Page 3 - Nick Koster News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Detroit — City Council on Tuesday approved 11 contracts to raze hundreds of blighted homes with funds from Detroit's neighborhood revitalization bond a week after it first rejected them.  The reconsideration came after members deadlocked 4-4 last week, turning down half of the agreements in a package of 23 overall valued at $30 million. The contracts cover the removal of the first wave of 1,380 blighted houses under the program.  Councilwoman Raquel Castaneda-Lopez voted in favor of the contracts after being absent last week. Meanwhile, Councilman Roy McCalister flipped his vote to...

'Salt-of-the-earth' Lansing businessman, 41, saw value in people and old things Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal © Courtesy Terry Sears John Sears LANSING –  John Sears built a successful demolition and environmental remediation company and invested heavily in the neighborhoods where he worked, hiring local people and building strong ties with everyone around him.  Friends described him as a "genius" who saw value in things that others might toss away and talent in people that others didn't recognize. But you'd never know any of that upon meeting Sears for the first...