Tickets went on sale to students Dec. 3, to the general public Thursday, and by the end of the day Friday they were all purchased.

“We were shooting for a sold out show,” said Program Board Director Damon Brown. “We didn’t think it’d sell out as fast as it did.”

The only way for students to get Ke$ha tickets is by attending Program Board events, where some will be given away, Brown said.

Earlier, students and community members could win tickets by listening to 95.3 CFX, but the station has given away all of their tickets, said General Manager Jim Spangenberg.

Operations Manager Kent Bergstrom coordinated the giveaway at the station.

“Given the popularity of the concert at the box office, enthusiasm and excitement for the chance to win free tickets is very high,” he said.

In recent years, Program Board has filled Rose Arena by bringing T-Pain and Dave Matthews Band, Brown said. The group plans to host two more events in the new events center, a concert and a comedian, but they have not selected the performers yet.

Chinoy said one of her key concerns is the lack of a founding dean to give the College direction.

“Overall vision has to be very clear as to how it’s going to be implemented and who is going to do what,” Chinoy said. “It depends on what the university wants and what the College of Medicine wants.”

If chosen for the position, Chinoy would work with education, recruitment, retention and outreach for CMU’s College of Medicine. She emphasized her organizational skills, vision and team leadership mentality as valuable assets.

“We talked around the issues of community well-being and heath and individual rights,” said Robert Winfield, director of University Heath Services and the chief health officer at U-M.

The campus’ dormitories have been smokeless for 10 years.

Four other Michigan universities have already banned smoking; Washtenaw Community College, Saginaw Valley State University, Grand Rapids Community College and Lansing Community College.

“People have used this campus policy to take that next step towards a more healthy lifestyle and stop smoking,” said Janet Hawkins, coordinator of public relations at Washtenaw Community College.

WCC has been smokeless since January of 2006.

The change at U-M reflects what is going on culturally, Hawkins said. When WCC first made the decision to go smokeless, it was one of the first campuses to do so. Many others have followed suit.

U-M made the decision after several conferences with residence hall students discussing the difficulty of enforcing the smoking policy around entrances. Many students felt uncomfortable confronting their peers, and didn’t feel like they had the authority to confront faculty or staff members.

U-M still has many issues to work out regarding its policy, which is why planning is scheduled for two years, Winfield said.

A committee made up of students, faculty and staff, both smokers and non-smokers, will discuss how to communicate the policy change, enforce the policy, whether there should special outbuildings for smokers and how to deal with public events and guests.

“You can imagine the difficulties surrounding events on campus, such as tailgates,” said Winfield of enforcing the policy.

However, Hawkins said WCC’s smoking ban has largely been successful.

Kaleva senior Danielle Johnson said she would love it if CMU banned smoking on campus.

“I hate getting stuck behind people that smoke when I’m walking to class,” she said. “I’ve never been a smoker.”

China graduate student William Jiang and Jordan graduate student Muath Alhammouri, both smokers, believe they have the right to smoke on campus.

“You can’t smoke in the building so you can smoke out here,” Alhammouri said. “What’s the difference if I smoke in my apartment or if I smoke on campus?”

Jiang said although he knows second-hand smoke is harmful for other people, he would still be opposed to a smoking ban.

“It’s not a good idea for me because I smoke,” he said. “I hope there isn’t a ban.”

Senior Reporter Joe Borlik contributed to this report.

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As of Tuesday, the enhanced licenses will function as passports when crossing into and out of the United States by land or sea from the Caribbean, Canada or Mexico. The licenses are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a federal initiative that hopes to streamline border crossings while increasing security.

“We pursued this change as a way to increase homeland security and to keep traffic moving at our borders,” said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.

The technology of the card will allow it to be scanned as drivers approach an American border station. All that will occur at the station is a quick visual check; the security personnel will have already been able to look up information regarding all of the car’s occupants.

The licenses will also assist with Michigan border crossings in Detroit, Port Huron and Sault Ste. Marie.

“Ontario anticipates that our important trading, tourism and family ties with Michigan will be strengthened by enhanced driver’s licenses that allow motorists to enter the United States without a passport,” said Sandra Pupatello, minister of International Trade and Investment and Windsor West Member of the Provincial Canadian Parliament.

Ontario is looking at enacting similar techniques by the end of the spring.

Chesney said Canada and Michigan trade more than $70 billion annually, so the change will not only benefit people who cross the border for recreational activities, but also people who ship between the two countries.

The license is more convenient and less expensive than a passport. To receive the license, it will take two to three weeks, compared to a passport that takes four to six weeks and they are $45, rather than $100 for a passport.

“It’s not only convenient, it’s good for the security of our state,” Chesney said.

This allows citizens to carry something with them at all times that will let them enter the United States, she added.

A local Secretary of State representative said licenses cannot be applied for at the Mount Pleasant Secretary of States Office. The nearest location that students can apply for the enhanced driver’s license is the Bay City PLUS Office, 1007 N. Euclid Ave.

In order to apply for the license students need their Michigan photo license, proof of a valid social security number and proof of United States citizenship. Without a photo license, proof of identity and proof of Michigan residency will be required for people to obtain the enhanced license.

For more information about enhanced licenses, visit mi.gov/sos, and for information about the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative visit travel.state.gov.

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Craig DeRoche, former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, does not think raising taxes is one of them.

“When you raise taxes, you will get less of what you raise taxes on,” he said during Tuesday night’s panel discussion, “Fixing Lansing.”

Several speakers from groups such as the Mackinaw Center for Public Policy and the Citizens’ Voice for Property Owners were joined by some current and previous Michigan House of Representatives officials.

The topics ranged from the importance of citizen involvement to offsetting the state’s 12.6 percent unemployment rate.

The 20-person audience, when polled, agreed that increasing taxes would not solve the $800 million budget short fall.

“If we don’t have the money, why don’t we just spend the money that we have?” DeRoche said.

There were many solutions suggested by the speakers, some of which included having prisoners cook their own food, or having all school districts privatize food preparation, transportation and janitorial services.

Another problem, the speakers felt, was that citizens are not involved enough with the government.

“Citizens are too busy with their lives,” said former state representative and current chairman of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance Leon Drolet.

Organizations are able to lobby and make it appear that their opinions are what the people want, and they know that people do not have the time to do much about it.

Citizens only can donate $500 to political candidates, while large political action committees are able to donate up to $5,000, explained Jack Hoogendyk, executive director of Citizens’ Voice for Property Owners and a 2008 U.S. Senate candidate. Because of this, committees are able to have a much larger voice, to add to the fact that they take senators out for meals and games.

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Mount Pleasant will be welcoming bicyclists to mid-Michigan July 12-14 for a festival celebrating bicycling and healthy lifestyles. There will be races for all ages and skill levels during the festival.

The first race of the festival will be a criterium on Saturday. A criterium is a race event where the participants are given a set quantity of time and whoever makes it the farthest is the winner. There will be a block in downtown that will be set aside for this activity.

“We have races for community members and youth members. And then we have races for high level category one and two professional racers,” said Lisa Hadden, president and CEO of the Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce.

The second day’s races will begin with a 103-mile race through Isabella County and a 26-mile race later in the day.

“It’s bigger than people realize; these are like Lance Armstrong level racers,” said Hadden.

She anticipates that this will be the largest race of the year for the Michigan Bicycling Association.

The chamber is hoping for hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators, along with many high level riders.

“We’re going to be getting them from throughout the state, Ohio, Indiana, Ontario and Illinois,” said Bob Peters, the chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce.

The title sponsor of the event is Central Michigan Community Hospital, though the Chamber of Commerce is still looking for other sponsors.

“We’re very excited to support this event because not only is it benefitting the community as a whole, but it showcases the importance of fitness,” said Central Michigan Community Hospital’s community relations specialist Darcie Suderman.

In addition to the athletic element to this race, there will be many other community events, concerts and exhibitions.

“Saturday night we have School of Rock, which is two hours of high intense rock ‘n’ roll,” Hadden said.

There will also be music Friday night at Mountain Town Station 506 W. Broadway St.

“We’re going to have a ball. We hope the whole community can join us,” Peters said.

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Since the fall of 2006, downtown Mount Pleasant has offered free wireless, including in many of the local shops.

“It’s an added incentive for coming downtown,” said Michelle Sponseller, downtown development director.

Part of the goal of the installation was to draw more people downtown so that they would be able to do things like check their e-mail and surf the web while enjoying the area, she said.

“It wasn’t that difficult for us to employ,” said Jeremy Sheets, president of CMS Internet.

There are three or four access points to provide wireless Internet for the whole downtown. Installations like apartment complexes require 100 to 200 access points, he said.

The access points are mounted to items such as light poles because the downtown application is not large enough to require towers like in some major cities.

The downtown wireless Internet can be accessed in more than a 10-block radius, between Illinois and Mosher Streets.

“Three years ago when we did it, it was still kinda a ‘wow, something like this is happening in Mount Pleasant?’ but now the wow factor is kinda gone,” Sheets said.

There are now more towns that have this feature, so it isn’t as new, but Mount Pleasant was fairly cutting-edge in the area, Sheets said.

Fifi’s French Press, 203 W. Broadway St., is one store downtown where people can use the wireless. Fifi’s had wireless Internet before downtown added their own installation, but now customers simply use the downtown network.

“People don’t come here to do homework,” said Allison White, an Ann Arbor junior and Fifi’s barista.

White said she hasn’t noticed more customers in the shop as a result of the wireless Internet, but a lot of customers are bringing in their laptops.

“Quite a number of people bring their laptop in,” Sponseller said.

There is a downfall to using downtown’s wireless Internet – it works in hour-long blocks, White said. She said people have to re-log in every hour and should make sure that everything is saved by the hour mark.

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“Someone’s account got compromised, they sent out a bunch of spam e-mail to a bunch of places, Comcast wound up blocking CMU,” said Jeff McDowell, Information Technology Help Desk manager.

On April 4, a Central Michigan University student’s e-mail account was hacked into and after the spam was sent out, Comcast, a Michigan-based television and Internet provider, blocked all cmich.edu e-mail accounts.

The tweet that solved the problem was sent out by Information Technology Communications Manager Duane Kleinhardt on April 8 at 3:20 p.m. It stated “Cmich.edu e-mail is being blocked by Comcast. Call (989) 774-3662 for more info.”

“(Kleinhardt) posted something on Twitter, and within an hour they were calling us to get the problem fixed,” McDowell said.

Usually, IT would just explain to the company that they had a compromised account, McDowell said. Five days after contacting Comcast, the traditional communication methods had not yielded any results, so IT tried a different means of communication.

Kleinhardt said all universities have been affected by this glitch and many times it can be difficult to get providers to respond in a timely fashion to the blacklisting. Because most students are not Comcast customers, finding a solution to the problem is not high priority.

“It’s just a matter of getting a hold of the right person at the company,” McDowell said.

“The real takeaway from the Twitter story is that the issue was resolved very quickly through the social networking,” Kleinhardt said.

Mary Beth Halprin, vice president of public relations and community affairs for Comcast for the Michigan sales area, said they regularly monitor the social network Web sites for people’s opinions of Comcast.

“We do this to check in with customers that are reaching out through these networks,” she said.

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“We make the contests available to any CMU students and faculty,” said Ian Boley, Mount Pleasant senior. He is helping to run this year’s contest after receiving second in last spring’s contest.

There will be three judges, selected by the Alpha Psi Omega theatre fraternity. One of them is a student in the fraternity and two members are theatre faculty.

Plays that are entered must not have been previously performed, but can be adaptations of previously performed works or collaborative works from either students or faculty.

“The major incentive is the opportunity to have your play performed,” Boley said.

There are no monetary prizes, but the student’s play may be selected to be performed at the Alpha Psi Omega One Act Festival in the fall. The festival’s plays are selected, written, directed and performed by students.

Andrew Lewis, a Portland Senior, had his play performed at the One Act Festival last fall. He collaborated with directors on his play, part of which will be published in this semester’s Central Review magazine.

“Just write about something you like without worrying about whether the judges will like it or not,” was Lewis’ advice to this year’s entrants.

Since there are few script writing classes, this allows students the opportunity to finish their work and have it evaluated, Boley said.

He feels that the best thing about the contest is that it gives a tangible goal to people who are interested in script writing.

“I have been wanting to enter for a few years, but I didn’t have the materials till now,” said Southfield senior Bridgette Wynn. She said that she was inspired this year and finished her play.

“I was really happy to finish it,” Wynn said, even though she feels nervous about it because she has put so much time and love into it.

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State environmental officials are cautioning homeowners to be mindful of any outside fires this time of year because the spring wind and dry grass create good wildfire conditions.

“If you can go fly a kite, you don’t want to have a fire,” said Paul Kollmeyer, a Department of Natural Resources fire prevention specialist.

He cautioned people to be careful if burning dry leaves from lawn raking. With windy conditions, airborne sparks can easily spread fire, he said.

Two weeks ago, the Shepherd Tri-Township firefighters responded to a grass fire that nearly got out of control on South Wise Road in Chippewa Township.

It was one of several minor incidents around mid-Michigan this spring that could have gotten out of control, officials say.

“If the fire gets out of your control, don’t be a hero and try to put it out yourself,” said Mary Dettloff, public information officer for the DNR.

Burn barrels must be covered to prevent sparks from flying. Despite the fact that snow was on the ground recently and that the ground is still wet, the grass has dried out and fires will spread, Kollmeyer said.

Keep fires small and put them out with water when done. Supervise all fires and extinguish all coals completely when done burning, he said.

Dettloff recommends that anyone that starts a fire should make sure that they have a garden hose and a shovel near by.

The Mount Pleasant Fire Department is rarely called to wildfire scenes, though they do occasionally assist other departments.

“We don’t get involved in many wildfires being here in the city,” said Fire Chief Gregory Walterhouse.

The DNR has been encouraging a program called Firewise, which gives tips on to how to keep homes safe in the event of a wildfire.

Kollmeyer suggested cutting tall grass, cutting off low tree branches, cleaning out gutters and making sure that the siding of a home is not flammable.

In order to see if burning conditions are safe, visit mi.gov/burn permits.

metro@cm-life.com