IUSA

Rice says world must put a stop to Iran's nuclear ambitions

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:38 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- With Iran stepping up its nuclear program, a top White House aide said Sunday the world finally is "worried and suspicious" over the Iranians' intentions and is determined not to let Tehran produce a nuclear weapon. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice also said the Bush administration sees a new international willingness to act against Iran's nuclear program. She credited the changed attitude to the Americans' insistence that Iran's effort put the world in peril.

An election for questions

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:36 p.m.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced Aug. 1 that the U.S. intelligence community had obtained "new and unusually specific information about where al-Qaida would like to attack." These targets included U.S. financial centers in New York, Newark, N.J., and Washington D.C. While recently obtained, this new and unusually specific intelligence turned out to be dated -- three or four years old, but updated in January of this year.

Iraqi prime minister asks fighters in Najaf to put down weapons

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:36 p.m.

NAJAF, Iraq -- Protected by 100 guards, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi visited the war-shattered city of Najaf Sunday, calling on Shiite militants to lay down their weapons after days of fierce clashes with U.S. forces. But even as Allawi met with Najaf's governor, police and the Mahdi Army militia loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled nearby. Gunfire and explosions could be heard as U.S. helicopter gunships circled overhead. Two Iraqi national guardsmen were killed, and 13 people wounded.

Focus changes from Kerry to Bush in close race

By Alyson Brodsy and Ron Fournier · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- With the spotlight on his candidacy, John Kerry improved public perception of his character and qualifications but failed to shake-up the presidential race. Now, the focus shifts to President Bush -- and all his hurdles to re-election. The Iraq war, which most voters think was a mistake. The economy, which most voters don't trust with the Republican. The direction of the country, which most voters think is headed south. The tough job of changing those perceptions began the moment Kerry left his nominating convention.

Panel: Better child protection system would cost $212 million

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:32 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Developing a better system to protect the state's children from abuse and neglect, including hiring hundreds of caseworkers, would cost about $212 million, a panel said. It would cost about $45 million to hire 720 caseworkers and 103 supervisors at the Family and Social Services Administration, according to a State Budget Agency analysis of the panel's plan.

Former judge indicted on extortion charges

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:31 p.m.

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. -- A former Schererville judge was indicted Friday on extortion charges alleging that she pocketed more than $30,000 in fees she ordered paid to a counseling service she owned. The federal grand jury that indicted former Schererville tax court judge Deborah A. Riga said her court dispensed fraud and extortion, rather than justice.

Around The Game

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:30 p.m.

Davis adds new assistant to staff IU men's basketball coach Mike Davis announced the hiring of assistant coach Donnie Marsh this week. Marsh fills the position vacated by former Hoosier assistant John Treloar, who left for a similar position at LSU earlier this summer.

Local residents, students share in city's cycling glory

By Bill Meehan · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:29 p.m.

The Bloomington and IU community has long been exposed to the benefits of the bike racing scene courtesy of the tradition-rich Little 500. But a sect of local citizens and students don't confine their craft to just one late April weekend. Chris Kroll, a sociology major who graduated from IU in 1988, is vice president at the Old National Bank in Bloomington, has been racing with the locally-based Team Tortuga for two years and is the cycling group's director.

Reagans recreate home with antiques

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:27 p.m.

ILLIOPOLIS, Ill. -- Politics makes strange bedfellows, which may help explain why it took a lifelong Democrat to show Ronald Reagan that you really can go home again. Jesse Rogers, a 40-year Democratic precinct committeeman from Illiopolis, was the go-to guy when Reagan admirers sought to refurnish a Dixon home the way it was when the president lived there from 1920 to 1923. Rogers age 77, and now retired, ran Rogers Antiques with his wife, Lee, and their seven children, boasts about his reputation in antiques.

Colts open training camp looking to avenge AFC Championship loss

By Tyler Hoeppner and Tyler V. Hoeppner · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:24 p.m.

TERRE HAUTE -- Amid the 90-degree heat Tuesday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the Indianapolis Colts ran through the offense that led them to 12 wins, the AFC South Division title and a berth in the AFC Championship last season. The Colts were ranked No. 1 in scoring offense in the NFL and No. 2 overall.

Defining Hoosiers

By Alyson Brodsy and Joanna Penn · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:20 p.m.

"But she grew up tall and she grew up right with them Indiana boys on them Indiana nights." Yes folks, that's me in those Tom Petty lyrics. While I may only be 5 feet 5-inches, I certainly know what it's like to wake up to the smell of cornstalks and pig farms. I know what it's like to be an Indiana girl, to live in a one-stoplight town and have nothing to do on a Saturday night.

'Whip it' in the bud

By Alyson Brodsy and JP Benitez · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:16 p.m.

Some people say things about gift horses and whether or not you should look at their teeth. Having never received my full Future Farmers of America membership, I can't say I ever was able to make heads or tails of that wisdom. For lack of a deep historical investigation of the phrase, I suppose it translates loosely as: Don't complain about free things.

Recent college graduates face dismal job market

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:15 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sheena Moleta wakes up by 9:15 every morning. With her diploma from the University of Central Florida hanging above her computer, the recent marketing graduate logs on to a UCF database to check new listings for jobs in her field.

Professor speaks on overspending, high tuition rates

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:14 p.m.

When officials at U.S. colleges hike tuition, they say the extra revenue is being used to fund academic programs. Ohio University professor Richard Vedder disputes these officials' claims, and puts forth his own theory of why tuition is increasing: private and public universities are egregiously inefficient.

New trend: abortion clothes

By Alyson Brodsy and Jonathan Blanks · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:13 p.m.

Perhaps Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hester Prynne should have marketed her scarlet "A" as a political statement for all women like her. Plannedparenthood.org seems to think it is a good idea. According an article in the Chicago Tribune last Wednesday, Planned Parenthood began selling T-shirts last month that read: "I had an abortion." To me, the use and sale of this shirt illustrates the "pro-abortion" message that anti-abortion advocates often accuse abortion-rights proponents of using -- instead of the latter's preferred message of "choice."

Campus groups seek young voters

By Alyson Brodsy and Gavin Lesnick · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:13 p.m.

When incoming freshman pull into their dorm parking lots for the first time at the University of California in Berkeley, they will be greeted by a swarm of loud, clipboard-wielding upperclassmen with one thing in mind: registering as many students as possible to vote in the November election.

James' death remains mystery

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:08 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- An autopsy Saturday failed to determine the cause of death for funk legend Rick James, authorities said. James, 56, died in his sleep Friday at his home near Universal City. The singer was a diabetic and also had a pacemaker. He suffered a stroke in 1998. His three children - daughter Ty and sons Rick Jr. and Tazman said Friday through a spokeswoman that they believe their father died of heart failure.

Tragic history makes interesting read

By Britany Ausmus and Brittany Ausmus · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:07 p.m.

When the subject of concentration camps is discussed, it is usually in the context of the Nazi atrocities of World War II. The same applies for the mass persecution of ethnic groups, secret police terrorizing the population and senseless deaths of millions of people at the hands of the government. While the Third Reich was responsible for these atrocities, so too was the Soviet government. This oft-forgotten legacy of the U.S.S.R. has, for the first time by a Western writer, been explored in depth.

Intensity, talent at 'Macbeth'

By Sheeba Madan · Sunday, Aug. 8,2004 9:06 p.m.

Battling the mosquitoes, the threat of rain and the wet grass Friday and Saturday, Bloomington residents assembled at the Third Street Park to see the Monroe County Civic Theatre's production of "Macbeth." Seated on folding chairs or lounging on the grass, the audience members were treated to an essential production that is a rare commodity these days.

Best buds make for high times

By -Alec Toombs · Thursday, Aug. 5,2004 12 a.m.

Blatant product placement within films is something that normally pisses me off to no end.