Thursday 9/26/13

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statenews.com | 9/26/13 | @thesnews

Looking ahead to basketball season

Getting back into the rink

Campout registration draws huge crowds

MSU hockey team readying for upcoming season

campus+city, page 3

sports, page 7

Danyelle morrow/The State News

Khoa Nguyen/The State News

Community gets taste of tequila at event Wednesday statenews.com

Michigan State University’s independent voice

gove rn m e nt

commission doubtful of proposal on city bar limit By Derek Gartee dgartee@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn

The East Lansing Planning Commission deferred voting on a proposal to cap the number of bars downtown past for the second time Wednesday night, pending a report from the Downtown Development Authority. Com m i ssioner s debated whether the proposal would carry negative side-effects, pushing alcohol-fueled crime into residential neighborhoods and discouraging new businesses from opening. Commission member Stephen Wooden, a recent MSU graduate, said the cap could have a negative ripple effect. “I’m worried that [student bar patrons] could spill over into house parties, which could cause more noise and safety issues,” Wooden said. Wooden said bars provide a safer drinking venue for students, considering there are sober staff members watching over customers. The ordinance would cap the number of bar patrons at 3,300, less than the current capacity of 3,892, effectively preventing future bars from opening unless one or more closed. Commission member Laura Goddeeris, daughter of Mayor Diane Goddeeris, said the proposal might send a message that East Lansing does not want new businesses. It is not clear if the commission will vote before the Nov. 5 city council election. The planning commission will provide a recommendation to the city council, which will then make a final decision. City staff put forth the proposal with support from police, looking to prevent alcohol-

A difficult balancing act

National research shows students working more to fund college costs in challenging economy By Geoff Preston gpreston@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS

T nn

he early descent into a busy day is something that many college students have come to know by heart, but the burden of balancing school and work has continued to grow. Statistics gathered by the National Center for Edu-

“I just don’t think it’s fair to have my parents have all my loans for an education I’m going to be using.” Victoria Lacasse, Comparative cultures & politics junior

cation Studies show that the number of college students working — and the number of hours they spend at work — has risen steadily since 1970. The most recent statistics from fall 2011 show that 16 percent of full-time students between 16 and 24 years old work 20-34 hours a week. Many part-time students,

including comparative cultures and politics junior Victoria Lacasse, tend to work even more. At least 33 percent work more than 35 hours a week, according to the center. Lacasse works at two jobs totaling 35-40 hours a week in addition to taking sev-

By the numbers 16 percent of full-time students worked less than 20 hours a week. 16 percent of full-time students worked between 20 and 34 hours a week. 6 percent of full-time students worked 35 hours or more a week. About 41 percent of full-time undergraduate students worked in addition to attending a

postsecondary institution. 9 percent of part-time undergraduate students worked less than 20 hours a week. 30 percent of part-time students worked 20 to 34 hours a week. 33 percent of part-time students worked 35 or more hours a week. Source: Fall 2011 National Center for Education Statistics

See BALANCE on page 2 u

Aaron’s After Party

See CITY on page 2 u

Tech nology

University network down briefly MSU experienced a brief period of network downtime Wednesday afternoon because of what Information Technology Services staff are calling a main switch failure in the university’s network infrastructure. The outage intermittently affected both wireless and wired connections across campus, halting internetdependent classes in several different buildings, Information Technology Services Director Katherine Ball said. The outage began at about 12:45 p.m. and remained down until shortly after 3 p.m., when university officials were able to restore service through troubleshooting steps. International relations senior Sam Zickgraf didn’t realize the network was down when he went to class in Case Hall that afternoon. “It was really annoying. My class uses Desire2Learn and I needed to pull off articles from it,” Zickgraf said. “I wasn’t going to print them off, they were like 30 pages each. I couldn’t talk in my two-hour seminar.” Simon Schuster

Aaron Carter performs for his The After Party Tour Sept. 25, 2013 at The Loft in Lansing. Carter played to many eager long-time fans, who flocked to the show.

— Margaux Forster, SN

See AARON CARTER on page 8

i n t e r n at i o n a l

CITY

Kenyan conflict hits home E. Lansing Amtrak revamp delayed for students on campus By Simon Schuster

sschuster@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn

By April Jones ajones@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn

For neuroscience sophomore Grace Kamau, the terrorist attacks in Kenya last Saturday, were too close for comfort. Kamau said the shootings took place about 5 minutes away from her home in Nairobi. "My first instinct was to worry about my father's well being, so I texted him to call me as soon as possible and confirm that he was okay," she said. "He called me soon after and told me that it was a very serious situation, but that he was at work." Westgate Mall, located in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi,

was attacked in a terrorist shooting that claimed at least 60 lives. The plot was an ongoing mission started on Somali soil weeks or months ago by the external operations arm of terrorist group Al-Shabaab, according to the New York Times. The initial attack turned into a hostage situation that played out across this week, resulting in dozens of injuries. News reports indicate that Kenyan officials had regained control of the mall Tuesday. Officials said powerful beltfed machine guns were secretly stashed in a shop in the mall with the help of an employee.

See KENYA on page 2 u

The process of transforming the current East Lansing Amtrak Station into the CATA Multimodal Station can move forward now that the Capital Area Transportation Authority, or CATA, obtained a grant originally announced in July 2012. Demolition of the current station, located at 1240 S. Harrison Road, was anticipated to begin in August, but Laurie Robison, CATA's director of marketing, said the project was delayed while CATA waited to receive $6.28 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation. “They might tell you that you get the award, but that doesn’t mean they’ll cut a check right away,” Robison said. “It would

Isabel Calder/the State news

be irresponsible to break ground without those dollars.” The station serves as a boarding point for Amtrak’s Blue Water ine as well as a stop for Greyhound and Indian Trails bus routes.

Michigan's Department of Transportation and Amtrak each agreed to contribute $500,000 toward the new station. According to CATA, who are See BUS STATION on page 2 u


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