MICHIGAN

E.L. to display more artistic projects of students

Katie Harrington

February 15, 2012

Downtown East Lansing will have a more artsy appearance starting this fall to complement the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. New artistic features, such as a temporary art exhibit, a mural in the Division Street parking garage and displays of student artwork in local businesses, will be added to the downtown area along Grand River Avenue between Abbot Road and Collingwood Drive, to make it look more aesthetically pleasing, said Lori Mullins, the Community and Economic Development Administrator.

MICHIGAN

Act to repay medical students’ loans

Ian Kullgren

February 15, 2012

While President Barack Obama’s health care plan has been steeped in controversy on a national scale, the Affordable Care Act now is funding a new program to lighten the load of medical school costs on students, including those at MSU. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration announced a plan this week that would help repay loan costs for medical students if they help increase public health in shortage areas across the country.

MICHIGAN

Alum opens financial planning office

Beau Hayhoe

February 15, 2012

When Jose Yanez came to East Lansing from San Antonio, Texas in 1999 to attend MSU, he didn’t yet know he wanted to go into the financial planning industry.

MICHIGAN

Agreement helps South Koreans to obtain driver’s licenses

Beau Hayhoe

February 15, 2012

A new agreement signed Tuesday by state and international officials is expected to make it easier for South Korean citizens — including South Korean MSU students — to obtain Michigan driver’s licenses.

MICHIGAN

New bicycle repair shop to open

Alex McClung

February 15, 2012

As a bicycle owner in East Lansing, Emmett Dacey knows the wear-and-tear that a college campus causes on his ride. “My bike has flat tires and the handle bar pads fall off, and it has a little rust from the rain,” said Dacey, a finance freshman. “It makes it a little difficult to ride around campus.”

MSU

Number of students applying for FAFSA continues to increase

Kelsie Thompson

February 15, 2012

As Michigan’s economy continues to struggle, a rising number of MSU students are filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, in hopes of receiving financial assistance to pay for school.

MICHIGAN

Increased fees shut down East Lansing pedicab service

Kelsie Thompson

February 15, 2012

East Lansing’s bike-taxi service, Spar-Thai, put the brakes on its operation last December after city officials nearly tripled the cost of licensing fees.

MSU

COGS continues smoke-free campus discussion

Rachel Jackson

February 15, 2012

Representatives for the Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, joined MSU’s undergraduate governments in discussing a controversial proposal to make MSU a smoke-free campus at their full council meeting Wednesday night.

FEATURES

Spartans show off dorm rooms

Isabella Shaya

February 15, 2012

Kinesiology freshman Amanda LaPres and advertising freshman Kailey Cox are roommates with impressive living quarters.

Britteny Dee ·

FEATURES

Student band to make stage debut

Britteny Dee

February 15, 2012

What began as Alex Cuda’s desperate search for bandmates turned into his discovery of his best friends.

FEATURES

Celebrity death should spark appreciation for talent, not sensation

Katie Abdilla

February 15, 2012

Not even a week has gone by since singing legend Whitney Houston was found dead and submerged underwater in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room, and already the rumors are swirling.

COMMENTARY

School bond needs more thought

For the first time, I will vote “no” on a school bond. I have a daughter, and soon a son, in East Lansing schools.

FOOTBALL

Former Spartan safety, All-American passes away

Dillon Davis

February 15, 2012

Former MSU All-American safety Allen Brenner died on Feb. 13, in Clinton, N.C., after battling an extended illness. He was 64.

COMMENTARY

Disaster inevitable, so why worry

Craig Pearson

February 15, 2012

In November 2011, the asteroid YU55 soared between Earth and the moon’s orbit, just over 200,000 miles away from colliding with our planet.

NEWS

FRIB funding cuts frustrating, typical

Departments and businesses around the U.S. are feeling the effects of President Barack Obama’s 2013 fiscal year budget proposal, and MSU is not immune.

NEWS

MSU health care debate remains deadlocked following administrator testimony

Ian Kullgren

February 15, 2012

Lansing — MSU administrators testified at the state capitol Wednesday morning in front of state representatives to defend the integrity of the university’s new health care mandate, only to have the meeting end in another deadlock between legislators and the university.

Lauren Gibbons ·

NEWS

Ticketed

Lauren Gibbons  and  Beau Hayhoe

February 14, 2012

Nakeshwa Jackson’s heart sank as she approached her parked car Tuesday afternoon and caught sight of the small white envelope peeking out from under her windshield wiper.

NEWS

Taxes paid, City Center II’s future still unclear

Beau Hayhoe

February 14, 2012

The property owners behind the financially troubled City Center II project have met the deadline to pay more than $9,000 in property taxes for seven parcels of property related to the project, but officials say the site of the project still is undetermined.

NEWS

Law might disrupt union benefits

Ian Kullgren

February 14, 2012

As controversial laws regulating union organization take hold in other Midwest states, a push by some Republican lawmakers to put right-to-work legislation on the table potentially could impact graduate students employed as teaching assistants and other jobs on campus.

NEWS

Simon’s speech addresses issues with state funding

Andrew Krietz

February 14, 2012

The university’s 157-year history came full circle Tuesday with a glance at the past to prepare for a future resting on shaky financial ground. MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon discussed the highlights of her 2012 State of the University report at the annual MSU Awards Convocation at Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre. She said at the school’s inception in 1855, the institution had to academically compete with the brand names — universities already established before MSU.