Lansing - A downtown office and housing development is one step closer to breaking ground after the city council approved the $2.18 million sale of city land for the new home of the Michigan State Police. The council voted 7-0 Monday to sell the land to developers Gary Granger and MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson, rejecting other recent offers of up to $4.2 million.
Lansing Community College has been awarded a $4 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
Potter Park Zoo, 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave. in Lansing, welcomed six new critters this weekend. Five adult ostriches and one female red panda went on exhibit at the zoo. The ostriches were raised on an ostrich breeding farm in mid-Michigan and are on loan to the zoo. Jiao, the red panda, comes from the San Diego Zoo.
The three state Senate candidates for the 23rd District will be involved in an environmental issues debate tonight. The debate, sponsored by the Central Michigan Group of the Sierra Club, begins at 7 p.m.
The Michigan Public Service Commission met Friday, but commissioners have yet to decide whether to allow a controversial gasoline pipeline project to begin later this year.Wolverine Pipe Line Co. executives want a $40-million, 26-mile pipeline laid alongside Interstate 96, but they need permission from state departments, several area townships and the city of Lansing before the project can begin.
The East Lansing City Council is set to vote at its Tuesday work session on a land-share agreement with Meridian Township. The proposed deal, known as a 425 agreement, would share tax revenue on 101 acres of Meridian Township land between the township and the city.
An effort to require clergy to report people suspected of child abuse is working its way through the state Senate after unanimously passing the House on Wednesday.The bill would add clergy and other members of religious hierarchy to the list of professions required by law to report such abuse to the Family Independence Agency.
After House Republicans failed to secure enough votes to increase the cigarette tax Wednesday, House Democrats seized the opportunity to push their budget plan forward. The plan would raise $352 million by consolidating departments, freezing the single business tax, and taking money from the state lottery and “rainy day” fund. “It’s time to stop using smoke and mirrors to fix this budget crisis and start taking our jobs seriously,” said House Minority Leader Samuel “Buzz” Thomas, D-Detroit.
A dead crow found in Mason earlier this month tested positive for the West Nile virus, the Ingham County Health Department said.The virus, which is transmitted to humans, birds, horses and other animals by infected mosquitoes, can cause a flu-like illness.
Thirteen-year-old Lee Kreutziger had his own ideas about police. But, a few East Lansing police officers spent the last two weeks changing his mind.Kreutziger and about 20 other students entering high school in the fall spent time with the officers as part of Camp ELPD, a joint effort of the police department and East Lansing school district to target a group of new high-schoolers.“I used to think cops were freaky dudes,” Kreutziger said.
East Lansing officials want the stench of car exhaust to be a distant memory for visitors to downtown’s Ann Street Plaza.
Merchandise management junior Alison Framke got a surprise when she opened the mail that came to her Capitol Villa apartment. Included with her regular mail was a warning from DTN Management Co., which owns the apartment complex at 1696 E.
For years, East Lansing has offered to help rental property owners fix moldy walls, cracked ceiling and other safety concerns.
Teenagers are invited to volunteer for the East Lansing Public Library’s fifth annual Stories in the Garden this summer. Seventh- through 12th-graders will read picture books to younger children in MSU’s 4-H Children’s Garden.
A forum Sunday designed to promote understanding of different cultures turned into a discussion about whether racism was a factor in the resignation of a top official in the Lansing mayor’s office.Genice Rhodes-Reed, who helped found the Unity in Community group in 1994 and serves as its coordinator, said she was forced to resign in May from her position as director of the Human Relations and Community Service Department.“We feel she has done a wonderful job in her work with the group,” said Beth Bogue, co-facilitator for Sunday’s forum.
Cosí, 301 E. Grand River Ave., will start offering outdoor seating this week. The restaurant will have 12 outdoor seats at six tables on M.A.C.
Bath Township - Two state representatives and officials from area townships are pushing for reforms to annexation laws to prevent cities from stealing neighboring land under development.Reps.
Lansing - Emergency crews from more than 17 area agencies found one of their worst nightmares at Capital City Airport on Thursday morning.When firefighters, police and paramedics arrived on scene, they found 83 people scattered along the runway among damaged luggage and patches of blackened grass near the rear of a burning plane.Fortunately, the disaster was only a two-hour simulation required every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration to test emergency crews’ readiness for such a disaster.Some volunteers acted as wounded passengers while others played the role of casualties, with wounds made from charcoal, tissue paper and petroleum jelly.The mock disaster included a plane modeled after a Boeing 727 hooked up to a gas tank to simulate fire from an accident.
The East Lansing City Council is scheduled at its Tuesday meeting to vote on whether to convert Ann Street Plaza, at M.A.C.
Two underdog Democratic candidates are taking aim at area GOP congressmen. A 51-year-old East Lansing resident is challenging U.S.