Kristie Macrakis described East Berlin in the late 1980s as a drab, black-and-white city, where the East German secret police operated behind the scenes. "It was kind of like 'spy city,'" she said.
Michigan law-enforcement officials launched a two-week effort Friday to enforce and educate the community about safety-belt laws. The East Lansing Police Department is among several Ingham County agencies that will participate in the campaign on Friday.
The MSU fundraising effort to raise $1.2 billion for the university before 2007 has surpassed the billion-dollar mark, university officials are expected to announce today. The Campaign for MSU, which began in 2000, seeks to raise gift support for research and teaching, support for students, scholarships, new facilities and building renovations, maintaining programs and faculty recruitment.
Thousands cheered as they watched community members, from high school marching bands to government officials, march in downtown Lansing on Saturday in the sixth annual African American Parade and Family Heritage Picnic. Hosted by the Capital City African American Cultural Association Inc., this years' parade theme focused on diversity and the celebration of family heritage, said Micheal McFadden, event marketer and broadcast radio personality for WWSJ (1580-AM). "Family heritage is important, and whatever your ethnicity is, you should get excited about discovering your family history," he said. The Lansing Area African American Genealogical Society, or LAAAGS, had an informational tent that offered genealogy information. Mary Agnes Lipscomb, president and co-founder of the society, said the primary focus is to assist black people in researching family history. "This is very important because we need to know where we've been in order to plan where we are going," she said. Lipscomb said sometimes it can be hard to trace family history. "Our history wasn't always written down, and many relatives don't want to discuss the past either," she said.
The MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine is lending a hand to cover impoverished children's feet. Heart and Sole is a project that collects moderately worn and new shoes for needy people around the world, project organizer and College of Osteopathic Medicine Graphic Designer Ann Cook said. She said the project started in 1999 after a secretary who returned from a trip to Malawi in Africa recalled the children's desperation. "When she went to the streets to buy trinkets, the kids would do anything for shoes," Cook said. Currently Heart and Sole is collecting tennis shoes and school shoes.
In sub-Saharan Africa, it's common for a person to contract malaria as many as five times a year. The disease is so common, medical students in Malawi find it boring, said Dr. Terrie Taylor, an MSU professor who is considered one of the world's leading researchers on malaria in children.
After Saturday's Walk To Cure Diabetes on campus, walk organizer Tom Brennan owes Karen Breen a bottle of wine. Breen, executive director of the Detroit chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF, bet Brennan a bottle of wine that donations would break $50,000 and won handily when Brennan announced Saturday afternoon that the walk had raised $75,000. The walk, which benefited the international JDRF, kicked off from Ralph Young Field, west of Spartan Stadium, and covered 1.5 miles through campus, featuring head football coach John L.
The sounds and smells of Germany can be found on the third floor of Wells Hall this week. Two German studies graduate students, Jeannine Mickeleit and Angelika Kraemer, are running a camp to teach children aged 6-11 years old German language and culture.
City officials have tried blocking an attempt by a local rental-housing mogul to construct new apartments on Burcham Drive. The East Lansing City Council authorized City Manager Ted Staton to purchase a piece of property for $160,000, on which DTN Management Co. wanted to construct a new apartment complex, during its July 19 meeting, city documents stated. Although Deputy City Manager Jean Golden has said the city didn't want to get involved in a bidding war with DTN, the offer was still brought to the council by city administrators. "That was the offer from the seller," she said.
Last year the annual African American Parade and Family Heritage Picnic attracted more than 15,000 people, state Rep.
As summer winds down for John Fournier, his campaign for a seat on East Lansing's City Council is just beginning to start. The political theory and constitutional democracy senior said he's been busy finishing up his paperwork to enter his name into the race and expects to have it submitted by Wednesday. Fournier has until 5 p.m.
After more than a month without an administrative leader, the College of Human Medicine is expected to take on Dr. Marsha Rappley as acting dean. Rappley has assumed the responsibilities on an interim basis since the departure of former Dean Glenn Davis on June 30. MSU President Lou Anna K.
It's a 2,500 mile race - powered by the sun. The University of Michigan placed first in the 2005 North American Solar Challenge, or NASC, a race that included 20 competitors and their solar cars from universities and colleges across the nation. "We had 10 days of racing," said Michael Brackney, project manager for the U-M solar racing team.
A new restaurant will soon join the ranks of establishments along Grand River Avenue in East Lansing. Pasta Per Trio LLC is opening a franchised Noodles & Co. restaurant in downtown where Chios once was, at 305 E.
Incoming freshman Thurman Stanton Jr. spent the last five weeks learning how to be a college student. He's one of 26 new students hailing from all over the state who enrolled in MSU's Summer University Program: Excellence Required, or SUPER. The program, created in 1988, is designed to help a diverse group of students gain the academic, social and interpersonal skills needed to succeed in the university setting. Stanton said he's glad he applied for the SUPER developmental course because it's prepared him to adjust to the college workload. "It's tremendously needed," he said.
President Bush's proposed Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, passed through Congress Thursday by only two votes, expanding trade into six Latin American countries. Many Michigan legislators are concerned the newly passed agreement will mean fewer jobs in Michigan - much like the 24,000 Michigan jobs lost as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, said Rep.
"They should legalize it, it's definitely not as bad as it's made out to be." Jeff Pink psychology senior "Yes, I don't think there's evidence that it does a lot of harm." Ashley Ballard psychology junior at Western Michigan University "Just imagine if the government made it legal, they could be making the money themselves." Randy Rivas residential building and construction sophomore at Lansing Community College "I have no definite opinion, there's a good and bad side to marijuana, just like everything else." Nicolas Hampton East Lansing resident
An organization pushing for looser marijuana laws released a "Truth Report" in late July in an attempt to dispel the federal government's claims against the drug. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, wrote "Your Government Is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana" as an updated response to a letter sent by a White House official in 2002 to every prosecutor in America to convince them to become more harsh on marijuana cases, NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano said. "This is a policy on ideology," Armentano said about the government's attacks on marijuana.