Region

Commission rejects national retail sales tax proposition

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:07 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's tax commission has rejected the idea of a national sales tax and has voiced strong misgivings over European-style consumption taxes, drawing complaints of timidity from critics who wanted the panel to scrap the income tax.

Family of slain Purdue student might come to U.S.

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:05 a.m.

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Friends of a Purdue University graduate student found dead inside a car trunk are raising money to bring his parents to the United States from China for a visit. Dismembered remains found in August near Chicago O'Hare International Airport were identified as those of Lei He, 28, a graduate student in mechanical engineering.

Tax collections fall short for Colts stadium

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:05 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The first checks from restaurant tax collections in suburban Indianapolis counties to help pay for the new Colts stadium were smaller than expected.

DeLay avoided plea deal to save leadership job

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Texas prosecutor offered Rep. Tom DeLay a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and save his job as majority leader, but DeLay chose to fight felony charges instead, the congressman's attorney said Monday. Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lawyer, described the offer in a letter to the prosecutor as he filed motions in Austin to dismiss felony indictments and -- barring dismissal of the case -- to seek a speedy trial.

Bloomington man helps save dying languages

By Jessica Wolfe · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:04 a.m.

As a young teenager, Indrek Park learned to play bagpipes in Estonia, a country less than half the size of Indiana with one-fifth its population. Now 34 and an IU graduate student, Park is still playing. Last week, he played his Estonian bagpipes for a sixth-grade class at Bloomington's University Elementary School because the students were studying the region in Europe where Estonia lies. The students giggled as Park finished his tunes with a loud honk from the pipes.

Avian flu threat highest in Asia, expected to spread

By Alyson Brodsy and Emma Ross · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:03 a.m.

LONDON -- Bird flu can be expected to spread to other countries, but the biggest threat of it mutating into a human virus that could kill millions across the world remains in Asia, the World Health Organization said Monday. Tests on birds from Romania confirmed the arrival of bird flu in Europe on Saturday, two days after it was verified on Europe's doorstep in the Asian part of Turkey.

Cyclist in critical condition

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:02 a.m.

An IU student injured in a motorcycle crash Sunday evening has been airlifted to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis where he is in critical condition, according to IU Police Department reports.

Marshall, Neal were IU pioneers

By Gavin Lesnick · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:02 a.m.

When Marcellus Neal died in a hit-and-run crash in 1939, his Chicago Tribune obituary was only 32 words long, beginning with his name, his age and his race. He was "colored," it reads in its first line. Though Neal's obituary demonstrates he might have died at a time when a black man's death did not justify attention, he lived a life that challenged such racial inequalities and ultimately changed them. Neal became the first black student to graduate from IU when he received a degree in mathematics in 1895.

Timmy Foundation focuses on charity

By Seth Nycum · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:02 a.m.

The members of the IU Timmy Foundation get together every other Tuesday night to talk about new opportunities to help out their community and the world around them. The foundation's goal is to educate children about health issues and provide health care to those in need of medical attention. The group relies heavily on volunteers and is made up of about 250 students at the IU chapter alone. The foundation is also prominent on many other campuses around the United States.

High court rejects $280B tobacco suit

By Alyson Brodsy and Gina Holland · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:01 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to let the government sue tobacco companies for $280 billion, a major victory for cigarette makers. A federal judge presided over a nine-month trial and has not yet decided whether tobacco companies are guilty of wrongdoing. The fight at the high court was over the amount of money the companies would have to pay if the judge rules that they violated a federal anti-racketeering law known as RICO by misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.

IU hazardous materials secured

By Kathleen Quilligan and Kathleen Quilligen · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:01 a.m.

An ABC News investigation revealed that the 25 colleges with nuclear reactors across the country severely lack security. Because of the report, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating five universities, including the University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University and Purdue University.

Tropical Storm Wilma strengthens in Caribbean, aims for Gulf Coast

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1 a.m.

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Wilma strengthened Monday after forming in the northwestern Caribbean, tying the record for the most named storms in an Atlantic season and following a path that some forecasters believe could menace the Gulf Coast next week as a hurricane.

Murder rate hits 40-year low; all major crime rates down

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael J. Sniffen · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:59 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's murder rate declined last year for the first time in four years, dropping to the lowest level in 40 years. Experts said local rather than national trends were mostly responsible. The rates for all seven major crimes were down and the overall violent crime rate reached a 30-year low, according to the FBI's annual compilation of crimes reported to the police.

Around Business

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:54 a.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After revolutionizing the way people listen to music with the popular iPod, Apple Computer Inc. is trying to do the same with video. The company introduced a new iPod Oct. 12 that is capable of playing everything from TV shows to music videos.

Help and genocide

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:53 a.m.

In many matters of foreign policy, students in the United States have little or no opportunity for input. Rarer still are the moments when IU students have the ability to change the course of world events. This is one of those few moments.

Trends: tracking, predicting and capitalizing

By Alyson Brodsy and David Weisburd · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:53 a.m.

Editor's note: This is the fifth column in a six-column series giving advice to beginning entrepreneurs. For more information about Weisburd, the co-founder of Indy Tickets Express LLC and the vice president of the Young Entrepreneurs Association, visit www.DavidWeisburd.com.

Lazy laundry

By Audrie Garrison · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:52 a.m.

After experiencing the accidental shrunken sweater or white shirt turned pink from a mixing of reds and whites, to some student laundry becomes more of a fear than the chore it usually is. For students who don't know how, don't have time to or just don't want to do laundry at all, local businesses such as Winslow One-Stop Laundromat, Campus Laundry East and Bumble Bee Laundry & Cie have moved from the traditional laundromat setup to one requiring less work from customers. Rather than just providing washers and dryers, these laundry services actually wash, dry and fold the clothes for customers.

Down in flamers

By Alyson Brodsy and Colin Dugdale · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:51 a.m.

The stars are melting. The stripes are turning black. America is on fire. On Wednesday, the Indiana Daily Student ran an article concerning two 17 year olds who stole and burned a gay pride flag. Apparently, they each had a big bowl of stupid for breakfast that morning, washed down with an even bigger glass of plucky. Only foolhardy hoodlums are naïve enough to think that flamers can be eradicated with fire. The flag that the minors burned was quite large, roughly 3 feet by 5 feet. Their ignorance, however, had even larger dimensions.

A plea for manliness

By Alyson Brodsy and Brian Stewart · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:49 a.m.

In the aftermath of Big Man on Campus, it is intriguing to go back a half century, before Frank Sinatra became the man's man par excellence. When manliness was a concept that still resonated, Humphrey Bogart was the paragon to which American boys would aspire.

We card for Nyquil?

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:47 a.m.

Thanks to a new Indiana law, Nyquil has joined alcohol, pornography, cigarettes and R-rated movies on the list of items that require identification. In July, Indiana passed a law that restricts access to cold medicines containing ingredients that can contribute to the making of Indiana's newest problem drug: methamphetamine. Head to your local Village Pantry or grocery store looking for deliverance from your nighttime coughing, sniffing, sneezing and that notorious "I can't go to sleep but God I want to" feeling, and you will discover relief has red tape. Your name, telephone number and address are required to purchase all cold medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. This would seem like a very small price to pay to stem drug use, if the new laws made any sense.