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News | Michigan

MICHIGAN

Local organizations vie for city grants through Community Improvement Challenge

The city of East Lansing will hold a workshop tonight for area resident groups interested in receiving matching grants for community projects. The grants, awarded by the city through the Community Improvement Challenge Program, allow community organizations like neighborhood associations or churches, to complete expensive programs they would not otherwise be able to afford. During the meeting at 7 p.m.

MICHIGAN

Free parking offered in downtown

The city of East Lansing is getting into the holiday spirit.For several weekends in November and December, parking in the downtown lot ramps and at meters will be free. Ami Field, assistant community events director for the city, said this program has been going on for several years as a way to lure people into doing their holiday shopping downtown.“It’s basically to encourage people to come downtown to do their holiday shopping, it’s an incentive,” she said.The free parking days kick off Friday through Sunday and return Dec.

MICHIGAN

Students hit the books for charity

Packaging senior Salimah Turner always spends her Sunday afternoons studying. But this past Sunday, she joined members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in the Wonders Hall Kiva to help raise money for a charity and scholarships during their Study-A-Thon, which is held twice a year. More than 40 students were expected to participate in the study day, which was from 10 a.m.

MICHIGAN

Homeless hidden by affluent community

Since she began volunteering one year ago, Erica Benson’s eyes were opened to a world she had never known - a world without welcome mats, milk and cookies after school and steady paychecks. The linguistics graduate student volunteers at Haven House, 121 Whitehills Drive in Lansing, a shelter for homeless families. Gov.

MICHIGAN

Community plans crisis response

Lansing-area media, governmental, emergency, and business organizations made steps Thursday to prepare for crisis management.Community leaders met for a Crisis Communication Summit to plan for a joint response in the event of a terrorist attack at the Radisson Hotel, 111 N.

MICHIGAN

Festival launches holiday season

Fireworks will light up the sky behind the Capitol dome tonight to kick off the holidays with Silver Bells in the City. An electric light parade and the lighting of Michigan’s official holiday tree in front of the Capitol are a few of the attractions at the 17th annual celebration in downtown Lansing. “Thousands of people gather in a huge crowd and share the spirit of the season,” said Joanne Eason, a spokeswoman for the event.

MICHIGAN

Area storytellers gather for annual event

Each night before she went to bed, Cheryl Bradley was fascinated by her mom’s stories of growing up on the farm. When the East Lansing resident had her own children years later, she continued the tradition, sharing the stories of their grandmother’s youth, adding in her own youth and making up others. But eventually, she said, they became too big to sit in her lap and listen. Then, about 14 years ago, Bradley heard about a Mason storyteller giving a presentation on the art. “It was an evening around Christmas and I went to it,” she said.

MICHIGAN

Membership rises in white supremacist groups

Although unity has become a common thread among Americans since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, white supremacist groups in Michigan and other Midwestern states are using the incident to recruit new members, a recent study found.The Center for New Community, a faith-based organization in Chicago, released a report, “State of Hate: White Nationalism in the Midwest 2000-2001.”In the study, the group found 338 white nationalist groups in 10 Midwestern states, including Michigan.

MICHIGAN

Legislators dont want Toronto trash

Michigan lawmakers sent a message to Toronto saying “Michigan doesn’t want your trash.”The letter addressed to the Canadian neighbors asked Toronto city officials to reconsider solving the city’s trash problem at the expense of Michigan’s environment, economy, public health and safety.About 180 Canadian trucks carry trash across Michigan-Canada border crossings each day, said Matt Resch, a spokesman for Lt.

MICHIGAN

Restaurants back campaign

Buttons with big white letters that read, “I quit for the Great American Smokeout” will be at some local restaurants to support a day of smoke-free dining.Today, the American Cancer Society is asking smokers to give up their cigarettes for its 25th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout.“We would like to see smokers to go smoke-free to protect their community against the harmful effects of secondhand smoke,” said Kim Hoffman, community development director for the American Cancer Society’s Great Lakes Division, 1755 Abbey Road.More than 3,000 people will die from secondhand smoke this year, she said.

MICHIGAN

ASMSU to pose tenant law to E.L.

During the campaign for East Lansing City Council, candidates spoke frequently about the need to strengthen relations between city residents and university residents.Many of the topics brought up, including getting a student to serve on city council and changing the primary date for city elections, are also concerns facing ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government.

MICHIGAN

Rogers staffer resigns after Vanity Fair interview

The risqué tale of a 22-year-old staff worker in the office of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers hits newsstands today in Vanity Fair.Last week, Rogers, R-Brighton, accepted the resignation of 22-year-old staff assistant Diana Davis, who told stories of young capital workers lusting to socialize with the powerful in Washington to a Vanity Fair journalist.The article portrays Davis as a young woman determined to climb the political ladder at bars frequented by capital workers.“Her resignation was tendered due to her comments in the December issue of the magazine, Vanity Fair,” Rogers said in a statement.