Brewed Fresh Daily

Pension problems Bloomberg News reports that Illinois’ pension system is a “basket case.” The state’s teacher pension system is only 47 percent funded, the lowest number of any similar system in the country.

Right to sue The Associated Press looks into a court challenge against Indiana’s Right to Work law, passed earlier this year. Among other things, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 argue that the law deprives them of free speech rights, since it forces them to represent members who do not pay dues, and that money would be used to support their political speech.

Raising casinos, raising taxes A ballot proposal in Michigan to allow eight more casinos in the state would also raise taxes on Detroit’s three existing casinos, according to Mlive.

Want to pick asparagus? Asparagus season has come early in Michigan, and farmers are desperate to find workers to pick this year’s crop. Partner station Michigan Radio reports there will be a job fair on Thursday to try to fill 220 jobs.

Posted in ArtsAudioBizTechCivic AffairsCultureMusic: PopularNewNewsOpeningPreviewTechnologyThomas MulreadyVideo

  In a celebrity-studded ribbon-cutting event, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame officially dedicated their new Library and Archives today, and Cool Cleveland was there. From left in the photo are Rock Hall president Terry Stewart, Jim Henke, VP of exhibitions & curatorial for the Rock Hall, Tri-C President Jerry Sue Thonton, and Joel Peresman, [...]

Last fall, Changing Gears devoted a month of reports to exploring how manufacturing has changed. We’re happy to let you know that we won a National Headliner Award for that series. 

Changing Gears took home the third place award for Broadcast Radio Networks and Syndicators. We had good company: the other winners in our category were Bloomberg Radio and CBS Radio. (See the entire list of winners, including our partner WBEZ Chicago.)

Congratulations to all the members of the Changing Gears team: Chicago reporter Niala Boodhoo, Cleveland reporter Dan Bobkoff, Ann Arbor reporter Kate Davidson, and Sarah Avarez, our Public Insight Network Analyst. (Pete Bigelow, who was Changing Gears’ Web editor when the series ran, is now with AOL Autos.) Thanks also to teammates Dustin Dwyer and Meg Cramer.

TEMPS: Think there are no jobs in manufacturing? Davidson found there are plenty — for temporary workers. Staffing agencies that provide workers to manufacturing plants are finding that they can’t keep up with the demand.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING: Here in the Midwest, you often hear the term “advanced manufacturing. But what it is? And why do we need to remain leaders in this field? Bobkoff explained in this story.

RON BLOOM: One of the most controversial men in manufacturing during the past few years was Ron Bloom, the Obama administration official who helped oversee the $82 billion bailout to Detroit’s automakers. Bloom recently moved back to Pittsburgh, and he has plenty to say about the role of manufacturing in our national economy. Bobkoff talked to him for Changing Gears.

BATTELLE: Steve Jobs’ death last fall reminded us that everyone has ideas, and very few become actual products. That’s because ideas need a push – and in some cases, a big one, from from science, to become reality. That’s especially true for manufacturers. Boodhoo told the little-known story of Ohio’s Battelle Memorial Institute.

Just a few weeks ago, Midwesterners were reveling in temperatures way too high for March. Now, chilly spring days have returned, and the cold snap is raising fears for crops around the Great Lakes. 

That’s particularly the case in northern Michigan, which is known as Cherryland. Agriculture experts warned during the warm spell that there could be damage in the case of freezing temperatures, and that looks entirely possible.

“Every time we have temperatures in the 20s from here on out, there will be crop damage,” Phil Korson, president of the Cherry Marketing Institute, told the Associated Press. 

Korson, whose group is funded by cherry growers, said this year’s tart cherry crop will be in danger throughout this month, when cold nights are usual.

Trees developed blossoms during a weeklong heat wave in mid-March, when temperatures topped 80 degrees five days in a row and remained mostly above 60 at night. 
“That stretch was very comparable (to) what we’d normally see in late June,” Scott Rozanski, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Gaylord, told the news agency.

But the weather abruptly returned to normal. Temperatures dipped into the 20s the night of March 25, freezing millions of tart cherry buds at their most vulnerable stage of development, when they are filled with moisture.

Interestingly, sweet cherries (the dark ones) were farther along in their development, and aren’t expected to be as affected by this month’s cool temperatures.

Growers in the southwestern part of Michigan, known as the Fruit Belt, are also anxious about the impact of weather on peaches, grapes and blueberries.

There are some methods farmers can use to protect their trees and bushes, since it isn’t unusual to get frost and even snow at this time of the year. One process involves spraying them with water from overhead irrigation systems, allowing a coat of ice to form and protect what’s beneath.

In the meantime, the cherry orchards, so precious to Chekhov, will face down what Mother Nature throws at them this year. No doubt he would agree that the Midwest “is so wide, so beautiful, so full of wonderful places.”

 

The Federal Reserve Board of Chicago is out with its Midwest manufacturing index for February, and the numbers are something of a milestone.

The Chicago Fed uses 2007 as a baseline, meaning 100 on its index, which the Fed calls “a composite of 15 manufacturing industries that uses hours worked data to measure monthly changes in regional activity.” (We like to think of 100 as basically full staff.)

In February, the manufacturing index, which covers Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, stood at 91.7. The number for automobile manufacturing was even better — 92.2 — while steel manufacturing stands a tad behind, at 90.5 percent.

But that’s an important number, as we’ll explain.

Since the index goes up about a half a percentage point to a point per month, you might extrapolate that the region will be back to 100 by the end of the year. Of course, there’s no way to really nail that, given high gas prices and other economic factors.

But the real story is in the historic numbers.

Take a look at where the MMI stood in June 2009. It was at 67.9, the low for this recession.

That was the month that General Motors filed for a federally sponsored bankruptcy. Chrysler, which was just out of its bankruptcy, had shut down its plants that spring while it was under court protection, and it hadn’t yet cranked them back up.

The automotive number reflects the industry’s crisis: it was at 48.5 in May 2009. Steel, which relies heavily on the auto industry, reached its low for the recession in June 2009, at 57.3.

It has taken the index and both industries until this year to get back into the 90 range. For the overall index and for autos, that happened in January. Steel is back above 90 this month for the first time since the depth of the recession.

So in short, a couple of industries that were in pretty awful shape three years ago, are within shouting distance of normal when it comes to hours worked by those who are employed there. And, the improvement is showing up in an important measurement.

 

Loop repairs The Loop’s elevated rail in Chicago will get $39 million worth of repairs starting in April. The Chicago Tribune reports about half of the total track on The Loop will be replaced.

Property tax problem A cap on property taxes in Indiana is leaving some schools strapped for cash, even in well off communities. The AP reports towns that managed to attract business and industry are doing well.

Fracking lobbyists The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the state’s booming oil and gas industry is turning into a lobbying powerhouse in Columbus.

Fairgrounds for sale Partner station Michigan Radio reports Governor Rick Snyder is expected to sign legislation today that would allow the sale of the Michigan State Fairgrounds. The state fair ended its annual run in 2009 because of a lack of funds.

How to turn around a neighborhood Partner station WBEZ reports Chicago has received $169 million to help neighborhoods struggling with foreclosures, but turning those neighborhoods around has been more difficult than expected.

Posted in BizTechMusic: PopularNewsPreviewShopLOCALThomas MulreadyVideo

Open this page on Tuesday, April 10 at 1:30PM     for our live video from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Not seeing live video? Click here.   Ever wanted to go backstage at the Rock Hall? Log on to this page on Tuesday, April 10 at 1:30PM as Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready takes you backstage [...]

Posted in BizTechCivic AffairsEducationKidsMusic: PopularNewsPreviewShopLOCALTechnologyThomas MulreadyVideo

Open this page on Tuesday, April 10 at 1:30PM   for our live video from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Not seeing live video? Click here.   Ever wanted to go backstage at the Rock Hall? Log on to this page on Tuesday, April 10 at 1:30PM as Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready takes you backstage at [...]

Posted in BizTechEventsKidsMusic: PopularNewsThomas Mulready

[ April 7, 2012; 8:00 pm; ] WIN Free Tix From Cool Cleveland to TONIGHT's Sold-Out Girl Talk Show at Public Hall Described as the "craziest house party ever," Girl Talk is Greg Gillis, formerly a student at Case Western Reserve University, who mashes up the history of rock and roll and rap and funk and disco and metal and Hip-Hop... Here's how [...]

Slugger Prince Fielder has only played one regular season game with the Detroit Tigers, but the team is reveling in his economic impact.

The Tigers drew a record Opening Day crowd of 45,027 to Comerica Park, the second-highest single game attendance in the park’s 12-year history.

Many people were there simply to see Fielder, the former Milwaukee Brewer who signed a $214 million, nine-year contract with the club earlier this year.

Thanks to Fielder, the Tigers have seen an immediate impact on season ticket sales.

They sold 21,000 season ticket packages (six games or more) before the season started, guaranteeing them annual attendance of at least 1.6 million fans. That’s up 50 percent from the 14,000 season tickets the Tigers sold in 2011, when they won the American League Central Division title.

The team’s season ticket record is 27,000 packages, set in 2008, when the Tigers acquired Miguel Cabrera, who was last year’s American League batting champion. That was also the year after Justin Verlander threw his first no-hitter.

Verlander was on the mound Thursday, throwing eight innings of shutout baseball. Tigers’ closer Jose Valverde spoiled Verlander of the win by giving up two runs in the top of the ninth, allowing the Boston Red Sox to tie the game, but the Tigers came back in the bottom of the ninth to win on a walk-off single by Austin Jackson.

Attendance always rises when Verlander pitches, as I wrote last year in the New York Times.

Fans at Thursday’s game noticed some changes, the biggest being a new centerfield scoreboard. The luxury suites at Comerica also have been updated, with marble countertops, set-in food warmers and fresh paint and pictures on the walls.

Suite lessors got a gift from the Tigers: a embossed bottle of red wine to commemorate the division title.

Although Thursday was Fielder’s first official game, a number of fans traveled to Toledo on Wednesday afternoon for a charity game at Fifth Third Field between the Tigers and their AAA ballclub, the Toledo Mud Hens. That game drew 12,000 people — not bad for the middle of an April afternoon.

Toledo Mayor Michael Bell stopped by to greet Tiger great Al Kaline, who watched the game with a group including Tigers’ general manager Dave Dombrowski and assistant general manager Al Avila, father of Tigers’ catcher Alex Avila. You can see them in our slideshow below.

What do the Tigers mean to you, and to Detroit? Take our survey here.