Image: City Clerk Marie Wicks, courtesy City of East Lansing

The Office of the City Clerk will be open extra hours, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, October 31, for people who need absentee ballots for next Tuesday’s East Lansing City Council election. You can go in on Saturday to cast an absentee ballot if you cannot vote next Tuesday.

The Clerk’s office will also be open as usual this Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Buckskin Beauty.

Rising Sun Princess.

Mystifying Gypsy.

Native Princess.

Cleo De Nile.

Dream Catcher Cutie.

Tribal Spirit.

Egyptian.

One of these eight costumes, available at the Party City in Frandor, is bound to ring your doorbell this Halloween. The smiling, painted faces will eagerly accept your candy, scamper off to the next home and never question whether their costume was well-received, or offensive.

Update 10/22: The ELPD has issued a second press release indicating that their Detective Bureau is still actively working the case and "has
made contact with several people who were with the victim throughout the day." They have also "followed up on several tips that were received

As of this morning, we have reached a total of $3,297 in donations towards our goal of $10,000 for this month. We are delighted that over half of those donating are new donors to ELi.

We are trying to raise $10,000 this month to fund ELi’s work through the end of January. You can read the report from our first fiscal year to see proof of how frugal, efficient, and local we are.

Photo: Recent groundbreaking ceremony for the project now called “300 Grand,” formerly known as “The Gateway.” In the photo, members of the DDA/BRA, which approved a $1.9 million TIF for this project, include DTN’s Colin Cronin (third from left) and Mayor Nathan Triplett (second from right).

This is an update on our report from roughly two weeks ago regarding campaign financing of the six people running for East Lansing’s City Council, because Campaign finance has become a perennial “ask” of ELi’s readers. If this work matters to you, please take a moment to donate to support our work.

What’s new in the last two weeks?

The leaves have changed color, stores have stocked their shelves with cider and candy and Pumpkin Spice lattes have reclaimed their place in your mug. Halloween is just around the corner, and East Lansing has plenty of activities to occupy the Spidermen and Queen Elsas of your family.

Families are invited to visit Safe Halloween from 5pm- 7pm on Thursday, Oct. 29. The event will take place on M.A.C. Avenue between Elizabeth and Burcham, and the area will be closed to traffic.