Michigan at 12:45 p.m.

PAGE 1/SECTION FRONT RECOMMENDATIONS:
— EARNS-GM
— FIAT-CHRYSLER TOUGH CHOICE
— SURVEY-LOCAL LEADERS
PHOTO RECOMMENDATIONS:
— With FARMERS MARKETS-REPORT
— MITRA101, with GARDEN COMPLAINT-TRAVERSE CITY
PULL-OUT BOX:
— EARNS-GM-SUMMARY BOX
TOP STORIES:
EARNS-GM
DETROIT — After years of big discounts, GM is finally getting a good price for its cars and trucks, and it’s helping the company’s bottom line. General Motors Co. surprised Wall Street Thursday by doubling its second-quarter profit. A big reason was higher prices for its vehicles worldwide. By Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin.
AP Photo MIPS208.
With:
— EARNS-GM-SUMMARY BOX
FIAT-CHRYSLER TOUGH CHOICE
MILAN — Sergio Marchionne’s corporate jet has served a sort of mile-high headquarters as the CEO crisscrosses oceans and continents to integrate and expand Fiat and Chrysler. But the moment is coming, analysts say, when the high-flying CEO will have to choose a fixed center for the global car business he is building. By Business Writers Colleen Barry and Tom Krisher.
AP Photos MIJR101, 103-104.
Eds: Moved on national lines.
SURVEY-LOCAL LEADERS
LANSING — After lawmakers cut their funding and gave financial managers sweeping new powers earlier this year, half of local government leaders now think Michigan is on the wrong track, according to a survey released Thursday. Only a third said it’s headed in the right direction, while a fifth were undecided. By Kathy Barks Hoffman.
FARMERS MARKETS-REPORT
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday toured a farmers market set up for the day in Lansing on Thursday. It follows the release of a new report finds that increasing farmers markets could create tens of thousands of jobs in economically struggling rural and urban areas. By Kathy Barks Hoffman.
AP Photo.
MISSING FUNERAL MONEY
MOUNT CLEMENS — A judge is postponing a sentence until 2012 for a Macomb County couple charged with spending more than $300,000 given for prepaid funerals. Judge John Foster says he’s delaying the punishment until March so authorities and Mark and Lisa Buehler can try to come up with money or other help for approximately 150 victims. By Ed White.
LONDON 2012-THE WRAP
LONDON — It’s a wrap: London organizers have sealed a deal with Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical Co. to restore an innovative wraparound curtain to encircle the Olympic Stadium for the 2012 Games. Olympic officials had scrapped the wrap late last year because its price tag of $11.4 million had been deemed too expensive at a time of economic austerity. Architects and artists had decried the decision, suggesting the look and image of the games would suffer. By Danica Kirka.
AP Photo LON101.
Eds: Moved on national lines.
SPORTS:
BBA--RANGERS-TIGERS
DETROIT — The Tigers have won the first two games of their series with the Rangers, and the teams play again Thursday night. Game starts at 1:05 p.m.
AP Photos.