Last month, this column featured local glassblower Ben Birney and some of the extravagant bongs being produced at his studio on the north side of Lansing. When I heard that his sister Sarah Birney and her husband, Bryan Madle, were running a CBD production laboratory in the same building, I just had to return to find out more about this local cannabis-focused family.  more

Headlines in the Lansing State Journal in the 1950s, then simply the State Journal, tell a skewed story about people we now understand as LGBTQ. In the decades before Stonewall, the proverbial “first draft of history” of journalists was decidedly slanted in the local mainstream press, as it was in newspapers across the country. more

Among the memories burned into Maxine Thome’s memory of the early days of the HIV pandemic is visiting one of her counseling clients in the AIDS Ward at Lansing General Hospital. more

In Washington and in Lansing, it remains to be seen if the police reform proposals will survive a process where partisanship is oftentimes more important than protecting the interests and well-being of the American people. more

A trade group that represents some of the largest cannabis companies in Michigan is lobbying for more regulations for medical marijuana caregivers, pushing some activists to boycott several popular pot brands. more

This week marks the first full year of my weekly Lansterdam in Review column, which kicked off last May with a summertime strain guide. And just like last year, we’re back again with some recommendations — this time from Lume Cannabis Co. — for some top-notch, locally sourced cannabis products that pair just right with some extra free time and a warm, summer afternoon.  more

2021 is shaping up to be a special kind of summer. We’re all rubbing our tired eyes as we adjust to spending some quality time outdoors for the first time in what feels like absolutely … more

For more than a quarter-century, Lansing Community College’s in-house FM radio station, WLNZ 89.7, has served up a compelling, eclectic mix of music, news and community-focused commentary for the benefit of the Greater Lansing region. The station also functioned as a teaching facility for many years, providing generations of LCC students with on-the-job broadcasting experience and mentoring from seasoned professionals. more

Don’t call them protesters and don’t say there’s a   fracture in the Michigan Republican Party. more

More than a dozen local bars, restaurants and other boozy establishments have applied for or expressed interest in new licenses to serve carryout cocktails as the summer begins in Lansing. more

Lansing mayoral candidate Larry Hutchinson Jr. is still paying off more than $1,000 in court costs and fines after a drunken driving arrest last year by Clinton County Sheriff’s deputies. more

Transgender people suffer from debilitating mental illnesses like depression and anxiety at much higher rates than the general public and therapists need to do more to help them, experts say.  more

About 15 people led by New Citizens' Press Publisher Rina Risper and Ingham County Commissioner Derrell Slaughter met in front of City Pulse’s office this evening to protest the newspaper’s recent coverage.  more

St. Joseph County 3B District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey Middleton announced Thursday morning in a video posted on YouTube that beginning on Monday, his courtroom hearings will once again run on a livestream on the video service. more

Officials at the Ingham County Health Department are leaning on census data to identify and drive outreach to areas of the county that are lagging behind on COVID-19 vaccination rates.  more

The MSU Broad (rhymes with “Road”) Art Museum has the car packed and gassed up with a big summer exhibit, “Interstates of Mind” — a tangled web of stories, concepts and images as sprawling and far-reaching as the interstate highway system itself. more

State officials eased up on pandemic-related restrictions over the weekend, no longer requiring fully vaccinated people to wear a face mask or socially distance in most settings. And while the updated orders allow for individual retailers and restaurants to continue enacting their own restrictions, many have followed suit and reeled back requirements that all customers mask up.  more

All sectors of employment in Michigan can return to in-person work under an updated set of state regulations that take effect on Monday. But employees still working remotely at many of Greater Lansing’s largest employers might not want to pack up their home offices quite yet. more

It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Jehovah’s Witnesses to stop knocking on doors. more

The director of Lansing’s Department of Human Resources issued a warning on Facebook this week about the “second coming of Christ." more