Developer faces tax lien

The lead developer behind the multimillion dollar City Center II project is amid a sticky tax controversy with the federal government, further raising questions regarding the future of the project’s site and finances as it is slated to break ground this fall. On June 24, the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, filed a personal lien notice on Scott Chappelle, the president of Strathmore Development Co. — the company developing the City Center II site — with Ingham County totaling $496,659.20. City Center II is a mixed-use development project planned to revamp the site of several vacant buildings located on the corner of Abbot Road and Grand River and Evergreen avenues in downtown East Lansing. The lien shows a string of debt owed to the federal government between 2007-09.****

Gov. performance analyzed on day 182

The moves Gov. Rick Snyder made in his first six months in office to cut university funding and impose pension taxes have some Michigan residents worried if Snyder’s plan for reinvention really will bring about the state’s success. July 1 marked 182 days since the governor took office.

Police Brief 07/7/11

A 27-year-old male student accidentally lit trash on fire at 3:45 p.m. June 24 in the Chemistry Building, MSU police Sgt.

Food cart provides fast food alternative

Last week, Brennan Woods had a meal unlike anything he ever has had before — hand-squeezed sage lemonade, a burger made with tall grass beef, caramelized red onions, balsamic vinegar, organic greens, fontina cheese on foccacia bread — and he got it from a trailer. Woods, an MSU alumnus, first heard about Trailer Park’d “Slow” Fast Food, a nomadic local food trailer based in Lansing, from friends and was encouraged to try it. “It was pretty packed when I went there — there was a long line,” he said.

Colleagues remember late professor

Dave Closs still remembers when he first met Don Bowersox. Closs was an MSU undergraduate student when he started working with Bowersox on computer simulation games for conferences decades ago. Closs and many others in the academic community were struck by the death of the 79-year-old Bowersox at his Traverse City, Mich., summer home on Monday.

(SCENE) Metrospace to open social media exhibit

On Friday, an exhibit chronicling the effects of social networking in today’s society will begin its run at (SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St. The exhibition, titled “Unfriended,” will be open through August 21 and features ten artists from both local and national scenes.

MSU Extension, southeast Michigan airports pursue clean fuels

MSU Extension is partnering with the Wayne County Airport Authority, or WCAA, to grow bioenergy crops to promote alternative fuels in aviation. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Willow Run Airport have begun growing, harvesting and processing biofuels to explore greener options for aviation fuel.

Northern Transformation Corporation discusses future of northeastern Michigan

More than 40 affiliates of various departments and organizations in Michigan met on Wednesday at the Northern Transformation Corporation directional meeting in East Lansing.

Bailey Community Association hosts 37th ice cream social

Children, ukulele players and a clown came together in East Lansing Wednesday evening to participate in the 37th annual Bailey Neighborhood Ice Cream Social Wednesday at the Orchard Street Pump House, 368 Orchard St. The event is sponsored by the Bailey Community Association and the Orchard Street Pump House board.

Former Spartan baseball player returns to familiar city, venue

After spending four years in East Lansing before graduating from MSU in 2010, Eli Boike has returned to the familiar place that was home to him during his college years.

Spartans named to award watch lists

Several MSU football players have been tabbed for success in the upcoming 2011 season.

America’s unhappy birthday

On Monday, America turned 235. Normally, this would be a cause for celebration, but I had trouble setting off my fireworks and eating my normal double-digit amount of hot dogs this year. Why? Because this year doesn’t feel very celebratory.

Downtown housing perfect for students

If you build it and price it for them, they will come. And in numbers large enough for twelve stories worth of buildings.

New details released on graduate student's alleged dog killings

Graduate student Andrew David Thompson admitted to beating all but two of his Italian greyhounds to death during an interview with an investigator, court records show.

Alleged dog killer pretrials rescheduled

Both pretrials for graduate student Andrew David Thompson, charged with 13 counts of dog killing, were rescheduled Tuesday. The pretrial and preliminary examination dates for three counts of animal killing in East Lansing Thompson faces were rescheduled to give his new lawyer time to prepare. Thompson, 24, temporarily was represented by attorney George Zulakis but now is represented by attorney Kimberly Savage. The change was finalized before Thompson went to court Tuesday morning when his pretrial first was scheduled. Thompson was held in the East Lansing jail and was unable to make it on time for his pretrial in the 55th District Court — scheduled for 1 p.m.

Lansing doctors plan new cancer center

A group of Lansing area doctors are planning to build a facility geared to offer new options for cancer patients in the area. The affiliated physicians and businesses — collectively named Compass Health Care — are amid securing approval to open an outpatient cancer treatment center and will be ready to serve patients by late 2012 or early 2013, said Joe Wald, a spokesman for the physicians and an instructor in the MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

University researchers create all-in-one microwavable pie à la mode

For Hunter Gartner and his teammates, creating Minute Escape, a pie à la mode dish, was not as easy as pie. Minute Escape is an all-in-one apple pie and custard ice cream dessert prepared in one minute by microwaving it. Gartner, a recent graduate, used patent-pending technology he designed to heat the pie up while keeping the ice cream portion of the product frozen. “It’s an interesting, intriguing concept to think that you can throw ice cream into the microwave and that it will be kept frozen,” alumna and team member Rebecca Watts said. The product was created to compete in the Institute of Food Technologists’, or IFT, National Product Development competition. IFT is a nonprofit scientific society whose members are professionals engaged in food science and technology. One of the main purposes of the competition is to afford food industry representatives the opportunity to spot talented students for potential employment, IFT’s director of media relations Mindy Weinstein said in an email. Minute Escape took first place out of six finalists in the competition, which took place in New Orleans June 11-14. “Finding out that we won, there was a huge sense of pride,” Watts said.

MSU smartphone app set for release

Students interested in learning more about the environment surrounding them have something to look forward to in coming weeks when a smartphone application that turns MSU into a virtual museum will be released. The application, titled msu.seum, was developed for both Android and iPhone operating systems and will allow users to explore the history and archeology of areas on campus.

Spartan Stadium office construction underway

Unfinished storage space on the second and third floors of Spartan Stadium will be renovated this month to make way for additional offices for University Advancement officials. Roughly 7,000 square feet of unused space adjacent to the stadium’s tower addition will receive new lighting, wall treatments and ventilation in the process of converting the area to office space, university engineer Bob Nestle said.

Rockets Red Glare