This is the archive for July 2008
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO — First-time home buyers have a better shot at the American dream and strapped homeowners may be able to stave off financial ruin under a lengthy set of measures signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday.
But there are plenty of catches in the 694-page housing legislation.
Posted by courier at 09:08 AM. Filed under: News
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The economy has Costco struggling to
keep customers spending in its stores.
wikimedia photo
CHICAGO — There's no cheerful way to say it: Get ready for a sober Christmas season.
Yes, it's only July, but retailers already are deep in planning mode for the holiday season, and what they are sensing adds up to potential trouble, with some experts saying this could be the toughest environment in almost 30 years.
Posted by courier at 07:53 AM. Filed under: News
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Gen. David Petraeus
U.S. Gov. photo
BAGHDAD — The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn't buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.
Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq commander, said in an interview with McClatchy that the situation in Iraq is too volatile to "project out, and to then try to plant a flag on a particular date."
Posted by courier at 07:36 AM. Filed under: News
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Sen. Barack Obama
Senate photo
AMMAN, Jordan — As Barack Obama heads into the world's most complicated region in a bid to establish his foreign-policy credentials as a presidential hopeful, Israelis and Palestinians are voicing a mixture of hope, skepticism and curiosity.
The Democratic senator from Illinois, who arrives here Tuesday from visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, has promised a new approach to U.S. diplomacy and a spirit of international healing, and both sides want to see him engage immediately on issues that divide the Middle East.
Many Palestinians worry that Obama will bend over backward in favoring Israel.
Posted by courier at 11:31 PM. Filed under: News
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By Carol Rosenberg
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — The U.S. government opened its first war crimes prosecution Tuesday with a narrative of Osama bin Laden's driver overhearing his boss offer an eerie post-mortem in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks:
''If they hadn't shot down the fourth plane, it would've hit the dome,'' declared Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Stone.
And so with his first words to a military jury, the Pentagon prosecutor conjured up a conversation from inside the world of al-Qaida, revealed by the accused, driver Salim Hamdan. Bin Laden told his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahari, that U.S. forces — not heroic passengers — brought down United Airlines Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field on 9-11 before terrorist hijackers could slam it into ''the dome,'' of the U.S. Capitol building.
Posted by courier at 07:31 AM. Filed under: News
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By Tony Pugh
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — More than 2 million low-wage workers will get a small raise on Thursday when the federal minimum wage jumps 12 percent, from $5.85 to $6.55 an hour.
And depending on whom you talk to, it's either the best of times or the worst of times for the nation's base wage to rise.
While most Americans have traditionally supported minimum wage increases, the new rate hike comes at a bad time for businesses, particularly small businesses, struggling through the economic downturn.
Posted by courier at 05:22 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Eager to move forward and intent on maintaining the direction taken during the past four years, the New Haven Unified School District’s Board of Education has initiated a process that could identify a new Superintendent by October.
The Board on Wednesday night appointed veteran New Haven educator David Pava as Interim Superintendent, effective Sept. 1. He will replace Dr. Pat Jaurequi, who was confirmed this afternoon as Superintendent of the San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento County, nearer her home. To facilitate a smooth opening to the school year, she will remain in New Haven through Aug. 31.
The Board also voted Wednesday night to use the California School Boards Association’s (CSBA) executive search service to immediately begin the process of finding a permanent superintendent.
Posted by courier at 05:44 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante,
New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Intent on maintaining continuity and assuring a smooth opening to the school year, the Board of Education tonight appointed David Pava as Interim Superintendent of the New Haven Unified School District, effective Sept. 1.
Mr. Pava, 59, who grew up in what became New Haven Unified and has spent more than 30 years as an educator in the District, will replace Dr. Pat Jaurequi, who has accepted an offer to become superintendent in another district. The Board of Education in her new district will vote formally to approve her hiring Thursday, but she will remain in New Haven through Aug. 31.
Posted by courier at 01:15 AM. Filed under: News
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Former New Haven
Superintendent Pat Jaurequi
Courier Photo,
New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Acting swiftly to maintain continuity, the New Haven Unified School District Board of Education will hold a special meeting tonight to appoint an Interim Superintendent to replace Dr. Pat Jaurequi, who has accepted an offer to become superintendent in another district.
“Certainly, we didn’t want to lose Dr. Jaurequi, but an interim superintendent – and we have excellent candidates within the District – will enable us to continue to move forward along the road we’ve traveled in the past few years, even as we begin the process of finding a new, permanent superintendent,” Board President Kevin Harper said.
Posted by courier at 09:04 PM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
The Board of Education on last week received a presentation about the Division of Teaching and Learning’s core messages for 2008-09. Chief Academic Officer Glynn Thompson outlined four key messagesat the July 15 meeting:
Systems Alignment: aligning all District initiatives with the Strategic Plan and budgeting accordingly; focusing on rigorous instruction and curricular alignment; coaching to impact the instructional core; emphasizing that “We are all learners! We are all leaders!”;
Posted by courier at 12:36 PM. Filed under: News
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By Renee Schoof
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it couldn't propose any regulation of greenhouse gases because the issue was too complex and there were too many objections from other federal agencies.
The Bush administration consistently has objected to mandatory limits on the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. The EPA's decision to issue a 588-page report that calls for 120 days of public comment means that any regulatory action will be up to the next administration.
ON THE WEB
EPA Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
EPA fact sheet.
Posted by courier at 09:52 AM. Filed under: News
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By Lisa Anderson
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
NEW YORK — After pummeling each other on the campaign trail for the better part of a year and a half, Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York stowed the brass knuckles and pulled out the olive branches Thursday. The challenge now is to persuade their supporters to do the same.
At a morning Manhattan fundraiser, a smiling Clinton, with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Obama at her side, indicated the two are as in step with each other as the dancing team of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. "The Democratic Party is a family," however "dysfunctional," she reminded the audience.
Posted by courier at 05:33 AM. Filed under: News
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By Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Describing a systematic government campaign to decimate the people of Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Monday charged the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, with genocide and war crimes and called for his arrest.
ON THE WEB
A summary of the case on the
International Criminal Court's Web site.
Posted by courier at 03:33 PM. Filed under: News
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By Mark K. Matthews
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)
WASHINGTON — One of the biggest lunar discoveries of the decade — proof that the moon may have had water since its formation — was announced Wednesday by a team of researchers whose background is more in Earth science than moon rocks.
In an article published in the journal
Nature, the six-scientist team of geologists and geochemists showed that water from the moon's interior gushed to the surface more than 3 billion years ago in geyserlike jets of molten magma, disproving a long-standing belief that Earth's nearest neighbor is almost bone-dry.
Posted by courier at 04:27 PM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Ted Hood, who has 15 years of school business management and administrative experience and 14 years of experience in accounting, has been hired as Chief Business Officer of the New Haven Unified School District.
Posted by courier at 07:33 PM. Filed under: News
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Amber Druggan and Jeremy Farris.
Chicago Tribune/MCT
Amber Druggan and Jeremy Farris were strolling through Chicago Ridge Mall when Jeremy dropped to one knee, stretched out his hands and asked Amber to marry him.
She was 16. He was 17. But Amber, who was pregnant, did not hesitate.
"I was so excited," she said, a smile spreading across her rosy face, as she recalled that November afternoon. "I was like, 'Yes! Absolutely, yes!'"
Posted by courier at 07:58 AM. Filed under: News
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By Amanda Erickson
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Thirteen thousand dollars.
That's the average cost of a year of college for in-state students. Make it more than $32,000 for those attending private schools.
But thanks to complicated financial aid formulas, what undergraduates really pay for their degree is a much more complex equation. Now Congress is trying to take the mystery out of the forever-rising costs of higher education by mandating that colleges provide students and their parents more information about how much the average student pays for school, what kind of tuition help they might be able to secure and which universities offer the best bang for the buck. Congress is also calling for an annual "blacklist" of schools with the steepest cost increases.
Critics wonder whether the measures will provide real financial relief or just create extra paperwork for colleges.
Posted by courier at 07:14 AM. Filed under: News
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President George W. Bush greets Prime Minister
Yasuo Fukuda of Japan Tuesday in Toyako, Japan.
White House photo by Eric Draper
WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Group of 8 leading industrial nations on Tuesday set a goal of cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases in half by 2050 and said that all major economies should join the effort.
But the joint statement from the G-8 meeting in Japan didn't say what year would be the baseline for the 50 percent cut, and it didn't impose any tough midterm reduction requirements that would require nations to act quickly.
Posted by courier at 08:19 AM. Filed under: News
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Terminal Chaos by
George L. Donohue, Ph.D. and
Russell D. Shaver, III, Ph.D.
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Amer Inst of Aeronautics & (May 9, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1563479494
ISBN-13: 978-1563479496
WASHINGTON — Rising jet fuel prices are being cited by airlines as the reason for cancelling service to smaller U.S. cities, but an increasingly broken air travel system is as much to blame, according to a new book by a former high-level Federal Aviation Administration official.
"When it comes to air travel today, everyone has a horror story," writes George Donohue, in the understated opening line of his new book, "Terminal Chaos."
An associate administrator for research and acquisition at the FAA from 1994 to 1998, Donohue offers a detailed explanation of both the causes of and solutions to an aviation system in crisis. Today's mess of delays, cancellations and airport chaos are the product of more than two decades of bad decisions, he said.
Posted by courier at 06:55 AM. Filed under: News
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By Paul Walsh
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)
MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota researchers say they have discovered educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
The study also found that low-income students often are just as technologically savvy as their wealthier counterparts. The university says this contradicts results that previous studies suggested.
The information was collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in 13 urban high schools in the Midwest and released last month by the university.
Posted by courier at 09:40 AM. Filed under: News
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By Mike Antonucci
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The online Scrabble wars heated up Monday with an announcement that Electronic Arts will launch a licensed version of the game this month on Facebook, where the unauthorized adaptation called Scrabulous is thriving.
The version from Redwood City, Calif.-based EA, free for users and at least initially without advertisements, will be available "mid-to-later this month," said Chip Lange, general manager for EA Hasbro Games.
Scrabulous, which claims more than 450,000 daily active users, has become a cause celebre among fans worried that the game will be shut down because of opposition from rights holders Hasbro and Mattel.
Posted by courier at 09:22 AM. Filed under: News
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By Lisa Anderson
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
NEW YORK — News of a cluster of at least 17 pregnant teenagers at a small Massachusetts high school recently made headlines around the world, but it came at a time when teen pregnancies and abortions in the United States actually are at their lowest points in 30 years.
Pregnancies — whether they end in birth, miscarriage or abortion — among women ages 15 to 19 dropped to 72.2 per 1,000 women in 2004, down from a peak of 117 per 1,000 women in 1990, according to the latest data compiled by New York's Guttmacher Institute, which focuses on reproductive health research, policy analysis and education. While some 700,000 women ages 15 to 19 become pregnant every year, the rate has declined 36 percent since it peaked in 1990.
The rate of abortions among teens also plummeted, to 19.8 per 1,000 women in 2004 from a high of 43.5 per 1,000 in 1988.
That's the good news.
Posted by courier at 07:28 AM. Filed under: News
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By Eric Ferreri
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
DURHAM, N.C. — Abby Alger mentioned she was a Republican during a dinner gathering one night. A friend quickly apologized to the rest of the group on her behalf.
The apology was a joke — sort of. But at the dinner table filled with college students, the message was clear.
"Saying you're a Republican is kind of saying a dirty word," said Alger, a rising senior at Duke.
Posted by courier at 07:15 AM. Filed under: News
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Forest Service Captain Frank
Zabrowski hoses down a fire at the
Basin Complex Fire in Big Sur Wednesday.
Orville Myers/Monterey County Herald/MCT
REDDING, Calif. — Gazing out a wall of windows, Mike Lococo watched lightning stab the horizon, over and over, like a bizarre light show gone awry.
Three decades of battling blazes in remote corners of California told him one thing: That was trouble hurtling from the heavens.
Lococo is part of a unique national network that launches at the first sniff of wildfire.
When hundreds of California wildfires sprang from lightning strikes June 20-21, the Northern California Geographic Coordination Center here geared up. It is part of an 11-center network reporting to a national center in Boise, Idaho.
Posted by courier at 07:05 AM. Filed under: News
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By James P. Miller
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
CHICAGO — U.S. employers chopped 62,000 workers from their payrolls in June, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the sixth consecutive month in which the nation's stumbling economy has lost jobs.
The jobless rate was 5.5 percent, unchanged from May but significantly higher than the 4.6 percent level of a year ago. Many experts expect unemployment to climb above 6 percent by early 2009. In addition, the already soft reports from April and May were revised downward, indicating further weakness in the job market.
Posted by courier at 06:27 AM. Filed under: News
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By Tyler Bridges and Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
CARTAGENA, Colombia — Three American defense contractors held since 2003 by narco-guerillas in steamy jungle captivity were choppered to freedom here, it was announced Wednesday, in a daring rescue operation that resembled a Hollywood action film.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos announced Wednesday afternoon that the nation's special forces had rescued 15 hostages, including the three U.S. citizens and a former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, whose captivity had become an international cause celebre.
Posted by courier at 03:38 PM. Filed under: News
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