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Grand Island Independent · Local

Delivering E15 for Nebraska's producers

Nebraska's farmers and ranchers are no strangers to adversity. Unpredictable weather, high input costs, and low yields have made it increasingly difficult to make a living in agriculture. The last thing our producers need is more uncertainty in the market.

The Lafayette · Local

Lafayette College shrinks Inclusion division, offices relocated

Driven by a public pledge to cultivate inclusivity on campus, Lafayette College unified its diversity, equity and inclusion departments under a newly established Division of Inclusion in 2024. Two years later, the college moved most of those offices out of the division, reducing its once 10-member staff to four employees. Previously centralized under the Division of Inclusion, the offices of Religious and Spiritual Life; Institutional Equity and Title IX; Gender and Sexuality Programs and International Students Advising were reassigned to other divisions. The reorganization occurred ahead of the fall semester’s start, according to an email sent Aug. 21 by college President Nicole Hurd to Lafayette faculty and staff. The college did not notify students about the changes. “I saw a chance to not only have a Division of Inclusion, but to resource other offices and leaders on this campus to do inclusion work,” she said.

The Lafayette · Local

Lafayette College volunteer location’s license downgraded

Northampton County’s Gracedale Nursing Home, a longtime volunteer partner for Lafayette College programs, received a downgraded license for the third time in the past year after multiple incidents of alleged patient neglect. The downgrading followed two inspections on Sept. 10 and Sept. 24 in which one resident choked on food as a result of alleged neglect and another resident’s foot was injured after staff failed to follow proper protocol, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports. The announcement arrived less than two months after a grand jury report detailing an alleged attempted exorcism in June 2025 attracted public scrutiny. Pennsylvania nursing homes can be given provisional licenses ranging from Provisional I to IV — with Provisional IV being the lowest — if the state’s Department of Health’s inspections reveal violations of safety standards, including patient neglect, insufficient care and structural problems with the building.

The Lafayette · Local

Football storms back in 2nd half against William & Mary

The football team got back in the win column with a 19-14 come-from-behind victory over the College of William & Mary on the road last Saturday. Facing off against the Tribe (1-6 Patriot League, 3-7 overall) for the first time as Patriot League opponents, the Leopards (3-3 Patriot League, 4-5 overall) pitched their fourth second-half shutout of 2026 to improve to .500 in conference play. “It’s really just coming together as a team,” sophomore defensive lineman Daniel Adefolarin said. “Being on the same page, having the discipline, trusting our coaches to call the right plays for us.” Each team traded punts to open the game before William & Mary uncorked a pass up the seam and hit an open receiver, who broke a Leopard tackle on the 68-yard touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead. After another pair of punts, a pass interference call took the Maroon and White into William & Mary territory.

The Lafayette · Easton, PA

Good Human Improv brings goofiness, laughter to Easton

What do robotic animals, Banksy and a college philosophy class have in common? According to improv logic, more than you’d think. On Friday night, a small but boisterous crowd gathered at Good Human Improv Company in downtown Easton for The Beacon, an improv showcase featuring a group of rising performers who had just undergone an intensive eight-week performance workshop. This week, the newly minted group, Breakfast in the Morning, started the show. They worked based on a form of improv called “The Harold,” a 30-minute format that heavily centers audience participation to guide the group through three distinct scenes.

The Lafayette · Local

No Dumb Questions: What happens when Student Government can’t find enough senators?

Three students are running for seven seats for Student Government’s class of 2028 Senate positions. Those three students still need to be voted into office in Student Government’s first-ever Senate elections next week. But what about the other four seats? Student Government’s bylaws send readers questioning procedure on races with too few candidates to the constitution, which refers back to the bylaws’ vacancy procedure. A seat is not considered vacant until new members are seated in Student Government’s final meeting of the calendar year, according to Treasurer Gracie Vale ‘27, who served on the organization’s executive board during the constitutional rewrite that replaced an application-based representative system with a Senate election. Per the bylaws, Student Government’s vice president has one week following a vacancy to request applications from the student body. Students who apply for Senate positions to fill vacancies will not be subject to a public election.

Irates · Local

Արշիլ Գորկի․ մարդ, ով սեփական ցավը վերածեց համաշխարհային արվեստի

Պատկերացրեք մի նկարչի, որը կորցրել է իր մանկությունը, ստիպված է եղել լքել հայրենի տունը, տարիներ շարունակ ապրել է անորոշության մեջ, բայց այդ ամենից հետո կարողացել է ստեղծել մի աշխարհ, որտեղ գույներն ավելի խոսուն են, քան բառերը։ Նրա անունը Արշիլ Գորկի էր։ Նա այն արվեստագետներից էր, որոնց կյանքը երբեմն ավելի արտասովոր է, քան կտավները...

The Lafayette · Local

Men’s soccer ends season with 1st-round collapse to Lehigh

The men’s soccer team fell 3-2 to Lehigh University last Saturday in the first round of the Patriot League Championship, blowing a late 2-0 lead. The loss marked the Leopards’ season finale, following their win against Lehigh last week to keep the season alive. Lafayette College (3-3-3 Patriot League, 4-10-4 overall) opened the scoring against Lehigh (5-3-1 Patriot League, 7-7-5 overall) in the 22nd minute when senior midfielder Samir Dishnica’s indirect free kick found senior midfielder Beaux Lizewski. Lizewski redirected the ball to sophomore forward Tommy Clark, who lofted a shot over the goalkeeper to give the Leopards a 1-0 lead. “My role on those diagonal kicks is to be at the top of the box, and if anything comes out or is deflected, just keep it in play and either get a shot or pass,” Lizewski said. “Samir played it into the box,” he added. “It just happened to fall to me on the top of the box and I saw Tommy was open.

The Lafayette · Local

Your 2026 Student Government Senate election guide

Lafayette College students face their third election in four weeks as Student Government holds its first Senate elections under its rewritten constitution. Similar to the organization’s October cabinet elections, voting will open on Monday at and close on Friday just before noon. Students can only vote for members of their own class year, and can select up to seven candidates to vote for. Class of 2028 Three students are running for seven Senate seats. The four remaining spots will be filled via an application process after the new Senate assumes their positions. Sen. Emerson Casper ‘28 With four semesters of Student Government service, Casper is the longest-tenured senator seeking election. She currently chairs the Student Organizations Committee, which oversaw the approval of 15 student organizations in April. Sen. Enihyah Rolle ‘28 Rolle was appointed in March to replace Rep. Milan Iezzi ‘28, a former presidential candidate who stepped down in February.

The Lafayette · Local

‘Acting completely nonchalant will not make you friends’: Psychologist, author gives advice on making connections on campus

Making friends on a college campus can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be. Marisa Franco, a professor at the University of Maryland and the author of the New York Times bestselling book “Platonic,” gave a crowd of roughly 200 Lafayette College students advice for making friends on Tuesday. “Students struggle because they have a lot of misconceptions when it comes to connection,” Franco said. “They are waiting for someone to choose them rather than knowing that they can choose.” Hosted inside the “Bicentennial Village” and organized by the Lafayette Activities Forum, the Office of Student Involvement and Dean of Students Walter Snipes, Franco’s talk covered numerous strategies from her book to help build relationships. Such strategies included showing up to and engaging with people in social spaces, being vulnerable, initiating social events, being intentional about making friends and making people feel like they matter.

The Lafayette · Local

Women’s basketball drops tight contest against NJIT

The women’s basketball team had opportunities down one possession in the fourth quarter against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, but couldn’t quite convert offensively, losing 64-60 at home on Wednesday. Ball movement was the theme early for the Leopards (1-2 overall), as they scored off of assists on seven of their eight baskets in the first quarter. Senior forward Tasha Chudy collected four assists in the opening period against the Highlanders (4-0 overall), dropping dimes to her teammates on cuts to the basket. “We started out with really good intensity, and I think that intensity came off of us making hard cuts, making hard plays, so when we play hard like that, those opportunities are going to be there,” Chudy said. Though the Leopards went 0-for-2 from downtown in the first quarter, they made up for it with frequent paint touches, generating looks at the basket off dribble drives, and taking a 17-11 lead.

The Lafayette · Local

Artist guides flock through birding, data analysis

For the average nature lover, math might not factor into the equation. But for Jer Thorp, a data artist and professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the fields of mathematics and ornithology — the study of birds — could not be more connected. “We like to think of the natural world as something sacred and pre-natural that we can appreciate without thinking very hard about,” Thorp said. “Through data collection, we find the external players that are changing the world we care so much about. It’s one thing to say a species is dying; it’s another to ask why.” Data artists create abstract visual representations of data to evoke an aesthetic experience with collected information. Thorp led three Lafayette College students and three faculty members through a data art project, in which participants represented yearly visitation habits for birds at Merrill Creek Reservoir outside Phillipsburg through a postcard that they then emailed to family and friends.

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