Region

Fighting rages in Liberia despite 'cease-fire'

By Alexandra Zavis · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:40 p.m.

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Heavy fighting raged in Liberia's besieged capital Wednesday despite rebel declarations of a cease-fire, with President Charles Taylor's troops battling rebels trying to advance on his downtown stronghold. Mortar shells crashed into neighborhoods of tin-roof shacks overnight, killing at least one person and wounding eight adults and a dozen children on the government-controlled side of the capital, aid workers said.

Pugh takes over position

By Devon Thomas · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:40 p.m.

Susan Pugh, former director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance for IU and interim executive director of Student Financial Assistance, has been named associate vice chancellor for Enrollment Services.

Kansas woman's claim to be girl missing since 1986 a hoax, police say

By Ryan Lenz · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:39 p.m.

THORNTOWN, Ind. -- A woman who called the parents of a missing girl and claimed she might be their long-lost daughter was charged Wednesday with committing a hoax. Donna L. Walker, 35, of Topeka, Kan., was charged with identity deception and false reporting. Her whereabouts were not known Wednesday, authorities said.

Alumnus steps into stock market

By Gary Guffey · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:38 p.m.

Where did you get those cool shoes? They just might have an IU connection.

Volunteers to help keep campus clean Sunday

By Joe Grace · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:35 p.m.

A school of little brown minnows darts through the legs of two young girls standing in the Jordan River by the Indiana Memorial Union trying to catch the slippery fish in a paper cup. The water around them is crisp and clear. Graduate student Amanda Robbins wants it to stay that way.

Man admits to killing kids

Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:35 p.m.

CONCORD, N.H. -- A man accused of killing his two children told authorities he shot them in New Hampshire and buried them in a shallow grave in the Midwest after saying a prayer and making a duct tape cross on each child's chest, according to court documents released Wednesday.

Jazz orchestra comes to IU

By Kelly Phillips · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:35 p.m.

Thirteen years ago, David Baker had a vision. The IU Distinguished Professor of Music wanted a way to convey jazz music the way the composers and arrangers intended it to be played. In order to re-create original big band jazz music, he needed a talented orchestra capable of reconstructing the music of the biggest jazz masters. He needed "a vehicle to play the masterworks," Baker said.

Herbert to take office on Friday

By Aaron Uslan · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:35 p.m.

IU officials are anticipating the arrival of the newly appointed IU president, Dr. Adam Herbert, to the Bloomington campus Friday. Herbert will be residing in the Bryan House, the on-campus home reserved for IU presidents. "We are all eager to start working with Dr. Herbert," said IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm. "This is a very exciting moment for IU and a great opportunity for us to grow as a community."

Legislation takes effect Friday

By Jordan Seeder · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:35 p.m.

The public smoking ban for Bloomington and all of Monroe County will take effect Friday. The ordinance encompasses all public buildings, including office buildings and restaurants. The only exception is private clubs and businesses, which do not admit minors and already have smoking sections. These places will have to be smoke-free by January 1, 2005.

IU alumnus, former senator dies

Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:16 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Vance Hartke, a liberal Indiana Democrat whose staunch opposition to the Vietnam War put him at odds with President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Sunday from heart failure. He was 84.

Playboy mansion, Hustler monastery

By Anna Dittmer · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:06 p.m.

A few weeks ago, while listening to the car radio, I learned that my traffic report was brought to me by California peaches. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it was peaches because I was so astonished by the notion of any sort of fruit collecting traffic information and broadcasting it over the radio that I found it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

Viva la Lance

By Marc Samardzija · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:04 p.m.

What is a hero? According to "Webster's Dictionary," the definition of a hero is someone who is noted for their feats of courage or notability that serves a higher purpose in society. Pretty clear if you ask me; yet the term hero seems to be misused greatly by our generation, especially in the world of sports. Surprisingly, it seems everyone with an endorsement deal is a role model, which forces me back to my original question, "What exactly is a hero?"

Watching out for your butt

By Mathew S. Schoettmer and Matthew Schoettmer · Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:03 p.m.

Young, skinny, wimpy dudes have been taking it from behind for ages. Literally. In 1824, at the conclusion of a prison tour along the East Cost and in the South, Reverend Louis Dwight remarked: "I have found melancholy testimony to establish one general fact, videlicet, that boys are prostituted to the lust of old convicts."

If a baloo is a bear …

Wednesday, July 30,2003 9:02 p.m.

Marion County schools are being pressured by state officials to change the time-tested A-B-C grading system to a numerical score of one, two or three. These scores would be given in different areas of each subject, three meaning the child has mastered the subject, one and two meaning that the child needs more work.

Columbian mayor places warnings on streets

By Kim Housego · Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:56 p.m.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The streets of Colombia's capital have been splashed with hundreds of bright yellow stars with white question marks in the middle -- "death stars." They mark spots where people have been killed -- not by the leftist rebels and rightist paramilitary fighters of Colombia's long civil war, but by drunk drivers and speed demons who wreak havoc on Bogota's crowded streets. On average, nearly 700 people die every year in traffic accidents in Bogota, and more than half of them are pedestrians.

Germans address problems in school systems

By Melissa Eddy · Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:56 p.m.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- It sounds like every child's dream: only four-and-a-half hours of school a day, no attendance taken, a free day if a teacher is sick, no punishment for playing hooky. But this is no dream, as Germans have suddenly awakened to discover; it's the sorry state of their schools.

Final 'last edition' Beetle hits streets

By Alonso Soto Joya · Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:55 p.m.

PUEBLA, Mexico -- Volkswagen is saying goodbye to its icon, the Beetle, ending production and sparking an international battle among collectors who want a final reminder of the car that was popular with everyone from post-World War II suburbanites to hippies. The world's last new Volkswagen bug rolled off the assembly line Wednesday at the VW plant in Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City.

Interim Iraqi leader chosen

By Steven R. Hurst · Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:54 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A Shiite Muslim member of a political party banned by Saddam Hussein was chosen Wednesday to be the first leader of Iraq's U.S.-picked interim government, serving a one-month term that will be rotated among eight other faction leaders. The Iraq Governing Council, meeting in Baghdad's Convention Center, also lashed out at Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa for failing to recognize the interim government's authority.

Flames devour truck, burn painters

Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:52 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rush-hour motorists watched in horror as a cargo truck burst into flames on a busy freeway, burning more than a dozen members of the painting crew inside, most of them critically.

Combs elected local Party chair

By Peter Henrich · Wednesday, July 30,2003 8:51 p.m.

Perry Township Trustee Dan Combs was elected as chairman of the Monroe County Democratic party Sunday evening. The election was watched closely as candidates Combs and Brian O'Neill vied for the leadership position Frank McCloskey resigned from. Combs acknowledged that McCloskey has left "big shoes to fill."