'Green' jobs expand Michigan worker retraining

LANSING, Mich. - When Joseph Houle lost his job at a Petoskey factory in late 2006, he decided to retrain to be a police officer. This month, he started working as a marine deputy with the Cheboygan County Sheriff's Department. The state's No Worker Left Behind program, started a year ago by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to give laid-off workers up to two years of tuition toward new careers, helped the 37-year-old complete his police academy training. "It helped with tuition and fees, money for books," said Houle, who likely would have been unable to afford the retraining without the state program. "It helped in a lot of ways." Granholm plans to announce Friday in Traverse City that the No Worker Left Behind program will put more effort into preparing laid-off workers for alternative energy careers. The program overall will get a... [read full story]