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(01/23/09 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A Bloomington man was stabbed in the head with scissors during an altercation with his girlfriend Wednesday night.Christine M. Schoonover, 22, is now facing charges of domestic battery, a class D felony, and battery with a deadly weapon, a class C felony, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Jeff Canada said.The victim told police he was sitting on the couch when Schoonover woke from a nap and “became upset about the condition of the house and the fact that her 2-year-old child needed a bottle,” Canada said.According to the police report, the fight continued and Schoonover threw a pair of scissors at the victim, cutting his left thumb. The victim reported that when he turned for the door, Schoonover stabbed him in the back of the head and then trapped him between the door and its frame.Schoonover gave inconsistent information to police on the scene, Canada said, but she later admitted to throwing the scissors and declined to give a statement about the other charges. The victim denied medical treatment but sustained several cuts and bruises.
(01/12/09 5:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gutting flooded homes, ripping shingles from rooftops, hanging drywall and rebuilding family houses are just a few examples of how 45 IU students spent a week of their holiday break. In September, Hurricane Ike washed up much of the Gulf Coast, leaving it far from clean. In response IU student volunteer group Youth Advocating Leadership and Learning traveled to Orange, Texas, to help with restoration efforts. “We were working on homes that basically hadn’t been touched since the storm,” said Y’ALL Executive Board member Michael Nosofsky. “We went in one house that had all the clothing and furniture still in it because the people hadn’t been able to make it back in yet.” Instead, several families were living in FEMA trailers in their own front yards, he said. Nosofsky, a graduate student who has been on six volunteer trips with Y’ALL, said he feels a strong connection with the people he has helped. “It makes you feel good, and you realize that there are so many people in need,” he said. “They really appreciate every little thing that you’re doing down there.” The group spent five days learning, helping and bonding. In total, five different homes were significantly altered before the Y’ALL group left town. Many volunteers agreed the trip was an emotional experience they will never forget. Y’ALL Executive Board member senior Lisa Davoust said the long hours of manual labor were a lot of fun. “I’ve never been afraid of hard work,” she said, “so it goes hand in hand with ripping things to shreds. When you go in and drive a sledgehammer through a wall, there’s just a feeling that comes over you. It’s sad, but it has to be done.” Haley Turow, a senior on the Y’ALL executive board, was dubbed the group chef for the week. She spent several hours in the kitchen preparing hot breakfasts and dinners for the entire crew. Turow and Davoust agreed the work was fun and not terribly difficult. They encourage all of their fellow students to sacrifice free time volunteering. “I always just want to help different communities to rebuild,” Turow said. “Spending five days of my break to go down there and help rebuild their houses is just one step closer to getting them back in their homes.” There are plenty of flood-damaged towns just like Orange, Texas, living in ruins from recent – and not-so-recent – hurricanes. Y’ALL representatives agreed that there is a lot of work left to do in the Gulf Coast area. They say their next expeditions will likely be to similar locations. “One of the nearby towns we worked in, there were nearly 3,000 homes and only 15 of them didn’t have water damage and needed to be gutted out,” Nosofsky said. “It’s crazy how much work needed to be done.”
(01/09/09 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The cling and clatter of construction at the corner of 7th Street and Woodlawn Avenue ended during holiday break, marking the completion of the new Hutton Honors College and allowing faculty and staff to officially move in on Jan. 5.“I think it’s a beautiful addition to the campus, it’s just a little jewel of a building,” said Provost Karen Hanson. “It’s beautiful aesthetically, and it’s beautiful functionally, and both are equally important.”Before the new facility opened, the HHC was housed in two separate locations near 7th Street and Jordan Avenue – one building for advisers and one for administrators. “We’re very excited,” said Lynn Cochran, HHC assistant dean. “It’s a beautiful space, and it’s a really nice entryway to the campus. It’s nice to have our houses under one roof.”Administrators and students agreed the new space will allow the Honors College to run more smoothly. The large building will allow for more social functions and student gatherings. “We’ve got wonderful student space. We’ve got a large Great Hall with a cathedral ceiling that can hold up to 50 or 55 students,” Cochran said, “so we have a larger capacity for the sorts of extracurricular activities we do in the evenings.” Other features of the facility include an oxford style library, kitchen, collaborative student work room, conference room, seminar room and classrooms with modern IT equipment. “It was always so crowded in the older buildings, so it’ll be great to finally see something established to handle the operations of the Honors College,” said sophomore Joe Buser. One student group plans to make great use of the student space. The Honors Student Association has become accustomed to renting meeting spaces throughout campus. The group holds large meetings every other week and executive meetings during the off weeks. In the past, the students have struggled to find appropriate space to meet. “We’ve had to meet in the Union or wherever we could find a room to rent, and now this building actually has a meeting room we can use,” said sophomore and Honors Student Association President Kevin O’Brien. O’Brien said he hopes the new facility will help entice high school seniors to choose IU over other top universities. Incoming freshmen who are interested in the HHC will be given a tour of the new facility. “With a building as nice as it is, centrally located on campus, it will give a face to the Honors College,” O’Brien said. The $3.6 million building was funded by an endowment from Ed Hutton, who spent countless hours on the construction site overlooking activities. Hanson said Hutton created relationships with the working crews. “The fellows working on it began to know him in the course of that and began to appreciate what a terrific guy he is,” Hanson said. “They got the sense they were trying to do a good job for him too, in addition to Indiana University.” The HHC will host a grand opening reception on April 8. Students, faculty and alumni will be invited to celebrate and tour the building.
(03/04/08 3:43pm)
When former IU President Adam Herbert discovered last April that a campus building bears the name of a known segregationist, he vowed to take speedy action. Almost a year later, with Herbert out of office, the team of faculty and administrators responsible for resolving the issue is still requesting more time. \nThe All University Committee on Names met last week to discuss a recommendation it will make to President Michael McRobbie regarding the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center. The Committee decided to postpone its decision for another 30 days.\nLast April, Indiana Daily Student columnist Andrew Shaffer charged former IU officials with naming the intramural center after a known segregationist in a column. Shaffer discovered letters with racist sentiments written by Wildermuth, the building’s namesake, to former IU President Herman B Wells.\nTerry Clapacs, University vice president and chief administrative officer, heads the committee. He said a decision could not be reached last week because the committee members “all wanted to do more individual research.”\n“There are a lot of opinions,” Clapacs said. “There were 17 of us that met, and everybody had something to say about it, so it was a very interesting conversation.”\nSome fear that the issue has been long forgotten by the University, but board of trustees President Steve Ferguson said McRobbie has handled the situation appropriately.\n“I wouldn’t say (the timing) is unusual for recommendations within the University,” Ferguson said, adding that the results for these types of issues are not always immediate. \nRobert Goodman, dean of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, said he respects the work of the committee, and he hopes the campus can accept its decision, no matter how long it takes. \n“There’s absolutely no place and no justification in 2008 that smacks of racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism and any kind of discrimination,” he said. “We’re all the same under the skin.”\nWhen the story broke last April, IU was in the midst of administrative change. Outgoing IU President Adam Herbert and incoming President Michael McRobbie vowed to open dialogue about the issue. Both presidents had highlighted increased campus diversity as a part of their administrative agendas. \n“The issue demands dialogue within the University community before the board of trustees can give it consideration,” Herbert said in a statement last year. He added, however, that he expected a presentation to the board of trustees “as soon as possible.”\nStill, Ferguson said trustees had not yet been involved in discussions about the issue. \nAccording to the Office of University Ceremonies Web site, “The University reserves the right to withdraw from a naming agreement if the name of an individual or organization, which has been bestowed upon a facility, comes into disrepute in the University or in the general community.”\nIt’s up to the committee to decide whether Wildermuth’s name has come “into disrepute,” but McRobbie will not be able to pass along a recommendation to the board of trustees at least until next month.
(02/14/08 5:00am)
Take one maverick country singer-songwriter. Add Rod Stewart-inspired vanity "covers" project. Fold in the arrogance of covering an all-time-great album. Then, slow everything down. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?\nTell that to Shelby Lynne.\nIn five days, Lynne recorded a grab bag of songs from Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis era, an unusual blue-eyed soul choice for the rebellious Lynne. Then again, maybe it's the perfect fit. Lynne doesn't try to replicate the Springfield voice. Instead, she changes the arrangement to fit her own emotive voice. Like one actor taking the same role as a classical great, Lynne absorbs the past performance to make it her own. Low-key drums and guitar keep it reserved, with the occasional electric piano flourish to keep us from falling asleep.\nNot that anyone would while listening to Lynne's hypnotizing voice. Without that, the album might be little more than Starbucks soul-lite. Instead, Lynne adds her smoky twirl to a classic such as "The Look of Love" or glides over her accompaniment on "Anyone Who Had a Heart." Taking on these songs seems like a fool's errand, but Lynne attacks them with the same urgency that she does her own material.\nThe one Lynne original, "Pretend," has all the pain and vulnerability of Springfield ("Abuse me one more night /And pretend you love me") without giving up the iron will inside. Lynne has managed to cover covers, yet still imbue them with her personal style. You wouldn't mistake this for anyone else.\nThe arrangement actually reveals something about Springfield's original work, as well. Although Springfield was often categorized as "white soul," Lynne shows that without the soul backing brass and strings, these songs fit into a greater pop tradition -- one that the volatile Lynne slides into with surprising ease. When Lynne coos, "I only want to be with you," I want to sing along to match her yearning warmth. \nOne disappointment is that Lynne only gets to show off half her talents here, with her incisive songwriting left by the wayside. Nevertheless, the singing half of her artistry can still blow, smolder and belt the competition away.
(02/09/08 5:43am)
Roof shingles, trees through living rooms, boarded up windows and dozens of volunteers lined Bloomfield streets Wednesday. The scene was the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through the town Tuesday night with winds of over 100 miles per hour. There were no injuries reported.\n“It’s just a blessing that nobody was killed,” said Bloomfield resident Lynda Thornton, who spent the duration of the storm seeking shelter in her basement. “As far as I know, nobody was hurt, and it was quick.”\nThe tornado was one of several that ripped through the Midwest, including Kentucky, \nArkansas, Alabama and Tennessee and killed more than 50 people.\nThe estimated cost of the disaster in Bloomfield alone is $10,000, said Carol Stevens, executive director of the Wabash Valley Red Cross chapter.\nThe twister weaved through neighborhoods on the town’s southwest side. Thornton said the worst of the damage was on John Street; she referred to the area as a “war zone.”\nPhone lines were being repaired while teams of construction workers attempted to salvage homes. \n“For a small town, this is big news,” Thornton said. “It’s just nice to see this small community coming together like this.”\nThornton was accompanied by her son and daughter-in-law, both Bloomfield firefighters. The group said they were out cleaning up the town and directing traffic since 10 p.m. Tuesday. Volunteer fire departments from nearly every station in Greene County assisted them, said firefighter Doug Bayse.\nBloomfield High School sophomore Matt Bowman said he watched from an upstairs window as the tornado destroyed a nearby home. A neighbor’s roof was torn off and two trees were forced through a home across the street, but Bowman’s home was unscathed. \n“I was kind of worried (a tornado) would happen because of the wind,” he said. “Then the weather settled down, but a tornado barreled right through here.”\nTwo trees devoured a house on the corner of John and Spring streets. The family living there evacuated to stay with other family members. \nThe First Baptist Church in Bloomfield served as a refuge for families seeking shelter Tuesday, and police are preventing spectators in order to rush the cleanup operations that are in full force.\nThe Red Cross will meet with any disaster victims to determine what can be done to assist them, Stevens said. \nAnyone interested in consulting with the Red Cross may come to the Bloomfield Fire Department between 4 and 8 p.m. today or between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m tomorrow.
(01/24/08 5:00am)
Bloomington's Pride Film Festival has boomed in popularity since its first incarnation five years ago. The event started as a venue that brought in approximately 300 movie watchers. This year, it is predicted to catch the eye of 2,000, said Mary Gray, chair of the festival's steering committee. It is also a place for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in Bloomington to be comfortable in its surroundings. \n"It's an incredibly important personal experience for a person who's spent most of their lives trying to hide things about themselves. To be in a huge room with hundreds of people who are saying 'It's OK; in fact it's great' is a very transformative experience," said Danielle McClelland, executive director of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, where many of the screenings will be, and a member of the Pride Film Festival's steering committee.
(01/24/08 5:00am)
Indiana-native filmmaker Catherine Crouch will be in the audience to discuss her controversial short film "The Gendercator." It was banned from the San Francisco International GLBT Film Festival because it was "so offensive," McClelland said. \nThe film takes place in the future, challenging the viewer to imagine a world where there is no choice about the way gender is expressed, said McClelland. The film caused controversy because it presents a world where political and religious values come together with transgender and transsexual people to form a compromise. McClelland believes this controversial topic needs to be discussed.\n"The transgender activists are saying, 'We would never do that, and the fact that we would do that is an act of transphobia," McClelland said. "It really goes to the heart of a growing voice within the gay, lesbian, bi and transgender community"
(01/22/08 10:25pm)
Six historical harps now have a home in the Willam and Gayle Cook Music Library. The instruments were donated to the University in 1982 by late world-renowned harpist Mildred Dilling, who’s known as the “First Lady of the Harp.”\nBefore going on display, the harps sat for 20 years in a storage closet at the Musical Arts Center. The school had no place for the collection, said Eleanor Fell, co-owner of Vanderbilt Music Company and a former student of Dilling.\n“It’s a valuable collection for the school,” Fell said. “We’re privileged that we’re able to display lost instruments like these.”\nEach harp was given new strings and cleaned before going on display. \nThe harps are no longer playable.\n“They’re too fragile, too old and the wood is too porous,” Fell said. “They’ve been sitting around for 20 years.”\nPhil Ponella, director of the Cook Music Library, provided a space for the display. He said it was important for students to value this collection, and he wanted to be a part of that.\n“It is a special thing that no other school in the nation can claim to have,” he said. “So it would be a shame to see them sitting in a closet somewhere. I think it’s important that we bring these out; it’s very prestigious and I think it brings that out.”\nPonella said his 10-year-old daughter is a harpist, and her favorite harp is the Irish Royal Portable, the smallest in \nthe collection.\n“The Irish harp is the symbol of Ireland and appears on the country’s flag and on every coin that is minted in the Irish Free State,” Dilling once wrote. “This harp belonged to Thomas Moore, the Irish poet.”\nDilling composed a brief history of the harps, and her quotes were gathered in a booklet by Fell.\nFell said she cannot choose a favorite of the six harps because she considered them to be “abused children in the closet.”\n“They all have their own specific interests. I can’t choose from them,” Fell said. “It’s like asking you to choose which child is your favorite.”\nDenver Wrightsman, Facility Coordinator for the Jacobs School of Music, was responsible for building the harp display cases.\n“They’re beautiful instruments and everyone did a really good job on the cases,” he said. “It’s a good thing for the school itself. If you haven’t seen them it’s worth the trip, it’s worthwhile.”\nDilling was known for her large harp collection. She also taught Harpo Marx how to play the instrument that eventually made him famous. Dilling wanted these harps to be donated to Susann McDonald, chair of the IU Harp Department, who donated them to the library. \nHer legacy and love for the instrument will permanently live on in the halls of the Cook Music Library.\n“For the school, for the history of the harps in the Dilling collection and what was visualized for them,” Wrightsman said, “I think it’s a great thing not only for the school but the harp program itself.”\nThe Cook Music Library is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday.
(01/16/08 5:50am)
IU Provost Karen Hanson called for sweeping changes in campus diversity during her State of the Campus address Tuesday. Speaking in front of the assorted professors of the Bloomington Faculty Council, Hanson summarized issues facing the Bloomington campus.\nOnly 18 percent of undergraduates identified themselves as nonwhite during the last year, and Hanson is looking to hit the ground running to \nincrease diversity on campus.\n“(Diversity) is an area of special concern for this campus, as it is for all institutions of higher education,” she said, “and we are renewing our \ncommitment to work assiduously to enhance diversity.”\nHanson said she hopes to implement a Campus Diversity Committee by the end of the month and hopes to draft a plan dedicated to this project.\n“Even as this committee is being formed,” she said, “I urge every member of our \ncampus community to review the draft plan and try to help us refine it.”\nDean of Students Dick McKaig said he agreed with and encouraged Hanson’s ambition to make the Bloomington campus more diverse.\n“Institutions that aren’t seen as diverse ... are going to be viewed as narrow, by the best students,” he said. “You’re in backwater if you’re not addressing those issues and moving forward.”\nHanson said there are plans to expand international experiences for students. To do this, she said, the school will “incorporate international perspective into our curriculum.”\nHanson reported that applications to IU increased 18 percent during the last year and allowed the University to be more selective with admissions.\n“As we have made IU education more affordable, we have also increased the quality and, to some extent, the diversity of the undergraduate class,” she said.\nAlthough IU currently holds the 15th largest international enrollment in the U.S., Hanson said she is still encouraging the expansion of international programs. She also reported that the number of non-U.S. citizen, tenured faculty has more than doubled since 2003.\nTo make international experiences possible for more students, Hanson reported that IU President Michael McRobbie created the Office of the Vice President of Research Administration in part to guarantee the aggressive seeking of external funding.\nHanson encouraged the continuance of partnering with other universities and campuses to share resources, “even as we compete with them for top faculty and students,” she said.\nIU Trustee Sue Talbott said she was pleased Hanson shared challenges as well as goals in the report.\nSome challenges Hanson mentioned were finding ways to make tuition more affordable and finding space for additional research and coursework on campus. Hanson concluded her address with issues “on the horizon” such as increased admissions, hoping to instill the idea that the evolution of IU’s campus is crucial.\n“Our core missions, education and research, are enduring, and so are the values of academic freedom and respect that guide our mission,” Hanson said. “Our environment, however, the environment for higher education, is changing, challenging. Thus it happens that even as we reiterate our continuing mission and reassert our enduring values, our theme is change, progressive change.”
(11/16/07 9:48pm)
Civil rights activist the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth urged people on Sunday to become involved in the civil rights movement for the future by not forgetting the past.\nShuttlesworth gave a speech at the Bloomington Second Baptist Church, 321 N. Rogers St.\nDuring the 1950s and ’60s, Shuttlesworth was arrested more than 30 times for his various attempts to gain rights for blacks in Alabama, he said.\n“I’m known for being a notorious violator,” he said. “If I didn’t do something, I’d begin to get the jail-house itch.”\nShuttlesworth, 84, has been active in the civil rights movement for more than 60 years, though he is now retired. He worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, the Rev. Andrew Young and many others.\nA.B. Assensoh, director of graduate studies and admissions for the IU Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, said Shuttlesworth’s biggest accomplishments include working with King and others to desegregate Alabama’s public buses and establishing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which became one of the leading civil rights organizations.\nMary Smith-Forrest, a Second Baptist Church member and a coordinator of the event, said bringing such a prominent figure of the civil rights movement was important.\n“A lot of the icons from that time period are gone, and he’s one of the ones that are still alive,” she said. “So we wanted to do what we could do to get him here for as many people to see as possible.”\nSmith-Forrest said Shuttlesworth delivered a valuable message from the past that will affect the future.\n“Some of the people of today need to learn where they came from, and that will make them a better person in the present,” she said. “Then they can compare for the future generations.”\nShuttlesworth recalled many well-known stories from his work with the civil rights movement.\nOn Dec. 25, 1956, he said, an unknown person tried to kill him and his family by placing 16 sticks of dynamite outside his bedroom window.\nHe escaped from his house unharmed. When he was advised to leave town, he responded, “I wasn’t saved to run.”\nShuttlesworth received a standing ovation from the full congregation after his speech.\n“I hope people came to be inspired by this man, to be inspired by what he has done, to hear the things that happened in the turbulent ’60s and learn how he got through that period unscathed,” Smith-Forrest said.\n“Above all,” Assensoh said, “students, as leaders of tomorrow, should take the time to listen to great leaders like Reverend Shuttlesworth so that they will know the true history of the movement.”
(11/01/07 4:00am)
The Comedians of Comedy Tour takes the stage at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Tuesday, Nov. 6. The tour showcases Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, Doug Benson and Patton Oswalt. Oswalt, who dreamed up the tour, talked to WEEKEND about the show, the movie "Ratatouille" and humored us with a fun little game of word association.
(10/18/07 4:00am)
efore it became Armed Forces, Costello and The Attractions' 1979 release was originally titled Emotional Fascism, so it's no surprise the album takes on a political commentary. And songs such as "Two Little Hitlers" and "Oliver's Army" outline an early hit list with a new-wave sound. \nArmed Forces has dense production and extravagant keyboard arrangements that would be overwhelming if the lyrics were not so powerful.\nThe album shows Costello transforming from a nerdy punk kid into a musical pioneer as he sings about aggressive concepts of social action. And Costello wants action. In "Accidents Will Happen," he makes no mistake about it with showcase metaphors such as, "There's so many fish in the sea / That only rise up in the sweat and smoke like mercury."\nThe band's third album was an early indication of Costello's metamorphic abilities. "Green Shirt" smolders with subtle production to expose the pained lyrics, "Party Girl (Live)" is deceivingly mature for being about someone who is not, and "Moods for Moderns" is pure new-wave glory.\nOne of Costello's most recognizable songs, actually a song by producer Nick Lowe, closes the U.S. version of the album. The track is simultaneously accusative and poignant. You hear Costello's call to action sung over kicking chords and bouncy drums. The song asks if all hope is lost during such troubled times. It's a message that still resonates today. Everyone is still wondering, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding"
(09/27/07 4:14am)
Bloomington Parks and Recreations Department brought home the gold this year. \nThe National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Parks and Recreation Management is an award they strive for every year. Since 1999, the department has been a finalist for the award on five different occasions.\nAn awards ceremony was held Wednesday in Indianapolis at the National Recreation and Park Administration annual convention.\nVice president of the Bloomington board of parks commissioners, John Carter, said the award presentation was comparable to the Oscars. The host asked, ‘Can I have the finalists please?’ and the anticipation and suspense built throughout the room, Carter said. \n“The timing was right for us to not be bride’s maids anymore but brides, and win the whole thing,” Carter said.\nAs soon as the announcement was made that Bloomington holds the top parks and recreation management in the nation, representatives of the department were yelling, embracing one another and jumping up and down, said Mary Catherine Carmichael, former president of the Bloomington board of parks commissioners.\nThe award is judged on criteria including technology use, environmental stewardship, service to special populations, long range planning, certifications, accreditations and unique projects, Carmichael said.\n“I think we’ve left no stone unturned as far as any requirement that they would have for a national area,” Carmichael said. “I don’t think we came up short in any area, and evidently they think the same.”\nBloomington qualifies as a class three city, which means a population between 50,000 and 100,000, she said. The department was \nrunning against three other districts, all from Illinois, she added.\nCurrent Director of the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department Mick Renneisen said the victory brought a combination of emotions.\n“It was certainly exhilarating to find we had won,” he said, “but it was relief that we finally won it.” \nHe said he is grateful for his dedicated staff and for the high involvement the community has in the local parks system.\n“This formal acknowledgement by a national association just validates what we’ve known all along: our Parks and Recreation Department contributes outstanding programs, quality facilities and vital services that enhance our community’s character,” Mayor Mark Kruzan said in a press release.\nCommunity Relations Manager for the Parks and Recreation Department Julie Ramey was in charge of submitting the award application, which consisted of 11 essay questions to be answered on one page and a 12-minute video project. She said she ran out of space for the one-page maximum essay answers.\n“We have so many good things to tell people about and we had so much to choose from,” Ramey said.\nThe B-Line Trails and partnerships with Monroe County Community School Corporation were highlights of the application, she said.\nRenneisen attributed the success to teamwork.\n“I think it’s consistency of effort,” Renneisen said. “I think we’ve just been doing a really good job for a really long time, and I think that really pays off.”
(09/13/07 4:00am)
Rich Juzwiak is the author of the pop-culture blog FourFour and blogs full-time for VH1, contributing to the VH1 blog and Celebreality blogs at vh1.com. WEEKEND questioned him about the biz.
(09/06/07 4:00am)
"Ma'am, could you step out of the vehicle?" an officer said much to my surprise. Tears streamed down my face as passers-by gawked at me being patted down. The latch of the cuffs made me realize I was not above the law. When I was tucked into the back seat of the squad car, I was relieved to find a cubby hole to place my hands so I didn't have to sit on my cuffs. I was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt and told there was a warrant for my arrest. I skimmed through memories of everything I had ever done that could be illegal. I was being booked for not appearing in court two years ago. I hadn't been running from police, I hadn't been trying to hide what I was guilty of, I had simply been 18 years old and irresponsible as hell. For that irresponsibility, I spent 48 hours on the E block of the Monroe County Correctional Center.
(08/23/07 4:00am)
Surprise, surprise. If you're the typical WEEKEND reader, you're very surprised and maybe disappointed to be back at school for yet another semester. To keep you on the up-and-up, WEEKEND will be packed with surprises for the next 16 weeks.\nHere's a sneak peak: WEEKEND will go plane-jumping, party-crashing and movie-watching for your reading pleasure. There will, of course, be the classic features about booze and bars, and your picks will line the pages in November for the annual Best of Bloomington awards. \nNext, your dreams will come true because Halloween is coming early this year, but expect more trick than treat. Rob Zombie's rendition of the cult classic "Halloween" will be on the silver screen at the end of this month. \nI wouldn't dare leave you hanging without teasing your mind with Pure Romance; C'mon, I know you were thinking about it. Sex will look so damn sexy on the pages of WEEKEND.\nWe will keep you up-to-date with the latest college entertainment in our 20-page collection of high times, low times and above all, good times.
(08/02/07 1:12pm)
The IU board of trustees will meet Aug. 17 with no president and four open trustee positions because Gov. Mitch Daniels has not made his appointments to the board.\nThe Nomination Committee, which is responsible for nominating the leaders of the board, picked Patrick Shoulders, trustee vice president and committee chair, to continue his term as vice president so that he can stand in as president in case no appointments are made by the time of the first board meeting.\nThe committee consists of Shoulders and trustees Thomas Reilly Jr., Dr. William Cast and Dr. Philip Eskew Jr. The committee met via conference call Wednesday, with a general agreement to hold off the nomination for the presidential candidate, in hopes that Stephen Ferguson, whose term expired July 1, will be reappointed by Daniels so he can serve as board president again.\nIn addition to Ferguson, the board is waiting for word from the governor about whether replacements for student trustee Casey Cox, Jeffrey Cohen and Dr. Clarence Boone. Boone and Cohen do not expect to be reappointed by the governor because they were picked by Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan, University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis told the Indiana Daily Student in July.\nUnder trustee bylaws, nominations for the offices of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer must be made at least 10 days prior to the first scheduled meeting.\nShoulders said if Ferguson is reappointed by Daniels, he will likely be nominated at the first meeting. The committee’s solution to the leadership problem came at Cast’s suggestion.\n“There is a lot of feeling that the board and the officers who selected our new president, who just took office July 1, may want to continue in place so there’s a nice transition in place of support for President McRobbie,” Shoulders said.\nSome trustees are worried that Daniels’ tardiness could be holding up progress for the University. Trustee Sue Talbot said it is important to the people who “keep the wheels of the University turning” to know who the board members are.\n“The timeline is a little lengthy, and certainly people are concerned that it hasn’t been done yet,” Talbot said.\nShoulders said during the conference call that the committee had the only other options of either doing nothing or waiting until the very last minute, Aug. 7, to see if Daniels had made appointments yet.\nThe Nomination Committee also slated Robyn Gress to continue as Board Secretary, University Counsel Dorothy Frapwell to continue as Assistant Board Secretary and MaryFrances McCourt as Board Treasurer.\nThe committee hopes these provisional appointments will allow the board to keep working.\n“If, say, the governor does not appoint anybody for a prolonged period of time of 10 days or 30 days, by taking this action we have permitted ourselves to continue to function,” Reilly said.\nBrad Rateike, a spokesman for the governor’s office, would not comment on a timeline for the appointments and only said, “The governor is taking great care to appoint qualified people to lead the University.”
(07/28/07 5:29pm)
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 took effect Tuesday, raising the federal minimum wage for the first time since 1997, tacking on 70 cents to the federal minimum rate. Now workers must be paid at least $5.85 per hour.\nIndiana was required to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 to the new rate, but surrounding states had no problems meeting the new requirements because their minimum wages were already set above the new standard.\nIn Illinois, the minimum wage is currently $7.50 and will increase to $8.00 by 2010, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor.\nNew wage requirements raise concerns for the success of locally owned businesses that are now required to expand their annual budget in order to pay their workers more.\nJohn Wilson, owner of Pygmalion’s Art Supplies, 108 N. Grant St., planned the minimum wage increase into his budget for the rest of the year. He said he also planned for the 2008 minimum wage increase to $6.55 but has no plans for the 2009 increase that is planned to be set at $7.25.\nWilson said he already pays his employees above minimum wage because he requires experience and skills from his workers.\n“We want to make sure we hire the right people and that they are paid well,” Wilson said. “We feel that when we hire someone, we’re hiring someone more than just a minimum-wage person.”\nMany Bloomington residents and students take on low-paying jobs because of the competitive nature of finding a job. IU Student Andrew Sharp said he works a minimum-wage-paying job at the Herman B Wells Library because it was “really easy to get.”\n“I’d rather have a good job that I don’t get paid much (for) and still enjoy it than have a hard job that I hate because I want a lot of money,” he said.\nLike many students, Sharp said he receives financial assistance from his parents. He said he could not afford to pay for any of his own bills on his current wages. Sharp said he was surprised to learn about the minimum wage increase.\n“That’s so crazy,” he said. “The money that we’re making is going to be worth so much less. The dollar is already starting to lose its power against the pound and the yen, and they’re not even good currencies to begin with.”\nOne Bloomington resident said she is working hard for a raise in order to gain some financial freedom from her family. Katherine O’Brian is employed as a page at the Monroe County Library, which pays her above minimum wage, and she still struggles to get by.\n“It usually is hard, yes, because I can’t really pay for it all on my own, so it will be nice once I can get a raise here,” O’Brian said.\nRepresentatives from the governor’s office and the mayor’s office did not respond by press time to comment on the minimum wage changes in Indiana.
(07/23/07 12:59am)
Plans are in the works for IU Police Department to trade in eight of its ten Ford Crown Victorias for new six-cylinder Dodge Chargers.\nIUPD Capt. Jerry Minger said Ford will not be making Crown Victorias in a police package next year, so in collaboration with IU Motor Pool, IUPD chose the Dodge Charger as a replacement.\nThe new cars are expected to be more fuel efficient and have a higher resale value, which can save money. The vehicles can also run on cheaper E85 ethanol-blend fuel.\nE85 fuel was ideal for the department’s use, Minger said, but there is nowhere in Bloomington to fill up on it. However, the new vehicles are still expected to save money.\n“We did some analysis on cost. I think it’s a smaller car so it should be more fuel-efficient,” Motor Pool Manager Mike Hardesty said.\nThe vehicles will now be on a staggered three-year lease plan. Every year, some cars can be upgraded. When leases expire, the department chooses whether to keep the car at a low price, use it as an undercover car or send it back in exchange for a new vehicle, Minger said.\n“In the past, we financially couldn’t get into that type of staggered change, and we had to change all of our police package cars at once,” Minger said.\nMaintenance required for the vehicles is typically high due to the mileage they accumulate, Minger said. Police package vehicles are also equipped with heavy-duty electrical systems that often require repairs.\n“We might be in more of a stable position in the future to have a vehicle that was going to be stable in the future,” Minger said. \nThe appearance of the cars will stay similar: They will be white with the same markings.\n“We want them to be highly visible as a visual deterrent,” Minger said. “We want people to know that the police are \nout there.”\nThe leases are up for the Crown Victorias, but IUPD does not have the new cars yet. Minger said he wishes they had the cars now because the maintenance time of the older cars is causing the department to find replacement cars that are not as efficient.\nThe cars have arrived to the Motor Pool, Hardesty said, but there is a delay in getting vehicle titles and paperwork.