Wintery weather during spring break brought power outages and a half-inch of snow to the Lansing area, after a mostly warm and pleasant week. The area saw only a half-inch of snow but an average wind speed of 24 mph with gusts up to 54 mph.
Harlene Matilda is looking forward shopping at a new Meridian Township Wal-Mart. “The new Wal-Mart will save me time from having to drive to the Wal-Mart at (Interstate) 96 and Saginaw, so it would be more convenient for me,” the East Lansing resident said. But the groundbreaking for the store on a site on Marsh Road north of Central Park Drive, has been held up for more than a year. Since November 2000, Meridian Township had been in a legal battle with developer Eyde Co. and Wal-Mart.
James Campbell was afraid to fly, but he took a deep breath and boarded a 10-hour flight to Ukraine.“I was scared to death,” the East Lansing police officer said.
U.S. officials are hoping college students will not experience overly extended vacations this year.
Minors who legally drink in Canada can’t be charged as minors in possession of alcohol upon their return to the state, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals.The decision stems from a July 30, 2000, incident when a 19-year-old man was coming back from Canada as a passenger.
Chuck Raad wants to make certain the reputation of his restaurant is just that - as a restaurant.“Our food speaks for itself,” he said.Planned expansion to Woody’s Oasis, 211 E.
Lansing - Eight-year-old Taylor Fowlkes threw her head back in the air and clasped her microphone as her voice mixed with the rest of the Johnson Memorial Temple Youth Choir Wednesday. The Pontiac resident joined many musicians, poets and dancers at a Black History Month program held at the Capitol.
Sarah Schmidt began using Planned Parenthood at age 15. Now 22 and a social work senior at MSU, she testified Wednesday in front of the Senate Families, Mental Health and Human Services Committee that she doesn’t know where she would be today without the primary care program. A bill presented to the Senate committee would prioritize state family planning funding to go toward organizations that do not publicly advocate, perform or refer women to have abortions. Schmidt said she was uneasy about telling her mother she was sexually active and uncomfortable traveling to receive care.
The East Lansing Family Aquatic Center may have been one of summer’s biggest successes, or one of the season’s more mediocre events.
Lansing - MSUreceived $326 million in funding Tuesday.The state Senate approved budgets for universities and community colleges that deny them funding increases but protect them from cutbacks.On a 36-1 vote, without debate, senators approved a $1.7 billion budget for Michigan’s 15 universities in the fiscal year beginning Oct.
In April 1997, Nancy Muriel was dragged out of her bed by her drunken boyfriend, and after struggling against him, tumbled onto Saginaw Street.She was killed by a passing truck.Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III had just taken office when Muriel’s case came to his court.
There is one certainty in the race for Michigan’s secretary of state position this year, all the candidates will be working to get rid of the hanging chads.Candidates for Michigan’s chief elections officer - two Democrats, three Republicans and one Green Party member - are determined not to let what happened in Florida be repeated.The six candidates are vying for Secretary of State Candice Miller’s position when she leaves to run for U.S.
Mason - Posts still stand where waterfowl and goslings were once raised, the old, rusted fencing and barbed wire lying nearby. Just across the trail, the remnants of last season’s prairie grasses stick up above the small amount of snow cover. The Ingham Conservation District has worked to clean up the land since receiving it two years ago but executive director Susan Tangora said there is still a lot to be done. Eventually the district wants to restore the 200-acre plot to a mix of beech-maple woodland, grassland and wetland areas. But a lack of funds limits the amount of work the small district can do. “Volunteers are a really good resource,” Tangora said.
Drivers who break the law in construction zones may only be points away from a lost license. A bill introduced by Rep.
Michigan’s Transportation Team released a report Monday detailing the status of Michigan’s roads and bridges. The report found roads had generally improved over the past 10 years, both in quality and safety. More people are using Michigan roads, but a $1.2 billion increase in state and federal funding over the past five years has prevented the roads from degrading, according to the report. Students can see such repairs this summer on Interstate 96 and Michigan Highway 43. The amount of motor vehicle fatalities has decreased since 1995 by 10 percent, according to the report. “They’re talking about the safety of Michigan’s roads
Students’ arguments and suggestions to the city won’t be heard - they’ll be read. East Lansing City Councilmember Beverly Baten and Jonathan Rosenthal, director of community affairs for ASMSU, have established an e-mail address to help develop better communication between the city and off-campus students. “Students need to realize the city council’s ears are open,” the business administration junior said. The program is designed for students to respond to the question, “As a student at MSU, what do you believe are quality of life issues for off-campus living in the city limits of East Lansing?” The address is active for students and will remain active until the end of March. The e-mails can range from concerns over a student’s rights as a tenant to how summer festivals could be better served if they were held on dates when students could attend. The survey is the first in a series planned to better develop communication between the two groups, Rosenthal said. “This is the time students need to step up,” he said.
MSU and transportation officials are trying to make construction zones safer for motorists and workers.Experimental sensors and electronic signs will display the safe speed limit on a five-mile stretch of Interstate 96’s construction zone south and west of Lansing.In addition, the Michigan Department of Transportation announced that it will use at least $350,000 to cover the overtime costs of police officers patrolling work areas across the state.MDOT employee Jeff Grossklaus said the sensors will be installed in April and will detect the volume and speed of traffic as well as indicating if the pavement is wet.
State Rep. Jud Gilbert, R-Algonac, a licensed funeral director, wants to protect Michigan families from fraud and further grief with harsh penalties for failing to properly cremate or bury the deceased. This legislation was prompted when Georgia authorities discovered more than 130 bodies left to decay by a northwest Georgia crematory.
Sorority and fraternity members shed their winter coats for flip-flops, capri pants and bathing suits Saturday to raise money for the blind.Thirteen fraternities competed in the weeklong fund-raising activities Anchor Splash sponsored by the Delta Gamma sorority.Saturday’s events included swim races, synchronized swimming, a catwalk competition and an announcement of the winners.Sigma Pi’s Paul Charron, an electrical engineering freshman, won the anchorman competition and Pi Kappa Alpha won the overall fraternity competition.Dan Scappaticci, a construction management sophomore, was the anchorman for Tau Kappa Epsilon.“It’s been real fun,” he said.
Those who have spent the past months frantically searching for jobs may have some relief in sight.After several months of disappointing employment figures, some officials now say hiring could increase in the coming months.An employment outlook survey put together by Manpower Inc. found that almost 30 percent of employers in the state of Michigan are expecting to increase employment during April, May and June.The Lansing area, predicted to see a net increase of 13 percent, is expected to approximate the state average.“Usually what we’ve seen in the most recent past and the trends for Lansing and for Michigan is usually pretty close to the national trends,” said Elaine Sandbrook area manager for Manpower.The survey, conducted quarterly by Manpower, compiled data taken from 16,000 companies nationwide.Estimates for the first quarter of the year, released in November, predicted no change in employment with just as many employers predicting an increase in employment as those predicting a decrease.“The last one we had was pretty bleak,” Sandbrook said.