For the third time in less than a year, state and local officials will be crowing this week about General Electric's growing presence in Michigan and joining GE executives for photos and speeches.

Why all the fuss over GE?

Sure, it's good news that GE has located a new technology center in a Detroit suburb and is hiring at a faster pace than first expected, aiming now to fill 1,300 jobs, or 200 more than CEO Jeff Immelt predicted in announcing the project last June.

And it's no surprise, as Michigan struggles to rebound from a decade-long slump, that Gov. Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and other pols are to join GE folks on Monday in Van Buren Township to celebrate that. Every new job is worth a party, right?

More here: http://www.freep.com/article/20100502/COL06/5020473/1322/GE-arrives-and-people-take-notice