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Rebecca Ryan ·
MSU

Sigma Chi makes a splash hosting Derby Days

Determined to win, even after being hit in the face with a water balloon, Brieanna Finn tossed one back to her partner on Thursday at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, 729 E. Grand River Ave. “I don’t care if I’m soaking wet,” Finn said, her hair dripping. “It’s all for a good cause.”

MICHIGAN

New smoothie restaurant to open

East Lansing soon will get a taste of the tropics with the opening of a new Tropical Smoothie Café. The restaurant will open at 1201 E. Grand River Ave., on April 16, said the store’s co-owner, Ruth Buko, an MSU alumna.

MICHIGAN

Genetski’s position questioned after drunken driving incident

Democratic lawmakers and ethics experts are questioning whether State Rep. Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, can legitimately play a role shaping MSU’s budget while he is facing criminal charges stemming from his drunken driving arrest on campus. While Democratic leaders have opposed some of the strings attached to university funding proposed by Genetski’s committee, which would require MSU to remove its health care mandate to retain state funding, they now are arguing Genetski has a conflict of interest in deciding MSU’s budget altogether.

MSU

2012-13 rates might increase for housing, dining

Students might pay about $300 more for on-campus housing next academic year if the Board of Trustees approves a 4 percent increase in housing and dining rates next Friday. The Division of Residential and Hospitality Services, or RHS, presented the proposed increase, which would raise housing rates from $8,154 to $8,476 for the 2012-13 academic year, during a Residence Halls Association, or RHA, meeting on Wednesday.

MSU

Twins experience MSU together

Erica and Jessica Cutler are roommates, competitors, best friends and twins. “Usually we have a basic understanding between the two of us,” elementary education sophomore Jessica Cutler said, who is a member of the women’s swim team with her sister Erica. “It’s not like twin telepathy, it’s just from being around each other so much.”

MICHIGAN

Westboro Baptist Church to rally at Union

Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to rally at the Union from 8:15 to 8:45 a.m. on April 23. The church, which caused national controversy in recent years for protesting fallen soldiers’ funerals, said on its website the rally will be focused on university curriculum, where “degrees of rebellion are passed out like candy.”

NEWS

Police Brief 04/05/12

A 19-year-old male student reported a ball was thrown through his dorm room window between 9:01-9:30 p.m. April 2 in West Akers Hall, MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.

Ian Kullgren ·
MICHIGAN

State senator talks Michigan 2020 plan

From the moment Gretchen Whitmer entered the room, Kelly Rossman-McKinney knew she had make a mistake. When the then-29-year-old arrived at the East Lansing Rotary Club event to campaign for the 70th district seat in the 2000 election, the Democratic candidate’s charisma was palpable.

MICHIGAN

Early spring conditions spark tornado activity throughout state

Robert Spiegel called his mom to make sure she was doing OK after hearing reports of a tornado in Dexter, Mich., on March 15 — about 65 miles from MSU. “It hit our neighborhood, and the house right across the street from us was completely gone to the foundation,” the finance junior said, adding his mom was safe in the basement.

MSU

Student groups push for new, separate multicultural center

Efforts by the Black Student Alliance, or BSA, and other student groups to create a freestanding multicultural center might be stalled in the face of logistics, such as cost and space availability, officials said. When MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon spoke at a Residence Halls Association, or RHA, meeting last month, students addressed the issue with her, but she said she hasn’t formed a position on how to proceed without looking at all the facts, including cost and space.

MSU

Wheelchair tennis promotes growth

On Wednesday, medical student Jon Vandenberg rolled across the tennis court in a wheelchair, racquet in hand, and passed a tennis ball to 15-year-old Katie Frayer from Dewitt, Mich., who was born with Arthrogryposis, a congenital disorder that has left her in a wheelchair.

MSU

Students, staff discuss water conservation

Instead of buying Aquafina bottles, Lauren Weber, an interdisciplinary studies in social science senior, totes a refillable water bottle with her on campus to make water conservation a daily priority. Although MSU promotes water conservation on campus, some universities, including Seattle University, have taken the practice further by ending bottled water sales on campus.