Thursday, May 21, 2026

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

Multimedia

MICHIGAN

Shows to enrich E.L. downtown culture

Kris Turner
July 21, 2006

Life just got a little bit sweeter for East Lansing's thespians. The Peppermint Creek Theatre Company is teaming up with the city of East Lansing to bring residents five different shows and a theater festival during the next year. "Peppermint Creek has been building an audience in the area for several years now and is doing some very cutting edge and high quality productions," Deputy City Manager Jean Golden said.

MICHIGAN

Crisis simulation

A muffled, inaudible radio transmission crackled in the air Thursday afternoon as a firefighter took a sledgehammer to a second floor apartment window in the now-empty University Village apartments. Three firefighters were trapped in the smoke-filled room below. Shattering the glass, three firefighters went to work wiping away jutting shards from the window frame before climbing inside the room.

COMMENTARY

Goodbye junk mail, hello free market

How many times do you throw away junk mail without even opening it? If your answer is a lot, then you might be interested in signing up with Tim Pfannes' new company, 41pounds.org. Pfannes, along with his two brothers, began the company in an attempt to help subscribers eliminate junk mail delivered to their houses.

FEATURES

The bartender

Erik Adams
July 21, 2006

Bryan Allen, manager at The Landshark, 101 E. Grand River Ave., was leafing through a drink magazine at the bar recently when he came upon the recipe for Blue Street, a sky blue concoction that can be served as either a cocktail or a shot.

COMMENTARY

Piedra's letter offensive, should not be tolerated

I am both surprised and saddened that The State News would allow the publishing of such hate-filled religious propaganda like the letter "United States supports Israel with good reason," (SN 7/17), by Daniel Piedra. This kind of cultural insensitivity should not be tolerated by any institution that promotes diversity and acceptance. Piedra's generalizations of Arabs, and of the religion of Islam, are uncalled for and hurtful, even to a non-Muslim. No person capable of human emotion should be exempt from feeling the personal pain of Muslims right now; there is no religious group in the world that has not, at some point in time, been in the same position. If you can sympathize with your ancestors, you can sympathize with a fellow human being sharing the world with you right now.

NEWS

Girls make the grade

Amy Oprean
July 20, 2006

Dietetics senior Jenny Heringhausen said she's made the dean's list every semester since she began classes at MSU, yet rarely stresses over getting good grades. "I guess when you think about grades, the only time when I was nervous was the very first semester," she said.

COMMENTARY

Tuition increased, are you surprised?

As fall comes around, college students can expect to pay more in tuition. The MSU Board of Trustees announced on Monday that tuition will increase by 5.9 percent for in-state undergraduate students and by 6.9 percent for out-of-state undergraduate students.

COMMENTARY

Israel can't find peace by destroying Lebanon

I was shocked to open up The State News and find Daniel Piedra's startlingly narrow-minded and offensive letter, "United States supports Israel with good reason," (SN 7/17). I can understand why he may find Hezbollah's actions in kidnapping two soldiers wrong — I agree, that wasn't right — but to stereotype the entire Muslim population and call them "hate-mongering" is absurd.

COMMENTARY

The price of torture: Who wouldn't confess after being beaten, kicked, shocked?

The Bush administration needed four years and a Supreme Court ruling to forcefully accept that, yes, captives in the war on terror are covered by the Geneva Conventions, which call for humane treatment. Despite disturbing reports that the United States has used extreme interrogation techniques — pouring phosphoric liquid on detainees, beating them unconscious and simulating drowning with "waterboarding" — President Bush has steadfastly maintained that torture has never been used on prisoners to extract information.

MICHIGAN

Credit union fraud case moves to district court

Lindsey Poisson
July 20, 2006

Cases for 10 MSU students charged in connection with a mid-March MSU Federal Credit Union scam have been transferred to a lower court, according to court records at the 54-B District Court in East Lansing. The records also show the defendants will appear before district court Judge Richard Ball on Aug.

COMMENTARY

MSU should be applauded for bringing home students

As the parents of one of the nine students who participated in the MSU Study Abroad program in Israel this summer, we wanted to present a different perspective on the cancellation of the study abroad program in Israel than the views expressed in the article that appeared in The State News, "Students return from Israel as Middle Eastern conflict escalates," (SN 7/17). We applaud MSU's decision to cancel the study abroad program in Israel and to bring the students safely home.

NEWS

Battle over Burcham continues with appeal

Kris Turner
July 20, 2006

The city of East Lansing filed an appeal Wednesday to overturn an Ingham County Circuit Court decision allowing DTN Management Co. to build apartments along the 700 block of Burcham Drive. The city is pursuing the matter because many officials think the project, which covers 767 through 775 Burcham Drive, doesn't fit with the surrounding neighborhood, East Lansing City Council member Mark Meadows said. "We decided to appeal the decisions of the circuit judge because she didn't apply the right law," he said.

FEATURES

Irish music group to give free performance

Alessa Thomas
July 20, 2006

Rare Combination, an Irish/Celtic group, will be giving a free performance at 7 p.m. Friday at Lake Lansing Park-South, located at the corner of Pike Street and Marsh Road in Haslett. The band, which formed in spring 2004, garnered its name from the unlikely members in the group.

MSU

Dairy event educates children

Andrea Byl
July 20, 2006

Sam Moreno slowly scooted away from the large dairy cow he had just finished milking. The 8-year-old Lansing resident is not used to being around livestock but said he enjoyed the experience of milking a cow Wednesday at the Great Dairy Adventure during the 10th annual Michigan Dairy Expo. "It was fun," Sam said.