Dana W. Pratt III's Page

Dear Editor,

Owning a house with my wife in Elk Rapids, I often read your letters to the editor and thought this would make a good one.

Spying a beautiful Michigan Saturday, I made all the preparations, hooked up the boat and headed out to enjoy a fun-filled day on the lake. My destination is normally Elk, Torch or East Bay. This time though, with friends out on Glen Lake, I headed west. Needing to gas up, I stopped at Grumpy’s (the Mobile station on M-72). While filling up, I placed my wallet… Continue

TRAVERSE CITY -- Henry Ford directly impacted Michigan's automotive industry...and decades later restoring classic cars created by Ford has become not only a hobby, but a tradition.

"At Hagerty we're all about celebrating the history and tradition of the automobile and it just so happens that we live in the state of Michigan were many if not most of the cars in the U.S were built," says CEO of Hagerty Insurance in Traverse City, McKeel Hagerty.

It's this motivation along with the idea of havin… Continue

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Tesla Motors Inc. gained more than 40 percent in their public trading debut on Tuesday after the electric car manufacturer raised more money than expected in its initial stock offering.

Investors snapped up Tesla's shares even as the broader markets took a beating. The stock soared $6.89, or 40.5 percent from its offering price, to close at $23.89 -- marking the second-biggest first-day gain among initial public offerings this year. Tesla's performance was a feat in a… Continue

MC — DETROIT (AP) — In less than a year, General Motors Co. has roared back from bankruptcy to a quarterly profit. Now comes the hard part: sustaining the income and repaying billions of dollars in government aid.

There are signs that GM is on track to do just that. Revenue is up 40 percent over the first quarter of last year. U.S. sales rose 17 percent for the quarter, and the automaker made an operating profit in North America, which had been a cash incinerator. Units in Asia and Latin Americ… Continue

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP (AP) — Two Ford Motor Co. factories near Detroit will see 170 additional blue-collar jobs in the next two years as the automaker brings battery pack and gas-electric hybrid transmission assembly to the United States.

Ford said Monday it will invest $135 million by 2012 at factories in Ypsilanti Township and Sterling Heights to design, engineer and produce components for its next generation of hybrids and fully electric vehicles. About half the investment comes from a federal… Continue