Today’s weather forecast is predicting light snow during the morning which will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon with a high of 23 degrees and a low of 12 degrees.

MSU launches survey to assess community health and well-being

Michigan State University is encouraging students, faculty and staff to take an anonymous survey in order to help the department of University Health and Wellbeing, or UHW, set priorities and allocate resources immediately and over the next five years.

The survey was first sent to MSU community members on Jan. 9 and will be open until Jan. 29. According to the email sent to community members, the survey is expected to take between eight and ten minutes to complete.

The survey poses questions relating to physical, mental and social health, which are all key aspects of health according to UHW.

The survey comes following a fall semester in which several student groups that represent marginalized populations on campus expressed concerns over inadequate support from the university. Interim President Teresa Woodruff addressed those concerns in an email sent to students on Nov. 10.

This historic Lansing house replica was up for grabs

A replica of Lansing’s historic Turner-Dodge House has been used as a Christmas and Fourth of July parade float for nearly 25 years in the community. Now, this piece of history was up for auction until Dec. 14.

This sale comes after the city sold the storage barn it was kept in.

The 24 foot-long, 14 foot-wide float was built in the 1990s by a Friends of the Turner-Dodge House board member and it became an annual tradition to display it in community parades. But the float has not been used for about three years due to a shortage of volunteers to maintain and drive it.

The Friends of the Turner-Dodge House formed in the 1970s as a group of volunteers that help to care for the mansion, which was built in 1855 by the Turner and Dodge families. The property stayed in the Turner-Dodge family until 1958 when ownership was passed to the Great Lakes Bible College to use as its campus until 1972.

Two years later, the city of Lansing purchased the house, and it is now used as an event space and historical center.

The auction was a collaboration between the Friends of the Turner-Dodge House, the city of Lansing and Epic Auctions.

Based on original reporting by Owen McCarthy and Kayla Nelsen.