Spartans begin Big Ten road tests

The Spartans handled their business with back-to-back home wins last week, thrusting them into a tie for the conference lead. Now the hard part starts.

Officials, owner disagree about cause of E.L. fire

Fire officials determined that the furnace was to blame in an East Lansing house fire that left four MSU students homeless early Thursday morning. But the owner of the house at 142 Milford St., Evert Kramer, disagrees.

Reader annoyed by the overuse of 'U'

Last semester, I tallied the amo'u'nt of times The State News 'u'sed the 'U' in a headline.

'U' examines safe, recyclable packaging materials

Paul Singh keeps up to date on the popular peanuts and popcorn craved by the masses - for their mailing packages. Singh, a professor in the MSU School of Packaging, conducts research and testing of the best loose-fill materials stuffed in boxes to protect gifts and fragile items. "When companies want their products tested, they send them to Michigan State," said Singh, also director for the Consortium of Distribution Packaging Research. After the environmental movement in the late '80s, Singh performed a large-scale comparison research project among loose-fill packaging items ranging from starch- and paper-based packaging peanuts to expanded polystyrene, a Styrofoam-like material.

No. 24 grapplers fall twice to top teams

The No. 24 MSU wrestling team fell to No. 5 Missouri, 29-3, on Saturday. The matchup was the opening round of the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals, a double-elimination event featuring the top 16 teams in the nation.

Smokin'

It was a banner year at the Bender household when troubled high-schooler John Bender received his Christmas gift from his father: a carton of cigarettes. "Smoke up, Johnny!" the elder Bender said, as told in John Hughes' seminal 1985 work "The Breakfast Club." If legislation introduced by Michigan state Sen.

MIDDAY UPDATE: Clark Jr. visits 'U,' promotes father

Wesley Clark Jr. talked to about 50 students and community members in Agriculture Hall today about his father, Gen.

MSU Council picks wrong book battle

The current situation with the MSU Women's Council is ridiculous.The commercial in question is a goofy local advertisement involving women fawning over a gorilla.

Frandor is more than a strip mall

During my freshman year, I remember overhearing people talk about the small mall off of Michigan Avenue. When I first visited it, I thought, "This is it?

'Polly' came along with old story line, predictable Stiller

Ben Stiller might have pigeonholed himself. In film after film, the comedian plays a likable loser with a streak of bad luck as horrible situations bombard his attempts to win over a love interest. Such is "Along Came Polly" where Stiller plays Reuben, a risk analyst for an insurance agency who is dumped on his honeymoon and vies for the affection of Polly (Jennifer Aniston). Polly is the polar opposite of Reuben's high-strung, risk-free character - she's spontaneous, she's flaky (see also: inexplicably stupid) and she's fun.

Bush isn't going to help middle class

George Bush is out of touch with middle-class America and reality. Over 3 million jobs have been lost, and he is doing little to rectify the problem.

Movie offices open on time

Though the Residence Halls Association Movie Offices have experienced difficulty in the past, this semester, they opened on time. The five offices, located in Brody, Phillips, Holden, Akers and Gilchrist halls, opened Tuesday for the semester.

Perfect stride: Sisters share middle-distance identity

Shannon Radermacher tears down the back stretch, zipping past her competitors. She picks up her pace, prepared to leave everything she's got out there on the track as she veers into the final turn of the two-lap, 800-meter run.

Track and field: 9 competitors awarded

Nine members of the MSU track and field team took home top honors in individual events at the Central Michigan Invite Friday. For the women, four seniors won first-place honors.

Police briefs 01/21/04

Rowley's return could bolster needed inside presence

The Spartans could be adding another big body to their rotation, just in time for the meat of the Big Ten schedule. Redshirt freshman forward Delco Rowley practiced for the first time Monday since spraining his left knee Dec.

Capitalism leads to advances, liberty

In one sentence, Craig Gunn promotes the beheading of Bill Gates because he's wealthy, and in the next, he states he has "nothing against capitalism." Gunn ("TV shows glamorizing wealthy pushes over-consumption") claims we have the right to "earn money, and spend it any way we desire," unless we earn too much. Unfortunately, Gunn fails to identify who gets to decide how much is too much and how it will be stopped.

Spartan gymnasts earn titles at CMU

Women's gymnastics came in second place at Central Michigan this weekend with two members winning a share of their respective event titles. Freshman Chayla Hill split the vault title with CMU's Kara Reighard, and freshman Victoria Iakounina tied CMU's Sara Burtinsky for the bars title. CMU won the meet and Illinois State rounded out the competition.

Gulick conference's preseason best

Collegiate Baseball has named junior outfielder Travis Gulick as its Big Ten Projected Player of the Year. As the Spartans' 2003 Offensive Player of the Year, Gulick led the conference in hits (78) and runs scored (60), and ranked in the top 10 of several other categories in the Big Ten regular season, along with earning third-team, All-Big Ten honors.

Bush addresses nation, Congress

Tuesday's 2004 State of the Union address drew mixed reactions from the MSU community and Michigan lawmakers.