— The key witness in the criminal case against Timothy Haslett Jr provided testimony in a closed court hearing on Friday The testimony came from the woman who says she was kidnapped and held captive for a month in Haslett’s basement “dungeon” before she managed to escape in October 2022 the woman sought help from neighbors and reported the abuse leading to Haslett’s arrest and subsequent charges Court officials closed the hearing to the public due to the sensitive nature of the testimony and concerns for the witness’s safety and well-being Clay County Prosecutor’s Office CIO Cher Congour confirmed that the witness testimony will be sealed and will not be made available until the trial A continuation of the closed-court hearing to gather testimony is scheduled for March 19 also faces an additional first-degree murder charge The charge was filed in July 2024 after authorities linked him to the remains of Jaynie Crosdale whose body was discovered in a barrel in the Missouri River by kayakers Legal proceedings are set to continue throughout 2025 with the following key dates scheduled at the Clay County Courthouse in Liberty: Judge David Paul Chamberlain will preside over the trial If you appreciate the value our local journalism brings to the community please consider making a recurring contribution to the Excelsior Citizen Excelsior Citizen518 Elms Blvd.Excelsior Springs, MO 64024(816)826-1270info@excelsiorcitizen.com Get the Excelsior Citizen e-newsletter delivered straight to your inbox each week It’s a collection of the best news and events all focused exclusively on Excelsior Springs No fluff just local news and information you can trust Last Updated on March 17, 2025 by S Jason Cole This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here Most of them rattle on about quotidian matters (Brush your teeth I want pesto); many of them anxious (You’re late I’m out of pesto!); and some even dulcet (How vivid that tree against that sky This is the best parmesan I’ve ever tasted) the voice I hear most often is that of my imagined reader Who this person is can change from paragraph to paragraph there’s always the voice of the general reader (Who cares! Or my mother: I know where you took that wallpaper from And that’s when my fingers come off the keyboard no worthwhile writing that hasn’t overcome doubt of some kind dWithout doubt there would be no cause to edit But I’m talking here about the close quarters of sentence-to-sentence composition in which individual sounds before they are allowed the space to unfurl are killed off by my own instantaneous conjecture about what others would make of them: Dull It doesn’t much matter which because it doesn’t take much to quash something as evanescent as the glimmer of an idea this silencing voice spreads its judgment from the sentence to the page and from there onto the whole endeavor The doubt becomes radical: this is no good How to write when a voice like this holds sway I suspect there are as many answers as there are people who have finished books because it’s hard to complete any piece of writing without believing it’s impossible or pointless or both I navigated this recurring juncture in the process quite poorly Blind to how the smaller judgments—those seemingly innocuous rejections of phrases in individual sentences—fed the larger conviction that my work lacked life altogether I unwittingly allowed that conviction to take hold And thus I found myself fighting radical doubt almost daily my only choice seemed to be to wage a kind of war of attrition I simply tried to outlast the critics in my head I’d spend hours at my desk sneaking down a few piddling lines I discovered that if I ate nothing while writing pushing lunch later and later into the afternoon the internal critics grew tired before I did for the last forty-five minutes or an hour of a day’s work I began to take more notice of those not-so-innocuous beginnings: the erasing of the verb that part of me actually liked the sound of or the step back from an image that felt too exposed I’ve meditated each morning before writing for twenty years now yet for a long time the practice was utilitarian an attempt to push aside only those loudest voices in my head so that I could write anything at all with practice and reading and learning from teachers something broader has come into view: the motion of the mind itself How the tree against the sky and the little bodily ache and the wish for pasta and the hundred other barely apprehended apprehensions are endlessly jumbled together along with the judgments and the self-criticism And that if you’re able to calm the brain to the point of seeing this jumble itself as it unfolds to adopt toward your own consciousness what Freud described as “evenly suspended attention,” then free yourself from the tyranny of distraction when I find myself in the midst of composing a sentence and a critical thought pipes up to cut me short—I pause What is it about this image or scene or character that has excited my internal doubters having done this now over and over and over I’ve come to realize how much of my doubt is actually fear—of being judged and waiting for my critics to die of starvation I try answering the question of what’s making me afraid I’m able to sense—and more importantly to use—the enormous energy and intelligence that fear contains fear captures so much a mind in lassitude does not instead of all this acumen being used up to prevent you from moving forward and I can hardly claim to have mastered it writing has become less a war of attrition and more an act of curiosity This has the obvious benefit of allowing me to enter more deeply into the world I am trying to create for that imagined reader who I can now sometimes even imagine as sympathetic something that for too long I didn’t even realize I was missing in the act of writing Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett is available now via Little Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy Policy Support Lit Hub - Become A Member Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving "The ice cream corner will soon be restored." RELATED: Remembering the Old Cheezy D's in Haslett That's the message the new owners of The Corner Spot have for the people of Haslett, Michigan who co-owns the new restaurant with her husband Adam doesn't have an opening date to share but hopes to begin serving pizza and ice cream to customers later this spring but the location has remained empty since late 2021 "We are pumped to get some ice cream on that corner again," Bailey said in a post on Instagram "There is really nothing like that Haslett corner in the summer when you've got the flowers going in the park A post shared by The Corner Spot (@cornerspot_haslett) The Corner Spot is expected to provide summer jobs to a number of local teens The restaurant hopes to begin the staffing process soon The Corner Spot plans to open in Haslett, Michigan, in Spring 2025. The pizza and ice cream shop will be located where Cheezy D's Deli & Dogs used to be.\nRead More RELATED: Remembering the Old Cheezy D's in Haslett That's the message the new owners of The Corner Spot have for the people of Haslett, Michigan A post shared by The Corner Spot (@cornerspot_haslett) Posted by on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 in event Adam Haslett is the author of the novels Mothers and Sons finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award; You Are Not a Stranger Here finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; and Union Atlantic winner of the Lambda Literary Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize His books have been translated into thirty languages and his journalism on culture and politics have appeared in The Financial Times He has been awarded the Berlin Prize by the American Academy in Berlin and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker 36% of all banned titles featured characters or people of color and a quarter (25%) included LGBTQ+ people or characters This week-long intensive provides an in-person workshop for early-career writers from communities underrepresented in the publishing world Learn how the creation and display of art is entwined with the U.S.’s most fraught cultural and political debates The next four years could reshape the United States for decades to come Join us in fighting every day to protect the freedom to write and the freedom to read the newest novel by Pulitzer Prize nominee Adam Haslett concerns itself with the chilly yet tenacious relationship between a 40-year-old reclusive immigration lawyer and his mother a former Episcopal priest who runs a women’s retreat in Vermont Haslett incrementally unspools a family history of heartbreak and regret exploring how a single event can rupture a bond while vulnerability and honesty might offer a route to repair the similarity between a lawyer and a writer is that they both rely on words—sentences and paragraphs that make up the briefs or chapters they produce—to convince others of something an imagined world in the case of a novelist So the precision of language (if not originality for lawyers) is paramount for both you have to have the mental capacity to put yourself in other people’s shoes in order to figure out the best way to help them that’s what fiction is all about—imagining As for the differences there are too many to number but to cite just one: novelists don’t have clients Their readers might be disappointed by shoddy work I started work in earnest on the book in 2019 As soon as I realized the main character would be an immigration lawyer I knew I had a choice to make: set it before Trump or after Given that the immigration system and the political discourse around it has been broken for decades—Obama and Biden both deported more people than Trump in his first administration—it wasn’t as if I needed to set it post 2016 to depict an overworked lawyer and his relationship to his clients And as I went on with the writing that is what pulled me in more and more what late in the book Peter describes as “intimacy without intimacy,” that proximity that a lawyer has to the hardest experiences an asylum seeker has likely ever been through yet without the time or form of connection of It’s a very particular relationship conducted under stress and with huge consequences the flagrant cruelty and meanness of the current administration already has and will continue to add to this stress And which is why supporting people in these jobs is so important.  which is to say I spend much of my writing time trying to occupy the self-states that my characters are experiencing So if Peter is rather numb and cut off from himself Which is what made writing Peter’s early scenes in the book the hardest part of writing this novel because I was spending time in a mind shorn of much feeling at all It’s a privilege to have the time to absorb myself in this way but the difficulty of it is it’s not always easy to leave at the desk and because I can take a day or a week off of writing if I need to the consequences of these ghosts piling up in me isn’t as stark as it is for Peter in his world I would say daily sitting meditation is the most practical means.  As I went on with the writing that is what pulled me in more and more In Mothers and Sons I had the sense of wanting to give the book some of the lyric concision of a short story (I thought at first it would be quite a short novel but it ended up being about the length of my other two) And one of the things this meant was having the kind of beat-by-beat awareness of where the reader’s knowledge of events stood in the way you need to have in writing a short story This is one of the reasons it took me a long time to write this book I wanted to attend to that pacing page by page and then getting a deep edit from my editor Ben George who is very good at clocking these sorts of things At some point you’ve rewritten certain scenes so many times you lose perspective on how they’re functioning within the whole And that’s where a good editor is indispensable My partner is a composer and a few years ago he had a commission to set some of Hildegard von Bingen’s invented language a lexicon that seems to have been her way to get at spiritual concepts she felt couldn’t be expressed in existing languages That’s how I came to hear the term Viriditas She saw it as a force that ran through all living things and the power of plants and animals to renew themselves All of which seemed apt to the mission of the retreat center that Ann helps to found in the book It’s also true that I just liked the sound of the word.  The parallel you refer to is obvious to me now that the book is done but to be honest I wasn’t as aware of it while writing My goal is always to get as far inside a character’s way of being in the world as I can and each person’s manner of coping with their experience is different Which is just to say that I came up with these attributes of Peter (his almost exclusive focus on work) and Ann (her meditative groundedness) in trying to make sense of them as individuals it turns out their ways of coping with the things they don’t want to see share a family resemblance: they help others but there is always that danger of condescension.  The tricky thing about a question like this is that what ends up impacting us isn’t “the” depiction itself which like all memories may well be distorted the depictions that come to mind are the narrator and his mother in Proust but the scenes of her and Marcel are just so incredibly rich and lovingly done talking in that window as they look down over the gardens of Ostia That scene was in my mind writing this book Monica has spent much of her adult life trying to bring her son back to God and they have this glimpse of joy together for the mystery of his lack of any grief at all at his mother’s death a lack that is the driving force of that book.   It’s a remarkable history of indigenous communities in North America over nearly five hundred years One of the most revelatory episodes for me is how settlers in Western Pennsylvania in the pre and post Revolutionary period managed over two or three decades to shift the nascent political establishment’s view away from the treaty making and trade with native tribes that had gone on for a century and a half toward a more openly genocidal and eliminationist approach to all Indians regardless of which side a tribe had fought on in the war with Britain It’s such a stark example of how a racialized settler ideology moves from the fringe of a body politic to the very center of it we see playing out again with the politics of the U.S and the dilemmas or challenges they’re grappling with are different So if I were to give the same advice all the time The hardest part is trying to discern what a graduate student is most in need of to clarify and strengthen their work But this leads fairly naturally to the best part: getting to know younger writers and most of all getting to discuss it with them so I can understand not just the words on the page but the ideas and interests that lie behind them Which is when teaching really becomes a conversation and getting to have conversations about stories and fiction and how to translate life into art—that can be both meaningful and pleasurable.  Adam Haslett is the author of the story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here and the novels Union Atlantic and Imagine Me Gone He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize as well as a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship He currently directs the MFA Program at Hunter College in New York and learn by donating to PEN America today Copyright © 2025 PEN America. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy Prom 2025: All the glamorous photos from Greater LansingLansing State JournalProm season 2025 is here smiles and dancing at this annual rite of passage across Greater Lansing LSJ photographers will be on the scene of proms across the region to document these special nights Bookmark this page and return each week as LSJ adds prom photos from additional schools Dewitt's prom was at The Venue in the Lansing Mall on April 26 Everett's prom was at The Venue in the Lansing Mall on May 3 Haslett's prom was at Grewal Hall in Lansing on April 26 Sexton’s prom was at the Cadillac Room in Lansing Mall on May 3 Williamston’s prom was at Bear Creek Farm in Laingsburg on May 3 PINCKNEY – The start for Haslett's regional final game against Goodrich on Wednesday night couldn't have gone any worse The Vikings fell behind 12-0 and 20-5 in the first quarter while every shot the Martians put up seemed to find the bottom of the net eventually taking a three-point lead in the fourth quarter Goodrich guard Baylor Lauringer hit a contested layup with just over three seconds remaining A last-second shot at the buzzer wouldn't fall for Haslett and its season came to a close in the regional finals with a 58-56 loss "I think that what they showed tonight defined them all year," Haslett coach Ross Baker said and they were not going to go down without a fight We try to wear teams down and take advantage of that and our defense picked it up and they know how to respond Haslett trailed by eight at halftime but erased that deficit in full less than three minutes into the third quarter The Vikings were without a key contributor in junior forward Calista Blue who was injured in Haslett's district final win over Williamston Junior forward Kaitlyn Johnson led the Vikings with 22 points while junior guard Christina Dixon and sophomore guard Avery Hannah each had 16 points for Haslett The Vikings were coming off an emotional overtime win over Chelsea in the regional semifinals Haslett will return nearly its entire squad next season with this added experience "I hope that this group sees the fight and determination that it takes and how resilient you have to be to make a long run in this tournament," Baker said "Because they stuck together and picked each other up when we made mistake Haslett finishes the season at 22-4 and as CAAC Red champions and winners of a district title Goodrich (23-3) will face Tecumseh in the Division 2 state quarterfinals on Tuesday Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott CHARLOTTE – With both programs capturing district titles last Friday the Lansing Sexton and Haslett basketball programs met in a showdown between two of the Lansing area's better squads with a spot in the regional finals on the line Sexton started hot and built a 20-point lead in the first half but the Vikings chipped away in the third quarter trailing by just eight at one point before heading into the final quarter down 10 points The J-Dubbs were feisty with defensive pressure which led to turnovers and quick buckets in transition and the interior defense was difficult for Haslett to solve when it got set up in its offense and Sexton was able to withstand any late rallies to secure a 74-59 regional semifinal win they're coachable," Sexton coach Deleon Dearing said The defense and communication was overall good not just going through the motions," Dearing added "We have guys stepping up being leaders and young guys playing phenomenal right now so we have a lot of weapons." Junior guard Keyshawn Summerville and senior forward Deqaurius Jones each had 14 points to lead the J-Dubbs and sophomore forward Willie Brown got to double-digits with 12 points attacking into our floaters and then playing good defense that's how we got it done tonight," Summerville said playing with guys I've grown up playing with We just have to keep pushing and be ready for the next time out there." Junior forward Travis Satterla led all scorers with 22 points for Haslett which finishes its season with its first district title in six years and a 20-6 record Sexton (18-5) will play Chelsea (17-8) in a Division 2 regional final on Thursday at 7 p.m Read this week's magazine The author’s workroom in his house in Upstate New York where he lives part of the year with his partner Save for a black-and-white framed photograph of a spiral staircase that a friend shot in Italy “I want to be able to look through the walls as opposed to looking at objects,” Haslett says He meditates most mornings for about 45 minutes before he writes and quieting the voices in my head is important ones that might be sources of surprise for me.” Haslett is skilled at examining the interior lives of characters in states of emotional extremis whether they’re dealing with anxiety His three previous books—the 2002 story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; the novel Union Atlantic winner of the Lambda Literary Award; and the novel Imagine Me Gone a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award—have been translated into 23 languages He’s also the recipient of the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Guggenheim Fellowship the impact of homophobia and violence on mental health and the plight of asylum seekers struggling to stay in the U.S a gay 40-year-old asylum lawyer in New York City who’s overworked who left Peter’s father and now runs a women’s retreat in Vermont Peter spends his days working to exhaustion and his humdrum love life consists of hookups with a man who wants more than Peter can emotionally offer But Peter’s life changes when he meets Vasel a young gay man from Albania who was forced to flee his country after his sexual orientation was exposed he begins to recall a traumatic event from his own youth involving his first love Haslett had wanted to write a novel about a lawyer for a long time He has a law degree from Yale Law School—he graduated in 2003—but has never practiced law though over the years he’s done volunteer legal aid work at immigration detention facilities Going to court became part of his research for Mothers and Sons “I went to Federal Plaza in Manhattan and sat in on immigration hearings,” he says The lawyer for the asylum seeker leads the person through his or her story then the ICE lawyer tries to pick that story apart and sow doubt as to the person’s honesty The hearings can last a couple of hours or more who suffered from manic depression and died by suicide when Haslett was 14 Haslett has written about mental illness and severe anxiety—from which his brother suffered—in You Are Not a Stranger Here and Imagine Me Gone “When my father’s energy was up it was a solar level of energy,” he says “Things with my father took a turn when I was 12—there was a lot of stress and heaviness I wasn’t a formed person; I formed around the event One of the responses I had was to become elegiac.” Haslett graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in English then earned an MFA from Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1999 By the time he’d graduated from Yale he had already published You Are Not a Stranger Here and the law career—which once seemed like a more stable option than writing—took a backseat Haslett also wanted to explore the life of a single gay man “Someone who came of age when AIDS was raging,” he says “when sex was already laced with danger,” and is now trying to navigate hookup culture “I wanted to get at the pain and alienation the way it can cause division between sex and intimacy Whether writing courtroom scenes or exposing characters’ emotional wounds carefully paced sentences is top of mind for Haslett my goal was to create a novel that had the lyric arc of the short story,” he says “A lot of the effort for me was trying to think where is the reader at this beat and that beat I’m always attuned to the rhythm of sentences It’s what I find most pleasurable.” His ability to capture what it means to be human “Adam is unsurpassed at making you feel that its events and characters are part of your own experience,” George says who has been a fan of Haslett’s fiction from the start “Adam writes tender books that are also harrowing,” she says “and has the ability to forge new ground with each one.” Haslett says he aims to write for those who might not see themselves in other work and describes himself as a “method writer,” one who’s trying to mirror his characters’ psychic states He hopes his books can act as a kind of quiet “Given how aggressively distracted the culture is how forcefully our minds are dragged away from us I’m trying to create a space where people can become absorbed and slow down,” he says “I want to give people the opportunity to enter into others’ lives—and further into their own lives Elaine Szewczyk’s writing has appeared in McSweeney’s and other publications She’s the author of the novel I’m with Stupid By Adam HaslettLittle, Brown: 336 pages, $29If you buy books linked on our site The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org Peter Fischer buries his personal demons in work his job is one long emergency: He advocates for asylees seeking legal standing and safe harbor in America Success means a new and far more secure life though in more serene surroundings: She runs a spiritual retreat in Vermont aimed at helping women — discouraged alienated or traumatized — achieve a sense of community and self-worth She has a gift for getting others to connect with their pain Brown) Both are deeply invested in a life of service In “Mothers and Sons,” acclaimed novelist Adam Haslett tells the story of this pair with acute empathy and insight The author of three previous works of fiction (2016’s “Imagine Me Gone” and 2002’s story collection “You Are Not a Stranger Here”) there’s no better writer at chronicling the highs and lows of familial love In “Mothers and Sons,” Haslett shows a family both torn by past trauma and battered by the social turmoil of the present the demon that drives his workaholism lies in his past: As a teenager he wrestled with submerged desires and eventually realized he was gay in the middle of his father’s and mother’s split over Ann’s love for another woman Peter’s crush on the enchanting and charismatic Jared went catastrophically bad Ann’s decision to leave her husband both fractured the family and ended her vocation as an Episcopal priest Peter’s job blocks his memories and serves as an excuse both to avoid entangling relationships and to turn down Ann’s invitations to meet Every case demands a cram course in the politics of his client’s country of origin and the abuse that led him or her to flee a missed deadline can mean arrest and deportation and deportation can be fatal for those who are political refugees There are children whose lives may be wrecked and clients who despair their case’s outcome and simply disappear Peter is the last line of defense for clients from Honduras Haslett has a law degree and has done volunteer immigration work, and I have never read a more informed and vividly rendered account of Peter’s daunting profession, a job that in real life seems likely to become more punishing with the incoming presidential administration’s promised crackdown on immigration. Peter endures the pressure, until Vasel, a young Albanian refugee who was almost killed for being gay, pierces his defenses and revives Peter’s long-ago trauma. He begins to make mistakes, and mistakes can have life-altering consequences. Like Peter, Ann is a helper, and like Peter, her idealism tends to blind her to everyday demands. Peter recalls bitterly: “My father could be dying in the other room, yet still it was the printed word that absorbed her. As if this life — our life — were an interruption of the real meaning of things.” The viability of the retreat center depends on Ann and her partner, but their hard-won serenity is threatened when Ann becomes attracted to another woman. A subplot about one of Ann’s Revolutionary War ancestors who is complicit in genocide doesn’t really go anywhere. But Haslett’s portrayal of Ann and Peter is matchless, and other mother-son pairs echo the ferocity of their bond: Vasel’s fiercely protective mother; a Honduran client whose son will do anything to protect her; Liz and her exuberant little boy; Jared and his stylish, enigmatic mother. Despite avoidance, blame and accusations, a spark of longing for reconciliation survives. “Mothers and Sons” documents an emotional odyssey that in the end feels satisfying and real, and Haslett’s account of Peter’s life is unparalleled in its portrayal of a worker on the front lines of our immigration wars buckling under the weight of his burden. He and Ann both vividly portray the costs of selflessness at the expense of the self. In the end, the chronicle of this complex mother and son pair satisfies one of the best reasons to read fiction: to understand others and their impossible burdens, to mourn when they stumble and celebrate when they survive. Mary Ann Gwinn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who lives in Seattle, writes about books and authors. Books Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map WILLIAMSTON — Christina Dixon got a little nervous Seeing teammate Kalisa Blue go down with an injury in the middle stages of the second quarter was tough to see for the junior standout and the rest of the Haslett girls basketball team But Dixon also knew she needed to pick things up with Blue no longer on the court Dixon had a big night Friday while helping Haslett capture a Division 2 district title with a 47-38 victory over CAAC Red rival Williamston in a Division 2 final Dixon finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Vikings captured their second straight district championship "We've been working for this all season so it's exciting that we pulled out the win." Haslett (21-3) overcame early foul trouble and the loss of Blue to injury to get past Williamston (13-11) for a third time this season and advance to Monday's regional semifinal where it will face Chelsea at Pinckney High School "I think (last year's district title) was a huge part of us maintaining our composure when we got in foul trouble and obviously when Kalista went down," Haslett coach Ross Baker said "That was a gut punch and (Blue is) so valuable to us and does so many things that don't always show up in the stat sheet I think that experience and knowing that we had to stick together really helped us." More: Greater Lansing high school girls basketball district results Dixon also had a big hand in the Vikings overcoming the loss She scored back-to-back baskets following the injury to give Haslett a boost She had eight points during a second quarter in which the Vikings took the lead for good "I just needed to focus on what I needed to do on the court," Dixon said "I know my part on the team and I just had to take over." Baker said that was a big sequence for his team which had fallen behind in the early stages of the second quarter and had a hard time getting shots to fall "Christina is just an amazing scorer and I think her baskets kickstarted us and then we started to lock in a little bit defensively," Baker said That strong defense was on display in the second half as the Vikings held Williamston scoreless from the middle stages of the third quarter to the middle stages of the fourth quarter while building an 18-point lead "When you get to the tournament you've got to be great defensively," Baker said "You've got to lock in and they really took that to heart We saw a shift this week where they were really locked in and focused at practice on the defensive end and they just weren't going to be denied tonight." Thea Fortin finished with 16 points to lead Williamston Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The Saints have agreed to terms with Chase Haslett to be their tight ends coach New Saints head coach Kellen Moore and Haslett reunite after working together in Dallas from 2020-22 was the head coach of the Saints from 2000-05 Chase Haslett began his stint with the Cowboys in 2020 as the offensive quality control coach after three seasons as a college coach He earned a promotion to assistant tight ends coach in 2023 Mike McCarthy named Haslett the Cowboys’ pass game coordinator Moore has not hired an offensive coordinator yet A Division of NBCUniversal DISCLAIMER: This site and the products offered are for entertainment purposes only and there is no gambling offered on this site This service is intended for adult audiences No guarantees are made for any specific outcome If you or someone you know has a gambling problem A Walk in the Park is an ongoing series from State Journal photographer Nick King who intends to explore Lansing area parks one hour at a time If you have a suggestion of a park he should visit located at 1727 Haslett Road in Meridian Township is a rugged land preserve featuring thick forests which was purchased in 2003 though Meridian Township’s Land Preservation Program has rough trails that can be tough to find and navigate through the thick woods but those looking for an escape from the city will enjoy the challenge The park features a diverse environment for all kinds of wildlife and is a spot frequented by red-tailed hawks and sandhill cranes The wetland area can be viewed from the sidewalk on Haslett Road that extends the length of the north end of the land preserve you can park in the neighborhood off Bayonne Avenue near Haslett Road to walk to the natural area you can get to near the park on the Inter-Urban Pathway walking and biking trail Help keep local news alive—donate to support our community reporting!Donate Mike Williamson Bulldogs, Chelsea Athletics, Chelsea football For the second straight year the Chelsea football team saw its season come to an end to the hands of the Haslett Vikings Friday night The Bulldogs came up short against Haslett falling 24-9 and ending their season at 8-3 overall Haslett wasted no time getting on the board with a 59-yard scoring pass for a 7-0 lead The Vikings picked off a pass late in the first but Chelsea got the ball back when Calvin Decker intercepted a pass in the endzone to keep it 7-0 Jax Ichesco connected with Oliver Kuboushek for a 55-yard pass to move the ball into Vikings territory and Chelsea moved to the Haslett six-yard line A quarterback sack pushed the ball back and the Bulldogs settled for a 30-yard Jimmy Sciackitano field goal to make it 7-3 and the Vikings struck with a 22-yard scoring pass with 50 seconds left in the half to make it 14-3 Haslett then intercepted and pass near midfield and returned it inside the Chelsea ten-yard line and kicked a field goal on the last play of the half to make it 17-3 at the break Chelsea got back in the game midway through the third period when Ichesco hit Luke Cavanaugh with a 12-yard TD pass to cut the Vikings lead to 17-9 but Haslett scored with a three-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 24-9 Chelsea made one last push and moved the ball to the Haslett 16 but they turned the ball over on downs after a quarterback sack to give the Vikings the ball back with 8:47 left Haslett then ate up over five minutes off the clock on its next drive before punting and ended the game with an interception on the Bulldogs final drive Ichesco passed for 97 yards and a score and rushed for 20 yards while Gibby Ichesco added 17 yards rushing Kuboushek caught one pass for 55 yards and Cavanaugh two for 40 The Sun Times News is the hub of the most useful information in Chelsea Subscribe to our free daily newsletter to stay on top of all the local news © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices — The Clay County Prosecuting Attorney's office wants to preserve the testimony of the young woman who escaped accused killer Timothy Haslett Jr.'s home in October 2022 29 asks Judge David Chamberlain to allow a recorded deposition of the woman who is an alleged living victim of Haslett She is only known publicly by the last name Jones explained in a motion to the court they need her testimony on video because Jones is currently homeless and living in a "crime-ridden part of the metro." The motion states Haslett "should not gain an advantage from targeting a person living on the margins of society." TIMELINE | Case of accused Excelsior Springs murderer, rapist, kidnapper Timothy Haslett Jr. Sanders' motion states Jones is a "necessary and essential witness for the State," and her "testimony establishes elements of the felonies that cannot be proven in any other manner." Sanders also argues Jones can identify Haslett as the defendant and was a witness to "incriminating statements the defendant made." Jones previously provided statements about what happened to her while she was held captive in a handmade dungeon in Haslett's house in Excelsior Springs Jones said Haslett picked her up along Prospect Avenue in Kansas City She said Haslett told her he kidnapped and killed two other women before her "It breaks my heart," said Michelle Newton outreach coordinator for Relentless Pursuit Outreach & Recovery "It does break my heart because the times I have met her Newton said police brought Jones to Relentless Pursuit after she escaped from Haslett's house She was able to take a shower and get a change of clothes The drop-in center helps women who are homeless and who deal with addiction and work as prostitutes Newton said she hasn't seen Jones in a while "I would love to see her flourish because she's a very bright The fact that someone took advantage of her just hurts my heart Her being sweet might have been her saving grace." It's not surprising to Newton that Jones is back on the street after surviving something as horrific as Jones described "When you go through traumatic events like that you don't want to think about it," Newton said She probably doesn't want to think about that Newton says justice for women like Jones is rare and I'm just hoping that someone will let her know she needs to come to RPOR or get in touch with you or someone so she can get her story out there and her testimony so we put this guy away forever," Newton said The prosecutor's motion states conducting Jones' deposition in the presence of Haslett and his attorney will afford Haslett "his constitutional right of personal confrontation with the witness against him and his [constitutional] right of cross-examination." The state and the defense would be able to use the recorded video at trial the recorded deposition would take place in a courtroom at the Clay County Courthouse in Liberty The deposition would be taken when court is not in session or in another vacant courtroom Haslett is charged with first-degree murder The murder charge is in connection to Jaynie Crosdale's death, whose body was found in a blue barrel in June 2023 in the Missouri River Crosdale, like Jones, had an unstable life on the street, but Newton knew her and said she was bright and witty The I-Team reached out to Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson's office for an interview He declined and instead sent us this statement: "In order to protect the rights of all parties and the integrity of the process We remain focused on achieving justice inside the courtroom." Haslett is scheduled to be in court on Sept RPOR has had more than 3,356 visits to the drop-in center in 2024 clean clothes and lifestyle counseling every week Newton said RPOR always needs donations Report a typo FOWLERVILLE – After having just 12 wins in its last two seasons the Haslett basketball program had a breakthrough year going 17-5 in the regular season and coming up just short of a CAAC Red title The Vikings still had a big goal to accomplish Friday night – the program's first district title in six seasons Haslett would have to beat CAAC Red for Williamston for the third time this season to hoist the hardware – both meetings in the regular season were decided by one point most recently a 66-65 double overtime victory for the Vikings two weeks ago A hot start for Haslett established an early lead and the Vikings never relinquished it despite multiple pushes from the Hornets "I've been wanting these guys to have some success for a few years now and they've suffered through a couple of tough years but they did what they needed to do in the offseason to prepare them for this," Haslett coach Chris Smith said "I'm so happy that they achieved this goal Haslett jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead behind four three-pointers from senior guard Luke Blattert and although Williamston had cut the lead down to six in the fourth quarter some big-time buckets from junior guard Wardrell Wicker and junior forward Travis Satterla helped pace the Vikings to victory while Wicker finished with 15 points and Blattert scored 14 points for the Vikings and it's really come together this year for us to do this,' Blattert said "Everyone's come together and plays their roles on this team and we knew (Williamston) was going to make a run but having that lead was huge for us to hold on It was an electric feeling to celebrate with the team and the students." Williamston juniors Brett Palmer and Zach Kulesza each had 11 points to lead the Hornets Haslett (20-5) will face Lansing Sexton (17-5) in the regional semifinals on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m 1/36Goodrich battles Haslett during a girls basketball regional championship.st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Ayrton Breckenridge | ABreckenridge@mlive.comPINCKNEY MI -- Goodrich defeated Haslett 58-56 on Wednesday March 12 at Pinckney Community High School Goodrich’s leading scorer was Kayla Hairston with 23 points followed by Ella Place and Baylor Lauinger with 14 Kaitlyn Johnson led Haslett with 22 points followed by Christina Dixon and Avery Hannah Haslett ended the season with a final record of 22-4 Goodrich advanced to the quarterfinals and will face Tecumseh on Tuesday in Northville Check out photos from the game in the gallery above You must be a subscriber to view the photo gallery. Subscribers click the “Get photo” link to download high-resolution images right to their device for free as part of their subscription. To subscribe, click this link. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) An estranged mother and son confront their past in the new novel from the author of Union Atlantic I would say to my own students: this is how it’s done to read Mothers and Sons and reflect on just how much of his third novel wouldn’t make it through a writers’ workshop Haslett is a writer of extraordinary strengths – he excels at an emotional undercurrent the trancelike rhythms of routine and the cauterised numbness of trauma – whose architectural abilities the skills required to craft the underlying tectonic structure of a story Peter Fischer is working as a legal aid immigration lawyer, filling every waking hour with the bureaucratic tedium of court filings, appeals and affidavits, his caseload a litany of traumatic stories of flight and insecurity. Just as Haslett proved his acuity with his first novel, Union Atlantic writing about the arrogance of bankers as the financial crash brought them to the forefront of public consciousness he has once again situated a novel on a faultline of our times as the incoming American administration promises to pursue its deportation agenda with unprecedented vigour a secondary protagonist who is not afforded Peter’s first-person perspective Both live entrenched lives of apparent moral worth In Peter’s case this is because he won’t let anyone in preferring instead to occasionally text Cliff In Ann’s case it’s because any emotional turbulence is resolved within the retreat’s listening circles These are two very different kinds of torpid calm It turns out that the listening circles are just as much a deflection tactic as Peter’s solitude – despite aiming to help women open up about their struggles Ann has signally failed for several years to engage with her feelings for Jeanette It’s frustrating to read a work where significant gifts are spent on a story that doesn’t really go anywhereHaving established his protagonists in their isolation Haslett proceeds to sustain that isolation for 200 pages until mother and son eventually reunite and confront one another The trigger for this reunion is that one of Peter’s colleagues challenges him over the fact that he never takes gay cases Peter takes the very next case that comes up a young Albanian man named Vasel’s attempt to prove he would be in danger if sent home This is where I start to wonder about Haslett’s plotting after years of avoiding gay deportation cases that one casual inquiry should lead Peter to change tack so fundamentally And does it satisfy the requirements of good storytelling that something so small should lead to Peter’s breakdown and the confrontation Peter has with Ann about the tragedy that set them chasing their twin silences Every storyteller I’ve come across would ask for more from the triggering event to change: which may not be entirely true to life but is surely something we expect from good fiction I don’t think either Peter or Ann have shifted in their courses All that’s emerged is that these do-gooders are people whose selfless deeds mask a colossal and appalling selfishness Perhaps that’s the violence that underpins the United States but I’m not sure it makes for satisfying plotting It also becomes slowly more difficult as one reads to accept how similarly written Ann and Peter are; this isn’t a novel that finds conflict and stimulus in the contrast between its protagonists’ voices It’s two people going through the same thing Ann’s relegation to a third-person narrative feels like a telling admission of defeat – she struggles to come across as more than an extension of Peter’s crisis It’s frustrating to read a work where significant gifts are spent on a story that doesn’t really go anywhere Haslett’s depiction of Peter’s love for Jared a boy in the year above him at high school his recounting of the death of Peter’s father and his percussive portrayal of the minutiae of the courtroom But the book comes to feel like circular storytelling Free weekly newsletterThe only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett is published by Hamish Hamilton (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com In a game featuring no shortage of offense DeWitt opened the season with a 69-42 rivalry victory over Haslett on Thursday night DeWitt: The Michigan Tech commit and senior quarterback fueled a high-powered offensive showing for the Panthers who set a school single-game record for points He ran for three touchdowns in the opening half He also connected with twin brother Abram Larner on a 49-yard TD and Traverse More for a touchdown All of that damage was just in the opening half Elliott Larner threw two more TD passes in the second half and added another rushing score It's odd to call the opening play of the game a major moment Elliott Larner's 73-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage set the tone for a night full of offensive fireworks and a first half where DeWitt scored on seven of nine drives and had 49 points With an early schedule featuring four of their first five games on the road and three against area rivals DeWitt's victory was a good first step for a season coach Rob Zimmerman believes can be a promising one for his program HASLETT — Here is quick reaction from Mason's 30-24 road victory over Haslett in CAAC Red play Mason: The senior finished with two rushing touchdowns including the game-winner in overtime from 5 yards out while helping the Bulldogs pull out a key league road win His game-winning touchdown came after Haslett missed a field goal on its OT possession VanKirk had some big touches in the second half picking up a key fourth-down conversion on a drive where he later would score the go-ahead touchdown for the Bulldogs After Haslett took a 24-21 lead on a Kory Amachree touchdown run with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter Mason got a big answer thanks to Caleb Vaughn who returned the ensuing kickoff into Haslett territory which he credits to blocks from Darius Ambs helped set up Mason for Collin Winters' 42-yard field goal as time expired that forced overtime "When you go from having to go from 80 yards in 40 seconds to 30 to 40 yards in 40 seconds that's a huge flip in the field," Vaughn said The victory keeps Mason unbeaten in the CAAC Red and puts it in a good spot entering the middle week of the league schedule when it hosts Eastern It was the second straight league road win for the Bulldogs who took a big step toward a sixth consecutive CAAC Red title WILLIAMSTON — Jackson Shadaker hit a 3 at the buzzer to lift Haslett (15-5 7-2) to a CAAC Red victory over Williamston Peyton Caswell split a pair of free throws in the closing seconds while helping the Orioles hold on for a CAAC White win over Olivet Caswell's free throws gave Charlotte a two-point lead before Olivet (5-15 Evan Colosky had nine points and Alex Reed scored eight points for the Orioles (11-9 which included hitting a pair of free throws with 8.6 remaining that cut Charlotte's lead to one HOLT — The Trojans wrapped up the outright CAAC Blue title with their victory over Holt 11-0) with 18 points and KJ Torbert added 16 points Cameron Essell was also in double figures for the Trojans with 10 points and BJ Windham added eight points STOCKBRIDGE — Shannon Henderson notched a game-high 25 points and grabbed four blocks to help the Panthers clinch the Big 8 conference title outright with a victory over Union City (13-6 Brock Rochow picked up a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Jacob Dalton dished out eight assists for Stockbirdge (16-4 Keyshawn Summerville scored a game-high 27 points and added four steals and three assists to lead the J-Dubbs (14-4 11-1) in a home CAAC White victory over Ionia Willie Brown contributed 15 points and six steals for Sexton Spencer Tooker tallied a team-best 22 points and Colt Piercefield chipped in eight points for the Bulldogs (12-8 Marrion May led all scorers with 20 points to help guide the Vikings (6-13 3-8) to a CAAC Blue home victory over DeWitt Landon Kurncz finished with a team-best 12 points for the Panthers (7-14 Drew Tolfree picked up a game-high 25 points to lead the Cougars to a CAAC White home win over Lakewood Seth Hahnenberg tallied 11 points and DJ Rowley tacked on seven points for Lansing Catholic (7-12 Troy Acker tallied a team-best 21 points for the Vikings (4-14 WEBBERVILLE — Dylan Rhodes notched a team-high 14 points and dished out four assists to help the Spartans pick up a win over Midland Calvary Baptist (4-14) Austin Johnson tallied 13 points and four assists Dominic Driver scored 13 points and Brodee Tyler added a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Webberville (12-7) FRANKENMUTH — A big third quarter helped host Frankenmuth pull away for a TVC victory over Alma (8-12 Owen Seeley had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Alma while Sam Gadde had 10 points and five rebounds PINCKNEY — Danielle Cleveland hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime to push the Vikings into a Division 2 regional final after this semifinal victory over Chelsea (18-5) Kaitlyn Johnson notched a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds Christina Dixon tallied 14 points hauled in nine rebounds Avery Hannah scored 12 points and Alexis Turner finished with eight points and dished out eight assists for Haslett The Vikings (22-3) will take on Goodrich (22-3) in the regional final at 7 p.m BELDING — Lilly Thelen led the Raiders (22-3) with 15 points in their Division 2 regional semifinal victory over Flint Hamady Summer Stopcyznski added 12 points for Portland which advances to face Frankenmuth in Wednesday's title game SPRINGPORT — Lily Smieska notched a team-high 15 points for the Blackhawks in a Division 3 regional semifinal defeat to Jackson Lumen Christi Kenna Hunt led all scorers with 24 points for the Titans (18-6) The Blackhawks finish their season at 18-7 More: Greater Lansing high school girls basketball regional schedule, results CONCORD — Gracelyn Rockey finished with 13 points and six rebounds as the Shamrocks came up just short in a Division 4 regional semifinal loss to Concord (20-4) Mattie Honsowitz tallied nine points and grabbed eight rebounds and Macie Smith chipped in five points for Portland St MOUNT PLEASANT — The Eagles (23-2) advanced to a regional final with their victory over Saginaw MLS Fowler will face Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in Wednesday's title game The Greyhounds (13-11) had their season end with a loss to Goodrich in a Division 2 regional semifinal The third book from the twice Pulitzer prize-nominated American author is a complex portrait of parallel lives on a par with the great Russian novels Adam Haslett is one of those incandescently smart and elegant authors that the US seems to produce almost accidentally and to excess names who haven’t quite risen to international literary stardom but perhaps deserve to: think Jonathan Dee looked into the bleak moral heart of the 2007-8 financial crisis was a meditation on fatherhood and depression he has written a book that circles around an absence: the alienation of a son – Peter we move from Peter’s world in the first person to Ann’s in the third his time spent with the desperate and destitute His personal life is almost nonexistent – he is lonely After a brief and hesitant affair with a schoolfriend He blames his mother for the guilt that has haunted him ever since then I do it again.” It’s a thankless task with the state increasingly hostile and his co-workers as harassed and frustrated as he is intimacy without intimacy.” Then a new client arrives The shame and horror of his story opens up a window into Peter’s own dark past we move from Peter’s world in the first person to Ann’s in the thirdHis mother was a priest in a small New England town until she decided to leave her all-American husband for Clare the women buy land in Vermont with the aim of establishing a “ministry of hospitality” Here they meditate and welcome broken and battered women to whom they listen without judgment We recognise the clear parallels between the two forms of practice – law and counselling the acts of service that mother and son perform Peter might be describing his mother and her visitors when he says of his clients: “I’m trying a comic and chaotic figure who hosts cosplay conventions and cares for dying dogs (and a child and useless husband) She’s researching an ancestor – a general in the revolutionary wars Ann notes that she has traced the family’s male line through history – “what about all the women?” This feels like one of the energising frictions in the novel: it is a deep and complex portrait of the love between a mother and her son giving this relationship the same degree of attention that Turgenev gave to Arkady and Nikolay in Fathers and Sons a book with which both this and Haslett’s previous novel are in clear dialogue Turgenev’s tale turns upon the way misunderstandings both spoken and unspoken establish themselves as unbreachable barriers between generations how politics becomes a tool to define ourselves against the conventions of those who raised us Haslett shows that little has changed over the century-and-a-half since we want to reach into the novel and force Ann and Peter to face each other to speak their love and truth rather than evasion and falsehood Haslett manages both to stoke our frustration with his characters and to make us feel their pain and solitude There is nothing obvious or easy in the way that Mothers and Sons comes together in its quiet and moving finale This is a story that feels as deep and real as life itself – a beautiful portrait of a mother and son Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett is published by Hamish Hamilton (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media — A Clay County judge set a trial date for Timothy Haslett Jr Haslett is accused of murdering Jaynie Crosdale and is also facing a slew of charges for kidnapping That young woman, publicly known only by her last name of "Jones," escaped what she called a "dungeon" in Haslett's Excelsior Springs home in Oct Crosdale's remains were discovered in summer 2023 in a blue barrel Investigators said in court records they have no evidence to suggest she was alive past June 2022 As Judge David Chamberlain set the trial date, he simultaneously approved the Clay County prosecutor's request to obtain Jones' testimony on video The state is ordered to provide all discovery related to the witness 10 days before the deposition explained in a previous motion that the office needs Jones' testimony on video because Jones is currently homeless and living in a "crime-ridden part of the metro." Sanders' motion stated Jones also has substance abuse issues and that Haslett "should not gain an advantage from targeting a person living on the margins of society." filed a motion about two weeks later objecting to the video testimony saying "the fact that the witness is possibly homeless or addicted to drugs does not make a deposition to preserve testimony is necessary." Haslett's pre-trial conference is set for Oct