Midwesterners are going to start blushing if the national media write too many more stories like this one from Bloomberg.

“From northern Michigan's iron mines to Pennsylvania's natural gas fields, the industrial heartland of America is humming with jobs again as a region once left for dead recovers faster than the rest of the U.S.,” the news service reports.

Indeed, “the economies of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania … have improved faster than that of the U.S. since the recession's depth in April 2009, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve,” Bloomberg adds. “Michigan is expected to lead all 50 states during the next six months, the Fed data show.”

Michigan, Ohio and Indiana “all ranked among the top eight performers for improvement of economic health in the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States from the third quarter of 2009 through the third quarter of last year, the most recent period available,” according to the story.

Ohio, Bloomberg reports, added 72,400 jobs last year. “That included 18,300 manufacturing positions after losing 419,400 such jobs from 1999 to 2009, federal data show,” Bloomberg notes.

While the recovery in Ohio has been aided by autos and shale, it's taking place in “all sorts of related industries,” says Steve Steinour, CEO of Huntington Bancshares Inc.

“We're seeing now a revival that no one had expected in this sort of time frame,” Mr. Steinour says. He was scheduled to speak today at the Detroit Economic Club on the theme, “Is the Midwest Leading the Economic Recovery?”

A bit of Cleveland academia is on its way to Washington, D.C.

The Washington Post reports that Case Western Reserve University will open its master of science in anesthesia program in 5,500 square feet in a Washington office building about three blocks from Union Station.

The space is to include offices and classrooms for its first class of 15 students this summer, the newspaper says. Five faculty and two assistants are slated to work at the location.

The deal was negotiated by West, Lane & Schlager, a D.C.-based commercial brokerage firm, “which got a tax abatement on the deal that could save Case Western several hundred thousand dollars over the term of the 10-year lease,” the newspaper reports.

“Our nation's capital was a natural choice to establish our first location outside of Cleveland; it facilitates our ability to work closely with major players,” says Shane Angus, an instructor and the director of the Washington Master of Science in Anesthesia Program at CWRU's School of Medicine.

Abu Dhabi is becoming a “medical tourism” hotspot, thanks in large part to the Cleveland Clinic, according to this story from Forbes.com.

“When Rosewood Hotels and Resorts opens its new high-rise in Abu Dhabi at the end of this year, it will have a valuable next-door neighbor (in) the Cleveland Clinic,” Forbes.com reports. “Both the Ohio-based medical center and the hotel group are newcomers to the United Arab Emirates, a new hub for the medical world.”

The hotel and clinic are going up on the city's Sowwah Island in a master-planned development “slated to become Abu Dhabi's new business district,” according to the website.

Construction “currently dominates the island, but it will soon be the location for more than 500,000 square feet of commercial space, including office buildings and luxury shops as well as Rosewood Abu Dhabi, Cleveland Clinic and a Four Seasons hotel (planned to open in 2013),” Forbes.com adds.

“You will feel like you're on your own private island — the hotel has that resort feel to it,” says Luigi Romaniello, managing director of Rosewood Abu Dhabi. “We are not a flashy hotel; we are inspired by the natural beauty of what the region offers.”

Cleveland's professional basketball team isn't what it was a couple years ago (though the Cavaliers sure are improving thanks to Kyrie Irving), but by one measure, the city remains a hotbed of interest in the sport.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at data from Yahoo on which markets have the highest percentage of residents playing fantasy basketball.

There's a bit of a surprise at the top, where San Francisco/Oakland resides. Although the Bay Area's team, the Golden State Warriors, isn't very good, it tops Yahoo's rankings, with one in 223 people playing fantasy basketball.

Indeed, “When it comes to which fans play fantasy basketball, it seems the quality of their home team plays little role,” The Journal notes. Sacramento, home of the last-place Kings, finished sixth at 1 in 285, followed by Cleveland (1 in 309), Milwaukee (1 in 324) and Washington (1 in 349).

Meanwhile, according to The Journal, last season's NBA finalists, Miami and Dallas, fared poorly, ranking 19th and 22nd, respectively.

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