Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.
Sentinum Mines 77 Bitcoin at its West Michigan Data Center
The Sentinum (formerly known as BitNile) wholly owned subsidiary of Ault Alliance Inc. in Las Vegas reports that it has mined approximately 77 Bitcoin at its data center in Dowagiac (southwest of Kalamazoo) during December.
The company mined another close to 74 Bitcoin from mining machines hosted with Core Scientific Inc. in Montana last month.
The December 2023 mining run rate of approximately $6.5 million marks the highest single monthly run rate for Bitcoin miners in the company’s history. The December mining operations represent a current Bitcoin mining operations annual run rate of approximately $78 million worth of Bitcoin. The mining run rate is based upon a current Bitcoin price of approximately $43,000.
“Reaching this milestone represents a significant stride forward for the company,” says William B. Horne, CEO of Ault Alliance. “We are immensely satisfied with the progress and overall performance of our mining operations, particularly those of Sentinum.”
Detroit Pistons Name Brian Adams Assistant Coach
The Detroit Pistons have added Brian Adams to the coaching staff as an assistant.
Adams joins Detroit with more than 12 years of coaching experience, both at the collegiate and professional levels, including three years as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers. Most recently, he served as the head coach of Taipei Taishin Mars of the T1 league in Taipei City, Taiwan.
A native of Pine Plains, N.Y., Adams began his career as an intern with the New York Knicks in 2005 before joining the Boston Celtics as video coordinator. Adams began his coaching career at Harvard University as an assistant coach for two seasons before joining the coaching staff at Marist University in 2013. He returned to the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers as a coaching associate from 2014-18.
Adams was later named head coach of the Agua Caliente Clippers, the Clippers’ NBA G League affiliate, prior to the 2018-19 season. After two seasons with Agua Caliente, Adams joined Doc Rivers’ staff as assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020.
Pleasantrees Launches Mystery Weed Contest with Chance to Win a Trip to Miami
Pleasantrees in Harrison Township has announced the Mystery Weed contest, an opportunity for loyal customers to test their knowledge of their favorite cannabis strains.
The company invites consumers to celebrate all January with the introduction of mystery strains. Everyone who guesses the mystery strains correctly will be entered into the grand prize drawing for a trip for two to Miami.
Throughout the month, Pleasantrees will reintroduce four of its most popular cannabis strains anonymously. Those who guess all four strains are eligible for the grand prize drawing. Everyone who correctly identifies three, however, will be eligible to redeem a free ounce of Pleasantrees’ signature craft cannabis.
Participants must be a member of the Loyaltrees loyalty program at the time of entry to qualify for contest prizes. Consumers can join the Loyaltrees program for free by downloading the Pleasantrees app, texting JOIN to 313-662-2747, or visiting here.
The grand prize trip to Miami includes airfare and a two-night hotel stay for the winner and one guest. The Mystery Weed contest ends on Jan. 31. Participants must be 21 years of age or older to purchase and enter.
Lawrence Tech to Host FIRST Robotics Game Reveal Saturday
Lawrence Technological University in Southfield will host a game reveal celebration Saturday for the 10 teams it is sponsoring in the FIRST Robotics competition for 2024.
More than 300 high school students, teachers, and FIRST Robotics mentors and coaches are expected to attend the event.
The FIRST Game Reveal and Kickoff is the official start to the 2024 FRC season. Teams around the world will be tuned in at noon to hear the theme and rules for this year’s game, and the details on what kind of robots they will be building over the winter.
Following the kickoff, the teams will receive their official FRC robot kits to get them started on their build.
The FRC season will begin with district events, taking place the entire month of March. Those that qualify for the state championship will compete soon after, and some teams will be heading to Houston to participate in the world championships in late April.
Lawrence Tech is sponsoring 10 teams that will receive $2,000 each from LTU’s marketing team, Yellow Flag Productions, money that will help them with expenses for the upcoming competition season. Students will arrive Saturday morning for tours of LTU’s engineering laboratories, have lunch, then head to LTU’s Architecture Building Gallery, Room A200, for the game reveal.
After that, several teams will stay on campus in various breakout rooms to begin to strategize their robot build.
All FIRST Robotics students are eligible to receive the Lawrence Tech FIRST College Scholarship, totaling $12,000 over eight semesters.
Lawrence Tech is one of three Michigan universities to offer a Bachelor of Science in Robotics Engineering.
The teams scheduled to attend Saturday’s reveal include:
- Bloomfield Hills Mech Warriors
- Birmingham Automation Nation
- Farmington Hackbots
- Auburn Hills Robojackets
- West Bloomfield AtomiGators
- Warren De La Salle AutoPilots
- Troy Argonauts
- Riverview Gabriel Richard Pioneers
- Grosse Pointe Botmasterz (all-girls team)
- Allen Park Tronarchs (rookie team)
Washtenaw Community College to Celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor will host its 18th annual celebration of the legacy of civil rights pioneer Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 11. The public is welcome and admission is free.
The event will take place from 3:30-5 p.m. on the second floor of WCC’s Student Center and will feature refreshments, live music from artist C3 and the announcement of the 2024 Equity in Action Awards. The campus is located at 4800 E. Huron River Drive.
Michigan Works! Southeast Executive Director Shamar Herron will deliver a keynote speech inspired by King’s message of economic justice and, specifically, his words from a 1968 sermon: “[If] a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.”
