Enterovirus is sweeping across the Midwest – and according to a local pediatrician, it may now have reached the East Lansing area. We are in the middle of enterovirus season, which runs largely unnoticed each year from July through October despite millions of infections, but the presentation of one particular strain of enterovirus has been garnering the attention of many East Lansing-area experts and laypersons alike for the volume of cases and severity of symptoms being attributed to it.

The Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) which supplies electrical power to a large section of East Lansing, appears to be lacking legal easements for its power lines, at least in a number of older neighborhoods including Glencairn and Oakwood. This unexpected discovery has been made by homeowners demanding to see copies of written easements before allowing BWL’s contractors to come onto their properties and cut vegetation.

The East Lansing Educational Fund (ELEF) held its third annual tailgate on Friday, September 5, at East Lansing High School. The event, which according to ELEF’s Michele Hulsgen drew about 200 people, officially welcomed the Class of 2027.

Kate Powers, Kwafo Adarkwa, and ELEF President Mindy Emerson (shown left to right in photo above) were on the serving line to greet guests. The East Lansing High School Marching Band Drum Line performed for those in attendance.

On June 19^th representatives from seven neighborhood associations came together at a meeting hosted by the Harrison Meadows Association. The other six neighborhoods participating were Walnut Heights, The Crossings, Shaw Estates, Whitehills, Abbott Parkside, and Pinecrest. They heard from Cathy DeShambo of East Lansing Public Works who is leading the city’s response to problems caused by growing deer herd size and encroachment into the residential neighborhoods of the city.  These problems include health and safety concerns and widespread property damage.

This is an interview between Alice Dreger for ELi and Dr. Graham Hickling, an ecologist at the University of Tennessee who specializes in emerging wildlife diseases and their interface with humans and domestic animals. Hickling is a former resident of East Lansing and he continues to collaborate with faculty and students from Michigan State University to conduct annual fieldwork in Michigan. This interview, conducted by email, has been lightly edited for clarity with the final version approved by the interviewee.