art

Turning damaged trees into products

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On campus known for it’s natural beauty, one MSU organization is making sure that beauty stays here and the MSU Surplus store is helping. Their big “Shop Everything” event gathered vendors all over campus for this holiday’s gift giving season. MSU Shadows, an organization at the event, re-purposes trees that are damaged on campus and creates chairs, oars, coasters, and all kinds of products. “We had trees that grow on campus, we loved them, people sat underneath them, there was marriage proposals underneath some of these trees, and they died,” Daniel Brown, coordinator of Wood Recovery Program, said. Normally, these dead trees would be used for mulch or as a bio fuel, but in this case, they’ll live again.

art

Bath Township fights for artists’ rights

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Blue rubber ducks have been popping up over Bath Township and it’s making a difference within the art community. The Blue Loop is an art installation in the backyard of Robert Park’s house in Bath, Michigan. It’s located on his wooded property, hidden behind trees full of blue recycled materials following a pathway. The city sees his property as just junk and it began with a complaint from a neighbor calling his property an “eyesore,” according to Park. “They went into my backyard, in my woods and they discovered my recycled blue plastic, which they had no concept of it being an art material, so right away their mind goes to well that’s just or trash,” he said.

animal science

MSU club prepares dogs for their future

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Some dogs here on campus are like students, training for their future careers. Whitney Chandler is a senior at MSU and Vice President of Leader Dog Club (LDC). “I’m currently raising Finn, he’s six months, he’s a black lab,” she said. Finn is no ordinary puppy. When he’s older he will lead the blind.

Ballot Issues

A hike in voter registration may cause a hike in voter turn out

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Eli Pales life right now is full of plenty of coffee and lots of work. “In previous years we just haven’ t had the people in place that cared enough about voter turn out,” said Pales. 

Historically voter turn out in midterm election is low, but this time we are seeing changes said Pales. “We’ve gotten tons and tons of people registered. I’m hearing from the clerk that our voter reg numbers are gonna be on par with the 2016 general  election and that’s just absolutely insane,” he said. In fact, Pales says voter registration will end up six times higher than the last midterms.

From on-campus to off-campus, Lansing City clerk, Chris Swope, will have his hands full these next few weeks.

Alcohol

Hard alcohol ban imposed on fraternities

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Michigan State’s Inter-Fraternity council voted unanimously to ban any alcohol above a 15 percent content. The news came in a letter from council members posted to the Michigan State Fraternity and Sorority Facebook page. The ban will be imposed on all 29 houses in September 2019. Guillermo Flores, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life says this was a student-driven initiative. “Fraternity wise, you see what’s happening and this isn’t just recent.

Agriculture

Clean Plates at State weighs in on food waste

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It’s dinner time at Case Hall on the Michigan State University campus. Students have endless options of food items at the nine on campus cafeterias. “I had the honey chicken with rice and brussel sprouts, mozzarella sticks and cantaloupe,” senior, Ellen Dipietro, said. “I ate it all”

Elizabeth Lytle, a department aid at the residential housing services on campus, doesn’t care what’s on the menu. She wants to know what’s on the plates after dinner.

Article

Your name will get you free Starbucks

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A new promotion is taking place at the three Starbucks locations on campus, all thanks to just having a first name. Each location will have a chalkboard placed at the register. If your name is written on that board, you get any coffee you’d like, for free! Don’t be too worried if you have a unique name, it is ran through an MSU database system too randomly choose. “All the staff, students, and faculty is all included, so it’s not like we pick the most basic names,” supervisor, Samantha Diamond said.

business

Subway on Grand River ends $5 footlong promotion

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Subway’s CEO announced that in September, franchises will have the option to either keep or get rid of the famous $5 footlong deal. According to the company, it is cutting into slim margins and not profiting for the company. In a college town, you may except students to be upset with the deal being gone, and even Subway employees like Jasmine Hannett. “I feel they should definitely bring it back because kids are on a budget,” Hannet said. “More business…more customer service, and I love making subs.”

Arts & Entertainment

The Art Lab is a collaborative, creative space for all

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An art museum has made it’s way onto Grand River, but it’s not your typical one-stop shop. The Art Lab is a creative and collaborative art museum, where people can be involved hands-on or just visit the art pieces. Located directly across the Broad Art Museum, students and community members can join studio sessions to learn how to create things. “We are a space that has gallery, as well as studio space where you can engage in hands-on activities where you can make a little bit of your own art, we also have lots of social space, a store, we hope to see both visitors from the campus and the community.” Director of Education at Broad Art Museum, Michelle Word said.