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NEWS

US senate’s stimulus bill would cut student loans

Students will get a significantly smaller cut of the proposed economic stimulus package than originally planned if the U.S. Senate’s revised version of the package is passed. After the U.S. House of Representatives approved an $819 billion package on Jan. 28, the Senate is expected to vote on its $827 billion version early this week.

NEWS

Death of ill MSU student unsuspicious, E.L. police say

An MSU student died late Friday in an incident that did not appear suspicious, East Lansing police Capt. Kim Johnson said Sunday. The student had been ill “for quite some time” and the death does not appear to be the result of foul play, Johnson said in an e-mail to The State News.

NEWS

Resale 'recession-proof'

For shoppers during a recession, it’s out with the new and in with the old. Resale and thrift stores across the country are pulling in more customers and claiming high profits despite the economic slowdown.

MSU

Ruckus ends abruptly, Web site shuts down

Ruckus, a legal music file-sharing program offered to MSU students, shut down Saturday. The program, promoted by university officials as a way for students to legally share and exchange music, issued a notice on its Web site Saturday afternoon saying the “service will no longer be provided,” with no other information available.

MSU

Water leak causes ceiling tiles to collapse at The Gallery

Diners at The Gallery at Snyder-Phillips Hall were caught in a Chicken Little moment Thursday, when water poured from the ceiling and dislodged four ceiling tiles. Tables below where the ceiling collapsed were unoccupied and, as far as bystanders could tell, nobody was hurt.

NEWS

A mission out of Michigan

Warmer weather, cheaper housing and, more importantly, better job prospects have kept Michigan residents streaming out of the state, but some experts think the trend will slow down. An annual survey released last month by the trucking company United Van Lines found that more than 67 percent of Michigan moves in 2008 were out of the state. Last year marks the third straight time that Michigan has had the highest rate of outbound moves for any state in the country.

MSU

Kids get taste of Malian art

Students in the East Lansing Public Schools are getting a crash course in art. In an effort to expose children to global artists, the schools have joined with MSU’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, or RCAH, to bring in artists to visit with the students. The program has operated for about a year.

NEWS

Mason sentenced to almost 22 years for 1999 arson

The Ohio woman who pleaded guilty to setting Agriculture Hall on fire in 1999 was sentenced to almost 22 years in prison Thursday. Marie Mason, 47, of Cincinnati, said she committed the arson with her then-husband Frank Ambrose on New Year’s Eve, 1999. She said the two set the offices of the Agriculture Biotechnology Support Project on fire to protest federally funded research on genetic modification of potatoes.

NEWS

A driving force for fuels

The field of biofuel research would have little in the tank without MSU professor Bruce Dale. The professor of chemical engineering and material science finished two studies last month that could foster positive attitudes about alternative fuels and decrease the cost of creating them. Dale’s first study presented evidence against the notion that benefits of biofuels are offset by the land required to produce the corn for ethanol and the gas emissions of the vehicles using the fuel.

MICHIGAN

Lansing offers computer, TV recycling

Students looking to dump old TVs and computers before the upcoming transition to digital TV can do so on Saturday at the Ingham County Road Commission facility, 5613 S. Aurelius Road, in Lansing, as part of a recycling program.

MSU

ASMSU revises course-repeat bill

ASMSU’s Academic Assembly code and academic policy committee amended a bill Tuesday to revise the university’s course repeat policy. The University Committee on Academic Policy, or UCAP, is reviewing the policy and asked for ASMSU’s stance.