Top executives for two natural gas giants allegedly set aside their rivalry in 2010 to discuss land acquisition strategies in northern Michigan, precipitating a steep decline in lease prices, according to an ongoing investigative series by Reuters.

The international news agency today published email exchanges between execs at Chesapeake Energy and Encana, respectively the second-largest producer of natural gas in the United States and the largest in Canada.      MLive

Meet the NW Michigan Agriculture Business Team

(L-R :Tom Coon-MSU Extension, Susan Cocciarelli – NW Ag and Food System Sector Alliance,
Elaine Wood – NWMCOG, Wendy Wieland – MSU Extension/Product Center,
Annie Shetler – SBTDC, Brenda Rau – MSU Product Center, Mary Rogers – MI-SBTDC)

 Farmers and other agriculture related businesses can access a variety of assistance programs through the new Northwest Michigan Regional Agriculture Business Services Partnership. The partnership brings together the services of an MSU Extension agriculture innovation counselor, a MI-SBTDC agriculture business counselor, and the Northwest Michigan Agriculture and Food System Sector Alliance to enhance services to Ag related businesses such as product development, marketing, business plans, financing, education and training, and farm production and distribution.

Complete Story

…in an upbeat new guide to marriage, For Better, Tara Parker-Pope, a New York Times reporter (and divorcée), devotes a chapter to debunking the 50% stat, at least among the subset of the population that reads books like hers. Since the 1970s, when more women started going to college and delaying marriage, “marital stability appears to be improving each decade,” she writes. For example, about 23% of college graduates who married in the ’70s split within 10 years. For those who wed in the ’90s, the rate dropped to 16%.

According to research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, one of the clearest predictors of whether wedding vows will stick is the age of the people saying them. Take the ’80s: a full 81% of college graduates who got hitched in that decade at age 26 or older were still married 20 years later. Only 65% of college grads who said I do before their 26th birthday made it that far. But just 49% of those who married young and did so without a degree lasted 20 years….     Time

CDC has a fun new way of teaching about emergency preparedness. Our new graphic novel, “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” demonstrates the importance of being prepared in an entertaining way that people of all ages will enjoy. Readers follow Todd, Julie, and their dog Max as a strange new disease begins spreading, turning ordinary people into zombies. Stick around to the end for a surprising twist that will drive home the importance of being prepared for any emergency. Included in the novel is a Preparedness Checklist so that readers can get their family, workplace, or school ready before disaster strikes.       CDC

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) opposes an FCC waiver request filed by CenturyLink that, if approved, would entitle CenturyLink to federal subsidies from the Connect America Fund for broadband deployment in areas already served by Wireless Internet Service Providers (“WISPs”).

Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (“ILECS”) have received massive government subsidies to build and maintain wireline networks for voice service in rural areas, yet millions of Americans lack access to broadband. CenturyLink claims that failure to grant its waiver request would “deprive tens of thousands of households the opportunity to order quality broadband services,” but the federally-funded National Broadband Map shows that many of these areas are serviced by WISPs that already offer broadband services.

It is in consumers’ best interests for CenturyLink to seek Connect America Fund support for areas that truly need broadband, rather than try to gain subsidies for markets that are already served.  (Source: WISPA Press Release)

Online education opportunities are expanding. Here is just one example that I got in an email today:

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