This is the archive for April 2007
By Mark Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT)
"Hamlet" stirs in Room 100.
"Act 3, Scene 1. Lines 55 and following. Let's look closely at it. Miss Graf, will you please give us a reading," says Marquette University associate professor John Curran.
The only sound: a hurried riffling of pages.
"Center of the whole thing," Curran adds.
Allison Graf, a 20-year-old psychology major, takes a deep breath, then begins.
"To be or not to be: That is the question . . . "
Arguably the most famous lines ever written.
Posted by courier at 04:56 AM. Filed under: News
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President George W. Bush exchanges
handshakes with Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe of Japan Friday at Camp David.
White House photo by Joyce Boghosian By Hiroaki Matsunaga
The Yomiuri Shimbun (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called on North Korea to take initial denuclearization steps stipulated in a February six-party agreement and agreed to strengthen sanctions against the country if it fails to do so.
During their 1.5-hour meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Bush said the United States would take into consideration the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea when it decides whether to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Posted by courier at 07:35 PM. Filed under: News
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By Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO — Told to express emotion for a creative writing class, high school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.
Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Ill., was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.
Posted by courier at 09:38 AM. Filed under: News
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By Renee Schoof
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Congress concluded round one of its historic showdown with President Bush on Thursday with the Senate's passage of legislation that requires that troops start coming home by Oct. 1.
Maneuvering over the next round was already under way.
The 51-46 approval, like the close vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, was far short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto that Bush has promised. Democrats now will try to rewrite the $124 billion spending bill, which provides the money Bush requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan plus extra military funding.
Posted by courier at 09:01 AM. Filed under: News
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By Bethany Stringer and Roberta Maas, Courier Staff Writers
Helen Farkas, on the
Little Theater stage
Beth Stringer/Courier PhotoLast week, the holocaust assembly was once again in full swing as sophomores were educated on the atrocities that occurred during Hitler’s regime. This year Helen Farkas, a holocaust survivor, again spoke about her experiences.
It's the 15th time she's told Logan students about surviving survivor of Auschwitz and the Death March and the third Holocaust Assembly in the Little Theater of this year's series presented to World History classes.
Posted by courier at 10:51 AM. Filed under: News
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Professional Learning Communities will be the primary topic at the April meeting of the New Haven Community Forum, to be held Tuesday , from 4 to 6 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Middle School, 2801 Hop Ranch Road.
Posted by courier at 11:42 AM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
Jack O'ConnellIn the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre and threats of a similar slaughter at schools in Yuba and Sutter Counties, the State Superintendent of Schools Friday called for the state’s schools to redouble the efforts at securing their campuses.
"As our nation mourns the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy and observes the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, I want to urge school districts throughout California to make certain that their plans for school safety are effective, comprehensive, and up-to-date,” State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell said in a press release.
Posted by courier at 09:26 AM. Filed under: News
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By Ramon Coronado
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
Unidentified parents walk their
children away from King Elementary
School on Thursday after a man
threatened to go on a killing spree
inspired by Monday's mass murder at
Virginia Tech.
(Autumn Cruz/Sacramento Bee/MCT)SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Schools in Yuba and Sutter counties will remain closed Friday as authorities continue to search for a man who allegedly threatened a killing spree that would dwarf the Virginia Tech massacre.
Jeffery Thomas Carney, 28, is being sought and is possibly armed with automatic weapons and explosives, Sutter County Undersheriff J. Paul Parker said.
Carney allegedly had threatened a spree of violence that he said would make Virginia Tech "look mild."
Authorities said Thursday afternoon that they are looking for Carney in an aqua blue Ford Ranger pickup truck with a matching color toolbox.
"We are really hoping that we can catch up with this guy today," said Parker, who added Carney's parents are alarmed at the situation.
Posted by courier at 08:48 AM. Filed under: News
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By Tina Lam
Detroit Free Press (MCT)
DETROIT — Just in time for today's 37th anniversary of Earth Day, the Earth is back. Green is cool; global warming is hot.
"It's a great time to be an environmentalist," said Lana Pollack, executive director of the Michigan Environmental Council in Lansing. "I really believe the public has reached a tipping point in terms of concern and understanding about global warming. There's been a big change, even in just the last year."
Consider:
Wayne County runs its road-maintenance and salt trucks on biodiesel and Novi is urging all developers to build green buildings, which conserve energy and water.
Posted by courier at 03:46 PM. Filed under: News
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Teachers this week received training in how to administer this year’s STAR tests, scheduled for next week.
On Monday, students will receive a videotaped peptalk aimed at motivating them to give the battery of tests their best efforts. Also on Monday, teachers will make last minute preparations to administer the tests, which commence Tuesday morning in third period classes.
Testing continues Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Logan will take a break from testing on Monday, and resume and conclude on Tuesday.
Posted by courier at 09:57 AM. Filed under: News
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By Christina La, Courier Staff Writer
Logan had its second blood drive of the year in the Guy Emanuele Pavilion Tuesday, netting the American Red Cross about 10 gallons by the end of the day.
Donating began during period and continued until after school. There were 118 students signed in, however, some were rejected due to tattoos or other things that might jeopardize the safety of the blood supply. Although no students fainted, there were a few that began feeling dizzy or woozy. Some began getting pale in the face. On the other hand, the majority of the students were fine. Students were given an opportunity to participate without a long wait.
Posted by courier at 09:06 AM. Filed under: News
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By Michelle Raskin, Courier Staff Writer
On April 27, there will be a free event occuring at Ohlone College at the Smith Center, to celebrate dia del la Raza.
This is only for Juniors and Seniors.
Perri Darweesh, Logan teacher and the advisor of the Raza Day event, planned this to help increase the number of Latinos and Latinas who attend college. The day will include information on the admission process for college, financial aid, academic programs, and transferring to one of the California State University campuses or one of University of California's.
Posted by courier at 08:37 AM. Filed under: News
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By Sadaf Khan and Naweed Zemaryalai
Airforce recruiters were on hand at the
Job Opportunity Expo.
Yanira Romero/Courier PhotoThe 14th annual Job Opportunity Expo, sponsored by the Marketing and Management academy, was held at James Logan Wednesday during both lunches at Colt Court.
“It gives students opportunities to apply for jobs, join the military, talk to colleges, participate in community service as well as apply, and think about their future,” said Logan teacher Will Richberg.
Posted by courier at 02:19 PM. Filed under: News
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By Patrick May
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
A page from Cho Seung-Hui's play,
Richard McBeef.SAN JOSE, Calif. — With reports that Virginia Tech English major Cho Seung-Hui penned plays filled with grotesque bloodletting before his rampage, professors on the front lines of creative writing say that while they'd try and help an obviously troubled student, there are miles of gray area between artistic freedom and the red-flag zone.
Violence in the written word, even as shocking as Cho's characters, who fantasize about killing a teacher just to "watch him bleed," remains just that — words — unless the writer acts out.
Posted by courier at 11:11 AM. Filed under: News
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By Priya Jagannathan, Courier Staff Writer
Junior Sana Younus was silent
Wednesday, Jessica Rosales/Courier Photo
Dozens of James Logan's gay students and their supporters fell silent Wednesday, participating in the annual Day of Silence sponsored by Logan's Gay-Straight Alliance club, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and the USSA (United States Student Association).
"People keep asking me why I'm silent if I'm not homsexual," said participant Sana Younus, a junior, in a note she jotted to avoid speaking, "Well, I want to prove my support for the homosexual culture and being silent is a demonstration tat be carried out withou violent means or unlawful methods."
Posted by courier at 11:45 AM. Filed under: News
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Estimated Cumulative Percentage of Students
in the Classes of 2006 and 2007 Meeting the
CAHSEE Requirement through February
2006 and 2007 by SubgroupCalifornia's high school Class of 2007 is doing better at passing the state-mandated exit exam than the Class of 2006, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell announced yesterday, and even though their traditional high school careers ended last June, the Class of 2006 is showing improvement, too.
O'Connell said that nearly half the students in the Class of 2006 who failed to pass the test before the end of their senior year have continued to try. Since May 2006, 4,797 more Class of 2006 students have gone on to pass the exam. As a result, the cumulative CAHSEE passing rate for the Class of 2006 is now an estimated 92.3 percent.
Posted by courier at 08:31 AM. Filed under: News
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By Bruce Henderson and April Bethea
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The deadliest shooting massacre in American history savaged Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on Monday, as an unidentified gunman killed 32 people and wounded 15 more, then killed himself, his motive and identity unknown as of early evening.
The shootings stunned the sprawling campus in southwest Virginia and shocked the country.
Posted by courier at 11:48 AM. Filed under: News
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By Mike Zapler
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
SACRAMENTO — Super-sized fast-food combos. Piles of pasta. Dessert. Dining out can be a disaster for those waging war against the waistline.
But a new Web site — healthydiningfinder.com — allows consumers to plug in a city or zip code, and up pops a list of restaurants in the area with a selection of menu items that meet certain healthy criteria, such as lower calories and fat content.
Posted by courier at 07:50 AM. Filed under: News
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By Anne Chen,
Courier Editor-in-Chief
Sonia Nazario addresses students.
Anne ChenCourier Photo
The Little Theater at Logan filled with students waiting to hear Sonia Nazario, Los Angeles Times reporter and author of
Enrique’s Journey, speak on her bestselling novel last week.
Nazario has been reporting about social issues for more than two decades and has won the Pulitzer Prize.
For two class periods, Logan students got an insider's view on the life of immigrants and controversial immigration issues. The author's visit was made possible by The AllState Foundation and Facing History and Ourselves a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping teachers lead their students in examining the history of mass genocide and violence.
Posted by courier at 07:56 AM. Filed under: News
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By Nathanial Lealao, Courier Staff Writer
Austin Ashford
(Nathanial Lealao/
Courier Photo) Logan Junior Austin Ashford has a way with words, such a way that he entered recently entered his first poetry competition, the 11th annual Youth Speaks Poetry Slam in Bay Area region, and won the event's final round March 17 at the Masonic Auditorium, earning the right to compete with the Bay Area team in the National Youth Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas.
“I was surprised that I won because this is my first poetry slam ever,” Ashford said in a recent interview with The Courier.
Ashford's final round victory came after five weeks of preliminary competitions.
Posted by courier at 04:05 AM. Filed under: News
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By Michelle Raskin, Courier staff writer
An artist's conception of how the 9-11
Memorial will look.Art teachers last week began collecting tiles that the their students have worked on for two weeks for use decorating a Union City memorial to the victims of the 9-11 attacks.
A special memorial will be built at the park by the corner of Alvarado-Niles and Dyer, for all those lives lost in Flight 93 and the crew at "Ground Zero." The horrific day that will haunt the people forever will never be forgotten. Union City's head of Art Activities contacted the art teachers of Logan and proposed the idea of having the students make a design on the tiles that will represent a positive, helpful view for the future in the eyes of the students.
Posted by courier at 05:48 AM. Filed under: News
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By Michelle Raskin, Courier Staff Writer
Ok, all of you AP students, exam time is coming up, so crack open those books and study.
Test dates are scheduled for May 7 through May 18. Each test is non-refundable and cost $83.00 and each test must be purchased by March 23 in the main office. For those students who cannot afford paying the $83.00, the classes do fundrasiers to help out. Those students who recieve reduced price meals will get a reduced price for the test.
The results will be mailed and House Four Principal Beth Davies will get a copy of her own.
Davies said she believes that the price is high, but "I have no control over the price; College Board determines the price."
Posted by courier at 09:51 AM. Filed under: News
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By Kathy Boccella
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
Mark Lapreziosa, Assistant Vice President
of Enrollment Management at Arcadia
University, (left) dicusses new enrollment
background checks with Enrollment
Management Counselor Kyle Danielson.
(Gerald S. Williams/
Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT)PHILADELPHIA — Along with SAT scores and extra-curricular activities, college-bound students increasingly are being asked to divulge information that may not be so flattering: their arrest and discipline records.
Since late summer, the Common Application, a form used by about 300 institutions, has asked students and guidance counselors whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a crime or disciplined at school.
Kids with rocky pasts may not make it beyond 12th grade.
Posted by courier at 01:36 PM. Filed under: News
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By Sue Nowicki
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
MODESTO, Calif. - Where were you on Easter 40 years ago?
Ron Cone knows exactly where he was - dropping off South Vietnamese soldiers in a Mekong Delta rice paddy near Hoa Binh that suddenly erupted with Viet Cong firepower.
Although Cone faced other battles in his yearlong tour of duty as an Army helicopter pilot, it is the Easter Sunday battle on March 26, 1967, that has been engraved on his mind through the years.
He went back to Vietnam last month and spent March 26 at the battle site.
Posted by courier at 06:54 AM. Filed under: News
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By Michelle Raskin, Courier Staff Writer
Logan teacher Ramon Camacho packed up his truck March 30 to take donated goods to the drop off site for the farm workers who were affected by this winter's freeze that killed fruit trees and other agricultural crops and put many workers out jobs.
Camacho had a truck-load of donations to deliver because he attended a Community Empowerment Service Meeting last month during which Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Cesar Chavez's daughter, spoke of the plight of the workers. Rodriguez asked everyone at the meeting if they could help out the freeze victims. Over 28,000 jobs were lost; it was a crisis in many workers' lives.
For more information, and to make donations, visit the United Farm Workers website, www.ufw.org.
Posted by courier at 06:26 AM. Filed under: News
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As James Logan High School prepares for this year's round of federally mandated standardized testing, federal officials have announced changed rules governing the testing of students with learning disabilities.
Logan Assistant Principal Linda Kingston today sent staff the schedule for the STAR testing this year. This year's' schedule, like last year's spans five days, starting on April 24, a Tuesday, and continues for the rest of that week, and finishes, after a break from testing on Monday, on Tuesday, May 1.
Posted by courier at 10:07 AM. Filed under: News
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By Stephen J. Hedges
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Children eight to 12 years old are exposed to an average of 21 television food advertisements each day, commercials that predominantly push candy, snacks and other unhealthy foods contributing to childhood obesity. Fully half the ads on children's programs involve the sale of food items.
And they're not pushing healthy foods. "The vast majority of the foods that kids see advertised on television today are for products that nutritionists would tell us they need to be eating less of, not more of," said Vicky Rideout, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, which reported the research March 28 as part of what Kaiser billed as the first comprehensive study of food advertising and children.
Posted by courier at 02:37 AM. Filed under: News
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By Bethany Stringer, Courier Staff Writer
In a surprising 2-2 vote, the New Haven Unified School Board did not approve a proposed Surveillance Camera Policy.
The policy entailed allowing any school site to install video cameras as a crime deterrent. Cameras
would not be allowed in certain areas such as school bathrooms or locker rooms, but could be placed in any other part of the campus.
Posted by courier at 05:35 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a report on interventions and support for struggling students, including a video demonstration of how “Writing Academy” is working at Barnard-White Middle School. The presentation also included information on the 2007 summer-school program and on how changes in state funding are affecting what kinds of courses the District is able to offer.
Posted by courier at 05:22 AM. Filed under: News
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By Jessica Rosales and Dana Llarena, Courier Staff Writers.
The '09 Crew boards the Golden Eye.For the second day of skits, the Class of ‘09 performed a more organized skit compared to the Junior skit. Their props and backdrops actually went with their theme of Emerald Cove and were well made. From watching them, it seemed like they took their time in rehearsing, especially with the large amount of participating Sophomore, and compromising the skit. Many parts went off without a hitch and if there were any mistakes, the viewers couldn’t really tell.
Posted by courier at 06:22 PM. Filed under: News
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By Bethany Stringer, Courier Staff Writer
The New Haven Board of Education Tuesday praised James Logan High's daily online newspaper, The Courier, for it's adept use of technology and its service to the school community.
There to receive the recognition was Patrick Hannigan, who had brought with him his long time friend and colleague, Tim Campbell.
A story about The Courier's first anniversary as a uniquely daily news site, broadcast by local TV news outlet KGO-TV, spurred the Board's recognition.
Stories about the school's news operation, which Hannigan claims is the only daily high school-based, student-produced news source anywhere, also recently appeared in
the Argus, the local website
www.newbor.com, and the
website of the Peninsula Press Club.
Posted by courier at 11:55 AM. Filed under: News
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LUNCH:
Teriyaki Beef Dippers with Rice and Vegetables
Milk, Baby Carrots, Fresh Fruit, Cookies, Fun Chips
ACTIVITIES:
National Anthem tryouts today after school on the Turf for the Top 8 Track Meet..
Congratulations Advanced Concert Choir & Jazz Singers - first place, and Chamber Choir 2nd in Hawaii competition.
Posted by courier at 11:01 AM. Filed under: News
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By Andy Mead
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
Animatronic dinosaurs and people
are throughout the Creation Museum
as pictured March 20, 2007, in
Petersburg, Kentucky. The museum
is a $27 million religious showcase
scheduled to open Memorial Day.
(Mark Cornelison/Lexington
Herald-Leader/MCT)
PETERSBURG, Ky. — Tyrannosaurus rex was a strict vegetarian, and lived with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
There were dinosaurs of every kind aboard Noah's ark. Some dinosaurs managed to hang around until just a few hundred years ago. The legend of St. George slaying the dragon? That probably was a dinosaur.
Exhibits showing all this and more will be at the Creation Museum, a $27 million religious showcase nearing completion in Northern Kentucky.
The museum, in Boone County, is being built by a non-profit group called Answers in Genesis. It is scheduled to open on Memorial Day. Museum and Northern Kentucky tourism officials expect it to be a boon to the region, bringing in at least 250,000 visitors in its first year.
Posted by courier at 08:29 AM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Writers Sahar Naweed and Armaghan Nabil contributed to this report.
The second of this year's Holocaust assemblies will be held Thursday, when sophomore World Studies students will go to the Little Theater to hear Jacques, who survived the Holocaust as a "hidden child" in France, recount his experiences.
This will be Jacques' first appearance at the annual assemblies, the fifteenth annual Holocaust assemblies to be presented.
Visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's website.
Posted by courier at 05:01 AM. Filed under: News
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