Detroit suburb plans Arab-American museum

Dearborn, Mich. Arab Americans from around the country gathered recently in this Detroit suburb to plan for an $8 million museum of their history and culture.

The museum is to be part of a $15 million Arab-American project being built in Dearborn. It is scheduled to open in 2004.

The National Arab American Museum and Cultural Center is being built by the Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

The Detroit area has an estimated 300,000 Arab Americans. They are mostly concentrated in Dearborn, which has an Arab-American population of about 20,000.

Interstate air service returns to Key West

Key West, Fla. Delta Connection this month inaugurated nonstop, round-trip jet service between Atlanta and Key West. The commercial flight was the first from someplace outside Florida since a March 1961 flight from Cuba.

Delta Connection is to provide two daily round-trip Atlanta-Key West flights with 70-passenger jets. The flights take about two hours.

In addition to initiating Atlanta-Key West service, Delta Connection upgraded its twice-daily Key West-Orlando turboprop service to 40-passenger regional jets. Orlando-to-Key West flight time is about an hour.

Michelin produces North American atlas

Michelin Travel Publications, best known for its European guides and maps, has introduced its first North American Road Atlas, a 290-page, spiral-bound book that is a masterpiece of organization.

This atlas clearly cross-references its main maps and submaps, smoothly steering the user around its pages and avoiding that dead-end feeling that comes when your route leaves one page and you’re not sure where it continues.

Other details include dozens of distance charts keyed to adjacent maps, and distance scales that are spelled out: “One inch equals 9.3 miles.”

The cover price is $16.95; the atlas is available in bookstores or by calling (800) 610-5122.