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(06/30/11 12:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On the last day of general public searches for missing IU student Lauren Spierer, volunteer Jeff Ritter kept doing what he had done for more than a week.“Every place we look is a place that’s been searched and a place we can cross off the list,” he said.About 20 other volunteers, with help from professional searchers, brought an end to broad-based searches for the 20-year-old IU student, who has been missing since June 3. The atmosphere in McNutt Residence Center was hopeful, yet sad that it was almost the end of the run.“When I heard they were doing that, it was a letdown to me,” Ritter said just before going on one last general search.Future searches will now follow specific leads received by the Bloomington Police Department and other agencies. The searches that have happened for about four weeks, in which volunteers searched as much of Bloomington and Monroe County as possible, have ended.Volunteer search organizer John Summerlot said Wednesday morning that a “hard-core group that has been searching every day” will be on call for future searches.“We can send out a mass email, ‘Hey, we need 300 people,’ and I have no doubt we can do it,” he said.Charlene and Robert Spierer visited the search’s command center at McNutt Residence Center twice Wednesday, the second time about half an hour before the afternoon search left the dormitory. The parents said they had not made any plans to leave Bloomington.Searchers and supporters flowed through McNutt throughout the day. One search party left at about 9:45 a.m., while another left closer to 12:30 p.m. Volunteer Crystal Rainwater brought six Tupperware containers of muffins upstairs to the search headquarters at McNutt, while another volunteer walked downstairs with four blue rubber bracelets with #FINDLAUREN imprinted on them. The bracelets, she said, were given to volunteer searchers.At about 2:05 p.m., Charlene Spierer walked into search headquarters where she saw Ritter, who had gone on the 12:30 p.m. search. Charlene saw the mud on his blue jeans.“Looks like you’ve been working,” she said.“Yep, fell down twice,” Ritter replied.At about 2:20 p.m., a group of five volunteers left the main room of search headquarters after a briefing with organizer Don Cranfill. The group, which included Robert Spierer’s cousin Roy, was sent to an area near the intersection of State Road 446 and Old S.R. 446 near Lake Monroe.The group, many of which had searched nearly every day for at least the past week, said they were sad the general searches had ended but happy they could help.As the group drove to S.R. 446, junior Tom Schmitt looked out at campus from his truck.“It’s a shame we got all these kids walking around,” he said, “and we only got five people going out.”Once the group reached a car shop on the side of the highway, the group split up and decided where to go.Their search was spurred by someone who, much earlier, had reported buzzards circling nearby.“Best wishes, y’all,” Ritter said as they split up.He and Schmitt rode in Schmitt’s truck to the Cabin Restaurant and Lounge and parked. From there, they walked south along the highway, continuing what had been done for nearly four weeks: searching grass tall and short for any clues.Shortly after, Schmitt found a femur near a creek in the bottom of a roadside ravine.The femur seemed short for a human, but he called for Ritter, who had the walkie-talkie and was searching in a ravine on the other side of the road. Once the two reunited, they both looked again at the bone.On the walk back up the slope, Ritter found a pile of bones. They included another femur, ribs and vertebrae. Ritter called search headquarter leaders, who sent a BPD car to the scene. After two officers searched the area, a department anthropologist walked down the ravine to inspect the bones.The two officers walked back up the ravine. One officer shook his head, while the anthropologist said, “Not human.”The anthropologist made the conclusion while Ritter and Schmitt walked further south along the highway. They continued their efforts of the last four weeks.“I was kind of surprised it lasted this long,” Schmitt said about the general searches. “It just shows you how important finding her is to the community.”
(06/23/11 1:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Large signs stating “Indiana University, shame on you, don’t be next” could be seen at various street corners around campus Wednesday. Holding those signs were members of the Indiana Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, an organization which alleges “an illegal systematic pattern of exploitation of Indiana’s Latino and non-Latino construction workers” is taking place on campus.Members have been handing out bright orange press releases claiming that IKRCC investigators have found that Glenmark Construction, a company hired by IU to remodel Briscoe Residence Center, does not provide “area standard wages, benefits and working conditions for its employees.”IKRCC stated that its findings could constitute as criminal violations of Indiana’s bidding statutes. According to the release, IKRCC investigators have brought their findings to the Indiana Department of Labor. IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said he was not aware of the allegations. — Jake New
(06/22/11 5:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After Bloomington Police Department Capt. Joe Qualters said the police are still in the information-gathering stage for the case of missing IU student Lauren Spierer, her mother, Charlene Spierer, provided one more way to collect that information. “I am extremely disappointed by the fact that only one of Lauren’s friends have called the Bloomington Police Department with any information,” she said before providing a post office box address for people to put anonymous tips. The address is Find Lauren, P.O. Box 1226, Bloomington, IN, 47402-1226. “You can’t get much more anonymous than that,” Charlene said. Qualters and Lauren’s father, Robert Spierer, both said that searches for Lauren, who went missing Friday, June 3, will continue. Qualters said that after meetings on Monday, law enforcement and others will keep searching at least through the weekend. Qualters denied that there is a “mystery person” in any video that the police have analyzed, referring specifically to someone seen near the intersection of 10th Street and College Avenue. “There is no one depicted in that video that is not already known to investigators,” he said. Qualters said the BPD has interviewed nearly everyone on the second level of sources in the investigation and they have reviewed about 300 hours of video. “This investigation is very much an ongoing situation,” Qualters said, despite less frequent press briefings and less information in those briefings. He added that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work still going on. He would not discuss that work because BPD had already established boundaries that it would not cross with the media. “There is an investigative plan, there are people to be identified to be interviewed, and they stick with that plan,” Qualters said. “I’m going to have to leave the theories to the investigators.” Robert put out another call for volunteers to gather at McNutt Quad any time between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. There were just less than 50 searchers Tuesday and about 30 early Wednesday searching land around Bloomington and in the northern part of Monroe County. “There’s just so much to cover that everyday, we could use a little bit of help,” Robert said. “This has become our normal,” Charlene said during her statement. “I don’t even know what life was before June 3.” She described the call from her husband on that day. She was visiting family when Robert called her. “Char, it’s Lauren,” Charlene reported Robert as saying. “She’s missing.” Charlene asked why only one friend had called BPD with information. “I guarantee you, Lauren would have been the first to call,” she said.For full audio of this press briefing, click here.
(06/14/11 12:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Daily Student has attended each press briefing on missing IU student Lauren Spierer since the first one on June 7. The audio for these conferences appears below. Time stamps are included to indicate when the Spierers speak at each briefing. Click on the links to hear each audio recording. June 7 Briefing BPD spokesman: Lt. Bill ParkerRobert Spierer speaks at 12:45BPD Lt. of Detectives Bill Parker said Lauren was hanging out with friends Thursday night, June 2. They were drinking at Kilroy’s Sports, a bar on the intersection of Eighth and Walnut streets, according to friends’ testimonies and Kilroy’s cameras.June 8 Briefing BPD spokesman: Lt. Bill ParkerRobert Spierer speaks at 11:05The Bloomington Police Department is continuing to interview missing IU Student Lauren Spierer’s “associates and acquaintances,” Lt. Bill Parker said at a press conference at 11:30 a.m. He said the BPD is using polygraph tests. “We believe that the chances are very great that there’s foul play,” Parker said.June 9 Briefing BPD spokesman: Lt. Bill ParkerRobert Spierer speaks at 10:06Police remained tight-lipped concerning reports of an altercation between IU student Corey Rossman and other unidentified males at approximately 2:40 a.m. at Smallwood Plaza the morning Lauren disappeared. June 10 Briefing BPD spokesman: Lt. Bill ParkerRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 12:33Lauren’s case will be aired on America’s Most Wanted on Saturday. The Bloomington Police Department is bringing in a tip management program because they’ve been told there is usually an increase in tips after the program airs.June 11 Briefing Spokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 21:25(Note: Between 20:40 and 20:45, there is a blank space where tapes were swapped.)Although there have been no significant developments in the case of missing IU student Lauren Spierer, the Bloomington Police Department said that does not mean it will lessen its investigation.June 12 Briefing Spokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 18:24Lauren Spierer’s mother Charlene said she wakes up every day and asks herself what do I want to accomplish today. June 13 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 14:49Capt. Joe Qualters said at least one vehicle has come to the attention of the Bloomington Police Department in their search for Lauren Spierer, a 20-year-old IU student who has been missing since June 3.June 14 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 14:14On the 12th day in the search for Lauren Spierer, the Bloomington Police Department still has no leads or suspects, but they do have a better description of what Lauren was wearing the night she disappeared.June 15 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert Spierer speaks at 20:05The vehicle is a white four-door truck that is either a Chevy Silverado or Chevy Colorado. It has a short bed, bed liner and unidentified equipment in the bed. There appears to be writing on the side door and rear panels. Captain Joe Qualters said the truck has distinctive wheels.June 16 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 18:31“This could be you,” Charlene Spierer said while holding up a picture of Lauren smiling and walking out of Smallwood Plaza.June 17 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 10:47“The greatest gift that Robbie could have would be information about Lauren,” Charlene Spierer said.June 20 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 16:40The white truck that police released footage of last week has been eliminated from consideration in the case of the missing 20 year-old IU student, Lauren Spierer.June 22 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 15:31“I am extremely disappointed by the fact that only one of Lauren’s friends have called the Bloomington Police Department with any information,” Charlene Spierer said before providing a post office box address for people to put anonymous tips.June 24 BriefingSpokesman: Capt. Joe QualtersRobert and Charlene Spierer speak at 21:10When asked if the police had a better idea of what happened to Lauren than they did three weeks ago, he said “No, no ... Unfortunately not.”July 1 BriefingRobert and Charlene Spierer speak throughout“To the person who has knowledge about Lauren...If you think that our determination is any less, it’s not,” Charlene said. “We are just as determined today as we were on day one.”
(06/07/11 9:01pm)
Lauren’s parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer, stood together during a press conference Tuesday. Charlene wrapped her arm around her husband as Bloomington Police Department Lt. Bill Parker spoke. After the police statement, Robert walked to the microphones. Click here to watch his speech about the search for his missing daughter, Lauren.
(05/26/11 6:31pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students and others working in the Herman B Wells Library on Wednesday moved to the library’s basement at about 10:15 p.m. to wait out the storm that damaged Sam Mason Properties and uprooted trees across the IU campus.Matt Duff, an auditor at the library, encouraged everyone to move from the Information Commons, which was surrounded by windows in its corner of the West Tower.People moved slowly as they saved projects and gathered their things, but once the windows started shaking, progress was much quicker.Once in the basement, student Max Newman called his dad. He had been in the library for about 20 minutes printing documents. He said a tree had fallen on his friend’s house during Monday’s storms.“My house doesn’t even have a basement,” he said. “I’m worried about my friends there.”Rising junior Tara Nei ran through the south door into the library soon after people were moved into the basement. Duff called the basement one of the safest places on campus during a storm, and he said he would wait until confirmation from IU before advising students to leave.“The library is very sturdy,” he said, “but it’s not built to withstand a tornado.”Rising senior Kirsten Powell had been at the library for 10 minutes when she heard Duff advise people to go to the basement. Duff let people leave the basement around 11 p.m., when most people saw that the worst was over.“I was a little annoyed because I thought he was overreacting,” she said after students were let out of the basement. When she heard the windows and lobby doors rattle, however, she said she was convinced.Some students stood on the south patio, watching the storm die down. They noticed that a tree had fallen onto the patio.The tree was one of several that fell along that street, as well as on Atwater Avenue, Second Street, Fourth Street, Seventh Street and 10th Street. The IUBloomington Twitter feed reported this morning that the IU Police Department found no major building damage or injuries from the storm.
(03/28/11 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Loves for German, theater, thunderstorms and singing often exist separately. Together, they contribute to the memory of Kira Riley.Riley, who died Tuesday in her dorm room in Briscoe Quad, had studied in Krefeld, Germany, through the IU Honors Program in Foreign Languages for High School Students; had played a lead role in an award-winning play; sang with the Batesville Singers and was “a beautiful soul” with “a heart of gold,” according to posts left on her Facebook wall and sent by email.In a statement, the IU Honors Program said Riley had a positive attitude and did everything to become a part of the German culture.Her efforts, the statement said, earned her the program’s Award of Excellence.“Kira expressed to the on-site staff at the end of the summer that the Honors Program helped her reach her potential as a student and also contributed to her becoming a better person,” the program said.Back home, the feeling was the same. Her obituary, published online before her funeral Saturday, said friends and family recall her smile and her willingness to help others.“She was one of the nicest people I have ever met, her group of friends were some of the most wonderful people I had the pleasure of knowing,” Nick Limardo wrote in an email. Limardo graduated from Batesville High School with Riley.Riley shared a prom date — Graham Hawley — and nearly identical prom dresses — mermaid style with sparkles — with IU freshman Lindsey Wilson during their senior year at Batesville. They also appeared together in the spring production of “Grease.”Wilson said Riley was always very happy, even at IU.“When I was down, having a sad time, she came to Wright Food Court and comforted me,” she said. “She was very loved, a sweet girl. Very loved.”Freshman Brittany Brewer met Riley in middle-school choir after Brewer moved to Batesville in fifth grade. Brewer’s play, “What’s the Matter with Pink Underwear?,” won her the Indiana Repertory Theatre’s Young Playwright Award, and Riley played an elderly woman in its premiere before it won the competition.“There wasn’t a person better for the part,” Brewer said in an email.After she learned about Riley’s death, Brewer put a photo of herself and Riley as the elderly woman as her profile picture on Facebook.Riley’s Facebook page already had collected messages and memories by then. After the first post at 10:37 p.m. Tuesday, more than 50 posts shared song lyrics, described a 20-minute laugh-off and recalled conversations about thunderstorms.“I know Kira loved thunderstorms and I was terrified of them for the longest time,” said Aiyana Koon, who posted the recollection on Riley’s wall. “I’m not scared of them anymore because I’ll always think of her when it rains. She was beautiful inside and out and the type of person you can only come by once in a lifetime.”
(03/25/11 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As of 4:18 p.m. Thursday, IU Police Department Chief of Police Keith Cash confirmed that a handgun was used in the death of freshmen Kira Riley.“All the information and evidence we have collected supports the initial report of a suicide,” Cash said in an email.Cash added that he cannot comment any further on forensic details until the coroner’s investigation, which usually takes several weeks, is complete.Riley was found in her dorm room in Briscoe Quad on Tuesday afternoon and was confirmed dead on the scene, according to IUPD.Since then, Briscoe Quad staff members have been encouraging students to support each other.“Our thoughts go out to the friends, floor-mates and family affected by this loss, and we encourage everyone to reach out to all of those in need of support, no matter who they are,” said a statement released Thursday by Briscoe.The statement also expressed sadness for the loss of Riley.“It is a tragedy to lose a fellow resident of our building; it is even more of a tragedy to lose a fellow human being.”Remembrance Event3 p.m. Sunday at the Indiana Memorial Union Whittenberger Auditorium.A campus remembrance event for the recent deaths of IU students.
(03/24/11 4:24am)
Students, friends and the University are dealing with the loss of
freshman Kira Riley, who died in an apparent suicide Tuesday in her dorm
room in Briscoe Quad.
(03/22/11 8:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A female IU student was found dead in her dorm room at about 3 p.m. Tuesday in the Gucker tower of Briscoe Quad, said Keith Cash, IU Police Department chief of police.Soon after the police were notified, Counseling and Psychological Services arrived at the Briscoe center desk, where they counseled friends and floor mates around the main elevator and in a room behind the center desk.One woman ran through the front doors and into the lobby at about 3:50 p.m., looking for a friend and was pointed to the back room where others were gathered.At about 4:30 p.m., two IU employees followed an IUPD officer out of the building. The employees carried pink trash bags filled with what appeared to be bed linens or clothes. One employee was also wearing rubber gloves and carried spray bottles and other cleaning equipment.Residents and other students relied on things heard from friends and read through emails for information.“It’s just tragic,” freshman Shane Sperling said.Sperling said he found out after his friend told him what he knew from an email he received.“I realize that life is way too short, and the fact that it could end so quickly like that is unimaginable.”Freshman Kristen Troxell, who lives on the sixth floor of Gucker, said she didn’t know much about what happened but had heard reports about a suicide.“I was shocked,” Troxell said. “I asked my friend on the seventh floor what happened, and they said they didn’t know much but that she had committed suicide.”Cash said the police are continuing the investigation.— Caitlin Keating, Ryan Dorgan and Alex Benson contributed to this report.
(03/10/11 11:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I didn’t have any sort of bucket list when I first came to IU. My plan was to get involved with student media and honors organizations, with some light entertainment on the side. My plan changed, of course, and as I became a staff photographer at the Indiana Daily Student, I found a more vibrant life at IU and Bloomington than I could have ever imagined before I started college. Here is a guide to the places you need to see while you’re here. Your own bucket list will change, as did mine, but this will get you started.STUDENT SECTION AT ASSEMBLY HALLI’ve never sat in it, but every time I look back from the court as I take photos, I get jealous. The face paint, signs and full-throated cheers create a home-court intensity that’s 100 times better than the crowd at your high school gym.MUSICAL ARTS CENTER AND AUER HALLOf course you need to see “The Nutcracker” and the Italian operas, but the Jacobs School of Music also organizes free events that you don’t need to plan for a year in advance. Professor David Baker puts on a jazz ensemble every few months, bachelor’s and master’s recitals happen all the time, and special guests like Todd Rundgren make a free appearance every once in a while.EVERY RESTAURANT ON FOURTH STREETIf Siam House’s Thai food is any indication (it’s the only one I’ve been to), the other international restaurants on this street south of Kirkwood Avenue are the stuff of chef’s dreams. You should try everything, but I’ve heard especially high reviews for Anatolia and La Dolce Vita.LAKE MONROEThis sub-headline is an oversimplifi cation. There’s also Griffy Lake, the IU Arboretum, Bradford Woods and a ton of other parks and green spaces for the times when you want to escape the academic routine. Prices range from cheap to free.LILLY LIBRARYThe library, which is next to the IU Auditorium, has everything from John Ford’s Best Directing Oscars for “How Green Was My Valley” and “The Grapes of Wrath,” early 20th-century puzzles, medieval calendars, a large Abraham Lincoln collection, a Gutenberg Bible ... you get the idea.LOTUS FESTIVALThe Lotus World Music & Arts Festival is chock full of international culture. Normal prices hover around $30 and $50 for the two main nights of the festival, but a group trip with your dorm floor might lower the entrance fee to as little as $10. Whatever the price, you’ll get a long weekend of international music, food and art.THE BARSOf course, IU is known for its party culture, so if you feel like going out (and you’re old enough), you have a wide variety of places to choose from. You have Kilroy’s on Kirkwood for $2 everything on Tuesdays, whiskey at the Irish Lion and distinctive town vibes at the Offi ce Lounge and the Alley Bar. For the best combination of food, drink and tradition, watch a game and play Sink the Biz at Nick’s English Hut.IU CINEMAThis new theater opened during my senior year, and I regret being too old to fully enjoy it. The venue, which opened to two packed showings of “Lawrence of Arabia,” features old Hollywood movies, archival footage, student projects and movies from the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction (for academic purposes, of course).ROOF OF THE HERMAN B WELLS LIBRARYUnfortunately, you can’t just go up there on a whim and have a picnic. Fortunately, if you get to know the right member of the library’s management, he can take you to see the view from atop either of the two towers. You’ll get to know the fl oors below enough, so mix it up one time and get a bird’s-eye view of campus.RHINO’S ALL-AGES CLUBThe name deceives. The venue attracts an older crowd despite the lack of alcohol withheadliners like punk rock’s Against Me!, which can lead to moshing and stage-storming. Other popular venues include The Bluebird Nightclub and the intimate Root Cellar underneath FARMbloomington.
(02/10/11 5:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the protests in Egypt turn from violent clashes to labor strikes and a Google executive arises as a leader, the popular uprising against the government of Hosni Mubarak has turned into a long-term struggle. While for most Americans this means fewer newspaper headlines and less cable news coverage, for Egyptians in the United States the conflict is still fresh.Five local Egyptian students, including two sisters, waited days to hear from relatives after the start of protests. Several of their relatives wanted to join the protests, only to be stopped by parents who didn’t want them to get hurt. One student had two friends die. All of them support the ideas behind the protests, and some have joined online groups and said they hope to join protests in the U.S.The movement for democracy that began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt on Jan. 25 continues for those students today. Beyond the headlines, their lives in America have changed forever because of events more than 6,000 miles away. After 30 years of rule under Mubarak, the people of Egypt want to rule their own country.Marissa HabeshyYear: JuniorTime in U.S.: Since birth (father moved to U.S. at age 17)Connection to Egypt: Lived in summer 2010 with family near Tahrir SquareFirst contact After Jan. 28: Jan. 29 from family (after a dropped call from relatives in Tahrir)“They’re fine. It’s dangerous, but they’re fine. I heard from them Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29), which actually felt like a long time. They’re scared, and that’s the only thing that bothers me. ...One of my cousins wanted to protest, but my parents wouldn’t let them.”Norhan BassiounyYear: JuniorTime in U.S.: Three yearsConnection to Egypt: Family in Heliopolis (suburb of Cairo)First contact: Immediately“Everyone, at least from my family, is pro-protest because it was time for him (Mubarak) to leave... Everyone wants him to go. He’s been a dictator for the past 30 years, so people want change, and it was time I guess.”Aya BassiounyYear: Graduate studentTime in U.S.: Three yearsConnection to Egypt: Family in HeliopolisFirst contact: Immediately“My family has always been critical of the regime, because they are doctors... They would speak about how horrible everything is and how people would die because of diseases because the government and the system is so corrupt that they don’t care about the poor people.”Amr Talaat(husband of IU senior Rania Talaat)Year: Freshman at Ivy Tech Community CollegeTime in U.S.: Four yearsConnection to Egypt: Family in Alexandria, friends in Queens protested in New YorkFirst contact: Immediately and continues to talk with them almost every day“If you look throughout the Middle East, most of the countries, they’ve been ruled by presidents or kings for very long periods, and they are not even fair with the people, and none of the people even voted for them. It’s something we’re forced to live with, so people just get fed up and are like, ‘We won’t take it anymore.’ And Tunisia started, and then we took over, and then Jordan is on the way now.”Ahmed KadousYear: Preparing for MBA at Kelley School of BusinessTime in U.S.: Three monthsConnection to Egypt: Family in Cairo, two friends died in protests last weekFirst contact: Night of Jan. 29“Every revolution has some bad things, but I’m optimistic... I had two friends die last week... In the protest, someone — snipers, or something like that — shot one of them in their chest or their head, or the tear gas — someone had an allergic from the gases or something like that. But I’m proud of them. They changed something, and their family is proud of them... I don’t like American government to interfere Egyptian affairs. I know it’s good for America to support people, but it’s not good for America to interfere into internal affairs.”
(01/25/11 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pro-life supporters prayed in front of the Planned Parenthood center on South College Avenue Monday, two days after the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision regarding abortion. The group — made up of area lay and ordained Catholics — started in St. Charles Catholic Church on the east side of the IU campus at about 11 a.m. and marched down Third Street. The marchers prayed all four sets of mysteries of the rosary during their walk. Once they reached the center, they said a Divine Mercy prayer and a litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bloomington police officers informed the group that a business was complaining about the noise because their prayers were broadcast through an amplifier. The group turned off the amplifier in front of the center, but they used it during their walk back to St. Charles.
(08/30/10 6:59pm)
American Red Cross workers Cathy Gamas and David Underwood talk with junior Ashley Scott during her blood donation Monday inside a donor bus near the Indiana Memorial Union. Donors were given a coupon for a free Aver's pizza.
(08/30/10 4:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Spain has added to this year’s sports successes, putting two riders in the top three positions at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Dani Pedrosa of the Repsol Honda team took the checkered flag, winning by 3.575 seconds over American pole winner Ben Spies. Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, the leader in the MotoGP points standings heading into the race, finished third.The final podium reversed the pattern made during qualifications when two Americans, Spies and Nicky Hayden, surrounded Lorenzo in the front row.Pedrosa, the 2009 pole winner, crashed early in last year’s race and never had a chance. This time, he made it look easy.Pedrosa has won a career-high three times this season.Lorenzo maintained his large lead in the overall classifications, holding a 68-point lead against Pedrosa.Aside from Spies, Americans did not finish high in the third MotoGP event on U.S. soil. Hayden dropped three spots from his starting position to finish sixth, while Colin Edwards fell from ninth to 15th.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(08/11/10 4:00am)
Freshman Ashik Shah of Fishers, Ind., hauls a suitcase up the stairs \nMonday to his new room in Ashton Center. His father, mother and brother helped Ashik carry his \ntelevision, food and other dorm necessities up to his room on the first \nfloor. Although Wednesday is the official move-in day, students can move in to their on-campus homes as early as Sunday.
(06/28/10 12:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After five and a half months of new experiences piled on top of new experiences, I wanted to end my study-abroad time in Spain with something even fresher and more awe-inspiring than all the rest. It was a tough chore.I had seen large monuments built over a full year burn to the ground (on purpose) in Valencia.I had found relaxing beauty in the hills of the Canary Islands.I had basically walked with the bishop in a Good Friday procession in Girona.I had seen the entire city of Athens in one glance from the steps of the Acropolis.How was I to top all of that? Very simple: go to an African country. Specifically, I went to Marrakech, Morocco.There, I found a world I both knew and didn’t fit into at all.The first shock was the call to prayer. After taking a much-needed nap at the hostel (I had gotten half an hour of sleep at the airport the night before), our group of four went out to lunch. We went to the medina, the old quarter of the city with a large square, the Djemaa el Fna. While eating some chicken tajine that happily broke the pattern of good but bland Spanish food, we heard a loud voice chanting over what seemed like a celestial public address system. The sheer volume of the call gave me the feeling it came from inside of me instead of from atop a minaret.The cries of “Allahu akbar” (God is great) rang from every mosque in the city, and for someone used to an atmosphere of official secularism, a public reminder to pray was shocking.Equally jarring, but in an opposite way, was the amount of women who did not wear a veil. Although Morocco is clearly a culturally Muslim country, the hijab is more of a suggestion than a requirement, as long as one follows the spirit of the universal code of modest dress. To be sure, I saw women wearing full-body burqas, but more often than not, women walked the streets with only, or even without, some head covering.It stems from Morocco’s reputation as a moderate Muslim state. Except for a terrorist attack in Casablanca in 2003, the country has shied away from the Islamic fundamentalism practiced in countries with more conservative populations. It maintains good relations with the West, earning major non-NATO ally status with the United States and signing free-trade agreements with the United States and the European Union.As such, a headscarf is often seen as a sign of political Islam instead of a profession of simple faith. Whether warranted or not, those who wear a hijab are sometimes discriminated against as being against secular government and in favor of a more explicitly Islamic society.The mix of non-traditional dress and public calls to prayer showed, to me at least, the success of the Enlightenment formula of separation of church and state. Both sides seemed stronger than they would be if they were wedded together. By the end of my stay on Friday, I saw the city as more Arab and Berber than Muslim, full of merchants who faithfully practiced Islam on the side. It was a feeling I won’t soon forget, mainly because I’ve seen the Christian variety all my life.
(06/20/10 11:03pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When I first borrowed The Beatles’ “Anthology 2” from my father when I was six, I found really great music that I thought no one in my generation knew about. At the expense of not following any current sounds outside of the stray Blink-182 and Smash Mouth albums my younger brother would buy, I listened to it and the other installments of “Anthology” over and over and over, as if it were something new. And when it came time for me to buy my first album, I bought “Revolver,” which ranked at the top of some best-albums-ever lists but never got much radio play in my own childhood.I then went through the first half of adolescence thinking at times that I’d made a mistake. The other music I listened to at that time (Billy Joel, Supertramp, Creedence Clearwater Revival) was by no means from my time, and so it wasn’t until high school that I gave any thought to anything current. Every time someone asked me what my favorite band was, I’d reply, “The Beatles,” a bit sheepishly, because more modern names like The White Stripes and Coldplay never came into my head.Turns out I had nothing to be ashamed of. Those “Anthology” CDs I listened to got a lot of people in my generation hooked on the Fab Four. Whether it was through those albums or through something more direct, the tastes of the parents seeped through. Say what you will about the money (his Beatles work still feeds Sir Paul McCartney when he’s 68) or the sacrifice of any sort of message the band had tried to send (although the same McCartney said, “There are only four people who knew what The Beatles were about, anyway”). The music has passed onto another set of fans.The music affected me to such an extent that, before visiting friends in London whom I hadn’t seen since last summer, I made a stop in the band’s hometown of Liverpool. The Beatles were far from the only good thing to come out of this city. The Beatles’ spirit, however, still lives here, and although the city has grown since then, its collective memory of the band has grown with it.The clearest examples of this are the new Cavern Club and McCartney’s and John Lennon’s childhood homes. The original Cavern, where the Beatles performed 292 times before they made their first trip to the United States, was cleared to make way for an underground loop. It was rebuilt as close to the original as possible in 1984 after ownership passed to Liverpool F.C. player Tommy Smith. Today, the place is both a world tourist stop and a thriving music venue, and the greatest tribute is that the original music outweighs the tribute bands.Two other buildings have stayed right where they started. Thanks to donations from the McCartney family and Yoko Ono, the homes of the Lennon-McCartney duo have been restored to resemble their state in 1957, when the two met at a church festival. The UK’s National Trust runs tours through Lennon’s Mendips home (more accurately known as Aunt Mimi’s Mendips home) and the McCartney flat at 20 Forthlin Road.Beatles sights abound in Liverpool. Penny Lane still has a barbershop, the red gate at Strawberry Field still stands, and the Beatles Story museum has more history than even I knew. The amazing thing is that I wasn’t the only one seeing those sights who wasn’t born when the band broke up in 1970. The music lives and still seems new for so many people.I’m not alone.
(06/07/10 12:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For my first trip outside Spain this summer, I chose a place I’ve wanted to see since I first mispronounced Hippocrates: Athens. I booked my ticket to the home of western democracy in March, taking for granted that everything would be perfect.Then came the Greek austerity measures, used to help the country secure aid from other members of the European Union and prevent the growth of a debt crisis in Greece. Their introduction here by Prime Minister George Papandreou ended up in burned banks and lost lives, most particularly on May 5, when rioters set fire to Marfin Egnatia Bank, resulting in three deaths.With this and similar news, a few parents and study-abroad organizers were unsure about students traveling there. But plans weren’t cancelled, and my trip for June 3 and 4 with three friends went ahead.We flew into a strike.A public transport and newspaper strike, to be exact. The first group protested Papandreou’s austerity measures, while the second decried the cuts to social security programs and salary reductions. The word “strike” (both in English and in Greek) ran down the computer screen bus schedules, and we relied on help from an English-speaking Greek named Vasilis to get a taxi to our hostel.But despite the lack of buses and trams the first day, Athens seemed not to be the city I had grown to expect from photos of protesters and plumes of smoke. By every obvious measure, the city was working. Transit was back up the next day, the Acropolis was still open and free for students from European Union schools, and the generous blocks of feta cheese with dinner were well-priced. There was even an ethnic dance show at the university downtown. I saw no students protesting, although another friend who was in Athens the day after I was ran into a peaceful one outside a Metro stop.The small details showed that Greece was still suffering, even after loans from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.I never saw one used, but I saw a police officer pass a riot shield to another officer outside the door of a building across from the university.Beggars roamed the streets, as they do in any large city. The Athens variety, though, were not trying to sell the lighters and gimmick sunglasses I know from Madrid, but travel packets of tissues.While eating in an open-air restaurant by the Acropolis, a few girls approached us and asked for money after playing some notes on their toy accordions. They couldn’t have been more than 8 years old. The waiters shooed them away from the tables.It’s easy to view the country’s troubles and play armchair economics when you’re watching the news at home. And from a normal tourist perspective, the city doesn’t seem in such dire economic straits, and its rich history shines through.But once you hear a too-young Greek accent asking for spare change, things aren’t so clear and easy.
(05/28/10 6:58pm)
In Spain, between banks fusing, a judge beginning work with the International Criminal Court and a bull goring a matador in a bullfight, it's been a busy week in Spain.