Region

Johnson comes from behind to win Brickyard

By Alyson Brodsy and Jenna Fryer · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 7:52 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- If Jimmie Johnson wants to finally capture his first Nextel Cup championship, winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a step in the right direction. Johnson pulled off a gritty win at the Brickyard on Sunday, battling back from an early tire problem to take the lead, only to see it evaporate when a late debris caution bunched up the field. It dropped him from first to eighth and forced him to slice his way to the front in the final 14 laps.

Wilmont to represent IU on Big Ten Foreign Tour

By Matt Dollinger · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 7:51 p.m.

With the heat in Bloomington hovering around unbearable, one Hoosier has found a way to escape the heat: Australia. The Hoosier traveling to Australian isn't Melbourne native Ben Allen. It happens to be senior shooting guard Rod Wilmont. For the past three days, Wilmont and 10 other Big Ten basketball players have been participating in a three-day training session led by University of Michigan basketball head coach Tommy Amaker.

From the Editors

By Alyson Brodsy and Eamonn Brennan · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 7:41 p.m.

And, alas, before it even felt like it started, the summer is nearly over. At the Indiana Daily Student, our summer is especially close to its finish, as today is our last daily edition of the newspaper (we still have the annual Welcome Back edition, which will hit newsstands Aug. 18) But, yes, yesterday was our last production day, our last budget meeting and our last deadline crunch of the semester. Some of our staffers will continue in their current positions in the fall, and some will take new ones. Trevor Brown, our campus editor, will be joined in his role by current managing editor, Carrie Ritchie. Switching things up, I will get to fulfill a dream of mine by covering the men's basketball team and editing the reviews section of the WEEKEND magazine. We will also sadly be losing various staffers to graduation -- much of our WEEKEND staff, including its editor, Rob O'Connor. Reviews Editor Ty Schrock and Art Director Maggie Stahler will also be moving on. We are sorry to see them go.

U.S. obesity crisis still gaining weight

By Matt Cunningham · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 7:39 p.m.

Obesity for U.S. adults remains on the rise, according to a cross-sectional telephone survey recently published by IU researchers in the Journal of the National Medical Association. The study put into question notions others have suggested that the U.S. obesity problem has been leveling off and it may cause health-conscious efforts to intensify. The prevalence of being overweight and obese was found to be 63 percent in adults surveyed in 2005, which is a 5 percent increase when compared to 2001 estimates.

Winners of Kelley Scholarship named

By Sarah Walden · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 7:37 p.m.

John McCarthy will not have the same experience as most other incoming freshmen. He won't have to worry about being accepted to his selected program, meeting new professors or having to find out ways to pay for his collegiate experience. As one of the few recently selected as this year's incoming class of Kelley Scholars, McCarthy has already been admitted into the business school, has been assigned a business professor who will serve as his mentor throughout his college career, met most of his professors and has been awarded full tuition plus additional funds.

Policy goblins

By Alyson Brodsy and Mark Weinberg · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:52 p.m.

If consistency is truly the hobgoblin of small minds, we don't have to worry that hobgoblins are controlling our foreign policy. I won't comment on small minds. While this is an attack on the foreign policy of the Bush administration, it is just as much an attack on the foreign policy of the Democratic Party. Neither party seems capable of being intellectually honest when it comes to promoting a worldview, or designing a plan to achieve that worldview. In previous columns, I've discussed the hypocrisy of the Bush administration's foreign policy. My biggest problem isn't that Bush wants to spread freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

Merge ahead?

By Alyson Brodsy and Brian J. McFillen · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:50 p.m.

Last Thursday, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Florida State University's student newspaper the FSView & Florida Flambeau has been bought out by the Tallahassee Democrat -- a local paper, itself owned by the multi-paper conglomerate Gannett (publisher of USA Today, the Indy Star, the Detroit Free Press, etc.). In an interview with the Associated Press, newspaper analyst John Morton said "the purchase represents the first of its kind in the industry" and suggested that the deal was the result of the Democrat "trying to reach college-age students in a more effective way and profitable manner."

Urine trouble

By Alyson Brodsy and Jonathan P. Rossing · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:49 p.m.

Poor Floyd Landis. The 2006 Tour de France winner who launched a superhuman comeback in one of the Tour's toughest mountain stages is likely to lose his yellow winner's jersey -- and his reputation. Allegedly, Landis was a bit too superhuman that day. Results from two urine tests confirmed that Landis' testosterone levels were abnormally elevated.

Background noise

By IDS staff and Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:47 p.m.

The issue of background checks for university professors has come to the fore lately, after Shippensburg University discovered that one of its veteran professors had pled guilty to child molestation three years before joining the faculty. Richard Gibbs had been a professor at Shippensburg since 1990, despite having pled guilty to indecent assault on a 13-year-old boy in 1987. His conviction came to light, not because the university checked on his background, but because he was arrested for possession of child pornography in June of this year. Shippensburg, in Pennsylvania, does not require criminal background checks for its professors, although it does for other employees. IU has almost the same policy. Staff members have to undergo background checks. But, according to a 2005 Action of the University Faculty Council, unless a prospective professor will be working with "vulnerable populations" no check is required.

Flash floods kill 100 in Ethiopia

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:42 p.m.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- More than 100 people were killed by flooding Sunday in a town in eastern Ethiopia, a government official said. As many as 10,000 people fled Dire Dawa and surrounding areas after flash floods tore through the town early Sunday, said Sisay Tadesse, a spokesman for the government-run Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency. Heavy rains in Dire Dawa, 180 miles east of the capital, Addis Ababa, swelled nearby rivers, which overflowed their banks and flooded the town, Sisay said.

Elian Gonzalez wishes Castro well

By Alyson Brodsy and Anita Snow · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:40 p.m.

HAVANA -- Elian Gonzalez sent a note Sunday wishing a speedy recovery to "my dear grandpa Fidel," and Cuba's vice president said the world's longest-serving leader is recuperating well after surgery. Former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrived in Havana, telling Cuban state media, "I am sure that we will soon have Fidel resuming his functions and leading his people." Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of an international custody battle with family members in Miami six years ago, published a letter in the Communist Youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, signed with "little kisses" from him and his half-siblings and cousins. "We send you this letter to let you know that we are worried about your health," Elian, now 12, wrote. "We hope for your speedy recovery and take the opportunity to wish you a happy birthday, may you have many more." The ailing leader turns 80 on Aug. 13. Vice President Carlos Lage said in Bolivia Saturday that media reports that Castro had abdominal cancer were false.

Iraqi forces lift curfew in Mosul after rounding up 62 suspects

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:40 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi authorities lifted a partial curfew in the country's third-largest city Sunday after repulsing a series of attacks and rounding up dozens of suspects. Ten people were killed elsewhere in the country in ongoing sectarian and political violence, police said, while several U.S. Marines were injured in a suicide bomb attack. Heavy fighting erupted in Mosul Friday between security forces and insurgents, killing a police colonel and raising concern that insurgents were regrouping there.

Hezbollah rockets kill 11 in Israel; Israel strikes south Lebanon as fighting intensifies

By Joseph Panossian · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:39 p.m.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah guerrillas unleashed their deadliest barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Sunday, killing 11 people and wounding 14, while Israeli bombardment killed a dozen people in Lebanon as fighting intensified despite a draft U.N. cease-fire resolution. Israeli jets fired six missiles into Beirut's southern suburbs Sunday afternoon, Lebanese security officials said. Loud explosions shook the capital, and a column of white smoke rose over the horizon. Hezbollah and its allies rejected the U.S.-French text of the U.N. resolution, saying its terms for a halt in fighting did not address Lebanon's demands -- in a signal that the nearly 4-week-old battle would burn on.

Indiana has too many groups studying issues

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:06 p.m.

FORT WAYNE -- A state panel that's spent the past year evaluating the state's hundreds of boards and commissions has come to a conclusion: Indiana has far too many such groups. The boards and commissions subcommittee of the Indiana Government Efficiency Commission has decided that many of Indiana's boards and commissions need to be eliminated or consolidated, its chairman says. Larger, more complex panels, such as the Indiana Gaming Commission and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commission, will continue their work.

Two more shootings in Lake County

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:05 p.m.

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. -- A teacher driving to work Thursday told police he heard a pop before his rear passenger window shattered as he became the eighth motorist in nine days to have his vehicle damaged by a projectile in northwest Indiana. Almost all of the vehicles damaged have been driving on or near Cline Avenue, Lake County Sheriff's Department spokesman Mike Higgins said. "We don't know what is causing it but we're leaning toward bullets," Higgins said. "It's some projectile. Whether it is shot from a gun, shot from a slingshot, it's a projectile."

Daniels to seek cigarette tax hike

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Smith · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6:01 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS - Gov. Mitch Daniels said Friday he would seek an increase in cigarette taxes during the 2007 legislative session, something he has been strongly suggesting over the past few weeks that he would do. Daniels also told reporters that he is sending apologies to people who had contacted his office with complaints about the numerous problems that have recently plagued the Bureau of Motor Vehicles because of a new computer system.

Peterson pledges action after Indy violence

Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 6 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Mayor Bart Peterson met with aides and top criminal justice officials Saturday to find ways to curb a recent spike in violent crime that included overnight shootings that killed five people. Peterson went Saturday morning to a downtown gas station that had been the scene of a shootout hours earlier that killed two people and injured two others.

Technology transcends Lollapalooza

By Alyson Brodsy and Tara Burghart · Sunday, Aug. 6,2006 4:08 p.m.

CHICAGO - While indie rock band Cursive played one of the nine stages at the Lollapalooza music festival, a nearby air-conditioned tent was packed with people checking their e-mail, updating their blogs and charging their cell phones. Some milled about waiting for a laptop with wireless Internet access to free up. Others plopped down on couches and watched satellite television -- or a live feed of Cursive, performing just outside. Visitors to this year's three-day edition of Lollapalooza, which began Friday in Chicago's Grant Park, will find technology almost as ubiquitous as the music.

Purdue president announces resignation

By Trevor brown · Friday, Aug. 4,2006 10:23 p.m.

IU's search for its next president got more crowded Friday as Purdue University President Martin C. Jischke announced his retirement and said emphatically he will not consider being a candidate for the IU position.

Blogapalooza: Surf and eating turf

By Alyson Brodsy and Rob O'Connor · Friday, Aug. 4,2006 12 a.m.

"I am far too large and awkward to be crowd surfing." That is first thing that went through my head as a thousand hands held me atop the crowd at Lollapalooza. For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time, and don't get me wrong it was great fun. I just feel bad for the four people who may have been incidentally drop kicked as I was tossed around like a rag doll. If it makes them feel better I was dropped on my head... twice.