IUSA

Student arrested after locking herself in police car

Bloomington Police Department officer Brandon Lopossa arrested junior Lauren Yoder on preliminary charges of public intoxication after she locked herself inside a marked squad car, said BPD Det. Sgt. David Drake, reading from the police report.

The smell of success

When 12:30 weekday classes end in Ballantine Hall, students lift their noses in the air, hoping to catch a whiff of pizza from the lobby. Often the smell of hot Papa John's pies permeates the first three floors of the academic building to devastating effect. Hungry students, professors and staff gather, ready to fork over cash to whichever student organization has laid a claim to the lobby that day.

In search of a centerpiece

Each day readers of the Indiana Daily Student pick up the newspaper to see the top stories of the day. But when it comes time to plan the front page, more elements are considered than just the biggest news.

Conference at IMU offers networking, advice for writers

The WriteStuff Writers' Conference will kick off its 2006 season from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday in the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. In addition to the editing services offered all year by the Indianapolis-based organization, this and other conferences throughout the season offer writers a chance to learn new strategies, receive awards and network.

Is it l33t or is it Shakespeare?

Fan fiction, I condemn thee to hell! That was the fire and brimstone message of last week's column. But surely there must be some soothing balm of sweet salvation for aspiring writers desperate to waste the sum of their waking hours on the Internet.

New film series explores nationality, race

Lovers of unique and controversial cinema will be happily surprised if they wander into The Cinemat any Thursday night in April, as they will find the first-ever German and Turkish series in Bloomington.

GATOR-MADE

INDIANAPOLIS -- As Joakim Noah came off the RCA Dome floor Monday night, he turned to the corner full of Florida fans and flexed every inch of his seven-foot wingspan. Those arms had just risen up and tallied 16 points and six blocked shots -- an NCAA tournament record. Now, finally for Gator fans, those arms spread out and welcomed Florida to its first NCAA tournament title celebration.

National championship game blog

6 p.m. -- I arrive in Indy. Only three hours from game time, I still get a parking spot immediately and spend no more than five minutes driving around downtown. That's convenience. It's hard to ignore the majesty of the Final Four, though. Capitol Street in Indy is absolutely loaded with pedestrians, one of whom I almost run into as a I take a good long look at the RCA Dome's exterior decorations. It took about 3 minutes after I got back into town, and my eyes, glazed and droopy from the weekend, are immediately opened.

Rollins stretches hitting streak to 37 games

PHILADELPHIA -- Jimmy Rollins stretched his hitting streak to 37 games Monday with a double in the eighth inning of Philadelphia's season opening 13-5 loss to St. Louis. Rollins ended the 2005 season with a 36-game hitting streak, the ninth-longest over one season in big league history, and the longest in the majors since 1987, when Paul Molitor hit safely in 39 consecutive games. Rollins extended his streak by lining a 3-0 pitch off Adam Wainwright down the right-field line. He got a standing ovation from those remaining among the sellout crowd of 44,614 at Citizens Bank Park, tipped his hat to the fans and made sure he got the ball for a keepsake.

Winning streaks becoming commonplace for Nets under IU grad Lawrence Frank

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Nobody can start the Nets on a winning streak quite like coach Lawrence Frank. In the last 30 years, New Jersey has been on a 10-game winning streak or better all of five times. The last three all came under Frank, and two of those were this season -- something only the Nets have done. Now New Jersey is on a 12-game roll, two victories away from the franchise record set, perhaps not coincidentally, when Frank took over for the fired Byron Scott two season ago. And to think Frank was the subject of job-security whispers as the Nets struggled early in the season.

IU strays from Big Ten play against Aces

Coming off of a successful opening weekend of Big Ten play and a day off Monday, the IU softball team is playing with Aces. And they're not playing cards. The Hoosiers will take on in-state rival Evansville Purple Aces today in Bloomington -- their first matchup with a fellow Indiana team this season. IU, off to its best start since 1997, has seen a quick turnaround after playing four games last weekend to open the Big Ten part of its season. The team scored victories against Ohio State and Penn State, whom they had not beaten since the 2004 season. Even with the quick turnaround, IU coach Stacy Phillips said she was not worried about the effects it might have on her team.

Hoosiers take hot bats into Evansville

Four games into the Big Ten schedule, the IU baseball team returns to Indiana today, but remains in the midst of an 11-game road trip as it takes on the Evansville Purple Aces at Charles H. Braun Stadium. While even mid-week non-conference games are important for IU coach Tracy Smith's team, they serve a different purpose than the four-game conference series that lies ahead at the end of the week.

President throws out 1st pitch

CINCINNATI -- Perhaps it was the pitching practice he got over the weekend or inspiration from the new baseball bat that outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. gave him. President George W. Bush had lots of oomph in his arm to throw out a strong first pitch for the Cincinnati Reds' home opener. Bush became the first sitting president to throw a ceremonial pitch in Cincinnati as the Reds took on the Chicago Cubs. The ball to catcher Jason LaRue was high and off the plate, but Bush called it "my best pitch, which was kind of a slow ball."

The Catcher and the Lie

Welcome to Opening Day 2006. The sun is out and baseball is on television at 1 p.m. -- giving me yet another excuse to miss class. Forget 2001. This is the year of Barry Bonds. And whether you hate him or really hate him, what Bonds does during every at-bat will shape what kind of a season this will be remembered for. So without further ado ... I present Opening Day 2006.

IU group's discovery a link to the past

An archaeologist based at IU's Stone Age Institute and Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology is leading a group of researchers who recently found the nearly complete cranium of an early human ancestor in Gawis, Ethiopia. Sileshi Semaw's group is part of ongoing research in the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project area, which began in Ethiopia in 1999.

CAMPUS QUIZ

City suffers storm damages

About 3,600 Bloomington residents were still without power Monday afternoon from a storm that swept through Bloomington Sunday night, downing trees and closing roads -- and it might not be finished yet. Duke Energy Indiana spokesperson Angeline Protogere said about 14,000 people in Bloomington and 121,000 Indiana residents experienced power outages from the storm.

Destruction reported across state

WASHINGTON, Ind. -- Jhona King gasped when she saw her storm-damaged house for the first time Monday, its roof dotted with holes and debris scattered on the ground alongside her property. "Lord, it's crazy," the 27-year-old Washington resident said. "I guess I'll repair the roof and keep on going. I'm glad it didn't take my whole house down." Residents throughout much of central and southern Indiana spent Monday assessing the damage from a powerful line of storms that was being blamed for as many as 27 deaths elsewhere in the Midwest.

9 U.S. troops killed in western Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Four American troops were killed by hostile fire, while five others died and three were missing after their truck rolled over in a flash flood this weekend in separate incidents in western Iraq, the military said Monday. In violence targeting Iraqis, a suicide truck bomb exploded Monday near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad as worshippers were leaving after evening prayers, killing at least 10 people and wounding 30, police said. The U.S. military said it was "using all the resources available" to find the two Marines and a sailor who were missing after Sunday's accident, which occurred near the Asad air base in Anbar, near the Syrian border.

Jury: Sept. 11 conspirator is eligible for capital punishment

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A federal jury found al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui eligible Monday to be executed, deciding that his lies to FBI agents led directly to at least one death in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "You'll never get my blood, God curse you all," Moussaoui said afterward. He sat in his chair and prayed silently as the verdict was read. The only person to face charges in this country in the nation's worst terrorist assault, Moussaoui now faces a second phase of his sentencing trial to determine if he actually will be put to death. That phase is set to begin Thursday morning.