Belle Isle last Friday.

Located near Picnic Shelter #1, the playground has four swing-sets, monkey bars and a slide among other equipment. Perhaps its most unique component is the ground-surface material. Manufactured by Bridgestone Firestone and called Flexi-Pave, it is impact-absorbing like the surface of most new playgrounds but it is also environmentally-friendly. Made from recycled tire, the surface material is porous so ; rainwater does not run off it.

[via Model D]

Marathon May Spend $1 Billion on Detroit Refinery (Update1)

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Marathon Oil Corp., the biggest refiner in the U.S. Midwest, may spend $1 billion upgrading its Detroit refinery to handle heavy Canadian crude oil.

A decision on the expansion is expected in the fourth quarter, Linda Casey, spokeswoman for Houston-based Marathon, said today in a telephone interview. The project, which would create 135 jobs and require about 800 construction contractors, could begin “the end of this year or the first of next,” with completion in 2010, she said.

It’s more jobs than the proposed BP refinery expansion will bring in Whiting, Indiana, which will lead to much more pollution in Lake Michigan.
[via Bloomberg]

Oh, my! I’m one of you now

And when people ask me, “Why’d you move here?” — as if there isn’t a Belle Isle or a Hart Plaza or an Eastern Market or a Canada or a Mosaic Youth Theatre or a ’GPR or an Urban Organic or a new Y downtown or good kids or great educators — I tell them that I wouldn’t have moved here if I didn’t think I could enjoy living here.

And I have.

When people ask, “What’s it like in Detroit?” I know they’ve heard about the bad, the ridiculous and the overhyped, so I tell them about the good.

[via Detroit Free Press]

Spend ‘3 Days in the D’ This Labor Day Weekend and Win a Funjet Vacation

Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Detroit International Jazz Festival and Chrysler Arts, Beats & Eats attendees will have the chance to win a Cancun vacation for two on Funjet Vacations, including airfare for two on USA 3000, plus a three-night stay at the all inclusive Riu Caribe Resort.

Entry cards will be available at each event’s official “3 Days in the D” information booths. Get your card stamped by at least two of the three weekend events for your chance to win the big prize.

Vacation in Detroit in order to vacation in Cancun? Something ain’t right. I mean, who wants to visit Cancun when the weather is nice right here? ;)
[via Earthtimes.org]

Land preservation groups band together-The Ann Arbor News

Local land-preservation groups are formalizing a long-standing agreement to cooperate on preservation efforts with a group called Preserve Washtenaw.

An informal collaboration among local private trusts and taxpayer-funded preservation programs, the group has chartered members and is open to all organizations that acquire properties for permanent protection.

[via MLive.com]

Tourism industry seeks $30M in annual funding

LANSING Bill in hand, Michigans tourism businesses are ramping up a grassroots effort to convince lawmakers to provide annual promotional funding.

Last weeks introduction of a bill that would earmark $30 million annually in state sales taxes to fund tourism marketing will be followed by e-mails, phone calls, letters and other legislative contacts to pass a measure backers say will keep Michigans tourism promotion competitive with other states.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

No dancing around the Ultra issue

That question could be answered for two area night spots this fall when a federal trademark infringement lawsuit pending for almost 16 months goes to a summary judgment hearing before U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani in Detroit.

Posh Entertainment Inc., which operated Posh Nightclub & Ultralounge in Ferndale, sued Eton Street Restaurant Inc., operating Big Rock Chop House in Birmingham, with Gotrocks Ultra Lounge on its second floor.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

QuatRx preps for IPO or acquisition

Ann Arbor-based QuatRx Pharmaceuticals Co., which has raised more venture capital than any company in Michigan since the National Venture Capital Association began keeping records in 1980, says it plans to go public or be sold by the end of next year.

President and CEO Robert Zerbe said the $44 million the company raised in May will fund operations until then, but that investors do not want to do another venture capital round, which would dilute their equity.

[via Crain’s Detroit Business]

Westland lobbies for Amtrak rail station

WESTLAND — Two state lawmakers say the city is in good shape to land one of the coveted spots along a proposed rapid transit line from Detroit to Ann Arbor.

State Rep. Richard LeBlanc, D-Westland, and Sen. Glenn Anderson, D-Westland, say the city’s proximity to Detroit Metropolitan Airport is an asset that makes a now-vacant 300-acre swath along Merriman a prime location for a stop.

Anderson said he envisions a complex with retail, such as coffee shops and restaurants, nearby.

Wayne, as well as Inkster, also want stations. Wayne has by far the most developed downtown right by the tracks along Michigan Ave.
[via DetNews.com]

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« Detroit News Roundup for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 24-26, 2007
» Detroit News Roundup for Tuesday, August 28, 2007