New initiative ensures Detroit’s Near East Siders healthcare services

A new initiative on Detroit's Near East Side aims to bring healthcare services to its thousands of residents.Excerpt: "This initiative is indicative of what we can achieve when the health care community comes together to solve a problem. The synergy of these efforts doesn't just solve a problem, it creates a model of health care delivery that is replicable elsewhere," said Chris Allen, Executive Director and CEO of the Health Authority. "We are pleased with the leadership of St. John Health and the many community organizations that have made this initiative possible." "The collaborative effort undertaken on Detroit's East Side can be a model for development of the medical home for families in the area," explained Adam Jablonowski, Executive Director of the Wayne County Medical Society. Jablonowski also serves as Chair of the Health Authority's Provider Advisory Committee. "Now, we must move forward with the training of more primary care physicians to meet the challenge of delivering the care." Read the entire article here.

Bills allowing Detroit’s private rail line begin legislative journey to reality

Detroit is again inching closer to mass transit as the bills clearing the way for Detroit's $103 million private rail line hit the legislature.Excerpt:The private-sector plan to build a $103 million light-rail loop on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit is getting the legislative action needed to become a reality.Bills that would allow such a system, which eventually would operate as a public-private entity with some type of public subsidy, were introduced last week in the House and will be introduced this week in the Senate.Read the entire article here.

Rock ‘n’ Rummage Sale set for Oct. 11 at Hamtramck’s Painted Lady

Rock 'n' Rummage will be hosting their Treats and Treasures Show on Oct. 11 at Hamtramck's Painted Lady. Ten vendors will be on hand serving up CDs, vinyl, vintage, and just about everything else you can find at a rummage sale.Excerpt:Rock 'N' Rummage isn't your moms typical yard sale!!!So you're sitting in Metro Detroit bar, and people start setting up tables with stacks of vinyl records, t-shirts, and nostalgic items with words attached to them like "The Goonies", "Garbage Pail Kids", and "The Dark Crystal". No, this isn't a retrospective decade show on VH1. This is Rock 'N' Rummage you have just witnessed.Rock 'N' Rummage brings the yard, garage, market, and fair into a bar/coffee house setting. The event is centered around music, drinking, and merchandise.For more information go here.

England’s The Independent visits Detroit to explore 100 years of the Motor City

Travel writer Ben Ross from England's Independent comes to Detroit, travels around Michigan, and sees the sights that the city and state has to offer.Excerpt:Jeanette is the founder of Inside Detroit, which, she says, "exists to fill the holes. We want to show people this incredible city." We drove downtown together, then left my Kia behind and continued on foot. Her enthusiasm for the place was evident and infectious: Downtown Detroit is an impressive place, and it's surprisingly easy to get around. There's even a loop of monorail called the People Mover that takes in a three-mile circuit of the area. Tickets cost just 50 cents. The glistening blue tube of the modern GM Tower, which juts upwards from the waterside Renaissance Centre, served as a handy navigational aid as we took in some of the Art Deco architecture that lies nearby. The 1920s Penobscot building features striking reliefs inspired by Native American culture; the Guardian building, once a cathedral to finance, is decked out in gaudy tiles. The banking room is now given over to retail outlets; here "Pure Detroit" sells handbags made out of car seatbelts.Read the entire article here.

Take survey to road map Detroit’s next economy for AIA’s SDAT initiative

Detroit has been selected by the American Institute of Architecture to participate in the Sustainability Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program. Their goal is to find action that will guide the city toward a better quality of life. The survey below will help shape some of that action. Excerpt: The American Institute of Architects has selected Detroit for its Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program. The SDAT will design a roadmap for improving Detroit's sustainability. The results of this survey will be utilized for this process, which includes a three-day charrette, October 30th to November 1st. For more information go here. Take the survey here.

AIA sustainable design program kicks off with Oct. 6 meeting

New Center targets infrastructure near Argonaut with $656,600 earmark

Movie about Detroiter who fought a corporation getting nods

You can thank the late Dr. Robert Kearns, a former Wayne State University engineering professor, for your intermittent windshield wipers. Of course, no one really knows that. But the new film "Flash of Genius" looks to refresh everyone's memory. The movie follows Kearns, played by Greg Kinnear, and his battle with the Ford Motor Company over the patent rights of his invention. The film, though shot in Toronto, is completely based in Detroit (despite Kearns' move to Maryland in 1971).Excerpt:Working in the basement of his Detroit home near 8 Mile Road and Greenfield, he came up with a prototype and demonstrated it for Ford Motor Co. engineers in a parking lot in 1963. Kearns was initially cautious, but granted them a closer look when they agreed to go into business with him.Kearns envisioned a family-run operation in which he would manufacture the wipers used in Ford cars. When Ford suddenly pulled out of the deal, he was stymied. Later, he discovered that Ford and also Chrysler were introducing Kearns-style intermittent systems on their models beginning in 1969.Kearns began suing for patent infringement in 1978, first against Ford and later Chrysler. His first trial wasn't granted until 1990. By the final trial in 1995, he had received nearly $30 million in compensation, though still with no admission that the auto companies had willfully stolen his invention.Read the entire article here.

‘Today Show’ broadcasts from Campus Martius; MLK high school band plays

NBC's "Today Show" broadcasted live from Campus Martius Thursday morning. The show came out as part of its four city "Battleground State" tour, which had already made stops in Philly, Tampa, and Williamsburg, Va. Co-host Ann Curry said the Detroit crowd was by far the largest out of the four cities.Excerpt:Weatherman Al Roker wandered around, introducing the Martin Luther King High School marching band doing, appropriately, the Temptations' Smokey Robinson-written hit "Get Ready." Roker also judged a coney dog contest between American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island, and fell in love with the ham sandwiches from Lile's Sandwich Shop in Dearborn. "What's not to like about downtown Detroit?" Roker said, sweeping his arm around the park as the morning sun peeked through Detroit's skyscrapers. "It's clean, it's bright, you've got flames!" He waved over at the park's two towers with flame-lit torches. Read the entire article here.