Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/news/business/autos-manufacturing/)
More than a month into the United Auto Workers strike against GM, the trucks and cars that ferry workers and parts to and from the sprawling car plant are gone. With so many employees out of commission for the time being, GM and its employees are taking a hit. But, they are not the only ones who are negatively affected by the strike.
The greatest gripe about driverless buses? No music, according to a group of Michiganders who tested some. That’s good news for officials worried about the public’s more substantive concerns about getting on a bus without a driver. State officials are cautiously experimenting with driverless shuttles on university campuses and elsewhere. One promising opportunity is their use by people who are disabled. By Evan Jones.
Economic development and manufacturing experts say Michigan’s deep roots in industrial innovation are leading to yet another industrial revolution. Robots, software and other automation technology are at its forefront, but a skilled workforce is needed to make it work. This could be the emerging bright spot of an economy built on the state’s automotive heritage. We talk to experts at Michigan Technological University, Northwestern Michigan College, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Michigan Tech, a robotics company and a Bay City lawmaker. By Evan Jones.
ichigan is one of six Great Lakes states challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to limit California’s air pollution limits. They say it infringes on states’ rights and inhibits their ability to fight climate change. By Tasia Bass.
MDOT Director Paul Ajegba said a gas tax even higher than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 45-cents-per-gallon fuel tax increase may be needed to truly “fix the damn roads.”
By CRYSTAL CHEN
LANSING — The trade war between the world’s two largest economies has lasted for nearly one year and has already affected U.S industries and consumers, especially buyers and sellers of two items important in Michigan — soybeans and auto parts. Economists have long argued that tariffs come with real income losses. A newly published research article from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a research network based in London, found that by the end of 2018, import tariffs were costing U.S. consumers and companies that import goods an extra $3 billion per month in added tax costs and an additional $1.4 billion per month in reduction in real income. “Everything affects everything, and everything is related to everything,” said Erkan Kocas, an international trade specialist at the Michigan State University International Business Center. Kocas said that an individual’s income and needs don’t change in spite of tariffs.
In this Spartan News Update, a Penn State fraternity is facing charges in a hazing case and Georgia Tech has a data breach. Teens in California were electrocuted on a bridge, meth was found in a daycare center, a milk tanker crashes and in Lansing, off-road enthusiasts visit the Lansing Center.
The Michigan Mobility Challenge, approved in October, funds transportation needs for veterans, seniors and those with disabilities. The Lansing area’s Capital Area Transportation Authority has received $465,000 to make new buses more accessible.
By ZARIA PHILLIPS
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan vehicle thefts dropped from 50,000 in 2006 to less than 20,000 in 2017, according to a recent auditor general’s report. Michigan’s vehicle theft peaked in the 1980s, prompting former Gov. James Blanchard to implement the Auto Theft Prevention Authority, a program that combines community and law enforcement efforts to decrease vehicle thefts. The program awarded $4 million in grants to 20 organizations in 2018 to investigate, apprehend, prosecute and prevent vehicle theft, said Kelly Miller, state relations officer for the Auditor General’s Office. “The money comes from auto insurance assessments,” Miller said. ”One dollar is allocated to the fund for every personal, passenger and commercial vehicle receiving insurance.”
The program’s board of directors decides how that money is allocated to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, nonprofit organizations and state departments.
This week on the Spartan Newsroom update: Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin are among a handful of parents being investigated for cheating college admission processes for prestigious colleges including Yale and Stanford. Safety concerns about the Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes continue after an Ethiopian plane crash and two shootings in Tennessee leave two people injured and two dead.
On this edition of Focal Point, get an overview of a CMU sexual assault going to trial, campus robberies continue in a dorm and in the Eppley Center, and a Michigan native wins an Oscar. In sports, MSU men’s basketball won against Michigan and a high school wrestler shows what true sportsmanship is like. Those stories and more this week on Focal Point.