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MICHIGAN

Michigan workers to play annual ball game

The 16th annual "All Trades Softball Tournament" will take place at 9 a.m on Saturday and Sunday in Gier Park in Lansing. The fund-raiser, sponsored by the Michigan State Building and Construction Trades Council, has eighteen teams made up of construction workers.

MICHIGAN

Bill limits medication availability to decrease meth labs in Mich.

The Michigan Senate passed a bill Thursday that regulates the sale of products containing ingredients found in cold and allergy medications, even though this year's allergy season seems to be worse than usual. "It will restrict the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as the sole active ingredient in cold medications," said Amanda Price, legislative aide to Sen.

MSU

New fitness area opens at IM West

After about a year of construction, IM Sports-West opened the doors to a brand new fitness and exercise area on Monday and is offering free visits to MSU community members until Friday. The room is 12,000 square feet and features more than 180 new weight and cardiovascular machines for students, faculty, staff and alumni to use. Weight machines are positioned on the large first floor, and cardiovascular machines are on the second balcony level - a far cry from the small fitness room with dated machines IM Sports-West used to have. Most of the machines in the previous fitness room are from the 1970s, and there were few cardiovascular options, IM Sports-West intern and kinesiology senior Greg Haverlock said. Among the new equipment are 24 elliptical running machines and 24 treadmills, and each machine features a personal TV screen.

MSU

2005-06 tuition rates await state budget

MSU's budget and tuition rates for the 2005-06 school year are waiting on one thing - the state's long budgetary process in Lansing, university officials said. Next month, the university will set its tuition rates for the new school year, but MSU Board of Trustees member David Porteous said the board is at a standstill until the state determines its higher-education funding for its 15 public universities. At this point, Porteous said it would be "premature and impossible" to predict what is in store for MSU's tuition rates.

MSU

Dorm cleanup yields surprises

Sex toys and a gorilla-masked mannequin are a few of the stranger things manager Tim Knightfound while doing dorm room cleaning. "The mannequin scared the living daylights out of you because you thought something with a hairy face was behind you," he said. Many students could not fit everything they have acquired throughout the year into the bags and boxes Mom and Dad brought to them in the spring.

MICHIGAN

Burrito restaurant coming to E.L.

A large white sign with red writing at 403 E. Grand River Ave. replaces pictures of hamburgers and fries in the window of what was going to be a new location of Hot 'N Now. Big Ten Burrito, a new franchise restaurant will move into the building this summer, with plans to open in late July or early August. A recent graduate from the University of Michigan, Adam Lowenstein, 22, and his business partner, Justin Herrick, 28, opened the first Big Ten Burrito in Ann Arbor after moving here from Santa Barbara, Calif. "The whole Midwest is lacking a good burrito place.

MICHIGAN

Council to discuss E.L. projects

The East Lansing City Council will meet Tuesday and is expected to decide on several housing and retail developmental projects for the city. One major decision involves choosing the lead developer of the redevelopment of the East Village area, in which several apartment complexes, rental homes and businesses in and around Cedar Village will be torn down within a few years and replaced with new businesses, student housing, condominiums and parks. The lead developer is expected to have complete control of the project, with some exceptions that the council will outline at upcoming meetings. At the council's first meeting of the month on May 3, council members approved parking agreements for some MSU faculty and staff members, discussed the 2005-06 city budget and honored East Lansing's finance director of 27 years, who is retiring Friday. MSU has begun construction on a parking ramp near Morrill Hall, which has caused some faculty and staff members to be left without parking.

MSU

Low blood-drive donations prompt Red Cross campaign

The Michigan chapters of the American Red Cross have the lowest blood supply levels in a decade. MSU students leaving for the summer and high school classes coming to a close give the Red Cross fewer possible donors. A new campaign called "Strive for Five" started on Friday to help increase blood donations for the summer. It encourages sponsors to give five more pints of blood than their original goal, American Red Cross Marketing Manager Kelly Rogers said. The campaign began because this summer is projected to be the lowest blood-drive turnout in years, said Justin Looyenga, donor recruitment representative for the Mid-Michigan Chapter of the American Red Cross. "We're really going to be struggling this summer," Looyenga said. The summer always is a problem for the organization, Rogers said.