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NEWS

A test of endurance

Gabrielle Russon
April 11, 2007

An all-you-can-eat pasta buffet was where Lindsey Polinko realized her hidden talent. Her high school cross country coach — a man who outweighed her by nearly 160 pounds — challenged her to a one-on-one eating contest. Soon, the empty bowls covered the table. "The chefs couldn't keep up with us," Polinko said. A competitive eater was born. The next day — after she had successfully out-eaten her coach — Polinko stepped on the scale and saw she was nine pounds heavier. But toss aside the pasta, the hot dog-eating contest at a local fair and dessert with every meal — the kinesiology freshman has another intense hobby: training for a triathlon. She's a member of the MSU Triathlon Club, a team that has no coach or mandatory practices.

COMMENTARY

Terms used in column not equally comparable

After reading Jessica Byrom's column, "Getting thick skin" (SN 4/10), one particular comparison stood out to me with stomach-wrenching clarity: The better-forgotten incident of Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot" and Ms. Byrom's following introduction of the term "fundamentalist." The difference between these examples are as vivid as night and day. Ann Coulter, having laughed at her comment immediately afterward, had written that very comment as a deliberate, vicious personal attack on John Edwards.

COMMENTARY

A living-giving gift

How very lucky we are to live in an era of advanced medicine and longer lives. It is incredible to think of how many people are alive today because of the advances in medical technology and treatments that have been made in the past 50 years. In one such example, a friend of my family found out nine years ago she had chronic emphysema, which rapidly depleted her already thin lung tissue.

COMMENTARY

Do not renew No Child Left Behind

Like some kind of ill-conceived, legislative zombie, No Child Left Behind is back on the plate, and it refuses to die. Pressed by both the president and the legislators who supported it the first time around (oh, Teddy Kennedy — what were you thinking?), No Child Left Behind is now being considered for renewal in Congress. It's time to break out the shotguns (to stick with the zombie analogy) and destroy this thing before it can do any more damage. When it was initially conceived in 2001, it seemed like a good idea: Pass a law that requires schools to be held accountable for educating their students.

NEWS

ASMSU pushes holiday policy revision

Sarah Harbison
April 11, 2007

Last week, Eric Dropkin was forced to make a decision — spend Passover with his family or lose 10 points in his class. And for the social relations and policy sophomore, his grade was riding on those points, so he chose the latter.

BASEBALL

MSU tops Broncos in matinee

Tom Keller
April 11, 2007

Lansing — Some people have to wait years to get redemption for their mistakes. Brandon Doherty only needed a few pitches. Moments after making a throwing error in the ninth inning that brought the go-ahead run to the plate, Doherty made a lunging grab on a line drive to preserve the MSU baseball team's 6-5 win against Western Michigan on Tuesday at Oldsmobile Park. "If that error cost us the game," a smiling Doherty said afterward, "I'm not going to be happy the rest of the night, that's for sure." The Broncos (8-16), who entered their final at-bat down two, had a runner on second with two outs when Chris Lewis grounded weakly to Doherty, a junior shortstop. "I kind of looked away right there because I thought it was an automatic," MSU head coach David Grewe said. But Doherty's throw was wild, allowing the runner from second to score and Lewis, the tying run, to move into scoring position. The next hitter roped one to Doherty's right, and for a moment, it appeared his error on the previous play would prove extremely costly.

NEWS

MSU trustees to mull housing hikes Friday

Kristi Jourdan
April 11, 2007

The MSU Board of Trustees will consider a proposal Friday to raise university apartment rates by 5 percent, or an extra $30 a month. The proposal also includes an increase of more than 5 percent in dorm rates. The rental increases would go into effect as early as Aug.

NEWS

Student takes flight in Grand Ledge

Gabrielle Russon
April 11, 2007

Even after flying for two years, Cristy Devos still feels excited as she takes off at Grand Air Aviation in Grand Ledge. Now, with the airport less than 30 minutes away, the criminal justice junior often rents an airplane and cruises at 7,000 feet. "You can see everything — cars from the highway, houses," Devos said.

NEWS

E.L. budget balanced, but short $2.8M from '07

Kristen Daum
April 11, 2007

Although city staff presented a balanced budget for 2008, East Lansing still might have more than $2.8 million less to work with, which means fewer dollars for the city's development projects. The city's budget proposal calls for a $65.2 million operating budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The 2007 fiscal year budget amounted to $68 million, marking a more than 4 percent decrease in the city's overall funds for 2008. The lack of funding will reduce allocations for capital improvements and programs that use East Lansing taxes to pay for redevelopment projects, Finance Director Mary Haskell said at an East Lansing City Council work session Tuesday. Specific projects that might be affected by the cuts are the Stonehouse Village and West Village developments.

FEATURES

Fantasy sports programs make big-league dreams imaginable

It was Aug. 10 last year, and I had just holed out on the par four ninth hole. I looked at my watch and quickly hurried home for my big event of the night — my fantasy football draft. I had been preparing for the draft for weeks by crunching numbers for every position watching ESPN's NFL Live and reading numerous fantasy guides.

BASEBALL

MSU splits doubleheader

Tom Keller
April 10, 2007

Two runs. That's all that separates the MSU baseball team from a perfect start to conference play. The Spartans dropped the opener of Monday's doubleheader against Purdue, 1-0 — their second one-run loss in the conference — then blanked the Boilermakers, 3-0, in the back end to take the series at Kobs Field and improve to 13-10 overall, 5-2 in the Big Ten. Only once in the last decade have the Spartans gotten off to a better conference start — 2004, when they won their first six games. "The crazy thing is we're that close to being undefeated in the Big Ten," head coach David Grewe said, holding his fingers an inch apart.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers receive praise from distant source

Eric Fish
April 10, 2007

Following the Spartans' 3-1 national championship-clinching win Saturday night over Boston College, junior defenseman Daniel Vukovic's voice mail in-box was completely full. The most important message was from his brother Nick who was watching the game on DirecTV from his home in Australia with friends. "He moved over there, I think two years ago, and I haven't seen my brother for the two years," Vukovic said Monday.

NEWS

Teaching, scholarship required for tenure

Sarah Harbison
April 10, 2007

Sheila Teahan said it can be difficult for faculty members to balance the responsibilities of research and teaching — especially when many are looking to obtain and maintain tenure. "Many people probably have a tendency to concentrate on teaching and to defer at least some of their scholarly work into the summer," said Teahan, an English associate professor who received tenure status in 1995.