SPORTS
From the road
Women's basketball reporter Ethan Conley embarked on a five-day road trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
MSU
Innovations: Tectonic testing
Names: Assistant Professor Kevin Mackey and Professor Kazuya Fujita Department: Geological sciences Title of research project: Northeast Russia Seismic Project Date of research: Fujita began the project in 1989, and it has continued as an ongoing project.
NEWS
WEB EXTRA: ASMSU passes fall break bill, awaits university reaction
Student government officials showed overwhelming support for a possible two-day opportunity to visit home and catch up on schoolwork by passing a motion to create a fall break. The University Committee on Academic Policy created a subcommittee in 2000 to evaluate the fall break recommendation.
NEWS
Rental inspections more strict in E.L.
When Jim Graham walks into an MSU student's rental house, he's going to make sure the bathroom is clean. He's going to look for garbage piled up by the back door. He's going to notice if the beds have been made, and if there are dirty clothes strewn across floors. Not that he'll be noting every wayward sock. "I know college kids — the clothes hit the floor and they don't leave until you run out of laundry," Graham says, cracking a smile from a doorway in a River Street rental. He'll be less forgiving when it comes to smoke detectors. He'll reach for the ceiling and hold down the test button with one finger until he hears a shrill "BEEP!" Graham, a retired Livonia firefighter who has held city government positions around the state, is one of East Lansing's three housing inspectors. Graham said each year he does about 1,000 inspections, which are required annually in the city's roughly 1,600 rental properties. East Lansing's Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation officials admit to running one of the state's most stringent operations — many cities don't even have annual inspections — but say their concern is for the safety of residents. "The number one thing is to get these guys and ladies out of the building alive," Graham said. That's why inspectors are particularly serious about fire safety, ensuring properties are equipped with working smoke detectors.
NEWS
Restaurant owner: Add some spice to recipes
Bobby Chaudhary will tell you that cooking doesn't have to be a pain. "If you don't like something, don't cook it," said Chaudhary, the owner of India Palace, 340 Albert Ave. This is straightforward advice from a veteran of the restaurant business.
MSU
Housing sign-ups to begin Friday
Christina Commiskey skipped a class last year so she could wait in line for several hours to sign up for the residence hall she wanted. Commiskey, a psychology sophomore, lives in Shaw Hall this year and said it was worth the wait for signing up. "It's really the best place to live on campus," she said. The on-campus housing sign-up process for the 2006-07 school year begins Jan.
NEWS
Expert: Winter blues are normal, look for 'sunny' activities
Dear Dr. D. The snow is falling, and it's too cold to go anywhere. I feel like I'm trapped in my apartment.
COMMENTARY
Getting back to routine after break torturous; hanging on until May
It's funny how moods and overall levels of life enjoyment can change in a matter of mere hours.
MICHIGAN
WEB EXTRA: House rep. candidate criticizes government at MSU Democrats meeting
Jim Marcinkowski, a candidate for the 8th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, criticized the policies of the government at an MSU College Democrats meeting Tuesday night. About 40 students had the opportunity to ask Marcinkowski questions about his stances on issues that mattered to them — the goal of the event, according to MSU College Democrat President Stephen Purchase. "One of the things our organization focuses on is bringing politics to campus," Purchase, an international relations and political theory and constitutional democracy senior said. Marcinkowski, a former CIA agent, criticized the handling of the war in Iraq, but acknowledged it will be difficult to leave. He was also critical of the effect the controversies surrounding secret prisons, prisoner abuse and torture are having on the intelligence community. "When you go to recruit an agent overseas, you have to stand for something," he said. He hopes to see a change in the way lobbying and campaign finance are handled. "This is legal money laundering," he said.
NEWS
MSU, state turn focus toward avian flu fears
They investigate, and they diagnose. Placing specimens upon hard, steel laboratory tables, pathologists and veterinary students probe animals piece by piece at MSU's Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health. Pets, livestock and wildlife are brought to the center by state agencies, veterinarians and pet and farm animal owners to determine the cause of death. "We're like the CSI in the animal department," said Mick Fulton, chief of anatomic pathology at the center and an associate professor of avian disease. In the past year, concern about the H5N1 strain of avian influenza — a type of bird flu contracted by more than 160 humans — has prompted the center to scrutinize all incoming birds for the disease. To date, four people have died in Turkey, renewing fear that the disease could mutate and spread quickly throughout the human population.
BASKETBALL
The Big Ten at a glance
Big Ten Men 1. Wisconsin (4-0 Big Ten, 14-2 overall) Defeated Northwestern 68-52 on Saturday 2.
MSU
King honored
By Catharine Batsios Special for The State News Students, student groups, local activists and peace enthusiasts spilled into the courtyard of the Beaumont Tower on Monday as it chimed loudly and poetically, "We Shall Overcome." From there, the crowd began the frigid, but brief, trek to the rock on Farm Lane as a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
COMMENTARY
Police chief makes unlawful judgment
Although I agree with East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert's warning to MSU students, "Student kidnapping should be warning" (SN 1/12), I find his comments are potentially damaging to the defense of the suspect. As I understand U.S.
NEWS
Simon to give $85K raise back to MSU
After more than one year of service, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon got a big vote of confidence Friday, when the MSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to raise her salary to $425,000. Simon said she would give the money — some $85,000 before taxes — back to the university's capital campaign. Trustee Scott Romney, chairman of a work committee charged with evaluating the president's performance, said the decision was based on Simon's achievements and to keep the president's salary on par with universities in the Big Ten and across the nation. "The president's performance was excellent in all areas," Romney said. He added that Simon's work on initiatives within the university, her collaboration with Gov.
MICHIGAN
Marcinkowski to visit MSU Democrats today
Democrat Jim Marcinkowski, who has announced his intention to run for the 8th Congressional District seat, will attend the MSU Democrats' first meeting of the semester tonight.
MICHIGAN
Policy could restrict downtown rentals
East Lansing doesn't need more student housing downtown, city officials say. City Council will consider adopting a policy today that makes student-geared developments its lowest priority when approving new housing projects, focusing instead on encouraging home ownership. The council will vote to approve the policy at today's meeting, which begins at 5 p.m.
FEATURES
Media stereotypes of disabled people inaccurate, wrong
When I heard Johnny Knoxville was going to be in a movie in which he pretends to be mentally impaired so he can fix the Special Olympics, I cringed.
MSU
Trustees approve expenditure of more than $5 million in 24 minutes
The MSU Board of Trustees on Friday approved the spending of more than $5 million of both public money and tuition dollars for universitywide projects — after about 24 total minutes of discussion. The board meets publicly about once a month to make decisions and hear presentations from faculty and staff. The State News reported Friday that the trustees meet in committees the day before the public meeting to discuss the issues they will decide the next day.
SPORTS
WEB EXTRA: Spartans outmuscled by No. 17 Minnesota, 71-58
Minneapolis — In the corners of Minnesota's Williams Arena there are scoreboards that don't actually show the score, but instead tally the total number of rebounds, steals and blocks by each team. They're not scoreboards, they're "hustle meters." They were a clear indication of why the MSU women's basketball team fell to No.
MSU
LGBT training session scheduled for tonight
A workshop will be held today at the Gone Wired Cafe, 2021 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, for anyone interested in being an ally to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.