Multilingual driving schools help immigrants get on the road From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131006/METRO08/310060012#ixzz2h4OlGZpM

Story originally appeared on the Detroit News.

Sterling Heights— Determined to master parallel parking, Iqbal Kina concentrates as she maneuvers her car between a pair of conesin the parking lot behind Madamma Driving School.

Outside, instructor John Bitti calls out commands in his student’s native Chaldean.

As a new immigrant from Baghdad who is just learning English, Kina, 32, is relieved to be working with an instructor who speaks her language and is excited to get her license.

“Here you can’t live without being able to drive,” the Madison Heights resident said through an interpreter. “You can’t go shopping, you can’t go to school.”

Kina is one of nearly 23,000 Chaldeans who have moved to the state within the last four years, according to U.S. census data. The Chaldean Community Foundation said 13,000 of them sought refugee status in Michigan after fleeing Iraq, which has been torn by sectarian violence since the U.S. invasion a decade ago.

As more of these new immigrants seek driver’s licenses in Metro Detroit, multilingual driving schools have been popping up.

Eric Younan, director of strategic initiatives for the Chaldean Community Foundation, said the number of Chaldean refugees continues to grow.

Once they arrive, after securing housing and getting their children into schools, these refugees seek jobs, Younan said. Often they don’t speak English, which makes it difficult to get a driver’s license and therefore to travel to work, he added.

“Learning how to drive is very important for the acculturation process,” Younan said. “If you’re not from Metro Detroit, it’s a really large expanse of area to travel.”

The foundation works to provide interpreters who help translate the written driver’s test, said Fred Woodhams, a spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State.

Ban Manna, owner of Southfield-based International Driver Testing, decided to start her business two years ago after she heard from family members and friends about how hard it was to find a Chaldean-speaking road testing agency.

Manna experienced it herself when her family came to the United States and her mother was taking her road test.

“I was sitting in the back and translating for her, but by the time I could translate it, she’d miss the turn or the sign,” she said.

Manna speaks English, Chaldean, Arabic and some Italian. Many of her clients are women whose culture would make it difficult to drive alone in a car with a man from outside their family.

“Most of the people I’m road-testing are adults who have been here less than a year,” she said. “Without a car, it’s like you have no life.”

Bitti, Manna’s cousin, said he has been a driving instructor for seven years and opened Madamma Driving School two years ago in the hopes of improving the quality of life for his community members.

“A lot of these people, the first question they get when they go to find a job is, do you have a driver’s license, which is the same as saying, do you have a car,” said Bitti. “I want to put everybody on equal ground. I can teach them in Arabic and Chaldean just as I could teach in English.”

Bitti said he teaches students the signs and road rules in English as well, to make sure they get used to it.

Driver’s training is only one part of the equation, Bitti said. Not everyone coming to the school can afford the lessons, which start at $50 per two-hour session, and the road test, which costs around $50.

The Chaldean Community Foundation is working to alleviate some of the expense for refugees.

The foundation, started in 2006 as the nonprofit wing of the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce, provides services such as mental health care, English classes and job training and placement. But foundation members soon noticed another gap they needed to fill.

Last year, the foundation launched the Chaldean Loan Fund to help recent immigrants buy cars. The loans have a $5,000 cap, Younan said.

Wasan Wartan said she moved to the United States four years ago after escaping religious persecution stemming from the Iraqi civil war. She came alone, knowing almost no English and with no family members and few friends living here.

The Southfield resident became the first of 11 people to get a car loan through the program last November.

Now 34, Wartan, is drives her 2003 Buick Rendezvous to her job as a sales associate at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Utica.

“I’m more independent than I was without a car. Before, I had to call a friend or pay a neighbor to drive me,” she said. “Now with my car I’m feeling more energy and I can go to work, go shopping or do anything.”

4 PEOPLE CONNECTED TO ADULT WELL-BEING SERVICES CHARGED IN MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed felony charges against four employees and former employees of Detroit-based mental health care provider Adult Well-Being Services for their alleged roles in a Medicaid fraud scheme.

The attorney general filed charges on Sept. 25 in the 54B District Court in East Lansing against:

• Current employee Dr. Sandra Schiff, PhD, 66, of West Bloomfield.

• Current employee William Vallier, 65, of Clawson.

• Former employee Marceia Lugo, 39, of Sterling Heights.

• Former employee Laura Leca, 27, of Westland.

The charges allege that in March 2011, a healthcare provider left her employment at Adult Well-Being without completing progress notes for hundreds of meetings with mental health patients.

The incomplete patient records violated Medicaid program rules, and a scheduled audit of the agency would have revealed that and triggered a repayment demand to Adult Well-Being, the attorney general said in a release.

He alleges that the four employees forged the electronic signature of the former employee more than 10 months after her departure, without her knowledge or consent, to create and authenticate false progress notes.

The former employee whose signature was allegedly forged by the four defendants does not face criminal charges at this time, but the investigation continues, the attorney general said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General is assisting in the investigation.

The charges stem from a June 2012 raid of Adult Well-Being Services locations.

The four defendants are each charged with:

• One count of Medicaid fraud- false record or statement to avoid payment to the state, a felony punishable by four years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine.

• One count of medical records- intentionally placing false information on chart-health care provider, a felony punishable by four years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.

The four defendants surrendered themselves to authorities and were arraigned on Sept. 26 before Judge Andrea Larkin, who set personal bond for each at $25,000.

A preliminary exam of the defendants is set for Wednesday.

GRAND RAPIDS RANKS AS MICHIGAN'S MOST GENEROUS CITY, BUT CAN'T COMPETE WITH UTAH

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- When it comes to giving, Grand Rapids ranks as one of the country's most generous cities.

When compared to cities across the country, Grand Rapids comes in at 13th out of the top 20 determined by nerdwallet.com, a consumer finance site.

It's the only Michigan city to make the list that evaluates communities on volunteerism and philanthropy.

But Grand Rapids falls short of a trio of Utah cities that top the list: Provo, Ogden and Salt Lake which rank first, second and third, respectively.

Grand Rapids' volunteer rate is 36.7 percent, compared to Provo's to 58.5 percent. There was even a wide span between annual volunteer hours, with Grand Rapids' averaging just under 34 hours compared to 147 hours in Provo.

When it comes to donating money to causes, Grand Rapids residents give less than half than their counterparts in Provo: 13.9 percent compared to 5.3 percent.

Grand Rapids had an overall score of 30.5 percent compared to Provo's 100 percent.

The three top communities on the list are at ground zero of the Mormon faith, whose members belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is headquartered in Salt Lake City.

Religion plays a role in levels of philanthropy, whether that is volunteer or donating money, says Divya Raghazan, a nerdwallet senior analyst.

She noted that while Grand Rapids is known for having generous deep-pocket philanthropists, the list also looks at community's population to see if residents, in general, tend to donate time as well as money.

"Most Christian religions request 10 percent tithing but Mormons are more likely to do it," said Raghazan. "There is a strong culture of charity and volunteerism in the Mormon Church, and I think in several other religions as well."

COMPUWARE TERMINATES PETER KARMANOS JR.'S CONSULTING CONTRACT

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.

Detroit-based Compuware Corp. has terminated a six-year, $600,000-a-year consulting contract for Peter Karmanos Jr., the company's co-founder and former chairman and CEO, according to a report filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The termination is effective Tuesday, according to the report, filed by Joseph Angileri, treasurer and CFO of Compuware (Nasdaq: CPWR).

TIGERS SET FOX SPORTS DETROIT VIEWER RECORD

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.



Fox Sports Detroit set another viewership record for Detroit Tigers games this season.

The cable network said today that its 152 Tigers telecasts averaged a 9.59 household rating, topping last year's record 9.21 average.

Numbers for the rest of Major League Baseball's markets were not available this afternoon, but it's believed the Tigers led all teams in local ratings average, as they did in 2012.

The ratings are based on data from New York City-based audience tracker The Nielsen Co.

Each local ratings point represents 18,459 households in the Detroit market.

The games that didn't air on FSD were televised on national channels.

The Tigers, who wrapped up their third consecutive American League Central Division championship last week, open the AL Division series on the road Friday against the Oakland Athletics.

Because of the team's popularity among viewers, FSD charges up to 25 percent more for a 30-second advertising spot during Tigers telecasts than it did a year ago, according to a person familiar with the rates who spoke to Crain's in February on the condition of anonymity.

Airing Tigers games is both lucrative and expensive for the network. Fox Sports Detroit was predicted by SNL Kagan to have $152.2 million in operating revenue against $112.5 million in expenses in 2013.

Fox Sports Detroit has aired Tigers games since 1998, when it won the broadcast rights from the now-defunct Pro-Am Sports System, owned at the time by the Washington Post Co.'s Post-Newsweek Stations Inc.

FSD inked 10-year deals, believed to be extensions of contracts already in place, in March 2008 with the Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings, both of which are owned by Little Caesars pizza chain co-founder Mike Ilitch.

The baseball team is believed to get $50 million annually from FSD under the contract. A portion of that rights fee is pooled under baseball's revenue-sharing system.

Detroit also gets another $50 million to $60 million from MLB's shared national TV rights deals; broadcast rights account for the majority of each team's annual revenue.

The Tigers and FSD are at the opposite end of the spectrum of the Houston Astros and Comcast SportsNet Houston.

On Sept. 22, the Astros road game against the Cleveland Indians drew a 0.0 rating, according to the Houston Chronicle.

That doesn't mean no one watched Cleveland beat Houston, but the numbers were so low — perhaps a few hundred — that it didn't rise to a measurable level. Most TV viewers in the market were watching the Houston Texans that Sunday.

The Astros finished a Major League-worst 51-111.

In recent days, it emerged that that Comcast SportsNet Houston — a regional network owned by the Astros, Houston Rockets and NBC Sports Group — hasn't paid the baseball team its rights fees for the past three months.

An involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition was filed Friday against CSN Houston in federal court by Comcast/NBC Universal, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The Astros, who are protesting the bankruptcy, own about 46 percent of the network, the Rockets own about 31 percent and Comcast/NBC Universal owns 22 percent, the newspaper said.

The network, which launched Oct. 1, 2012, reportedly is available in only 40 percent of the Houston television market and has been unable to reach carriage deals with providers such as DirecTV and Time Warner.

The Tigers have no equity stake in Fox Sports Detroit.

Employment Up, Wages Down In Early 2013 For Southeast Michigan

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.

All of the five-county region of Southeast Michigan saw employment gains earlier this year, but only Washtenaw County had weekly wage growth to go with it, according to new data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The county that includes Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti had an average weekly wage of $989 for first-quarter 2013, up 0.8 percent from the same quarter in 2012, according to a report on county employment and wages from BLS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, late last week.

Meanwhile, average wages contracted over the same period by 1.3 percent in Wayne County (to $1,053 per week), 0.8 percent in Oakland County (to $1,072 per week) and 0.1 percent in Macomb County (to $974 per week).

Livingston County was not included in the report, which covers employment and wage data for 334 U.S. counties, including the 10 largest in Michigan. Wages climbed 0.6 percent to $989 per week in first quarter 2013 across all those counties, making the Washtenaw wage match the nation as a whole.

A separate data report in the BLS' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program shows Livingston's average weekly wage in March 2012 was $753, down 0.3 percent from a year earlier. On that same March-to-March monthly comparison, Washtenaw saw 1.4 percent wage growth, while Wayne was down 1.5 percent, Oakland is off 0.8 percent and Macomb by 0.9 percent.

Every county in the region except Wayne outpaced the nation as a whole in employment growth, however, according to the new report. Macomb led that trend with about 297,200 workers in March 2013, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier.

Oakland followed at 2.7 percent growth to about 668,900 employed, although the county in a separate news release on Monday reports that its total employment was up 3.9 percent, to 666,040 jobs. The county's figures were based on a three-month average employment rate this year, compared with first quarter 2012.

Washtenaw grew 2.3 percent to 196,700 workers, while Wayne County saw 0.9 percent jobs growth, to about 681,600 people according to BLS. Employment as a whole grew 1.6 percent last March to about 132.3 million workers, with jobs growth in 282 of the 334 counties tracked. Wages grew in 242 counties and declined in 93 counties, including four in Southeast Michigan.

Total March employment figures differed for all five counties in data collected separately by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. But that data also showed employment gains among all five Southeast Michigan counties and a shrinking jobless rate, compared with a year earlier.

Michigan Opens Health Care Marketplace

Story First Appeared in  Crain's Detroit Business.



It's Oct. 1. Do you know where your Michigan Health Insurance Marketplace is?

Today – depending on your political viewpoint – is either the beginning of the government takeover of the health insurance industry or an opportunity for you to shop for (hopefully) lower cost and (possibly) subsidized health insurance.

Without further adieu, click here to begin the online health insurance application process that federal officials say will only take about 30 minutes to complete.

There are a lot of details for people to remember about the health insurance exchange. There also has been a lot of debate about whether the U.S., individuals or small businesses can afford it or not afford it.

But here is the bottom line: A 2009 study by Harvard University concluded that lack of health insurance coverage contributes heavily to at least 45,000 preventable deaths per year.

In other words, people without health insurance had a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private insurance, primarily because they were unable to receive timely medical care.

In Michigan, about half of the state's estimated 1.2 million uninsured people earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state program that serves low-income folks and families.

Many of those uninsured also earn too little to purchase health insurance in today's current market. Some, of course, especially the "young and invincible," just choose to roll the dice and hope they don't get seriously sick or injured.

Today and over the next six months of open enrollment, you have a chance to check out the prices, the benefits and the relative ease of shopping for health insurance online.

Or you can continue what you are doing, include being uninsured, and next April pay a $95 fine on your 2013 tax form for not having a health insurance policy.

The fine increases over three years until it caps out at $695 per year, or 2.5 percent of gross household income.

While small businesses under 50 can start the application process on Oct. 1 to cover their employees, the online function of the exchange won't go live until Nov. 1.

Check with your insurance agent or broker for how to sign up with the small business health option program, or SHOP.

Or go online. Many business associations in Michigan have developed informational websites to help small companies learn how to begin offering health insurance.

    Warren-based Michigan Business and Professional Association has created a Small Business Health Care Reform Guide.
    The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce also offers MI Health Answers to give members and nonmembers access to health care experts in Michigan and nationally on how to implement Obamacare.
    The Small Business Association of Michigan has launched Decision Point. It is free to SBAM members enrolled in an SBAM-sponsored health plan and $50 for members who are not. Nonmembers are charged $250 to join the association and access Decision Point.
    The Michigan Department of Financial and Insurance Services also has created a handy consumer guide for those who wish to learn more on how to pick a health insurance plan.
    The U.S. Small Business Administration also is offering a free Webinar series to teach entrepreneurs what the health care law means for their business.
    On the federal level, the Small Business Majority also has an online resource called the Health Coverage Guide.

"We've been focused on educating small businesses about this law since it went into effect," John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Small Business Majority, said in a statement.

"There's been so much rhetoric and political gamesmanship around the law, but what small businesses really want and need is the facts so they know what to do to comply with, and even benefit from, (the) provisions."