Rewind: News from the last 7 days

Dolores Duncan Wharton, a passionate advocate for the arts and a business leader as MSU’s first lady and for years thereafter, died Saturday at 97. Born in New York City in 1927, she was a graduate of Chicago Teachers College (now Chicago State University) and later received nine honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters. In 1950, she wed Clifton R. Wharton Jr., MSU’s president 1970 to 1978. Dolores Wharton was the first African American woman to serve on the board of several Fortune 500 companies. The Wharton Center for Performing Arts was named for the couple when it opened in 1982. Her husband died last year. 

Marvin High Jr., 58, was shot and killed Sunday in the 3300 block of Bardaville Street, off North Grand River Avenue and east of Waverly Road. Police have not yet made any arrests and said they did not believe the shooting was random. Lansing Fire Department medical staff treated High at the scene and transported him to a hospital, where he died. Police asked anyone with information to contact the Lansing Police Department at (517) 483-4600 or Crime Stoppers at (517) 483-7867 or send a private message through the Lansing Police Department’s Facebook page. 

Delta Township officials have reached a tentative agreement with Eaton County to maintain police services for its 33,000-plus residents for $8 million a year. The township currently pays approximately $4.4 million, with the county covering the remaining $1.46 million, under a deal that expires in September. Eaton voters rejected a 2-mill tax increase in May for sheriff’s deputies, the road patrol, the animal control and other services. Township Board Treasurer Dennis Fedewa said the agreement will create a structural deficit for the township and will have to decide how to address the resulting revenue shortfall.

“They Even Took the Dirt: The Documentary of Pave the Way: The I-496 Project,” by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing, won the Education category in the Motor City National Heritage Area’s 2025 Awards of Excellence. “We were competing against two goliaths in the Museum business, the Henry Ford and the Detroit Historical Society,” said City Pulse contributor Bill Castanier, the Historical Society’s president, who co-wrote the film and accepted the award at the Stellantis Conner Center in Detroit. “More than 300 community volunteers were engaged in the project, and more than 100 oral histories were videotaped. Special thanks to co-writer Greta Trice, editor Craig Derek Jones, and especially the videographer Ken Turner and the interviewer Adolph Burton.”

MSU, via a letter from Office for International Students and Scholars Director Krista McCallum Beatty, has warned more than 4,000 international students not to go home this summer due to the Trump administration’s efforts to make it difficult for noncitizens to study in the U.S. The guidance follows the U.S. State Department’s decision to temporarily pause visa interviews, which will impact the processing time for visa applications.

Nate Statly, Yukai “John” Hao and Troy Forbush, survivors injured in the 2023 mass shooting at MSU, have settled lawsuits with the school for $29.75 million. The settlements include $14.25 million for Statly, who was shot in the head and requires extensive medical treatment and ongoing care; $2.5 million for Forbush, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest that resulted in a serious lung injury; and $13 million for Hao, who was paralyzed from the chest down after surviving a gunshot wound to his back. Grewal Law represented Statly and Forbush, and William Azkoul of Gruel Mills Nims & Pylman represented Hao. 

East Lansing officials closed the Harrison Road bridge over the Red Cedar River in East Lansing Monday for repairs after discovering serious structural issues during the bridge-deck replacement project. They expect the bridge to remain closed until Aug. 22. Officials previously planned to keep one northbound and one southbound lane open when the project began in May. Officials will maintain local traffic to the Kellogg Center and the Brody Residential Complex from Michigan Avenue.

Jon Anthony Florist will close permanently on Saturday after 84 years in business. Harriet and John Anthony opened their first shop in downtown Lansing in 1941 and moved to its current location at 809 E. Michigan Ave. five years later. John Anthony died in 2014, and the shop has been for sale since his wife died in 2022. The couple’s daughters, Pamela Sage and Patricia Holliday, said they were ready for retirement.

Bobcat Bonnie’s restaurant, which opened its Lansing location in a dining car adjacent to the old Lansing Union Railroad Depot on Michigan Avenue in 2024, has closed. Oakland County records show owner Matt Buskard owes more than $1.3 million on four tax liens to the state and nearly $700,000 to Cobalt Funding Solutions, a New York City-based company. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission had earlier suspended the restaurant’s liquor license after it said Buskard failed to pay a $450 fine for “dishonored payments” made for alcohol spirits purchased from the commission for the restaurant. Those purchases totaling more than $1,500 are still unpaid.