WEDNESDAY, June 16 — Over the last month, five mayoral candidates facing off in the August primary election have outlined their platforms in a series of opinion columns published in City Pulse. … more

Two more murders. Two more Lansing teenagers dead, bringing the city’s 2021 death toll by homicide to 15. And it’s only June. At this rate, Lansing is on track to easily outstrip last year’s record of 22 homicides — the most murders in a single year in decades. With the hottest days of summer just ahead, we’re bracing for even more senseless violence while community leaders scramble for answers. more

The headline on the front of the Lansing State Journal on July 25, 1972, might be described as cheeky: “City’s Night Life Can Get Real ‘Gay.’” The accompanying tagline, “Perversion Downtown Varies,” carried a darker message, at once moralistic and salacious. more

This weekly column has allowed me an opportunity to sample some of the best recreational cannabis products available in Greater Lansing. And over the last year, I’ve browsed through just about every store in town. That’s why I can say — with some degree of certainty — that First Class Cannabis Co. holds the title for the cheapest selection in the Capital City. more

This week’s City Pulse cover artist, Julian Van Dyke, has deep roots in Lansing. Since his early days in Old Town studios in the 1980s, his art has sprung up like colorful blossoms all around town — at the downtown library, music festivals, on walls, in galleries and, most recently, in a series of lively coloring and activity books for young people. As a volunteer member of Lansing’s Juneteenth committee, Van Dyke designed the event’s logo in his trademark up-with-people, coloring-book style. more

For many African-Americans, the sudden mass embrace of the Juneteenth holiday in 2021 smacks of Columbus “discovering” America. more

An East Lansing real estate developer has filed suit against the local news site East Lansing Info and its publisher, Alice Dreger, alleging that a series of “false and defamatory” statements have humiliated him and his company and jeopardized his business relationships. more

An obscenity-laced, racist voicemail left on the House office voicemail for a Black state representative is being investigated by law enforcement. more

Police say the Councilwoman and mayoral candidate was driving northbound on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard when she failed to stop at a red light and struck and totaled both her car and a westbound car on Kalamazoo Street driven by a 75-year old woman. more

Lansing City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Kathie Dunbar blacked out during a virtual candidate forum hosted last week by the Eastside Neighborhood Organization following a car crash that reportedly took place over Memorial Day weekend. more

Ever heard of a news desert? It’s what you call a community that has lost its local newspapers. Over the past two decades, it’s happened far more often than you might think. More than 2,100 local newspapers, including 70 dailies and 2,000 weekly publications, have permanently turned off the lights, leaving hundreds of communities across the nation with no local print journalism. more

Mike McKissic wants to end an epidemic in Greater Lansing.  more

The chaotic pandemic year of 2020, as well as the first quarter of 2021, saw a record surge in gun ownership among Americans. Whether people were motivated by political tension, fear of increased crime during difficult economic times or just looking to further fortify their home defense, many have recently become first-time gun owners.  more

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