Latest news with #Lansing-area
USA Today
10-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
A hurricane set in motion an improbable season (and next) for this Big 10 men's golf team
A hurricane set in motion an improbable season (and next) for this Big 10 men's golf team EAST LANSING, Mich. — Hurricane Milton didn't do the people of Florida any favors last October. Michigan State's men's golf program, on the other hand … If the Spartans are the team they think they might be next year — perhaps the deepest team they've had — they'll have to thank Milton's ferocity for canceling the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational in Vero Beach, Florida, last October. Because if senior star Ashton McCulloch had played in one more event before he separated his shoulder, he wouldn't have any eligibility remaining and wouldn't be coming back next fall to headline what could be a special team. 'Next year's roster will be the deepest (we've had) by a lot,' MSU men's golf coach Casey Lubahn said. It'll be that deep because of what this year's team has become without McCulloch — a team that, well beyond its winter expectations, finished third in the 18-team Big Ten championships and then was selected for the NCAA regionals, a team now led in no small way by two Lansing-area stars, Williamston's Caleb Bond and East Lansing's Drew Miller. The Spartans are the 10 seed in the 14-team Tallahassee (Florida) Regional, playing May 12-14. The top five teams advance to the NCAA championships. 'If we play just like we did at Big Tens, we'll advance,' Lubahn said. 'And we didn't play great at Big Tens. It's getting them to think that their good is good enough.' That's been a big part of the story of this season — adjusting and then re-adjusting expectations as the Spartans learned their good was absolutely good enough. This, Lubahn thought, would be a rebuilding season after McCulloch's injury — which he suffered while celebrating as he tested equipment for a golf manufacturer that's one of his endorsements. McCulloch (best known for winning the Canadian Amateur in 2023) had carried the team during the fall season and, even with him, they weren't playing that well. 'Even though we've made it to the last nine NCAAs and we've been finishing top four in the league, I think we all just took our expectations (down a bit and said), 'Let's just worry about getting better, growing, learning,'' Lubahn said. 'And we did that for about two weeks in January. Then we went out the first week of February and I'm like 'Dang, these guys look good.' They just kept getting better the rest of the year. So it went from a rebuilding year to a reloading year pretty quick.' Losing McCulloch meant losing about four or five shots a round. What allowed MSU to make up for it was that each of the five guys in the lineup took about a stroke a day off their scores. 'I've never seen that, ever,' Lubahn said. 'I've never seen four guys go from basically out of the lineup or not capable of playing at Division I or Big Ten golf in one semester, to all performing very well in the next semester.' MORE: Couch: MSU's Brooke Biermann, Katie Lu hope to leave their mark in NCAA championships, before chasing pro golf dreams Bond and Miller were a big part of that. Bond's rise is pretty incredible — from someone who Lubahn believed was just a little below the Big Ten level when he was coming out of Williamston High School, to someone he thought would be a solid contributor this season as a transfer from Ferris State, to the guy who's carried the most weight on MSU's team, as the Spartans' low scorer this season with an average around of 71.53. 'From my senior year of high school to my sophomore year at Ferris I really became a way better putter and a better driver of the golf ball, too,' Bond said. 'I didn't know he was going to be this kind of impact player,' Lubahn said. 'We talked about him all summer being a very steady contributor. By Big Ten championship Sunday, he had the team on his back, which is just amazing to watch a kid go through that. And it was emotional for me.' Lubahn could relate from his own playing days at MSU in the early 2000s — when he wasn't in the playing group as a sophomore and was the top player on the team by his junior season. 'He leveled up very quickly because he believed his good was good enough,' Lubahn said of Bond. And, he's a 'goldfish,' to steal a reference from the show 'Ted Lasso'. '(Bond) is a genius at moving on three seconds after a shot,' Lubahn continued. 'For a lead player, he hits two or three shots a round — and he'll laugh about them — they're pretty poor. And if it was somebody else, you'd think, 'Oh, boy, there goes his confidence for the next hour.' He's a goldfish. He moves on.' Miller has always believed his good is good enough. 'The thing I love about Drew is he's not afraid of anything,' Lubahn said of the freshman. 'The thing I worry about with Drew sometimes, he's not afraid of anything.' Miller was a big-time recruit out of East Lansing, but not playing all that well when he arrived, and those struggles continued into the fall. McCulloch's injury gave Miller an opening in the lineup in January. 'He ran with it,' Lubahn said. 'I think there's a lot to learn, and I think that's at every level, too,' Miller said. 'Everyone kind of goes through it at some point, and even more than once. … I think you're always going to come out of that (struggle) a better player than you went in it. And I think just having a good environment of coaches and teammates to help you keep working at it and know you're going to figure it out is important.' As Miller, Bond, sophomore Lorenzo Pinili, freshman Julian Menser and sophomore Lucas Acevedo prepare to tackle an NCAA regional, they're excited for this opportunity but also hopeful that this is just the beginning. 'I think this season is really important to us,' Miller said. 'I think we have a really good chance at making the national championship this year, but it's hard to not think about next year in the sense that we look good. But, I mean, you look at it in these other sports, too, and it's not like it always works that linear.' 'The way we finished at Big Tens, especially having the second round, second lowest round of the day, I think that's a huge step toward playing well at regionals,' Bond said, 'knowing we've showed up when we needed to. Even though our season will be on the line, we have nothing to lose at regionals.' 'Four of the five guys had never played a Big Ten championship,' Lubahn said. 'They handled that incredibly well. They followed the game plan exactly like we asked them to. If they do that this week, whether win or lose, they're going to understand when we get to next year where we need be.' If it seems like a lot of talk about next year with a lot still to play for this year, it's because most teams in NCAA regionals won't return everyone AND add a player like McCulloch. 'If he would have played that (last) event (in the fall), no hurricane, he's not going to be back,' Lubahn said. 'I don't think he really ever had a plan to come back. But when you consider how it all fell, maybe it was something just miraculous. And the reality is, with the PGA Tour setup now, it's almost as easy to make the PGA Tour coming from college golf as it is as a touring program. We are going to facilitate everything we can to help him come back and go right from here to the PGA Tour next year.' After building on whatever Bond, Miller and Co. are able to do this month. 'At some point during the spring, everybody kind of found something that gave them confidence,' Bond said. Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@ Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Michigan moms call attention to threats to Medicaid and health care during annual ‘Mama's March'
Moms and their kids line up for a picture on the Michigan State Capitol Building steps after the annual "Mama's March" on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Waving back at her young daughters in the crowd, Lansing-area birth and postpartum doula Kendra Smith told attendees of the annual 'Mama's March' outside the Michigan State Capitol Wednesday that in order to promote healthy families, Medicaid and systems of support need to be preserved. There's a lot of concern from different advocacy and service groups at the moment as Republicans in Congress have floated proposals for cutting hundreds of billions of dollars to Medicaid which funds services and care for individuals who have low incomes or disabilities. Medicaid is not a line item easily crossed out without grave repercussions, Smith said. Medicaid often means the difference between a mother going to a postpartum check-up appointment to determine if she needs medical attention, or not going to that check-up appointment, Smith said, adding that those appointments provide access to prenatal vitamins, lactation support and birth in a hospital. 'For Black and brown moms who are already navigating higher risk and barriers, Medicaid often makes the difference between life and death, and that's not hyperbole. That's reality,' Smith said. National data reflects that Black women are more than twice as likely to die from pregancy-related causes than their white counterparts and Michigan state data reflects the same reality where Black mothers were nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white mothers. In order to comply with the spending plans and priorities of President Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, which regulates Medicaid amongst other governernment programs, is currently looking at how to save $880 billion, with Medicaid on the chopping block. For the last decade, typically more than 40% of births in Michigan have been funded, at least in-part, through Medicaid programs, according to reporting from the Michigan League for Public Policy. Medicaid provides care to those most vulnerable in Michigan, who might not have access to quality housing, nutrition or prenatal or postnatal educational resources, Smith said. Attendees listen to speakers at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Attendees listen to speakers at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Bridget Leonard, a Michigan-based nurse, speaks at the annual "Mama's March" outside the Michigan Capitol Building on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols Moms and their kids line up for a picture on the Michigan State Capitol Building steps after the annual "Mama's March" on April 30, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols 'So when that funding is cut, we're not pulling access, we're pulling care from the very families that need it most. We're making it harder to close the gap and easier for preventable tragedies to continue,' Smith said. 'I'm asking you to stay loud, call your lawmakers, share your stories and fight for your families, because every parent deserves to be helped. Every child deserves to be born into a system that's ready to care for them, not cut them loose.' As the approximately 100 attendees headed off to seek out state lawmakers to urge preservation of Medicaid-funded services, Aisha Wells, deputy director of organizing for Mothering Justice, which sponsored the rally, told the Michigan Advance that she hopes state lawmakers in the predominately white Legislature remember their districts all have moms and people of color and residents who rely on Medicaid. As the mother of a teenage son and baby boy, Wells said she remembers not being listened to as a Black woman during her first pregnancy, dealing with doctors who shut down her concerns, but later determined her oldest son had obstructive congenital hydrocephalus which impacts the brain. And though mothers of color in the Michigan state Legislature like Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor) and Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) are leading the charge in combating adverse health outcomes for moms of color, Wells said, all lawmakers should be fighting to preserve health care for families in their district. 'Everybody in your community is important. They matter. If one of us is being harmed, we're all being harmed,' Wells said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Yahoo
Felony murder charge for 40-year-old man in Lansing Walmart parking lot shooting
LANSING, Ill. (WGN) – A 40-year-old man faces a felony murder charge after a woman was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a Lansing-area Walmart. The Cook County State's Attorney Office on Monday approved a first-degree murder charge for Adebowale A. Oyelekan, of Lansing, following a shots fired incident on March 8 in the 17600 block of Torrence Avenue. There, Lansing police officers founded a 66-year-old woman, later identified as Victoria L. Olson, of Thornton, who had been shot in the parking lot. Trucking company CEO found murdered in burning building in Crestwood Despite life saving measures rendered at the scene, Olson was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Oyelekan is due to appear in a court hearing in Markham. No pre-trial release information was made available. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
06-02-2025
- CBS News
Police searching for missing Michigan girl, 4, believed to be endangered
CLINTON COUNTY, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A 4-year-old Lansing-area girl is believed to be with her parents, despite an order for officers to take the child from their custody. The Clinton County Sheriff's Office, with the support of Michigan State Police, is seeking the public's assistance in tracking the location of the truck that the family is believed to be traveling in. The child is "considered to be endangered," officers said. "It is believed that the parents were somehow made aware of the pending removal of the child," the report said.
