MSU hosts horse competition

By Melissa Kayko Special to The State News Horses neighed sporadically and hooves clomped against the hard cement floor as Jodi Pepper gave her horse a quick pat at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education on Saturday afternoon. While closing up the pen for her horse, Camera Loves You, which already displayed a first-place ribbon won in an earlier competition, Pepper relaxed and waited for the competition to wrap up and for the results to be announced. "I put in a lot of hard work," the high school senior said, adding she took care of the horse for a year for the annual competition at MSU. After raising them for a year, teenagers from Michigan gathered to present their horses, with names such as Benns Navigator and Northern Moon, at Saturday's 4th Annual Michigan 4-H Standardbred Show and Sunday's Great Lakes 2005 Yearling Sale. Pepper was one of 12 students who competed in the Michigan 4-H Standardbred Program, which offers an opportunity for Michigan 4-H members to look inside the harness racing industry and work with Standardbred race horse breeders while they complete tasks in taking responsibility for a horse that could later be sold at the Yearling Sale. The program is organized by the Michigan Harness Horsemen's Association, the Michigan Standardbred Breeders Association and the MSU Extension.

Volunteers walk to promote awareness of suicide

By Katie Looby Special for The State News The sun was bright as more than 60 walkers put one leg in front of the other Saturday to raise money for suicide awareness in Lansing for the first annual Lansing Out of the Darkness Community Walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Traffic survey deems Sparty crossing safe

Any questions about the safety of the restructured intersection in front of the new bronze Sparty statue on campus have officially been put to rest, civil and environmental engineering Associate Professor Tom Maleck said. "Whatever problem there was, it went away," said Maleck, who wrapped up a traffic study at the new intersection of Kalamazoo Street and Red Cedar and Chestnut roads last week. Maleck, who works with the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety on traffic issues, said he was asked to conduct the study at the new intersection by deputy police Chief Mike Rice.

Anti-drunken driving group holds 5K walk

The Michigan state office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving held its annual 5K Strides for Change walk on Saturday. The walk was held at Hawk Island County Park, 1601 E.

Internet fraud targeted at students as school year begins

Two MSU students lost hundreds of dollars last week when they responded to separate fraudulent e-mails, and police and campus officials want students to know what e-mails they should avoid to prevent even more thefts. "What we would like the students to remember is that they shouldn't respond," MSU police Sgt.

Deadline to change password approaching

As much as half of the MSU community has yet to update MSU NetID passwords, and the deadline to change them is quickly approaching, said Rich Wiggins, senior information technologist for Academic Computing & Network Services. "We're really concerned about having a large number of folks who don't know why they can't get in and overwhelming our help desk," Wiggins said. MSU upgraded its authentication system and one of the requirements is a "strong password," Wiggins said, which is one that has at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one numeral and is at least eight characters long.

Documentary explores MSU history

Holmes, Williams, Morrill, Snyder, Hannah, Wharton. They aren't just names of buildings around campus - they're characters in an hour-long documentary on MSU's history scheduled to air on local Public Broadcasting Service affiliate WKAR in October. The documentary was created as part of the sesquicentennial celebration, which marks MSU's 150th anniversary.

MSU hosts extreme sport event

When most people think of dodgeball, two things come to mind - an elementary school gym-class activity or a 2004 movie starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller. Students who came out to watch Thursday's Extreme Dodgeball competitions at the rock on Farm Lane got something in between. The competitions, which were brought to campus by Comcast and the Game Show Network, or GSN, featured a Thursday afternoon matchup between teams from MSU and the University of Michigan. "It's the same game we played in elementary school, but with attitude," said Jerome Espy, Comcast's Michigan spokesman.

City set to receive evacuees

East Lansing is ready to receive victims of Hurricane Katrina. The city announced it has 150 rental units available and 90 spots open in its public school system for displaced persons Wednesday. "We did a quick survey of landlords by phone and asked them what the availability was," Deputy City Manager Jean Golden said.

Police briefs 09/09/05

East Lansing library to offer free movies

The East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbott Road, is showing free movies at 1 p.m. every Monday in its Monday Movie Matinee series.

Research offers advice for fighting pest

New research shows that treating ash trees with insecticides in the fall along with the normal treatments in the spring can be both beneficial and safe in protecting against the emerald ash borer. "The data suggests that you can also inject trees in the fall, especially if you are in an area of infestation," said Robin Millsap, spokeswoman for MSU Extension, specializing in the emerald ash borer. The emerald ash borer is an exotic insect native to Asia that only attacks ash trees, Dominic Perrone, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture said.

Homeland Security courses offered

Radford Jones brought his expertise from working as a Secret Service agent to MSU and created a series of Homeland Security classes, to better equip communities in handling emergency situations and threats of disaster in today's world.

Financial matters pose challenges for foreign students

When Uruguay native Mauricio Kaufmann was trying to decide which college to attend, he had some standards for his future school. The economics junior wanted to attend college in the northern United States so he could improve his English and meet more people. After being accepted to MSU, Kaufmann discovered that receiving financial aid would not be an easy task. "As an international student, it's really hard to get financial aid," he said.

Film shown as part of 'One Book' program

The film "Kandahar" is showing at 7 p.m. today in the North Conference Room in the Main Library, as part of the Friday Night Film Series and the One Book, One Community program. The film follows the character, Nafas (Nelofer Pazira), and her return to her homeland of Afghanistan after receiving a suicide proclamation from her troubled sister, who was left behind when the family fled the country when Nafas was a child.

MSU recycling provides dorms with paper bins

Although a recycling program has been in place at MSU for many years, it has been expanded this fall to include bins for various other paper products in the residence halls, said Pete Pasterz, manager of the Office of Recycling and Waste Management. "Students have been asking for an expansion of the types of things they can recycle," he said.

East Lansing communications director to retire

For 18 years, Judith Taran has served the East Lansing community by contributing to the city's cultural growth, her colleagues say. Effective Oct.

$750K awarded for psychology research

The National Science Foundation recently awarded MSU researchers a $750,000 grant to study the effect technology has on children. "Children are spending more and more time using technology," psychology Professor Linda Jackson said.

Bicyclist riding to raise funds, awareness

When Don Boehly, 50, traveled into East Lansing by bicycle on Friday, he wasn't just headed to the store or to a class on campus.

'Blow-a-Kiss' to hurricane victims

After hearing about a fundraising campaign for Hurricane Katrina victims that's spread to 14 schools across the country, Hazel Atienza decided to get MSU involved in the effort. The chemistry freshman started the MSU chapter of the Blow-a-Kiss campaign with the help of some friends, the Facebook Web site and advertisements posted around campus. Grace Kim, a student at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., started the campaign after she saw news coverage on television. "I found it horrifying, I started crying because it was so awful and I was completely traumatized that the government wasn't doing much," Kim said. She decided selling T-shirts would be a good way to raise money and named the project the Blow-a-Kiss campaign because it's optimistic and hopeful. "It's just a very happy little thing that can bring light to a horrible situation," she said. At MSU, Atienza is selling Blow-a-Kiss T-shirts for $12, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross. "In addition to giving money, you also get a shirt out of it," she said.