GRAND HAVEN -- The West Michigan Lakeshore Association of Realtors has selected a Grand Haven real estate agent as its 2008 Realtor of the Year.

Realtor Linda Crouse received the association's highest award for her leadership and service to the organization, community and real estate profession. Crouse is an associate broker with Keller Williams Realty in Grand Haven.

Nominees for the Realtor award are chosen by their peers and evaluated on community service, education, business accomplishments and contributions to the local, state and national organizations.

Crouse is the current chairperson of the Multiple Listing Service Board of Directors and is a charter member of the Lakeshore Women's Council. In the community, Crouse raises money for the American Cancer Society and is active in the Central Park Players Community Theater.

The Lakeshore association represents Realtors in the Holland, Grand Haven and Muskegon real estate markets.

Wall Street is in shambles. The economy stinks. And you can't seem to go two minutes without hearing about the presidential race.

For Justin Helsley, manager of Spirit Halloween at the Lakes Mall, Halloween couldn't come at a better time.

"The way I see it, there's never been a better time to dress up and forget your problems," Helsley said. "People need to escape."

With Halloween less than a month away, costume stores, including Spirit Halloween, are setting up shop, offering costumes that range from cheap to frighteningly expensive, like the $700 Darth Vader suit.

Continue reading "Get in the holiday Spirit Gallery" »

WASHINGTON - The government's $700 billion rescue, aimed at rebuilding economic confidence, appeared to sound a global alarm instead on Monday, triggering a fearful international sell-off as the U.S. began work on a plan that investors feared would be too little and too late to stave off a worldwide recession.

As markets around the world tumbled amid fast-spreading anxiety, officials in Washington worked quickly to put the new financial plan into effect and to shovel more money into the banking system.

Continue reading "Rescue plan disappointment contributes to sell-off" »

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- When Mark Cormier was looking for a new location for his car audio retail store 21 years ago, he settled on a site on Miller Road in Flint Township.

"At the time, this was the retail area of Flint," Cormier said. "This is where you came to grow your business."

Today, the Miller Road location of Duke's Car Stereo is one of Cormier's top selling stores, continuing to succeed even as the once bustling commercial corridor has changed.

Since January, the township has lost 84 businesses, many of them medical offices and mall shops. Others included restaurants and retailers.

Continue reading "Flint Township commercial corridor loses 84 businesses -- so far this year" »

NEW YORK - Oil prices plunged below $90 a barrel Monday, coming within reach of year-ago levels as a widening financial maelstrom spreads overseas and crimps global demand for energy.

A barrel of oil has not been this cheap in eight months, suggesting that the climate in which oil soared to unheard of levels is coming to an abrupt end.

Continue reading "Oil prices fall as financial turmoil goes global" »

NEW YORK - The jammed credit markets barely budged Monday as governments around the world scrambled to prop up their failing banks and investors waited for details on how, exactly, the Treasury will go about buying $700 billion of U.S. banks' mortgage assets.

If lending remains tight, it could cause more cash flow problems for the companies and municipalities that rely on the credit markets and banks for short-term loans.

Continue reading "Credit markets still tight as stocks plunge" »

WASHINGTON - Ford Motor Co. will receive a $10 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department to develop plug-in hybrid vehicles and take more steps toward commercialization.

The funding being announced Tuesday will help the automaker continue to work on its demonstration fleet of 20 plug-in hybrid vehicles with a group of utilities. Under the grant, the Energy Department will cover half of the project's $20 million cost.

Continue reading "Ford gets $10M federal grant for plug-in hybrids" »

NEW YORK - After a series of changes designed to draw more people to its online marketplace, eBay Inc.'s latest alteration is aimed at its own employees. The auction site operator said Monday it will cut about 1,600 jobs, 10 percent of its work force, in its largest round of dismissals ever.

About 1,000 full-time employees will be gone, while eBay will achieve the rest of the cuts by letting temporary and part-time workers go and by leaving open positions unfilled. EBay would not describe which positions would be cut, other than to say they will come across the company and around the world.

Continue reading "EBay cutting 1,600 jobs, 10 percent of work force" »

Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering Inc., headquartered in Grand Rapids with offices throughout Michigan and Indiana, today announced its merger with Bartow and King Engineers in Midland.

Fleis & VandenBrink provides professional consulting engineering services, with specialties including civil and environmental engineering, transportation and homeland security, among others. Bartow and King provides civil engineering and surveying services for municipal, commercial and residential development projects.

"Our two firms already serve a number of clients in this area," Fleis & VandenBrink President Larry J. Fleis said in a prepared statement. "Clients already served by Bartow and King will have the support of a larger company, and our clients in central Michigan will have enhanced personal service from an office even closer to them."

The Midland location will carry the Fleis & VandenBrink banner. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

WALKER -- Meijer Inc. is offering home delivery for grocery and dry goods items bought in bulk from its website, www.meijer.com, the Walker-based supermarket chain announced today.

The new Grocery By The Case program will feature more than 2,000 products. Shoppers will save at least 5 percent when buying items by the case compared with purchasing items individually, Meijer said.

Continue reading "Meijer website to offer bulk-sale home delivery" »

Gov. Jennifer Granholm was to hold ceremonial bill signings at two locations today to mark the state's first foray into the mandated use of renewable energy.

Granholm was to hold two bill-signing events this morning at NextEnergy in Detroit and at 2 p.m. at Dowding Industries Inc., an Eaton Rapids manufacturer that machines components used in wind turbines.

The so-called comprehensive energy legislation, approved last month by House and Senate lawmakers, requires utilities and other electric suppliers to derive 10 percent of their electricity mix from renewable sources by 2015. The bills also gradually decrease electricity rates for business and industrial customers, offset by rate increases of up to 20 percent for residential customers. The legislation also includes tax credits to encourage energy efficiency measures that supporters say could help offset any rate hikes.

Continue reading "Granholm to sign renewable energy legislation today" »

The president's top U.S.economic advisers are pledging to work with their counterparts around the world to restore confidence and stability to financial markets roiled by tight credit and worries about a global economic slowdown.

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets said in a statement Monday it planned to quickly implement the expanded authorities granted to federal regulators by the $700 billion rescue package passed on Friday. The working group was formed after the 1987 stock market crash.

Continue reading "US Treasury, Fed pledge rapid response to financial crisis" »

People who have not filed their 2007 tax return -- many of them from Jackson County -- are still eligible to receive a federal economic-stimulus check from the federal government after they do.

More than 2,000 people in Jackson County who are eligible for the money still have not filed a tax return, said Chris Kilmer, volunteer income tax assistance program manager for the Community Action Agency.

Continue reading "Deadline for tax rebates looming" »

NEW YORK -- Will financial-market turmoil be the Grinch this Christmas?

With parents already facing high food and gas costs and slumps in the job and housing markets, the turmoil in the financial sector could further spur them to cut their spending, focus on less-expensive toys and consider which toys will get the most use, experts say.

The National Retail Federation trade group predicts holiday sales overall will rise a meager 2.2 percent to $470.4 billion, the slowest growth since 2002. Toy experts predict the hottest toys will be items like the Bakugan trading card game popular with boys, interactive toys such as Elmo Live and gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii.

Continue reading "Holiday toy shopping: Forecasts are no fun" »

ALLEGAN -- Perrigo Co. is expanding its presence south of the border.

It has acquired Mexican drug-maker Laboratories Diba, S.A. for $25 million, the Allegan-based generic and over-the-counter drug manufacturer announced Monday.

Based in Guadalajara, Mexico, Laboratories Diba is a privately-held manufacturer of store-brand over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs.

Continue reading "Allegan drug-maker Perrigo buys Mexican drug maker" »