The James Logan Courier

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations


The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has agreed to postpone certification of the special election to decide Measure B – an emergency funding measure for the New Haven Unified School District – while supporters continue their efforts to ensure that all ballots were counted in an election decided by just a handful of votes.

Measure B, a $180 parcel tax for four years, would raise approximately $3 million annually to minimize class size increases and reductions to the school year and to fund after-school activities. The District, which because of the ongoing state financial crisis already has trimmed its budget from $113 million to $99 million, is facing the prospect of making an additional $10 million in cuts in 2011-12.

By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times (MCT)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _ Al-Qaida vowed to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden with retaliation against the U.S. "soon," according to a warning that the terrorist network posted this week on militant websites.

In confirming the death of its leader in a statement dated Tuesday, al-Qaida urged Muslims to not stray from the path of armed struggle against the United States. The terror group said it would soon release an audio message made by bin Laden a week before his death in which he passes along "advice and guidance."

Bin Laden was killed early Monday in a U.S. commando raid on a compound in the Pakistan garrison city of Abbottabad that he had used as a hideout for the last five years. Experts have said his death deals a significant blow to al-Qaida but likely won't mean its demise.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

An Eastin Elementary School student is a finalist in the second annual “Doodle 4 Google” competition.

Albert Pei, a fifth-grader, is one of 40 regional finalists whose works were selected from more than 107,000 submissions in the competition, for which students throughout the country redesigned Google’s familiar homepage logo around the theme “What I’d like to do someday …” Visitors from Google honored Albert during an assembly at Eastin this week.