The 2007 East Lansing Centennial Birthday Bash will take place downtown from 5-8 p.m. Saturday. The event is free. Topping the order of events will be a Guinness World Record attempt of the world's tallest cupcake tower.
The Lansing City Market will host an Open House on Friday and Saturday. The market offers a variety of products including seasonal produce, farm fresh chicken and eggs, cheese, smoked fish and jerky, seasonal plants and flowers, and gifts. The market will open from 10 a.m.
The East Lansing Summer Concert Series will kick off at 7:30-9 p.m. June 22 at Fountain Square on the corner of M.A.C.
Painting nails, hitting the gyms and practicing talents will top to-do lists for some MSU students this November. The Miss Capital City Michigan pageant in the DeVille Room of The Cadillac Club, 1115 S.
Lansing — The smell of the grill and the savor of sticky barbecue from the tips of your fingers might make it easy to confuse Juneteenth with a Fourth of July celebration. But the resemblance of the two holidays go beyond children tossing baseballs and the high-pitched bells of an ice cream truck.
(SCENE) Metrospace, 110 Charles St., will host an evening of film and music at 4 p.m. June 30 featuring independent filmmaker Owen Lowery. Lowery, a Chicago-based filmmaker, has been working on a documentary based on the idea of a person taking a year out of typical life to fulfill all of his or her ambitions.
Consumers could receive some relief at the pump if a bill proposed in the Michigan House of Representatives is approved. The federal government levies an 18.4 cents on gas per gallon.
After one set of plans for redevelopment never came to fruition, the city is considering accepting new development proposals for Lot 1 on Albert Avenue.
Lansing — Beneath the canopy of trees shading Lansing's idyllic West Shiawassee Street, children ride bikes, and the smell of freshly cut grass lingers in the air on a warm summer evening.
The Harris Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road in Meridian Township, is offering family fun for the summer months. "Firefly Frenzy," a story time for preschool and elementary students, will be held at 10 a.m.
Five more properties on the 600 block of Virginia Avenue are slated to be demolished before the end of the summer,pending the approval of the city's brownfield redevelopment plan. The plan will provide $800,000 of long-term funding for the Virginia Avenue project which has a total budget of $5.2 million.
Lansing — Julia Herzog, who graduated from MSU last year, volunteers in the Lansing area, living on poverty-level wages. "The point of it is to kind of make (money) at the level of the people you're living with," said Herzog, who received her bachelor's degree in psychology and studio art.
Attaching orange, pipe-cleaner hair to her paper plate mask, 7-year-old Lindsey Walker contemplates a stapler.
A bill passed by U.S. legislators allowing federal funding of stem cell research will likely be vetoed by President Bush, local political experts said. Stem cell research is legal, but using federal funds to finance the research is not, said Leonard Fleck, professor of philosophy and in the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. "(The government) won't allow any federal funding for that research, or the use of equipment that's been used previously under federal grants, even if the grant has long been expired," Fleck said. The bill was passed with the knowledge that it would not go past Bush's desk, said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. "As an issue, Bush has vetoed (a) stem cell bill, and he'll do it again," Ballenger said. Bush exercised his first veto last year on a similar bill, which was proposed by a then Republican-controlled Congress. "The people who are talking about it are using it as a political talking point because they know there's public support behind it," Ballenger said. Others agreed with Ballenger's assessment. "The bill is certain to be vetoed," said Thomas Mann, a scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, an independent research and policy institute.
State officials heard testimony Tuesday from restaurant and bar owners during a discussion in the Capitol of a statewide ban on smoking. The ban, which was proposed by Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives, would alter the standing law allowing restaurants and taverns to select whether or not they want to allow smoking in their facilities. The proposed ban would be an unnecessary interference, said Andy Deloney, director of government affairs for the Michigan Restaurant Association, or MRA. "We don't need the government stepping in to tell us what's best for business," Deloney said.
Another phase of improvements on the East Lansing Soccer Complex will be discussed today at the East Lansing City Council's work session. Since its construction in 1996, the complex has undergone steady renovations to the seven fields. "The initial construction just installed the fields with underdrainage and irrigation, and some gravel parking lots," said Wendy Wilmers-Longpre, assistant director of East Lansing's Parks, Recreation and Arts program. Phase IV-B of the project would include constructing a team building, with restroom and locker facilities for two soccer teams, press boxes, a central storage facility and an admission booth, Wilmers-Longpre said. Bathroom and concession facilities and lighting are some of the features that have been installed in previous phases of the improvement project. The complex encompasses three Olympic-sized fields and four youth-sized ones, and hosts the East Lansing High School's boys' and girls' teams, as well as youth soccer and several club teams from MSU, City Manager Ted Staton said. "I would say with each generation of soccer parents, somebody's going to have an idea about how to better improve this facility," he said. Future changes could include additional lighting, or converting one of the natural grass field to artificial turf, Staton said. "Some of the purists love that we have these top-notch natural grass fields, but we host championship games so people feel we need an artificial field," he said. Although the soccer complex might not appeal to all of East Lansing's citizens, since the city undertook the project it should be completed, Councilmember Beverly Baten said. "Living in East Lansing, if we're going to do things, we should do it right and finish it up," she said.
By combining residential, office and retail space, East Lansing officials hope mixed-use developments will help to create a downtown with a wider variety of businesses - all within walking distance of downtown. "Maybe if we have more condos downtown, then eventually we would be able to support a small downtown grocery market," said Lori Mullins, East Lansing's senior project manager.
Drivers can sharpen their safe-driving skills at a defensive driving course held by the Lansing Area Safety Council, held from 6-10 p.m.
During the early 1950s, MSU professors played an integral role in making East Lansing architecturally diverse. The professors wanted cheap, affordable housing, but couldn't find anything that met their needs.
Lansing — Organizations gathered Sunday to highlight the postitive contributions of local Africans and those abroad. People clapped and encircled the African Masquerade Dancers while they performed traditional African dances Sunday during a picnic to help shed a positive light on African culture. The Peace Education Center's African Affairs and Policy Task Force hosted the picnic at Moores Park, 420 Moores River Drive in Lansing. "We just want to kick off and let the community know we're doing this work.