Old Media Watch Section

Paul Saginaw, co-founder of Zingerman’s, is one of three entrepreneurs featured on MSNBC’s “Small Biz Sounds Off: Decision 2012″ series, which kicked off on Sunday, Jan. 8. Saginaw and the two other businessmen were asked what they think about the upcoming election and issues that are critical for small business in 2012. They’ll be asked to respond to questions in the coming months on these same topics. Saginaw told the host that he’s interested in candidates who are looking out for the middle class, because the middle class is the entrepreneurial class. He’ll look to support a candidate who least aggressively continues to shift the tax burden onto the middle class. [Source]

A recent Atlantic Monthly column reports on the Research Works Act, legislation being considered in Congress and backed by the Association of American Publishers that would bar federal agencies from putting privately published articles into an online database. The article quotes from a 2008 blog post by Paul Courant, dean of libraries for the University of Michigan. Courant, referencing an earlier version of the bill, wrote: “The people of the United States pay good money to learn about the world. It would be a travesty if Congress decided that the interests of a few publishers were more important than the research investments of the American public, and that’s exactly what this bill would do.” [Source]

An article in the New York Times, by local sports journalist Pete Bigelow, profiles Greg Mattison, defensive coordinator for the University of Michigan football team. The article highlight’s Mattison’s close relationsip with UM coach Brady Hoke: “So far, Hoke’s reliance on his longtime friend has been rewarded. Since Hoke and Mattison arrived at Michigan less than a year ago, the program’s defense has been resurrected. A unit that finished the 2010 season ranked 110th among the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense ranks 17th entering Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl matchup against Virginia Tech.” [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reports on the fundraising efforts of Michigan’s public university presidents, including the University of Michigan’s Mary Sue Coleman: “U-M officials said they can’t tie an exact amount of money coming in to Coleman’s efforts. U-M raised $273.1 million last year in private giving. Through Nov. 30, the school has raised $78.6 million this school year, down slightly from the same time last year. Coleman’s travel and entertainment expense report shows 11 development trips, including two stops in Los Angeles and four to New York City. Her travel expenditures for the 2010 calendar year, about $59,553, was more than double her spending in 2009.” [Source]

In a letter to the editor of the Livingston Daily Press & Argus, Pinckney resident Everett Livingston Jr. complains about the decision to award a contract for economic development in Livingston County to Ann Arbor SPARK: “So as far as I can see, once again our county leaders have been duped into committing $375,000 to this new boondoggle. The only thing I can see happening is that we will be sending a little over $1 million over three years to Washtenaw so they can achieve their goals of enriching their county.” [Source]

The news broadcast for WDIV-TV, Detroit’s NBC affiliate, aired a feature on the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, describing it as an option for kids who are on break this week. [Source]

Ann Arbor author John U. Bacon’s first book – “Blue Ice: The Story of Michigan Hockey” – has been made into a movie that’s playing several times over the next two weeks on Fox Sports Detroit TV. [Source] A DVD of the film is available for purchase on the online MGoBlue Multimedia Store and at M Den stores.

The Wall Street Journal runs down the best and worst of college football fashion – and the University of Michigan uniforms lead the best: “American fashion designer Marc Ecko especially liked the color weight on the jersey, while graphic artist Josh Vanover praised the ‘bold, bright colors’ and ‘clean’ fonts. But what really pushed Michigan to the top was its iconic winged helmet, which received near-universal praise for its creativity.” [Source]

Vicki Honeyman, owner of the shop Heavenly Metal in Ann Arbor, was interviewed for a report on American Public Media’s Markeplace, about the impact a two-month extension of the payroll tax break and unemployment benefits would have on small businesses: “All of the uncertainty in Washington is hard for small businesses because we’re at the bottom of the feeding pool. And all of these decisions, especially what affects us tax-wise, what allows us to either hire or lay off people or invest more money into our businesses, is so much determined by how Congress and the Senate votes.” [Source]

Automobile Magazine publishes photos of a prototype Porsche Boxster spotted on the road in Ann Arbor: “Yes, even prototype sports cars have to become commuter cars every once in a while: a reader sent in photos of a next-generation Porsche Boxster prototype testing during morning rush hour in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We wouldn’t be all that surprised if the car is in town for emissions testing, seeing as the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory is located within the city’s limits.” [Source]

Michigan Radio’s Mark Brush reports on the phenomenon of “yarn givers,” whose work has recently been spotted in downtown Ann Arbor: ”Last month, my wife found a hat on a fence post along S. Ashley St. Thinking someone lost it, she took a closer look to discover a note that read “FREE! Handmade wool and alpaca hat for YOU!” The discovery totally lifted her spirit, and reminded her of the goodness in people.” [Source]

BusinessWeek features Zingerman’s Mail Order in an article about how mail-order food businesses handle the holiday ordering crush. From the report: “The staff of 50 swells to 450 in November, filling the call center and 20,000-square-foot warehouse like so many of Santa’s elves. There is never enough parking, though this year the crunch has eased. The warehouse is adjacent to the former headquarters of Borders Group, the bankrupt bookseller, and Zingerman’s has been able to use its lot.” [Source]

Writing a guest column in Forbes magazine, University of Michigan engineering professor Peter Adriaens, who focuses on business entrepreneurship in clean technology, looks at whether the market is experiencing a social network “bubble,” in light of high valuations for Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn and other companies. Adriaens writes: “We’re just at the beginning of this market disruption and what is happening with social networks bears only limited resemblance to the dot-com boom. The question is whether the business fundamentals have shifted value capture opportunities – PFC [positioning for value capture] analysis indicates they may have. Time will tell.” [Source]

The Detroit Free Press reports that the University of Michigan has purchased 21 .xxx domain names to prevent others from using those URLs for adult websites. The .xxx sites were open for sale to the general public on Tuesday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. According to the report, UM owns about 470 domain names overall, including 50 that were bought to protect the sites, with no plans to use them. [Source]

Nation’s Restaurant News published a report on the first anniversary of Frita Batidos, an Ann Arbor restaurant opened last year by chef Eve Aronoff. The article quotes Aronoff about her plans for expansion: “My dream is to have multiple locations situated in urban areas/university towns surrounded by great agriculture so we can work with local farmers and follow the seasons.” [Source]

The Washtenaw Voice, the student newspaper for Washentaw Community College, reports on a proposal to increase enrollment at Washtenaw Technical Middle College, a WCC program that allows high school students to earn both high school diplomas and technical certificates or associate degrees. The plan calls for adding 50 students annually over a three-year period, bringing enrollment to 450 students by 2014, according to the report. [Source]

A list in Forbes magazine – ranking the “most buzzed about CEOs” in 2011 – includes Patrick Doyle of Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza, who ranked 9th in the list compiled by Zeta Interactive, a marketing agency: ”Doyle has appeared in some of the company’s ads, admitting candidly that the pizza could taste better. Though Zeta only measured commentary, not Facebook ‘likes’ in its survey … Domino’s Facebook page ‘likes’ went from 400,000 to 2.6 million in 2011. Domino’s stock has performed especially well in a tough year for the market, rising from $16 in January to $32.” [Source]

Writing in The Atlantic Cities, Micheline Maynard reports on the recent dust-up over changes to Ann Arbor’s pedestrian ordinance. Maynard writes: “Ann Arbor, Mich. is the smartest city in the country – at least according to a new study by The Business Journals. But all it takes is an ordinance governing cars and pedestrians to get all those brainy people in a tizzy.” The article also quotes Ann Arbor Chronicle editor Dave Askins: “I’d say none of this is surprising. The basic idea that ‘I’m smarter than you’ is one that I think defines the character of Ann Arbor better than anything you might read in a brochure.” [Source]

Michigan Radio reports that the Ann Arbor A.V. Club, a publication with content from the satirical franchise The Onion as well as arts & entertainment features, is closing. It started publishing locally in September 2011 and was run by Bobby Mitchell and his company Bopper Media, according to the report. Mitchell told Michigan Radio that ”there’s a slight possibility The Onion corporate might want to take over the Ann Arbor A.V. Club and publish it.” [Source]

CNBC publishes a report on how Pfizer is trying to keep hold of revenues in the face of losing its patent for its cholesterol- lowering drug Lipitor on Wednesday. The article quotes Erik Gordon of University of Michigan Ross School of Business, who says that Pfizer’s tactic “spits in Congress’s face.” The company is cutting deals with insurers and pharmacies to cut the price of Lipitor, in exchange for agreements that would prevent the use of lower-cost generics. [Source]

The New York Times published an op-ed piece by Christopher B. Leinberger, a professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, who writes about the negative impact of America’s “suburban fringe”: “For too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those [suburban] retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.” [Source]

Michigan Radio profiles John Harnois of Harnois Farms in Webster Township, who raises heritage turkeys: “These birds, the heritage breeds, were real close to dying out. It’s funny… you’ve gotta eat ‘em to keep ‘em going. To keep their genetics in the gene pool, there has to be a market for them.” [Source]

The Detroit News reports that a Nov. 29 speech by  former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at Eastern Michigan University is being opposed by some students, including those who have created a Facebook page called Stand Up Against Kwame Kilpatrick @EMU. The speech is sponsored by B.L.A.C.K., Black Leaders Aspiring for Critical Knowledge, and Kilpatrick is expected to talk about “second chances.” Kilpatrick will go on trial next year on public corruption charges. [Source]

Michigan Radio reports on the Paint for Kids program, founded by Gene Firn of Ann Arbor: “Firn, who teaches a DIY painting class, was looking for practice walls for his students when he learned that the Ann Arbor school system doesn’t have a painting department. He thought he could help, so he submitted a proposal. The concept is simple: an experienced painter supervises parent volunteers as they transform hallways and classrooms over holiday weekends.” [Source]

A column in the Des Moines Register reports on the University of Michigan’s plan to invest up to $25 million of its endowment in startups spun out of the university, and looks at how some faculty at Iowa public universities would like to see the same thing happen there. The column notes that UM president Mary Sue Coleman served as president of the University of Iowa from 1995-2002. [Source]

An article by James Tobin, published in the latest edition of Michigan Today, looks at the history of University of Michigan scoreboards, beginning with the first scoreboard on the football field in 1899. ”In the 1890s, many of the football fans at Michigan’s Regents Field spent at least part of every game in a state of desperate uncertainty about what, exactly, was happening down on the field. ‘It is impossible,’ the Michigan Daily noted, ‘for everyone on both sides of the field as well as in the grandstand and bleachers to keep track of the number of downs, yards to gain, etc., as their only method of information is through the referee, who can not be heard all over the field.’” … [Full Story]

University of Michigan economists are forecasting that nearly 32,000 jobs will be added statewide during 2012, with another 45,000 during 2013, according to a Detroit News report. The article quotes George Fulton, director of UM’s Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics: “For Michigan, 2011 will go down as a year of solid job growth and one that saw the higher-wage segment of the labor market grow more rapidly than the economy overall.” [Source] The forecast was presented Friday morning at an annual UM economic outlook conference.

Experts from the University of Michigan are among those quoted in a Michigan Radio report about how income disparities are shaping neighborhoods. June Manning Thomas, a professor at UM’s Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, observes: “We’ve created laws that essentially make it clear that purposefully setting up racial segregation is illegal, but we haven’t done that for class segregation. So, it’s perfectly legal for people to refuse to live near someone of a different social-economic status. And it’s not only legal, it’s enabled and it’s even praised.” [Source]

Former University of Michigan president James Duderstadt is quoted in a column by Joe Nocera in the New York Times about the role that institutionalized college sports played in the Penn State sexual abuse scandal: “College football and men’s basketball has drifted so far away from the educational purpose of the university. They exploit young people and prevent them from getting a legitimate college education. They place the athlete’s health at enormous risk, which becomes apparent later in life. We are supposed to be developing human potential, not making money on their backs. Football strikes at the core values of a university.” [Source]

Ann Arbor author John U. Bacon is interviewed for an item in the Inside the List column, to be published in the Nov. 20 New York Times Sunday Book Review. Bacon – whose recently released book “Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football” is on the Times bestseller list – was asked what advice he’d give Penn State in the wake of a child sexual abuse scandal with links to the athletic department there: “Confess, fire and punish – then begin a transition to a brand-new regime. Few schools have done this very well, partly because they don’t realize coaches are not interchangeable parts. Las Vegas weddings tend to end in Las … [Full Story]