President Bush on Friday signed a long-debated compact designed to prevent Great Lakes water from being sent to thirsty areas while requiring the region's eight states to regulate their own water use.

It was the final step in a nearly decade-long quest to strengthen legal protections against diverting water from the system consisting of the five lakes, their connecting channels and the St. Lawrence River.

They contain nearly 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water and supply eight states and two Canadian provinces, which have a combined population of roughly 40 million.

Continue reading: WOODTV.com

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For any doubters to the notion of auto-dependent Michigan becoming a future biotechnology destination, perhaps two separate but related events of the past week may alter their perspective.

First, a California biotech company developing new genetic tests announced it's buying the Center for Molecular Medicine in Grand Rapids amid plans for a future new lab that may create up to 523 jobs by 2013.

The next day, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry's trade association unveiled a report in Michigan detailing the number of new drugs under development in America.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, or PhRMA, chose Michigan as the spot to release its report to highlight the state's growing role in the industry.

Continue reading: West Michigan Business Review at mlive.com

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A federal court Monday overturned the Bush administration's decision to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with environmental groups that accused the government of misreading the law last year when it lifted federal protections for about 4,000 wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

It was the second setback in a week for the administration's campaign to return management authority to state officials in the two regions where the wolf has rebounded after being driven to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states.

Continue reading: WOODTV.com

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For the sixth year in a row, Michigan's state Christmas tree will come from the Upper Peninsula.

The Mining Journal of Marquette reports a 65-foot spruce from Marquette County's Richmond Township has been chosen as this year's tree.

The towering tree is set to be harvested Nov. 6. It will travel south to Lansing, where it will be erected and lit later in the month.

Ninety-year-old George Miljour says he's happy to donate the tree because he's worried it might fall onto his house in a strong wind.

The official Michigan Christmas tree must be a spruce or fir, stand at least 65 feet tall and meet other requirements.

Source: The Mining Journal

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People nationwide will see Michigan's woodlands and coastlines next year, without having to travel farther than their TV sets.

That's because the state's Pure Michigan Campaign will unleash a barrage of promotion nationwide next spring, including cable TV ads in all 50 states, thanks to an increase in state funding for tourism promotion. Members of Michigan's tourism industry say that marketing the state nationally will help boost its slumping economy.

The state will spend $30 million on the campaign in the 2008-09 fiscal year, up 71 percent from $17.5 million this year.

Tourism, Michigan's third-largest industry behind manufacturing and agriculture, hasn't received the same level of state support as the other two, said Steven Yencich, president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association.

Continue reading: Traverse City Record-Eagle

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Close to extinction two decades ago, the Kirtland's warbler has recovered to the point that the tiny songbird is staking out new territory in the Upper Midwest, biologists said Monday.

The latest annual census turned up 1,791 singing males, the most since monitoring of the endangered warbler began in 1951, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reported.

It's generally assumed there is a female for every singing male, which would put the population at roughly 3,582.

The warbler hit a low point in 1987, when only 167 singing males were found.

Continue reading: Battle Creek Enquirer

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