Region

Hoosier skipper faces former team for 1st time

By Jake Brown and Jacob Brown · Tuesday, April 25,2006 12:17 a.m.

When IU baseball coach Tracy Smith glances right from his perch atop the steps of the Hoosier dugout today, he's going to see a team on the visitor's side with which he is very familiar. Scouting reports aside, Smith will know everybody in the Miami of Ohio dugout because he spent nine seasons as the head coach there, compiling a .590 winning percentage and two NCAA tournament appearances as the Redhawks' skipper. Smith took over the IU program after completing the 2005 season with Miami, and while he looks forward to the reunion with his former team, he remains focused on the task at hand on the field.

Void left in School of Music

By Chip Cutter · Tuesday, April 25,2006 12:15 a.m.

They graced the stage with their music, spirit and talent. Now Jacobs School of Music officials say they are faced with the task of finding a way to fill the void left by the students who died in a plane crash late Thursday night. "They were extremely visible," said Carmen Helena Téllez, a professor of music in the choral department. "Their profile in the school was very prominent. These people were gifted in many, many, many ways."

Students stay out of court

By Kasey Hawrysz · Tuesday, April 25,2006 12:15 a.m.

For about 169 students, Little 500 week ended with four to five hours of picking up trash around campus Sunday to help make restitution for crimes committed during the week, said prosecutor Carl Salzmann. Garbage collection is just one facet of the Defendant Accountability Program, which helps educate students and keeps their cases out of a courtroom. "The program recognizes that we are a university community," Salzmann said. "We've all gone to college and understand that people are testing the social boundaries and norms."

Outbreak of mumps deemed unlikely

By Peter Stevenson · Tuesday, April 25,2006 12:11 a.m.

IU Health Center officials said Monday they do not believe an outbreak of mumps is likely on the Bloomington campus. One IU-Bloomington student was diagnosed with the virus April 21, but officials said the student's case had progressed far enough that it was no longer contagious. "The likelihood of additional cases (of mumps at IU) is very slim," said IU Health Center Director Hugh Jessop. "This is taking into consideration that the individual infected would be able to transmit the disease the week before they developed symptoms and two weeks after symptoms appeared. The incubation period for those exposed is up to 18 days after exposure. That window of time will have passed, and no additional cases that we are aware of have been reported in Bloomington."

IU student opening restaurant

By Ryan McLaughlin · Tuesday, April 25,2006 12:09 a.m.

New Jersey native Joshua Gold came to Indiana to study business three years ago. Now the junior is putting school on hold to start his own business -- Mixed Greens Restaurant and Juicery. After working at a small pool cleaning business last summer, Gold decided it was time for him to try his hand in an entrepreneurial role since he had been interested in business for many years. "I decided I was motivated enough and dedicated enough to start my own business," Gold said. "The question was where to start."

Environmentalists push for students learning outdoors

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 24,2006 11:56 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Les Caudill's students used to study weather by lying in the grass and watching the clouds. "It's hard to do that now," said Caudill, a 19-year veteran who teaches seventh grade in Pendleton, Ind. "I have to justify that it fits in with state standards." Some Indiana teachers say state education standards leave too little time for students to study the shapes of leaves or take samples of water from creeks.

Confidence, skill breeds success

By Gavin Lesnick · Monday, April 24,2006 11:56 p.m.

For sophomore Danah Ford, golf is a real family affair. At an early age, Ford's father, a golf professional in Indianapolis, brought his daughter to the course. Now, as Ford prepares for her second season on the Women's Golf team, she hopes to take the interest her father instilled in her to a higher level.

Narcolepsy wake-up drug, modafinil might help fight cocaine addiction

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 24,2006 11:55 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The hottest topic in cocaine addiction is another drug, a medicine already sold to wake up narcoleptics. Hundreds of cocaine users are testing whether that legal pill, called modafinil, could help them kick the addiction, and there's early evidence that it might. In addition to blunting cocaine's notorious cravings, modafinil might also counter the damage that cocaine wreaks on users' brain circuits, damage that in turn fuels the cycle of addiction.

Traditional Indian hair removal technique comes to Bloomington

By Asma Khalid · Monday, April 24,2006 11:54 p.m.

As Bollywood music fills the air, curious passers-by are lured toward Eyebrows Style -- a new salon specializing in threading, a traditional Indian hair removal technique. The process involves holding a piece of thread in the mouth and twisting it to form coils to pull out a row of unwanted hair. This seemingly exotic Indian aesthetic practice was previously limited to the Little Indias of New York and Chicago but has now found a growing market in Midwestern towns like Bloomington. From the Aveda salon on Tenth and College to Eyebrows Style in College Mall, threading has become the fashionable new way to get that perfect eyebrow arch.

Finding a (good) job

By Mike McElroy · Monday, April 24,2006 11:53 p.m.

Graduation is little more than a week away, and for many IU seniors, it's time to find a job. In January, Fortune magazine released its "100 best companies to work for" based on employee ratings. Several IU alumni have found their way to a company on the magazine's list and offered some tips on finding a fun and rewarding career after college. IU alumnus Kara Scrougham is a 1993 telecommunications graduate who now works for No.1-ranked Genentech, a biotechnology company that manufactures pharmaceuticals. She said she believes the cost of recruiting and relocating quality employees encourages companies to keep their workers happy.

4 quick months

By Alyson Brodsy and Jacob Stewart · Monday, April 24,2006 11:50 p.m.

The 2006 spring semester is coming to a close. Final projects will be due. Exams will be taken. Students will freak out from the pressure. A true friend will get them a shot of whiskey to calm them down. We'll cry as we have to part with good friends. Relationships will face the task of long distance. We'll begin internships, work summer jobs or go back home for four months.

Raise gas prices!

By Alyson Brodsy and Peter Chen · Monday, April 24,2006 11:49 p.m.

The next time you go to fill up your car, you will probably gulp at the price. "Three bucks a gallon?! It wasn't that long ago that gas was less than a dollar! This is outrageous!" Some are already crying foul. Blame has been thrust variously upon a host of scapegoats, such as: President Bush's War on Terror, environmental additives and oil companies, our new favorite villain.

Becoming a lawyer

By Alyson Brodsy and Levi Harris · Monday, April 24,2006 11:48 p.m.

As graduation draweth nigh, I've been trying to remember what ever possessed me to want to be a lawyer. At first, I wanted to be a writer. As a child, I wrote several gripping, insightful short stories. During the Panama Crisis in the 1980s, there was "Noriega the Nut." Then in the Gulf War, I wrote "Four Fourth Graders in the Fertile Crescent," a smash hit among my classmates. But as I got older, I realized only a few gifted and tenacious writers can pay the bills that way. So I moved on. During my teens, I wanted to be a minister. I preached at crusades and church camps from northern Illinois to western Kentucky and saw many souls saved.

Patrolling the Web

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 24,2006 11:47 p.m.

The First Amendment is perhaps the greatest accomplishment in American politics to date, and we at the editorial board are willing to bet that it will remain that way for quite awhile. But even we proud journalists are willing to concede that free speech has its limits. While there are many gray areas to these limits, making violent threats clearly crosses this limits. Vikram Buddhi, a Purdue graduate student studying industrial engineering, has been arrested for threatening to kill President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Laura Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and, if that's not enough, all Republicans. A "concerned citizen" contacted the Secret Service after reading his threats on (we're not kidding) a Yahoo Finance Sirius Satellite message board.

They vote; we decide

By Alyson Brodsy and Elisha Sauers · Monday, April 24,2006 11:45 p.m.

The White House goons would like to have us believe the first "democratic" election in Afghanistan proves the people rule; except, here, "the people" means "druglords and warlords," and "rule" means that drug and warlord-ish sort of control.

At least 18 dead, hundreds injured in triple bombing in Egypt

By Alyson Brodsy and Steven R. Hurst · Monday, April 24,2006 11:42 p.m.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Three explosions rocked the Egyptian resort city of Dahab at the height of the tourist season Monday, killing at least 18 people and wounding more than 150 at just one hotel, according to the doctor in charge of the Sinai peninsula rescue squad. Police said the explosions hit the central part of the city where there are many shops, restaurants, bars and guesthouses. The blasts ripped through the town shortly after nightfall when the streets would have been jammed with tourists, mainly with Europeans, Israelis and expatriates living in Egypt.

Jury opens deliberation to rule on Moussaoui's fate

By Alyson Brodsy and Matthew Barakat · Monday, April 24,2006 11:41 p.m.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Monday afternoon Zacarias Moussaoui's fate was placed in the hands of a jury that will decide whether he is executed for his part in the deaths of Sept. 11, 2001. Jurors opened deliberations at 2:26 p.m. EDT, after final pleadings from the prosecution to "put an end to his hatred and venom" by opting for execution, and from the defense to spare him the martyr's death he seeks and send him to prison for life instead. The jury decided in 15 hours of deliberations during four days earlier this month that Moussaoui, 37, the only man charged in this country in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was responsible for deaths that day even though he was in jail at the time. That qualified him for the death penalty. The question now before jurors is whether he deserves it.

Another shooting reported

By Audrie Garrison · Monday, April 24,2006 11:37 p.m.

Bloomington Police have not yet made any arrests in connection with a shooting that occurred early Sunday morning. Two officers heard five or six gunshots when they were in the area of the Seminary Square Kroger on another call, said BPD Sgt. David Drake, reading from the police report. According to the report, the officers saw two vehicles traveling southbound, stopped at different locations. Both vehicles had signs of damage from gunshots, Drake said.

Juvenile offenders receive mentors after release

By Ariel Ivas · Monday, April 24,2006 11:36 p.m.

Once youths are released from juvenile correctional facilities, many of them can feel hopeless or overwhelmed about how to get their lives back on track. The mission of Aftercare for Indiana through Mentoring is to do just that -- make a smooth transition to get incarcerated youths' lives back on track. Offering Indiana's youth a second chance, the goal of AIM is "to reduce the rate of recidivism among Indiana youths," according to the Bloomington AIM Web site, www.bloomingtonaim.org. The program seeks to accomplish this goal through recruiting, training and managing volunteers around the state. AIM helps juveniles improve themselves during their incarceration so they can re-enter society as productive citizens.

Course examines video game culture

By Zack Teibloom · Monday, April 24,2006 11:32 p.m.

A new course looks to explore why women in video games are over-sexualized, men are hyper-masculinized and all Asian people seem to be ninjas. Professor Konrad Budziszewski looks to shine light on these issues, in addition to the ongoing debate of whether video games make us more violent in C337: "Games, Gamers, Gaming Culture." The course will be offered for the first time in the second summer session through the Department of Communication and Culture.