Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/news/community-news/meridian-township/okemos-meridian-township/page/5/)
Fresh International Market, previously the Oriental Mart, closed in September 2020 to renovate for four months and reopened in January 2021. The former Oriental Mart was the biggest Asian market in Meridian Township. It provided authentic Asian foods for local people. After the renovation, the market began to sell international foods.
With vaccines on the rise and an end to self-isolation in sight, HOMTV, Meridian Township’s government television station in Okemos, will broadcast its first live show of the year next week.
Some interns haven’t even been able to visit the newsroom. Bryanna Idzior, a senior at MSU and reporting intern at HOMTV, recently interviewed a source via Zoom while she was in the station. Other than the tour of the studio she received when she was first hired on, this was her first time in the newsroom.
“It’s kind of been amazing over the past year or so what journalists have learned what they can do remotely,” Idzior said. “Zoom has been a really great tool to get to speak with people.”
She will be a part of the team filming the Meridian News Now live show. They are planning on working after-hours at the station so that there are less full-time staff in the building to accommodate social distancing.
While many Meridian Township businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to COVID-19, juice and smoothie shop, Juice Nation, is expanding. Juice Nation will be opening in April its third location in Okemos, adding to its other locations in East Lansing and Lansing. Newest Juice Nation under construction, located at 3520 Okemos Rd. Photo taken by Emilie Appleyard. Plans for construction began in the early spring of 2020, however, the pandemic significantly slowed down the process.
Williamston Police Department teams up with Ingham County Families Against Narcotics for the Hope Not Handcuffs program. The program assists those struggling with drug addiction and others affected by substance abuse.
Niche, a community data website, rated the Okemos Public Schools the number one district in the Lansing area and the fourth-best district in Michigan. Other ratings include an A+ in teaching, academics and college prep.
Among the information provided, Okemos schools rank 18 of 561 under Districts with the Best Teachers in Michigan and 23 of 552 under Best Places to Teach in Michigan. Niche analyzes comprehensive data on colleges, school districts and communities. It collects data from different sources and conducts its own research to provide accurate information every day.
Assistant Principal of Okemos High School, Lamanzar Williams, said he is proud to be a part of the school community.
“We all play a role in the collective success of the students,” Williams said. “The hard work of our students, families, and teachers [show commitment] to educating students at a high level.”
Superintendent John Hood has worked in the Okemos Public Schools for 24 years.
According to the current health conditions and guidelines issued by the Ingham County Health Department and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Okemos Capital Area District Library currently restricts the number of public access and provides contactless services.
To illustrate the jigsaw puzzle that explains health and food disparities in low-income communities, comparisons between two low-income communities, Flint and Detroit, reveal a lack of grocery stores with affordable prices and the abundance of fast-food restaurant are key challenges linked to adverse health issues such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. “It basically confirmed that there’s a lot of junk food on kids’ menus in poorer neighborhoods of urban areas,” said Rick Sadler, assistant professor in MSU’s College of Human Medicine’s Division of Public Health — Flint campus, who co-authored in 2018 a study on how students who attend schools in urban areas with high levels of socioeconomic distress consume foods with low levels of nutritional value such as fast-food.
Fast-food frequency in Detroit
“The number of fast food restaurants are too many to count, but I would say more than 10,” said Detroit resident Darion Jackson. “It’s harder to find healthier options when all you’re surrounded with is fast food.”
This video recorded while driving through Detroit shows fast-food restaurants dominated city blocks. Kenneth Matthews, a Detroit resident, agrees with Jackson on the increasing number of fast food restaurant in the city. Systemic racism
Sadler credits systemic racism as the root cause for food disparities.
Carbon neutral by 2050
President-elect Joe Biden’s main goal in The Biden Plan is to stem climate change by reaching by 2050 carbon neutrality, which means emissions released are offset by being absorbed by an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.
To help achieve this goal, the President-elect aims to have U.S. electricity production carbon-free by 2035. “It’s attainable, yes, I think it is, but there are many prohibiting factors that could prevent it from happening,” said Bruno Takahashi, a research director at MSU’s Knight Center of Environmental Journalism and associate professor in the School of Journalism. A prohibiting factor could be Congress should it become Republican-controlled. Next month, the country will find out the Georgia Senate runoff results, determining party control. Despite the prospect of future administrations reversing the advancements Biden will potentially make, Takahashi is optimistic that the carbon-free goal is still attainable by 2050.
The Meridian Township Planning Commission discussed plans for a new bank that if approved for rezoning will be located at the Meridian Mall in front of Macy’s. The proposal states the building will encompass 2,500 square feet, feature two drive-thru tellers and one ATM lane. The bank will also include 25 parking spots and two access driveways that will connect to the southside of Mall Drive. Construction will begin in 2021.
The proposed location at 1982 Grand River Ave. Okemos, Michigan.
On this edition of Focal Point, we break down the results of the 2020 Election as of Friday, November 6. The MSU swim team makes its last dive, IM West reopens for the first time since the pandemic, and MSU’s football win against U-M results in a spike in COVID cases in Ingham County.