Petoskey company, Gas Technologies manufactures gas to liquids processing systems they call “GasTechno.”

The company is evaluating and developing processes for methanol-to-diesel, methanol-to-gasoline, methanol-to-jet fuel, methanol-to-olefins, glycols, amines, fertilizers and other bolt-on processes. They are looking for a “flare to fuels” partner with similar interests. The company says they want to work with operators who have gas resources at landfills and biodigesters.

The flagship offering is the Mini-GTL methanol plant.

A spokesman said “Companies wishing to tender bids for the GasTechno Early Adopter Program will be evaluated based on project merit and prospective opportunities for future collaboration in either commercial or developmental applications of the technology.”

In support of the Early Adopter Program, the company is developing a financing strategy that allows Early Adopters to jointly participate in acquisition strategies targeting stranded natural gas reserves.

GasTechno’s focus is the conversion and monetization of flared or stranded natural gas. Though “proven” geologically, stranded reserves cannot be included in the bookable value of an asset without an economically viable method to deliver that product to market. Deploying a GasTechno plant on stranded reserves converts stranded gas to liquid product that sells at market prices trending well above pipeline prices. By converting and marketing stranded reserves at improved pricing, this strategy has the potential to improve asset valuations at more than 5 to 10 times by exploiting provisions in the modernized SEC oil and gas reporting requirements that permit the use of “alternative product pricing” to value proven reserves.

With record lows in the natural gas markets, companies are offering natural gas assets at very attractive pricing. “We want to demonstrate the enormous potential in stranded North American gas reserves; that will only be possible when industry understands the market potential in converting those reserves to liquids at the surface. Currently the industry focus is finding and developing natural gas liquids below ground, but few really understand the financial potential unlocked by small scale conversion of existing gas to liquids with GasTechno above ground,” says Walter Breidenstein, CEO. “Our industry studies have been completed and all the economic and technical models are developed. Our goal in the Early Adopter Program is to open up our expertise and demonstrate what we have proven over the last several years in this growing sector.”

Popularity: 5% [?]

As millions of Americans brace themselves to pay taxes on April 15th, millions of illegal aliens get ready to celebrate a cash windfall of up to $5,750 from the Internal Revenue Service, according to Petoskey’s US Inc.

Ed Rubenstein, president of ESR Research and a former director of research at the Hudson Institute, explains in his recently updated report entitled Defrauding the American Taxpayer – The Earned Income Tax Credit and Illegal Immigration, that illegal aliens are among the chief beneficiaries of the $62.5 billion income transfer scheme known as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

In the report, Rubenstein reveals that the IRS knowingly allows illegal aliens to defraud taxpayers by getting cash EITC payments of up to $5,750 for a family of five. The IRS also refuses to implement recommendations from its own Inspector General’s office that could stop massive EITC fraud that costs taxpayers as much as $13 billion a year.

Rubenstein also shows how Congress has changed a federal kick-back program intended to supplement the earnings of low income workers, into one that subsidizes parenthood and disproportionately benefits immigrant families as opposed to those of native workers.

Copies of this explosive seven-part report, Defrauding the American Taxpayer-The Earned Income Tax Credit and Illegal Immigration, are available at our website: www.thesocialcontract.com. The Social Contract is a quarterly journal published by US Inc., a Michigan non-profit organization.

Popularity: 13% [?]

The state attorney general’s office says they will cooperate with federal authorities after being subpoenaed to hand over medical marijuana records – but only if the court orders them to hand them over.

The court hearing is expected to be routine, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Brenneman is slated to hold a hearing Wednesday at the government’s request for information on seven unidentified people of interest with medical marijuana privileges.

The DEA is saying that this is  not a crackdown on medical marijuana users, as they go after drug traffickers on a larger scale. There is some speculation that the seven persons of interest were involved in the November 30 Okemos raid, in which the DEA federal agency raided a warehouse that a group of medical marijuana caregivers had rented to grow the plants.

Michigan has over 45,000 people that are given marijuana to soothe pains associated with cancer and other maladies.

Popularity: 75% [?]

The deceitful threesome that made and passed around phony money have had their separate cases handed over to the 57th Circuit Court.

Robert Oakes and girlfriend Julie Thompson, both from Grand Rapids and her son, Matthew Corbett of Howard City, were nabbed by Michigan State Police in Petoskey recently.

The trio made counterfeit $20s and $100s and doled them out with purchases at many Bear Creek Township businesses last December, businesses such as Burger King, Family Video, Day’s Inn and Dollar General. For this, they have been charged with five felonies – one count each of conducting a criminal enterprise, racketeering proceeds, possession of counterfeit goods, uttering and publishing – possession of counterfeit bank, state or municipal bills, and uttering and publishing counterfeit bills or notes.

At their preliminary hearing on December 29, Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of possession of counterfeit bank, state or municipal bills. She had recently been paroled from jail.

The plea entitles Thompson to have her other charges dismissed, however, the other two skipped their preliminary examination and will face all of their charges. She will be sentenced on February 7, meanwhile the men will have a scheduling conference on January 18.

Popularity: 70% [?]

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition awarded over $1 million in cash and in-kind services on Saturday to the winners of the world’s largest business plan competition. The grand prize of $500,000 in cash was awarded to Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Armune BioScience and grand prize of $25,000 for the student portion of the competition was awarded to University of Michigan students Hunt Briggs, Paul M. Davis, Robert Levine and Nolan Orfield for their company ReGenerate.

The awards were given by the Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan in partnership with the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, Business Leaders for Michigan and the University Research Corridor during the inaugural Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition at the University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Armune BioScience, a molecular diagnostic company, took the top company award for developing a technology that utilizes autoantibodies created by the body’s own immune system to detect cancer at an early stage. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Arbor Photonics received the $150,000 company first runner up prize for the development of a fiber optic technology platform used in high power laser solutions which will improve manufacturing efficiencies and enable new capabilities in advanced manufacturing and defense.

In the student category, ReGenerate received the top student prize for their Compact Organic Waste System (COWS) which transforms unwanted and costly organic waste into a renewable source of electricity and nutrient-rich compost. Targeted toward university cafeterias and supermarkets, the system provides a lower cost and environmentally preferable alternative to traditional waste disposal. University of Michigan Students Zaher Andraus, Vimal B. Bhalodia and Matthew Neagle received the $15,000 first runner up prize for their company Reveal Design Automation which provides the electronic design market with the software tools to verify correctness of complex, digital chip designs.

“We congratulate all the companies and students this year for demonstrating their competitive entrepreneurial spirit,” said Dave Egner, Executive Director of the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan. “Armune BioScience and ReGenerate topped a list of nearly 600 outstanding businesses and students that initially entered the competition. These companies demonstrate how the entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to grow and thrive in a state that was built on the foundation of innovation.”

The competition began with a total of 600 entries and was then narrowed down to 50 company semi-finalists, and 28 student/student team semi-finalists. Ten company and 10 student/student-team finalists competed on the final days of the competition for a chance at a piece of the more $1 million in cash, in-kind services, staffing and software.

Additional Award winners for the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition include:

Company Competition:

People’s Choice – $10,000: Sproxil

AARP Encore Award – $25,000: Life Magnetics

Tweet Award – $5,000: CYJ Enterprises

Company Sector awards – $25,000 prize each

* Advanced Materials: The Mackinac Technology Company
* Advanced Transportation: ENRG Power Systems
* Alternative Energy: Accio Energy
* Defense and Homeland Security: Evigia Systems
* Information Technology: MatchRX
* Life Sciences: Innovative Surgical Solutions
* Medical Devices: Hygieia
* Next Gen manufacturing: CSquared Innovations
* Products and Services: Ix Innovations

Student Competition:

* First Runner Up – $15,000: Reveal Design Automation; Zaher Andraus, Vimal B. Bhalodia, Matthew Neagle – University of Michigan
* Second Runner Up – $10,000: MiEND- Drug Screeners; Darius Banasik, Trushal V. Chokshi – University of Michigan
* People’s Choice Award – $10,000: June Energy; Md. Shahnoor Amin, Allan R. Taylor, Abdrahamane Traore – University of Michigan

The Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition also recognized Sam Valenti as their first Spirit of Michigan Award winner. The Spirit of Michigan Award winner recognizes a person that epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit and understands the need to support entrepreneurialism from the ground up.

Popularity: 66% [?]

Student scores on standardized tests are a clear and reliable indicator of teacher effectiveness, according to the results of a breakthough study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
We’re not surprised by that result at all.

Now it’s time to end the debate and start identifying the teachers who get the job done and those who don’t. Then it will be time for school districts around the nation to adjust their teaching rosters accordingly. Of course that would require adjustments to state tenure laws around the nation, which currently make it difficult to remove poor teachers from the classroom. But we’re expecting to see major changes in tenure laws in many states next year, following the Republican sweep of numerous statehouses in the November elections.

For years the nation’s teachers unions have been telling us that teachers cannot be fairly judged by how well their students perform on standardized tests. They argued that the test results only determined how well kids take tests, and how skilled the teachers are at preparing them for tests. But the Gates Foundation study determined that “student gains on standardized tests reflected meaningful learning and critical thinking skills, not just test preparation and memorization.” The study also determined that test scores frequently matched student surveys regarding teacher effectiveness.

In other words, the students who said they were taught well scored very well on standardized tests. The students who were not impressed with the instuction did not do so well on tests. Case closed, as far as we’re concerned.
For too long the unions have been killing efforts to increase teacher accountability, and the result of that strategy is clear. Our kids are falling behind their peers in too many other nations, and that slide must be reversed. It’s the job of the teachers, as well as school administrators, to make sure that happens, period.

“As we’ve said many times, public education is the only industry we’re aware of that doesn’t hold the employee responsible for a finished product,” said EAG Vice President Kyle Olson. “That must change. Education has one primary goal – the intellectual advancement of the student. Teachers who make that happen should be valued and well-compensated. Those who don’t should be moved out of the classroom.”

We’re also wary of the argument that teachers who fail to make the grade should be given guidance and time to improve. Who would want their child in a classroom with a teacher who needs to improve? Students only take ninth-grade history or 11th grade alegebra once, so their opportunity to master a subject is very limited.

“Is it enough to tell the student who doesn’t learn, ‘Sorry, but you have the bad luck of having an algebra teacher who is still improving his teaching skills. Better luck in your other classes,’ ” Olson said. “That’s not what parents pay taxes for. Schools should closely watch new teachers to make sure they know what they’re doing, and move them along if they don’t.”

Popularity: 62% [?]

Liquor will be allowed to be sold on Sunday mornings in Michigan in some places starting December 19.

Permits will be doled out by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission on Thursday, a permit that will cost an eyebrow-raising $160. Local governments have until the 15th of December to let state officials know they wish to keep banning liquor sales on Sunday morning for no reason at all.

With this law, businesses can sell booze at 7 a.m. rather than the current law which bans the sale of the sauce from 2 a.m. to noon.

Popularity: 74% [?]

Many children were hurt Monday when a school bus was involved in an accident on East Mitchell Road.

At around 3:38 pm Monday, the Petoskey bus rammed a Volkswagen in the rear, shaking up the 34 children ages 5-15 on the inside.

While an official number is not known, many of the kids had to be taken to a local hospital to be treated for minor injuries. Surprisingly, the driver of the Volkswagen was unharmed.

The accident is under investigation.

Popularity: 68% [?]

A young woman from Boyne City has turned herself into Taylor Police as the one responsible for the dead baby found in a backpack this past summer.

At around 7 pm on July 24, 22 year old Emma Clemens gave birth to a stillborn baby in Taylor. She quickly wrapped the body and put it in a backpack, and buried it in some bushes by a home on Trent Street the next day. The owner of the home found the backpack and made the gruesome discovery upon opening it and called police.

No reason has been given for her negligence with the child. She has been charged with disinterment and mutilation of a dead body – charges that could put her away for up to 10 years. Her preliminary examination is set for December 20.

Popularity: 100% [?]

An increasing number of expected state retirees is going to save the crumbling state of despair – I mean – Michigan, more money than expected.

A spokesman for the state says that 4,755 state workers will have generously taken a bow by the first of January, saving more than the projected $60 million for the state. The important jobs like child service workers will have replacements, but in the bigger picture, two out of three vacant jobs will be replaced.

State workers were given more lucrative pension offers to take a hike, and only one-third were eligible for the offers. Governor elect Snyder is waiting to tally the savings before deciding with vacant seats should be filled.

Popularity: 66% [?]