Proposed law could protect 35 wetlands

When it comes to wetlands in East Lansing, size matters. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality protects wetlands larger than five acres.

Safe care to the end

Qualified and safe employees are important in all fields, but especially when they're caring for our loved ones. MSU researchers have created a system to prevent bad care in nursing homes, home care and hospices.

Monday musings

Detroit Pistons general manager Joe Dumars has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, The Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, Dumars' former teammate, current Knicks' GM Isiah Thomas, has reportedly traded his Hall of Fame membership for a Kroger Plus Card and a two-week trial with the Hair Club For Men. The Ted Williams Museum, which commemorated the life of the late Red Sox slugger, is closing because of a lack of attendance. The museum's memorabilia will be cryogenically frozen. Of the more than 3 million brackets submitted to ESPN.com, only four correctly predicted the men's Final Four. Interestingly, that's the same number that correctly predicted the proper spelling of UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's name. The Charlotte Bobcats cut guard Kareem Rush last week, citing a lack of effort in practice. We haven't seen this much caution to avoid a Rush since last year's freshmen found out about the greek initiation rituals.

Law inequalities focus of forum

Issues such as how much negotiating power a person has when getting a warranty for a television and in contracts with insurance companies were addressed at a conference Friday at the MSU College of Law. Law students and professors listened to speakers at the conference, which was organized by the Michigan State Law Review and law Associate Professor Daniel Barnhizer.

Walking off with a win

Lansing — Oliver Wolcott pumped his fist, then disappeared into a mob of his teammates. The senior third baseman's 10th-inning walk-off double had just scored junior catcher Sean Walker to give MSU a 9-8 win against Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park. "It's been a couple years," Wolcott said of his last walk-off hit.

Rally remembers Chavez

Lansing — Mayor Virg Bernero proclaimed March 31 Cesar Chavez Day as more than 150 people attended a rally Friday at the Capitol.

ASMSU not worth it, should be disbanded

Let's stop kidding ourselves and disband ASMSU. Our "student government" is defunct practically if not legally. Can anyone support the legitimacy of ASMSU with a straight face when a mere 8 percent (which translates to about 2,500 out of more than 31,500 undergraduates) of the student body find it worthwhile to undertake the approximately 10 mouse clicks necessary to vote in its "elections," while many colleges cannot even find candidates for the ballot? Despite what ASMSU's leaders assert, abysmal participation is not a reflection of the student body's apathy but of the simple fact it is not worth our time to participate.

Games used to liven up classrooms

By Trey Scroggin For The State News Some professors say they have found the key to making traditional lectures more interesting — by turning them into games. At the Reacting to the Past conference for faculty held over the weekend at the Kellogg Center, professors learning about France in the 1790s took on the roles of figures of the era while gaining insight to a new teaching method. The Reacting to the Past program is a way of allowing students to take control of their education by participating in a role-playing game in which they assume the roles of people throughout history and argue about different issues from their characters' perspectives. All the professors involved with the game, called "Rousseau, Burke and Revolution in France, 1791," were eager to speak for their characters' opinions and dig into the material. The purpose of the conference was to familiarize MSU faculty with the program and the structure of the games, as well as to put it in contact with professors who have previously taught the program. More than a dozen games have been developed for classroom use.

Shives to leave MSU; destination unknown

The first McDonald's All-American in MSU women's basketball history is leaving East Lansing after just one year with the team. Tiffanie Shives, a 5-foot-10 guard, has decided to transfer to another school.

Neko Case's voice, music full of awe

Neko Case charmed a standing-room-only audience Saturday night with a delicately twangy performance in Lansing.

Police briefs 04/03/06

Economy in France stable before reforms, despite popular belief

By Mark Weisbrot Washington (KRT) — More than a million people in France have taken to the streets against their conservative government's attempts to change the country's labor law.

ASMSU officials struggle to reach quorum at meeting

After one representative stepped out midway through ASMSU's Student Assembly meeting Thursday, student government officials scrambled to gather enough representatives to meet quorum. ASMSU is MSU's undergraduate student government. At that time, Derek Wallbank, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences representative for ASMSU's Student Assembly, motioned to "call the house," which means to call Student Assembly representatives to get enough people to attend the meeting so that voting on agenda items can continue. "It's nothing more than a formal recess to call and get people here," Wallbank said. Student Assembly's final meeting of the 42nd session was in recess for about 20 minutes until more representatives arrived. Prior to the excitement, student government officials passed a bill to allocate $8,420 to host the Summer 2006 Association of Big Ten Schools Conference.

Officials puzzled by 18 stolen projectors

More than $93,000 worth of classroom projectors have been stolen on campus since January, raising concern among campus officials about how to stop the unknown thieves. Eighteen projectors provided by the Instructional Media Center, or IMC, have been stolen this year.

Team's future remains bright

MSU head coach Rick Comley still hasn't fully recovered from the emotional disappointment of last Sunday's heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Maine in the NCAA East Regional Finals. He's already watched the game tape twice. "We had so many chances to tie that game.

WEB EXTRA: MSU colleges rank among top in nation

The College of Education and the Eli Broad College of Business rank among the top 25 graduate schools of their fields nationwide, according to the U.S.

Stealing bases becoming a crime for Spartans baseball

It's the top of the first inning of the MSU baseball team's game against Grand Valley State on Wednesday and sophomore rightfielder Tony Clausen is settling into the batter's box. Lakers pitcher Grant Payton steps on the mound, then glances over his shoulder at MSU junior shortstop Troy Krider, who's on first base after leading off the inning with a line-drive single to right. Krider leads a few feet off the base, leaning away from it like he's being pulled by an invisible magnet.

Belt safety up since 2000

By Caitlin Scuderi For The State News More people are wearing seat belts, cutting down on traffic fatalities in Michigan, state police reported. Since the safety belt law was passed in Michigan in 2000, traffic fatalities have decreased progressively, said Lynn Suftin of the Office of Highway and Safety Planning. "Over the past three years, safety belt use has increased dramatically," Suftin said.

All women's sports demeaned, trivialized

This letter is in response to Ethan Conley's continual vivacious attacks on athletes who are women in his past two columns, "Women's tournament needs the 'George Masons' for excitement" (SN 3/29) and "'Dunk' isn't reason to tune into w.

Tigers will miss playoffs; should strive for .500

The weather is warming up and spring is kicking into full gear, which means only one thing — the Detroit Tigers are about to kick off another regular season filled with optimism and doubt. Optimism because the team added high-caliber free agents for the third straight season.