5 Detroit schools among top-ranked in U.S.

Five Detroit Public Schools have been ranked among the top 8% U.S. high schools by U.S. News and World Report.

Health Plan of Michigan will move its operations and 111 employees to downtown Detroit over the weekend of Dec. 15-16.

As reported by Crains in September, the company is moving to the One Kennedy Square building at 777 Woodward Ave.

Detroit makes the New York Times list of the 53 places to go in 2008, just under San Francisco, and ahead of such intriguing locales as the celeb hot-spot of Itacare, Brazil Kilimanjaro, Algeria and the Moroccon port city of Essaouira, noted for ancient streets, surf and a world music festival.

The article acknowledges that Detroit might not first spring to mind as a tourist hot spot, but goes on to mention some impressive newcomers on the hotel and arts scene, among them: The MGM Grand Detroit, the MotorCity Casino Hotel and the $158 million renovation of the Detroit Institute of Arts .

Grammy-winning R singer Mary J. Blige will perform next month on the Detroit riverfront at the GM Style event, a run-up to the annual international auto show. All concept and production vehicles at GM Style will be rolled out in a fashion runway show to live music. More cars and talent will be announced in the coming weeks. Blige has sold 40 million records since her debut in 1991 with What’s the 411? Her eighth album, Growing Pains, hits stores Dec. 18. General Motors staged the first GM Style event last year. It’s an invitation-only party.

The late son of reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith was killed by a combination of methadone and the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro — a cocktail that would have turned lethal after about five hours — a pathologist testified yesterday.

News like Livonias Quicken Loans plan to re-locate to Detroit may seem like a zero-sum game, but the benefit to the city and the region is immeasurable, according to area experts.

Excerpt: “The most successful metropolitan areas have the highest concentration of workers with four-year degrees. That’s going to mean more young people, and young people are drawn to high-activity downtown areas,” (President of Ann Arbor-based Michigan Future Inc Lou) Glazer said. “It’s hard to see this metropolitan area adopting that model without the city of Detroit playing that function.”

LA-based fabric artist Lisa Auerbach has nice things to says about her visit to Detroit in The Little Red Blog of Revolutionary Knitting.

Excerpt: “I just got back from Detroit and I’m totally stoked. I love it there. I carried a loaf of break from the Avalon bakery all the way back to Los Angeles and it is truly one of the most delicious loaves of bread ever. Wow.

Scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2008, Northwests new nonstop services will conveniently connect London Heathrow with more than 250 destinations throughout the United States for customers traveling via Northwests Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul hubs, and Seattle gateway. Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world, and until earlier this year, was restricted to just two American carriers.

In the increasing globalization of our economy, access to Londons business and financial districts has become a must. The London Heathrow airport became available this year as part of an Open Skies agreement between the U.S. and the European Union — which reduces regulatory constraints for air transportation services in the trans-Atlantic market.

Google Street Views which lets you see panoramic photos shot by camera-equipped vans which were driving around a city. According to the Google Operating System blog, the new cities are Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Providence and St. Paul*.

*Google Maps is slightly broken here; I often get just gray areas. I was able to see some cities, but not all.