GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Community Media Center will start a “new chapter” under a new executive director following months of internal dissension involving previous leadership. 

A Q&A with La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

BATTLE CREEK — The top executive at Kellogg Co.’s largest shareholder sees opportunity for greater growth and earnings under the Battle Creek food manufacturer’s transformation into three separate publicly traded companies.

Like virtually every other sector, Michigan’s life sciences industry faces a key obstacle in trying to attract and retain talent, many of whom are leaving for opportunities out of state. 

Ateam of Grand Valley State University researchers has set out to catalog and measure the economic effects of more than $300 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding being dispersed across four West Michigan counties.

CASCADE TWP. — West Michigan Tier 1 automotive supplier ADAC Automotive Inc. has named a company outsider and industry veteran to replace longtime President and CEO Jim Teets.

A mobility app for people with disabilities is experiencing strong growth since launching commercial operations in West Michigan two months ago, and now is considering expanding its services to more communities and health care providers.

For more than two years, global supply chain disruptions have delayed orders of the ubiquitous semiconductor chips found in products as diverse as home appliances, video game consoles and high-grade weapons. The small but integral components manage the flow of electric currents of devices in an exponentially electrified world.

ZEELAND — A West Michigan formula producer will import roughly 331,000 pounds of infant formula base powder this month from a facility in Mexico to be blended, packaged and redistributed.

Legislation similar to bills that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed in 2020 involving the taxation of commercial solar energy developments was reintroduced this summer with changes to gain broader support from local governments.

Multiple highway corridors through West Michigan would land high-speed electric vehicle charging stations in the coming years under a plan submitted last week for federal infrastructure funding.

The trade group representing more than 15,000 Michigan physicians is raising concerns for its members following a state Court of Appeals ruling allowing county prosecutors to pursue criminal charges in most abortion cases under a 1931 law.

Asmall West Michigan custom automation provider is doubling in size as manufacturers struggle with worker shortages and seek to introduce less labor-intensive components to their operations.

Armed with new data on economic security, education and health outcomes, nonprofit officials hope an array of policy changes enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to address children’s and families’ needs are made permanent.

HOLLAND — City of Holland voters heading to the polls next week will determine whether to allow the city to bond for up to $30 million to build out a publicly owned, fiber broadband internet network.

ZEELAND — Tier 1 automotive supplier Gentex Corp. has received roughly $11.2 million in state grants and tax incentives for a $300 million expansion project that started in January and could create up to 500 jobs when it’s completed at the end of next year.

PORT SHELDON TWP. — Consumers Energy’s recently approved plan to shut down the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Ottawa County in 2025 has caused a breach of contract dispute between the utility and another electricity provider.

Katherine Peretick was appointed to the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2021 for a term that expires in 2027. In that time, Michigan and other states are transitioning through a crucial moment for the energy and utility industries as hulking, centralized fossil fuel plants are displaced by clean energy technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Statewide business advocacy groups are raising alarms over a Tuesday court ruling that determined state lawmakers in 2018 illegally watered down ballot initiatives that would have strengthened the state’s minimum wage and paid sick leave requirements.

Grand Rapids-based economic development nonprofit People First Economy has helped launch a statewide campaign advocating for voting rights and access initiatives.

COVERT TWP. — Southwest Michigan economic development officials are hoping to lure new employers to the region to help offset the job losses from the retirement of the Palisades nuclear power plant along Lake Michigan.

The Michigan Nonprofit Association is gearing up to help oversee a new $50 million grant program included in the latest state budget to help small nonprofits recover from pandemic-related losses.

CASCADE TWP. — Family-owned plastic injection molding manufacturer Cascade Engineering Inc. recently sold a major unit focused on commercial trucks and buses to an Indiana company.

Michigan energy regulators have reopened a case involving Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline and the company’s request to build an underground tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac, calling for more information on the line’s current and future safety.

The city of Grand Rapids’ sale of nearly 12 acres to the countywide entertainment authority to develop a riverfront amphitheater has been delayed at least six months as additional designs are completed, MiBiz has learned.

Michigan added more energy-sector jobs than any other state in 2021, boosted primarily by the automotive industry and growing attention to hybrid and electric vehicle models.

As Michigan emerges as one of the top cannabis markets in the U.S., industry experts and operators still face the growing pains of a sector with high barriers to entry and increasing consolidation.

GRAND RAPIDS — A major economic development project to build a 12,000-capacity amphitheater along the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids has secured $30 million in state funding.

State officials have approved a $7.5 million loan for the redevelopment of the former McCamly Plaza hotel in downtown Battle Creek that’s being led by an affiliate of the city’s economic development arm.

BHSH System has reinstated its policy of performing abortions in “medically necessary” situations roughly 24 hours after saying it would only do so if the mother’s life was at risk.