Author Archives: Dave Poulson

Frank Kelley’s lasting impact on Michigan – and on me

Then Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley, left, and David Poulson, in 1982. Image: Jerry Morton

By DAVID POULSON

LANSING — Almost 39 years ago, Attorney General Frank Kelley visited my journalism class at Michigan State University to explain government access laws.

Kelley often dropped by news organizations to give tutorials on the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information acts. Such visits garnered the favorable local news coverage he coveted.

Me? I wasn’t looking for a softball story when he extended his visits to students. I planned to use my rare shot at meeting a high state official to hit him hard about something big and controversial.

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Fate of the Earth loses friend of the Earth

Barbara Sawyer-Koch

By David Poulson

One of the delights of Michigan State University’s Fate of the Earth conference is the dinner for organizers and speakers the night before.

I always angled to get a seat next to Barbara Sawyer-Koch, a former MSU trustee, who with her late husband Donald Koch, an MSU philosophy professor, endowed this annual conference on sustainability.

It was their support that allowed MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism to help bring top-flight environmental journalists to speak at the event and later meet with our students.

Barb, who died March 6, was an excellent dinner companion. Her interests were far ranging – music, travel, sustainability, international students and a deep love for MSU. They intersected – she spoke knowledgeably about the impact of climate change that she noticed in her travels. And while we did not know each other well, she thoughtfully remembered to accommodate my hearing deficit during those noisy dinners. Continue reading

Discovering how cells talk to each other is key to better diagnosis and treatment of disease

 

Jon Kaletka

By Jon Kaletka

There are countless apps to keep in touch with friends and family throughout the world.

But have you ever wondered how your body’s trillions of individual cells talk to each other?

That’s what I study to improve the diagnosis and treatment of bacterial infections.

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