Today’s weather forecast is predicting another beautiful day full of sun with a high of 55 degrees and a low of 38 degrees.

The WILD conference brings a sense of healing to a community

The Women’s Initiative for Leadership Development, or WILD, held their fifth annual conference on Sunday with the theme, “We Are Not Alone: Validate, Rejuvenate, Liberate.”

The WILD conference is a student leadership conference hosted by a committee of students in partnership with Women’s Student Services, Women’s Council, and the University Activities Board at Michigan State University.

Conference co-chairs arts and humanities senior Ashleigh Lowe and psychology and sociology senior Taylor Murdick both agreed that the difference between this conference and conferences in the past is that this one had a central focus on healing.

The conference was filled with people eager to learn and share their ideas. One of the conversations discussed whether active conversation is making an impact in the realm of gender equity and social change.

Lowe said that having the conference be student-led allows for more relevant topics to be discussed and allows students to talk through topics they care about.

Lansing poll finds higher need for public safety

This past October, the city of Lansing conducted one of its semi-annual city council election polls to get a pulse on local issues and what constituents want to see from elected officials.

Public safety was polled as the largest issue for residents.

Out of 170 respondents to the polls, 32.8% said public safety was the most important issue for Lansing. However, 43.8% of respondents said they believe Lansing is on the right track, a number up 33.2% since the May 2023 poll.

Since this year’s first poll in May, voters showed that they believe Lansing is doing better on the issue of safety, however there is still uneasiness.

The Chamber of Commerce is reading these polls to look for ways to benefit the city through partnerships between the Chamber of Commerce and city officials, prosecutors, and schools.

The city of Lansing’s biggest concerns fall under one of three categories: police, fire department, and infrastructure.

Additional funding for public safety from a voter-approved proposal helped generate the plans for a new public safety building in Lansing, which broke ground this summer. The building, set to be completed at the end of 2025, will settle the police and fire departments in a more centralized area in Lansing.

Other efforts made for public safety in the poll include mental health therapists for staff at the Lansing Police Department. Therapists can join officers on calls when someone is in a mental crisis during an interaction with law enforcement.

MSU Abrams Planetarium screens Pink Floyd show, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’

The Abrams Planetarium sits in the center of Michigan State University’s main campus, often left undiscovered by students.

But one annual tradition always fills the planetarium’s seats: a show set to Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” taking the audience on a musical trip through space and time.

During the premiere, the audience was a mix of students and adults, many of whom were parents.

As the show started, when planetarium’s Production Coordinator, John French, asked the audience of over 100 who had been inside the planetarium before, about a dozen students raised their hands.

Attention moved to the massive screen surrounding the theater as celestial scenes melded together seamlessly with the music. Pink Floyd’s song “Breathe” began with a view of Earth from a satellite in orbit, then transitioned to a spinning tunnel of lights and lasers for “On the Run.”

Songs like “Time” and “The Great Gig in the Sky” showcased images of Saturn’s rings and different angles of the galaxy. “Money” began with a television screen showing depictions of wealth and poverty before moving viewers through a space shuttle coated in silver, where they could watch how the Apollo 11 mission took astronauts to the moon and back.

French said he hopes students who enjoy the Pink Floyd show return to the planetarium for their other educational events.

Based on original reporting by Abbigayle Gabli, Anna Rossow and Daniel Schoenherr.