Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Lansing’s Code Blue status has been triggered until at least 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The city’s Code Blue declarations allow local shelters to have more flexibility during extreme cold or snow. The Letts Community Center will be open from 6:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. as an overnight warming center during Code Blue periods, along with many local shelters and Union Missionary Baptist Church (for families). Many public buildings – including the Foster, Gier, Letts and Schmidt community centers; libraries; and the Capital Area Transportation Authority Transportation Center in downtown – will be open during the day as well. CATA will offer free rides to warming centers. For more information, visit LansingMI.gov/coldweatherplan or call 211 (a city information line distinct from 911).

John Velasquez-Hicks, 19, was charged and arraigned in 54A District Court on Tuesday in a drag-racing-induced crash last April on S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. He is charged with reckless driving causing death and reckless driving causing serious impairment of a bodily function. The crash, which involved five vehicles, killed one person and injured 13 others. Scott Hughes, a spokesperson for the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, said there is another defendant in the incident whose case was filed with the court; that person has not been arraigned but Hughes said those charges are anticipated by the end of the month.

The Lansing School District Board of Education appointed Aurora Lemieux-McKissic to fill a seat vacated by Deyanira Nevárez Martinez, now a Lansing city council member. Lemieux-McKissic is a small business programs coordinator with Lansing Economic Area Partnership and a K-12 district graduate. She previously served on the Lansing School District Equity Advisory Board, holds a substitute teaching license and has worked on the Lansing Promise initiative, among others. She was appointed in a Friday vote following a series of interviews with candidates to fill Nevarez Martinez’s seat. The board also elected its officers last week: Guillermo Lopez as president, Caitlin Cavanagh as vice president, Dan Nowiski as treasurer and Cirea Strode as secretary. Other board members are LaVonté L. Heard, Robin Moore, Nino Rodríguez and Rosalyn Williams. The board’s biggest looming job is to permanently fill the superintendent seat. Superintendent Benjamin Shuldiner is leaving at the end of January and will be replaced by Interim Superintendent Jessica Benavides.

The Lansing School Board also approved more than $34 million in construction for the district. It will be funded from an existing bond of nearly $130 million, approved by voters 2022. The projects involved include building the Lewton School (nearly $27 million), constructing an addition to the Wexford Montessori Academy ($5.9 million) and updating facilities at the Averill Elementary School ($561,000). The district has also earmarked more than $870,000 to purchase furniture for Willow School, currently under construction.

Michigan is in the midst of an intense flu and Covid season, with rising numbers of people being admitted into emergency rooms across the state. More than 2,000 people were admitted to various hospitals with primarily flu but also Covid and RSV in the most recent week of data from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. About 10% of Michigan hospital visits in the last week were due to respiratory viruses, primarily flu, according to state figures. UM Health-Sparrow officials said Friday that diverting respiratory patients away from the emergency room can help providers and patients. Instead of an ER visit for a potential flu, people can take tests and get flu or other respiratory treatment at alternatives such as the drive-thru lab in Frandor or the new UM Health-Sparrow Okemos Same Day Care Clinic.

The Capital Area Transportation Authority has reduced its routes, starting this week, in Delta Township. Route 3, the Willow-Lansing Mall bus, will no longer operate west of the Lansing Mall, putting about 30 bus stops along Saginaw Highway, Canal Road, St. Joseph Highway and Marketplace Boulevard out of service. CATA will no longer connect to EATRAN services at Marketplace Boulevard. Buses leaving the West Saginaw Meijwer for the CTC will leave 22 or 23 minutes earlier; all inbound (eastbound) stops will be affected. All weekday Capitol Loop trips will be eight minutes later, except for the 6 a.m. trip. Please check the new Route 3 schedule to confirm your times and destinations.

Lansing’s Big Red Balls have been taken down. The city’s iconic set of four giant red ornaments has been put away for the season; they were removed on Jan. 13. Known to some by their government name of The Orbs of Winter or as the generic and giggle-free “big, red holiday ornaments,” but mostly known as the Big Red Balls, these roughly 6-foot round fiberglass shapes were purchased from Bronners around 16 years ago. The whole display was nearly pitched after a driver smashed into it in 2018, but a donation rescued one of the iconic symbols of Lansing’s holiday season.

Lansing officials began the public portion of their annual budget process with a Thursday meeting. City department leaders shared their priorities and took questions from the public, along with handing out surveys about priorities. Mayor Andy Schor said the city has a number of important priorities, but not enough money for all of them. Six council members attended the session, on the condition that they were not allowed to discuss city business. The city anticipates its total budget to be about the same as the current year, about $307 million. The next steps are for city officials to refine their departmental budgets, the mayor is expected to present his version of the city budget to the city council by April, and the council is expected to approve the budget by May 17. Residents can fill out the budget priority survey form, available at city hall or at https://mi-lansing.form.transform.civicplus.com/60941

Hundreds of East Lansing High School students walked out of their building Friday in protest of the Wednesday death of Renee Good, 37, by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. Students denounced ICE and said it made them fearful and determined. The protest was one of several in the area, including a separate Friday rally on Lake Lansing Road.

A car drove through a brick wall at a memory care neighborhood in South Lansing, near 3100 W. Mt. Hope Avenue. Lansing’s interim fire chief, Carrie Edwards-Clemons, told the Lansing State Journal that there were no injuries in the crash but that she was not able to provide other information about the driver.

Two vehicles struck cows that had wandered on a stretch of Okemos Road north of Mason on Monday, the Lansing State Journal reported. A 66-year-old Mason woman driving north hit a cow and a calf in the roadway and then an 81-year-old Holt woman suffered minor injuries when her southbound vehicle struck a dead cow, causing the vehicle to flip and land on its roof. The Mason Fire Department took the woman to a hospital, while the other driver escaped injury, according to the State Journal.