Extra, Extra! Read all about it! ... in another daily Metro Detroit newspaper. It drops next week and is called the Detroit Daily Press.

Excerpt:

The Stern brothers, who previously published a Detroit Daily Press strike newspaper in the 1960s, will charge 50 cents for their Monday through Saturday editions, and $1 on Sundays.

The operation, which employs a staff of 60, including a number of former editorial and business employees from other newspaper companies in Metro Detroit, is based in leased space at the former Daily Tribune offices in Royal Oak. Mark Stern said the paper will court readers who want seven-day delivery, and advertisers seeking a cut-rate print option. The Detroit News and Free Press reduced their home delivery schedules in March; The News is home-delivered Thursdays and Fridays, and the Free Press Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

"We're a 50-cents paper when the other guys are a dollar," Mark Stern said. "Our ads cost 75 percent less."

Read the entire article here.

A light rail up Woodward would not just be for Detroit. And a commuter rail from Detroit to Ann Arbor wouldn't just be for those two cities. Mass transit, when done right, could coalesce and serve the entire region.

Excerpt:

"Gas prices hit $4 a gallon last year and will go up again," he said. "If we can make it so that commuter rail is faster and cheaper and you won't have to pay to park your car, then people will definitely ride."

The Detroit Department of Transportation predicts 20,000 daily riders on the Woodward line by 2030, with 11,100 roundtrips per day. The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) estimates 5,800 daily riders for the Ann Arbor-Detroit line, with four round trips daily.

Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, whose district includes part of the proposed Woodward Avenue rail route, said it's important for both projects to become a reality. "They are separate plans, but they show regional cooperation."

Businesses would move close to the rail routes and the region would be "more attractive to live, work, and play," he said.

Read the entire article here.

There isn't a moat around Detroit and the suburbs aren't islands. A healthy Detroit is a healthy Southeast Michigan. A healthy Southeast Michigan is a healthy state. One can't exist without the other and the other.

Excerpt:

That said, Jackson said we in Michigan are too negative when it comes to Detroit. Downtown has many attractive features, drawing 5.6 million entertainment visitors a year. Despite the city's reputation for crime, Jackson said FBI statistics show the city is safer than many other large cities in the United States.

In Livingston County, we need to pay attention to Jackson. The region is defined to outsiders by Detroit. As Jackson says, outside of our immediate area, the Detroit brand is far more recognizable than the Michigan brand.

That brand needs to be a positive one. If Detroit is vital, then the entire region benefits. It's encouraging to see a Detroit leadership that appears to want to work with the rest of the region, rather than demonizing it.

Read the entire article here.

Temporary shops sound silly at first. Stores that come in -- like mercenaries -- set up shop, sell, and leave six months or so later seem like they wouldn't make sense. How could that possibly work or revive retail? Well, apparently it can be done.

Excerpt:

Analysts say that if pop-up stores -- ephemeral outdoor retail spaces used to draw marketing buzz and promote new products -- are a sign of flush times, the temporary store is its counterpoint.

It makes sense that temporary stores, open six months or less, could buoy retail in Detroit at a time when the sector is mired in a historic low.

"The concept of temporary stores is really more realistic for the Michigan market," said Cynthia Kratchman, a broker with Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services in Farmington Hills. In this economy, landlords are more willing to accept shorter term leases and tenants with less business experience, Kratchman said. "They are also willing to do deals on terms that they never would have entertained even a year ago."

Read the entire article here.

Sesame Street is now 40 years old. And, in honor of the great children's program, here is a shout-out to cooperation. A bill designed to allow the Detroit and Wayne County land banks to work together was announced with bipartisan support this week.

See, we do learn things from television.

Excerpt:

Bills that would allow land banks operated by Detroit and Wayne County to merge into a redevelopment entity with expanded powers were announced Monday, with bipartisan support.

The legislation would provide for a Detroit/Wayne County Redevelopment Authority that would "enable the city and county to have a cohesive strategy for stabilizing and redeveloping tax-reverted properties," said Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, in a news release.

Read the entire article here.

You've probably already heard of Time Inc.'s project or experiment or whatever you'd like to refer to it as. The big media company has bought a house in West Village and has committed itself, its resources, and reporters to the city and surrounding areas for one year. And, now, the content has started.

Pick up the coverage here and a video page can be found here.

Students and cops are getting together to talk about medical marijuana. The keynote presentation will be on the law regarding medical marijuana and, additionally, there will be a panel of experts -- in which Cheech and Chong do not participate -- to discuss the legal, medical, and civic issues of the topic.

Info:

The student chapters of the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union, joined by Police Officers for Drug Law Reform, will host the Michigan Medical Marijuana Symposium on Saturday, October 3, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Wayne State University Law School. The symposium features leading experts to help clarify Michigan's new Medical Marijuana Act.

Read the entire post here.

Though some in and out of Detroit think of the city as a walled island, it is not. Just as the brain can't exist without the heart, and the heart without the lungs, Detroit can't exist without the suburbs and vice-versa. Detroit Mayor Bing realizes that and reached out to regional leaders in a way that has been void in Detroit politics for some time.

Excerpt:

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing reached out to Oakland County leaders tonight. He said southeast Michigan needs to work together to move forward.

"Detroit needs Oakland County," Bing said, as he addressed the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. "Detroit needs Macomb. Detroit needs Wayne County."

Bing's visit to the county commission was the first from a Detroit mayor since Kwame Kilpatrick visited five years ago. Bing's showed none of Kilpatrick's swagger and didn't sugarcoat Detroit's problems.

Read the entire article here.