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(03/26/08 5:32am)
For the next month, students will be ridding themselves of cabin fever, gearing up for Little 500 and setting their sights on the end of finals.\nBut Kelly Breeze and David Roedl are asking students living in campus dormitories to think about two more things: energy and electricity.\nFrom now until April 17, 10 residence halls will be competing in IU’s first annual Energy Challenge. About 10,000 students living in Ashton, Briscoe, Eigenmann, Forest, Foster, McNutt, Read, Teter, Willkie and Wright will be competing with each other to achieve the greatest percentage of reduction in water and energy use, according to the IU Energy Challenge 2008 Web site.\nAt the end of the month, the dormitory that shows the highest percentage of energy reduction will win a $500 end-of-the-year cookout and the satisfaction of making their daily routine a bit better for the environment.\nRoedl, a graduate student in the School of Informatics, and Breeze, director of Environmental Affairs for the IU Residence Halls Association, helped create the competition and they hope it will encourage students to make some personal sacrifices for a bigger cause.\n“We’re trying to get not so much as an amount of usage but a percent reduction,” said David Fuente, an instructor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. “We’re leaving it open-ended in terms of laying out a challenge for the students to compete against each other to get the greatest percent reduction in electricity and water use.”\nRoedl designed the competition from the technical side as his master’s project for the Interaction Design Program in the School of Informatics. Roedl created a simple interface, or Web page, where students can go to see their dorms’ ranking in the competition.\n“For me, the research goal is to think about energy as a thing that most of us take for granted,” Roedl said. “The concept is based around using digital tools to visualize energy. We’re taking it from this thing that’s sort of taken for granted and invisible and making it visible and a part of your environment. So you can reflect on that usage and what the consequences are.”\nThe Utility Information Group takes meter readings Thursdays and Mondays during the competition. Fuente said this will provide an academic week and weekend picture of energy and electricity usage so students can conceptualize their use.\nThough a first for IU, competitions such as this one aren’t a new idea. University of New Hampshire started a similar competition several years ago. The University estimated students cut their energy use by 27 percent and water by 35 percent, according to University of New Hampshire’s Energy Waste Watch Challenge Web site.\nReduction like that translates to real money. University of New Hampshire’s estimated cost avoidance, that is the money not spent on utilities because the usage was reduced, was $45,000. IU has nearly 25,000 more students than the University of New Hampshire, according to enrollment figures from both schools’ registrar offices.\nBecause of this, Breeze thinks IU’s cost avoidance could dwarf the University of New Hampshire’s. But she understands it may be difficult to affect change in students.\n“Part of me wants to knock on 9,000 doors,” Breeze said. “The first step is to inform people how to make changes. It’s important to take some step. If you don’t make any changes, then you are doing harm.”\nFor information about each dorm’s ranking or tips on how to cut down their energy and water usage, visit the Energy Challenge Web site http://energychallenge.indiana.edu
(02/25/08 4:52am)
INDIANAPOLIS – “Do you know George Bush? Are you friends?” \nWhen Zhou Wenzhong, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, spoke Friday at IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis, his pivotal role in peaceful relations between China’s 1.3 billion people and the U.S. did not take center stage. The questions from the 11- and 12-year-old Mandarin students of Westlane Middle School in Indianapolis were the highlight of the speech.\nAs a guest speaker for the IU Center for International Business Education and Research at IUPUI, Zhou spoke on the subject of China’s peaceful and sustainable development and U.S. relations. \nIn response to students’ questions, Zhou said President Bush received him and his family for a visit and that it would be his honor to be the President’s friend. \nZhou’s scripted speech highlighted China’s goal of fixing what Zhou called “unbalanced” growth, forging “good neighborly” business partnerships with developing industries in Russia and Africa and “upholding peace and development” in Africa. \nWith a thumb-sized Chinese flag pinned to his Maoist gray lapel, Zhou said that culturally, China and the U.S. are improving dialogue. However, “a tendency to politicize trade issues” concerning China’s trade partners and exchange rate are complicating relations. \nBefore reading his speech, Zhou said he’s aware of Americans’ skepticism toward China’s tight-lipped government. \n“I sense gradually people’s concern on China’s transparency, so I’ll try to be transparent today,” Zhou said. \nHowever, buzz words like “peaceful development” and “active bilateralism” made it difficult to clearly discern China’s positions on climate change, altering the Chinese yuan exchange rate and just how China’s growth will be stabilized.\nZhou clearly stated two things: China will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from the mainland and China’s aide to unnamed countries in Africa has been extended without political conditions. \nChina, which is heavily invested in Sudanese oil, has received criticism for so-called lack of action against the Darfur crisis. \n“Specific conditions of these countries should be left up to the people in that country,” Zhou said. “China extends economic support with no stipulations.” \nIn response to questions read by Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School of Business, Zhou said it is premature to judge the lifespan of China’s labor intensive industries. Though coastal cities might expand the job market, the interior will likely remain focused on labor intensive factory jobs. \nZhou said every 1 percent of economic growth generates 10 million jobs. Because that’s the case, he said, China needs at least 10 percent growth every year. However, foreign companies that invest in industry in China have a responsibility to respect the social development in China, he said. \nThough much of the business specifics were over 12-year-old Eli Profeta’s head, his question to the ambassador outlined the important challenges that face China-U.S. relations. \nProfeta asked Zhou if he liked being an ambassador. \n“I would hope that people will trust us and treat China as a friend,” Zhou said. “But it can be frustrating to be misunderstood. But now, I’m just being diplomatic.”
(01/31/08 3:57am)
Jill Long Thompson, former U.S. representative and one of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for governor, was in Bloomington visiting her alma mater Tuesday.\nThompson, who earned her M.B.A. in 1978 from IU, taught marketing and statistics classes during her graduate work. In an exclusive interview, Thompson said this has directly impacted her agenda for the statehouse.\nThompson’s No. 1 goal is to lead Indiana in a different direction of economic development, citing the state’s below-average personal income rate and decreased unemployment fund as key concerns necessitating this new lead.\n“We used to stand apart,” Thompson said. “I’d like to again.”\nIndiana has not replaced the jobs it lost during the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels, Thompson said. Thompson advocates reforming the tax structure and creating policies that encourage companies to headquarter within the Hoosier State.\nThe first question companies ask when considering a move concerns education, Thompson said. Only about three-quarters of Indiana’s high school students graduated in 2007, according to the Indiana Department of Education’s Web site. Thompson, in part, blames standardized testing.\nEducation needs to address individual students’ needs, and standardized testing does the opposite, Thompson said. It is not used to assess a student’s overall performance – it is used to allocate funds, she said.\nAside from reforming taxation and reevaluating standardized testing, Thompson advocates creating policies that give incentives for developing innovative technology and lowering the costs of health care. These factors would also encourage companies to headquarter here, Thompson said.\nThompson is competing with Jim Schellinger for the Democratic nomination for this year’s gubernatorial election.
(01/28/08 5:42am)
An IU representative called for revisions to a new green construction bill which was introduced to the state Environmental Committee last week.\nJohn Grew, the government relations representative for IU, told the Environmental Committee that the University suggests the standards of the bill, H.B. 1280, do not apply to non-academic buildings and temporary projects, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.\n“We’re not opposed to the bill fundamentally,” MacIntyre said. “We’re asking that the requirements not be so tight.” \nThe bill, which was authored by Indiana State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, would require all buildings constructed or altered under certain public works contracts totaling more than $1 million to meet a specific requirements, according the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Web site. \nThe bill would require all buildings specified to meet the silver sustainable rating, as designated by the Green Building Council’s LEED method of rating.\nBy the time Grew presented his objections, they had already been amended into the bill, said Stephen Ashkin, member of the U.S. Green Building Council. \nAshkin, a co-author of the LEED ratings for maintenance, describes the ratings as measurements of performance outcomes. Unlike building codes that have specific requirements, LEED ratings give more points for things such as conservation of energy or water. The more points a design receives, the higher its rating, Ashkin said.\nIU had its reasons for asking that the bill be amended, said Paul Sullivan, co-chair of the IU Task Force on Campus Sustainability. \n“We do not think the standards are too ‘restrictive’ for new buildings or major renovations of classroom and/or office buildings,” Sullivan said in an e-mail. “But we have a number of specialized buildings and occasional specialized maintenance projects that don’t seem to fit into the LEED standards very neatly, so we’re not sure if we could comply.”\nAshkin agreed that sustainability is not practical for all buildings, because some buildings are not intended to last 100 years and commended the IU Task Force, calling them proactive.\nAshkin said he’s very comfortable with the legislation but encourages students to contact Pierce to advocate green buildings. But, Ashkin admits, this legislation would not address all concerns in green buildings.\n“Let’s address the major projects first,” Ashkin said.
(01/18/08 6:10am)
The first of four finalists for the position of dean of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs will be in Bloomington Tuesday, said Lauren Robel, dean of the School of Law and chair of the search committee.\nThough no schedule has been solidified yet, Robel said students will probably be able to meet and speak with the candidate Tuesday. Robel said she and Julie Bennett Dreesen, secretary at the office of the Vice President for Information Technology, are working to find a time when students involved in SPEA leadership programs can interview the first candidate, Barbara S. Romzek.\nRomzek is the current associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas.\nThe other candidates for dean position are John Graham, dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, Calif., Greg Lindsey, associate dean of SPEA and the Duey-Murphy Professor of Rural Land Policy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and John Applegate, the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law at the IU School of Law-Bloomington, according to the press release.\n“They’re all accomplished people, they all presented a vision, they all understood the competitive landscape for schools like SPEA and they present different kinds of profiles,” Robel said.\nThe most important quality of each candidate, Robel said, is their vision for maintaining the top-ranking program established at SPEA.\nThe search committee is working to create a time that students can meet the finalists while each candidate is on campus, even though the future dean of SPEA probably won’t ever meet most students, Robel said. \n“The dean of a school this size is going to have a big impact on students in the sense that the person is helping to direct the future of that school,” Robel said. “But not on that sort of day-to-day operation level.”
(01/16/08 6:04am)
The same day the Henderson Street parking garage opened on campus, creating a vertical stack of nearly 600 parking spaces, the University’s Task Force on Campus Sustainability released a report advocating alternative transportation, such as carpooling and public transportation.\nThat the two events occurred on the same day was entirely coincidental – the Henderson Street garage had been planned for nearly three years and the task force had only been established for about 11 months, said Doug Porter, director of IU Parking Operations.\nHowever, it does raise questions about the way the University addresses parking on campus.\nThough Porter said it’s impossible to compare IU’s parking situation to those of other Big Ten schools and IU isn’t looking to change its policies, other universities present a wide range of different parking issues and attempted solutions.
(01/15/08 5:59am)
In 2006, two separate parking surveys found that the city’s three downtown parking garages were all vastly underused, stirring city officials and local residents on the old issue of limited downtown parking.\nThe first survey, completed by Bloomington Transportation Operations for People, led to the second survey, commissioned by the mayor’s office and completed by Walker Parking Consultants. \nThe surveys have thus far kept construction of more parking garages downtown on hold, until last week when IU opened its fifth parking garage, located at Henderson and Atwater streets.\nSusie Johnson, director of the city’s Department of Public Works, was not involved during the 2005 negotiations that led to the Henderson Street garage, and wouldn’t comment on the University’s decision to build another garage. However, the city is not taking similar action.\n“Building a garage doesn’t seem like a way to solve our problems,” Johnson said.\nBuff Brown, president of Bloomington Transportation Options for People and creator of the first survey, wrote letters to then-IU President Adam Herbert and IU trustees asking them not to build another garage during the 2005 negotiations.\n“This will contribute to the depletion of our oil resources, increase IU’s contribution to greenhouse gases and other toxic pollutants, and increase the danger to our city-friendly pedestrian, transit-riding and bicycling citizens,” Brown wrote in the letter to trustees. \nAfter the completion of this garage, Brown said it is time to take productive action with the spaces left.\n“Now that we’ve compacted parking in this parking garage, it’s a great opportunity for the University to develop the efficiency of its surface lots,” Brown said. He said many of the surface lots are located on prime campus real estate, and could be used for campus offices or sold for profit.
(01/10/08 5:46am)
The 8,500 E-drop requests made online last semester proved first-time success for the registrar’s new paperless service.\nThe E-drop service, which allows students to drop their classes through OneStart, was open to nearly all students last semester. The registar’s office plans to expand the service this semester to cover those previously left out, said Michael Carroll, associate registrar.\nThe service was open to every school on campus except for graduate students at the Kelley School of Business and the School of Law, Carroll said. This semester, graduate students at the business school will join the E-drop system, leaving only law school students without the service.\nA supplement to E-drop service, E-add, was only open to students in the University Division, the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and School of Music. Students in those programs could only add courses from the School of Music \nand HPER. \nThough no new schools will be added to the E-add system this semester, Carroll hopes to expand the online option to the entire campus by the end of the 2009 academic year. Cathy Gilbert, undergraduate recorder for the Kelley School of Business, said E-drop solved the early-semester problem of students lining up to lighten their \nclass load.\n“We would have students standing in line wanting to drop a class,” Gilbert said. “Students walked in to drop and were surprised to learn they could do \nit online.”\nAfter the E-drop pilot program was first initiated during the summer semesters, the registrar’s office completed a survey of student and faculty opinion. The feedback was largely positive, Carroll said.\nThe main complications for E-drop requests the registrar encountered this fall stemmed from students filing both online and paper drop requests for the same class. Carroll said students occasionally got worried that an online drop request wasn’t processed and would also file a paper request.\nCarroll said students who are concerned about the status of their E-drop request can go to the notifications tab on OneStart. At the bottom of the screen are records of all pending or completed requests, \nhe said.\nBob O’Loughlin, director of Academic Program Administration for HPER, said he only sees improvements in the online system.\n“I think it will be great when the paper forms are completely eliminated,” O’Loughlin said.
(01/09/08 4:07am)
Caught in Tuesday afternoon’s rainstorms without an umbrella, junior Evan Scher was waiting for the campus bus shoeless. He’d underestimated the rain, he said, and wore bedroom slippers to class.\nWalking from the bus stop at Jordan Avenue near Seventh Street, Scher decided to ditch the slippers and walk the remainder of the way to Woodburn Hall barefoot.\nThough the National Weather Service predicted only one half inch of rainfall over south-central Indiana Tuesday, streets were flooded along Seventh Street and much of the areas surrounding campus. \nDot Houck, legal secretary at IU Student Legal Services, said she expects the side streets of Park and and Fess Avenues to flood whenever she can see the Jordan River overflowing, as it did Tuesday.\n“And when that happens, it rains inside here too,” said Chris Wilson, administrative secretary at IU Student Legal Services.\nDays like Tuesday mean overtime for the city’s Utilities Department employees, said Jon Callahan, public affairs specialist for Bloomington Utilities.\nThough utilities employees regularly clear sewer inlets and street drains, all crews are sent out to re-clear drains when \nit rains.\n“Soon as it starts raining, we go out,” Callahan said. \nHe said it’s a necessary, but largely unappreciated job. The weather usually requires workers to do the same job more than twice, clearing the drains by hand with small rakes in the pouring rain. \n“The public is a big help to us,” Callahan said. He said he regularly fields calls from residents who have flooded streets and he encourages anyone facing flooding to call the Utilities Department at 349-3940.
(11/29/07 5:00am)
In sixth grade, I knew a girl we called Mellahead, an affectionate nickname for Melanie, whose big blond head was full of air. She had dainty sneezes, her hair reminded me of a poodle and she always wore pink to compliment her baby blues. \nMellahead is my real-life equivalent to the "Enchanted" protagonist Giselle, played by Amy Adams. Giselle says jaw-droppingly unrealistic things, occasionally bursts into song, finds true love and wins everyone over in spite of our stubbornly realistic selves. \nThe soon-to-be Princess Giselle is unflappably altruistic, even though her one-day love affair that would have taken her to the altar with Prince Edward (James Mardson) of Andalasia is foiled by his jealous stepmother Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon). The queen, not wanting to lose her throne, throws Giselle into a well in which her cartoon-fantasy is pierced with reality and she emerges from a sewer in "the land where there are no happily ever afters": New York City. \nPatrick Dempsey, "McDreamy" from "Grey's Anatomy," stars as Robert, Giselle's real-world Prince Charming; but it's just like a Disney movie to insinuate the equality rah-rah-rah innuendo that Giselle is really Robert's saving grace. For crying out loud, Robert even gives his daughter a book titled "The Most Influential Women in History." \nThe cast is spot-on. Sarandon is enjoyable at hamming up the evil queen while not scaring anybody too much, and her Elvira-meets-Malificent outfit is my Halloween costume for next year. The evil queen's pawn, instructed to ruin Giselle's impending marriage and end her life with a poisoned apple, is played by Timothy Spall, best-known as Wormtail, the despicable traitor from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." \nIt's difficult to make NYC look as endearing as never-land, but when Giselle breaks into a Broadway-style production that incorporates the reggae drum band, old men playing chess and the hotdog vendor, director Kevin Lima's vision of Andalasia is conveyed well. \nThe climatic scene is less than climatic, but Queen Narissa is deliciously devilish while it lasts. And of course, the roles of Saving Prince and Damsel in Distress are appropriately reversed. \nThis movie, the singing and the sincerity of its selflessness will win you over.
(10/25/07 4:11am)
Driving home from work last week, senior Heather Barchet said she was stunned by what looked like a noose hanging from a porch at the intersection of Second and Henderson Streets.\n“My immediate first impression was that it was a noose,” Barchet said.\nBarchet’s observation of what she took to be a noose is prompting discussion in a large sociology class on the social implications of such images in light of the high number of nationwide incidents surrounding the noose as a symbol of racism.\nBarchet said she looked for several minutes, trying to understand what the orange rope dangling from a limestone pillar in a house on the 600 block of East Second Street was. She then drove home, picked up her roommate, senior Ashley McPherson, and went back to take a closer look at the rope.\n“My roommate and I were going to go up and knock on their door, but I didn’t know how I’d react,” Barchet said. \nInstead she took pictures, which she then showed to her black boyfriend, Steven Powell, work friends and her instructor for SOC-S335, Race and Ethnic Relations. Everyone agreed that it resembled a noose, and her instructor, Rashawn Ray, is basing today’s class discussion on the rope, the photos and how these fears affect student-race relations.\nBen Hanner, a senior and tenant at the house, said it’s definitely not a noose. Hanner said the rope was there when he and his roommates moved in, and he’s been using it to hang his hammock.\n“To be honest, that’s the first time I’ve even noticed (the loop),” Hanner said. “I’m a little upset. I don’t want to project a racist image. I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body.”\nHanner cut down the end of the rope that looked like a noose to Barchet and her friends during the interview.\nHowever, whether the rope was a noose or not isn’t really the point, Ray said. Recent events changed the climate of race relations and both white and black students are reacting.\nSince people hung nooses in Jena, La., known in headlines as the “Jena Six” incident, there have been a number high profile reports of nooses. It was reported that a noose was hung on the office door of a black professor at Columbia University in New York. Most recently, a noose and racially charged letter was mailed to the black principal of a high school in Brooklyn.\nThese events create sensitivity to perceived discrimination because the country is still largely structured by race, Ray said. In the sociology world, this is explained by covert and overt forms of racism. Overt forms of racism, like hanging nooses or other forms of “ethnoviolence,” change the emotional climate between races. Covert racism can be represented by group perception.\nIn the majority of cases, groups react by emotionally identifying with the status quo, Ray said. Blacks feel discriminated against and scared while whites feel accused.\nNone of which contributes to a positive student climate, he said. Ray said that’s why the discussion must be raised.\n“I really believe that change can occur,” Ray said. “When individuals have a nice or fair dialogue, it leads to a productive ending or progression.”\nBarchet said it’s possible that she would have never thought the rope was a noose before the recent events. Both Barchet and Hanner said they hope today’s discussion has positive effects on any racial tensions or fear between students.
(10/25/07 3:09am)
A band of six Scandinavian-looking women and two Scandinavian men all dressed in white linen embroidered with pansies, goldfish and birds is not what people expect to see on Tuesday night at Jake’s Nightclub.\nBut Jens Lekman led his band of Swedes for the opening show of their U.S. tour. Called “The Britney Spears of Sweden” by opener Totally Michael, Lekman played to a mixed crowd of Secretly Canadian employees, super fans and friends of fans brought along for the ride. \nLekman opened the concert with his very first studio song, “Black Cab,” an upbeat, but not-quite-danceable orchestral pop song that launched his reputation as a hybrid of Morrissey and Belle and Sebastian, with tongue-in-cheek, Costello-clever lyrics.\n“I definitely think he was brave to play his first (studio) song,” said Nina Cole, a graduate student, talking about the single that was not released until Lekman’s second album of B-sides, “Oh You’re So Silent Jens.”\nAfter a few more songs, most fans were still taking their coats off and ordering drinks. Lekman then gave a candid confession that betrayed his laid-back look and the comfortable grins he and the band kept exchanging.\n“I’m nervous because I think I know at least half you people,” he said, quickly adding that he loved that.\nLekman next played his new single, “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” with a completely original twist. The song, which he dedicated to his sister, is an oxymoron, with an upbeat tempo paired with defeatist lyrics. On the album, the song transitions from Lekman and his band to a sample of “Give Me just a Little More Time” by Chairmen of the Board. Ironically, on Tuesday night the song missed a beat and came in late. \nThough the crowd couldn’t tell at first, Lekman called the band to a halt and asked sheepishly for another chance.\n“Can we do it from the break where the strings come in? I love that break,” he said.\nOn their second try, they nailed it, and the overall mood lifted dramatically. The concert turned into what can be described as an indie sock-hop after that.\n“I loved that they (messed) up,” said John Moulder, a Bloomington resident. “They said they were nervous. It made me feel like we’re friends.”\nThe most different number for this show was definitely “A Postcard To Nina.” Tuesday’s rendition of the song, which was interspersed with storytelling, could have rivaled Arlo Guthrie’s 18-minute “Alice’s Restaurant.”\nLekman told the story of Nina, the reason he went to Berlin. He said he ended up lying to her German parents about a fake engagement.\n“Have you ever seen that scene in ‘Buffalo ‘66’ where they’re eating with the parents?” Lekman asked the crowd. “Well, this was more awkward than that.”\nAtlanta residents Chrissy Powell and her boyfriend Daniel Kirk have followed Lekman on his past tours to New York, Chicago and Atlanta, but they said what they saw last night was completely new.\n“We’re band-aids, but I’ve never heard (him tell) that story before,” Kirk said.
(10/18/07 4:00am)
f you ever buy an Elvis Costello album, buy this one.\nFor true enthusiasts, his 1977 debut album represents the premier of the Angry Young Man who introduced the pop combination of doo-wop and punk. For Costello students looking for the context of his sound, country-tinged tracks such as "Blame It On Cain" and "Waiting For The End Of The World" more clearly show the metamorphosis of Costello's 30-year career when comparing them to the variance of songs from his 21 studio albums.\nCostello's voice, basement-recording sound and bitingly clever lyrics make My Aim Is True worth the listen. If you don't fall for the swoon in the unfortunately affectionate chorus of "Alison," lyrics such as "Well I see you've got a husband now / Did he leave your pretty fingers lying / in the wedding cake?" catch your attention and maybe your resentment, a not uncommon reaction to his music.\nCostello first caught flack because of the lyrics in "Less Than Zero." His first British single, the song tells the metaphoric story of Mr. Oswald, his swastika tattoo and the porn films he made with his sister. The liner notes of Rhino's 2001 re-release of My Aim Is True identify Mr. Oswald as Oswald Mosley, a British politician from the 1930s who was widely associated with Hitler and Mussolini. It's a hip and sarcastic song that climaxes in the chorus with the kind of drum roll that becomes the calling card of his next album This Year's Model. \nThough it's grouped with the emerging punk scene of 1977, Costello's debut is much more melodic, with equal focus on the irreverent lyrics and an image reminiscent of Buddy Holly. My Aim is True is a classic and essential album for anyone interested in the transition music made from the disco-drenched '70s to the new-wave '80s.
(10/12/07 3:10am)
A woman apparently lying across train tracks was hit and dragged 38 feet by an eastbound train on Bloomington’s southeast side Thursday afternoon, according to a press release from Chief Deputy Scott Mellinger of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.\nCandace Goffinet, 36, of Bloomington, looked like she was “asleep” between the railroad tracks near Gifford Road, said Richard Morris, the engineer of the train for Indiana Rail Road Company.\nOfficers from the sheriff’s department were dispatched to the location between Gifford Road and Sierra Drive, south of Highland Village Park near Curry Pike and West Third Street.\nMorris said he noticed something on the tracks and applied the emergency breaks 300 feet from Goffinet. He said there was no movement from Goffinet before the collision. \nApart from the Morris, there were no other witnesses.\nAccording to the press release, Goffinet’s family didn’t know her whereabouts at the time of the accident. Neighbors said they had seen Goffinet walking along the railroad tracks in the past. \nGoffinet was transported by helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, according to the press release. Her condition was unavailable at press time.
(09/27/07 4:00am)
SEASON 7 PREMIERE: 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, on NBC\nSUMMARY: In the season six finale, J.D. (Zach Braff) allowed Kim (Elizabeth Banks) to move in with him so they could begin their life together and prepare for their child to be born. J.D. also learned about fatherhood from Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), while Cox's daughter was baptized. Elliot (Sarah Chalke) prepared for her wedding. At the end of the episode, J.D. and Elliot found each other in the on-call room. The two talked about their past together and whether or not they were ready for the huge choices ahead of them. The cliffhanger saw the two leaning closer, possibly getting ready to kiss. \nPREDICTION: With this being the final season, expect J.D. and Elliot to finally figure out what they want out of life and actually be mature enough to obtain it. Also look for Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes) to struggle with more parental issues, Dr. Cox and J.D. to have more personal moments and the true name of Janitor (Neil Flynn) to be revealed.
(09/27/07 4:00am)
SEASON 2 PREMIERE: 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, on NBC\nSUMMARY: "Heroes" was a surprise hit, revolving around a group of "normal" people who find out they have extraordinary abilities. A premonition by one of the heroes, a precognitive junkie, shows New York City being destroyed by a "radioactive man." Throughout the season, we are given stories of people coming together to stop the destruction. The interesting twist was finding out the villain was not who we were led to believe. The last episode showed hero Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia) was the exploding man, and his brother Nathan prevented the destruction of NYC by flying Peter into the sky. The audience is led to believe that Nathan is dead -- but he is never actually seen dying.\nPREDICTION: The villain somehow got away, but he'll probably be back. After cheating death, Peter is a true hero but he will probably struggle with the realization that he was the one destined to destroy the city. With main character Hiro Nakamora (Masi Oka) trapped in medieval Japan, I predict he will discover the roots of the heroes' powers. But with former Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics Stan Lee involved, who knows what will really happen?
(09/26/07 4:08am)
In the last year Big Red Liquors provided its liquid services to more than 2 million customers, said Wade Shanower, president of Big Red Liquors.\nUnfortunately, Shanower said, people with Virginia licenses can no longer be among the liquor store’s satisfied customers.\n“Right now we will not accept a Virginia license as a primary form of identification for anyone who appears to be under the age of 27,” Shanower said.\nThe reason, Shanower said, is because the market is flooded with extremely well-made forgeries.\nThe forgeries are so accurate, in fact, that on more than one occasion, Indiana State Excise officers did not hold Big Red employees accountable for not being able to find the fake.\nBut it’s the times they did hold the business accountable that matter, \nShanower said.\nDuring last year’s Little 500 week, not one of Big Red’s 14 stores was fined for selling to a minor. That’s a point of pride, Shanower said.\nBut twice this year, the company has shelled out as much as $500 in fines because of fake Virginia IDs. Shanower said it’s not worth the risk.\n“We’re kind of between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “We’re not in the business of turning down customers. ... We’ve got a responsibility to the community.”\nOptions\nWhen 21-year-old senior Dan Garfinkel was refused entrance to the Big Red at 418 N. College Ave. with his Virginia license, it was not the first time.\nOnce before, he used his Virginia state license, his car’s license plate and his valid insurance card to get permission to enter the liquor store.\nBut that didn’t make him feel any better about it, he said.\n“(The person checking IDs) has kind of an ‘F-you, we don’t care’ mentality,” Garfinkel said. “I wouldn’t care, but they have a better selection than anywhere else.”\nGarfinkel called Big Red’s corporate office the next day and spoke with Shanower. He was told his options were to use his passport or to obtain an Indiana state identification card.\nDennis Rosebrough, communications director for the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said a student with a license in another state cannot obtain either a state ID or a license in Indiana.\n“The basic rule is that you cannot have an ID-driver’s license or an ID card from two states,” Rosebrough said. “Because you are only a legal resident from one location. It’s the law.”\nShanower emphasizes this is not a permanent policy, but while it is in effect, Virginian customers should bring a passport.
(09/24/07 5:07am)
Poised on the trademark black box stage in the middle of Saturday’s farmer’s market, a brunette, a blond and a red-head were in the eleventh hour of a wrathful conflict. Frozen in the throes of fury, a coin dropped in a basket at the crucial moment and the women embraced in a tenuous show of faked affection.\nIt must be Living Statues season. \nThese young women, all acting students at Bloomington High School North, were acting out the seven deadly sins.\nFor the past six years, students in Francesca Sobrer’s advanced theater class have taken their skills to the streets to “inter-act” at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market, at 401 N. Morton St. \nSome of Sobrer’s students are part of a troupe of 14 Bloomington North actors that will be traveling to a theater festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, to perform the Bloomington North production, “Dancers in the Dust.” \nThe pressure for this year’s Living Statues actors is to help raise $110,000 for the Scotland trip. \nStationed around the market, their mission is to stay in character despite distraction. When a tip is thrown into their basket, the actors come to life. All tips thrown to the actors during performance will go to fund the trip to Scotland.\nThis work is not for the weak.\nSobrer has her students prepare for the public acting by performing exercises that require them to stand still for up to 10 minutes. Mastering the illusion of being virtually frozen in action is one of the primary rules of acting in a public forum, making the farmers’ market gig a crucial learning tool for students. \nFelicia Adamson, an actor this year and last, said Saturday’s blazing sun was easier to work in than last year’s weather.\n“Last year it was freezing and raining,” Adamson said. \nAdamson and her partners, Sophie Krahnke and Jenn Stumpner, performed as the Macbeth witches just outside the arboretum of Showers Plaza.\n“You feel accomplished,” Stumpner said.\nDown the main aisle of the market, puppeteer Will Bray mastered the strings of his two marionettes. Dressed in gingham and candy stripes, the girl and boy marionettes waltzed until their master moved them to shake hands with members of the audience. \nPuppeteer Will Bray and the marionettes, Ethan Philbeck and Miranda Gregory, did their best to stay focused.\n“I thought tipping with a bunch of pennies would make them move constantly, defeating the purpose of being still,” said Sierra Kinney, a Bloomington North junior. Despite the teasing, Kinney’s friend respected the actor’s dedication.\n“They never break character,” said Rosalyn Sternberg, a Bloomington High School South junior.
(09/20/07 4:09am)
The Nick’s English Hut sign on the east side of the building looked lost this week behind the scaffolding and construction of the new building next door. \nTartan Realty Group is erecting a three-story apartment and retail building on the old Jiffy Treat property, located at 425 E. Kirkwood Ave., directly next to Nick’s. Where the Nick’s sign is now will be covered by the future third floor, according to the Tartan Realty Group construction plans. \nBut Mike “Mugs” Hall, Nick’s managing general partner, reached a deal Wednesday with his new neighbors.\nMayor Mark Kruzan, who has been working with Hall and Ken Williams, construction manager for the site, said Hall singed papers Wednesday with Tartan Realty cementing an agreement that the sign can remain on the side of the building.\nCarey Pittman, a bar tender at Nick’s, said Hall is applying to the city for an ordinance exception that will allow Nick’s to move the sign closer to the street and remain on the side of the building.\nBecause the sign will be hanging on the side of the building above the street, it requires a special city permit, Kruzan said. \n“The Nick’s sign is iconic of our downtown scene, and I intend to keep it that way,” Kruzan said. “We’ll do what we need to do to ensure that the sign remains part of the Kirkwood landscape and a centerpiece of the photo that has been and will be taken thousands of times from Sample Gates.”\nThe Tartan Realty building will be one story taller than Nick’s and will have a Panda Express on the first floor. The second and third floor will be apartments. The third floor apartments will have balconies facing the street that will be set back off the street, making room for the sign to be moved.\nThis was done specifically to accommodate the sign, Williams said. The Nick’s sign will be directly above the balconies once its moved, similar to a “nightlight,” Kruzan said.\n“Nick’s is pleased with our new neighbors and equally happy to have the city work with us to protect a tradition,” Hall said in a press release from the Mayor’s office.\nThe Tartan Realty building will be complete by April 1, Williams said.
(09/20/07 4:00am)
You have a decision to make, according to Meredith, the most beautiful woman on TV with scarred lips. That opening motif in the third season of Grey's Anatomy carries through more than intern-doctor adultery, ferry-boat catastrophes and mothers with Alzheimer's. \nThis season is emotional, so emotional it's exhausting because the script always mirrors two characters' lives. Christina (Sandra Oh) is getting married while Izzie's (Katherine Heigl) fiance just died. George's (T.R. Knight) father is living through cancer at the same time that Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) mom is slowly dying from Alzheimer's. \nEach episode -- particularly the four extended episodes -- reveal a depth of character that had never been reached until this third season. At the same time, the intensity wears you out. It leaves you with a temporary feeling and a sense of skepticism that it can't keep moving forward. Meredith has always been vapid and narcissistic, but she's bordering on annoying.\nThis season dwarfs the past two in episodic length. Though it has two fewer episodes than the second season there are four extended episodes with commentary, lasting over an hour a piece. It's a cool bonus feature to see the entire show, unabridged by TV, but sometimes it's just too long.\nThe camera shots get uncomfortable too. "Where the Boys Are" is an hour of suspenseful close-ups. In the episode, all the men of the hospital go on a camping trip, including Joe, the bartender, and his boyfriend. The story line just serves to fill their sexual diversity quota and plays like "the token gay episode." They use sexuality as a plot line and theme when it's only an aspect of character. The "open-hand combat" fight between George and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) is ridiculous. \nThe special features commentary for first episode "Time Has Come Today" explains the episode's flashback scenes that are otherwise confusing. Some of the flashbacks were from way back in Season One and even the diehard fans have forgotten plot subtleties from two seasons prior. The blooper reel is filled with inside jokes among the actors, making the viewers fee like the outsiders looking into an elite acting clique. Nonetheless, some of the bloopers are funny.\nOverall, for two seasons, Meredith's been struggling through misguided love affairs. In Season Three she makes a choice that makes her happy, but the audience bored and longing for her wild streak. Luckily, other doctors' sex-capades are enough to keep us tuning in.