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.

The electric car isn't exactly within reach, but it's getting closer, slowly, but getting closer. GM, who seems to be taking baby steps with the project, has announced that it will keep the production of the lithium battery -- the main source of the cars power -- in SE Michigan. However they haven't decided exactly where. The Volt itself will be built in the small Detroit enclave of Hamtramck while the generators for the engine will be coming from Flint.

Maybe the battery production will be somewhere between the two.

Excerpt:

In a symbolic boost to the state's sagging economy, General Motors Corp.'s confirmed today it will launch battery production in southeast Michigan for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt extended range electric car.

As part of a multi-pronged, $1 billion advanced battery development strategy to bring the Volt to market by 2010, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner unveiled several initiatives today.

They include the selection of Korean company LG Chem as the supplier of lithium-ion battery cells. LG Chem's subsidiary, Compact Power, based in Troy, will be involved in the battery supply chain as will A123 Systems, Hitachi and Cobasys.

GM expects work on the Michigan battery plant will start later this year, with production starting in 2010. The automaker is expected to use an existing company facility and hopes to disclose the site by June, pending the approval of government incentives.

Read the entire article here.

Of course, Michigan wishes it didn't have so many of these waste sites, but, at least the state is getting help with them.

The EPA awarded 19 brownfield grants, equalling $8 million, to the state of Michigan. The 19 grants were the most received by any state inside the Great Lakes region.

GM's lithium-ion battery powered car, the Volt, is moving right along. They've nailed down a design that looks a lot like their concept they showed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

As they wont to do each year, the Metro Times has released its annual "Best of Detroit" awards.

The Metrotimes annual restaurant guide runs the gamut: from coneys to caviar, from haute to simply hot.

Planet Ant Theatre is all-girl for four days of Boxfest. Music, theater, comedy improv, and short films that are all written, produced and performed by women will take the stage from August 9 through 12.

Thursday, June 21 is the second annual "Dump the Pump" day that calls for the parking of cars and the riding of public transit as a way of calling attention to the environmental and economic benefits of using public transit.