IUSA

New Albany man seeks clemency as execution date nears

By Tom Coyne · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:25 p.m.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- Lawyers for a New Albany man facing execution next week for killing a state trooper, filed a motion Monday seeking a stay of execution while he asked the state Parole Board to recommend his life be spared on the grounds he's innocent. "I've never had a chance to prove my innocence," Norman Timberlake told the Parole Board.

U.S., Iraqi forces kill 50 militants in central Baghdad

By Lauren Frayer · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:20 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, backed by American warplanes, battled suspected insurgents for hours Tuesday on a central Baghdad street that has been an insurgent hot spot for years.

Bush's plan for more troops to Iraq faces Democratic challenge

By Anne Flaherty · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:16 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is telling lawmakers he will send thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq's two most troubled regions, in a plan that Democrats are resisting as a major escalation of the 3 1/2-year-old war.

Accuracy in culture

By Grace Low · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:13 p.m.

This week in the insidiously ignorant world of conservative media criticism, the ultra-right wing media analysis group, Accuracy in Media, has taken another abhorrent potshot at the GLBT community. In his Jan. 9 column, Andy Selepak, AIM's pied piper of hate, attacks ABC's choice to tackle the complicated issue of gender reassignment on its daytime soap "All My Children."

Justice for whom?

By Kirk Nathanson · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:10 p.m.

You would think that freeing Sunnis, Shias and Kurds from their imperious leaders would restore the desert's cosmic balance. True, the Kurds exist semi-autonomously, the Shia majority finally has a voice in government, and the three groups are sharing the country's oil wealth. But even with Saddam Hussein arrested, tried and executed, the sectarian violence has the potential to wreak more havoc than the Baathist death squads ever did. Saddam Hussein may rank "with Hitler as far as history's bad men," as the editors at the Indianapolis Star stated in part of their questionand-answer session with Richard McGowan, lecturer in philosophy and religion at Butler University. However, the notion that the former president -- or any victim of capital punishment -- was beyond the point of rehabilitation or redemption in no way justifies his execution. McGowan argues that a crime's

Kindergarten plan facing hurdles already

By Deanna Martin · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:10 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Full-day kindergarten, one of Gov. Mitch Daniels' top priorities, might already be facing political hurdles with only one day of the legislative session on the books.

Mother gets house arrest after trying to sell child

Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:09 p.m.

ANGOLA, Ind. -- A woman avoided prison time by pleading guilty to charges she tried to sell her 2-year-old son to his paternal grandparents.

Might is right?

By Ayesha Awan · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:07 p.m.

I was incredibly disappointed by an article I read in the BBC's South Asia regional section this week. The article tells of rare documents from the British colonial era in South Asia. They date from the 1897 siege of Malakand, which is now in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. They belong to a man named Ben Tottenham. He is related by marriage to Col. William Hope Meiklejohn, who commanded the troops at the British Malakand garrison while they were besieged by Pashtun tribesmen for 10 days.

Mo' money, mo' benefits

By Aparna Venkatraman · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 10:05 p.m.

There are few (even among Purdue Boilermakers) who can legitimately deny that IU is a valuable asset to Indiana and its residents. But many may wonder exactly how valuable it is. Now, there is an answer. According to a new, 18-page report presented to the State Budget Committee by IU President Adam Herbert as part of the University's funding request for the state's 2007 to 2009 budget, IU added $3.2 billion to the state in the 2005-2006 fiscal year. That figure includes $5.9 billion if the IU School of Medicine and connected services are included.

Mathers Museum displays culture

By Rorye O'Connor and Rorye O'Conner · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 9:10 p.m.

A can of Coke and a Papua New Guinean portrait skull share common ground in an exhibit at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. They are both parts of culture in the exhibit titled "Thoughts, Things and Theories ... What Is Culture?"

John Waldron Arts center features abstract quilts inspired by nature

By Jessica Andrews · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 9:08 p.m.

The Bloomington Area Arts Council recently unveiled its first exhibit of the new year at the John Waldron Arts Center. The Rosemary Miller Gallery, where the opening reception was held last Friday, features artists Linda Meyer Wright, Daren Pitts Redman and Dixie Ferrer. The Flashlight Gallery will feature the quilts of Linda Cole. The exhibit will run through Jan. 27.

Saxophonist has no need to toot her own horn

By Katie Ingmire · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 9:02 p.m.

IU doctoral student Stacy Wilson's office is indistinct. Only posters of saxophonists lining the walls and a CD player on a table distinguish it from any of the music practice rooms on campus. After hearing the melodious strains of Wilson's alto saxophone emerge from this room, however, one realizes that this office is not a place of mediocrity -- it's a hub of greatness.

HPER celebrates 60 years of growth, movement, change

By Ashley Wilson · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 9:01 p.m.

You won't find any tutus or pointe shoes at the IU Contemporary Dance Program's fall concert "Grow/Move/Change," which will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre.

Congressional controversy

By Aparna Venkatraman and Khalil AbuGharbieh · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:44 p.m.

Sounding more like an edited version of Team America than an American statesman, Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode has attacked America's embrace of religious diversity.

'Godfather of college publications' Louis Ingelhart dies at 86

By Michael Reschke · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:46 a.m.

Louis E. Ingelhart, a retired Ball State University journalism professor known as the "godfather of college publications" and for championing students' First Amendment rights, has died at the age of 86.

Trustee: Allow others to run IU services

By Brian Spegele · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:36 a.m.

Even with the weekslong delay of a University report and objections by some local lawmakers, one IU trustee said the University needs to contract some of its services to counteract diminishing state funds.

Governor's plan for Hoosier lotto would allocate $1 billion toward scholarships

By Elizabeth Dilts · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:36 a.m.

Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to privatize the Hoosier Lottery and use the money to fight Indiana's 'brain drain' will be heard this legislative session, said Daniels' press secretary Jane Jankowski.

'Passion' in Atlanta draws 22,000 college students

By Dorie Turner · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:11 a.m.

College students are known more for keg parties than prayer and worship, but the latter is exactly why Chris Nehmer drove 12 hours on New Year's Eve. The 21-year-old junior at Wheaton College in Illinois is one of 22,000 college students from around the world who have flocked to Atlanta for the Passion Conference.

Study shows cramming costs college students

By Lisa Black · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:08 a.m.

While some parents might be annoyed by their teenagers' unusual sleep patterns when they return home for break -- the word "lazy" might even be muttered on occasion -- medical experts describe the students as sleep-deprived and say new research provides cause for concern. A study published in the Dec. 18 issue of the Nature Neuroscience journal examined how memories are processed in the brain during sleep.

The economics of Lasik

By David Weisburd · Tuesday, Jan. 9,2007 12:08 a.m.

As I was in the waiting room awaiting my eye surgery, I was not panicked or scared. As usual, I was thinking of the one thing I usually think about: business.