The Michigan Nurses Association is supporting legislation that would require minimum nurse to patient staffing ratios. Nurses say the measure will save lives and help avoid costly mistakes.
The Safe Patient Care Act would require a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio in critical care and surgical units, one to three for non-trauma units and one to four in pediatrics. Supporters say hospitals often purposely fail to meet adequate staffing levels to save money, instead imposing mandatory overtime on their nurses.
Governor Rick Snyder is a step closer to appointing an emergency financial manager for Detroit. He announced today that he agrees with a financial review team’s finding that the city faces a financial emergency.
The Detroit City Council now has 10 days to get a financial plan in place and ask the governor to change his mind.
Snyder expects to appoint someone soon after that.
The Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s MasterWorks 5 concert is Saturday night at Wharton Center. Music of Barber and Dvorak is on the program, as well as a piece called “Ancestral Waters” by Brian Gaber. WKAR’s Melissa Benmark checked in with LSO conductor Timothy Muffitt for a preview of the concert.
During the season of Lent, selling fish is big business. It seems that every restaurant with a sign out front promotes fish meals on Fridays, when many Roman Catholics avoid eating meat.
Forty years ago, 200 members of the American Indian Movement took over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The group was protesting the federal government’s failure to honor various treaties with native tribes. The location was symbolic. In 1890, as many as 300 Lakota Indians were killed at Wounded Knee by the U.S. Army. The standoff lasted 73 days, and claimed three lives.
Book reviewer Lev Raphael has been reading a book about the aftermath of World War II in Europe. It's called Savage Continent by Keith Lowe. He talked about it with WKAR's Melissa Benmark.
At the iconic Motown Museum in Detroit, a new exhibit honors the "girl groups" of the 1960's. It's called "Girl Groups: The Grit, The Glamour, The Glory".
Included are records, photos and memorabilia from all of the groups you remember…and one you probably never heard of.
The exhibition remembers The Supremes, The Marvelettes, the Vandellas, and a proficient group of background singers known as The Andantes.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is coming to Wharton Center Wednesday to perform their signature South African Zulu-style choral music. They began singing in competitions in the 1970s, and rose to world-wide fame when they appeared on Paul Simon’s album “Graceland” in 1986. They’ve recorded over 50 albums, and their latest tour has a stop in East Lansing. WKAR’s Melissa Benmark spoke to one of the longest-singing members, Albert Mazibuko, about the music his group performs.
Credit Kurt Stepnitz / MSU Office of Communication and Brand Strategy
MSU physician Dr. Gretchen Birbeck cares for a young boy suffering from epilepsy in a village in Zambia. Her work is being documented by an MSU field crew as part of the "Spartans Will.360" project.
A team of video storytellers from Michigan State University is wrapping up a two-month journey around the world. The crew is documenting the work of MSU researchers in countries such as China, Brazil and Malawi as they tackle challenges ranging from malnutrition and disease to human organ trafficking. The project is called Spartans Will.360.
WKAR’s Kevin Lavery caught up with team leader Jim Peck by phone in Dhaka, Bangladesh a few days ago to learn more.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is holding a series of public forums around the state to gather input on Michigan’s future energy policy. Lansing was the first stop on that tour.
The public service commission regulates the state’s utilities. It wants to hear the public’s suggestions and concerns about the direction of Michigan’s energy policy. The commission says its main focus areas are renewables, energy efficiency and electric power choice.
The Lansing City Council has approved putting the former Waverly golf course up for sale. The focus now moves to how the city and Lansing Township will work together on any future redevelopment.
Long before movies were invented, people living in the 19th century were fascinated with a simple device that brought photographs to life. The stereoscope allowed two images to be viewed as one three-dimensional portrait. Photos from that era depicted nearly every aspect of life, from the familiar to the exotic.
On Sunday, the MSU Museum opens an exhibit that pays tribute to stereoscopes and the world of 3-D technology. Many of the items were part of the personal collection of the late Val Berryman, a beloved museum curator who passed away in January.
Nick Clark with Clean Energy Now is among those calling on Michigan State University to properly dispose of tons of residual coal ash produced by the campus power plant, seen in the distance.
Environmental advocates are calling on Michigan State University to properly dispose of large deposits of coal ash buried for years beneath the campus.
The group Clean Energy Now says tons of residual toxic ash produced by MSU’s coal-fired power plant were found during a 2007 excavation. Some ash was sent to a landfill, but the group asserts more than 90,000 cubic yards of ash were improperly relocated on university property.
Clean Energy Now’s Nick Clark says buried coal ash poses an immediate public health hazard.
William Shatner brings his one-man show to MSU's Wharton Center on January 24th. It's called "Shatner's World: We Just Live In It." WKAR's Melissa Benmark speaks with William Shatner via phone from California, about the show, what he's done in his 60-year career, and what projects he still hopes to do.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero will deliver his eighth State of the City address Monday night.
Bernero will speak at the historic Grand Trunk Western Railroad train depot, a century-old landmark that’s undergoing a major refurbishment by the Lansing Board of Water and Light. The mayor will tout the progress of the co-generation power plant that’s rising to life nearby in Lansing’s REO Town neighborhood, as well as other successes.
A Republican state lawmaker says he’ll soon make another attempt soon to relax restrictions on concealed guns in schools. That’s after Governor Rick Snyder vetoed a measure last year that would have allowed teachers, parents and visitors to carry concealed weapons in schools.
