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(06/24/12 11:28pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University’s Board of Trustees selected current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s next president during a meeting Thursday.Gov. Daniels, wearing a black-and-gold-striped tie during the trustees’ meeting, said he was excited and deeply honored to take on his new role as Purdue’s 12th president and that Purdue is a “premiere community of problem-solvers” that can tackle the challenges facing higher education.He said he is proud to have been asked to serve in the position.“No institution of any kind means more to Indiana than Purdue University,” Daniels said, adding that both state and national success depend on the expertise of Purdue’s graduates. “I could conceive of no other assignment where a person could contribute more to Indiana.”Trustee chairman Keith Krach emphasized Daniels’ passion for higher education, his global statesman profile that can “take Purdue to greater heights” and his leadership experience and ability to attract top talent.“We believe that the university with the best people wins,” Krach said, calling Daniels and Purdue’s faculty an “unbeatable combination.”Student Trustee Miranda McCormack said she received nothing but positive comments from students since the news broke and said she is confident Daniels will be an approachable president engaged with the student body.Krach and Michael Berghoff, a trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, spoke at length about the selection process. It began about a year ago with a 13-member search committee and outside help from an executive recruiting firm.“We looked at every sitting president of a major university,” Krach said. “We looked at government leaders, business leaders. We didn’t leave one stone unturned.”While the search committee approved multiple candidates it felt were qualified to be Purdue’s next president, Berghoff said Daniels was “the most frequently nominated nominee throughout this whole process.”There are 10 members of the Purdue Board of Trustees. According to Indiana law, the state governor appoints seven members to the Purdue Board of Trustees, and the Purdue Alumni Association elects three members.According to the Purdue Board of Trustees website, Daniels appointed two trustees within the past year. Daniels also re-appointed three of the Purdue trustees June 19, along with several other higher education reappointments.Daniels said he would spend his time learning more about Purdue and higher education before he takes office.“The next six months, for me, will be occupied by lots of listening and very little talking,” Daniels said.Gov. Daniels said that, effective immediately, he would recuse himself from any partisan activity or commentary in his role as governor. His current term will end in January 2013, and he will take office as Purdue’s president once this term expires.In the interim, Purdue’s Provost Timothy Sands will serve as the university’s president. Current Purdue president France Córdova announced in July 2011 that she would step down when her contract ends in July 2012.Daniels was congratulated by various Bloomington and IU officials for his new position, including Rep. Todd Young, R-Bloomington, and IU President Michael McRobbie.IU President Michael McRobbie congratulated Daniels in a press release. “I offer my best wishes and support to Governor Daniels as he enters what certainly will be an exciting new chapter in his impressive career,” McRobbie said.John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, said Daniels will still have a platform to remain in the national spotlight, while Purdue will get Daniels’ political, private sector and Fortune 500 executive experience.“He would be able to leverage fundraising like no other person that I could think of in Indiana,” Ketzenberger said. “That’s increasingly important as the legislature has reduced funding for higher education in the last five years, some of it ironically under Gov. Daniels’ request.”Both Purdue and IU rely on government relations staffs to maintain relationships with the state legislature. But Ketzenberger said it will be “interesting” to see how a different relationship between Daniels (as Purdue president) and the state legislature would play out.Ketzenberger also pointed out a trend of hiring private sector executives to fill higher education administrative spots.Ketzenberger said Daniels will bring a corporate mindset to higher education administration, which has historically valued a background in academia.“I think it’ll be interesting to see how someone from politics and the private sector approaches higher education,” Ketzenberger said.
(06/24/12 11:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>GARY — The IU Board of Trustees met at IU-Northwest on Friday. Highlights of the meeting included appointing a new provost for the IU-Bloomington campus, creating a new school at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and discussing how to move the University forward in online class creation. New Provost for IU-BloomingtonStarting July 1, Lauren Robel will officially become IU-Bloomington’s executive vice president and provost. Robel is replacing former Provost Karen Hanson, who left for the University of Minnesota this year.Robel has served as the interim provost since Hanson’s departure on Feb. 1.“Lauren was the enthusiastic and unanimous choice of the search committee, which was impressed with her vision, impeccable academic credentials, passion for students and her collaborative working style,” President McRobbie said when announcing the appointment.While interim provost, Robel has worked to strengthen programs to support women on the Bloomington campus, begun an examination of retention programs for minority students and reached out to hear the concerns of student protesters.School of Philanthropy approvedThe Board of Trustees approved a plan to create a School of Philanthropy on the IUPUI campus from the current Center on Philanthropy.“It didn’t happen by chance,” IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz said of creating the center’s profile as a national destination for philanthropy research and discussion. “It happened by systematic work.”The center has received grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to study the impact of philanthropic gifts of at least $1 million. Gates later used the center’s data set at a conference.The Lily Foundation awarded the center the third-largest endowment gift the University has received in its history, Bantz said. Dr. Una Okonkwo Osili, the center’s interim director of research, said philanthropy accounts for 2 to 3 percent of the United States’ GDP, amounting to a $300 billion industry.“We’re talking about a substantial size of the U.S. economy that this school would focus on,” Dr. Osili said.The school is looking at tweaking its proposed budget to provide more support for faculty research and more aid to graduate students. More funding would make the school more competitive and produce more research.The board will submit the plan to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for official approval. Center on Philanthropy representatives emphasized that this school would be one of the first of its kind and raise IU’s profile as a philanthropy research destination.“Warren Buffett might pay attention to this when it’s the first school of philanthropy rather than a center of philanthropy doing good work,” Tempel said.First-generation student programsJulia Sorcinelli, a School of Public and Environmental Affairs VISTA fellow and an IU Special Projects manager, documented academic progress and experiences of first-generation students across IU’s regional campuses in academic 2011.Reading from the study, Sorcinelli painted a picture of first-generation students struggling to navigate college while feeling that their families both pressure them to succeed and don’t understand their experience.“‘I didn’t know what a credit hour was, I didn’t know how to schedule for my classes, I didn’t know about financial aid, I didn’t have anyone to lead me,’” Sorcinelli said, quoting a first-generation student’s experience from the study. First-generation students, she found, have lower average SAT scores, lower high school GPAs and lower first-semester college GPAs. Sorcinelli said 43 percent of students at IU’s regional campuses are first-generation students. While support services for these students exist, they vary between campuses and could provide more help. Recommendations from her soon-to-be-completed report include forming first-generation student communities at every campus, setting up a mentor program with faculty and staff who were first-generation students and developing an additional orientation meeting for first-generation students and their families. “They need to understand the stresses and ups and downs that they’re going to see in a student that comes home from a test or a lecture,” Trustee Philip Eskew said, emphasizing the importance of educating families of first-generation students about the college experience. Sorcinelli emphasized another recommendation — reducing the “stigma” attached to being a first-generation student. While these programs are intended to help these students, there is a risk of calling more attention to a stigma.“I think it’s important not to single out first-generation students and kind of stigmatize them,” Trustee Bruce Cole said. Cutting prices or cutting jobs?A presentation about using new technology to reduce the number of employees necessary to provide student services sparked heated conversations between the trustees.John Applegate, the executive vice president for University regional affairs, planning and policy, said implementing the student services initiative’s recommendations could eliminate 177 “redundant” jobs. Job eliminations would come from streamlining processes across regional campuses. Applegate estimated the cuts would save $7 million.“I, for one, am not going to be happy about Indiana University swelling the unemployment roles,” said Patrick Shoulders, vice chair for the Board of Trustees.Shoulders pointed out that the IU basketball staff costs about $7 million. He expressed anger about the University focusing on making top position salaries very competitive while not caring about jobs at the lower end of the pay scale. “That is a problem for the modern world,” Board of Trustees Chair William Cast said. “In terms of serving students, we do have to do that. If we do have to employ people in other jobs, then I think we should do that.”Expanding online educationSchools like Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology post their professors’ lectures on the Web to recruit viewers and promote their schools’ brand. But IU is looking to move in a different direction, providing classes easily online instead of bolstering the University’s reputation.Barbara Bichelmeyer, director of the Office for Online Education and a professor of instructional systems technology, said her office’s priorities are to create joint programs between regional campuses, create an online course framework and provide all gateway courses online.“We are losing a number of our own students who go away in the summer and pick up these (gateway) courses,” Bichelmeyer said, adding that students take these courses at less costly schools or more convenient locations.Bichelmeyer said in the past 10 to 15 years, IU has had faculty and administrators develop 80 credit-earning, online programs and more not-for-credit programs.Historically, IU has been a residential university, and the nine locations across the state were designed to serve the needs of their area. Currently, 88 percent of IU courses are taken in a classroom.“We have to figure out how to take that residential education and ramp it up,” Bichelmeyer said. “Online is antithetical to the idea of geographic service area.”Student financial literacyThe University is working on developing a website for students at all IU campuses to give easier access to financial information and answers to financial aid information.The website will include information about ways to finance college, seminars, workshops and peer advising for managing debt, according to an IU press release.According to the press release, the majority of IU students borrow money to pay for college. The website was developed as a way for IU to address nationwide concerns about college student debt. According to the U.S. Department of Education, student loans have surpassed credit cards as the largest source of consumer debt.The program, according to the release, is targeted at students who need more assistance, both financially and academically.— Nona Tepper contributed to this story
(06/24/12 11:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue University’s Board of Trustees selected current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s next president during a meeting Thursday.Gov. Daniels, wearing a black-and-gold-striped tie during the trustees’ meeting, said he was excited and deeply honored to take on his new role as Purdue’s 12th president and that Purdue is a “premiere community of problem-solvers” that can tackle the challenges facing higher education.He said he is proud to have been asked to serve in the position.“No institution of any kind means more to Indiana than Purdue University,” Daniels said, adding that both state and national success depend on the expertise of Purdue’s graduates. “I could conceive of no other assignment where a person could contribute more to Indiana.”Trustee chairman Keith Krach emphasized Daniels’ passion for higher education, his global statesman profile that can “take Purdue to greater heights” and his leadership experience and ability to attract top talent.“We believe that the university with the best people wins,” Krach said, calling Daniels and Purdue’s faculty an “unbeatable combination.”Student Trustee Miranda McCormack said she received nothing but positive comments from students since the news broke and said she is confident Daniels will be an approachable president engaged with the student body.Krach and Michael Berghoff, a trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, spoke at length about the selection process. It began about a year ago with a 13-member search committee and outside help from an executive recruiting firm.“We looked at every sitting president of a major university,” Krach said. “We looked at government leaders, business leaders. We didn’t leave one stone unturned.”While the search committee approved multiple candidates it felt were qualified to be Purdue’s next president, Berghoff said Daniels was “the most frequently nominated nominee throughout this whole process.”There are 10 members of the Purdue Board of Trustees. According to Indiana law, the state governor appoints seven members to the Purdue Board of Trustees, and the Purdue Alumni Association elects three members.According to the Purdue Board of Trustees website, Daniels appointed two trustees within the past year. Daniels also re-appointed three of the Purdue trustees June 19, along with several other higher education reappointments.Daniels said he would spend his time learning more about Purdue and higher education before he takes office.“The next six months, for me, will be occupied by lots of listening and very little talking,” Daniels said.Gov. Daniels said that, effective immediately, he would recuse himself from any partisan activity or commentary in his role as governor. His current term will end in January 2013, and he will take office as Purdue’s president once this term expires.In the interim, Purdue’s Provost Timothy Sands will serve as the university’s president. Current Purdue president France Córdova announced in July 2011 that she would step down when her contract ends in July 2012.Daniels was congratulated by various Bloomington and IU officials for his new position, including Rep. Todd Young, R-Bloomington, and IU President Michael McRobbie.IU President Michael McRobbie congratulated Daniels in a press release. “I offer my best wishes and support to Governor Daniels as he enters what certainly will be an exciting new chapter in his impressive career,” McRobbie said.John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, said Daniels will still have a platform to remain in the national spotlight, while Purdue will get Daniels’ political, private sector and Fortune 500 executive experience.“He would be able to leverage fundraising like no other person that I could think of in Indiana,” Ketzenberger said. “That’s increasingly important as the legislature has reduced funding for higher education in the last five years, some of it ironically under Gov. Daniels’ request.”Both Purdue and IU rely on government relations staffs to maintain relationships with the state legislature. But Ketzenberger said it will be “interesting” to see how a different relationship between Daniels (as Purdue president) and the state legislature would play out.Ketzenberger also pointed out a trend of hiring private sector executives to fill higher education administrative spots.Ketzenberger said Daniels will bring a corporate mindset to higher education administration, which has historically valued a background in academia.“I think it’ll be interesting to see how someone from politics and the private sector approaches higher education,” Ketzenberger said.
(06/21/12 12:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s Board of Trustees selected current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s next president during a meeting Thursday, June 21. Gov. Daniels, wearing a black and gold tie during the trustees’ meeting, said that he was excited and deeply honored to take on his new role as Purdue's 12th president, saying that Purdue was a "premier community of problem-solvers" that can tackle the challenges facing higher education. He said he was proud to have been asked to serve in the position. "No institution of any kind means more to Indiana than Purdue University," Daniels said, adding that both state and national success depends on the expertise of Purdue’s graduates. “I could conceive of no other assignment where a person could contribute more to Indiana.” Trustee chairman Keith Krach emphasized Daniels’s passion for higher education, his global statesman profile that can “take Purdue to greater heights”, and his leadership experience and ability to attract top talent.“We believe that the university with the best people wins,” Krach said, calling Daniels and Purdue’s faculty an “unbeatable combination.” Student Trustee Miranda McCormack said she received nothing but positive comments from students since the news broke, and said she is confident Daniels will be an approachable President engaged with the student body.Krach and Michael Berghoff, a trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, spoke about the selection process at length. The process started about a year ago with a 13-member search committee and outside help from an executive recruiting firm. “We looked at every sitting president of a major university,” Krach said. “We looked at government leaders, business leaders. We didn’t leave one stone unturned.”While the search committee approved multiple candidates they felt were qualified to be Purdue’s next president, Berghoff said Daniels was “the most frequently nominated nominee throught this whole process.”There are 10 members of the Purdue Board of Trustees. According to Indiana law, the state governor appoints seven members to the Purdue Board of Trustees, and the Purdue Alumni Association elects three members. According to the Purdue Board of Trustees website, Daniels appointed two trustees within the past year. Daniels also re-appointed three of the Purdue trustees Tuesday along with several other higher education reappointments. Daniels said that he would spend his time between now and when he takes office as President of Purdue learning more about Purdue and higher education."The next six months, for me, will be occupied by lots of listening, and very little talking," Daniels said.Gov. Daniels said that, effective immediately, he would recuse himself from any partisan activity or commentary in his role as governor.??His current term will end in January 2013, and he will take office as Purdue's president once this term expires. In the interim, Purdue’s Provost Timothy Sands will serve as the university’s president. Current Purdue president France Córdova announced in July 2011 that she would step down when her contract ends in July 2012. Daniels was congratulated by various Bloomington and IU officials for his new position, including US Representative Todd Young (R-Bloomington) and IU President Michael McRobbie. IU President Michael McRobbie congratulated Daniels in a press release. "I offer my best wishes and support to Governor Daniels as he enters what certainly will be an exciting new chapter in his impressive career," McRobbie said.John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, said Daniels will still have a platform to remain in the national spotlight, while Purdue will get Daniels’ political, private sector and Fortune 500 executive experience.“He would be able to leverage fundraising like no other person that I could think of in Indiana,” Ketzenberger said. “That’s increasingly important as the legislature has reduced funding for higher education in the last five years, some of it ironically under Gov. Daniels’ request.”Both Purdue and IU rely on government relations staffs to maintain relationships with the state legislature. But Ketzenberger said it will be “interesting” to see how a different relationship between Daniels (as Purdue president) and the state legislature would play out.Ketzenberger also pointed out a trend of hiring private sector executives to fill higher education administrative spots. Ketzenberger said Daniels will bring a corporate mindset to higher education administration, which has historically valued a background in academia.“I think it’ll be interesting to see how someone from politics and the private sector approaches higher education,” Ketzenberger said.— Zach Ammerman contributed to this story
(06/20/12 11:52pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU regularly highlights programs and professors excelling on a national scale. But this summer, the University is standing out for being below the national average. The Department of Education released a new round of statistics from its College Affordability and Transparency Center, showing IU’s tuition increases are below the national average. For average net price — tuition and fees minus average student financial aid package — IU sits just above the national average. From the 2008-09 school year to the 2010-11 school year, the national average tuition increase for public, four-year universities is 15 percent. IU’s tuition and fees increase in that time period was 9.7 percent.The average net price percent increase for public four-year universities was 4.6 percent, with IU’s increase at 5 percent. IU spokesperson Mark Land said tuition is one of three basic University funding sources, along with grants and private donations and state funding. “When a major (source) like state funding is shrinking, we’ve got to look to make it up where we can, which is why you see increases on the tuition side of it,” Land said.While careful not to blame the state legislature for tougher financial times, he noted state funding for IU has gone down steadily in the past decade, intensifying after the 2008 recession. During the past three years, he said, $35 million has been cut from IU’s budget.However, Land said, private funding support is still going strong.“We’ve also been fortunate that we have an outstanding alumni base who really supported the University in terms of grants and donations,” he said.For average tuition price increase, IU ties with University of Nebraska for seventh out of 12 schools in the Big Ten tuition increase rankings.While no Big Ten schools make the list of the top 20 largest percentage tuition increases, large state schools like University of Georgia and University of Arizona make the list, weighing in at 49 and 45 percent, respectively.The Indiana Commission for Higher Education sets recommended tuition increase caps yearly. IU increased tuition by 5 percent for the 2011-12 school year, and Land said the 2012-13 school year increase will be 3.5 percent. “We, like everybody else, we’re trying to meet their recommendations as well,” Land said. “We’ve done a good job, I think.”Land said administrators and the Board of Trustees have to, among other things, take into account maintenance costs and employee pay raises. Because of budget cuts two years ago, IU employees didn’t receive pay raises. The average IU employee pay raise for the 2012-13 school year will be 2.2 percent, Land said.“Just keeping the roofs from leaking and the heating systems working and making renovations is a very expensive proposition,” Land said.Land said IU administrators do look at what other similar schools are charging for tuition.“We are aware of what others are charging,” Land said. “We are aware of where we stand, and we tend to compare ourself against similar types of schools.”A Chronicle of Higher Education article pointed out that the College Affordability and Transparency Center’s statistics are designed to not only help families access college costs easily, but also point clearly to schools making big changes to tuition and net price. “I wouldn’t say we’re being shamed into doing anything, but we are trying our best to do what’s fair,” Land said.
(06/19/12 6:39pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Purdue University’s Board of Trustees is expected to select current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s next president at a meeting Thursday, according to at least two Indianapolis-based media outlets.The Indianapolis Star and WISH-TV have both confirmed via anonymous sources that Gov. Daniels will be named the University’s next president. Gov. Daniels’s press secretary Jane Jankowski said in an e-mail the Governor’s office has no comment. Spokespeople for Purdue University and Purdue University Board of Trustees were not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon. Gov. Daniels’s current term will end in January 2013. Current Purdue president France Córdova announced in July 2011 that she would step down when her contract ends this current month, according to WISH-TV. John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, laid out advantages for both Purdue and Gov. Daniels if he is named as the University’s next President.“He would be able to leverage fundraising like no other person that I could think of in Indiana,” Ketzenberger said. “That’s increasingly important as the legislature has reduced funding for higher education in the last five years, some of it ironically under Governor Daniels’s request.” Ketzenberger also pointed out a trend of hiring private sector executives to fill higher education administrative spots. If Daniels were selected, he said, he will bring a corporate mindset to higher education administration, which has historically valued a background in academia.“I think it’ll be interesting to see how someone from politics and the private sector approaches higher education,” Ketzenberger said. Continue checking for updates at idsnews.com
(06/04/12 12:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Democrat and current Monroe County Commissioner Mark Stoops has thrown his hat into the race for the soon-to-be-empty seat of current state Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville.Simpson, the current Indiana Senate Democratic Leader, announced on May 22 she will run for lieutenant governor with Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg. She has served in the Senate since 1984.Joined by a crowd of about 20 supporters at a press conference outside the Monroe County Government Center on Thursday, Stoops laid out his platform positions and emphasized the need for patience and small steps in the legislative process.“Democrats are a small majority in the Senate,” he said. “Success will not come from storming the tower.”Stoops served on the Monroe County Council for eight years before being defeated by Republican Marty Hawk in 2006. Stoops was again elected a county commissioner in 2008.He is well known for his opposition to the proposed Interstate 69 route through Monroe County and helping to create the County Employee Health Clinic.Stoops told the crowd that his legislative strategy includes taking the time to understand how pieces of a complex problem fit together and listening to advice from relevant experts. Stoops said his positions include support of collective bargaining and support of gay marriage. He emphasized his support of teachers and not slashing school funding. He also said that, if elected, he plans to protect access to food stamps and unemployment benefits. He said he also plans to uphold Simpson’s support for state health care programs. As a state senator, he said he will focus on Indiana’s environmental issues.“We are so polluted that other states are suing us,” Stoops said.Indiana needs to search for new-energy job opportunities and invest in alternative transportation, Stoops said.Stoops will face Republican Reid Dallas of Ellettsville in the race for Simpson’s seat in November’s general election.“Not only will I win, I will do it by a margin so wide that people will clearly know what the voters of Bloomington and Monroe County stand for,” Stoops said.Cheryl Munson, a Monroe County resident, said at the press conference that she supports Stoops for state senate. She said she has followed Stoops’ political career since he began serving on the county council in 2000 and was “thrilled” he was running for Simpson’s seat.“He made so many right decisions,” Munson said of Stoops’ time on city council and as county commissioner. “Vi has very big shoes to fill. I can’t believe people of Monroe County won’t see his past contributions.”
(06/04/12 12:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington resident Colin Cudmore once knew nothing about gardening. But following a public lecture, discovering the usefulness of worms through YouTube and several test trials, he has invented the Garden Tower.After two years of developing the tower, the product and the company are up and running. Cudmore set up the company six weeks ago with partners Ramsay Harik and Joel Grant. The Garden Tower is moving into design phase two, which will allow the Garden Towers to be mass-produced. Cudmore currently makes every tower by hand, which takes about four hours.It all started with the lecture Cudmore attended at Indiana University about urban gardening and bringing organic gardens to cities. “I decided, ‘I’m a creative guy. I should focus my attention in that area,’” Cudmore said.He knew he needed to design a product that would work in small spaces for apartment owners and city residents — something anyone could use, something vertical rather than horizontal and something fairly small. But one thing stood in the way: being brand new to having a green thumb. Cudmore estimates he watched between 100 and 200 YouTube videos to get ideas about how best to design a structure made for urban gardening. His inspiration for the worm compost tube — a fertilizer source that makes the garden tower different from other products on the market — came from a YouTube video.“I saw a guy that lives in Alaska, and I think he has, like, 11 world records for growing extremely large vegetables,” Cudmore said. The man used worm tea, made of water and worm excretions emitted after worms eat compost, to make his vegetables so large.“I thought, ‘My god, if I could create worm tea in my product, then it would create its own fertilizer,’” Cudmore said. “But of course I didn’t know how it worked, so I had to watch 30 to 40 videos on vermiculture.”Cudmore approached Grant and Harik to help him get his product to market. Grant and Cudmore have been close friends since Cudmore moved to Bloomington about three years ago.“It was kind of a no-brainer,” Cudmore said of working with Grant. “He’s helped me almost since the beginning with testing and design suggestions. Through the process of him helping me test it, I realized that we worked well together.”Cudmore met Harik while the two were volunteering in the Bloomington Community Orchard. Cudmore shared his idea with Harik, a master gardener with about 25 years of experience.“I got so excited about it and saw so much potential in it,” Harik said. He decided to “drop everything,” and focus on the Garden Tower.Harik is a teacher but took a year off to focus on other projects. It was during his year off that he found Cudmore and the garden project. The break has turned into an indefinite future with plans to eventually return to teaching.“I’m focused on this for certainly as long as it takes to get it up and running,” Harik said. “With all the interest in urban gardening going on right now, this could really take off and become a huge force in community gardens.”Harik focuses on communications for the project and maintains the towers on display around Bloomington. Grant works on the technical end of the company, helping to maintain the website and run an online fundraising campaign.Gardentowerproject.com lists 31 vegetables and fruits, as well as an abundance of herbs and flowers that can be grown in the tower. Larger vegetables, such as zucchini and squash, can grow in bottom rows, with heavy produce spilling onto the ground.“The only things that don’t make sense are things like potatoes, things that take up lots of space in the soil,” Cudmore said. The towers, tested by local master gardeners, are on display at Bloomingfoods’ east and west locations, Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, Willie Streeter Community Gardens and the Jordan Hall Greenhouse at IU. Both Harik and Cudmore emphasized their goal to not only sell garden towers but also develop a philanthropy arm of the business. Part of the advantage to developing a second-generation tower model that can be mass-produced is that the company can make more revenue, thus being able to give donate more towers.“I think the three of us share this vision of getting this tower into as many hands as possible,” Harik said. “Both people who can afford it and people who can benefit from it, but also people who really suffer from food insecurity and would benefit tremendously from this great addition to their diet.”Cudmore said he hopes to reach poorer and urban populations who can’t access or afford fresh, organic food.“People in cities, especially lower-income people, often don’t have access to organic vegetables because they don’t have stores in those neighborhoods,” Cudmore said. “We may be able to go to Bloomingfoods. But if you live in south Chicago, you may have to take a bus nine miles to get fresh, organic food.”
(06/03/12 10:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A parental advisory sign hung on the door of a gallery room Friday at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, hinting at the serious material hanging on the walls inside.The exhibit began with photograph portraits of smiling people against light-filled backgrounds — innocent enough. But smiling portraits transitioned to photos of brain scans with a bright, white tumor glowing at the brain’s center.John D. Shearer, the man whose brain scans hung on the wall, is a cancer survivor, professional photographer and adjunct faculty member at Bloomington’s Ivy Tech Community College. His exhibit “I’m Too Young For This @#!%” features art from his pre-cancer days, as well as art he created during treatment.Shearer was 28 years old and a master of fine arts student studying photography at Indiana State University when he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. He visited a local clinic thinking he had migraines and walked out with a list of referrals and additional medical appointments.“She could see the brain swelling through my eye,” Shearer said of that first appointment.The tumor was so rare that he said his medical team couldn’t give him a prognosis — none of them had treated his type of tumor before. Two days after his diagnosis, he had surgery that left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body and temporarily blind. Shearer said his neurosurgeon warned him that he might be different after the surgery.“I thought, ‘Oh, wow, maybe I’ll like broccoli,’” Shearer said. “I didn’t think I was going to wake up blind and paralyzed.”He put his degree on hold for one semester after the surgery to focus on his recovery, and he eventually started using photography as part of his recovery process.“Doing this work,” Shearer said, pointing to his brain scans hanging from the wall, “helped me navigate all of the emotions.” Shearer said he thinks of photographing others as a way of idealizing them, so using himself as his subject helped him idealize his situation and make his treatment experience more positive.“Everything I did before getting sick was about photographing other people,” he said. “It was really the first time I had to turn the lens around and look at myself.”Shearer said he thinks he got more good than bad out of the experience. In addition to eating right and exercising regularly, he met new friends through his cancer survivor group, some of whom attended his gallery opening.Barb McKillip, a friend of Shearer and wife of one of his cancer support groupmembers, attended the gallery opening to show her support. She said she particularly liked Shearer’s piece titled “Positively Self-Lying,” which features MRI scans superimposed over phrases such as “I am happy.”“I just think it’s very sad, a young man having to go through this,” McKillip said. “For him to be able to use his talents to display his emotions says a lot about John.”As for what’s next in terms of photography, Shearer said he wants to resume photographing other people but that he might be more selective about his subjects.“I would like to go back to photographing people, maybe to photographing cancer survivors,” he said. “Maybe young adult cancer survivors.”However, this plan is still tentative. His main focus will now shift from work tofatherhood. His fiancée gave birth to their first son, a boy named Harrison Lee, on Wednesday. They brought their son home from the hospital hours before the gallery show opened Friday. His grandfather, Dave Shearer, was there with other family members to support the gallery opening.“At first there was a lot of mood changes and not knowing, and it was very difficult,” Dave said. “We’re very proud of him. All of us are.”
(05/24/12 12:36am)
Local residents and IU students looking to get in shape this summer can
stop by the Hoosier Fit Expo for tips, tricks and inspiration. The
event, taking place May 25-26, is the first fitness expo for nonprofit
sponsor Hoosier Fit.
(12/08/11 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Police Department and an alleged assault victim’s mother have confirmed new details about an incident that occurred at approximately 11:48 p.m. Nov. 29 near the Student Recreational Sports Center.The student’s mother said she is concerned about IUPD’s lack of communication with her and the lack of information they have shared with her in her son’s case. IU Police Chief Keith Cash said if IUPD had been planning to release information about the assault to the public, they would have done so already in a text message alert. However, in a Sept. 27 attempted robbery at gunpoint near Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, IUPD did not send out text message alerts but issued a press release on its website and to local media.Cash said a male IU student, who is also a student athlete, began a late-night run around 11 p.m. on Nov. 29. The student was running down Union Street, became tired and started to walk. While walking, he thought someone was following him. He resumed running and then began sprinting.The student’s mother said he called a friend at 11:48 p.m. to let the friend know someone was following him while running and that he was near the SRSC. The friend told the student’s mother the line “went dead” during the call.Cash said a white male with an athletic build caught up with the student from behind and told the student, “Don’t do anything stupid. You won’t get hurt.” The student told IUPD he felt an object being pushed into his lower back. After he felt something in his back, he didn’t remember anything until he woke up sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. in woods near Griffy Lake without his shoes, phone or sweatpants. The student’s mother said he climbed through the heavily wooded area to reach a road. He approached two or three houses and knocked on their doors before someone answered. The person who answered the door called the Bloomington Police Department at 3:43 a.m. on Nov. 30, Cash said. The student’s mother said he was taken to IU Health-Bloomington Hospital with hypothermia and a concussion.Cash said results from the medical test will reveal further details about the case.After the student’s friend received the 11:48 p.m. phone call, the friend called the student’s parents at 1:11 a.m. The student’s parents filed a police report with IUPD at 1:31 a.m. and were out searching for their son when they heard he had been found shortly after the 3:43 a.m. phone call to BPD.The mother said she spoke with an IUPD detective Sunday, five days after the assault, and has not heard any kind of an update on the case. She also said BPD has not returned her phone call. She questioned the motive of her son’s alleged attacker and said she was concerned. “Was it a robbery or was it a hazing thing?” she asked. “He has a $200 North Face jacket on, but they took his shoes. If they’ll do this to an athletic man, I’d hate to be a girl walking around.”— Michael Majchrowicz contributed to this report
(11/08/11 4:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Smells of tomato sauce and baking crust drifted over the friends, family and strangers waiting in the Pizza X South parking lot Monday to order pizza and remember murdered delivery driver Adam Sarnecki.The line snaked around the lot during the candle light vigil honoring the driver who was shot and killed early Friday after returning from a delivery. One hundred percent of sales made during the vigil were to be donated to Sarnecki’s young family.“When you hear of a tragedy like that, you do anything you can to help,” Bloomington resident Ashley Hayworth said. “Plus, it’s a Monday night, and I don’t want to cook.”She said she had always thought of Bloomington as a safe community but has started questioning that sentiment.“I have two kids at home, and I tuck them in extra tight at night,” Hayworth said. “I don’t know if it’s the media spreading the news faster or if Bloomington is becoming a violent place.”Behind the store, Pizza X driver Tim Nelson, who normally works at the campus store, was unloading trays of dough from his car. He described the night as “off-the-hook busy.”He had just returned from his 15th delivery run of the night. On a normal night, Nelson said, he would have completed less than 10 delivery runs in the same amount of time. He was three hours into his shift, which ended at 3 a.m. today.“I get a lot of people telling us to be careful, which is kind of redundant,” he said. “I get a lot of people saying they’re sorry and saying it’s cool we’re donating the proceeds.”On the grass hill between the Pizza X parking lot and Walnut Street, Bloomington resident Eva Luttrell, who lives up the street from the store, held a candle in memory of Sarnecki.Her brother works for the Pizza X, and her sister is a former employee. She said a lot of her friends are Pizza X delivery drivers.“The fact that it could’ve been one of them, it just makes me incredibly sad,” she said.Luttrell’s sister had come to the vigil with her but ended up working in the store for about an hour after stopping in to chat with old coworkers.“She said her hands were red from holding the phone for 45 minutes straight,” Luttrell said.Sarnecki’s fiancee Tiffany Josh walked to the middle of the crowd waiting to pick up their orders. Josh and Sarnecki have a 3-month-old son together.Tearfully, she thanked everyone for coming and showing their support.“There’s no words that I can say to let you guys know how much I appreciate everything,” Josh said, specifically thanking the Bloomington Police Department. Earlier in the day, police arrested the man suspected of killing her fiancee.Pizza X South will continue donating 100 percent of its sales today and Wednesday to a fund in Sarnecki’s name. “He was just a wonderful man, a great son and a great father,” she said.
(11/07/11 3:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a 7-4 vote with one member abstaining, the Bloomington/Monroe County Municipal Planning Organization (MPO) voted not to give the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) $25 million to construct a 1.7-mile section of Interstate 69.Local MPO members expressed their concerns about INDOT’s alleged lack of cooperation throughout the planning process. Despite INDOT representative Jim Stark’s reassurances to local representatives that INDOT “wants to work cooperatively with this planning organization,” some members remained skeptical.“Good faith on your part is great, but it’s the $25 million that keeps you coming back,” said Richard Martin, a member of the Monroe County Plan Commission. “The only lever we have is $25 million.”I-69 has been a contested issue for more than two decades. The project is divided into five sections between Evansville and Indianapolis. MPO’s 1.7-mile stretch lies within section four.If MPO voted to exclude I-69 from its transportation funding package, INDOT would not be allowed to use federal money to construct at least part of section four. INDOT could also deny transportation funds to MPO for projects ranging from road repairs to Bloomington Transit operations.When Monroe County Commissioner Mark Stoops asked Stark to guarantee BT wouldn’t be included in the threat to cut transportation funding, he received an indirect answer.“Like I said before, it’s all in the discretionary funding,” Stark said, referring to the governor’s authority to allocate mass transit funding.The organization voted to take three additional months to consider a memorandum of understanding with INDOT to ensure INDOT will meet local environmental regulations and address local traffic safety concerns in the I-69 construction process. Martin said MPO has not been involved in INDOT’s planning to mitigate noise, steep road grade, safety incidents during construction or increased local traffic flow as a result of future I-69 construction.“Up to this point, we have been treated no differently than the public,” Martin said regarding restricted access to INDOT’s planning process.The committee is also exploring working with a participating agency, which would help INDOT and MPO work together to agree about issues such as communication and sharing INDOT’s environmental studies.“None of that guarantees that our voice will be heard,” Monroe County Council member Julie Thomas said, despite reassurances from a Federal Highway Administration official that the Participating Agency has worked well with another highway construction project in northwest Indiana.Another contested point included INDOT’s claim that I-69 would stimulate economic growth, saying business would sprout up along the I-69 corridor.“There’s no study that found any economic benefit to I-69,” Stoops said. “Original studies even showed the impact was negative, and there was no justification to building I-69.”Stark said the area would see job growth during the construction phase and an increase in local tax revenue, as well as increased revenue for local businesses serving construction workers.The MPO’s I-69 subcommittee presented a report to the group, detailing local concerns with the project. If all of section four is constructed, there is no guarantee section five will be constructed, which would dump the estimated 10,000- to 25,000-car increase in traffic onto State Road 37.The Bloomington/Monroe County Municipal Planning Organization will convene again in February 2012 to vote about whether to include I-69 funding in the Transportation Improvement Plan.
(10/28/11 3:16pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Police Department is investigating an aggravated battery that occurred at about 2:48 a.m. Oct. 23.
(09/28/11 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Police Department officers arrested an alleged armed robbery suspect Tuesday morning at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at 1210 E. Third St. The suspect, 18-year-old James Mitchell of Bloomington, was also allegedly responsible for a B-Line Trail robbery Monday night.Mitchell was charged with attempted armed robbery with a deadly weapon, impersonating a police officer, intimidation and resisting law enforcement. Some of those charges were made by the IUPD, while some are Bloomington Police Department charges.The alleged victim of the incident at Lambda Chi Alpha, a 20-year-old IU student, told officers he was walking home in the 1200 block of Third Street when the suspect allegedly pointed a gun at him and told him to get on the ground.“The suspect held up the victim,” IUPD Chief Keith Cash said. “After the victim told him he didn’t have the money, the victim offered to go into the fraternity house and ask his roommates. The suspect told him that was possible but not to tell anyone what was going on.” At about 12:25 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun behind the Lambda Chi Alpha house. The caller told officers the suspect was running on Highland Avenue south toward Atwater Avenue.“There happened to be the two officers close to the area,” Cash said. When the suspect did not comply with the officers, he was tackled, and an air soft pistol fell to the ground. IUPD officers turned the suspect over to the BPD for further investigation in his alleged armed robbery on the B-Line Trail. IUPD is continuing its investigation and encourages anyone with information about the case to call 812-855-4111.
(09/23/11 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Small clusters of friends and families stood on the sidewalk in front of Smallwood Plaza on Thursday evening. One of those families, Robert and Charlene Spierer, chatted with their friends, Lauren’s friends and IU students.IU Hillel president Melody Mostow handed out the last of her box of 200 light blue #findLauren ribbons. She ran out in less than 15 minutes. Mostow, Hillel and 19 other campus organizations spent two weeks planning Thursday’s concert.“It’s been like some insane dedication,” she said as she looked for empty shirts to pin her remaining ribbons on.Junior Jessica Davidson stood in a circle with about 15 of her Theta Phi Alpha sorority sisters. She announced the concert at their chapter meeting and encouraged girls to attend.“I think it’s something everyone was willing to support,” Davidson said. “It’s going to be a very touching experience. People are coming to get that and to support her family.”The mass of supporters began walking down Eighth Street, making their way to Dunn Meadow. Bike police blocked intersections for the walkers, who stretched more than one city block length.***Rain began to fall as people funneled into Dunn Meadow. Students, residents, volunteers and IU employees packed in close to the stage. Trees bordering Dunn Meadow bearing light blue satin bows matched the ribbons on thousands of people’s shirts.Seniors Jenna Graham and Megan Woodsmall huddled under umbrellas with junior Emily Graham, Jenna’s little sister. The girls spent the summer in Bloomington and said they dealt daily with Lauren’s disappearance.“I worked four blocks from where she was last seen,” Jenna Graham said. “I had a lot of anxiety.”They stood in the rain to try and do something, anything, to help find Lauren. “Her mom’s made it pretty clear,” Emily Graham said. “People who don’t come forward are cowards.”Like a lot of students, they wondered how they were supposed to act at a concert dedicated to a missing fellow student.“I’ve seen Brice Fox and Daniel Weber at Dunnkirk and everyone’s really hammered and having fun,” Woodsmall said. “But hopefully this will be more about awareness.”***Shortly after B97 DJ Matt Theil took the stage, a documentary telling the story of Lauren’s disappearance hushed the crowd. Pictures and names of four “persons of interest” aired: Jay Rosenbaum, Corey Rossman, David Rohn and Michael Beth.Robert Spierer’s face filled the screen. He urged someone, anyone, to come forward. He said they can’t bring their daughter back by themselves.“The task is too large and the information provided so far has been sparse,” he said.His voice echoed through a silent Dunn Meadow.***Clayton Anderson took the stage and told the audience of his initial reaction to Lauren Spierer’s disappearance.“You feel something close when it happens in your backyard,” he said. Anderson opened with “All For You” by Sister Hazel. “Finally I figured it out,” he began to sing.But then he stopped. The crowd wasn’t into it.“Oh, come on now, I didn’t stand out in the rain for this,” he said jokingly, trying hard to lighten the mood. “Make some noise!”A group of girls close to the stage jumped up and down, screaming. Their enthusiasm spread outward. Anderson again asked the crowd to make some noise. He vetoed their first feeble attempt.“That’s not how we do it at Indiana University,” he said.But on the second attempt, enthusiasm caught on. Attendees lowered umbrellas to raise their hands, clapping to the beat. Anderson continued with his set, crooning a blend of pop and country to a peppy crowd.“Clayton Anderson had a huge task of getting people into a singing-dancing mood,” Jenna Graham said. But he succeeded and turned the stage over to IU Coach Tom Crean.***The second documentary aired to a mix of “Intro” by The xx and “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.Pictures of Lauren as a baby flashed on the screen, then preschool pictures. Pictures of Lauren in high school, then Facebook profile pictures. The last picture was the alley behind Smallwood — the last place Lauren was seen on camera.The crowd’s mood was up and down throughout the concert. But it sunk the lowest as Lauren’s face appeared.“There were a lot of people crying. I was crying,” Jenna Graham said. “When they were saying, ‘This could be your sister, this could be your friend,’ I was standing there with my sister and my best friend. It’s heartbreaking.”***As Dot Dot Dot took the stage, tarps barely sheltered their gear from the rain, and collecting water almost collapsed them.“If you people are willing to stand out here in the rain, then by gosh, we’re willing to do this,” the lead singer said.They began their upbeat pop-rock set, rocking out on stage to try and boost the crowd’s enthusiasm. The lead singer’s voice began to go hoarse, and band members pulled up their hoods to shield themselves from the downpour.“There is something about you people in Bloomington,” the lead singer said. “We’re out here ruining our gear and loving it.”They ended on Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.” As the lead singer’s voice faded out, enthusiastic girls shrieked the lyrics at the top of their lungs. By this point, because of the rain, there weren’t many people left. But those who were still there covered themselves in ponchos and sang along.***The rain let up as Robert and Charlene Spierer took the stage. Robert was drenched, and Charlene’s wet bangs stuck to her forehead.“I’m not sure what your motivation was for coming out tonight,” Charlene said. “But whatever it was, Robby and I are grateful.”She talked about awareness, about the importance of continuing to shine a light on Lauren.“It would be a tragedy to let Lauren disappear a second time.” Robert Spierer echoed his wife’s plea. “We’re focused on the sharing of information to find our baby girl,” he said. “Do the right thing.”He then asked for a moment of silence for Lauren.As the Spierers left the stage, the crowd began clapping. Slow, subdued, but steady. ***Brice Fox and Daniel Weber sang “Fix You” by Coldplay. Rain began falling softly. “Lights will guide you home,” Weber sang.Thiel took the stage. The original plan — to light up cell phones for Lauren — wasn’t going to change.“The rain can’t stop us from bringing Lauren home,” he said.Those remaining at the concert set their umbrellas aside. Pulling out their cell phones, each attendee stretched it toward the dark sky, fully aware that the rain could ruin their phones.“We’re shining a light to guide Lauren home,” Thiel said.
(09/22/11 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Brice Fox and Daniel Weber may have thought they left IU behind after their May graduation ceremonies. But June 3 changed those plans. When Lauren Spierer disappeared and her parents flew in from New York, IU Hillel reached out to Robert and Charlene Spierer to provide whatever resources and support they needed. Weber works for Hillel and was part of the effort.“I was here to see it all unfold,” Weber said. “It kind of allowed me to meet them and get to know them more personally.”He said he told the Spierers he wanted to help in any way possible. So when the Spierers began to plan a concert for Lauren, Weber volunteered himself and Fox to perform and suggested B-97 DJ Matt Thiel to co-host the event.At 7 p.m. today in Dunn Meadow, Clayton Anderson, Dot Dot Dot, and Brice Fox and Daniel Weber will perform at the Shine 4 Lauren Awareness Concert. The concert, sponsored by Thiel and IU basketball Coach Tom Crean, will begin after a walk for Lauren at 6:20 p.m.The Spierers have organized different types of events to raise awareness for Lauren, such as motorcycle rides, Laps for Lauren and a search headquarters next to Smallwood Plaza. But a concert will “raise a note with students,” Weber said.“They’ve done a good job with the community, but I don’t think the students are as aware of it as they should be,” he said.Some of IU’s most prominent student groups, including the IU Student Association, the Union Board, IU Dance Marathon and the Interfraternity Council, have pitched in to help organize the event.“We obviously have a large reach, and I think it was great for them to come to us and Union Board to get to the student body,” IUSA Chief of Communications Nikki Suseck said. “We want the students to know we’re trying to bring Lauren home.”Today’s concert takes top priority for the performers involved. Fox is flying from Los Angeles today and leaving Friday to continue working. Country artist Clayton Anderson rearranged his schedule to perform tonight.Anderson, originally from Bedford, Ind., said he heard about Lauren’s disappearance while he was is Nashville, Tenn., working on a recording project.“I was watching the news, and I saw her mom walking through the woods and calling her name,” Anderson said.The news struck an emotional chord with him because he has a sister a few years older than Lauren, he said.“I tried to put myself in her family’s shoes and think of how I would feel if my sister went missing,” he said.Anderson called Lauren’s disappearance “heartbreaking” and said he’s eagerly anticipating his performance tonight.“I don’t get really nervous anymore,” Anderson said. “But I’m nervous about this one.”However, he said he plans to keep the crowd and his performance fun.“My music’s pretty upbeat,” he said. “I’m going out there and hoping to bring some joy.”For Weber, tonight is about getting students to rally for Lauren. He and Fox plan to bust out their usual upbeat show on stage.“We’re going to have fun,” Weber said. “This concert is by no means a vigil.”
(08/29/11 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At 10 a.m. Sunday on the corner of Eighth Street and College Avenue, less than a block away from Lauren Spierer’s last confirmed sighting, Charlene Spierer hugged her daughter’s friends in a tearful back-to-school reunion.By noon, only two hours into the seven-hour postering event, more than 125 people had distributed stacks of missing person posters and fliers. The Spierers had a new poster designed to garner more attention for their daughter’s case since IU’s 40,000-plus students have returned from summer vacation.“We’re now at the point they’re all back,” Robert Spierer said. “We’re hoping there’ll be more information about what happened. We desperately need it. That’s what we have to work off of.”Almost 10,000 posters were distributed throughout Bloomington, and volunteers picked up piles of pastel sidewalk chalk to write “#findlauren” or “findlauren.com” on sidewalks.However, the Spierers, who flew home to New York for their older daughter Rebecca’s birthday, nearly didn’t make it to Bloomington for Sunday’s event. They caught one of the last flights out of LaGuardia International Airport before Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast. “Thankfully, we had a morning flight and made it out,” Robert Spierer said. Throughout the day, Charlene Spierer continued to push for someone to come forward and reiterated her commitment to finding her daughter.“All you have to do is look at her face on the posters,” she said. “She deserves every bit of effort we can give her.”Junior and Lauren’s former roommate Blair Wallach, who has been home in New Jersey since early May, met with a group of friends armed with three stacks of posters, tape and a map to post fliers. Wallach and Lauren have been friends since they were nine years old.“It was the worst news I could’ve gotten,” Wallach said. “There’s no words to describe it, hearing your best friend is missing.”Although Wallach couldn’t make it back to IU during the summer, her mother came to search for Lauren. She said she’s been trying to spread the word about Lauren’s disappearance through her Twitter and Facebook accounts. She also tweeted at the @NewsOnLaurenS Twitter account. “Hopefully, it’ll get someone to speak,” Wallach said. “The truth will come out, and we will find her.”Lauren’s group of friends echoed Wallach’s statement.“It makes us feel better to keep doing things like this and make sure everybody knows,” junior Ilana Portner said.In addition to advocating for their daughter, the Spierers wanted to remind returning and new students to take extra safety precautions.“Don’t think that this can’t happen,” Charlene Spierer said. “This could happen to anybody on any campus.”The Spierers reminded anyone who may know anything about the disappearance of their daughter to call Bloomington police at 812-339-4477, email helpfindlauren@gmail.com or mail an anonymous tip to Find Lauren at P.O. box 1226, Bloomington, Ind., 47402.“There’s just so many people to reach out to,” Robert Spierer said. “We’re begging.”Before Charlene Spierer left to greet more volunteers, she had one last message for her daughter.“We love you, honey,” she said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
(08/11/11 12:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coffee makers, couches and desks — oh my. The Hoosier 2 Hoosier Sale has been stockpiling furniture, clothing and electronics since Little 500 weekend and is almost ready to open its doors. The sale has tons of items being sorted for sale day Aug. 20, in IU’s Gladstein Fieldhouse.“I’ve actually weighed all the items we’ve collected,” Residential Programs and Services Associate Director Steve Akers said. “Right now, we’re at 27 tons.”RPS, IU’s Office of Sustainability, the City of Bloomington, IU Athletics, United Way of Monroe County and Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County all sponsor the sale. Proceeds from the sale go to United Way, Habitat for Humanity, and IU and Bloomington’s sustainability offices.The sale’s goal is to minimize the amount of furniture, clothing and other items ending up in landfills after students move out at the end of the school year.“We put boxes out in all residence halls as well as Greek houses and basically just had people donate things,” Akers said. “This stuff literally would’ve gone right into the dumpster.”The sale also stuffed three 80 feet storage trailers with items from apartment complexes and individual student houses, even filling up a stairwell with donations at the Mercury at Regester Place apartment complex.While this will only be the sale’s second year, Akers said he’s been trying to work on a sustainable move-out plan for years.“I’ve been collecting stuff like this for about seven years in residence halls because I’m one of those green people,” he said.When he heard about a similar sale at Penn State University, he thought the school was onto something.“I visited the campus and met the people who did the sale,” Akers said. “When I came back to campus, I realized that’s exactly what I’d like to do.” Habitat for Humanity, one of the sale’s beneficiaries, has provided a truck for collection days and has helped recruit volunteers for sale day.“We wanted to bring awareness to students that there are sustainable options for goods,” Noma Maier, manager of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, said. “We provide year-round donation pick up, so we’re excited for people to realize we’re doing this year-round.”Maier said all proceeds Habitat for Humanity receives from the sale will fund affordable housing construction in Monroe County.While last year’s sale was a success, Akers said organizers have set their sights higher. Last year’s sale brought in $10,400.“This year, we hope to make $15,000,” Akers said. “But the primary goal of the sale is to divert items that would otherwise go to the landfill. The proceeds are just a benefit of a waste-reduction program.”
(08/07/11 9:40pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Puppies with red and yellow “Adopt me, please” vests pranced around, anxious to find new homes Saturday at the City of Bloomington’s Animal Care and Control. Four hours into the one-day Adopt-A-Thon, the shelter found new homes for 14 pets.“A normal day for us is five to eight,” shelter director Laurie Ringquist said. “A good day is ten to eleven. We’re already past a good day.”The shelter held their first Adopt-A-Thon in summer 2010, and it resulted in 34 adoptions. At Christmas last year, another Adopt-A-Thon found homes for 29 animals.“They seem to work well generating interest and getting people in here on a concentrated day,” Ringquist said.The Adopt-A-Thons reduce adoption fees for dogs, puppies, cats and kittens; but guinea pigs, rats and rabbits were also for sale Saturday. Those who purchased pets also received one-on-one time with a dog trainer and were entered in special giveaways.While the shelter has house birds, snakes, iguanas, lizards and frogs, smaller, furrier animals such as hamsters, dogs and cats are more common.“Most anything you would buy in a pet store in the small critters section we would have here,” Ringquist said.However, the shelter has taken a baby alligator — illegal in Monroe County — and mistreated farm animals in the past.Those looking to adopt have to fill out an application to determine what they’re looking for in a pet. Ringquist said the shelter tries to match perspective owners’ personalities with the animals, a process she called “matchmaking.”“If someone’s a couch potato and said, ‘I want to adopt a border collie,’ we can tell them that’s not going to work,” Ringquist said.Applicants also go through landlord approval and will have an applicant introduce the new dog to dogs the applicant already owns to make sure the animals get along. Applicants can also bring their small children in to make sure the pet and child get along before finalizing the adoption.Spring and early summer is “kitten season,” Ringquist said. Kittens were the most popular animal adopted Saturday, evidenced by Bloomington resident Forrest Burdette cuddling a tabby kitten named Wihn.The Burdette family was originally looking for a dog, but Forrest couldn’t resist scooping Wihn out of her cage to play with her. The family has adopted 10 animals from the shelter over the past 20 years.“We have twelve acres, so we’re always smitten for kittens,” Forrest’s mom, Deb Burdette, said.Before adopting the kitten, Forrest and his sister Claire agreed to their mom’s rules: paying for everything and regularly cleaning the litter box. Claire and Forrest were so enamored with Wihn they couldn’t stop petting her and agreed to clean the litter box in exchange for taking Wihn home.“She’s the cutest living thing in the world,” Claire said.