Wal-Mart's Indiana expansion plans hit another stumble\nTERRE HAUTE -- The City Council has, at least temporarily, blocked zoning approval for a new Wal-Mart store, the latest stumble for the retail giant's expansion plans in Indiana.\nDiscussion of the planned store on Terre Haute's north side drew a crowd Tuesday night that packed a City Hall meeting room, with many applauding those who spoke against the project.\nThe council voted 4-3 against a zoning change for the store. Two council members, however, were absent, and one councilman who at first voted to approve the store changed his vote, meaning he could ask for it to be reconsidered as soon as next month.\nCouncilman Jim Chalos said he made the maneuver because he wanted the other two council members to have a chance to vote on the store.\nSeveral residents complained Wal-Mart was the wrong company to boost growth in the area.\n"Wal-Mart, which is the company that is coming in here, does not pay the majority of its employees a living wage" said Ed Ping, a representative of the Wabash Valley Central Labor Council. "We want growth there, but this is not the right kind of growth."\nA message seeking comment was left Wednesday for a Wal-Mart spokesman, but the company has previously rejected such criticisms regarding other projects, saying its stores benefit consumers and attract other businesses.\nSteve Reedy, the owner of American Beverage Centers, told the council that the site sought by Wal-Mart might not be able to support the additional traffic a new large retail store might bring.\n"We need other things in the north end," he said.\nWal-Mart has run into similar opposition for other new stores it has proposed building elsewhere across the state.
State panel backs tying tougher classes to college admission\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A state panel endorsed a proposal to require students to take a tougher academic track in high school if they want state financial aid - or even admission - to Indiana's public universities.\nThe governor's Education Roundtable unanimously approved the plan Tuesday that by 2011 would make college aid and admissions contingent on students earning a Core 40 diploma.\n"We've got to get them prepared so they will succeed. We've got to raise the expectations for all kids," said Steve Ferguson, a Roundtable member who is an IU trustee.\nThe Core 40 program, named for the 40 high school credits it requires, includes more classes in math, science, language arts and social studies.\nIndiana's four-year universities will still have the leeway to grant admission or financial aid to students who opt out of the tougher high school track. But it was higher education officials who had pushed in the first place to link the curriculum to aid and admissions.\nThe panel's recommendation now goes to the state Board of Education for its consideration.\nThe Core 40 program now is optional, but two months ago Roundtable members approved making it the standard for graduation. The requirement would be phased in beginning with the class of 2009, and become the standard four years later.\nJoanna Ireland, who has children in Indianapolis Public Schools, questioned whether tutoring would be available to help children who have trouble passing the tougher program.\nStudents who cannot handle the more rigorous requirements would be allowed to opt out after consulting their parents and teachers, and universities would still have the option to grant admission or financial aid to students who opt out of Core 40.\nIreland's 12-year-old son Terrance, a sixth-grader at the Center for Inquiry magnet school, said he understood the reasons for raising the graduation standards.\n"Smarter kids means smarter workers," he said, "and a smarter economy"
