This is Michigan

After a dismal period of huge losses and deep cuts that culminated in the Obama administration's bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift.

President Obama toured the Ford Explorer plant in Chicago yesterday as part of his tour defending the auto bailout.The U.S. auto industry will add 182,000 more U.S. automotive jobs through 2012, said Sean McIlindin, chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research yesterday at the conclusion of the Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse City, Michigan. Many of those new jobs will come in the Midwest, he added.

PORT HURON, Mich. - This state's tourism ads make people feel good enough to cry. They give hope to the jobless and goose bumps to the jaded. Daily they win new fans on Facebook, new followers on Twitter. When they come on the radio, they inspire listeners to turn up the volume.

From the farmlands of France to the rust-colored post-industrial cities of Michigan, this year's top institutions are finding good science in some rather unusual places.

From auto parts shipped to Canada to a soccer stadium designed for a South Korean city, metro Detroit firms are among the nation's leaders in exporting goods and services to other nations.

What's on our Fourth of July table?

This much is certain: You won't find metro Detroit's collective menu anywhere else in America.

It's coneys, hummus, Greek salads and peach cobbler ... artisan bread, pad thai, berry pie and baklava ... square pizzas, sliders and salsa. It's Faygo and Vernors, Redcoat Tavern and Miller's, Buddy's and Little Caesars.

Consumers shop in those cavernous warehouse stores not for the aesthetics or service, but because they offer bargains. Maybe Detroit's best hope for revival is to sell itself as the Sam's Club of American cities.

Two Metro Detroit malls have new owners, signaling renewed interest in Michigan retail.

Shoppers aren't likely to see major changes at Westland Shopping Center in Westland or Fairlane Green in Allen Park, but the purchases show optimism that the retail market will improve.