Recent Articles
Cigarette tax burns holes in area pockets
Since the cigarette tax increased by 50 cents Aug. 1, some people might see their money go up in smoke.Wesley Thomas contends the change, along with measures across the country to eliminate smoking in public, is discrimination against smokers.“It’s stupid that they’re raising taxes and saying that we can’t smoke where we want to,” the 19-year-old Lansing resident said.
Web site allows users to report food poisoning
MSU’s National Food Safety and Toxicology Center is leading state agencies in implementing the nation’s first Web site for reporting food poisoning.The site will allow people to go online, answer a 15-minute questionnaire about foods they’ve consumed in the last 48 hours and view postings from other citizens.Veterinary epidemiology Professor Paul Bartlett is heading the project.
Amendment may force Merit program to be cut
A proposed constitutional amendment to dedicate tobacco settlement money to health care is putting the future of the Michigan Merit Award scholarship program in jeopardy.The Citizens for a Healthy Michigan Coalition introduced the Healthy Michigan Amendment in March.The proposed amendment would dedicate 90 percent of funds from the nationwide tobacco lawsuit settlement of 1998 to health care.
Campaigners rely on students
When Republican Larry Ward began his state House campaign against incumbent Rep. Gretchen Whitmer, critics told him he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell against the Democrat from East Lansing. Political science junior Jason Miller said he hoped to improve Ward’s chances. Miller, Ward’s campaign manager, took the back roads to Hell, Mich., in the dead of winter and had himself photographed holding a snowball next to a sign that read “Welcome to Hell.” “Hell freezes over in Michigan,” Miller said. Until MSU students and recent graduates can begin their own political careers, they pay their dues by doing what it takes to get their elders into office. Ward, a Republican candidate for the 69th District state House seat, found his campaign manager at an MSU College Republicans meeting. “He came up and picked my brain after the meeting,” Ward said of Miller, chairman of the student GOP group.
Students want U to host debate
With the Nov. 5 general election fast approaching, East Lansing and campus student leaders are working to bring the gubernatorial candidates to separate public debates. Although neither debate has been confirmed, the AARP and ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, have spoken the campaigns of Democratic Attorney General Jennifer Granholm and GOPLt.
