Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/author/taylor-truszkowski/)
I am a journalism major with a concentration in international reporting at the Honors College at Michigan State University. I expect to graduate in 2024. I hope to one day cover politics. I write for Impact Radio here at MSU and have had my work published in Rochester Media. I am known for my great people skills.
A so-called “heartbeat” bill is being considered by the Michigan House. The bill would make abortions illegal after a fetal heartbeat is detected, at five-and-a-half or six weeks of pregnancy.
An interactive children’s garden at the East Lansing Public Library may start to become a reality this spring if funds allow. Since mid-August, the library has undergone several minor projects, including the replacement of sidewalks, air-handling units, electrical panels and some trees.
Library Director Kristin Shelley, who came up with the idea for the children’s garden, said, “We need to see where our funds are after we complete our replacement.” Funds available after the construction will determine when the garden is built.
According to Shelley, some money for the garden will come from donations, but most will come from the annual Books, Bites, and Bids fundraiser. Shelley said “We have a big party at the library and invite people to eat and drink, and there is an auction.”
“Every year we pick a project to funnel our Books, Bites, and Bids funds,” said Shelley. For the past four or five years, that project has been the interactive children’s garden. “We will start work on the interactive children’s garden spring of 2022,” said Shelley.
The Environmental Stewardship Program will host its second Environmental Stewardship Work Day after a 10-month hiatus from the practice. The event will take place 9-11 a.m. Nov. 13 from 9-11 a.m. at 2801 Abbot Road, East Lansing. On Environmental Stewardship Work Day, volunteers meet to replace invasive plant species with native Michigan plant species to improve the ecosystems in East Lansing parks.
East Lansing High School students shared their accounts of the school’s efforts to return to normalcy during the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, students have been allowed access to their lockers again. The lockers were closed to promote social distancing. “We haven’t had lockers for about two months,” said student David Benda. The lockers reopened “about a week ago.”
Benda said, “It has affected student life by clogging the hallways and preventing students from storing bags and textbooks.
Teachers and parents in East Lansing are reacting to an emergency request by Pfizer and BioNTech for the FDA to authorize the use of the COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5-11. Currently, the vaccine is not available to children under 12. The White House on Oct. 20 announced plans to distribute vaccines to 28 million children aged 5 to 11 and said there are enough doses to vaccinate every child in that group.
The national bus driver shortage brought on by the coronavirus pandemic is inconveniencing the students of East Lansing Public Schools. Elementary-level students who rely on the bus system more heavily than those at the high school level are especially inconvenienced by the shortage. “We are typically one to two drivers short a day,” said Dori Leyko, superintendent of East Lansing Public Schools.