Eight years ago, the last time the nation slid into recession, the state of Michigan was able to weather it.

State government coffers had $1.3 billion in rainy-day funds.

The auto companies were still in great shape, selling SUVs as if there were no tomorrow. The Big Three were able to offer zero-percent financing on most of its models, an attempt to keep Americans spending, despite the shock of 9/11 and the uncertainty that followed.

The nation's economic downturn is hurting more than auto workers, restaurant owners and homebuilders.

Even private colleges are getting hurt by low enrollments, caused by families that have decided private school tuition is out of reach for them in these uncertain times.

This week, the Michigan Supreme Court is expected to change its political orientation.

In December, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Clifford Taylor, who was part of the high court's conservative majority, served his last day in office. On Thursday, Democrat Diane Hathaway, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge who defeated Taylor in the November election, will be sworn in.

When Joseph T. Hoy took over in 1952 as Western Michigan University's men's basketball coach, the scene was much different than it is today.

The Broncos played their home games in the old gymnasium on Oakland Drive. It wasn't until the 1957-58 season, Hoy's last, that Read Fieldhouse, the present site of WMU basketball, opened its doors.

In past years, it has been our tradition on the first Sunday of the New Year to discuss the community agenda and set forth goals and objectives.

One year we even laid out an extensive blueprint, suitable for framing, which helped to chart a course for the community.

We're not going to do that this year. Goals and objectives are important, but 2009 will present us with incredible challenges. And those challenges also will provide some incredible opportunities for us to reach deep and show the core goodness this community has within it.

If any place is going to be the high-tech lithium-ion battery capital of the world, Michigan should be it.

And while we're at it, let's make it Kalamazoo.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Legislature last month approved tax credits worth up to $335 million to encourage companies to manufacture the batteries -- used in hybrid and electric vehicles -- in the state.

It began in the autumn -- an economic collapse that left Americans stunned, angry, anxious and downright scared.

The nation had seen nothing quite like it in recent memory. Comparisons were made to the events of the 1930s. Only those in their 80s and beyond -- a small percentage of the estimated U.S. population of 310 million -- have any meaningful recollection of how bad the Great Depression really was.

Foster children -- those taken from their parents by the state who are never adopted and who age out of the foster-care system -- have a tough time getting into college and completing their degrees.

Although 70 percent of foster children say they want to go to college, only about 20 percent do so and only 5 percent graduate in Michigan, the Associated Press reported last year.

Just how bleak is the economic mood this holiday season?

Consider these statistics, collected from a Michigan poll and reported last week by the Associated Press:

• About 65 percent said they believed the country was heading toward a second Great Depression.

• About 62 percent said they are most concerned about the economy and country's financial crisis.

• More than 80 percent of the poll's respondents said the state is on the wrong track.

• Nearly 60 percent said they believe someone in their household will lose a job in the next year.

• Most believe the nation's economy will be unchanged or better next year, but 81 percent expect Michigan to be worse off in 2009.

While John Grogan was a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1983 to 1985, his peers respected his professional ability and his work ethic.

However, few if any of his colleagues and friends could envision the enormous success that he would later achieve as an author.

An international best-selling author, in fact.

In the beleaguered American auto industry, the Bush administration's financial lifeline announced last week was a Christmas present of hope for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

The same can be said about a similar but lesser Canadian federal government loan approved for GM and Chrysler plants in Canada, which borders Michigan along hundreds of miles of waterways.

Let us look at some projections from the Pew Research Center, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The center forecasts that in about four decades or sooner, Hispanics, already the leading minority with more than 14 percent of the population, will become the largest minority group at 29 percent. African-Americans will constitute about 13 percent.

These demographics underscore the importance of helping improve the performance of today's minority youngsters in our local and area schools.

It won't happen overnight in Portage, but wind power was given a breezy boost by the City Council last week.

The council approved an ordinance that permits businesses and individual homes to install tower- and roof-mounted wind energy systems. Mayor Pete Strazdas commented that the action emphasizes the city's commitment to supporting alternative sources of energy.

Children shouldn't have to stay in shelters for the homeless.

But extremely difficult economic times for their parents means that sometimes they must. Fortunately, there are places like the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission that are family-friendly and can provide hospitable places for children whose families have no homes.

Michigan's unemployment rate is nearing double-digits, the worst it has been since the early 1980s.

The news that the state's November jobless rate is continuing to creep skyward comes on the heels of a report in The New York Times that Michigan's unemployment benefits fund is completely tapped out.