Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/news/community-news/ingham-county/east-lansing/page/2/)
April 6 marked the final day for GAAY, which stands for GLBTQIA+, Athletes, Allies and You. The non-profit hosts many sports, including dodgeball, kickball and bowling across Lansing, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. For Lansing’s final dodgeball game of the season, it didn’t take long for the group of almost 60 players to mingle, make new friendsn and let the anxiety of gym class fade away.
The Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS) is a beacon of hope for animals in need. While the organization is renowned for its dedication to animal welfare through adoption and rehabilitation efforts, it’s their fostering program that truly shows their commitment to saving lives and nurturing compassion within the community. At CAHS, fostering isn’t just about providing temporary shelter for animals; it’s about offering them a chance to thrive in a loving environment while awaiting their forever homes. Whether it’s a litter of kittens needing round-the-clock care, a shy dog requiring socialization, or an injured animal in need of medical attention, CAHS fosters step up to provide the individualized care and attention these animals deserve. One of the program’s greatest strengths lies in its ability to connect animals in need with the right caregivers.
It is a brisk March day, and Azaadiika park is finally waking up for spring – birds are flitting through the trees, joggers and dog-walkers are making their way through the winding trails, and a myriad of plant life is starting its journey towards blooming for the season. But there is something there that doesn’t quite belong – a pervasive and ever-growing army of buckthorn trees, an invasive species that has long been a disruptive force in the park’s ecosystem.
“The tree itself takes a few years to grow, but it sends little seeds, and then it sprouts little trees, and those little trees can completely cover a landscape,” says Heather Majano. “So much so, that you could actually take a weed whipper out and just weed whip tiny little buckthorn trees and not have to worry about removing any other plant because that’s all there is.”
Three large piles of buckthorn branches line a trail in East Lansing’s Azaadiika Park on Saturday, March 9. The branch piles, which have been cut down and placed there by Stewardship Program volunteers, will serve as habitats for some of the park’s smaller animal inhabitants. Majano, who graduated from MSU with her master’s degree in forestry in 2015, has spent the majority of the past 12 years working as the coordinator for East Lansing’s Environmental Stewardship Program, an initiative focused on reducing the negative impact that invasive species have on East Lansing’s natural environments.
The program, initially founded in 2009 by former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mike Vasievich, devotes most of its energy towards on-the-ground conservation efforts, inviting community volunteers to meet at designated locations on the second Saturday of every month –both to learn more about the impacts of invasive species, and to help remove or repurpose as many invasive plants as possible.
“I’ve talked to some people who are not as familiar with plant identification, and when they look out in the woods or in a field, they see green, [and think] green is beautiful.
Over the last two years, a concerning pattern has emerged in college towns like East Lansing and across the country: an unrelenting increase in rent prices. Worries about the community’s overall economic well-being have been heightened as price increases have made it difficult for many residents and students to obtain affordable housing.
Michigan State University has always been a huge center for sports but it was first known primarily as a football school, winning six national titles between 1951 and 1966. It wasn’t until Magic Johnson led the Spartans to their first basketball national championship in 1979 that they began getting recognition for their basketball program. Once Tom Izzo became head coach of the basketball program in 1995 and led the Spartans to their second national championship in 2000, the Spartans would be put on the map as a basketball school.
In East Lansing, Rental Restriction Overlays allow for neighborhoods to restrict rental properties in their parts of the city, making it more difficult for low-income people to find housing and limits rights of homeowners.
When it comes to school discipline in the United States, punishments such as detention, suspension and even expulsion are nothing new – but in recent years, proponents of restorative justice have become hopeful that for the most part, they may soon be left in the past. Restorative practices – which Michigan schools have been required to consider as disciplinary alternatives since the signing of Gov. Rick Snyder’s restorative justice law in 2016 – focus primarily on overall harm reduction, and encourage schools to consider the full context of a situation when deciding on disciplinary measures. “It’s an approach to addressing conflict and misconduct that focuses on healing the harm rather than punishment, and that values accountability over exclusion,” said MacDonald Middle School Assistant Principal John Atkinson, who spoke about his school’s use of restorative justice at an East Lansing School Board meeting on Jan 22. “Rather than relying on just punishment, restorative justice expects those who cause injuries to make things right.”
Source: MacDonal Middle School
However, when it comes to how these amends can be brought about, schools have found that there is no one right answer. “It looks different everywhere, and I think that’s because a lot of schools have been shifting more towards restorative practices in general,” said Adam Brandt, an assistant principal at Eaton Rapids Middle School.
LANSING, Mich.—There are at least 515 unhoused people in Lansing on any given night, according to a report from The National Allegiance To End Homelessness. Organizations like City Rescue Mission of Lansing and The Congregation of Every1 (COE) show that it takes a lot of people to help a lot of people.
“Last year, we provided 365 meals every day. So that’s a little over 133,000 meals last year,” said Laura Grimwood, senior director of community engagement at The City Rescue Mission. For 113 years, The City Rescue Mission of Lansing has prided itself on providing “food, shelter, and hope” to those who need it most. They have a number of locations that offer a variety of services, such as a dining room on Michigan Avenue that offers food to anyone who may need it, a men’s shelter, a women’s shelter and The Outreach, which is designed to help individuals who may struggle in a typical shelter environment.
A new road construction project has been under work and officially unveiled to the Greater Lansing area, with major changes to be made to US-127 and Interstate 496 from early 2024 to late 2025.
These two roads are the main roads that run along the East Lansing-Lansing border and include some of the most common access points to get into both the East Lansing area and Michigan State University. This includes two exits that are frequently used to get to both Trowbridge and Dunckel roads, which run straight to Michigan State.
Since 2019, one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States has been the sports gambling industry. According to the American Gaming Association, $119.8 billion was wagered on sports in 2023 across the United States. When the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, the legalization of sports gambling across the country began. As of 2024, 38 states have legalized sports gambling. Twenty-eight of those states have also legalized online sports gambling. One of those states is Michigan.