Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Foods for Living, an independent natural grocer in East Lansing, will close by the end of June. The employee-owned retailer was founded in 1997 by John and Wilma Snyder and has occupied its current, 15,000-square-foot storefront since 2001. Whole Foods opened a location just half a mile away eight years ago and a new Trader Joe’s location is being constructed across from Whole Foods, which looks to be a factor in the closure. East Lansing Food Co-op, another local and organic grocer that had operated nearby on Northwind Drive starting in 1976, closed in 2017 and then reorganized on Kalamazoo Street in Lansing.

Jo Ellyn Tucker has filed for divorce from former MSU head football coach Mel Tucker and alleges in a request for a restraining order that he has pulled money without notice from their joint funds, including $1.5 million for his legal expenses, according to USA Today. The Tuckers were granted a mutual restraining order Thursday preventing “the dissipation of marital assets,” 20 days after she filed for divorce. Jo Ellyn Tucker indicated she sought the order because her husband withdrew all the money from his two retirement accounts and transferred them to an individual account to which she did not have access.

Emma Huver of Lansing, 26, pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in the 2023 death of her 2-year-old son, King Muhammad, during a change of plea hearing Monday in Grand Rapids. The child died of a self-inflicted wound when he accidentally discharged the unattended gun in a vehicle at a Sunoco station on Dunkel Road. The statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan also noted that Avis Coward, 44, and Gina Schieberl, 27, were charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence and evidence tampering, while Coward was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Huver will face sentencing Sept. 16.

The Hurriya Coalition and other MSU students protesting the Israeli war on Gaza posted a “victory statement” on Instagram on Saturday, adding they were dismantling their encampment in the People’s Park on campus. Launched on Thursday, the April 2024 MSU Occupation Movement joined college protests nationwide in calling on their schools to divest from Israel. The coalition said their movement isn’t ending, but “as long as long as MSU invests in genocide and occupation we will be here to oppose it. We will be back.” The Board of Trustees issued the protesters a camping permit after MSU police initially told them they’d be ticked or arrested if they did not remove their encampment.

The Washington Apartments, 927 S. Washington Ave. in Lansing’s REO Town, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17. Built in 1922, the six-story building has been unoccupied since 2019, when the city ordered it vacated because New Jersey-based owner Washington Avenue Apartments LLC lacked a valid rental certificate. The designation means the owner could apply for tax credits for renovations. The State Historic Preservation Review Board said it was told that the goal is to create up to 70 rental units.

Holt Junior High School teacher Nicole McGaugh filed a lawsuit April 9 alleging her school district ignored her requests for accommodations that would ease her anxiety and PTSD concerning safety amid mass shootings in schools. She told the Lansing State Journal she felt increasingly unsafe teaching and took an extended leave in 2021 because of her anxiety. McGaugh claims the district and the executive director of curriculum, Jessica Cotter, failed to accommodate her disability and discriminated against her. She also said the district retaliated against her when she reported to the U.S. Office of Civil Rights that the school disciplined students of color more harshly than white students and did not give students the disability accommodations they needed.

Dennis Joshua Whaley, 51, charged with two counts of open murder and four felony weapon counts in the April 18 deaths of Jason McKenzie, 50, and Christine Cambric, 53, had a previous arrest warrant against him for assaulting Cambric. Lansing Police Department officers were dispatched to their Lansing home last November where she told them she had been assaulted. Police did not arrest him then, citing lack of probable cause, but later obtained a warrant. Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney John Dewane said police don't always track people down, likely due to limited personnel and funding. Whaley has admitted to the shootings but said one was in self-defense and the other was accidental. He will face a hearing May 9 to determine if he should stand trial.

Aaron Johnson-Bey of Lansing, 22, was shot and killed Friday on the 3100 block of Turner Street in north Lansing. Police have a suspect in custody but had not released a name as of Monday. It was Lansing's fourth homicide this year, all in April.