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News | Michigan

MICHIGAN

New plates show Spartans spirit

Spartan supporters will have a new way to show their school pride Monday.MSU, along with 14 other Michigan universities, is featured on the newest design for Michigan license plates, which were unveiled Tuesday night.The plates go on sale at 9 a.m.

MICHIGAN

Mayor designates funds to shape up downtown

In an attempt to further revitalize the downtown area, Lansing Mayor David Hollister is pouring money into businesses in the Washington Avenue area.Hollister has designated $75,000 for grants to area businesses and property owners as a motivation for facade improvement and loft construction.

MICHIGAN

Lansing delegation travels to Africa to further understanding of sister city

Lansing Mayor David Hollister will be traveling to Akuapim, Ghana, today as part of Lansing’s sister cities program with the African city. Hollister and a delegation of Lansing educators, health care providers, civil engineers and other citizens will travel to Ghana to dedicate two libraries created with books donated from Lansing residents and to formally initiate an ambulance donated and equipped by Lansing to be used as a traveling health clinic. There will also be a formally signed agreement making Lansing and Akuapim sister cities. Ghana is a country with more than 17 million people.

MICHIGAN

Police offer Lansing academy

When Lansing resident Patty Farhat Reed heard about the Citizens Police Academy Program, she jumped at the opportunity to become involved.She was a member of her neighborhood watch and thought she knew a lot about the Lansing Police Department already, but this could only improve the quality of her community involvement.Five years later she couldn’t be happier to have taken part in the inaugural program.“It was probably the best thing I ever did for myself,” Reed said.

MICHIGAN

Media wins riot photo rights

The March 27-28, 1999, East Lansing riot left fires burning long after the smoke from that fateful evening had cleared - the battle for possession of unpublished riot photos is finally over more than a year and a half after it started.In an attempt to single out participants in the riot, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III issued subpoenas to all state media outlets for copies of unpublished photographs and film taken during the disturbance.An eight-month long court battle ensued between 11 Michigan media outlets that were under subpoena, including The State News.The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the media Tuesday.

MICHIGAN

Fire kills Lansing man

Lansing police and fire crews are investigating a suspicious death in connection with a fire that occuring early Tuesday. The Lansing Fire Department received a call at 4:25 a.m.

MICHIGAN

Bond proposals would improve E.L. schools

East Lansing School District bond proposals totaling more than $66 million will be voted upon today at 14 locations across the city. If the proposals are passed, the money will be used to renovate and remodel the high school and build a new pool. In December 1999, a similar bond was proposed but was voted down.

MICHIGAN

Center attempts to close digital divide

At a stop in Flint on Thursday, President Bill Clinton spoke about the digital divide in America.Meanwhile, tucked in a corner of Bessey Hall, there is a center dedicated to technology and learning for students and faculty with disabilities aimed at eliminating the deficit Clinton spoke of.The Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities Assistive Technology Center uses a variety of tools, computer equipment and software to help MSU students have the best learning experience possible.The technology center, located in Suite 120 of Bessey Hall, includes software that can read aloud to students, create electronic books or enlarge print for low-vision students.A raised, talking map of campus helps blind students find their way around, and three real-time captioning specialists type out lectures and class discussions for deaf students.

MICHIGAN

Programs ranked in local law school study

MSU-Detroit College of Law ranks below Lansing’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School in a recent study ranking law schools.Using statistics from the American Bar Association, Cooley Dean Don LeDuc released the school’s third annual Program Achievement Rating study ranking U.S.

MICHIGAN

E.L., students support AIDS walk

Danforth Goff was never alone during AIDS Walk Michigan-Lansing. He also wanted to ensure those with HIV and AIDS won’t feel lonely either.“We need to encourage people that there is hope, that they are not alone in this process,” said Goff, a hemophiliac who contracted HIV through tainted blood products in 1980.

MICHIGAN

Council to discuss City Center tax increment; residents to vote on school levies

The East Lansing City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the City Center tax increment and increasing restrictions on smoking in restaurants.To fund the City Center, an ordinance would raise taxes of East Lansing residents in small increments.The project, with a price tag of about $30 million, will be home to an array of new shops and restaurants in East Lansing.

MICHIGAN

Byrum, Rogers discuss matters close to heart

Every 29 seconds an American suffers a heart attack, and every minute someone dies from one. Every 53 seconds an American suffers a stroke, and every 3.3 minutes someone dies from one. “Heart disease and stroke are the nation’s number one and number three killers - but few politicians seem to notice,” Mike Michalski, chairman-elect of the American Heart Association’s Midwest affiliate, said. The American Heart Association sought to end that legislative ignorance this year by developing a new initiative called Take Heart 2000, a series of four national events aimed at educating lawmakers and candidates on the health issues related to cardiovascular disease. “The American Heart Association has developed a new initiative - Take Heart 2000 - to educate officials and political candidates on important heart and stroke issues in an effort to get them to speak out and support a health policy agenda aimed at fighting heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases,” Michalski said. On Friday, the Kellogg Center hosted the last in a series of nationwide candidate forums sponsored by the American Heart Association. “Right now there is a lot of national attention on Lansing because there are such crucial races going on,” said Cindy Hawken, director of communications for Western Michigan’s American Heart Association. Take Heart 2000 highlights three key policies the American Heart Association would like candidates to support: Increasing federal research funding, including funding for heart disease and stroke; authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the manufacturing, sale and marketing of tobacco products; and removing barriers to health care that limit access to emergency services and specialty care. “Because health issues like heart disease and stroke affect almost every family, we’d like (candidates) to be aware of those issues and to find out their opinions,” Hawken said. Invited to attend the forum were state senators Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga, and Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, as well as Democratic U.S.

MICHIGAN

State House to vote on higher education bill

Lawmakers will be addressing key issues this week in the state House and Senate - most notably, the bill to fund higher education for the next fiscal year. The state House is expected to vote on a budget bill that will appropriate $1,838,900,562 to Michigan’s 15 public universities.