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MICHIGAN

Obama signs farm bill in East Lansing

Simon Schuster
February 7, 2014

President Obama, after an address to political dignitaries, the media and MSU community members, signed signed the farm bill into law Friday afternoon on MSU’s campus. In front of a backdrop of artifacts from pastoral America, including a tractor and hay bales, his remarks before the signing highlighted agriculture’s importance to the economy, and emphasized the ways in which the legislation would benefit farmers throughout the country.

NEWS

President Obama, Air Force One lands in Lansing

Celeste Bott
February 7, 2014

Air Force One touched down at Capital Region International Airport around 12 p.m. today. President Obama disembarked with a wave, alongside Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., an MSU alumna and the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

MICHIGAN

MSU community ready to welcome President Obama

Simon Schuster
February 6, 2014

Like Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, only in phone call and email form, a few select students have received invitations to see President Barack Obama sign the new farm bill into law Friday afternoon on campus. Excitement was universal among all those who received invitations.

MICHIGAN

A fine trade

Betsy Agosta
February 6, 2014

Haslett resident Gail Catron is the owner of the hand­made fair trade shop Kirabo , 225 E. Grand River Ave.

MICHIGAN

Heating bills increasing with drastic cold temperatures

Sara Konkel
February 5, 2014

With the heat pumping into off-campus homes surrounding MSU during the frigid months, utility bills are skyrocketing, and even more so than in previous years. The high cost of this winter’s heating bills have some students grasping at straws to make their payments, DTN Area Director Emilie Wohlschied said. “I think everyone is feeling the pinch as far as the awful winter that we’ve been having,” Wohlschied said.

MICHIGAN

Team to review BWL handling of outages

Geoff Preston
February 5, 2014

On Wednesday night, a committee of six community members featuring former East Lansing City Council members and community activists was appointed to review the handling of Lansing Board of Water and Light’s response to a December power outage.

MSU

Blood donors needed by Red Cross

Michael Kransz
February 5, 2014

The American Red Cross recently declared an “urgent need” for blood donors, which coincides with a blood drive competition that pits MSU against rival University of Michigan.

MICHIGAN

President Obama to sign farm bill in East Lansing

Simon Schuster
February 4, 2014

President Barack Obama plans to sign the Agriculture Act of 2014, often referred to as the farm bill, at the Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center Friday afternoon. Students hoping to catch a glimpse of Obama when he visits MSU’s campus Friday will be sorely disappointed, however, as the event is closed to the public. The farm bill legislation was passed by both chambers of Congress on Tuesday. White House officials waited until the latest farm bill had been passed by Congress to release details about the event. MSU has a number of ties to the farm bill. The Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee is MSU alumna Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. The university was founded as the nation’s first agricultural college under the name Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. Agriculture stayed in the university’s name until 1964, when Michigan Agricultural College became Michigan State University. MSU President Lou Anna K.

MICHIGAN

I-96 shooter gets at least 6.5 years

Geoff Preston
February 4, 2014

During a trial in Livingston County last week, convicted I-96 shooter Raulie Casteel testified that he spent time in both Michigan and Kentucky practicing his shot in farm fields. But on Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court, it was the hours that he didn’t spend on his own shooting range that saved him years of prison time, according to Judge Denise Langford Morris. Although no one was killed in the shooting spree Casteel went on along the I-96 corridor in the fall of 2012, Langford Morris said that was nothing to be proud of. “Thank goodness you were a lousy shot,” Langford Morris said during sentencing. Casteel, a 44-year-old MSU alumnus, was sentenced to 6.5 to 10 years in prison on Tuesday on multiple assault and weapons charges, which he pleaded no contest to last October.

MICHIGAN

East Lansing Police update description of Cedar Street shooting suspect

Lauren Gibbons
February 4, 2014

The East Lansing Police Department has released several new images of the suspect wanted for killing one student and injuring another on the 200 block of Cedar Street Friday evening. Newly-released surveillance images show the suspect, who shot and killed hospitality business sophomore Dominique “D.J.” Nolff and injured another student, entering and leaving the complex on Friday evening. The updated police description indicates the suspect is a black male between 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-3 inches tall between 20-25 years of age who weighs about 170 pounds. At the time of the shooting, the suspect was wearing a black North Face jacket, tan pants and black shoes.

MSU

Student government presidential elections spark controversy

Kary Askew Garcia
February 4, 2014

ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, will be holding its presidential elections this Thursday, despite allegations of current chief of staff Kiran Samra violating the student government’s election code by running for the position. Samra, a marketing senior, was found to be involved with the University Elections Commission, a group within ASMSU that oversees the election process, when she decided to run for president. Samra served as the commission’s chair until she resigned on Jan.