Former trustee files against LCC board

A former Lansing Community College trustee filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the LCC Board of Trustees. Todd Heywood claims that during a 2006 meeting, the board violated Michigan's Open Meetings Act, which requires publicly elected boards to open meetings to the public. According to the lawsuit, trustees asked two LCC employees who were attending the meeting to leave, turning the meeting into a closed session. "When elected officials are willing to violate that sacred trust, it raises all kinds of questions of what the fundamental core of democracy is," Heywood said.

Boyogueno, MSU graduate student, dies after stroke

Fourth-year MSU doctoral student and Spanish department teaching assistant Simplice Boyogueno died Thursday after suffering from a stroke in December. Boyogueno, a native of Cameroon, was working on a dissertation about Africans and Afro-Caribbeans in Spain through literature and film.

Whitmer appointed to Senate groups

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, was named lead Democrat on the Education and Judiciary committees in Michigan's Senate earlier this month, and she also will serve on the Agriculture and Finance committees. Whitmer will be responsible for developing policies related to her respective fields.

Health classes open

Be And Stay Healthy, or BASH, is offering a six-part community health workshop for East Lansing residents starting Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

(SCENE) Metrospace to display new art

An art exhibit featuring technology opens Friday at (SCENE) Metrospace, 303 Abbott Road. It will take place from 6-9 p.m.

Resolutions create fitness craze

One day makes a difference. Ask the owner of any local fitness gym. After Jan. 1, New Year's resolutions begin, and memberships and attendance at gyms peak significantly. Randy Gregg, owner of Atlas Gym in East Lansing, said that in the first 10 days of the month, about 400 new members joined the facility.

Police briefs 01/16/07

New housing draws student interest

Several MSU students will call West Village "home" next year, since their parents reserved property in the new residential development. "A lot of parents are interested in buying for their children, so those will be owned by the family, not licensed for rental," West Village spokeswoman Lisa Spaugh said. More than half the properties in the village already have been reserved, and construction begun on the complex.

Donations benefit alumni foundation

Noodles & Company, 205 E. Grand River Ave., is donating 10 percent of sales from 5-9 p.m. on Jan.

Health screening teaches diversity

Najim Salman walked into the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing for a series of medical tests Monday and left with a smile on his face. "A clean bill of health," he said at the center's 920 S.

Alum releases rare collection

Maybe what's impressive about Gregory Reed is that he was an MSU student on April 4, 1968, the day Martin Luther King Jr.

Winter season kicks off late

Finally. Glazed like a doughnut, a thin shell of ice covered East Lansing on Sunday night, ushering in winter weather.

Former MSU prof dies; cared about university

Whether it was taking portraits of friends in his self-made basement studio, under the hood of an old 1929 Model A pickup truck or biking his way from Lansing to the Mackinac Bridge, Arnold Werner always seemed to have something on his plate. "He was a man with a million hobbies," Sarah Werner said of her father, whose work was on display at the East Lansing Public Library during June 2005.

Football player gets jail time

Through tears, former MSU football player Bobby Jones learned he'll be spending the next four weekends in jail Thursday for throwing an empty bottle of Captain Morgan on a 20-year-old woman. The incident happened at the Chandler Crossings apartments on Oct.

MSU horticulture group helps clean up New Orleans City Park

Sixteen months after New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, a group of MSU horticulture students and faculty made what they thought was going to be a small difference. For some, it turned out to be much more. In August, MSU horticulture Professor Art Cameron returned to campus after a national horticulture meeting in New Orleans. His description of disaster and sadness inspired more than 40 students and faculty to make the trip to New Orleans in December to lend a hand to a city in need. The group spent about a week collecting and sorting the hundreds of pots that had scattered everywhere and cleaning up a greenhouse at New Orleans City Park that was under more than 10 feet of standing saltwater. Students also helped clear brush and wood, install benches and fixed greenhouse fans.

Additional troops protested

Area residents gathered Thursday in downtown East Lansing to protest President Bush's announcement that he will send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. About 100 opponents of the war in Iraq waved signs calling for peace and the return of soldiers, as car horns blared in response at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbott Road. "We're hoping to send a strong message to Washington that we want the escalation of the war to end," Haslett resident and rally attendee Linda Carrington said. The demonstration was organized by the Greater Lansing Network Against War & Injustice, a nonviolent organization that advocates international peace. Margaret Kingsbury, a Lansing resident and member of the group, wants the protest to garner the attention of government representatives. "When you have enough numbers, it sends a very strong message to the people you've elected," Kingsbury said. Grand Ledge resident John Baumgartner held a sign at the rally reading, "It's time for peace.

Revised fuel tests inform consumers

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that its testing methods for determining fuel efficiency in vehicles has been revised for the first time in 20 years. "Fuel economy has risen on the list of priorities for car buyers," said John Millett, a spokesperson for the EPA in Washington, D.C.

Police briefs 01/12/07

MSU philosophy, accounting rank No. 1 in scholar index

Faculty from MSU's accounting and philosophy departments produced more publications, were cited in more journals and received more funding and awards than the same departments at 353 other large research universities. Both programs were ranked first by the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, which categorized large and small universities across the country based on data from 2005.

Bands help snubbed store

When the owners of Davey's Basement, in Mason, decided to pull the Mason High School Gay-Straight Alliance's float during the school's homecoming parade, they didn't expect the town to boycott.