statenews.com | 11/6/13 | @thesnews Michigan State University’s independent voice
Historic moments for MSU
Tactical training for ROTC
Relive the top games of coach Dantonio’s tenure with Spartans
Unit holds exercise for program cadets Physiology junior Joshua Starkey Danyelle Morrow/The State News
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sports, page 5
beier, boyle, woods take council seats East Lansing City Council candidate Ruth Beier shakes hands with supporters during her election party Tuesday at Dublin Square.
obituary
Influential jrn. adviser, MSU alum passes away By Katie Abdilla kabdilla@statenews.com
Khoa Nguyen/ The State News
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If it wasn’t for Jeff Nardone, professional writing sophomore Emily Cervone would not have come to MSU. The MSU alumnus, also the adviser for Grosse Pointe Nardone South High School’s weekly student newspaper “The Tower,” saw Cervone’s writing abilities when she was a staff writer for the paper and encouraged her to study at MSU.
Nardone served as president of MIPA for two years and taught sports journalism classes at MIPA summer camp
Incumbent Boyle takes two-year spot as Beier, Woods secure 4-year terms By Geoff Preston gpreston@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
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he dust has settled, the campaigning has stopped and the results are in. East Lansing has two new city council members. Ruth Beier and Susan Woods won the four-year seats in Tuesday’s election, each landing more than a third of the total vote. Kathleen Boyle retained her twoyear partial seat, affirmed by voters for the first time since she was appointed to fill a vacant seat last year. Their victories concluded a competitive election cycle — six candidates running for half as many seats — that centered on attracting young professionals to East Lansing. During the last several months, the candidates debated ideas on
how to retain more students after graduation and diversify types of downtown businesses. Beier received the most votes of anyone running for the four-year term, taking in about 36 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m. The private party room at Dublin Square, where Beier was joined by more than a dozen close friends, erupted with cheers as numbers continued to show her pulling away from the pack. Beier first announced her candidacy in April, about four months ahead of her competitors. She credited her early start as a main reason for her victory. “I feel really good,” Beier said. “I worked hard and it worked out.” Focused on savoring her victory, Beier said she did not know what her first policy initiative would be. East Lansing Film Festival founder Susan Woods won just over a third of the
Loomis, a long-time council member, did not seek reelection after the council oust-
“He was just so vibrant and passionate about not just teaching journalism, but life,” Cervone said. “I learned so much in that class — how to handle people, handling deadlines, just like a regular job.” After a long-winded battle with T-cell lymphoma, Nardone died Sunday. He was 48 years old. Along with encouraging potential journalism students at “The Tower,” Nardone also was an active member of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, or MIPA, housed at MSU. He was the organization’s president from 19941996, served on its board of directors twice and taught sports writing classes at MIPA’s summer journalism workshop annually. Referred to as “Nard” by many of his students, Nardone was given the Golden Pen award by MIPA in 1998. The association annu-
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Margaux Forster/The State News
Kathleen Boyle looks at the precinct results Tuesday at East Lansing City Hall. Boyle won a twoyear position on city council.
total vote as of 11 p.m. Woods’ bid was backed by many permanent residents, including former mayors Mark Meadows, Sam
environment
Singh and Vic Loomis. The two women will replace Loomis and Councilmember Kevin Beard, making the council almost entirely female.
court
McCowan to face sentencing in case Officials: MSU more than halfway to ‘15 energy goal By Katie Abdilla
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By Celeste Bott cbott@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
The Energy Transition Plan’s central goal is for campus to have a renewable energy portfolio of 15 percent by 2015, and MSU officials say they’re more than halfway there. Another goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent, and emissions have been reduced by 17 percent, said Director of Campus Sustainability Jennifer Battle. The current renewable energy portfolio is eight percent — also past the halfway mark. The plan was approved by the Board of Trustees in April 2012. “We’re where we should be, and we’re making significant progress,” Battle said. “There are lots of ongoing projects, everything from conservation to investigat-
ing additional sources of renewable energy.” Investigations include looking at how the costs of alternative power sources could affect student tuition, according to Infrastructure Planning and Facilities Managing Environmental Engineer Lynda Boomer. “What if we invested in solar? What would be the cost of utilities? What would the backup power need to be? What do we use at night? All of those are things we looked at in different scenarios, (with consideration for) how that changes campus and tuition costs,” Boomer said in the 2013 Campus Sustainability report. A big factor in reducing greenhouse gas has been switching fuels at the MSU Power Plant, Battle said. “A few years ago, most of (the) fuel used at the power plant was coal,” Battle said. “At this point
it’s now powered by 67 percent natural gas, 32 percent coal and 1 percent biofuel.” Other energy changes made so far include the south campus anaerobic digester, solar energy research and wind analysis. “There’s a meteorological tower that measures wind speed to confirm if wind power is available around campus,” Battle said. “We also have to conduct environmental analysis like bird and bat studies to make sure their habitats would be unaffected.” Another part of the plan involves making sustainable improvements in campus buildings. Such tune-ups include light sensors to shut off lights when they aren’t needed and low-flow water conservation fixtures in residence hall showers, Residential and Hospitality Services Sus-
Following a second-degree murder conviction, Okemos resident Connor McCowan will be sentenced Wednesday morning. After an argument between two friends turned violent on the morning of Feb. 23, McCowan, 19, fatally stabbed MSU student Andrew Singler, 23. It is possible McCowan could receive life in prison. Given McCowan’s lack of prior offenses, his attorney, Chris Bergstrom, said he plans to ask the judge for the lightest sentence possible. “We’re gonna go in and do our best to explain to the judge why he should bring it down and deviate from guidelines,” Bergstrom said. Bergstrom said McCowan
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Connor McCowan enters the courtroom Oct. 15 before the verdict at Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing. McCowan was found guilty of seconddegree murder for stabbing MSU student Andrew Singler.
Georgina De Moya /The State News