Mark Brush

Spring storms are returning to the Midwest.

Warm air meeting cold air is often used as an explanation for how tornadoes form, but that's a "gross oversimplification" according to Roger Edwards of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

That's how many thunderstorms form, but most of those storms don't turn into tornadoes. Edwards writes, "the truth is that we don't fully understand [how tornadoes form]."

Researchers predict tourists will pump more money into the Michigan economy this year.

Tourism spending in Michigan went up by about 6 percent in 2012, and Michigan State researchers say the state should see a similar increase this year.

They predict a 5.5 percent increase in spending for 2013.

Michigan State University experts, Sarah Nicholls and Dan McCole, released their annual tourism forecast today at the Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Detroit.

More from an MSU press release:

Nicholls said The Henry Ford in Dearborn had a record year with visits up 25 percent, to 1.9 million. Visits to Michigan’s popular national parks – including Sleeping Bear Dunes, up 14 percent; Pictured Rocks, up 6 percent; and Isle Royale, up 5 percent – far outpaced the 1 percent average increase at all national parks across the country.

In the state’s hotel sector, 2012 saw the highest occupancy rates since 2000, added Nicholls...

“We can attribute these positive outcomes in 2012 to a combination of factors including the warm, dry summer and fall, a continued rebound in consumer confidence, relatively steady gas prices and the continuing influence of the state’s Pure Michigan advertising campaign,” Nicholls said.

Despite the positive trends, the researchers say something unexpected could change things. They're waiting to see how the economy will fare when the effects of the sequester budget cuts set in.

The researchers say Michigan fits well with many tourism trends occurring around the country.

The Palm Beach Times, ABC, the Guardian, UPI, the Examiner, even "Perth Now" covered the amazing story of Evie Branan.

The 79 year-old woman woke from a five-year semi-coma in the spring 2011 and said "I want to go to a Bob Seger concert."

Two years later, she got her wish. Here she is dancing at last night's concert with a little help:

From MLive's Sarah Schuch:

At 79 years old, Evie Branan still cheered, threw her hands in the air, shook her booty and rocked out the Bob Seger concert Thursday night.

She met Seger and his family, chatted with crew and band members and received VIP treatment at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Complete strangers recognized her after hearing her name or seeing her pushed through the halls of The Palace.

When she came out of the semi-coma in 2011, Branan wrote a letter to "whomever" looking for love.

"I'm full of pep. I like doing things. I love dancing," she said:

Branan lives at the Willowbrook Manor assisted living facility in Flint Township

The referendum effort to stop a wolf hunt in Michigan has been called "a radical agenda" by those opposed to it.

Now, new legislation introduced by State Senator Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) seeks to deflate that referendum drive.

The Michigan Legislature listed the wolf as a potential game species late last year. The group "Keep Michigan Wolves Protected" says they collected enough signatures to put the question in front of voters.

There are regular-old recalls, and then there are big recalls.

This recall fits in the big recall category.

Reuters reports four Japanese automakers are recalling 3.4 million vehicles sold around the world because of faulty airbags supplied by the Takata Corp.

The move announced on Thursday is the largest recall ever for airbags made by Takata, the world's second largest supplier of airbags and seatbelts. Shares of Takata tumbled almost 10 percent in Tokyo trading.

The recall is the largest since Toyota pulled back more than 7 million vehicles in October. The scale of the recent safety actions underscore the risk of huge global supply chain problems as automakers increasingly rely on a handful of suppliers for common or similar parts to cut costs, analysts have said.

Here's the problem with the airbags according to Toyota:

The involved vehicles are equipped with front passenger airbag inflators which could have been assembled with improperly manufactured propellant wafers.  Improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger airbag to deploy abnormally in the event of a crash.

The recall affects Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, and Mazdas manufactured in or after 2000.

Go to these links to find out if your vehicle is under recall:

Honda recalls

Toyota recalls

Nissan recalls

Mazda recalls

Former New York Times reporter, current Fox TV reporter (WJBK), and author  Charlie LeDuff appeared on Comedy Central's Colbert Report last night to promote his book Detroit: An American Autopsy.

When Colbert asked "what is the cause of death" in Detroit, LeDuff responded:

"White flight, black flight, business flight, job flight, we even have dead flight.”

"Dead people will not stay in Detroit?!"

"It's gotten so bad... people who grew up in Detroit and who now live out in the suburbs and are afraid of it - about 1,200 in the last five years - they've gone and got grandma, exhumed her, and brought her out to the suburbs to visit her."

Here's the video:

The Colbert Report
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Union activist and Highland Park school board member Robert Davis has been actively fighting emergency manager appointments in the state.

He's had some success arguing that the state's financial review teams must meet in public, but he's lost a recent round.

More from MPRN's Rick Pluta:

The Michigan Court of Appeals has dismissed a legal challenge to the state takeover of the Highland Park school district. Union activist and school board member Robert Davis claimed the takeover violated the Headlee Amendment to the State Constitution. The Court of Appeals said another court panel had already ruled against Davis on the same set of facts.

Davis was indicted last spring for theft.  Federal authorities say Davis sent fake bills to the Highland Park school district and pocketed more than $125,000. Davis says he's been fighting these accusations for years and says the indictment was based on information supplied by his "political enemies."

It has been one of the best selling cars of all time.

Since its inception in 1958, GM has sold more than 14 million Impalas (putting it in tenth place on 'best selling cars of all-time' lists).

It looked like this back then:

Today, the tenth version of the Impala is being made at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, and at the Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada.

Here's a photo of the new Impala rolling down the Oshawa assembly line:

The highways around Detroit are being used for displays of civil disobedience over the emergency manager law.

It started last month, and has carried to opening day.

MLive's Gus Burns writes that he was on his way to cover opening day for the Tigers this morning when he decided to tag along with the protestors.

The State of Opportunity team found this short animation put together by a campaign called "Mistakes Kids Make."

The campaign is described as a "storytelling project to remind us that the mistakes we make as kids should not ruin the rest of our lives." It's funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Take a look at the video here:

Start your calculations and predictions... will three lanes over the Zilwaukee Bridge be enough? Or are you better off taking a different route?

Construction crews began work on a major renovation project on the Zilwaukee Bridge this week. The project is expected to last through January 2015.

Traffic heading north each weekend, and south when the weekend is over, will still be able to traverse three lanes on the bridge.

Traffic is being rerouted along as follows:

Wednesdays - Saturdays

Two of the plants are in Michigan (Flint and Bay City), one in Toledo, and one in Bedford, Indiana.

The auto industry is working on squeezing more miles to the gallon out of the internal combustion engine, and that's what these investments are about.

The $332 million will go toward upgrading manufacturing plants to produce six and eight speed transmissions, small "Ecotech" engines, and a new V-6 engine.

GM recently announced that it will redesign, refresh or replace nearly 90 percent of its vehicles in the North American market between now and 2016.

In addition to the investments in Flint, Bay City, Toledo, and Bedford, IN, GM says it's also upping previously announced powertrain investments by $46 million. Plants in Romulus and Saginaw will see that investment.

From Ford's press release:

Since 2009, GM has announced nearly $1.8 billion of investments for the six Powertrain facilities.

“We are investing in technologies and manufacturing capabilities that produce high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles and components for our customers,” said Diana Tremblay, vice president of GM North American Manufacturing.  “Today’s announcement demonstrates GM’s commitment to growing the business and strengthening the plant communities where we receive so much support.”

GM says its investments won't lead to new jobs, but will retain 1,650 jobs at the facilities.

The plant in Flint will see the biggest investment. $215 million will be invested in the Flint Engine Operations plant for the 3 and 4 cylinder Ecotec gasoline engines.

Nathan Boomey of the Detroit Free Press reports Flint welcomes the news:

The investment marks a dose of good news for the Flint community after GM recently announced plans to shut down its Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center, displacing 343 employees...

“The investment we’re making is to obviously put in the required capacity or adjustment to the capacity to create more fuel-efficient products for our customers,” Jones said.

Boomey reports GM declined to reveal when the investments will occur, or what cars will receive the new engines and transmissions.

In their release, GM said the new "8-speed [transmissions] will be used in numerous GM vehicles by the end of 2016."

The public radio production Radio Diaries was recognized today with a George Foster Peabody Award for its production 'Teen Contender.'

The first-person diary followed Flint boxer Claressa Shields as she prepared for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The 2012 games were the first to allow women's boxing.

Shields won gold, by the way. Here is her Mom reacting to her win:

And here's a trailer for the radio diary that won the Peabody award:

And here's the diary itself:

The diary aired on NPR's All Things Considered in February 2012.

Running the country's largest wastewater treatment plant is not easy.

You've got to treat more than 700 million gallons of 'who-knows-what' every day.

In 1977, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department wasn't complying with federal Clean Water Act laws. That's when federal oversight over the department began.

That oversight ends today, according to federal judge Sean Cox.

From the blog DWSD Update: