Michigan

Dan Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc., is perhaps one of Detroit's biggest boosters of late. And he's putting his money where his mouth is.

When a building in blighted Highland Park, Michigan was demolished, a painted advertisement on the adjacent building was revealed. Nearby, other ghost ads remain, "nearly as bright" as ever. Dan Berry reports on why we're so fascinated by them.

Just three weeks after the city announced it was cancelling plans for a 9.3-mile light rail line, a truncated version may be built, but with some key caveats.

According to a team reviewing the city's finances, a state-appointed emergency manager may not have to be put in place, indicating that Detroit isn't necessarily going broke. However, the city and union leaders must act quickly to prove so.

The formula for Detroit's current status is complicated -- a mix of local, regional and national socioeconomic forces. But while many hands have shaped the good and bad of today's Detroit, the impact of current federal policy is easy to spot.

A former industrial corridor in Benton Harbor, Michigan is being transformed into a resort community complete with golf course.

The city and federal DOT have decided against a $600 million plan that would introduce light rail and, subsequently, more residents to the city. Instead, money will go to improving a notoriously unreliable bus system.

They mayor of Troy, Mich. chooses ideology over investment, The Atlantic's says Eric Jaffe.

Sam Graves at Dwell says that Detroit's Lafayette Park, planned by Mies van der Rohe in 1956, is a rare success story from the planned developments of that era.

Officials in recession-battered Michigan increasingly see placemaking as an important economic recovery strategy. The Michigan Municipal League, a coalition of local governments, is leading efforts to make the state's cities talent magnets.

In Grand Rapids, a number of no-longer-needed elementary schools are being transformed into apartment buildings, while the playgrounds and sports fields are turned into city parks.

Manuel "Matty" Moroun has spent millions cleaning up Michigan Central Depot, cleaning out debris and hiring architects and feasibility experts to figure out how much of the building is worth saving.

How grassroots entrepreneurs and inspired religious leaders are working to erase urban blight in Detroit.

Michelle Bruch talks with placemaking expert Fred Kent about the makeover he helped orchestrate of Detroit's Campus Martius Park.

The 2010 Census reveals that Detroit's population is approaching the 1910's level. Of the City's 714,000 residents, 83% are black and nearly 40% live in poverty. With virtually every statistic going against its favor, can Motown make a comeback?

The Economist paints a gloomy picture of an ailing Detroit, but also says there is hope in the form of urban pioneers attracted by the affordability of space.

The money, part of a larger $930 million to be allocated nationwide for transit projects, will aid 16 new projects from facility maintanence to hybrid buses.

ArtPrize, a yearly art festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is attracting unprecedented crowds to this unexpected destination.

Once again, a government shutdown looms after Sept. 30 over funding for disaster relief. House Republicans insist that the additional spending must be off-set with spending cuts, and their target is a subsidy for electric cars and batteries.

As city leaders look at ways to shrink Lansing, Michigan to a more sustainable size, historic preservationists say "Stop, Look and Listen" before you go clearing out neighborhoods of historic residences.