Rewind: News Highlights From The Last 7 Days

Because of the holiday season, Rewind has been in hiatus since the Dec. 20 issue. Here’s a look at what made news in Greater Lansing over the last three weeks:

On Dec. 15, the MSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved settlements with families of the students killed in the mass shooting on campus Feb. 13, 2023. The families of Alexandria Verner, Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser will each be awarded $5 million. “While no amount of compensation can ever replace the loss of a life, we do hope this brings some closure, support and relief to these impacted families,” Trustee David Kelly said. The Verner family said it will use its settlement to increase a scholarship fund they founded in their daughter’s memory. 

Berkey Hall, where two of the students were killed, reopened for classes Monday for the first time since the shooting. The university said the classrooms where Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner were shot by Dwayne McRae remain closed indefinitely. Staff was on hand to greet students, with muffins and therapy dogs in tow. About two dozen students protested the reopening outside the Hannah Administration Building. 

The Lansing City Council chose Jeremy Garza (pictured) and Adam Hussain as president and vice president on Jan. 3. Garza, a Second Ward member since 2017, was vice president in 2023. Hussain, who has represented the Third Ward since 2015, served as vice president in 2020 and 2021 and as president in 2022. The unanimous vote came after new at-large Council members Trini Lopez-Pehlivanoglu and Tamera Carter were sworn in. 

MSU Federal Credit Union’s acquisition of Gabriels Community Credit Union, announced Nov. 14, became official Jan. 1 after approval by the National Credit Union Administration. This week, MSUFCU disclosed it will close Gabriels’ Lansing branch at 1901 E. Michigan Ave., on Feb. 29. The other former Gabriels branch, in Jackson on 1800 N. Wisner St., will remain open. MSUFCU President and CEO April Clobes told City Pulse it was “not economically feasible to maintain an additional location.” Around 2,700 former Gabriels customers will be impacted by the takeover.

MSU trustee and former chair Dianne Byrum, a Democrat, confirmed Friday that she would not seek reelection for a third term in November. Byrum, who was first elected in 2008, faced calls from her peers to resign in June, after a report claimed she filed for improper exemptions to save $11,900 in school taxes on her rural Ingham County home over seven years. Her term expires on Jan. 1. Former Ingham County Commissioner Rebecca Bahar-Cook, CEO of Capital Fundraising Associates in Lansing, plans to seek the Democratic nomination, while Michael Balow, who has run previously, will seek the Republican nomination.

After being hired by MSU to investigate reports that a university employee had leaked the identity of Mel Tucker accuser Brenda Tracy last fall, the Jones Day law firm announced Dec. 29 that it found no evidence supporting the claim. MSU Trustee Dan Kelly said that report would be made available to the public but didn’t say when. Board Chair Rema Vassar, who was accused of leaking Tracy’s identity, said in the meeting that she was relieved to have been “fully exonerated” after some had accused her of leaking Tracy’s name to reporters.

Jeremy Fears, a freshman on the MSU basketball team, was shot in the thigh while on holiday break in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois. The Joliet Police Department said Dec. 23 they found two people shot in a residence at 3:44 a.m. the previous night. The other was an unnamed 19-year-old woman. Fears is expected to make a full recovery from surgery. The suspect, an unnamed male who fired a handgun into the apartment has not been found.

A 17-year-old was fatally shot near the 1400 block of Ravenswood Drive in Lansing Township on Dec. 21. Police arrived at the scene around 10 p.m., where they found Brooke Lawson unresponsive, plus a 20-year-old woman from Sunfield who had non-life-threatening injuries. Lawson was pronounced dead at the hospital. Lydia Renee Nance, 35, was arraigned in the 55th District Court. She faces charges of one count of homicide, one count of assault with intent to murder and two felony firearm counts. Her bond was set at $200,000.

The family of Stephen Romero, a 33-year-old man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting Dec. 1, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the Lansing Police Department. The federal lawsuit is directed at the city and officers Donovan Moore and Jeff Kurtz. The four-year veterans were placed on administrative leave after the shooting. The suit claims that the city failed to adequately train its officers and that Moore and Kurtz failed to properly intervene and save Romero’s life. The lawsuit also alleges unlawful use of force, saying Romero’s actions were “slow and undisguised” and that he was complying with officer demands when he was killed.

The state Capitol building was evacuated on Jan. 3 after a bomb threat was sent to a state email address that morning. While federal officials found no explosives and labelled the threats as a hoax, the building remained closed for the rest of the day. Other state capitols, including those in Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Connecticut, received similar threats that day.

The Michigan Supreme Court is taking up an appeal involving the Diocese of Lansing after Brian McLain spoke out about the alleged abuse he faced from the Rev. Richard Lobert (above) at the W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in 1998-‘99. McLain, then 16, filed a 2021 lawsuit against Lobert, the Diocese of Lansing and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, where Lobert is employed but on administrative leave due to the case. The court could hear arguments as early as this spring, where it will consider whether a 2018 amendment to the state’s statute of limitations applies to the case. 

On Dec. 28, Lansing Mayor Andy Schor announced that the city has accepted a $6,254,251 bid from Rhino Recreational Construction to restore Moores Park Pool. Most of the funding comes from a $6.2 million grant from the state budget. Schor said it was the only bid submitted to the city. The pool, which first opened to the public in 1923, was closed in 2019 in ill repair. 

Lansing officials cleared out a homeless camp under the Kalamazoo Street bridge on Dec. 20. The city, which brought out bulldozers to clear the space, notified residents the day before and provided two nights in a hotel to those who were impacted.

Mark Totten, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, announced on Dec. 23 that his office will “repeat and strengthen” its “Safe Summer 2023” initiative in Lansing and elsewhere this year. The inaugural program was a collaborative effort between federal, state and local law enforcement officials to address violent gun crime in Michigan. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will prosecute offenders for crimes committed with illegally possessed firearms. Totten’s office is responsible for assisting local departments in analyzing firearms seized during criminal cases, using ballistic evidence and other forensic methods to try and trace the weapons to previous shootings. 

Ellison Brewery and Spirits shuttered its REO Town location, 1314 S. Washington Ave., for good on Dec. 30. The decision came just under a year after the brewery opened the location, its second, with owner Aaron Hanson citing unsustainable losses. Ellison’s original
taphouse, at 4903 Dawn Ave in East Lansing, will remain open.

On Dec. 22, McLaren Greater Lansing announced plans to demolish some of the vacant properties at its former Greenlawn Avenue hospital campus to create green space and clear land for possible future redevelopment. The company, which moved into a newly constructed healthcare campus at 2900 Collins Road in Lansing in March 2022, said the Belen Wing, a building that opened in the 1940s for treating tuberculosis patients, will be one of the first to be demolished. The project is expected to start in March and be completed in May. McLaren intends to repurpose the remaining buildings on its old campus.

Slot Machine One Handed Bandit Game. Rolling Drums. Casinos and Gambling Industry.

Authorities seized gaming machines from a suspected illegal gambling operation at the former Rocky’s Roadhouse bar and restaurant in Holt on Jan. 3. Ingham County detectives had been investigating the site at what was once Rocky’s Roadhouse, 2470 Cedar St., since a complaint was filed in October, the Sheriff’s Office said. “Multiple gaming machines and additional items were seized as evidence. Investigators from the Delhi Township Fire Department responded and condemned the building for fire code violations.” The investigation is ongoing, and no additional details have been released. 

In response to a rise in COVID-19 cases, Sparrow Health System reopened its West Saginaw Highway laboratory on Jan. 2. The lab will offer bloodwork and administer COVID and respiratory testing for patients with a physician’s note. It will operate from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays.

In its 2023 rankings for K-12 schools, the educational resource website Niche.com ranked Okemos and East Lansing schools as the fourth- and 19th-best school districts in Michigan, respectively. The rankings, which included 580 schools, also included a separate ranking of the state’s “Most Diverse School Districts.” Greater Lansing was well represented there, with Ingham Intermediate Schools in Mason third, the Lansing Public Schools fifth, Waverly Community Schools sixth, and the Cole Academy 16th.

PUBLIC SAFETY:

A Dec. 26 police chase that began at a Walmart in St. Johns lasted for eight hours and led authorities through four counties and involved two stolen vehicles before the suspect, a parolee suspected of retail fraud, was arrested and brought to the Mecosta County Jail in Big Rapids. … A Christmas shooting near the 900 block of Long Boulevard, on Lansing’s south side, left one man hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. … A man was injured Dec. 22 after a bull he was transporting to MSU’s animal clinic on Bogue Street broke free and charged him. … A 31-year-old man who was allegedly assaulted near the 200 block of East Cesar Chavez Avenue on Dec. 16 told police he was attacking in self-defense when he stabbed his alleged attacker, who has since been taken into custody.