FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Landon Anderson's single to center scored Joel Hutter with the go-ahead run in the sixth inning of Dallas Baptist's 3-2 victory over TCU on Saturday in the Fort Worth Regional.
Jared Stafford allowed two runs and three hits in 8 1-3 innings for Dallas Baptist (41-17). Chris Haney earned the save by retiring two batters in the ninth with the tying run on third.
TCU (43-18) will play Oral Roberts Sunday in an …
Kenneth F. Torgler has been appointed director of examinations for the Kansas Division of Banking at the Office of the State Bank Commissioner. Torgler joined the OSBC in 1989 and most …
Zinedine Zidane is confident his friend Ronaldo is not done playing soccer just yet.
Zidane, in Brazil to inaugurate a sports complex in a Sao Paulo slum, said his former Real Madrid teammate is capable of overcoming the knee injury that many say has jeopardized the Brazilian striker's career.
The 31-year-old Ronaldo, a three-time FIFA player of the year, ruptured a tendon in his left knee while playing for AC Milan last month and doctors say he may be sidelined for about eight months.
"Ronaldo already proved in 2002 that he can overcome very difficult situations," the retired French playmaker said. "He sustained an injury in the …
ALEXANDRIA, Va.--Zacarias Moussaoui, who has derided his court-appointed lawyers as "bloodsuckers," is working through anintermediary to get legal help from the attorneys he despises as heprepares for his Jan. 6 trial as an accused Sept. 11 conspirator.
Moussaoui, representing himself, changed his tactics--but not hisrhetoric--on July 25, after a judge refused to accept a guilty pleaon his terms and made a trial likely.
After withdrawing the guilty plea, Moussaoui was faced with therealization that he had to prepare a defense for a case that couldend with his execution. Moussaoui said in court July 25 he wouldbegin indirect contact with the lawyers but added: "It is …
The Pittsburgh Pirates stopped Philadelphia's 13-game winningstreak, the longest in the National League this season, and extendedtheir own 13-game winning streak over the visiting Phillies with a4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
Halting the Phillies one victory shy of what would have beentheir longest winning streak since the 1890s, the Pirates beatPhiladelphia for the 15th time in 16 meetings. The Pirates are 7-0against Philadelphia this season and haven't lost to the Philliessince last Aug. 5.
The Phillies haven't won more than 13 straight in baseball'smodern era and haven't won 14 in a row since 1892. The Phillies'13-game streak was the third-longest in the majors …
An effort to divert some Yellowstone National Park bison from government-sponsored slaughter is in limbo after the program's permit expired and criticism emerged over moving some of the animals onto media mogul Ted Turner's private ranch.
Since 2005, about 200 bison that would otherwise have been captured and slaughtered were diverted into a pilot conservation and research program run by the state and federal governments. The intent was to test the animals for disease and then ship them out to start new herds on public or tribal lands.
But after finding a home for the animals proved problematic, officials said Tuesday that no more bison would be diverted …
When you make your December mortgage payment, take a look at themonthly statement and weigh the advantages of one extra payment ayear.
That one extra payment works the same way as biweekly payments,which result in 26 half-monthly payments a year. Either way, you canshave about six or seven years off a 30-year mortgage if you repeatthis step each year.
The advantage, of course, is the huge amount of interest saved.For example, according to The Banker's Secret, by early-payoffadvocate Marc Eisenson, you would save $48,117 in interest on a$120,000 30-year mortgage at 7.5 percent interest simply by switchingto biweekly payments.Your mortgage would be paid in full in …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obamamania that gripped U.S. college campuses two years ago is gone.
An Associated Press-mtvU poll found college students cooling in their support for President Barack Obama, a fresh sign of trouble for Democrats struggling to rekindle enthusiasm among many of these newest voters for the crucial elections in three weeks.
Forty-four percent of students approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 27 percent are unhappy with his stewardship, according to the survey conducted late last month. That's a significant drop from the 60 percent who gave the president high marks in a May 2009 poll. Only 15 percent had a negative opinion back then.
It …
Malaysia Airlines may cancel its order of six A380 superjumbos if Airbus continues to postpone delivery of the planes, a top executive said Monday.
"We're not happy with the delays, and we'll not rule anything out at this stage," said the company's managing director, Azmil Zahruddin.
"It's very frustrating because we have certain plans. We want to do certain things to the network and we already planned ahead to let go of certain aircraft before the A380 comes in, so (the delay) messes up those plans," he said.
Airbus was to …
Ryuko Nippon
Many Problems Despite Recovering Performance
The performance of Japanese department stores has been recovering since the first half of fiscal 2001. Last year, competition decreased because of the withdrawal of some stores. Greater efficiency at each department store has advanced a little. Consumers have come to strengthen their attitude to seek good quality products. Because of this situation, the performance of department stores has recovered, but it is not perfect yet. When overseas textile firms advance into the Japanese market, department stores are one of their options, but they do not know the Japanese distribution system well. This report will clarify …
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian president's press adviser has been sentenced to a year in prison on charges of "publishing materials contrary to Islamic norms," the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr has also been banned from journalism activities for three years, IRNA said.
Javanfekr is just the latest of dozens of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's political backers to be targeted by hard-line opponents. This appears to be part of an internal power struggle over influencing upcoming elections for parliament, slated for March, and for president in 2013.
Javanfekr wrote in an official publication that the practice of women wearing a head-to-toe …
A federal grand jury convened in Charleston has returned fiveindictments, all against people outside of West Virginia, and someoutside of the United States.
According to releases from U.S. Attorney Rebecca Betts' office,most of the charges are drug related.
Edward Greene, 58, and Mae Robins, age unknown, both of theBahamas, are accused of cocaine distribution and money laundering.Vicie Mae Furgeson, 31, and Patricia Ann Buell, 34, both ofPortland, Ore., are accused of stealing thousands of dollars worthofchecks from a Hurricane mail box.Michael Arthur Davis, 49, of Bradenton, Fla., is charged withcrack possession in Kanawha County.Davis was found to have 27 grams of crack while riding on anAmtrak train in the county, according to the indictment.-30
Story changes in Mistral bias case
David G. Yosifon
It began with a single allegation of racial discrimination, but has now escalated to accusations of lying and counter-charges of extortion.
In August of 1997, Ernest Wright, Anthony T. Wall and Melvin Love were denied entrance to the Mistral, a popular bar and restaurant in the South End. Everyone agrees on that. And that's about all they agree on.
Wright, Wall, and Love say they were told by a white manager, who they later identified as Jeffrey Gates, that the restaurant was full and that they could not be let in due to fire codes.
Leaving the restaurant without any sense of having been wronged, the three men say they then sat in their their car across the street, and to their astonishment, watched as several groups of white people were admitted to Mistral.
After watching for nearly a half-hour, Wright says the only other group they saw denied entrance contained a black man.
Wall, Wright, and Love concluded that they had been denied entrance because of their race, which is against the law, and so they filed a complaint against the restaurant with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Mistral owner Seth Greenberg denies any allegations of discrimination. He says the men were turned away because the restaurant was full, and that anyone who was let in after them must have had reservations.
For some, the Mistral saga has been a lightning rod for racial tensions in the South End, even giving rise to a demonstration outside the restaurant in February of 1998 led by South End activist Mel King.
But now emerges a new wrinkle to the story.
According to Greenberg, Mistral now asserts that it was not Jeff Gates, a white manager, who first denied the four men entrance that August night, but a "North African" employee by the name of Hicham Benbacer.
Benbacer has apparently now returned to his native Morroco, but before he left he filed an affidavit with the MCAD asserting that he, not Gates, rejected Wright and his cohort:
"I asked the three black males if they had bar or dinner reservations and they informed me that they had neither. I told them that it was crowded inside and if they would like to, they could put their names on the waiting list," Benbacer wrote in his affidavit.
Wright was livid when he learned of the change in Mistral's story, and says the restaurant is verging on breaking the law again:
"I don't believe they are going to come into court and say that -- then that would be perjury," Wright told the Banner.
Wright insists that it was Gates who first denied him and his friends entrance, and that they only spoke with Benbacer briefly after returning to the door the second time after having watched whites gain admittance.
Gates' own affidavit, filed in September of 1997, seems to back up Wright's story.
"On August 7, 1997 at approximately 10 p.m. I was at the door greeting guests," Gates wrote.
"Mr. Wright approached the door and I stated the following: `Hi. Are you here for dinner or cocktails?' Mr. Wright responded, `we are just going to the bar.' I then stated, `Gentlemen, we are at the fire marshal's occupancy at our bar at this time and I cannot let you in."
Greenberg now says that at the time Gates filed his affidavit he did not know that Benbacer believed that he, Benbacer, was the one who first denied the men entrance.
Greenberg said he would be willing to fly Benbacer back from Morocco to testify in the case should it come to trial.
"We'll be happy to do that if that's what we have to do," he said.
A lawyer for the Wall, Wright, and Love raised a skeptical eyebrow at Mistral's mysterious Moroccan doorman.
"It's like a shell game with the story they (Mistral) want to tell," Cecil Gerbic, the attorney, said. "Where is the shell today?"
Stepping up his own offensive, Greenberg now accuses Wright, Wall and Love of pursuing their MCAD complaint only to squeeze money out of his restaurant.
"This is extortion," he told the Banner "They don't care about the truth, they just want money. They think we're going to settle just to make it go away."
Greenberg said he had rejected a settlement proposal from Wright, Wall, and Love for $100,000. There are currently no negotiations ongoing between the three men and himself, Greenberg said.
Wright says the charge of extortion only motivates him to press his case harder.
"They're engaged in a slander campaign," Wright said.
"He's calling it extortion because he's not used to a black man calling them on the fact that they did something wrong and that they must make amends for it."
Wright said he and his colleagues are seeking an MCAD judgement of both money and a court-order for Mistral personnel to undergo racial sensitivity training. Any pre-trial settlement, he said, would have to involve both money and sensitivity training.
Gerbic said an initial public hearing on the case will likely be heard at the MCAD in April.
Photo (Four black men sue Mistral bar)
Mark Chmura was pretty sure this day would never come.
The former Green Bay tight end was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame on Saturday despite a career that was tarnished by a sexual assault allegation.
A vital cog on the Packers' two Super Bowl teams in the 1990s and a three-time Pro Bowl selection, Chmura called this the "icing on the cake" of his football life.
He was joined by Glory Years tight end Marv Fleming and 1980s offensive tackle Greg Koch in the hall's 40th class of inductees.
Chmura caught 188 passes for 2,253 yards and 17 touchdowns during his career in Green Bay, but many best remember him for a high-profile sexual assault trial at the end of his career. A girl who was 17 at the time accused him of assaulting her in a bathroom during a post-prom party at a friend's home in April 2000.
He was acquitted in February 2001 and retired from football four months later.
"I saw all the guys from my era going in," Chmura said before the ceremony. "I probably wasn't too sure whether I was going to go in. The last couple of years, I kind of skirted away, didn't follow too much who was going, because probably in the back of my mind, I didn't really know if I was going to be able to."
Chmura was a sixth-round pick in 1992 who almost quit early in his first training camp because of a bad back. He was convinced to stick around by then-head coach Mike Holmgren and tight ends coach Andy Reid, spending the year on injured reserve.
Although the Packers Hall of Fame is located at Lambeau Field, it operates as a nonprofit corporation independent from the team.
Saturday's enshrinement came a day after current defensive end Johnny Jolly was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for an undisclosed violation of the league's substance-abuse policy
He is facing drug charges in Houston after his July 2008 arrest outside a club for possession of at least 200 grams of codeine. If convicted, Jolly faces up to 20 years in prison.
Koch, now a lawyer in Houston, talked at length about honor and character.
"If I were talking to young players today, I'd say, 'Let me tell you something. You have just hit the lottery,'" he said. "'Don't ask me how I know this, but if you're going to an ATM at 2 o'clock in the morning, it's never for a good reason. Get off the street, play this game. You've hit the lottery. Don't do anything to screw that up."
Former Australia and English Premier League goalkeeper Mark Bosnich will begin a two-week trial with the Central Coast Mariners in Australian football's A-League, six years after being dropped by Chelsea for failing a doping test.
Mariners head coach Lawrie McKinna said Wednesday he hopes the former Aston Villa goalkeeper _ who also had brief stints with Manchester United and Chelsea _ will be able to fill in during the early part of the upcoming season when regular goalkeeper Danny Vukovic will serve a five-match suspension.
Bosnich, 36, played 227 matches for Aston Villa from 1992-99 and played 17 internationals for Australia. He transferred to Manchester United in 1999 and was initially first-choice keeper before falling out of favor and moved to Chelsea.
Bosnich failed a drug test with Chelsea in 2002 and later admitted to a cocaine addiction.
"He wants to come back as a footballer and to do that he needs to be on the straight and narrow," McKinna said.
"We would expect Mark to come in here as a model professional and hopefully show people how good he was and how good he possibly could be."
The A-League season begins on August 15, with a pre-season cup competition to begin Saturday.
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) — A Yemeni security official says a car has exploded at a market in a southern city, killing two people and wounding 22.
The official says the cause of Thursday's blast in the city of al-Dhali is unclear. He says the car that blew up belonged to a merchant selling qat, a plant with a mild stimulant widely consumed by Yemeni men.
The official says the market is next to the city's police station. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.
Yemen's weak central government is struggling with a growing al-Qaida threat, as well as other crises. The country is also wrestling with a Shiite rebellion, a southern separatist movement and rampant poverty.
Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.
Israel condemned the attack as a "gross violation" of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate.
The barrage wounded two people and capped a day of violence that presented the truce with its first serious test.
Just before midnight, Palestinian militants fired a mortar shell into an empty area in southern Israel. And in a pre-dawn raid, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Islamic Jihad, a small armed group backed by Syria and Iran, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. Although the West Bank is not included in the truce, the group said the Nablus raid had soured the atmosphere of calm.
"We cannot keep our hands tied when this is happening to our brothers in the West Bank," the militant group said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the rocket attack came because of "Israeli provocation this morning" and added that Hamas was "committed to the calm." He said Hamas will talk with other factions and make sure they are committed, too.
The Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect Thursday. The immediate aim was to end fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians _ many of them civilians _ since Hamas gained control of Gaza a year ago.
It also obliges Israel to ease a punishing blockade of the coastal strip.
In a final stage, the sides are to address Hamas' demand to reopen a major border passage between Gaza and Egypt and Israel's insistence that Hamas release an Israeli soldier it has held for two years.
The cease-fire is meant to avert an Israeli invasion of Gaza, a tiny, impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people that Israel evacuated in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation.
The deal extends beyond Hamas to all militant groups operating in Gaza but does not include the West Bank.
Egypt acted as middleman for the six-month truce because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flew to Egypt on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Upon entering the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Mubarak said the two would discuss efforts to release the Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit. Olmert hailed Egyptian efforts to end attacks on Israel from Gaza.
Israel has pressed Egypt to crack down on arms smuggling from Egypt's Sinai desert into Gaza.
On Tuesday, Olmert was quoted in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily as saying that if the smuggling did not end, then Israel would consider the cease-fire agreement violated, and "we will be compelled to military action."
Early Tuesday, Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a raid in the West Bank town of Nablus.
A neighbor said a Palestinian bystander was also shot to death by troops when he opened the door of his apartment during the raid. The Israeli military said the man was a militant killed during a gunbattle with troops.
Islamic Jihad said the commander of its northern West Bank operations, Tarek Juma, was killed in the operation.
The military said Juma was targeted because he was planning an attack on Israel. Troops found explosive devices and munitions in his apartment, it said.
In Germany, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the operation.
Fayyad, whose government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, has said continuing military operations are undermining efforts to have Palestinian security forces restore law and order in the West Bank.
This was "an example of the kind of activity that has to stop and has to stop immediately and promptly if we are going to succeed in providing security to our people," said Fayyad, who is attending an international conference aimed at bolstering his security forces. "There was absolutely no exchange of information on this particular incident."
Also Tuesday, the Hamas military wing took responsibility for a shooting in the West Bank last week that injured three Israeli hikers. The claim was sent in a text message to Gaza journalists.
___
AP reporter Ali Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Nablus, West Bank.
When discussing the education of children with cognitive and mental disabilities, one significant problem inevitably arises - how do you ensure that they receive the same learning opportunities as non-disabled children, especially in public school systems?
According to Charlotte "Dee" Spinkston, founder and executive director of Urban Partnership Resources and Information on Disability and Education (Urban PRIDE), one of the problems is identifying that a child actually has a disability.
"Disability is really an invisible issue, particularly in communities of color," she said. "Unless there's a visible disability - like a kid in a wheelchair, or children who are blind or deaf - it's very hard to identify someone with a disability. For the purposes of special education, things that are invisible can still be disabilities, whether they're neurological or emotional or behavioral."
Spinkston founded the nonprofit Urban PRIDE in 2000 around the time that her brother, who is disabled, was working with their mother trying to obtain services. Experiencing their difficult search firsthand made her realize that families of disabled children needed an organization where they could go to for essential information, services and support.
Funded partially by an incubator grant from The Boston Foundation, Urban PRIDE serves individuals from childhood up to the age of 26, many of whom live in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. The group is dedicated to improving the availability of and access to culturally responsive support.
"We provide information through our newsletter and Web site, but the vast majority of the information we provide is actually one-on-one with families," Spinkston said. "We spend a lot of time with families - reviewing materials, writing letters for them and providing training in various locations around the community on specific areas related to the law, whether its about inclusion, technology or understanding one's rights under the law."
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act, disabled children are guaranteed "a free, appropriate public education" within their individualized educational program (IEP) that distinguishes needs in the least restrictive environment. The act requires that public schools provide necessary learning aids, testing modifications and other educational accommodations.
The IEP is a written document developed for each public school child who has been deemed eligible for special education. Created and maintained through collaboration between parents, special education teachers, a qualified school representative and others, the IEP is reviewed annually and provides the blueprint for educating an individual child.
It contains information about the child's strengths and needs, the extent to which a child will not participate in regular class and school activities, and measurable goals to attain.
As a relatively small organization without a large advertising budget, Urban PRIDE has been able to build relationships with other community organizations that assist families, such as after-school programs and health clinics.
"Referrals are really the only way to get information to a very wide variety of families who may not have Urban PRIDE as their first point of contact," Spinkston said. "That's also one of the reasons why about three years ago we began doing more work directly with community organizations that were increasingly getting kids in their programs who were on IEPs. Many of the programs had goals like helping kids pass the MCAS, but when they get a sixth-grader who reads at a third-grade level because he has an IEP [and they don't know how to proceed], we know how to help that kid pass the MCAS at his grade level."
That's why creating an IEP early on is so important for every disabled child's development. To help parents be as involved in the process as possible, Urban PRIDE holds a monthly training series at Dudley Library on Warren Street in Roxbury, and it also offers to write letters and make phone calls to schools in an effort to advocate for the best possible education.
"We did a yearlong series of trainings here at the foundation with a broad range of out-of-school program staff who came every month and learned a lot about what a disability is - how to modify or accommodate kids, looking at behavior and learning strategies, and understanding what an IEP is," Spinkston said.
"What families need to know is, even if you don't have an educational advocate, you should bring someone who you know and you trust to your child's meeting, someone who can serve as your eyes and ears and who is willing to ask the questions that you might be too nervous to ask until someone gives them answers."
The Institute for Community Inclusion, an organization at the University of Massachusetts-Boston that advocates for people with disabilities, has been collaborating with Urban PRIDE by providing training and technical assistance around issues relating to disabilities. More help has come from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, who have been sending interns through the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program to work at Urban PRIDE and experience what it's like to serve children with disabilities.
"The interns from the LEND Program are young professionals just entering the disability field who want some hands-on experience working in disability organizations in a multicultural community," Spinkston said.
Part of what she tries to impart to the interns is the importance of including older children with disabilities in planning their own educational plans.
"Kids ages 15-22 should be a lot more involved in attending their IEP meetings and providing suggestions to the IEP team regarding things they want to work on, and that's not happening," she said, "It's about planning for the future and using the special education process to get kids from where they are to where it is they want to be once they leave school."
Urban PRIDE will be holding its NAACP Transition Meeting at the James P. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury on May 5, which will outline transition services intended to promote a successful transition from high school to postsecondary education or employment.
Last summer I was asked to address the annual meeting of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). Since I am not a registered PE and have been, like many of my academic colleagues, openly critical of NSPE's relentless drive for "professional" registration, I was reluctant to accept this invitation. The conference organizers assured me that it was because of my views that I was being invited to speak and they hoped my remarks would stimulate discussion about the future of NSPE. Frankly, I was surprised by the positive reception that my comments received and now feel somewhat optimistic that NSPE might alter its primary mission and join other organizations in focusing on some of what I consider to be the real issues facing us as engineering educators. I share the remarks I made at this meeting in the hopes that others might enter this dialogue with NSPE.
Yogi Berra, the famed New York Yankees catcher, once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Well, it seems to me that the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) has come to a fork in the road. The choice facing it is whether to remain on its current course, continuing to focus on "licensure," or to take a different course that focuses on "professionalism." Following the latter path will certainly mean change; staying on the current path may mean extinction.
To set the stage, consider the report issued two years ago by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resources Studies, indicating that in 1995 there were about 1.6 million individuals who were employed as engineers. Of those, 400,000 did not hold engineering degrees. Furthermore, there were about 1.2 million individuals who held engineering degrees and whose principal occupation was not engineering.
In spite of the large number of practicing engineers, only 60,000 are members of NSPE. The most likely engineering graduates to seek licensure are those with degrees in civil engineering. However, for at least the last seven years, enrollment in most civil engineering degree programs has been declining. And the most popular disciplines-computer engineering and science, industrial engineering, and electrical engineering-produce graduates who work in industries that do not consider professional licensing relevant. To compound this situation, engineering graduates today have a much wider choice of job opportunities than ever before. In fact, many students who pursue a B.S. degree in engineering do so because they value the skills they will learn but intend to pursue a career in a different profession. In this sense, the engineering degree is becoming the "liberal arts" degree of the 21st century.
Even graduate engineering education is undergoing major changes. For example, there is growing interest in degree programs such as software engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, and financial engineering. And it is unlikely that those pursuing such degrees would value the PE license.
So, there are fewer and fewer individuals graduating with engineering degrees who would consider licensure as something worth seeking. But, as clearly stated on NSPE's Web site, www.nspe.org, its primary mission is to be "the Champion for Professional Licensure. Promoting the PE license and protecting the professional engineer title have been top priorities for NSPE for more than 60 years." As long as licensing remains the primary focus of NSPE, it will attract fewer and fewer new members.
If NSPE decided to focus on professionalism, it could pursue activities that directly enhance the engineering profession, including working with organizations such as the American Society for Engineering Education and universities to promote K-12 education in science, engineering, math, and technology. It could promote learning opportunities for students through co-op programs and internships, support affirmative action programs, and help the public and lawmakers to understand the importance of an engineering education and engineering research.
NSPE might also want to reconsider its relationship with colleges of engineering. While it is unrealistic and unnecessary to expect that all engineering faculty be registered PEs, NSPE continues to push for such registration, especially at public institutions, in most states. Moreover, NSPE's attempt to restrain the creation of new degree programs like "financial engineering" simply because it feels the word engineering is to be reserved for areas it deems appropriate is counterproductive and probably won't succeed anyway. The fact that engineering is encompassing an ever increasing number of activities is to be celebrated, not feared.
NSPE is indeed at a fork in the road. I hope it makes the choice to work more closely with engineering colleges and focus more of its energies on engineering professionalism rather than on the licensure of professional engineers.
[Author Affiliation]
Stephen W. Director is the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan. He can be reached by e-mail at sdirector@asee.org.
The U.S. dollar was lower against other major currencies in European trading Tuesday morning. Gold rose.
The euro traded at US$1.3624, up from US$1.3534 late Monday in New York.
Other dollar rates:
_96.35 Japanese yen, down from 96.42
_1.1122 Swiss francs, down from 1.1162
_1.1578 Canadian dollars, down from 1.1635
The British pound was quoted at US$ 1.5457, up from $1.5320.
Gold traded in London at US$921.50 per troy ounce, up from US$921.00 late Monday.
The United Nations Children's Fund has called for the establishment of a "zone of peace" in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand and stepped-up efforts to help the area's children.
UNICEF made the call in a 50-page study of the perceptions of children affected by the southern insurgency, which has claimed more than 3,300 lives since it flared in early 2004.
The attacks by Islamic separatists have generally taken the form of drive-by shootings and bombings intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the predominantly Muslim area. The military has often been heavy-handed in responding with force.
The study showed that children suffered from anxiety, stress and restrictions in their daily lives. In addition to being traumatized by the deaths of adults close to them, about 30 children have been killed and 92 wounded in the conflict, the report said.
At least 400 youths have been detained in military camps and more than 3,000 families have had members detained, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit agency that promotes cross-cultural understanding and human rights.
"I could feel the violence in me," said Sahadam Waeyusoh, a 16-year-old student from Pattani who lost his classmate in a drive-by shooting. "I felt angry. Why did someone have to do it to my friend? What had he done wrong to deserve it?"
Children's problems are often overlooked by people who think the conflict doesn't involve them, said Rawsedee Lertariyapongkul, an adviser to the Young Muslim Association of Thailand.
"When there are losses in family or community, people tend to help by offering donations," he told The Associated Press. "But that doesn't tell us at all about what children think."
The report's recommendations include setting up a war-free zone and the demilitarization of all armed groups.
Tomoo Hozumi, the UNICEF representative in Thailand, said that although it was challenging to create a zone of peace in the south, he was sure it is possible. One suggestion is that such zones could be set up around schools.
"At least all sides should come to a consensus that a day of tranquility might take place, like when health workers go for immunization for children in conflicted areas in Latin America," Hozumi said. He was referring to cease-fire agreements agreed to by governments and rebel groups to allow mass immunizations in areas of civil conflict.
Our country is a global leader in mining and resource extraction. In 2003. 64 percent of mining companies worldwide that reported significant exploration plans were based in Canada, according to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Furthermore. Canadian mining companies spend almost two-thirds of their exploration budgets on projects located outside our borders.
Unfortunately, the social and environmental leadership Canadian companies have shown has not often matched their considerable economic power. Researcher Maryanne Mutch recently returned from a one-year MCC assignment in the Philippines, where she examined a large gold mine run by Calgary-based mining and drilling company TVl Pacific, Inc. (see "Mining for truth in Mindanao, "page 13.)
There has been negative news on the activities of Canadian companies for decades. Christian peace and justice organization Kairos Canada highlighted Placer Dome's mining practices in the Philippines in the 1980s and '90s. In 2002, a United Nations report to the UN security Council described the actions of five Canadian mining companies, among others, in the Democratic Republic of Congo as "mineral rape" that "amount[s) to a multi-billion dollar corporate theft of the country's mineral assets." That's not the kind of language I want associated with my country.
From March to June of this year, a subcommittee of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade heard testimony from witnesses and read submissions on this issue, including input from MCC. The committee's report, presented to the government in June, contains strong language on its concerns and on what the Canadian government needs to do differently.
"These hearings have underlined the fact that mining activities in some developing countries have had adverse effects on local communities, especially where regulations governing the mining sector and its impact on the economic and social wellbeing of employees and local residents, as well as on the environment, are weak or non-existent, or where they are not enforced," the report states.
The committee expresses concern that Canada does not currently have any laws that require Canadian companies to conform to human rights standards in their work outside Canada. It recommends that laws be established for this purpose and also recommends that Canadian government assistance to Canadian mining companies depend on them "meeting clearly defined corporate social responsibility and human rights standards."
Linking assistance to corporate social responsibility is already the case in the Netherlands and Belgium, according to Sandra Elgersma, a policy analyst at MCC's Ottawa office. She reports that the government currently provides quite a bit of help to mining companies, including tax forgiveness for foreign taxes paid and risk insurance offered through Export Development Canada.
These recommendations that link aid, law and respect for people and the environment could lead to a major shift in how Canadian companies operate overseas.
Just good recommendations aren't enough, of course. They need to lead to further action. The Canadian government is scheduled to release a response to the report on Oct. 19. Kairos Canada provides a number of ways to express support for these recommendations by contacting the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Industry, and the Minister of Natural Resources Canada (these are online at www.kairoscanada.org/e/urgent/uaMining0508.asp). The government needs to follow up on its committee's good work to ensure Canadian mining and oil companies set an example for the rest of the industry to follow. -Tim Miller Dyck
Multiple areas of unsettled weather were anticipated over much of the country on Wednesday.
Forecasters expected a low pressure system to continue tracking eastward, over the Mississippi River Valley and up the Ohio River Valley towards New England. This was expected to continue to push a strong front through the region that could trigger moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms with periods of strong and damaging winds, large hail, and may produce tornadoes. Strongest storms were expected to develop over the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys.
Meanwhile, a cold front was expected to wrap around the backside of this system and extend over the Lower Mississippi River Valley and Southern Plains. The tail end of the front was expected to trigger strong storms over Texas.
In the Northern and Central Plains, another trough of low pressure was expected to dip in from Canada. However, it wasn't forecast to trigger significant rainfall, but may initiate some late night showers in the Upper Midwest.
Further west, high pressure was expected to continue bringing unusually warm conditions to the Pacific Northwest. Forecasters called for highs to approach the 90s again, while southern California was expected to remain under a heat advisory as high temperatures surpass 100 degrees.
Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Tuesday ranged from a low of 36 degrees at Yellowstone, Wyo. to a high of 120 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.
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On the Net:
Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com
National Weather Service: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov
Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com
SEATTLE (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to a violent felon who would later gun down four police officers even though his record in prison was filled with unrelenting violence and exploitation of other inmates, The Seattle Times reported Monday.
A Times investigation into the early life of Maurice Clemmons found that Huckabee either ignored or wasn't aware of Clemmons' record in prison, and that the prosecutor and victims in Clemmons' case were not consulted before the clemency decisions that led to his freedom.
Huckabee, now a Fox News TV personality and a potential candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, declined interview requests from the Times.
But in a Fox News interview last year during the immediate aftermath of the slaying of the Lakewood officers, he understated Clemmons' criminal records and said prosecutors had failed to weigh in on the clemency petition.
The state parole board had voted 5-0 in favor of Clemmons' petition, citing his young age at conviction and the potential for support from a large family. But there was no record that anyone had consulted with the presiding judge, the prosecutor or the victims of his crimes.
Clemmons was shot to death by a Seattle police officer two days after four Lakewood police officers were shot to death at a suburban coffee shop on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Earlier this year, The Times won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the slayings, the subsequent manhunt for Clemmons and the controversy surrounding his release from an Arkansas prison and the Pierce County jail in Washington. The paper has continued its reporting and just published a book, "The Other Side of Mercy," that delves deeply into his early criminal record, his release from prison in Arkansas, and his release from jail in Washington state a few days before the killings.
That investigation included a review of 1,800 pages of prison records from the years Clemmons spent in Arkansas' prison system, considered one of the harshest in nation.
Clemmons first went to prison at 17 in 1989 after racking up eight felony charges in a seven-month crime spree. Once incarcerated he immediately showed a violent streak, the Times reported.
During one of his trials, records show, he became a terror. He reached for a guard's pistol; threw a lock at another guard and threatened to punch the judge in the mouth.
He was ultimately sentenced to 108 years and sent to prison farms, including the notorious Cummins prison farm, which inspired the prison-brutality film "Brubaker," starring Robert Redford, and once led a federal judge to describe the Arkansas penal system as "a dark and evil world."
Clemmons preyed on weaker inmates, looting their possessions and extorting from them, according to prison records. He broke an inmate's arm, and was disciplined for having "sexual relations" with another inmate and for standing watch while others took a turn with the same man.
By 1995, his disciplinary record was so thick that his first eligibility for parole had receded into the distant future, with one projection putting his eligibility at age 55.
But Clemmons persistently pursued freedom, first through appeals of his convictions. One of those appeals went to Marion Humphrey, a Pulaski County circuit judge and minister who had succeeded the judge who had sentenced Clemmons.
"I declare under the watchful eyes of our Lord that I will do all in my power as a man to live a drug-free, crime-free life to the end of my existence," he wrote in a letter to Humphrey.
A few weeks before he wrote that letter, Clemmons assaulted another inmate. Two months after the letter, he was disciplined for another assault and ordered into isolation.
Humphrey vacated two of Clemmons' convictions. That ruling was overturned by the Arkansas Supreme Court, but Humphrey would play a role in Clemmons' next bid for freedom — an appeal to the governor for mercy.
"In this case I would have objected strenuously," said Floyd Lofton, the judge who presided at Clemmons trial. But Lofton wasn't consulted because he had retired. The request for input instead went to Humphrey, who backed Clemmons request.
Governors seldom grant clemency, but Huckabee, a Baptist minister, granted 1,033 — more than twice as many as his three predecessors combined.
"He saw that everyone makes mistakes, everyone can be rehabilitated," Cory Cox, Huckabee's clemency adviser for two years, told the Times. "He believed racism is real, especially for people sentenced in the 1960s and 1970s who got disproportionate sentences based on the color of their skin."
On his request, Clemmons argued that his sentence was excessive, and checked a box that said: "My institutional adjustment has been exemplary."
During that year, the Arkansas Department of Correction reduced Clemmons' time in prison to a score sheet: "Disciplinaries: 29 Times. Achievements: None."
In May 2000, Huckabee granted Clemmons clemency, making him immediately eligible for parole. The parole board released him a few months later, even though the prison system rated him at the highest category of risk, placing him among those most likely to return to violence.
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Online:
http://seattletimes.com/othersideofmercy
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
HOCKEY Beechen Cliff under-18s were crowned Avon county championsafter beating last year's winners, Clifton College, in a penaltyshootout.
The game finished 1-1 after Beechen qualified from their pool bybeating King Edward's 2-0, Prior Park 3-2, Bristol Grammar 1-0 andWellsway 7-0. Beechen captain Alex Copestake commented: "This resultwas a combined effort from players, coach Phil Ball and parents.
"The players were delighted and we're looking forward to theregional finals."
All matches were of a high standard with teams fielding highlytechnical and well organised sides, leaving little room for error.Matches were reduced in time in order to ensure all games wereplayed on the day.
This is the first time Beechen Cliff have secured the prestigiousAvon title. They travel to Millfield School to represent the countyin the South West regional finals on Sunday.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 11 -- Yong-Kwun Lee of Suwon, South Korea, and Yeon-Taek Oh of Yongin, South Korea, have developed a method of controlling a walking robot.
According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "walking robot using simple ground reaction force sensors and a method of controlling the same. It is an aspect of the present invention to provide the walking robot and the method of controlling the same, which reduces development and manufacturing costs of the walking robot and allows non-specialists to easily participate in the development. The walking robot includes a plurality of legs."
An abstract of the invention, released by the Patent Office, said: "One or more sensors are mounted on soles of each of the legs to detect whether the soles of each of the legs are in contact with a ground during locomotion. The walking robot performs the locomotion according to a locomotion pattern composed of a plurality of locomotion cycles, and proceeds from a current locomotion cycle to a next locomotion cycle after determining whether the current locomotion cycle is stable using detection results of the sensors."
The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,266,424 on Sept. 4.
The patent has been assigned to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Suwon-si, South Korea.
The original application was filed on Dec. 29, 2003, and is available at: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,266,424.PN.&OS=PN/7,266,424&RS=PN/7,266,424.
For more information about US Fed News federal patent awards please contact: Myron Struck, Managing Editor/US Bureau, US Fed News, Direct: 703/866-4708, Cell: 703/304-1897, Myron@targetednews.com.
Call 800/786-9199 (in the U.S. or Canada) or 703/308-4357 for assistance from a U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Customer Service Representatives and/or access to the automated information message system.
South Korean Inventors Develop Walking Robot Control MethodALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 11 -- Yong-Kwun Lee of Suwon, South Korea, and Yeon-Taek Oh of Yongin, South Korea, have developed a method of controlling a walking robot.
According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the invention relates to a "walking robot using simple ground reaction force sensors and a method of controlling the same. It is an aspect of the present invention to provide the walking robot and the method of controlling the same, which reduces development and manufacturing costs of the walking robot and allows non-specialists to easily participate in the development. The walking robot includes a plurality of legs."
An abstract of the invention, released by the Patent Office, said: "One or more sensors are mounted on soles of each of the legs to detect whether the soles of each of the legs are in contact with a ground during locomotion. The walking robot performs the locomotion according to a locomotion pattern composed of a plurality of locomotion cycles, and proceeds from a current locomotion cycle to a next locomotion cycle after determining whether the current locomotion cycle is stable using detection results of the sensors."
The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,266,424 on Sept. 4.
The patent has been assigned to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Suwon-si, South Korea.
The original application was filed on Dec. 29, 2003, and is available at: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7,266,424.PN.&OS=PN/7,266,424&RS=PN/7,266,424.
For more information about US Fed News federal patent awards please contact: Myron Struck, Managing Editor/US Bureau, US Fed News, Direct: 703/866-4708, Cell: 703/304-1897, Myron@targetednews.com.
Call 800/786-9199 (in the U.S. or Canada) or 703/308-4357 for assistance from a U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Customer Service Representatives and/or access to the automated information message system.
Summaries Sunday from the Bundesliga, the German first-division football league (home team listed first):
Schalke 1, …
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. - Amid the sound of battle cries and machine gun fire, the stories of the nation's war heroes are now being told in a renovated museum aboard a moored aircraft carrier.
The refurbished $1.5 million Medal of Honor Museum is set to open Memorial Day weekend aboard the USS Yorktown on Charleston Harbor as a tribute to the 3,444 recipients of the nation's highest military honor.
"It was absolutely breathtaking - the tightness in the chest and the water in the eye," said Gary Littrell, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who saw the completed museum for the first time Monday.
At the museum, visitors enter a hall to a multimedia exhibit on the …
ACCORDING TO A POPULAR APHORISM, we cannot stop the inevitable progress of time; we can only hope to shape its direction. And distance education, whether or not it is the technological tsunami predicted by Toffler, is definitely the wave of the future. Touted as "one of the first in-depth attempts to track national trends in distance education at the university level" (Mendels, 2000, p. 1), a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics reports that fully 87 percent of all large public universities, those with 10,000 or more students, offer distance education courses, primarily through the Internet. McGill University in Montreal, for example, offers courses on occupational health for doctors working in Africa and Penn States World Campus offers courses on agriculture for farmers working in remote areas. With just a brief search of Petersons.com, a distance education directory, students can locate courses or degree programs in computer science and electrical engineering from Stanford, busin ess administration from Duke, library science and pharmacy from the University of Illinois, or Egyptian art and archeology from the University of Chicago, to name just a few (Koeppel, 1999).
What then is fueling this boom in distance education? At least part of the answer lies with marketplace demographics. Newspaper articles are replete with narratives describing the typical distance education student-the working mother who logs on at 10 p.m. after cooking dinner, helping with homework, and putting the children to bed. Or that student may be a "37-year-old father of two" and "worldwide marketing manager" for a Fortune 500 computer company who travels on business, "sometimes for weeks at a time," and who therefore cannot take courses on campus, not even weekend courses (Mendels, 1998, p. 2). Or it may be, to cite an example from my own experience, a career Army officer who spends long hours on a cargo plane delivering military equipment to all parts of the globe and who makes profitable use of those long hours by logging on and doing his coursework during the flight.
Adult learners, then, are one of the fastest growing markets in higher education. And these information age professionals, as one author describes them, need to "constantly increase their knowledge base and upgrade their skills to support their multiple career changes" (Boettcher, 1999, p. 1). State-of-the-art technical skills and subject matter expertise are the keys to better jobs and new careers for professionals. With an eye on increased productivity, lower costs, and a sharper competitive edge, business today requires a well trained, up-to-date workforce. Distance education courses meet this demand and, thanks to the Internet and its related technologies, time and distance are no longer an impediment to higher education. As a result, the more optimistic futurists foresee distance education as the portal to lifelong learning. In fact, learning is one of the key issues in distance education currently under discussion.
Virtual Classrooms
Do students in "virtual classrooms" learn as well as students in traditional ones? Almost every article about distance education poses this question and several have attempted to provide …
Credit Union Journal encourages reader feedback to both opinions and editorials that appear on this page, to coverage that appears in this issue, or to issues on which you would just like to get in your two cents on.
Letters to the Editor can be sent to Managing Editor Lisa Freeman at …
Byline: Barry Meier New York Times
For two years now, thousands of dentists have received newsletters from the Princeton Dental Resource Center with current reports on dental health and fighting cavities. And the center has asked the dentists to pass them to their patients.
The newsletters contain some unexpected advice - including bulletins of good news for chocolate lovers. One issue reports that eating chocolate might be as beneficial as an apple a day.
But you may want to hold on to your dental floss. Most dental researchers say there are gaping holes in the chocolate theory. Moreover, many dentists who distributed the newsletter did not know …
The South Dakota Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments over whether yelling profanities at a passing police officer is protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.
Attorneys for Marcus Suhn argued the First and 14th Amendments protected him and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction should be overturned. He appealed to the high court after being convicted for a Sept. 2, 2007, exchange with Police Officer David Gibson.
The Constitution gives Americans to express ideas and opinions freely, Suhn's attorney, Robert Fite said. "That right also gives us the right to criticize our government and its agencies without fear of retribution."
…
Gateshead, a port town in northeast England, wants to claimRobert Burns' most famous song as its own.
The town council claims that the tune to "Auld Lang Syne" is notthe work of Burns but of composer William Shield, and it wants thetune as its local anthem.
According to the council, the melody can be found in an operaticpiece, "Rosina," the story of a country girl, written by Shield in1748. Officials say that since Shield was born in nearby Swalwell,the tune should rightly form the basis of its millenniumcelebrations.Murdo Morrison of the Burns Federation said: "It is certainly anextremely old tune, and no one is claiming that Burns wrote ithimself, but I don't …
By HARRISON, DAVID
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, nudging banks on an increasingly prominent issue, is preparing guidance on how to handle private consumer information.
Acting Comptroller Julie L. Williams said Monday that the advice will focus on banks' disclosures of privacy policies-an area where the agency has spotted problems.
The so-called best-practices guidance, due out in about a month, will not be legally binding. But Ms. Williams reiterated previous warnings that banks without strong privacy provisions could face new federal regulations.
The issue of protecting consumer privacy is moving to the forefront as …
All things English were celebrated on Sunday with the annual St George's Scout and Guiding parade on Angel Hill.
Some 800 Scouts and Guides paraded from Ram Meadow to St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds, for the annual service followed by the salute taken by Mayor of St Edmundsbury Cllr Stefan Oliver, Bury Town Mayor Cllr Frank Warby and officials from the Scouting and Guiding movement.
They were Scouting district commissioner Ian Turner, county representative Peter Mee and Guiding county commissioner Polly Barfoot. St George is the patron saint of the movement.
The service was taken by the Rev Malcolm Roger and Beavers from Thurston …
Byline: CAROL DeMARE Staff writer
Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne said Monday he is conducting a background investigation of the Massachusetts businessman who was arrested last month after a loaded handgun was found in his carry-on by airport security.
Faisal Isa Ali, 56, of Dalton, Mass., was charged with a felony weapon possession count on the morning of May 13 after a worker at Albany International Airport noticed that a black nylon bag in the X-ray machine possibly contained a handgun.
The bag was turned over to a deputy who found the .25-caliber Browning. Ali said he had used the bag the night before to deposit cash from his …
Byline: United Press International
Atlantic Richfield Co. paid $287 million Wednesday to Alaska to settle charges that the company undervalued its North Slope crude oil in order to reduce what it owed the state in royalty payments, top state officials said.
Alaska sued a dozen oil companies in 1977 alleging that they set the value of their oil artificially low, thus short-changing the state in royalty payments.
Alaska owns the oil-rich land at Prudhoe Bay and, as part of the leases to pump oil, petroleum producers agreed to pay the state a 12.5 percent royalty based on the value of the oil.
In agreeing to pay more than $287.1 million in …
The head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Sunday that lawmakers' decision to reject 70 percent of President Hamid Karzai's Cabinet nominees was a political setback that will only delay efforts to get a functioning government up and running.
Kai Eide called parliament's rejection of 17 of Karzai's 24 picks on Saturday a "distraction" at a time when Afghanistan and the international community are trying to focus on urgently needed reforms.
He told reporters that Karzai now will have to spend political energy nominating new choices, prolonging the time before a functioning government can partner with donor nations. The move also comes amid a …
WASHINGTON - President Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress lurched toward a veto showdown over Iraq on Wednesday, the commander in chief demanding a replenishment of war funding with no strings and Speaker Nancy Pelosi counseling him, "Calm down with the threats."
Bush said imposition of a "specific and random date of withdrawal would be disastrous" for U.S. troops in Iraq and he predicted that lawmakers would take the blame if the money ran short.
"The clock is ticking for our troops in the field," he said. "If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible."
Bush spoke as the …
U.S. sales of Class 8 trucks in June totaled 12,980 units, 40.5 percent below the June 2000 figure.
It was the 15th consecutive month of decline for the Class 8 segment.
Western Star, a DaimlerChrysler company, took the segment's biggest hit for the second consecutive month.
Sales plunged 69.1 percent to 110 units.
Kenworth, a division of Paccar Inc., had the second-largest percentage decrease, down 57.6 percent to 1,014 units.
…
By Stuart Miller
Channeling Positive Energy In Campaigns
While cable networks across the spectrum have been busy trying to find ways to generate green programming consistent with their brands, even channels that can't regularly find a good content fit are devoting time, energy, and money to the issue through green cause campaigns. In most cases, they are using their online platforms to inform and encourage action in ways that don't always work in entertainment programs.
Nickelodeon has long been a leader in ambitious pro-social initiatives - in 1993, it ran a 'Plan It for the Planet' special featuring then-Vice President Al Gore - so it should come as no surprise that its campaign, 'The Big Green Help,' is a long-term, multilayered effort. (It is modeled on 'The Big Help' drives that Nick ran in the 1990s.)
The campaign has four major themes:
Slow the Flow - teaching kids about minimizing the waste of energy and natural resources.
Recycle and Pre-Cycle - not only encouraging recycling but also the use of recyclable items.
Give It the Third Degree - teaching kids to use less heat in the winter and less air conditioning in the summer.
Grow the Green - fostering the planting of trees and the preservation of natural resources.
Senior vice president of public affairs Jean Margaret Smith said the project was based on a study done in conjunction with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change revealing that the vast majority of kids 8-14 believe they can stop global warming, though half of them were not sure what steps they could take. The study also found that while 33% of kids and 25% of parents feel responsible for the environment, 62% of families drink bottled water daily, while 45% still do not recycle.
'We really need to connect the dots,' Smith said, adding that while most adults in the survey felt world leaders were responsible for transforming society on this issue, kids believed it was up to individuals. 'We need to show how they can do something about it and how they can engage in the here and now.'
Smith added the campaign will be about more than simply doling out takeaway tidbits of information.
'We want to go beyond the tip of the …
Byline: LARA JAKES Staff writer
COLONIE -- Silently nodding to a judge's orders, Assemblywoman Susan V. John pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving while ability impaired, a crime she said will bring ``valuable new perspective'' to her duties chairing a state committee on alcoholism and drug abuse.
Two days after John, 39, was pulled over with a blood-alcohol content of 0.14 percent, the Rochester Democrat appeared before town Justice Nicholas J. Greisler and news media from across the state to apologize for drinking too much before getting behind the wheel of her car. Because she had no prior alcohol-related convictions, John was allowed to plead guilty to …
Critics always gripe that movies are too long and could stand some pruning.
Then you get the occasional movie, like comic-book adaptation "Jonah Hex," that is too short; so short, and so bad, you cringe at the thought of how awful whatever ended up on the cutting-room floor must be.
Take away the eight minutes of end-credits, a lengthy prologue sequence built around comic-book panels and some repetitive flashbacks of action we already have seen, and there's barely an hour's worth of actual movie in "Jonah Hex." And that is using the term "actual movie" generously.
Part of what is missing is the harder-core violence …
In Politics, Aristotle famously declared that humans are political animals, a seemingly inescapable truth. We live in groups; we survive by virtue of interaction with other humans. But politics is born, Aristotle argued, not because we live in herds but instead because we use sophisticated communication and form partnerships that rely on our highly developed sense of justice and fairness.
The depth of any innate tendency toward politics is unclear. In The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau posited a natural human condition free of societal encumbrance. He also, however, said that we savages willingly traded this boundless freedom for the lasting security of a polity. …
Byline: Kate Fitzgerald
The charge-off rate on U.S. credit cards declined last month, along with the rate of card accounts past due, according to a March 26 report from Fitch Group's Fitch Ratings Inc.
The rate of defaults on credit card outstanding receivables dipped 10 basis points during February, to 11.27% from 11.37% during the previous collection period in January. Credit card accounts at least 60 days past due in February fell six basis points, to 4.44% from 4.5%, while accounts at least 30 days past due also fell six basis points, to 5.66% from 5.72%.
The trends …
