Two national retailers will open stores near Eastwood Towne Center in midsummer, adding to the slew of merchants already doing business in and around the Lansing Township shopping mall. A Wal-Mart store is set to open there in July, according to mall officials.
Gretchen Whitmer, East Lansing's representative in the state House, recently declared her run for re-election. The Democrat announced the bid to retain her seat last week, following widespread rumors that she would be abandoning the position to pursue a judgeship. "I never thought of doing anything else," Whitmer said.
Two MSU alumni are trying to change the way many job-seekers find work by replacing resources such as online search engines with more personal interaction. Jeff Ellman and Michael Redisch, along with University of Michigan graduate Michael Krasman, are the co-founders of Humatel, a Chicago-based career center.
While city officials say a 9-month-old ordinance is improving East Lansing neighborhoods, some say it's too early to tell how well it's working. In August, the East Lansing City Council passed an amendment that prohibits the use of upholstered furniture outside in hopes of eliminating problems with rodents and eyesores within the community. Mayor Mark Meadows said the council noticed the problem as much as five years ago, but it wasn't actively enforced because of a poorly worded code. "At the time, there was a lot of outdoor furniture being taken outside and left outside," he said.
Michigan legislators have returned from a two-week recess to a state budget deficit still reaching the $1 billion mark.
It might be smaller than most stores' bathrooms, but once inside, the Capitol Hair Port barber shop doesn't feel tiny at all.
Debra Lambert has been waiting for her fiance's return to the United States since before Christmas.
Crews will begin marking trees in Meridian Township today for the emerald ash borer, a deadly beetle that has attacked about 6 million ash trees in Michigan. Crews marked more than 18,000 trees for treatment last week in south Lansing and Delhi Township, but wind conditions and an insufficient workforce delayed markings in Meridian Township until today.
On Saturday, former Vietnam War and civil rights protesters, administrators and police officers gathered to talk about their experiences with previous social unrest at MSU. The East Lansing Historical Society sponsored the event, which drew community members of all ages to the Hannah Community Center to relive the era. Tom Wibert, East Lansing police deputy chief and member of the Historical Society, put together the event on civil disobedience.
Some lawmakers are working to replace the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, or MEAP, tests taken by high school students, with a new test still to be chosen. Sen.
More than one-third of Michigan's state representatives will not have the opportunity to run for re-election this fall, as term limits on legislators take effect for the first time since voters approved them in 1992. The limits, which took effect in 1998, restrict state representatives from serving more than three two-year terms in office. This year, 37 of the state's 110 House members will not be eligible for re-election.
More than 150 residents, business owners and East Lansing officials gathered Saturday night at the Wharton Center as part of a fund-raiser to help improve relations between students and the city's permanent residents. The East Lansing Community Relations Coalition, a nonprofit organization, raised more than $4,000 during its second annual "A Taste of East Lansing" fund-raiser.
Lansing - In a corner of the Lansing Center banquet hall on Sunday, two women put up their feet to receive pedicures, while in another area, a group of people watched a woman cook vegetables. More than 200 booths and exhibits were set up at the Mid-Michigan Women's Expo that took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
A panel discussion of former East Lansing demonstrators will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road. On Feb.
Lansing - Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed two bills during Thursday's Earth Day celebration at the Capitol that will charge Michigan's polluters for dumping industrial and toxic wastes into the state's waterways. The laws require dumpers to pay one-time or annual fees for the unloading of wastes into Michigan's rivers, lakes and groundwater. One of the laws requires municipal dumpers to pay a minimum of $400 annually for surface water dumping in small communities and up to more than $200,000 in larger cities, such as Detroit.
Kalamazoo - Everyone at the rally seemed anxious to converse since they had been wordless all day for the National Day of Silence. Participants had been silent to symbolize the silence the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community feel they must overcome in society. But the crowd at the Wesley Foundation building on Western Michigan University's campus Wednesday night remained quiet for MSU political theory and constitutional democracy junior Nathan Triplett.
Gumby's Pizza recently reopened after a four-month hiatus, and while its manager says business is better than ever, some former customers aren't returning. The pizza shop closed in December when a water pipe burst in its building, 311 W.
Lansing - Rifling through a budget lit by sunlight from a side window in the state House Appropriations room, Andrew Bell checked line by line to make sure higher education appropriations hadn't changed. Wednesday morning, Bell, ASMSU's director of legislative affairs, attended the first of four state House higher education subcommittee meetings to determine next year's Michigan college and university funding. "We're going to make sure we're not left out of anything, that nothing slips by us," Bell said.
Melrose Apartments have undergone some management changes in response to allegations that an employee there used tenants' personal information to steal more than $100,000. Residents of the complex, 16789 Chandler Road, soon will be receiving a newsletter with tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft and the company no longer will accept credit cards as a form of payment, a Melrose spokesman said Wednesday. "The complex is no longer gathering that information so it couldn't be stolen," said Robert Kolt, spokesperson for Atlantis Campus Communities IV, the company that manages Melrose. Additionally, Kolt said, all the files with residents' personal information will be under lock and key.
About 40 people attended an East Lansing City Council meeting and public hearing regarding the city budget Tuesday. Though the meeting was held on campus at the Union's Gold Rooms A and B and allowed for public discussion of the coming year's budget, no MSU students were on hand to address the council during the public comment time. During the meeting, the city's Human Relations Commission presented the council with recommendations for allotting the city's general fund money that comes from taxpayers. Although cuts in city projects were suggested in order to balance the city budget, the commission did not recommend an increase in property taxes. Due to an expected 2005 state budget deficit of $1.3 billion, local governments have received less funding.