Business Watch

City officials said they were putting faith in the word of Kellogg officials that the company would not abandon Battle Creek. But the food company, which is splitting off most of its business to a headquarters in Chicago, has been shrinking its local workforce for years.

An iconic Michigan brand, Kellogg Co. announced it is splitting into three companies, taking its growing and most profitable product (snacks) out of state, and creating an uncertain future for its sluggish cereal brand.

The cereal-maker, founded in Battle Creek and Michigan’s fifth-largest public company, soon will operate as three companies. Unclear is how much of it will remain in the state.

The Sturgis facility could be shut for several weeks because of flood damage - just weeks after it reopened after a months-long shutdown during a contamination investigation.

Competition for workers and a lack of rental homes in the Upper Peninsula prompted the state to convert an unused building at Tahquamenon Falls. Next up: the Porcupine Mountains, with more housing options likely to follow in northern Michigan.

Fewer boats at a Rogers City marina. Wine-tasting crowd down in Leelanau County. New worries about travel costs Up North. This summer was supposed to be different. But warning signs mount for Michigan’s travel industry.

First it was parts delays. Then repair shops struggled to find certified mechanics to complete the job. Now repairs are taking weeks — or longer.

The automaker will make improvements to nine factories in the state, along with Ohio and Kansas operations. It also will build a new shipping facility in Monroe.

The SOAR Fund, approved in December, boosts large-scale economic growth, proponents say. Now both Democrats and Republicans are lining up behind adding to the fund in the next budget, after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer asked for $500 million.

Perrigo makes generic and store-brand formulas to supply about 8 percent of U.S. infant formula. It’s now operating around the clock to combat massive supply shortages, while investors push the company’s stock price higher.

Rental rates are climbing as fast as home prices, and many renters say they worry if they will be able to afford their apartments. Some are leaping into the for-sale market, even as competition for entry-level homes remains steep.

Following mass shootings, gun stores often see an increase in gun purchases as gun reform discussions come to the forefront. But owners of two Michigan stores said Wednesday sales did not spike, even as stocks for U.S. gun companies rose.

State officials say winning EV deals is key to Michigan’s future, but Stellantis chose its factory campus in Kokomo, Ind., for its next-generation factory, with three more factory sites yet to be announced.

Parents suffering under the nationwide powdered infant formula shortage should find relief, but not until mid-summer. Abbott Nutrition said it will reopen production after regulators signed off on plan to address plant contamination.

It’s a tough environment for anyone who wants to buy a house. Record low inventory and peak prices leave few options, besides overbidding — which drives prices higher. That could end as mortgage rates increase.

Abbott Nutrition recalled Similac and other brands of powdered formula after five hospitalizations and two deaths, raising questions about federal oversight. And the lack of factory production has made a U.S. formula shortage worse.

Remora is opening its first factory in Wixom as the nation’s top truck haulers use the technology to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The company sells the captured CO2 to other industries, co-CEO Paul Gross explains in a Q and A.

Business officials said companies are reluctant to weigh in on every social issue, whether they support it or not. In polarizing times, they say, they can’t win either way, but staying silent can present its own problems.

Housing is already scarce in northern Michigan. Now businesses, faced with hiring for the billion-dollar tourist season, are finding their own solutions: Buying motels, leasing camp spaces and asking for rooms in houses.

EveryBody Inc. faces many pressures hitting small businesses across the state — but not a labor shortage. It was founded to employ people with cognitive disabilities, and aims to grow despite higher prices and scarce supplies of materials like shea butter.