As of 6 p.m. Thursday, 420 members of the MSU community discovered they had "contracted" the AIDS virus by going online. The Alliance of Les-Bi-Gay-Transgender and Straight Ally Students, with the help of other campus organizations, created an interactive Web site in honor of World AIDS Day on Thursday.
Water pipe bursts at two Northern Tier apartment complexes have left at least 15 residents displaced and wondering who is going to pay for the damage. The pipes burst last week in apartments within The Landings and The Village at Chandler Crossings complexes after at least two apartment renters turned off their heat before leaving for Thanksgiving weekend, said Robert Kolt, spokesman for Atlantis Development Group Ltd., which owns the apartment properties. The apartment lease agreement requires that renters keep their heat on so apartment temperatures don't fall to freezing conditions.
The 42nd annual MSU Holiday Arts and Crafts show will be held this weekend at the Union. Featuring goods from more than 200 artists, the show is free and open from 9 a.m.
For three days this weekend, 400-500 teams will be competing in "Cowboy Christmas" at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education. The event features timed team penning and sorting competitions with groups of 30 cattle each.
Several students gathered outside the Marine Corps Recruiting Station on Grand River Avenue on Thursday afternoon to protest recruitment tactics used by the military. Members of the group Direct Action organized the protest, claiming that the military uses deceitful tactics to attract new recruits. Social relations sophomore Stefan Lanwermeyer participated in the protest and said many enlist in the military for the financial incentive instead of seeking financial aid. "A lot of people don't understand what is going on —the war doesn't come to college campuses because there isn't a draft," he said.
Michael and Julie Breen and their black Labrador retriever Jody perused the inside selection of trees on Wednesday afternoon.
By Gabrielle Russon Special to The State News Ben Hamlin has his drivers and his putters in his disc golf bag.
On a volunteer trip one month after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Ashley Wright couldn't believe the town of Pass Christian, Miss., was still in ruins. "I felt like I got dropped off in the woods and had to pick up trash," the economics senior said.
World AIDS Day will be celebrated today around the community and on campus with events to raise awareness and education about the disease. The Lansing Area AIDS Network will be holding a community observance at 11 a.m.
After decades of working with hunger and the poor, animal science professor Sam Varghese has focused on his home country of India this last year. Last month, he returned from another trip to India, where he worked with relief efforts for the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in December 2004.
A Supreme Court case about the rights of minors who want to have abortions in New Hampshire could show how the high court will rule with its new member, a Michigan lawyer said. This is the first case John Roberts has heard involving abortion rights since he assumed the position of chief justice for the nation's highest court. The court heard arguments about the case on Wednesday, which could decide whether people under the age of 18 need to have the consent of their parents to have an abortion. Mae Kuykendall, a lawyer and senior associate dean for academic affairs at the MSU College of Law, said this is an interesting time to watch the Supreme Court because of the changes that have happened during the past few months. "It's significant for the way the court is moving and the way it interprets the statute," she said. Pamela Sherstad, a spokeswoman for Right to Life of Michigan, said it's good the court has taken the case because having a family involved when a minor wants an abortion is important. "This lets people know what is at stake with abortion rights," she said.
For some MSU students, the theme of this holiday season is "students helping students." The Graduate Employees Union, or GEU, began a food drive at the start of November for the MSU Student Food Bank.
Black women have the third highest rate of infection of HIV/AIDS in Michigan, and Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance is launching a program to try and change that. Sisters Playing it Safe is an HIV Prevention Program which educates women about how to change their behavior in order to decrease the risk of catching HIV and will now be offered in Ingham County.
Luke Massie, co-chairperson for the national Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, will discuss the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative at 7 p.m.
The Alliance of Lesbian-Bi-Gay-Transgender and Straight Ally Students, with the help of other on-campus groups, is making use of a new resource to raise awareness for World AIDS Day on Thursday. An interactive Web site, www.spreadthis.org, will be launched Thursday and will be accessible to everyone. The alliance is trying a simulation with their site so students can virtually see how the AIDS virus can spread. About 60 students working with the alliance will arbitrarily hand out 3,000 red business cards around campus, which students can use to access the site.
A nursing shortage has plagued the country for the last five years, so the MSU College of Nursing started a new program to help alleviate the problem. Allowing students who have already received their bachelor's degree to return and train to be a nurse in one year, the Accelerated Second Degree BSN program cuts the time it usually takes to train in half. The first group of students in this program started in September. The students in the program have already had other careers, so it is harder for them to commit the time to returning, said Marilyn Rothert, dean of the College of Nursing, adding that this is much more efficient. "We wanted to look at creative ways to bring folks who are inclined to help people and have a strong science background into the field," Rothert said.
The amount of goods being donated to area food banks is down, despite more food drives being held this holiday season. People seem to be giving less because of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, said David Karr, director of the American Red Cross Regional Food Distribution Center. "Food collections have been very busy," he said.
Black power is a sense of community — this is the definition Ashley Hall keeps with her in her everyday life. "(Black power) is a term used to express a sense of pride and to rejoice in the ethnic roots we have accomplished so far," the journalism senior said.