Read Our Reporting From this Week
Read our reporting on city government and more!
It was another busy week for the ELi team, as we reported on the field of candidates in November’s City Council election, an important longtime city employee who has retired and more.
Start your weekend by catching up with our stories from this week.
Six candidates compete for two slots on City Council.
We now know who will compete for the two seats up for grabs in the City Council election this November. Adam DeLay, Kath Edsall, Chuck Grigsby, Joshua Ramirez-Roberts, Liam Richichi and Steve Whelan will make up the field, as incumbents Mayor George Brookover and Councilmember Dana Watson each decided against running for reelection. Meet the candidates in Managing Editor Luke Day’s story.
Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Cathy DeShambo retires.
Cathy DeShambo has retired after spending 13 years working for the city. As the director of parks, recreation and arts, DeShambo oversaw several transformational projects and led the department in the early stages after the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more about DeShambo and her work in the city in Reporter Dustin DuFort Petty’s story.
Students, once a critical voting block in local elections, have been mostly absent for decades. What happened?
In recent years, very few students have cast a ballot in East Lansing City Council elections. But in the 1970s, students were the most influential voting block in some elections. Even into the 1990s, enough students voted to flip local elections. What happened? Is there any chance that the students return to East Lansing voting booths this November? Find out in Luke’s story about the past and future of student voting in East Lansing.
East Lansing could lose its non-voting member on the Lansing Board of Water & Light.
Lansing voters will likely decide whether or not to approve a charter amendment that would standardize city boards to eight members, which would remove the non-voting Lansing Board of Water & Light members, including the member from East Lansing. Read Dustin’s story to find out why the charter committee put the change on the ballot, and what it means for East Lansing if it loses its representation on the board.
Nineteen-year-old East Lansing resident publishes her first book.
As a child, Scarlet Haroldson created paper wings and pretended she could fly. As a young adult, Haroldson channeled her inner child and drew inspiration from her pet rat, Mort, to write, illustrate and publish her first book, “Mort: The Flightless Rat.” Read Reporting Intern Allison Treanor’s story about Haroldson and her book here.
Shoes on a Wire: A grumpy homeowner’s quest for answers.
Have you ever looked up at an East Lansing power line and shook your head at the sometimes dozens of pairs of shoes hanging over you? If so, you may be ELi reporter Dustin DuFort Petty. Dustin set out to discover why people throw out perfectly good pairs of shoes, and if there are actually any rules against it. Read his findings here.
There are no city meetings scheduled next week.
July wraps up with crickets in city government, as there aren’t any meetings scheduled next week.
The East Lansing Board of Education will meet Monday (July 28). School board meetings are held downstairs in the high school starting at 7 p.m. When it is posted, the agenda for that meeting can be found here.
Remember to submit a claim for your portion of Franchise Fee settlement.
Earlier this year, the city settled to pay out $7.8 million reimbursing Lansing Board of Water & Light customers. People who lived in East Lansing and paid a BWL electric bill between April 2, 2019 and April 30, 2025 are encouraged to go to https://www.eastlansingelectricsettlement.com/ to file a claim. Claims must be submitted by Sept. 2. For more background on the case, check out Luke’s story from last week.
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