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News Highlights from the Last 7 Days

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The Lansing man who was accused of carrying out the Feb. 13 mass shooting on Michigan State University’s campus was allegedly involved in an altercation with students weeks prior. A tipster who said he met Anthony McRae on MSU’s campus in 2018 at a community gathering told MSU Police Department Sgt. David Isabell on Feb. 14 that he’d seen McRae three weeks earlier. McRae “seemed to be agitated” and said he’d been beaten up by students, though he didn’t indicate whether they were MSU students or what had caused the altercation. The alleged altercation took place in downtown East Lansing in a location the tipster said McRae often visited on the weekends to collect cans for money. The tipster also remembered having conversations with McRae about mass shootings in the past and believes McRae had an infatuation with school shootings and shooters. Furthermore, McRae’s Google search history reveals he visited the website of an Ohio-based firearms manufacturer eight times on Dec. 20 and searched for Dunham’s Sports, where police reports say he purchased ammunition on Feb. 13, nearly a dozen times on Dec. 29. McRae’s YouTube search history reveals he searched and watched videos of “tours of MSU’s campus, killer documentaries, school shooting videos, arsons and hypnosis” on Feb. 11 and searched for videos related to “people that shot up colleges,” “mass killings in colleges,” “the bomber” and “the nail bomber” between December and February.

In other related news:

East Lansing firefighters were denied administrative leave after responding to the Feb. 13 shooting, the Lansing State Journal reported. Tom Roush, president of the IAFF Local 1609 firefighters’ union, filed a complaint with the city, stating Fire Chief Dawn Carson didn’t allow “administrative leave for bargaining unit members who were the first responders to the active violence incident.” The complaint “accuses Carson of citing city budget constraints and going around both the union and shift leaders to ask firefighters directly if they would be willing to work in the days after the shooting,” the Journal reported. She “displayed a lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of fire department personnel at a crucial time when they needed support most,” Roush stated in the complaint. He said city officials met with the union following the complaint, but he isn’t aware of any investigations or actions taken as a result. Interim East Lansing City Manager Randy Talifarro, who headed the Fire Department for 20 years, would not comment on whether the city is investigating the allegations.

 

A 30-year-old man was shot near the BP gas station at the intersection of West Malcolm X Street and South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The Lansing Police Department said there are multiple suspects, but no arrests have been made. The department said there’s no threat to the public, and the investigation is ongoing.

 

Michigan State University Athletics is terminating its partnership with Caesars Sportsbook four years ahead of schedule, the Lansing State Journal reported. The deal, signed in January 2022, would have earned MSU Athletics close to $9 million over the course of the contract. In past months, MSU sports fans voiced their concerns over the abundance of Caesars Sportsbook marketing throughout campus on game days, stating it encouraged problematic gambling among MSU’s student body, including those under 21. There have also been multiple scandals involving collegiate sports betting since MSU signed the deal. The NCAA prohibits athletes, coaches and personnel from betting on sports games, but earlier this month, the University of Alabama’s baseball coach and more than 40 athletes from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University were found to be doing so. In March, new regulations banned sportsbooks from partnering with colleges to promote sports wagering, which put an end to many of the partnerships already in place. Paul Shrager, MSU’s executive associate athletic director, told the Journal that the school believes “there will be growth in other sponsorship categories that will take over inventory that was allocated to this particular client.”

 

Seasonal nonstop flights to three warm-weather international destinations will return to the Capital Region International Airport in early 2024. Beginning Jan. 27, flights to Cancun, Mexico, depart Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Flights to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, depart Thursdays and Sundays. Beginning Feb. 2, flights to Montego Bay, Jamaica, depart Fridays. The flights run through April 8 and will be operated by Avelo Airlines, which began service at the airport in October with two weekly nonstop flights to the Orlando International Airport. Tickets can be booked through ALG Vacations and its brands Apple Vacations, Funjet Vacations, Travel Impressions, BeachBound and CheapCaribbean.com. 

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