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The high road less traveled
How a moderate Republican governor defended the environment,
civil rights and civility
Excerpts from the new book
"William G. Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate,"
by Dave Dempsey
William G. Milliken left the Michigan
Governor’s office more than 20 years ago, but he is remembered
as a landmark in Michigan political history. He not only served
as Michigan governor longer than anyone — nearly 14 years
— but as a Republican, reached across traditional political
partisan divides to become a friend of the city of Detroit, champion
of the environment, defender of the disadvantaged and promoter
of civil liberties.
more...
Council: Forget the cuts — let them play
golf
Cuts to jobs, human services ignored
in first week since release of budget
By THOMAS P. MORGAN
The Lansing City Council held a heated Committee of the Whole
meeting four days after Mayor Virg Bernero proposed his budget
for fiscal year 2007.
Grappling with an $11 million budget deficit, Bernero’s
budget includes a 54 percent funding cut for social service agencies
and 56 job cuts.
more...
If a Nazi rants at the Capitol, and nobody is
there to hear him …
City, activists at odds over anti-Nazi activities
By LALEAH FERNANDEZ
The National Socialist Movement is set on making its April 22
rally at the state Capitol its biggest of the year, but city of
Lansing officials hope the white supremacists are the only ones
there.
more...
Lansing says goodbye to ‘The Big Red Schoolhouse’
By LAWRENCE COSENTINO
The extravagant dreams of youth, the humiliating adjustments of
mid-life, a quiet sendoff at the end: If Lansing has one building
that symbolizes the human life cycle, it’s Lansing Community
College’s Old Central.
more...
'Regular' Monday pains
By WILLIAM PETTIT
Watching Lansing City Council meetings on public access television
can be a frivolous and painful experience.
After announcing the agenda and approving the minutes, Council
meetings begin with what might best be described as the “feel
good hour.” Usually this involves one or more members recommending
one or more individuals or a group for Council approbation, usually
involving a certificate with the usual ‘whereas’ clauses.
The accomplishments are typically banal and the honors remind
you of nothing so much as those participation ribbons at a middle
school field day.
more...
Hello, neighbor
Fred Rogers and Elvis Presley came back
from the dead to make an appearance last week at a Lansing fund-raiser
for Democratic U.S. House candidate Jim Marcinkowski.
Marcinkowski, deputy assistant attorney for the city of Royal
Oak and the presumptive opponent of Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton,
in the Nov. 7 election, held the fund-raiser March 29 at Tripper’s
bar in Frandor.
more...
Left wing ignores war
facts
I have to shake my head and disagree with
Mr. Bogar from Lansing (Letters, March 29). Anti-war protesters
in fact are naive. As a former platoon leader in the guard who
has had direct communications with others in Iraq, I would continue
to say that our mission (despite what the media portray) is a
noble cause and well worth the effort. The personnel who have
died have not gone out in vain.
more...
Fight night has Lansing thinking inside the box
By LAWRENCE COSENTINO
Ron DeLeon is a CATA bus driver who’s nuts about poetry.
He’s also passionate about pro boxing. No need to guess
which of the two he’s promoting — he’s into
both.
“Poetry goes hand-in-hand with boxing,” DeLeon says.
“Look at Muhammad Ali, the greatest fighter ever.”
more...
Artist hops from tiny twigs to 200-ton superslab
By MARY CATHERINE CUSACK
“Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.”
Until recently, Scotland-based sculptor Andy Goldsworthy took
those signs very seriously. Goldsworthy, 50, has spent almost
35 years creating site-specific works from natural objects in
their native environment.
more...
Pop goes the rock for Richmond’s River City High
By CALE SAUTER
River City High has every right to be the guiltiest rock n’
roll band you’ve ever heard.
The group was spawned in Richmond, Va., where the birthrate for
hardcore bands seems to eclipse that of actual humans by a factor
of three. In keeping with the Richmond spirit, singer/bassist
James Menefee, drummer Gregg Brooks and guitarists Chip Cosby
and Mark Avery never wanted to do anything but play rock music.
more...
New symphony season offers blockbusters, rising-star soloists
By LAWRENCE COSENTINO
When Timothy Muffitt takes the Greater Lansing Symphony podium
in earnest this fall, he’ll pick up where his house-rocking
October tryout concert left off — the valley of the giants.
more...
Review: Making something of ‘Nothing’
By LEN KLUGE
“Much Ado About Nothing,” produced by the MSU Theatre
Department, is the rare exception where the direction takes center
stage. The technical elements are so resplendent that they (thankfully)
overshadow the universally pedestrian acting.
. . .more
Review: Ensemble cast of ‘Five
Women’
resplendent in pink ensembles
By TOM HELMA
“Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” is not just five
women wearing just any dress. As the first of five bridesmaids
floats across the Riverwalk stage wearing a two-tiered tulle and
taffeta tent of a bridesmaid’s dress, the pinkness of it
all is momentarily blinding. Her dress is pink, her matching accessories
are pink, and even the room, the upstairs bedroom of a Southern
home, is striped in pink.
. . .more
Review:
Basking in bittersweet ‘Moonglow’
By TOM HELMA
Alzheimer’s patients are not the only people who forget.
Boarshead Theater’s current production of Kim Carney’s
play “Moonglow” reminds everyone, not only of the
tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease, but also who those patients
once were when they were young and vibrant versions of their now
shadow selves.
. . .more
Chef drops Detroit commute, Lansing reaps reward
By CAROLINE PAGEL
Myong Holloway, chef and owner of Rivi’s Deli in the Lansing
City Market, and her husband Bob seem to be cursed. Even though
the couple lives in Lansing, Myong owned a Korean restaurant in
Detroit for four years while waiting for her husband to be transferred
to the Detroit GM plant. The transfer never came.
.
. .more
ADVICE GODDESS: Amy
Alkon
Love you just the way you were
Q: I was attracted to my girlfriend of
six months before I ever saw her, during the three months we communicated
by phone and e-mail for business. When we met, I discovered she’s
very beautiful — with one drawback: her enormous breast
implants. Four years ago, she went from what was probably a very
attractive B to a whopping DDD, and on a 5-foot-five-inch, 120-pound
frame. Her implants are the new kind that feel more lifelike,
but they don’t turn me on, and they’re embarrassingly
big and obviously fake. She loves them and shows them off in low-cut
tops, while I find myself hinting that she should cover up before
we go out. She may as well be wearing a siren on her head —
the attention would be the same! She seems to be falling for me
hard, and the feeling’s mostly mutual, but these implants
could be a deal-killer.
—D-D-Don't Like
'Em
.
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