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NEWS

Trial opens in death of associate professor

Shannon Murphy
February 28, 2002

Opening arguments began Wednesday in the case against a DeWitt Township woman accused of killing her husband, an MSU associate professor, last summer. Jonaki Ray’s husband, Dinesh Balagangadhar, who taught mechanical engineering, died July 1 in his DeWitt home from a stab wound, which penetrated his heart and lungs, police said. The prosecution Wednesday played Ray’s 911 call and questioned four of its witnesses, including the pathologist, the first officer to arrive at the home, an emergency medical technician and a Delta Medical Center employee. “At this point we are presenting the evidence,” Clinton County Prosecutor Charles Sherman said.

MSU

Sheep facility teaches, births about 100 lambs

As part of his nightly routine, Dan Kiesling delivers babies into beds of straw and hay. In the middle of the night Tuesday, Kiesling, an animal science sophomore, prepared a sheep to nurse her newborn twins.

SPORTS

Parity fever strikes Big Ten basketball

I have a confession to make - I’ve had the tendency to jump on the occasional bandwagon. Yes, I “Blame(d) it on the rain” with Milli Vanilli, “Jump(ed)” with Kris Kross, and sang along to “YMCA” at sporting events.

BASKETBALL

Freshman returns home for Big Ten Tournament

Justin A. Rice
February 28, 2002

Playing in front of the hometown fans is always difficult. The desire to rise to the challenge and represent is unavoidable, but so are the distractions.As an Indianapolis native, freshman guard Chris Hill has more to think about than just the Big Ten Tournament.

BASKETBALL

Tournament time

Justin A. Rice
February 28, 2002

As the court inside Breslin Center was taken apart piece by piece, one couldn’t help but think of MSU’s 2000 National Championship won on that very floor. It stands as a foundation for the entire program - the NCAA title, the Big Ten championships, the 53-game home-court winning streak.

COMMENTARY

Slippery slope

As good and decent people, we would all love to put those guilty of domestic abuse behind bars for as long as possible.

SPORTS

Women ready for Big Ten Tournament

Chris Mackinder
February 28, 2002

The women’s basketball team enters tonight’s game against Ohio State with one thing on its mind - the NCAA Tournament.Knowing a run in the Big Ten Tournament is a must for a postseason berth, the Spartans (16-11 overall, 6-10 Big Ten) are looking to upset the Buckeyes (13-14, 8-8) and keep their season alive.Both teams are coming off huge wins to close the regular season.

NEWS

U threatens via letter to end business with cap company

Megan Frye
February 28, 2002

MSU officials will write a letter to New Era Cap Co. letting the hat producer know university administrators are aware of claims of workers’ rights violations at the company’s Derby, N.Y., plant. The university will not renew its contract in December unless the company is accepted into the Fair Labor Association, university officials said. MSU is paid about $5,000 in royalties per year by New Era for licensing the Spartan logo. The decision to write the letter was made Wednesday morning as a compromise between MSU administrators and Students for Economic Justice.

COMMENTARY

Short-sighted

While it’s somewhat understandable that MSU’s Academic Council cut the university’s visual impairment education program on Tuesday, its reasoning was not well explained.

COMMENTARY

U shouldnt diss student journalists

I wanted to respond to Michael Wayo’s letter about the quality of The State News (“SN stories lacking quality, substance,” SN 2/25). I am getting tired of hearing about the downfalls of our campus paper. The people behind these stories are students who take on the added responsibility and hours of producing a newspaper five days a week.

MICHIGAN

Bill to cut care funds

Lindsay Frederickson
February 28, 2002

Sarah Schmidt began using Planned Parenthood at age 15. Now 22 and a social work senior at MSU, she testified Wednesday in front of the Senate Families, Mental Health and Human Services Committee that she doesn’t know where she would be today without the primary care program. A bill presented to the Senate committee would prioritize state family planning funding to go toward organizations that do not publicly advocate, perform or refer women to have abortions. Schmidt said she was uneasy about telling her mother she was sexually active and uncomfortable traveling to receive care.

NEWS

Changing seasons

Ryan Wallace
February 28, 2002

Lansing - Dull lights hanging above a basketball court hum a monotonous tune that overwhelms eerie creaks from bleachers that line an empty high school gymnasium. On any given day, this capital city gym is filled with the thundering sounds of basketballs or volleyballs bouncing off the floors and the squeaks of new sneakers. Lauren Aitch knows these familiar sounds that fill the Lansing Waverly High School gym all to well. Amid the claps and screams from the crowd, Aitch’s vocal leadership can be heard. “I’m loud,” Aitch said. The 6-foot-2 freshman center was an all-state honorable mention basketball player in her first season at the varsity level - she averaged 18.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. She also played for the volleyball team in the fall, when she was bumped up to the varsity squad from the junior varsity team. Aitch, whose father Matthew Aitch played basketball at MSU in the late 1960s, remembers the fifth grade and playing basketball with inner-city classmates.

COMMENTARY

Liberals can learn from conservatives

I am writing to express my pleasure of the sorely needed objectivity among liberals provided by Andrew Goetz in his column “Conservative voices refreshing compared to liberal campus majority” (SN 2/25). I, too, am a moderate liberal who grew up smothered by suburban conservatism.