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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Two Schools, One Goal: Alex's Great State Race Disability Awareness Challenge

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Friday, October 24, 2014   

EAST LANSING, Mich. - It will be Spartan versus Wolverine when the state's two biggest rivals take to the football field on Saturday, but today, the two are teaming up in a first-of-its-kind challenge to support students with disabilities.

Spartan super fan Alex Powell dreamt his whole life of attending Michigan State but was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer his senior year in high school. His mother Juliana says Alex was still able to to make his dream come true because of the help he received from MSU's Resource Center for Students with Disabilities.

"It's not just chronic illness," says Powell. "They take care of students with ADHD, depression, and also the disabilities that are visible to the eye: somebody who's in a wheelchair, somebody who's blind."

Alex died in May of 2011 during his freshman year, and this year Powell created Alex's Great State Race, raising money for the center and a its counterpart at the University of Michigan. Today, a team of ROTC candidates from both schools will lead a 64-mile run from the Big House in Ann Arbor to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Fans can log on to donate to either school.

Powell says despite her family's ties to MSU, she wanted the challenge to benefit both schools because she realizes living with disability is bigger than any one school, or any one student.

"Unfortunately, I know we are not going to be the only family dealing with this," says Powell. "I'm not going to be the only mother worried about their son or their daughter at college with whatever the disability is."

So far, Alex's Great State Race has raised more than $12,000, and Powell says it will be an annual event. The runners are expected to arrive at Spartan Stadium around 3:30 p.m., carrying the game ball for Saturday's match up.


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