Business

There’s a lot of arguing lately about building a new bridge to Canada.

But this week, one Michigan community is celebrating a milestone for its international bridge.

On Halloween, 1962, the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie opened.   

Since then, more than 93 million vehicles have crossed the nearly three mile long bridge.   About seven thousand vehicles cross the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie on an average day.

The bridge is jointly managed by the state of Michigan and the government of Canada.

The city of Flint is hosting a conference this weekend which to look at ways to transform the city.

The Congress for Urban Transformation is bringing activists, artists, urban planners and others to Flint.   The conference is looking at a variety of ways to reclaim Flint, from urban agriculture to improved city planning.

Rob McCullough is the local program coordinator. He says they are looking at new ways to reclaim Flint’s industrial sites and hard hit neighborhoods.

TITTABAWASSEE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Mid-Michigan's MBS International Airport has unveiled its $55 million passenger terminal.

The Midland Daily News reports  that political, community and business leaders gathered Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the airport in Saginaw County's Tittabawassee Township.

The 75,000-square-foot steel and glass terminal was completed a year ahead of schedule. It's expected to handle its first departing flights on Wednesday.

Battle Creek-based cereal maker Kellogg has agreed to pay a big fine for violating the federal Clean Air act.

The violations occurred at Kellogg plants in Battle Creek and Grand Rapids.   The government cited the cereal maker for operating without necessary permits and exceeding federal emission levels.

Some of the violations date back to 1993.  The most recent violation took place in 2007.

Co-owners of Barfly Ventures Mark and Michele Sellers wanted to thank their employees for working their tails off during ArtPrize. So they designated Tuesday as employee appreciation day; whatever alcohol they sold would be split among the employees.

But before they opened, Mark Sellers got a call from the liquor control commission. Turns out, the state doesn’t like servers having an incentive to sell lots of alcohol, and it’s against the law.

“I can’t really be too mad at them because they gave us a courtesy call in advance and told us ‘hey don’t’ do this or you’re going to get in trouble’. It’d be like if a police officer called you and told you to slow down or he’s going to give you a ticket,” Mark Sellers said.

So instead of alcohol sales the Sellers’ will give their employees the food sales, not for just one day but three. They’ll pool the money from food sales at all three Grand Rapids establishments (HopCat, McFadden’s, and Stella’s Lounge) and split the total among all employees; cooks, servers, busboys, managers, and even HopCat’s official “chief beer geek” I met a couple weeks ago.