According to Gunn, soccer fans are all unemployed, ignorant, drunken slugs who don’t care about global warming, the troubles in Darfur or Joran van der Sloot (I wonder where Gunn got his data on this). His opinions are based on soccer fans he saw getting on a train in Europe. Judging from this article, Mr. Gunn has never been to a professional soccer game.
I enjoy going to games each fall, as well as to the occasional basketball or hockey game, but I’m really disappointed that MSU Concessions does not offer veggie burgers and veggie dogs for vegetarians and vegans at most of the sporting events.
An MSU professor has released a new State of the State Survey that shows Michigan residents are showing signs of increased optimism with the state’s economy, while at the same time losing faith in their political leaders.
As a special part of MSU’s land grant university atmosphere, it seems like everything should be coming up roses for the MSU Extension and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, or MAES. The opposite, unfortunately, is true. Both programs receive a large portion of their funding through ever-shrinking state appropriations. On top of that, MSU’s Board of Trustees reduced Extension’s budget by $1.6 million and the MAES budget by $400,000 at its June 18 meeting. Those numbers might not seem like much to students because the nature of Extension and MAES involves a great deal of work in the community.
For some of the early entries, such as No. 1 pick John Wall, leaving school for the NBA was an easy decision. However, not every player who left school early was happy with his decision on draft night.
More than 40 people went to the Harris Nature Center’s Howl at the Moon monthly night walk at 9 p.m. Friday. The walk was about 2.8 miles through the trails behind the center.
Max’s Race, a 5K run/walk to raise money for Cure Kids Cancer and the Maxwell C. Matthews Foundation, was held Saturday at MSU to celebrate its sixth year of fundraising to benefit children’s cancer research. Although Max did not have cancer, the family thought raising money for children’s cancer research was the best way to make people aware of the illnesses to which children are subjected.
To inform citizens about the importance of knowing one’s HIV status, the Michigan Department of Community Health, or MDCH, recognized Sunday’s National HIV Testing Day. Across Michigan, there are more than 18,000 people diagnosed with HIV. About 4,000 of that number are unaware they have the virus and could spread the disease without understanding the complications.
Barbara Conley, an MSU cancer specialist, was selected to be the new associate director of the Cancer Diagnosis Program at the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, in Maryland. Conley will leave in mid-August after serving about five years as the chief of MSU’s Division of Hematology and Oncology, a position that enabled her to oversee projects at MSU, such as the development of the Clinical Cancer Research Center and the MSU Breslin Cancer Center.
Lansing resident Lori James gave her 9-year-old son, Daniel, his first $10 to spend but said he could only have it if he spent it wisely. Walking around the booths, activities and attractions Saturday afternoon at the Delta Rocks! Family Festival, at Sharp Park, 1401 Elmwood Road, in Lansing, Daniel James did a scan of everything before he chose what to buy. The annual festival was held Saturday afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. and showcased dozens of free, family-friendly activities, including a petting zoo, games, face painting, a business expo, concessions and pony rides.
In observance of the Fourth of July holiday, the MSU Museum will be closed July 3 through July 5. The museum will resume operation July 6, with regular hours from 9 a.m.
The Tri-County Bicycle Association’s 30th annual Women on Wheels bicycle tour will be held 7 a.m. July 24 at Mason High School, 1001 S. Barnes St., in Mason. The organization expects more than 500 women, men and children to ride country roads southeast of the Lansing area.
MSU Extension will begin a mass reorganization Thursday that will aim to serve Michigan residents regionally instead of county by county. The cost-cutting maneuver comes after the MSU Board of Trustees approved the university’s budget July 18, and along with it a $1.6 million reduction to Extension funding. The program also relies on state appropriations, although that amount has diminished incrementally throughout the past several years.
In a confirmation hearing beginning Monday, Supreme Court nominee and U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan will be questioned before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which experts believe will bring up issues relevant to the senators’ reelections and Kagan’s judicial inexperience.
The West Village development project’s latest developments will be up for discussion at the July 20 East Lansing City Council meeting. The two-phase project began in 2006 with the demolition and subsequent construction of town houses. The latest brings a potential hotel to the spot located near the intersection of Grand River and Michigan avenues.
As two different celebrations that are placed back to back, the Festival of the Moon and Festival of the Sun each emphasized different beverage tastings as well as celebrations. Friday night featured a beer tasting with Kalamazoo-based Bell’s Brewery, Inc., in honor of the shortest night of the year at the Festival of the Moon. Saturday’s event featured a wine tasting of a variety of local wineries to highlight the summer solstice for the Festival of the Sun.
After going undrafted in Thursday’s 2010 NBA Draft, former MSU forward Raymar Morgan was invited to play for the Washington Wizards in the NBA Summer League. The Wizards will play five games in the league, which runs July 9-18 in Las Vegas. Morgan likely will get the chance to play with John Wall, whom the Wizards picked No. 1 overall in the draft.
The state House overwhelmingly passed legislation last Wednesday that would make it illegal to sell or possess JWH-108, a key substance in the product K2. I am laboring under the assumption that state legislators are attempting to ban this substance because they are afraid it could harm the general populace.
Thursday is the end of summer’s first session. That means this week is finals week, sort of. Summer grades count like any other. Today we want to throw out some personal and professional opinions that could help make this last week a little easier.
Thousands of miles away from Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, where the U.S. soccer team took on Ghana in the World Cup on Saturday, Buffalo Wild Wings, 360 Albert Ave. in East Lansing, was full of fans cheering and yelling for the American squad to pull through with the victory. Despite fans’ enthusiasm, both in South Africa and East Lansing, the U.S. ultimately fell to Ghana, 2-1.