Region

Illinois professor turns molecules into artwork

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 10:44 p.m.

URBANA, Ill. -- Emad Tajkhorshid's wife probably wouldn't let him pick the paint for the living room; he admits he's bad with colors. But that didn't stop organizers of an art exhibit in New York from inquiring about visual handiwork by Tajkhorshid and his colleagues at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute.

Matt Nathanson performs for IU students at Alumni Hall

By Pat Giese and Patrick Giese · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 10:42 p.m.

A man with stiff hair, held in place by what seems to be pounds of styling gel, sits at a table with a blank sheet of paper and a black permanent marker scratching his eyebrow. He's scheduled to take the stage in 15 minutes, and the task of putting 18 songs on paper seems insurmountable. "I have to go to a computer to see what I've been playing," singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson said.

IU avoids student fees for file sharing

By Allie Townsend · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:52 a.m.

This week, Yahoo! closed a deal with Stanford University to provide free legal music access to students. More universities than ever are signing contracts with music download companies, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. But, these agreements have not been met with overwhelming support of students. And that lack of student support is exactly why Deputy Information Technology Policy Officer Merri Beth Lavagnino said IU does not offer this service to students.

ACLU analysis finds 21 homicides among deaths of U.S. prisoners overseas

By Alyson Brodsy and Lolita C. Baldor · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:52 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- At least 21 detainees who died while being held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed, many during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the American Civil Liberties Union. The analysis, released Monday, looked at 44 deaths described in records obtained by the ACLU. Of those, the group characterized 21 as homicides and said at least eight resulted from abusive techniques by military or intelligence officers, such as strangulation or "blunt force injuries," as noted in the autopsy reports.

Fast, then feast

By Lee Hurwitz · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:52 a.m.

While many students are enjoying fine dining in the dining halls this October, Muslim students throughout Bloomington attended a Fast-a-thon to break yesterday's fast in the holy month of Ramadan. The Fast-a-thon, which took place in the Greenleaf Dining Hall in Forest Quad, was sponsored by the Muslim Student Union and raised more than $1,000 to give to Bloomington Community Kitchen. The goals of the MSU were to make the IU community more aware of Ramadan and to give charity to the community, MSU vice president and senior Shahaab Uddin said.

Bush says he won't release all Miers records

By Alyson Brodsy and Nedra Pickler · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:52 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Monday he will not release any records of his conversations with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that could threaten the confidentiality of the advice presidents receive from their lawyers. And a Democratic senator called on the beleaguered nominee to give the Senate her income tax records. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding more documents about Miers, including from her work at Bush's counsel.

Rosa Parks, civil rights icon, dies at 92

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:32 a.m.

DETROIT -- Rosa Lee Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement, died Monday. She was 92. Parks died at her home of natural causes, said Karen Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Parks was 42 when she committed an act of defiance in 1955 that was to change the course of American history and earn her the title "mother of the civil rights movement."

Spending doubles for football ad blitz

By Michael Sanserino · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:29 a.m.

"Coach Hep wants you," and the IU Athletics Department has nearly doubled its football marketing budget to make sure he gets what he wants. The athletics department spent about $300,000 on football marketing this year by introducing a new campaign, up from between $150,000 to $200,000 in 2004, said Chad Giddens, athletics marketing director. The new marketing scheme includes billboard, TV, radio and newspaper advertisements throughout the state.

The commissioner's new clothes

By Alyson Brodsy and Kevin Dwire · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:09 a.m.

It isn't often that a commissioner of a professional sports league makes a profound impact on my life. Sure there have been moments where I've drifted to sleep pondering the policies of Bud Selig, but the true master only emerges once in awhile. Ending the All-Star game in a tie? Brilliant. The work he did relaxing the steroid penalties? The work of a genius.

IU inducts 2nd most Hall of Famers

By Joel Sanders · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:08 a.m.

Current radio broadcaster for IU football and basketball Don Fischer called Friday evening's Hall of Fame banquet "the best night Indiana University puts on athletically." The IU Varsity Club sponsored the IU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame banquet Friday night as seven former standout athletes and coaches were recognized for their achievements in athletics. The seven 2005 inductees make it the second largest class of inductees since the Hall of Fame's establishment in 1982. Softball coach Gayle Blevins, football standout Gene "Pat" Gedman, tennis player Deborah Edelman Kane, former men's tennis coach Dale Lewis, former men's golfer Shaun Micheel, men's swimmer Fred Schmidt and former soccer player and football kicker Pete Stoyanovich will now have their pictures hanging on a wall next to other former IU legends such as Branch McCracken, Mark Spitz and Isaiah Thomas.

Meet the IU 'Ex' factor

By Jordan Majewski · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 1:07 a.m.

IU field hockey goalkeeper Haley Exner's numbers speak for themselves. She's recorded 88 saves this season, leads Big Ten goalies with a 1.60 goals against average, boasts a .823 save percentage and has won a handful of awards, including three Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week awards -- a Hoosier record. But the most important record the San Diego native has set this season is the 13 wins she's notched in her first year as a starter for the No. 8 Hoosiers.

'Sex Signals' addresses sexual assault, student life in comedy

By Carrie Ritchie · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:38 a.m.

For the fifth consecutive year, IU students will have the opportunity to learn about sexual issues college students face through an entertaining and informational show performed by an improvisational comedy group.

Auditorium brings arts to University

By Gavin Lesnick · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:37 a.m.

When the IU Auditorium was officially dedicated in 1941, it stood in large part because then-president Herman B Wells wanted to provide IU students and faculty with an avenue to the arts. More than 60 years later, the facility has fulfilled Wells' wish, offering space for students to develop their artistic skills as well as providing a venue that has attracted all sorts of acts, speakers and performers, ranging from top Broadway plays to Mikhael Gorbachev to Jerry Seinfeld.

Woman cited after giving tarot card readings

By Michael Zennie · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:37 a.m.

IU Police Department officers cited Tracy Lange Friday afternoon on preliminary charges of driving on a suspended license after she allegedly stole a wallet from the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. Members of the sorority reported a blue leather wallet stolen after Lange, 34, a resident of 909 Eminence Way, said she "entered the house through the cafeteria doors (and) went through the house asking to perform tarot card readings," according to the IUPD report. No sorority members asked her to go through the house, and she was there uninvited, according to the report.

IU spelunkers work to clean up Buckner's Cave

By Kim Cullman · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:36 a.m.

There exists an underworld where IU students go to explore the darker corners of the state -- a system of caves that runs through much of southern Indiana and surrounding states, including Kentucky and Tennessee.

State testing site of tainted sludge

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:27 a.m.

MEDORA, Ind. -- State environmental officials are testing soil and water in a southern Indiana town where some residents fear that tainted sludge dumped decades ago by a metal-plating company could be damaging their health. The investigation focuses on whether sludge containing potentially harmful hexavalent chromium was left behind on a farm from which it was supposed to have been removed long ago.

Senator wants to criminalize protests at military funerals

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Smith · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:27 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A state senator angered by a recent protest at an Indiana soldier's funeral wants to make disorderly conduct a felony offense if it occurs at military funerals. Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, said he would propose legislation in response to an anti-gay group's protest at the Aug. 28 funeral for Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Doyle, an Indianapolis native killed in Iraq.

Bloomington woman educates African youth

By Jessica Wolfe · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:26 a.m.

Ann Marie Thomson sees untapped potential everywhere in Africa's war-torn Congo, where she grew up. It's teeming in the Congo River, which could provide enough energy to power the whole continent, as well as in the country's people, most of whom can't receive the educational training they strongly desire, Thomson said.

Malaysian belly dancers shake up controversy

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:24 a.m.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- To the hypnotic strains of Middle Eastern drums and flutes, Nancy Bakhshy shouts instructions to nine students who shimmy, shake and undulate in fluid movements.

New SoFA Gallery exhibit explores human bodies

By Mary P. Hansell · Tuesday, Oct. 25,2005 12:24 a.m.

Visitors will find something a bit familiar lined along the walls of the School of Fine Arts Gallery this month. The newest gallery exhibit is not of landscapes or abstract thoughts. Instead, the pieces that fill the gallery explore our very bodies. "Human Measures" is a look at eight contemporary American painters who work primarily with the human figure. "These are some of the best figurative painters in the painting field," said public relations coordinator Erin Devine.