Rewind: News Highlights From The Last 7 Days

Greater Lansing endured its first major winter storm of the season, with roughly 6 inches of snow Friday and Saturday. Most school districts canceled classes, just before the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, and Calhoun counties. That advisory expired noon Sunday but on Tuesday the NWS predicted wind chills as low as 20 degrees below zero through 10 a.m. Wednesday. Meanwhile, Lansing city officials implemented the city’s “Code Blue” emergency cold weather plan Friday afternoon, extending the capacity and operating hours of city-owned warming centers. That was supposed to expire 5 p.m. Tuesday, but it was extended through 5 p.m. Monday.

Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the South, was the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan’s “A Day of Celebration” Monday. The event, which drew 1,500 to the Lansing Center to mark MLK Day, featured a chat with Bridges and Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing. Bridges, 69, spoke about being escorted at age 6 by federal armed guards into the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on Nov. 14, 1960. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., East Lansing Mayor George Brookover and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor also spoke.

The East Lansing City Council voted 4-1 on Jan. 9 against a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Councilmember Dana Watson voted yes, while Mayor George Brookover, mayor pro tem Kerry Ebersole Singh and members Erik Altmann and Mark Meadows voted no. The resolution was drafted by the East Lansing Human Rights Commission, which passed it unanimously Dec. 11 with a request that City Council follow suit. 

A fatal officer-involved shooting occurred in Roxand Township Thursday after deputies from the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office encountered a suspect while assisting the Charlotte Police Department in an investigation. Officers found the individual, a white male who was believed to be armed, at around 1 p.m. near St. Joe Highway and Gates Road. Officers approached the suspect, who allegedly produced a firearm and was then struck by officer gunfire. He was pronounced dead at Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital. The Michigan State Police are investigating. 

 Zachary Duling is in custody after allegedly driving a vehicle that struck a Lansing police officer near the 300 block of West Saginaw Street Wednesday. Officers approached a white 2014 Chevrolet Cruze to follow up on a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office warrant request. Police said Duling, 30, and one passenger refused to exit. Duling is accused of then backing the car into an officer and running over his foot. An officer fired a shot at the vehicle as Duling fled. He was found Thursday at an undisclosed location and taken into custody with a minor gunshot wound. 

Lansing’s Airport Tavern and Steakhouse, 5000 N Grand River Ave., announced a “temporary” closure in a Facebook post Friday. The owners of the restaurant, a staple in the area since 1970, cited many challenges, including the lack of adequate kitchen staff. The post suggested that the eatery could reopen and urged patrons to stay tuned.

Former MSU football coach Mel Tucker was denied his appeal of the university’s findings that he sexually harassed and exploited rape survivor and advocate Brenda Tracy. “This decision is final,” wrote Courtney Bullard, an outside attorney hired by the university to review Tucker’s Nov. 8 challenge. Her findings in a 24-page report ended an investigation that had lasted nearly 13 months after Tracy filed her initial complaint with the school’s Title IX office.  

Public Safety:

A 19-year-old woman is expected to recover after she was injured in an accidental shooting Tuesday near the 4500 block of Ballard Road. … Colleen Kelly O’Connor, 58, of East Lansing, was bound over to face trial for her alleged role in the December 2022 freezing death of 82-year-old Lois Kathryn Cary, a resident in her care at the Vista Springs Imperial Park at Timber Ridge. … A 36-year-old man was in stable condition after he was shot at the Super Inn, 910 American Road, in south Lansing last Wednesday.