The New Citizens Press - News For, By and About People

Retire Smart: New disclosure rules to pull back the veil on 401(k) fees

Rina Risper14 years ago07 mins

By Jill Schlesinger

Tribune Media Services

How much does your 401(k) plan cost you? For many retirement plan participants, the answer has been elusive, until now. The U.S. Labor Department has finally said enough is enough and will impose rules beginning on July 1 that will require 401(k) administrators, like mutual funds and insurance companies, to disclose the fees they are charging to run retirement plans. This is good news for the three-decades-old 401(k) plan, which now accounts for $4.3 trillion of retirement savings.

Winning with Finances – The Fourth Principle of a Financial Takeover – Investing

Rina Risper14 years ago010 mins

The last principle of the financial takeover series that we will discuss is investing. As we have seen in the past year, the stock market has been unstable, economies taken a major dip, and rising unemployment. What we thought was a sure bet is no longer one.

Celebrating Women’s History: Sister Act 2 in women’s hoops…

Rina Risper14 years ago018 mins

Photo credit: WSU Sports Information

Former Lansing Everett and WSU basketball standouts Kristen (bottom) and Nicole Rogers (left) now assistants at collegiate level.

By Harry M. Anderson, Jr.

After spending several years on the hardwood during their prep basketball years at Lansing Everett High School and their collegiate years at Wayne State University, Kristen and Nicole Rogers are still involved in the game they loved and grew up on. Kristen, who spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Wayne State University from 2008-2011, is now a full-time assistant at Northern Michigan University in Marquette under current Head Coach Troy Mattson, and Nicole is now in her third season as a part-time assistant at Madonna University in Livonia just outside Detroit. Both girls grew up on the game.

Photo credit: NMU Sports Information

The love of the game started with the older sister Kristen who played the game most of her life. She played in the Lansing-area Junior Pro League in her pre-junior high years.

Kristen played at Everett High School from 1998-2001 playing at the guard position. With help from Head Coach Johnny Jones, Kristen helped the Lady Vikings win three straight Capital Area Athletic Conference Basketball titles in 1999. 2000 and 200l. She also helped them win back-to-back MHSAA Class A State Titles in 2000 and 2001.

The Psychological War on Hip Hop?

Rina Risper14 years ago06 mins

Professor Griff wrote The “Psychological Covert War on Hip Hop” and the brainwashing of a culture.

Courtesy photo

By Nick Edmonds

Everyone who knows Public Enemy, knows what they they stand for. Their music was conscience and delivered a strong message that is still relevant in today’s society. Public Enemy delivered a positive and empowering message, opposite of what you would hear from the average rapper today who would tell you to make as much money as you can and then spend it all on cars, clothes, jewelry and women. Public Enemy’s music was a lesson that needs to be taught over and over again.

FILL UP ON FUEL-SAVING IDEAS

Rina Risper14 years ago04 mins

BPRW – Saving money is on everyone’s mind as Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds feel the crunch of unpredictable gas prices. While the development of hybrid vehicles is a promising trend, most drivers deal with daily commutes in traditional automobiles, and public transportation is not always a practical option. Not only does the commute cost in gas, but it also puts mileage on your car.

Movie Review: Safe House

Rina Risper14 years ago04 mins

Studio: Universal Pictures (115 min)

Plot: A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with the fugitive.

Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard

Rating: R

Bottom Line: ***1/2

By Samantha Ofole-Prince

A thriller with grit and intrigue, Denzel Washington plays the CIA’s most dangerous traitor, Tobin Frost, who stuns the intelligence community when he surfaces in South Africa.

When the safe house to which he’s remanded is attacked by brutal mercenaries, a rookie (Ryan Reynolds) is forced to help him escape. It’s kill or be killed, so joining forces, the duo are forced to track down the mercenaries who want them dead.

African Americans and Oscar®

Rina Risper14 years ago05 mins

By Reference Librarian Anne R.

Viola Davis

At the Screen Actors Guild Award ceremony last month, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, who both appeared in the movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s popular novel The Help, made history together. They were the first pair of African American actresses to win both the Best Actress and the Best Supporting Actress awards.

Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Oscar®

When the Academy Awards event airs on Sunday, Feb. 26, this milestone may be repeated. That’s an encouraging sign, since the history of African Americans and the Oscar® is a troubling one. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win, taking home the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance as housemaid Mammy in Gone with the Wind. It would be an astonishing 23 years before another African American actor took home an Oscar®.

Aboutthatcar.com Mercedes-Benz SLK350

Rina Risper14 years ago07 mins

By Frank S. Washington

DETROIT, MI – I think consumers see the Mercedes-Benz SLK and don’t realize what they’re looking at. Now entering its third generation, the SLK was the first car to have a successful retracting roof. That’s right, just like its predecessor the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 is a hardtop convertible.

My test vehicle featured the panorama (glass) roof but it did not feature the option that lets you change the color of the tint. Still, my tester did have the optional neck-level heating system, as Mercedes said, that blew warm air from the driver and passenger-seat head restraints.

Editorial: Closure of Collins Road Post Office Would be Detrimental to Lansing Region

Rina Risper14 years ago05 mins

By Andy Schor

Few Michigan residents are strangers to the fallout that comes with state and federal budget cuts. With many lawmakers reluctant to embrace sustainable solutions to our budget problems, vital services that our area families and businesses rely on continue to be slashed (and in some cases eliminated completely) at every level of government.

One of the most alarming possibilities currently being discussed in Washington is the closure of the United States Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center on Collins Road in Lansing and subsequent transfer of that facility’s services to Grand Rapids. This is being justified by a feasibility study conducted by the U.S. Postal Service which is being called into question by a number of regional leaders.

Ancient Nubians: A hard life

Rina Risper14 years ago013 mins

Making bones speak: Students analyze a Nubian skeleton from the Middle Ages. More than 400 ancient skeletons from Africa are on loan to MSU from the British Museum. Photo by G.L. Kohuth

E. LANSING, MI — In a narrow, modest laboratory in Michigan State University’s Giltner Hall, students pore over African skeletons from the Middle Ages in an effort to make the bones speak.

Little is known about these Nubians, meaning the information collected by graduate and undergraduate students in MSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Program will help shed light on this unexplored culture.

From what has already been gathered, life in ancient Nubia could be brutal. Residents of Mis Island – a remote area along the Fourth Cataract of the Nile River in present day Sudan – were plagued by meager diets, high infant mortality and diseases such as scurvy and tuberculosis.