Brett Dreyfus first heard about time banks about 15 years ago, but he was in no position to start one: “I just didn’t have the time,” he said. But when Dreyfus was elected as a Meridian Township trustee in 2008, things changed. Dreyfus organized three planning sessions last September that he hoped would be the genesis of a currency system that, at first mention, usually leaves people scratching their head.

Far from the rich history of Marseille and overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of Paris ' one of its neighbors in the Ile-de-France region ' the French town of Lisses sits outside even the peripheral vision of the eyes of the world. From this modest town has sprung the parkour revolutione.

In his previous books, Tom Bissell explored the Vietnam War and life in the former Soviet Union. In his latest, “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter,” Bissell steps into what many consider to be childish fun. Not so, argues Bissell, who sees contemporary games as being just as important as novels or films.

“It’s good to be in Michigan,” Van Jones says to a vivacious audience. “It’s good to be in Michigan!” he repeats, winning over a sizeable crowd at Saturday’s Michigan Summit: Blueprint for Change held Saturday in East Lansing.

Buried deep at the south end of Hayford Street on Lansing’s east side lies a small patch of land that nobody loved until very recently. It was an empty lot that will soon be Lansing’s first urban garden, thanks to two Michigan State University professors.