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News | Michigan

MICHIGAN

Senators rewarded for protecting wildlife

Lindsay Frederickson
January 23, 2002

Lansing - If Michigan Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin have anything to say about it, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will remain closed to oil exploration, leaving Americans looking elsewhere for fuel.For their efforts in protecting the refuge and their opposition to drilling in the Great Lakes, Stabenow and Levin were awarded the Arctic Defender Award by the Mackinac Chapter of the Sierra Club in a ceremony Monday.“The senator has stated numerous times that he opposes opening the refuge to drilling,” said Levin’s spokesman Eric Weber, who accepted the award.

MICHIGAN

Community center ready to open

Shaun Byron
January 23, 2002

The Hannah Community Center blends classrooms and lockers from the past with modern computers and shining green floors.New wood trim surrounds glass cases on the second-floor lobby, where the work of local artists will be put on display, and wrought iron railings and lighting were installed to keep with the building’s original 1926 design.All of the center’s features, new and old, will be open to the public to view during its grand opening at 5:30 p.m.

MICHIGAN

Company begins redevelopment

Aaron Johnson
January 23, 2002

Lansing- Mayor David Hollister and Combined Van Lines Inc. officially began construction Tuesday on the company’s new home.Combined Van Lines already maintains two facilities in the state capital, but will consolidate its operations in a 31,000-square-foot facility to be built on a vacant site at the end of Seager Street.The site, a brownfield, has been vacant for more than 40 years because of slag from nearby railroad tracks.

MICHIGAN

Engler to deliver final State of State address

Lindsay Frederickson
January 23, 2002

Gov. John Engler, in his final State of the State address at 7 p.m. today, is expected to promote his new HiSpeed Internet plan, talk of increased health care coverage and discuss the state’s ailing budget.Engler will be pushing for changes to Medicaid that will provide coverage to an additional 200,000 Michigan citizens.

MICHIGAN

Liquor store owners check prices on Web

Shaun Byron
January 23, 2002

Liquor resellers can now point and click for their products.The Michigan Liquor Control Commission and the Department of Information Technology has developed a price quoting Web site for liquor suppliers.Suppliers can now send in price quotations and commission staff can view the Web sites to determine whether products meets federal standards.The system, launched last week, is also part of the state government’s initiative to create more Internet commerce in Michigan.

MICHIGAN

Farms contribute to rivers E. coli count

Aaron Johnson
January 22, 2002

Audiology freshman Abbey Smith hasn’t been at MSU for a year, yet she already has developed a less-than-favorable impression of the Red Cedar River.“I always see garbage in it, especially over here by Brody (Complex),” she said.For many students like Smith, the river presents a generally bad impression, but health officials now are starting to piece together a less obvious problem with the Red Cedar.

MICHIGAN

Group hosts competition for best legal essay

Kendra Snyder
January 18, 2002

The Violence Policy Center will award one student $3,000 in the first “Alexander Hamilton Second Amendment Student Writing Competition.” Contestants must write an article, essay or law review about the Second Amendment and the decision of the U.S.

MICHIGAN

Lansing cuts citys budget

Kendra Snyder
January 18, 2002

Lansing Mayor David Hollister announced Thursday that $1.5 million will be cut from this year’s budget.The budget cuts were largely a result of a decrease in state revenue sharing payments and also due to losses of current-year city revenue, Hollister said.The cut includes a hiring freeze on filling vacant city positions, deferments on vehicle purchases, a reduction in general administration expenditures and a reduction in supply and expense accounts by 10 percent, Hollister said.The deferments on vehicle purchases will mean 16 police cars are purchased instead of the intended 24 and the elimination of one fire truck purchase, said Robert Swanson, city finance director.Hollister also said the cut includes a recapture of city grant match funds for a major police department grant worth $125,000.No actual programs were cut and the only administrative actions made were ones to lower the total city budget, Swanson said.The 2001-02 budget ends June 30, and the new policy will take effect July 1.“It’s basically a straight-line budget,” Councilmember Sandy Allen said.

MICHIGAN

Officials debate governors Internet access initiative

Lindsay Frederickson
January 18, 2002

Lansing - Gov. John Engler’s New Year’s resolution is to provide Michigan residents with fast, stress-free Internet service through thousands of miles of government-subsidized broadband cables. “The governor believes very strongly that Michigan needs to be positioned as a high-tech state that has the infrastructure it needs to draw businesses and investments,” Engler spokesman Matt Resch said.

MICHIGAN

E.L. students achieve perfection on SATs

Jeanne Chan
January 17, 2002

Emma Tai and Brian Root-Bernstein never expected it -perfection caught them off-guard.The 17-year-old East Lansing High School seniors both scored 1600s on 2001 administrations of the SATs.“I was really surprised,” Tai said.