Grand Rapids Business Journal
Courtesy Grand Rapids Chamber
The Experience Grand Rapids board of directors elected new officers and members to lead the organization for the next two years.
Dr. Floyd Wilson Jr., chief development officer for Pinnacle Construction Group Inc., was elected to serve as the board chair. Jenifer Cutter, regional general manager at AHC Hospitality, was elected as vice chair of the board. Rick Baker, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Chamber, will serve as secretary and treasurer.
Three members were elected by the 33-member board, and they were ratified by the full membership of the organization. The new members are Kyle Holst of Hampton Inn and Suites Downtown Grand Rapids, Grant Hirst of Embassy Suites Downtown Grand Rapids and Suresh Patel of GR Hospitality Inc.
During the winter of 1976, you couldn’t escape the return of
King Kong. Producer Dino De Laurentiis had gone out to produce the biggest indie budget film for the biggest star Hollywood had ever created. Kong was on the back of comic books. Posters of Kong straddling the World Trade Center towers while clutching Jessica Lange in one hand and a destroyed fighter get in the other papered towns. I still remember the poster being up for months in the window of a dry cleaner in Fayetteville, NC. The TV ads popped up on every show. The drink glasses were at Burger Chef. 7-Eleven had special Slurpee cups. Dino had to get everyone hyped up since Paramount was releasing the movie on 1,200 screens. This was in an era when a major film debuted on much less and built up over time.
Why the Grand Rapids Chamber is sitting on the sidelines in LGBTQ civil rights fight in Lansing
Fair and Equal Michigan via Facebook
In October, the Fair and Equal Michigan ballot campaign submitted more than 483,000 signatures to the Secretary of State s office for an initiative to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in Michigan by amending the state s 45-year-old civil rights law.
The citizens initiative seeking to make it illegal to fire or deny someone housing because they re gay or transgender gained support last week from a half-dozen local chambers of commerce across Michigan.
Business and economic development groups in Flint, Jackson, Lansing, Midland, Saginaw and Traverse City joined the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Ypsilanti Regional Chamber and Southwest Michigan First in backing Fair and Equal Michigan, an initiative petition to amend the state s civil rights law that may arrive at the Michigan Legislature s doorstep later this year.
Pinellas dominoes could fall if Charlie Crist runs for governor
Talk is picking up about Democrats and Republicans who may run to replace Crist in congress.
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Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. There s continuing speculation he is considering a run for governor in 2022. [ SUSAN WALSH | AP ]
By William March
Updated Apr. 30
As U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist edges closer to running for governor in 2022, talk is picking up about Democrats and Republicans who may run to replace him, and the falling political dominoes that might result as some of those candidates leave offices they now hold.