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18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Bath Township's Babcock's Landing features Looking Glass River access for fishing, watercraft
A Walk in the Park is an ongoing series from State Journal photographer Nick King, who intends to explore Lansing area parks one hour at a time. If you have a suggestion of a park he should visit, email him at nking@ Babcock's Landing in Bath Township is a smaller park with its main focus on boating and fishing. The park is located just south of the Looking Glass River on the 10000 block of Babcock Road, a 20 minute drive north of East Lansing. The park features easy access to the water making it the perfect spot to launch kayaks and canoes and for fishing. With the current flowing generally west, water trips from Babcock's Landing can take you to parks along the river in DeWitt and further west. The site is on state land managed under the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. For anglers, fishing at the park can produce bass, northern pike and carp, to name a few. There are various spots to drop a line from shore or fishermen can try their luck out on the water. The park has ample wildlife including species that gravitate to water such as ducks, geese and sandhill cranes. A variety of small mammals call the park home as well. There are no real walking trails to speak of in the Clinton County park, but there are some areas to explore alone or with a leashed dog and the space offers a nice spot to take in the scenery right at the shoreline. Mature trees and other plants can be thick along the river adding to the park's beauty. Babcock's Landing has a parking lot with limited spaces and a circle drive for that makes unloading watercrafts a breeze. There are no bathrooms on site. No camping or fires are allowed at the park. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Babcock's Landing in Bath has Looking Glass River access for fishing
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Yahoo
New Capital City Riverside Park features access to the Red Cedar and River Trail
A Walk in the Park is an ongoing series from State Journal photographer Nick King, who intends to explore Lansing area parks one hour at a time. If you have a suggestion of a park he should visit, email him at nking@ The new Capital City Riverside Park features trails along the Red Cedar River with river access and connection to the Lansing River Trail. The park, located behind Michigan State University's Brody complex at the back southwestern corners of Bailey and Armstrong halls on South Brody Road, features a mulch trail that winds along the north side of the river leading to the river trail behind the Red Cedar development up to Kalamazoo Street. Stroll the pathway and take in the sights and sounds of the river and the wildlife that frequents the habitat including small fury animals, birds, ducks and more. The riverfront trail is peppered with mature trees and is easily traversed along the clear pathway. There are spots along the river to relax and the access is ideal for fishing. There's an observation deck with picnic tables near the Brody end of the park for those looking for a nice spot to take a lunch. According to a news release, the city of Lansing, MSU Landscape Services, Michigan Waterways and several other local organizations worked together to ready the park. More than 100 volunteers recently worked to clean the space of invasive trees and brush, laid the mulch trail along the river, cleared out garbage and planted 35 tulip poplar trees, the release said. Check signage before deciding to whether to park in the lot behind the Brody complex. A permit could be required. There are parking spaces closer to the Red Cedar development, but this park may be best explored if your are out enjoying the river trial. There are no bathrooms on site; leashed dogs are welcome. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Capital City Riverside Park features access to Red Cedar, River Trail
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
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Michigan State University announces largest-ever $4 billion fundraising campaign
EAST LANSING ― Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz is announcing his first fundraising campaign as president with an ambitious ask: $4 billion to support the university. The campaign is the largest financial goal the university has ever asked for, and is more than twice as large as the previous campaign, Senior Director of Advancement Marketing and Communications Dan Olsen said. The campaign, titled "Uncommon Will, Far Better World," officially kicks off Sunday. However, the campaign has been collecting money since 2022 when it was announced to a select group, Olsen said. About 120,000 donors had given $1 billion to support the campaign before it was publicly announced. Guskiewicz told the State Journal the $4 billion will be split into three categories: $2 billion for "scholarships and programmatic support," $1 billion for "research and endowed professorships," and $1 billion for "capital projects and new programs." The campaign is scheduled to last until 2032. "(Fundraising) is really about storytelling," Guskiewicz told the State Journal. "And it's about the impact that a gift, be it a professorship, a scholarship, funding for a new building that's allowing research to thrive or a study abroad scholarship fund for students who can't afford to study abroad — when a donor sees and feels the impact on not just a student, but a program or the university, you can do great things." Although Guskiewicz became president of the university nearly two years into the "planning phase" of the campaign, he didn't feel a need to change much. Instead, he built upon the existing plans to put in place some of his own ideas. One of Guskiewicz's priorities, the Joseph R. and Sarah L. Williams Scholarship, will be funded by the money raised. Announced during his investiture in September, the merit-based scholarship will cover full-time enrollment for undergraduate students pursuing their first degree. The money raised will also go toward improving and expanding the research conducted on campus. MSU spent $932 million on research in 2024, a number that has been steadily rising since 2021. Guskiewicz has repeatedly said he is proud of MSU being a "global research institution," and wants to expand the university's capability to conduct it. "This is about the great work that happens at Michigan State across disciplines, solving big problems and bringing in faculty," Guskiewicz said. The last part of the campaign funds the building of campus spaces for what students need in the years to come. "This campaign is going to really help us to best prepare the next generation of leaders," Guskiewicz said. Kim Tobin, vice president of University Advancement, said the $4 billion goal was similar to other campaigns done by peer universities. "Many of our peers are raising $3 billion, $4 billion campaigns," Tobin said. "$7 billion is, I believe, (the University of) Michigan's number ... This we felt was very doable, yet ambitious and really important for the university." It's very common for universities to ask for billions of dollars over about a decade, Tobin said. The $1 billion already raised means MSU has eight years to raise $3 billion. MSU has roughly 545,000 living alums, and Guskiewicz and Tobin said that outreach to them has been a focus over the last year. "You have to build relationships with people," Tobin said. "You have to build trust and earn their trust and belief in what we're doing ... You have to really get to know people and hear their 'Spartan story' and understand what they care about, so that we can then marry that with what we're accomplishing." And, like in the past, if the university surpasses its goal before the deadline, the fundraising won't stop. "I think with the right leadership, and we have that at MSU right now, I expect to surpass that number," Tobin said. "There's always a question of when that will be ... We're excited to track that along the way and see just how early we might hit that number." MSU wrapped up a campaign with a goal of $1.5 billion in 2018. The 7½-year campaign raised $1.83 billion from more than 250,000 donors. The Empower Extraordinary campaign set out to raise money for building projects, scholarships and to fund 100 new endowed faculty positions. MSU hit its goal in September of 2017 and continued to raise money through the end of 2018. MSU quietly launched the previous campaign in the summer of 2011. The public phase kicked off in October of 2014 with a challenge from billionaire and MSU alumnus Eli Broad. The largest single gift during that campaign was from Edward Minskoff, a 1962 graduate who pitched in $30 million toward the business college's new pavilion. The 100,000-square-foot Edward J. Minskoff Pavilion opened in the fall of 2019. Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@ Follow her on X @sarahmatwood. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU announces largest-ever $4 billion fundraising campaign Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
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A year later, Whitmer silent on MSU board's request to remove 2 trustees for misconduct
EAST LANSING ― A year after she was asked to remove two Michigan State University trustees for misconduct that included accepting free flights and courtside tickets from donors and trying to change the findings of an investigation into the 2023 mass shooting on campus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer hasn't taken any public action. In the meantime, the restrictions placed on March 3, 2024, on Trustees Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, and Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, expired on Dec. 31. Both sought and were granted seats on the board committee for academic affairs and the board committee on budget and finance in January. They had been prohibited from serving on committees and stripped of liaison positions when they were censured by their fellow trustees in March. Despite their return to previously-held responsibilities, and board Chair Kelly Tebay telling the State Journal she felt the board wanted to move on and present a united front behind President Kevin Guskiewicz, the request to remove Vassar and Denno is still active. Guskiewicz started at MSU as president in March 2024. In October, Danny Wimmer, press secretary for Attorney General Dana Nessel, confirmed Whitmer's office reached out to Nessel's office to review the request. Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for Whitmer, didn't respond to multiple requests in recent weeks about the status of the board's request to the governor. Wimmer did not respond to an inquiry Wednesday about whether Nessel was still reviewing Whitmer's request. Whitmer and Nessel, like Vassar and Denno, are all members of the Democratic party. Asked about the pending board request to Whitmer, Denno said the referral was a "non-issue" and that "no one thinks about it anymore." He added that he was excited to be back on board committees. Vassar did not respond to a message left seeking comment. Former Faculty Senate Chair Jack Lipton has been advocating for the two to be removed, believing they encouraged students to attack him and label him a racist. He sued the board in October for retaliation, and the lawsuit is pending. "Since we haven't heard anything from the governor in so long, we were hoping a creative solution through the court system could put pressure on the university to make the right decisions," Liz Abdnour, Lipton's Lansing-based attorney, told the State Journal in October. In October 2023, now-Vice Chair Brianna Scott sent a letter to her fellow trustees and local media, detailing 10 allegations against then-Chair Vassar's misconduct and bullying. The letter sparked an investigation into Vassar's behavior, for which MSU hired Washington D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier. That investigation later expanded to cover allegations of misconduct by Denno and other trustees. The investigation, which MSU has spent $2 million on, found evidence to support some, but not all, of Scott's original allegations. The law firm found evidence Denno tried to get the who analyzed MSU's response to the mass shooting to change their findings after the report criticized the trustees' response. Vassar also accepted courtside tickets and a private jet flight from a donor for her and her daughter to attend a basketball game. Both trustees acted outside the authority of their roles, investigators found, as well as evidence that both Vassar and Denno attempted to "embarrass and unsettle" former interim President Teresa Woodruff and attack Lipton. Miller & Chevalier concluded its report with several recommendations, including that the two trustees be referred to Whitmer so she could consider removing them. The board also censured Scott for making her allegations public. Vassar and Denno have maintained that Miller & Chevalier's investigation was incomplete and misleading. "I refute most of the allegations in the Miller & Chevalier (MC) report," Denno said in an email to the State Journal last year. "I will accept a censure but contest any other form of punishment. What has been proposed is overly-punitive in nature." Through her attorneys, paid for by MSU, Vassar released a statement calling the report 'profoundly flawed.' She is involved in a dispute with the university over legal fees for attorneys MSU hired on her behalf. Whitmer has used strong language previously to describe the turmoil. In October 2023, the governor called the allegations against Vassar "deeply concerning." "I'm taking it very seriously," Whitmer said during a news media scrum. "I think the allegations, if accurate, amount to a serious breach of conduct in what we expect of our board members and ... the oath that they took." Whitmer has the sole authority to remove the trustees as governor. MSU's trustees, along with the University of Michigan's Board of Regents and Wayne State University's Board of Governors, are the only college governing bodies whose members are elected in statewide elections in Michigan, and as elected officials the only person who can remove them is the governor. In 2020 Vassar was elected with over 2.3 million votes and in 2022, Denno was elected with 1.9 million votes, according to records from the Michigan Secretary of State. Eric Lupher, president of the Livonia-based nonprofit public affairs research organization Citizens Research Council, told the State Journal last year that a governor removing an elected official in Michigan was so rare there was no defined process. The last high-profile effort to remove an elected official by a Michigan governor was over a decade ago, Lupher said. And the elected official in question, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, resigned before Gov. Jennifer Granholm could announce a decision. Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@ Follow her on X @sarahmatwood. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: A year later, Whitmer mum on MSU board's request to remove 2 trustees
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
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Protesters picket Congressman Tom Barrett's Lansing office over Trump policies
LANSING — More than 100 people protested outside of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett's Lansing office on Friday, asking the Charlotte Republican to "do his job" by bringing more oversight to the wide-ranging government changes initiated by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Barrett is newly elected to Congress, having won a close election in November against East Lansing Democrat Curtis Hertel. Protesters said Barrett's office has not responded to several attempts to set up a meeting with Indivisible Michigan 7, a local branch of the national Indivisible movement. Barrett's office did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking for comment from the State Journal. Organizers David Hopkinson and Shelley Cichy, of Lansing, said they realize some of their favorite issues like support for diversity may not appeal to Barrett, but they believe other concerns like veteran employment and benefits are important to the former State senator, who is a veteran and former Army helicopter pilot. "We know there are issues that reach him, like veteran organizations that provide services to people. Those are being unfunded and people are going to die as a result," Hopkinson said. "There are unhoused veterans and unhealthy veterans and if they don't get the support they need, they will die." Cichy said clinical trials are being halted, potentially dooming patients who had seen hope. Like many in the crowd outside the office on West Ottawa Street near the state Capitol, she said Musk is not being held accountable by Congress and elected members of Congress like Barrett should oversee spending and other major changes, rather than Musk. Joan Thomas, another organizer, slid a letter of Indivisible Michigan 7's requests into the door of Barrett's office. No one answered the door when protesters knocked. The organization's requests included lifting the pause on USAID funding, protecting Michigan State University's funding and students as well as its local business support, justice for the LGBTQIA community and immigrant populations and preserving Medicaid and Medicare. Thomas said tens of thousands of children and thousands of seniors in the district get Medicaid coverage. Republicans have proposed billions of dollars of cuts to the program. Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@ or 517-267-0415. This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Protesters picket Congressman Tom Barrett's office over Trump policies
