Offbeat

With the New Year, Michigan Radio began a new series called, "What's Working." Every week, we'll take a look at an idea that's helping to improve the state's economy and our lives.

Today, we hear from Joe Faris, founder of Motor City Denim. When the auto industry downsized, auto suppliers were affected. Many of them lost business, got rid of employees, or even went into bankruptcy. What’s left are the suppliers' factories, and a highly-skilled workforce. Faris is working to mold the infrastructure of former, or smaller, auto suppliers into one that can support a fashion industry. Motor City Denim is now a subsidiary of TD Industrial Coverings. TD Industrial Coverings used to only manufacture protective coverings for the robots used to assemble cars. Now, TD industrial is getting ready to also make jeans.

You can listen to the interview here:

If you're commuting this morning, expect slick roads across the state. This morning we'll see a mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet.  A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect until 11 a.m. today for much of west and mid-Michigan and until noon for parts of the southeast.

Today: Snow in west Michigan. Snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain in mid and southeast Michigan. Highs in the low to mid 30s.

Tonight: Cloudy, a slight chance of snow in Holland and southeast Michigan. Lows between zero and 10 degrees.

Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with a bit of sun in southeast Michigan. Scattered light snow in west and mid-michigan. Highs around 20.

All throughout 2010, Michigan Radio's Morning Edition host Christina Shockley asked people for their ideas on what we can all do to help our state. This year, she'll find out What's Working. Every week, we'll explore a new idea that's working to improve the state's economy and our lives. The series is called, "What's Working."

Today, we heard from Kim Hodge, Executive Director of MI Alliance of TimeBanks, about the rising popularity of time-banking in the state. So, maybe you're wondering just what time-banking is. The Alliance's website explains it like this:

At its most basic level, Time banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into the Time Bank as a Time Dollar. Then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.

Each Time Bank has a website where you list what you would like to do for other members. You look up Time Bank services online or call a community coordinator to do it for you. You earn Time Dollars after each service you perform and then you get to spend it on whatever you want from the listings.

With Time Banking, you will be working with a small group of committed individuals who are joined together for a common good. It connects you to the best in people because it creates a system that connects unmet needs with untapped resources. To see what happens each week when you are part of Time Bank is deeply fulfilling, especially if you are helping to make it run.

Jackson County Commissioners are considering tough new regulations for owners of dogs that attack.

James Shotwell is chairman of the commission. He says a judge will determine whether a dog owner will have to get one hundred thousand dollars of liability coverage for the animal.

"The language is something that is established by the courts, after the person is cited with the animal repeatedly," Shotwell says.  "So it’s not like everyone who has a pit bull or has a vicious dog has to have liability insurance. That’s not what we’re saying.”

Don't throw it out! Put that dryer lint in a box next to the crayons, markers, and pencils. Turns out, it can be used to make art.

The Associated Press has a report on Laura Bell's laundry lint creation... a 14'x4' replica of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Bell is from Roscommon, Michigan.

From the report:

Bell says she needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the mural. She bought towels of the colors she wanted and laundered them separately to get the right shades of lint.

The report says Ripley's Believe It or Not plans to display the piece in one of its museums, adding to other "Last Supper" replicas "made from a grain of rice, a dime and burned toast."

On the Ripley's website, Laura Bells says people have different reactions when seeing the piece:

“For some people, it’s a very spiritual experience. Others are simply amazed at what someone could do with basic laundry lint.”