WYOMING — Booking Holdings Inc. is downsizing its global workforce, and the move is being felt in West Michigan.

This is the MiBiz growth report for September 13, 2020.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a new executive order clarifying an issue that was lingering over competitive sports across the state.

Three of four key activity indexes for West Michigan’s industrial economy improved in August, furthering the economic rebound of recent months from a deep decline last spring with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-home orders.

LANSING — State officials have reached a $35.2 million settlement with a company that will fund the cleanup of underground petroleum pollution at 79 sites statewide, including more than a dozen in Southwest and West Michigan.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued an executive order allowing gyms and pools statewide to reopen on Sept. 9 while also greenlighting competitive sports with caution.

Four tribes in Michigan have been awarded nearly $1 million each from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Here is the MiBiz growth report for August 31, 2020.

Economic conditions for Michigan and across the U.S. should keep improving through 2020 and into 2021, according to recent outlooks.

HOLLAND — Business leaders and elected officials in Holland say the city’s recently approved anti-discrimination ordinance codifying protections for the LGBTQ community will be beneficial for retaining and attracting talent.

It’s more than fitting that Bill Stough was the inaugural inductee into the West Michigan Sustainable Business Hall of Fame in 2014 — he has been a driving force in the sustainable business movement both in West Michigan and throughout the state. Stough’s passion for sustainability dates back to 1979, when he joined the West Michigan Environmental Action Council. More recently, Stough served as a founding member of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and just wrapped up his role as president of Sustainable Research Group, which he founded and sold to Grand Rapids-based energy consultancy Foresight Management. Stough is now self-employed and recently reflected on his “long and extremely satisfying career.”

Retailers recorded further improvement in sales for July, as Michigan’s economy rebounds from the deep spring decline resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and state stay-at-home orders.

Grand Rapids-based law firm Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC plans to complete the acquisition of Lusk Albertson PLC, a Detroit law firm focused on the education sector, on Aug. 31.

GRAND RAPIDS — Waséyabek Development Co., the non-gaming economic development arm of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Indians, continues to build out its portfolio of companies with the acquisition of a Muskegon-based manufacturer. 

BRIMLEY — The Bay Mills Indian Community views the marijuana industry as a key way for the tribe to diversify its economy, which has been devastated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Indian Country Media LLC is partnering with MiBiz Inc. to launch a new niche business publication. 

PORTAGE — The Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport is among more than a dozen U.S. airports where American Airlines plans to suspend service in October because of low demand and a lack of additional federal pandemic relief.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has released $60 million to help disadvantaged students access learning devices, wireless internet, mental health services and other remote learning materials as school districts return with a mix of in-person and virtual instruction.

GRAND RAPIDS — A food vendor at Gerald R. Ford International Airport has notified state officials that 84 temporary furloughs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may become permanent layoffs by Oct. 15.

Superintendent Leadriane Roby took the helm at Grand Rapids Public Schools roughly three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and was immediately thrown into an immersive process with district staff and students’ parents over how exactly the district would function at the start of the 2020-21 school year.

Sam Gregoire went from college student to small business owner within a few months, driven by the reality that many K-12 schools wouldn’t be returning to in-person instruction this fall.

Husband and wife duo Chris and Stephanie Keenan have spent more than two decades building a sports business outfitted with multiple revenue streams.

Birgit Klohs plans to retire Jan. 31, 2021 after more than three decades of leading The Right Place Inc. Klohs, whose tenure at The Right Place started in 1987 and covered the terms of five Michigan governors, has been at the table for several major economic development initiatives and projects in the Grand Rapids area, often working to drive collaboration and partnerships among various parties that included private and public interests. As she prepares to depart and as The Right Place searches for a new leader, Klohs spoke with MiBiz about her role and how economic development has changed.

LANSING — Four Michigan tribes have been granted permission to participate in a regulatory case involving plans to tunnel the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, giving three of them an opportunity to formally assert their treaty rights this way for the first time.