Program combats poverty

The university’s International Studies and Programs is seeking applicants who want to make a positive difference in their homelands.Designed as a graduate studies capstone, the Thoman Fellowship Program prepares students to confront hunger and poverty in their communities.Established in 1982, the program brings together advanced doctoral students from developing countries to address issues locally and back home.“They gain a sense of what it takes to address poverty and hunger,” said Tom Carroll, faculty adviser for the program and a social science professor.Fellows meet weekly as a group throughout the course of the academic year and they also volunteer at local agencies.

Abduction attempts send scare to city

An attempted child abduction occurred Wednesday morning between Baker Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue in Lansing - the fourth attempt in the area since September.According to the Lansing Police Department, a 10-year-old female walking at 8 a.m.

Police identify suspect in robbery

Lansing police officials announced Tuesday that they are seeking a local man who they believe is responsible for the most recent bank robbery in the city. Terrence Leontha Wallace, 31, is described as a black male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 194 pounds.

U channel contracts fresh flicks

The Residence Halls Association has made a resolution to reserve the best movies for dorm residents - just in time for the new year.RHA will now obtain movies shown on the University Housing Channel from Swank Motion Pictures, the nation’s leading distributor of licensed movies.

Police briefs 12/07/00

ASMSU poses tenant ordinance

MSU’s undergraduate student government is looking to prevent East Lansing landlords from jumping the gun on leases next year.

Coat drive warms locals

Some MSU students are doing their part to make wintertime a little easier on those less fortunate.The North Complex Black Caucus, McDonel Hall Senate, Residence Life and the MSU police are holding the second “Help Keep a Family Warm This Winter” coat drive.Officer Kahlil Wasson, who helped coordinate the event for the MSU police, said the drive has collected more than 200 coats since the drive began on Nov.

Program stresses holiday safety

LANSING - Although the Lansing Fire Department is usually called on to extinguish fires, it spent Wednesday morning lighting one - all for good reasons, of course. In a small brick room at the Lansing Fire Department Training Center, Battalion Chief Larry Martin lit a flare and set it at the base of a decorated Christmas tree as firefighters armed with hoses looked on. Within seconds, a smoke detector sounded and the tree was barely visible, first lost in smoke, then engulfed in flames. However, the staged fire wasn’t just for Grinch-like kicks. “We wanted to get the word out there that before you (put lights on your) tree, make sure your home is adequately equipped with smoke detectors,” said Gary Burkart, vice president of Flagstar Bank, which sponsored the demonstration as part of its Safety First program. The program gives away thousands of free or discounted smoke alarms to people across the state.

Seat belt violation turns into drug arrest

Ingham County deputies stopped a car for a seat belt violation Monday and ended up apprehending a potential drug trafficker. Officers pulled over a white Pontiac heading west on Interstate 96 at Okemos Road for a seat belt violation.

Physical Plant gives cheer, toys to youth

MSU Physical Plant employees are continuing a typical workplace tradition at their annual Christmas dinner this year: a gift exchange.But the presents will not be swapped by and for facility workers.

U professor plays role in high-profile forensics case

Todd Fenton is perfectly comfortable in his laboratory on the fourth floor of Fee Hall, even though he’s surrounded by small fragments of prehistoric remains of teenagers and an intact human skeleton lying on the table next to him.Fenton, a forensic anthropologist and anthropology professor at MSU, works daily to identify the cause of death in cases when it is unknown or when a crime victim’s identity remains a mystery.“My favorites are the ones where you have to figure out the individual death story,” he says.Fenton received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and earned his master’s degree at the University of Arizona in Tucson.He has been working on campus since 1998.“I love forensic anthropology because you can work a case one day and assess the trauma to a body, positively identify the remains and when you go home at night there’s a sense of accomplishment like no other field allows,” he said.Fenton and the rest of the employees at MSU’s forensic anthropology lab have recently been receiving increased statewide and national attention for their hard work and positive results.

Police briefs 12/06/00

Police aim to educate E.L.

East Lansing residents will have the opportunity to attend a citizens’ police academy hosted by East Lansing police. Those who work or live in East Lansing or are enrolled in MSU and are 18 or older may submit an application to East Lansing police.

Report card: Michigan higher education is average

Students will not be alone in receiving grades this semester. All 50 states have already been handed their marks for higher education. For the first time, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education put both public and private universities nationwide to the test, and spent more than two years comparing them. No state received straight As, and many were given low grades.

Police identify suspect in robbery

Lansing police officials announced Tuesday that they are seeking a local man who they believe is responsible for the most recent bank robbery in the city. Terrence Leontha Wallace, 31, is described as a black male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 194 pounds.

Multicultural Center shows students art

Rusty red landscapes adorned with sienna plateaus, bronze mesas and golden sun rays grace the walls of the Multicultural Center these days.Studio art sophomore Domingo Carreon is the creative genius behind 25 paintings and sketches displayed in the Multicultural Center, located in the Union Basement.

Michigan hosts annual government conference

Republican and Democratic leaders from all over the nation are making their way to Michigan this week.The Council of State Governments is holding its annual conference this week in Dearborn.

Police briefs 12/05/00

U names holiday card winner

Stacy Rosenthal didn’t imagine her art homework would end up going out to 1,500 people.Rosenthal, a studio art senior, created the winning design for the Kellogg Center’s 8th annual MSU Holiday Card Contest.

Guest lecture series finishes

Ira Flatow, a veteran National Public Radio science correspondent and Emmy Award-winning television journalist, has covered stories in historic venues like the Kennedy Space Center, Three Mile Island, Antarctica and the South Pole. And it all began during his boyhood when he burned down his mother’s bathroom while trying to recreate a biology class experiment He’ll be bringing his experiences to campus Wednesday as a guest speaker in the McPherson Professorship lecture series. He’s the host of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday,” and Flatow’s lecture will be titled “If it Breeds, It Leads: How the Media Bring Science to the Public.” “He just hops around from physical to natural science and also public issues, like pesticides on tomatoes,” said Douglas Luckie, assistant professor of physiology at Lyman Briggs School. The speech will be the fifth and final of the McPherson Professorship lectures - a series that MSU President M.