This week in Mid-Michigan, the Village of Webberville will consider bringing back its police department after decades without one. In Clinton County, commissioners could pave the way for a new apartment complex in St. Johns, and Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz will deliver the State of the University address.
These are some of the biggest stories WKAR lead politics reporter Andrew Roth is following this week as part of his weekly column, What Roth's Watching. You can find it in our weekly newsletter, The Signal. Click on the audio player above to listen.
From Andrew:
1. Webberville hearing on bringing back police department
The village of Webberville will hold a public hearing Monday on whether to bring back its police department after more than 30 years when its current contract with the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office expires at the end of this year. The department would be staffed by two full-time officers, matching the 80 hours of service per week the village currently receives from the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office.
2. St. Johns rezoning fight continues
The Clinton County Board of Commissioners will continue discussing whether to rezone 47 acres of land near St. Johns for a 324-unit apartment complex. Commissioners previously delayed voting on the request to gather more information on the potential development. Some nearby residents have opposed the project, warning of increased traffic and changes to the character of the community.
3. Guskiewicz to deliver State of the University
Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz will deliver his annual State of the University address Tuesday morning. It comes days after an unprecedented campus-wide power outage that caused much of campus to continue to be without hot water or climate control systems for several days after power was restored.
4. New York Times publisher to speak
New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger will speak at the Wharton Center on Tuesday as the Gray Lady celebrates its 175th anniversary. Sulzberger will address the role of independent reporting amid political polarization, artificial intelligence and other challenges facing the free press. The event and following reception are open to the public, but free tickets are required. MSU will also host “Bearing Witness,” an outdoor photojournalism exhibit highlighting the eyewitness reporting that captured some of the biggest moments in history around the world.
Interview Transcript:
Melorie Begay: This week in Mid-Michigan, the Village of Webberville will consider resurrecting its police department after decades without one. In Clinton County, commissioners could pave the way for a new apartment complex in St. Johns, and Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz will deliver the State of the University address.
These are some of the biggest stories WKAR lead politics reporter Andrew Roth is following this week as part of his weekly column, What Roth's Watching. You can find it in our weekly newsletter, The Signal. Andrew joins me now. Thanks for being here, Andrew.
Andrew Roth: Thank you for having me.
Begay: Let's start with Webberville. They've been without a police department for 30 years, and now they have an opportunity to bring it back. What would it take for that to happen?
Roth: That's right. The Village of Webberville has not had its own police department for a little over three decades, and so instead, what they've done is they've had a contract with the Ingham County Sheriff's Office, but that contract expires at the end of this year. So village council members are looking at possibly re-establishing an internal police department that would be staffed with two full-time police officers, which is the same number of service hours per week that the village currently gets from the sheriff's office.
But ultimately, village commissioners decided not to move forward with any action until they have a public hearing on this proposal, and so that's what's going to be happening Monday night. Residents of the village will have an opportunity to weigh in and say either, "We like the service that we're currently getting from the county sheriff's office," or, "We do want to bring this back home and have our own police department."
Begay: It sounds like it's still early in the discussion phase. Is that right?
Roth: It could be. The contract with the sheriff's office goes through the end of the year, so that would be the hard deadline, I guess, that they would have to do something by. But they could also act sooner. We'll see what people say when they come out.
Begay: All right. Now on to St. Johns. Clinton County commissioners will decide on rezoning a piece of land to make way for more than 300 apartments, and this is something commissioners have delayed their vote on. Can you give us some background on what's going on here?
Roth: Sure. So, commissioners were previously going to vote on this. They had it on their agenda, but ultimately, they sent it back to the Planning Commission because they wanted to get some more information from the developers who are potentially proposing this apartment development that would bring more than 300 units and something like 700 parking spaces.
Some local residents near that plot of land have raised concerns about the increased traffic that it would bring and say that it would potentially change the character of the community. And so ultimately, the Clinton County Board sent this back to the Planning Commission and asked the Planning Commission to talk with the developers and gather some more information about how this potential development would actually impact the area.
Begay: Now, over in East Lansing, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz will deliver his State of the University address Tuesday. This speech comes after a power outage on East Lansing's campus and his summer job reversal. How important is this speech considering recent events?
Roth: Yeah, you mentioned his summer job reversal, where originally it was announced that he was going to leave MSU and go to Clemson, and then ultimately, he changed course, and that partially came after, really, there was an outpouring of support. A lot of efforts were organized from people who appreciated some of the stable leadership that Kevin Guskiewicz had offered MSU, and what's interesting is there was not that long ago a vote from the Faculty Senate where 53% of voters said that they do have confidence and trust Guskiewicz to continue being president, and only 37% said that they don't have faith in him. So that's not necessarily an overwhelming majority who say that they have faith, but it is a majority.
You compare that, though, to the Board of Trustees, where 86% of the faculty who voted said they don't have confidence in the board, and that leaves Guskiewicz in a good place, but with some room to earn back some of those people and convince them, "I'm here to stay. I'm here to lead the university."
Begay: All right. Also this week, New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger will stop by the Wharton Center as the paper celebrates its 175th birthday. His visit comes during a pretty tumultuous time for news. What is he hoping to talk about during the event?
Roth: Well, we've seen over the past few days, obviously, there's been a lot of back and forth about the White House's attempts to limit press access for certain news organizations, and certainly that's something that I would expect the publisher of the New York Times, one of the biggest papers in the world, to touch on.
He's going to talk about the role and the importance of independent reporting amid this political polarization and the rise of artificial intelligence and some of these other challenges that are facing the free press. And MSU is also going to host an exhibit called "Bearing Witness," which will show off some of the work of some of the New York Times photojournalists.
That is really also supposed to highlight the importance of eyewitness reporting and on-the-ground coverage that captured the most iconic moments in history that we think of. Some of those images will be on display at MSU as well.
Begay: All right, Andrew Roth is WKAR's lead politics reporter. Thanks for being here, Andrew.
Roth: Always happy to join you, Melorie.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
