Business & Economy

More revenue – and worries – for small businesses, survey shows

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SMALL BUSINESSES: Two years into the pandemic, small businesses in the state report that some challenges have become more acute, with highest concerns about inflation, supply chain disruptions and difficulty finding and keeping employees. A new Small Business Association of Michigan survey finds that owners feel more pessimistic about the short-term prospects but are optimistic about the long-term future. We hear from SBAM, a Hamtramck chocolate shop and a new Lansing coffeehouse. By Sydney Bowler. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! LANSING CITY PULSE, DETROIT and ALL POINTS.

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Ingham parks to become more accessible and inclusive

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In an effort to make recreational parks and spaces more inclusive, a variety of accessibility developments will be implemented as a part of Ingham County Parks and Recreation next five-year Master Plan. The county hopes to better accommodate citizens of all abilities.

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Nursing student describes struggles in direct care workplace

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MSU nursing junior Hannah Saunders works as a resident care aid for Brio Living Services in Chelsea, Michigan. With the recent staffing shortages for direct care workers, Saunders and her coworkers have to work more. 

“We are probably the most short-staffed we have ever been,” Saunders said. “That can be quite a bit overwhelming but we just try to reassure (the residents) that we’re doing the best that we can with the numbers that we have and we just have to take our time and get to everybody when we can.”

During a normal, fully staffed time Saunders would have eight to 12 residents on her caseload. Now she can have up to 20 residents to take care of. 

“We just get double the workload,” Saunders said. “It’s very frustrating just because we know that (the residents) are not getting the care that they deserve and that they pay for.”

Saunders said Brio Living Services has made many attempts to attract new employees such as offering sign-on bonuses, commitment bonuses and more money to work the second shift.

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With over 7,000 sq. feet, the Art Lab's previous home is now one of the biggest plots of open real estate on Grand River Ave.

An experiment in design, Art Lab closes, but mission goes on

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Kurt SchneiderWith more 7,000 square feet, the Art Lab’s previous home is now one of the biggest plots of open real estate on Grand River Avenue. As a radical example of architecture and design, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum has been a space-aged home for creatives and art lovers alike. With a decade of campus involvement and more than 125,000 visitors yearly, architect Zaha Hadid’s Pritzker Prize-winning design has had a drastic impact on the city of East Lansing while exploring a restorative solutions-based approach to the arts. 

While the museum’s sleek mix of unique angles and perspectives houses most of its exhibition space and collections, in 2017 the decision was made to open a location across the street from Michigan State’s campus. With more than  5,000 sq. ft.

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Stress Busters tackle children’s mental health in Lansing

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How can you know you’re having a mental health crisis if you don’t even know what one is? In addition to the trials of growing up, today’s children also have the strain of the pandemic such as constantly switching school formats or losing loved ones, said Jennifer Kronkite, prevention and outreach therapist for Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties. However, younger children do not have the vocabulary or the knowledge to recognize what depression or anxiety may look like, or what good coping mechanisms are. Every Tuesday at the South Lansing Library, Stress Busters teaches children how to recognize their feelings and learn healthy coping mechanisms. Jody Nelson of the youth engagement services of Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties said these are recurring programs separated by age groups to accommodate different ages. The groups are fairly new, formed within the past few months.

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Lansing students respond to some imaginative incentives

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Sexton High School student Zamani Rogers speaks about The Playbook’s impact during the district board meeting Thursday night. The Lansing School District Board of Education last week agreed to be in contract negotiation with the School Days Foundation, implementing the foundation’s new program The Playbook to schools. Motivational speaker Dr. Eric Thomas leads the project. The program was piloted at Sexton High School, which is giving students an overwhelming amount of opportunities, including getting to attend this year’s Super Bowl. High school senior Zamani Rogers spoke of the impact The Playbook and Thomas’ team  had on her schoolwork and in her life.

Business & Economy

Prosecutor jobs open due to competition, burnout

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PROSECUTORS: County prosecutors are facing a shortage of assistant prosecutors, a problem that can lead to delayed trials and hearings. Major reasons are higher salaries in private practice and some state agencies, burnout and fewer law school enrollments. The prosecutors in Eaton County, who heads the state Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and Alger County discuss. By Hope O’Dell. FOR MARQUETTE, IRON MOUNTAIN, LANSING CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! SAULT STE. MARIE and ALL POINTS.

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$6.6 million in water fees headed back to East Lansing taxpayers

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Some East Lansing residents could see $6.6 million coming back to them if they are a Lansing Board of Water and Light customers, after the City of East Lansing lost a class-action lawsuit. In 2017, BWL started collecting a 5% franchise fee from all East Lansing customers and passing that on to the city. A fee that brings the city around $1.4 million a year. 

In April 2020, Jim Heos, an East Lansing resident sued the city for the fees saying, they were unlawful taxes. 

BWL serves 89% of the city. The money goes into the city’s general fund. Meaning that money also helps people who aren’t paying for it.

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Southern comfort is coming to East Lansing

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In the life of a college student who struggles through studying for important exams, turning in assignments on time, pleasing professors to getting by on the broke college student budget – there are little things better in life than deep fried fast food. For southern students and chicken connoisseurs alike the new restaurant that’s about to arrive on Grand River and M.A.C. Avenue is about to shake up the city and give out-of-state residents a taste of home. Raising Cane’s, a Louisiana based restaurant company, announced in mid-February that its first Michigan location would be in East Lansing. The chain has more than 500 locations across America, however it has not stepped farther into the Midwest and nort-east parts of the country. So why Grand River over anywhere else in Michigan?