Monday, December 29, 2025

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Multimedia

MICHIGAN

East Lansing business incubator opens

Student entrepreneurs, community members, city officials and university representatives gathered on Thursday to celebrate the Hatching, an event to commemorate the opening of a student business incubator in East Lansing.

MSU

First Fridays offer local entertainment

Starting today, the first Friday of every month could get more interesting in Greater Lansing as businesses, the Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, and downtown planning agencies collaborate to provide a fun, cheap way for residents to travel and entertain themselves throughout the area.

COMMENTARY

When it comes to Libya, US actions morally justifiable

The past few days have been really shocking to me. Before NATO — backed by a United Nations resolution — began airstrikes March 19, I read news reports of the slaughter Muammar Gaddafi committed against his own people in Libya. I naturally expected Americans to be disgusted by such inhumanity on the part of a tyrannical dictator.

COMMENTARY

The benefits of high-speed rail

High-speed rail has been criticized as a progressive delusion and a waste of taxpayer money. Conservatives have treated it like communism — a concept that seems utopian, but when implemented only will hurt us further. These are all conservative horror stories, perpetuated by their delusions of economic “truths;” the reality is much more ambiguous than they wish to admit.

FOOTBALL

Football players switch positions

Spring football is a time for position changes, and the MSU football team is working on some key switches as spring football continues. One of those is senior Todd Anderson’s move from the defensive line to fullback, where he’s listed as No.

FEATURES

Spartan gains valuable experience during internship with NASA

Many kids grow up with a love of gazing at the stars, having posters of spaceships plastered on their bedroom walls and hope one day to be able to work at NASA. Daniel Alexander II wasn’t one of those kids. Alexander, a computer science senior, spent the past fall semester in California working as an intern for NASA, but it was a unique opportunity he originally hadn’t considered.

Production by Cory Pitzer, Compiled by Megan Durisin ·
NEWS

A global exchange

When Ruslan Mursalzade arrived at MSU his freshman year, he had some shopping to do. An international student from Azerbaijan, he traveled more than 6,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to get to the front steps of his dorm in East Lansing.

NEWS

Future still uncertain for ASMSU assemblies

Although communication continues between university administrators and ASMSU officials, confusion regarding the freezing of ASMSU’s accounts — and what that could mean for the organization and student groups next year — remains. ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government. According to ASMSU officials, if the university has not unfrozen their accounts by Friday, the organization might not be allowed to collect a student tax — through which ASMSU funds its operations — for the 2012-13 academic year.

BASEBALL

Baseball team falls to Chippewas at home

Following its second sweep against Michigan in program history, the MSU baseball team had all sorts of momentum heading into Wednesday’s game against Central Michigan. But the Spartans came out flat, eventually losing to the Chippewas, 3-1, at McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs field, and head coach Jake Boss Jr.

NEWS

E.L. residents ask council to re-examine ordinance

Though the East Lansing City Council spent nearly a year working toward an ordinance regulating commercial distribution of medical marijuana in the city, some believe the work should continue. Some East Lansing residents formally have requested council reconsider its vote on a recently passed ordinance, which allows for the presence of medical marijuana dispensaries in primarily office districts within the city limits, East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said. “I don’t know what will come of it, but there are people out there encouraging council to think again,” Staton said. The ordinance was passed at the council’s March 15 meeting in a 4-1 vote. East Lansing resident Ralph Monsma, one citizen championing the move to reconsider the ordinance, said many properties potentially could be available to medical marijuana dispensaries, but from the restrictions given in the ordinance, it was hard to understand what properties were eligible. “It’s very difficult to figure out how they could pick which one of those things could be approved — a lot of the guidelines aren’t figured out yet,” Monsma said. Monsma said he and the other concerned citizens involved — most of whom reside in the Pinecrest neighborhood north of MSU campus, near B4 districts affected by the ordinance — believe the document was difficult to understand for everyone involved and should be worked on before more action is taken. “It just has to be clearer and it has to be more workable,” Monsma said.

FEATURES

Mike Posner excited to visit MSU

Singer Mike Posner will be performing at the MSU Auditorium April 13, sponsored by ASMSU as part of their spring concert. ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government. Posner said he’s familiar with MSU’s student body and is excited to perform. “College crowds are rowdier!