Region

Hot air balloons to race through Bloomington sky

By Brittany Terwilliger · Friday, Aug. 27,2004 12:08 a.m.

If you look up to the sky to find bunches of cheerful orbs drifting slowly, you might be witness to this year's second annual Bloomington Balloon Fiesta. This event, coordinated by balloonist Travis Vencel, Cook Aviation and Bill Oliver of Oliver Winery, takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Monroe County Airport, 972 S. Kirby Rd. Hot air balloon races may be observed throughout the day and night. Launches are at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday. Pilots from across the country are coming to Bloomington to compete for a prize of $3,000.

IUAM displays symbolic Malian puppets

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Aug. 27,2004 12:07 a.m.

The puppets of Mali, now halfway around the globe displayed in the IU Art Museum, come in all shapes and sizes. One is a large, wooden animal head, manipulated by a rod from underneath by a puppeteer whose body is concealed. Another is worn on the top of the head of a masquerader. For another, more delicate puppet, the puppeteer can open and close the jaw and twitch the puppet's ears.

Crime show to air update on homicide case involving IU student Saturday night

By Tony Sams · Friday, Aug. 27,2004 12:05 a.m.

The FOX investigative crime series "America's Most Wanted" will air an update Saturday night on the homicide case involving IU student Jill Behrman. The show will air at 8 p.m. tomorrow on Bloomington cable channel 11 and Indianapolis local channel 59. After a 34-month search, the skeletal remains of the 19-year-old, last seen riding her bicycle in Bloomington May 31, 2000, were found by a hunter and his son in March 2003 in rural Morgan County, near Paragon, Ind.

Law targets repeat drunk drivers

By Karen Yancey · Friday, Aug. 27,2004 12:04 a.m.

A new Indiana state law requiring Ignition Interlock Devices, or Breathalyzers, to be installed in the vehicles of drivers who have been convicted of drunk driving was enacted this summer. Still, Monroe County currently doesn't have its own Vehicle Ignition Interlock Program. This law, which is supposed to prevent repeat violations, affects only offenders who are driving with probationary licenses.

Hamm on a skewer

By George Lyle IV · Friday, Aug. 27,2004 12:02 a.m.

Ihave a lot of respect for the American Olympic athletes. They train hard for years, and travel to a half-finished Athens to compete under international scrutiny all while trying to either follow or ignore the presidential campaign mudslinging.

Mascots are cheap cheap, fun fun

By Stephanie Susman · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 11:58 p.m.

So I'm from St. Louis. It's a city too small to compete with Chicago but too big to actually be considered part of Missouri. But St. Louis isn't so bad. Where else can you find such flamboyant and joyous area franchise mascots like Becky Queen of Carpets, the Dirt Cheap bird and Mr. Happy Crack? Perhaps other cities have well-known mascots as well, but ours are just more colorful.

Real fans cheer in any weather

By Mike Malik · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 11:56 p.m.

As the Major League Baseball season draws to a close in the coming months, everything begins to change. The teams begin to play their best as the number of games dwindle. The players begin to focus more every at-bat, pitch or catch during the game. The managers start to consider every possible situation. Even the beer vendors reach deep inside themselves to find every extra ounce of energy to sell all they can.

Information classified

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 11:55 p.m.

When it comes to counterterrorism, we always hear both sides of a story, but we never get to hear the whole story. Yet again, the public is kept in the dark as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently revoked the work visa of a Swiss Muslim scholar who was supposed to teach at Notre Dame.

Photojournalist shares intense experiences

By Jamie Lusk · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 6:24 p.m.

Not many people are willing to live and travel with Nazi Skinheads for two and half years to photograph and write about them. Not many people hang around gravediggers for a year and a half to see what makes them tick and to capture it on film. Marc Asnin has been there and done that, and he has a passion for it. Asnin delivered a public informal lecture for the Institute of Advanced Study as a Distinguished Citizen Fellow Monday night. He discussed his work, how it has shaped his life and why he does it. This vociferous Brooklyn man, sporting a goatee, glasses and a black brim hat, captivated his listeners with his photos, experiences and a New York accent. "The job does get overwhelming," Asnin admits, when asked if it was hard to live amongst a group filled with as much hate as the Nazi skinheads. "Even though they are very nice people on a personal level, I was surrounded by such a concentration of hate." As he spoke of this experience, he clicked through images on his slide show involving crosses engulfed with flames, skinheads holding guns, skinheads involved in clan rallies and skinheads with large Nazi tattoos on their bodies.

Downtown apartments bring more students, business

By Daria Kamalipour · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:42 a.m.

Local downtown business owners are hoping a new apartment complex that houses mostly students will enhance commerce in the area. Smallwood Plaza, located at 455 N. College Ave. in the heart of downtown Bloomington, is a newly built apartment complex that has attracted many students.

Class of 2008 inducted to IU

By Rick Newkirk · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:41 a.m.

In the backward world of post-secondary academics, commencement comes at the end. In the beginning, there is induction. For the class of 2008, that beginning arrived Wednesday night. With an audience of thousands filling the seats in half of Assembly Hall, IU President Adam W. Herbert emceed the annual Freshman Induction Ceremony. With all the décor and pomp of an old academic ritual, Herbert and other University officials delivered their bombasts with the necessary air.

Park and Ride location moved

By Kathleen Quilligan and Kathleen Quilligen · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:41 a.m.

Getting to class has never been so controversial. The Bloomington Transit's Park and Ride program is scheduled to move locations from Bryan Park to the Winslow Sports Complex starting Sept. 6, much to the distress of students who use the transit service and to residents in the neighborhoods that surround the complex. The Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners will vote on the change Tuesday at 3 p.m. in City Hall.

a presidential welcome

By Josh Weinfus and Josh Weinfuss · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:41 a.m.

Amid boxes, moving trucks, parents and new students, IU President Adam Herbert stood welcoming incoming freshmen to Foster Quad Wednesday. "It's always great to start a new academic year," Herbert said in between greetings.

Team to combat prejudice

By Tony Sams · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:41 a.m.

This fall, the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs is launching a new bias incidents team devoted to addressing religious harassment. Pamela Freeman, associate dean of students and director of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs, said incidents of anti-Semitism and other religiously biased incidents have been tracked since the inception of anti-harassment teams but traditionally have been reported to the Racial Incidents Team.

Dancehall star barred from MTV Video Music Awards

By Alyson Brodsy and John Pain · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:20 a.m.

MIAMI -- Dancehall star Beenie Man, who has recorded anti-gay songs in the past, was yanked from a concert associated with the MTV Video Music Awards this weekend after gay groups planned a protest, the network said Wednesday.

Comedian Al Franken urges New Yorkers to yell

By Alyson Brodsy and Sam Dolnick · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:01 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Al Franken wants you to get up out of your chairs, open your windows, stick your heads out and yell ... fuggedaboutdit? Well, yes. In the spirit of Paddy Chayefsky's classic movie monologue from "Network," the liberal comedian Wednesday urged New Yorkers -- and other Americans -- to simultaneously scream the all-purpose local wisecrack at the moment that President Bush accepts the nomination.

Art theft stirs debate on museum security

By Alyson Brodsy and Doug Mellgren · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1:01 a.m.

OSLO, Norway -- The brazen daylight theft of Edvard Munch's renowned masterpiece "The Scream" left Norway's police scrambling for clues and stirred a debate across Europe over how to protect art if thieves are willing to use deadly force to take it. Some expressed fears that works of art are in increasing danger from violent raids -- unless, as Norway's deputy culture minister put it, "we lock them in a mountain bunker."

'Fashination' with life

By Patrice Worthy and Patricia Worthy · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 1 a.m.

I was in New York on 52nd Street preparing to go shopping when it hit me. I had already been shopping a day earlier, so why was I doing it again? I asked myself, "Do I really want fashion to be the death of me?" I had hit my usual spots like Barami, Kenneth Cole and Aerosoles when I realized fashion is work.

The sweet addiction

By Dena Downham · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 12:59 a.m.

When I was first given the assignment to write an article about the exhibit "Kahveh, Choclatl, Ch'a: The New Flavors Arrive," located at the Lilly Library, I jumped on the chance. I am, in fact, addicted to all three: coffee, chocolate and tea. But I failed to realize the significance of the history of the three plants.

Latino musicians, dancers take to stage

By Maurina Paradise · Thursday, Aug. 26,2004 12:57 a.m.

Ethnic music, dance and food will flood Karst Farm Park from 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday when it becomes home to Bloomington's second Latino Summer Festival. The festival was born when two women, Tyler Ferguson, recreation programmer of the Monroe County Parks and Recreation Department, and Maria File-Muriel, program assistant of the Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department, put their heads together after meeting while playing soccer.