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Hoosiers drop 3 of 4 in first conference weekend series

By Jake Brown and Jacob Brown · Monday, April 3,2006 1:58 a.m.

The IU baseball team opened conference play this weekend by dropping three of four on the road against Michigan State. The Hoosiers lost two one-run decisions, falling to 8-14 overall and 1-3 in conference. "We're battling, we're just not getting over the hump," IU coach Tracy Smith said. "We just need to get that big hit or make that big play."

Students celebrate Indian culture at Teter

By Chip Cutter · Monday, April 3,2006 1:51 a.m.

Students screamed, ran and hid -- but they couldn't escape the color. It was purple, green, yellow and orange, and it was everywhere. About 100 people from the Indian Student Association came together in Teter Quad's south courtyard Friday night to celebrate Holi, an Indian holiday rooted in Hindu tradition, that recognizes the start of spring and beginning of the harvest.

Barren Web sites

By Tony Sams · Monday, April 3,2006 1:35 a.m.

I'm not much of an expert on Web sites -- I'm better versed in political matters -- but I know a bad site when I see it. So allow me to say: Baron Hill, your site sucks. Hill, the disposed congressman who represented the 9th district for three terms, seems the likely frontrunner in the four-way May 2 Democratic primary. If nominated, as I imagine he will be, he will face Republican Rep. Mike Sodrel for the third time in three elections.

Symbolic annihilation

By Brandon S Morley · Monday, April 3,2006 1:34 a.m.

The Jack Twist character played by Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain" has a line summing up how I feel about the way homosexuals are portrayed in 21st century mainstream media: "This is a bitch of an unsatisfactory situation." Thanks to television shows like "Will & Grace," the gay culture is slowly creeping its way into mainstream entertainment, but just because it's creeping doesn't mean it's creeping in the right direction.

A call for outrage

By Melanie Sims · Monday, April 3,2006 1:34 a.m.

A 27-year-old student at North Carolina Central University in Durham was allegedly raped, strangled and pummeled with racial slurs at a house owned by three captains of Duke University's prestigious lacrosse team. And, quite frankly, I want you to be angry about it -- outraged, in fact. Acknowledge that she had been invited to the residence to dance but be angry when people suggest her occupation as an exotic dancer somehow justifies a violation against her.

DST D-Day

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:33 a.m.

Hello dearies -- Auntie Opinion here. Just popping in to remind you that you should've set your clocks an hour ahead Sunday for daylight-saving time. Isn't it exciting seeing history being made? We're getting to observe a bold new experiment: Indiana moving into the 21st century by finally accepting an idea Benjamin Franklin suggested back in the 18th century. Why here at editorial board HQ -- nestled deep within the bowels of IU's steam tunnels, like a tapeworm -- we've been going around adjusting clocks we never knew we had!

REMEMBERING POPE JOHN PAUL II

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:32 a.m.

Pope Benedict XVI greets faithful waving Polish and Vatican State flags from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday. The pontiff recalled the final days of suffering of Pope John Paul II on the first anniversary of his death Sunday, praising the late pope's legacy of having lived out his mission to guide the Catholic Church until the very end.

Iran test fires new high-speed missile

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Monday, April 3,2006 1:30 a.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran announced its second major new missile test within days, saying Sunday it has successfully fired a high-speed torpedo capable of destroying huge warships and submarines. The tests came during war games that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been holding in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea since Friday at a time of increased tensions with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program. The Iranian-made torpedo -- called the "Hoot," or "whale" -- has a speed of 223 miles per hour, said Gen. Ali Fadavi, deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards' Navy.

Former captive journalist Jill Carroll returns to the United States

By Alyson Brodsy and Glen Johnson · Monday, April 3,2006 1:30 a.m.

BOSTON -- Jill Carroll, the U.S. journalist held hostage for 82 days in Iraq, returned to the United States on Sunday aboard a commercial flight to Boston, saying "I finally feel like I am alive again." The 28-year-old was accompanied on the Lufthansa flight by a colleague from her employer, the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, which posted a news story about her return on its Web site two hours after her flight landed. Carroll has been kept out of view of other reporters.

AP poll: Majority of Americans favor offering legal status to immigrants

By Alyson Brodsy and Nancy Benac · Monday, April 3,2006 1:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Americans are divided about whether illegal immigrants help or hurt the country, a poll finds. More than one-half of those questioned are open to allowing undocumented workers to obtain some temporary legal status so they can stay in the United States. At the same time, people doubt that erecting a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border could help to fix such a complex and enduring problem, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found. Two-thirds do not think it would work.

Secretary of State Rice pays Iraq surprise visit

By Alyson Brodsy and Anne Gearan · Monday, April 3,2006 1:27 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Top U.S. and British diplomats made a surprise trip to Iraq Sunday to prod the country's struggling leaders to end nearly four months of wrangling and form a new government. "We're going to urge that the negotiations be wrapped up," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw flew overnight to the Iraqi capital for meetings with the interim government and ethnic and religious power brokers.

Bloomingtoid

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:24 a.m.

According to Indiana state law, if a man is visibly sexually aroused in a public place, he is in violation of the Indecent Acts and Prostitution code of conduct.

Judge declares mistrial in murder case

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:23 a.m.

CROWN POINT, Ind. -- A judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict in a triple murder case. Sajjad Q. Rasheed, 23, of Gary, remained in custody Saturday awaiting the scheduling of a new trial on three counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery and two counts of attempted murder.

5K raises funds to house homeless

By Elizabeth Peacock · Monday, April 3,2006 1:23 a.m.

About 500 residents, accompanied by several dogs on leashes, walked through the streets of Bloomington on Sunday. Many held brightly colored signs that read "Walk to stop homelessness now" as they participated in Bloomington's fourth annual Homeward Bound walk. Walkers collected donations that will be distributed to several agencies in the Bloomington area, including Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Martha's House, Mental Health Alliance, Middle Way House, Monroe County United Ministries, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, Shalom Community Center and Youth Services Bureau.

BLOW!

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:21 a.m.

Senior Ashley Maddox blows bubbles at Relay For Life Saturday at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex. Maddox and several friends came together to form a team called "Pink Hearts" and had a tent set up with a Candyland theme.

Conference discusses how skin color, race are viewed

By Savannah Worley · Monday, April 3,2006 1:20 a.m.

The Variations on Blackness conference brought scholars and professors from IU and other universities together to talk about how the issues of race and skin color are viewed in America and all over the world. The conference was a three-day event from Thursday to Saturday, featuring lectures, dialogues and discussion, as well as a dance performance and the opening of an art exhibit at the IU Art Museum.

Where on campus is this?

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 3,2006 1:20 a.m.

See tomorrow's IDS to find out.

Former U.S. Marine seeks end to genocide in Darfur

By Jamie Ward · Monday, April 3,2006 1:17 a.m.

Former Marine Brian Steidle spoke of an ongoing "systematic ethnic cleansing" he witnessed in Darfur, a region in Sudan, while touring Bloomington Thursday and Friday. The events were part of the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign. "This is a government-sponsored military operation," Steidle said. "At its height, 9,000 to 10,000 people have died in a month and there are now nearly 2.5 to 3 million people in internally displaced persons camps. It's going on right now as we sit in this room. People are dying."

Relay for Life to include benefit concert

By Dana Tesser · Sunday, April 2,2006 2:36 p.m.

This year, IU's Relay for Life teams will not be the only ones at Billy Hayes Track supporting the American Cancer Society. This year there will be a new addition: the IU program's first ever benefit concert.

The Weekly Weird: Indiana teen making money off daylight-saving time

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, April 2,2006 2:36 p.m.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - An industrious teenager is hoping time is money. Eighteen-year-old Evan Kelso is offering to change every digital clock in a customer's home or car after all of Indiana goes to daylight saving time this weekend for the first time in more than 30 years. His fee: $10.