The James Logan Courier

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Director of Parent & Community Relations

Stanford University football coach David Shaw will be a special guest Friday, April 22, at the New Haven Schools Foundation’s annual scholarship luncheon, honoring recipients of the Foundation’s scholarship program for graduating seniors in the New Haven Unified School District.

Coach Shaw, who as an assistant last year helped Stanford to a 12-1 record and a No. 4 national ranking, took over the head coaching job when Jim Harbaugh was hired by the San Francisco 49ers. He is a product of New Haven schools, having graduated from James Logan High in 1991. He played wide receiver at Stanford before embarking on a coaching career that included 10 seasons as an assistant coach in the National Football League and the past four seasons at Stanford.

By Elaine Woo
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

Geraldine A. Ferraro, the savvy New York Democrat who was embraced as a symbol of women's equality in 1984 when she became the first woman nominated for vice president by a major party, died Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She was 75.

The cause was complications from multiple myeloma, her family said.

Calling his former running mate "a pioneer in our country for justice and a more open society," former Vice President Walter Mondale told the Associated Press that Ferraro "broke a lot of molds, and it's a better country for what she did."

Sarah Palin, who in 2008 became the second woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket, also praised Ferraro, writing in a Facebook message that the Democrat "broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more."

By Rick La Plante,
New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

A mother and a son who followed her into teaching are among the recipients of “Project Enrichment” grants awarded today by the New Haven Schools Foundation, in support of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in the New Haven Unified School District.

Patricia Puckett, who teaches at Alvarado Middle School, was granted her request for $261.85 for the school’s Filipino folkdance group, Anak ng Bayan. The funds -- donated specifically to fulfill her request by Foundation member Art Kuhlmann and his wife, Cheryl -- will be used to purchase bamboo poles used in two particular dances performed by the group, which includes about 45 students from various academic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

By Roy Wenzl
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Scientists along Buttermilk Creek north of Austin, Texas, have found flint knife blades, chisels and other human artifacts lying in a soil layer nearly 16,000 years old — a discovery they say will rewrite a major chapter of ancient human history.

For one thing, it is now the oldest and arguably most credible site of human occupation in North or South America; but there's more.

The discovery, by Texas A&M archaeologist Michael Waters and others, pushes back by 2,500 years the time when traditional science thought humans entered the New World from Siberia and founded the native peoples of North and South America.

By Rex Crum
MarketWatch (MCT)

SAN FRANCISCO — Sprint Nextel Corp. shares on Monday were headed for their worst day in two years as Wall Street targeted the company as one of the most to lose from AT&T Inc.'s planned $39 billion acquisition of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA business.

Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier and previously reported in talks to buy T-Mobile, finds itself in an even more tenuous position, analysts said.

Courier Staff Report

A James Logan student was approached by a possible sexual predator Thursday after school, prompting Principal Amy McNamara to issue a warning to students.

According to an email sent by McNamara to Logan staff members, "Yesterday at about 5.p.m., one our our students was leaving campus after an after-school activity. As she was exiting through the Meyers gate, she was grabbed from behind by a stranger, an adult male."

The student escaped the man's clutches "and the incident was reported immediately to the police department, which is conducting an investigation," according to the email.

By Rick La Plante
New Haven Schools Director of Parent & Community Relations

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a report showing District-wide improvement in reading as well as progress in ongoing efforts to close the achievement gap between the highest- and lowest-performing student sub-groups. The information was part of a report from the Division of Teaching & Learning on progress made toward the outcomes identified in the District’s Strategic Plan, based on New Haven’s Seven Essentials for Growth and Improvement.

District-wide, a higher percentage of students already have met or are predicted to meet their growth targets in reading this year than by the end of last year, Chief Academic Officer Wendy Gudalewicz told the Board. And compared to District students as a whole, a higher percentage of African-American students have met or are predicted to meet reading growth targets this year in fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth grades, while a higher percentage of Latino students have met or are predicted to meet reading growth targets in second and eighth grades.

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — More people said they got their news from the Web than a physical newspaper last year — the first time in history this has happened, according to an annual report on the news media.

The Internet now trails only television among American adults as a destination for news, and the trend line shows the gap closing, the study released Monday by the Pew Research Center said.
The report predicted that 2010 might also be the year when online ad revenue surpassed print newspaper ad revenue for the first time. The final tally is expected this spring. One of the challenges facing newspapers is that the largest share of online ad revenue is going to non-news sources, particularly to aggregators, the Washington think tank said.

Overall, nearly every sector of the U.S. news industry saw revenue growth in 2010, except for newspapers.

The Yomiuri Shimbun (MCT)

TOKYO — High levels of radiation were detected at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Tuesday morning after a fire broke out near a pool in the No. 4 reactor where spent nuclear fuel is temporarily kept, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

TEPCO said radiation measuring 400 millisieverts (400,000 microsieverts) per hour was detected at 10:22 a.m. following the fire, which broke out at 9:38 a.m.

"There is no doubt (these radiation levels) may pose health risks to humans," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

By David Harrison
Stateline.org (MCT)

WASHINGTON — A few years ago, when he was governor of West Virginia, Bob Wise attended a graduation ceremony at Pickens High School in Randolph County, a tiny school on top of a mountain where the graduating class consisted of only two students. As he was leaving, he asked the principal how the school was able to attract foreign language teachers.

"He laughed and said, 'We have one of the best Spanish instructors in the country.' And I said, 'How could that be possible here on this mountain?' And he pointed to a satellite dish and he said, 'She comes in every day at 10 o'clock from San Antonio, Texas.'

"That's when I learned the power of distance learning," says Wise, now the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education.

By William Weir
The Hartford Courant (MCT)
HARTFORD, Conn. — After tonight, we'll have an extra hour of sunlight in the evening. This sounds great, but researchers say that shifting our internal clocks twice a year might affect us adversely — from more traffic accidents to lower SAT scores.

One worry about daylight saving time, which happens Sunday morning at 2 a.m., is sleep deprivation. When we spring forward, we lose one hour of sleep. That may not seem like much of a jolt, but studies suggest most of us don't get enough sleep as it is, so losing even an hour can take its toll.

By Barbara Demick, David Pierson and Kenji Hall
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

TOKYO — After years of preparation for the killer earthquake that would clearly one day strike, Japan found itself crippled Friday by floods, power failures, fires, shuttered airports and paralyzed transit systems from a 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off the Pacific coast, killing hundreds of people and setting off a massive tsunami.

In magnitude, the quake was the largest ever in Japan and the fifth-strongest on record, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Board of Education member Sarabjit Cheema will be a special guest tonight (Thursday) at School Site Council meetings at both Cesar Chavez and Alvarado middle schools. Both meetings start at 6 p.m. Ms. Cheema plans to be at Cesar Chavez from 6 to 6:30 and at Alvarado from 7 to 7:30. The public is invited.

Board members also plan to be in attendance for SSC meetings at all elementary schools next Wednesday (March 16). The schedule: Hillview Crest, 4 p.m.; Kitayama and Searles, 5:30 p.m.; Alvarado and Pioneer, 6 p.m.; Eastin and Emanuele, 6:30 p.m.

By Paul West
Tribune Washington Bureau (MCT)

BARTLETT, N.H. &$8212; A rare sight materialized in New Hampshire over the weekend: "Mitt Romney for President" campaign signs stuck into snowbanks along the road to a remote White Mountain resort hotel.

"I don't know where they came from," Romney, an undeclared candidate, coyly told 250 activists at a Republican Party fundraising dinner Saturday night at a hotel ballroom in Bartlett.

The leadoff presidential primary state, where politics never go out of season, would normally be cluttered with campaign posters by now. Not this year.

By Amanpreet Tatlah, Courier Staff Writer

Senior and Courier staff writer Julia Ortiz has made a profit from making objects out of duct tape. Ortiz can make things like flowers, bags and wallets. Her most popular item is her bags.

"I made a duct tape bag for myself and I would carry it to school," said Ortiz. "I guess people noticed and asked me where i got it from and when I told them I made it myself, they ask me to make one for them as well."

By Julie Hinds
Detroit Free Press (MCT)

DETROIT — If you look at the body of Matt Damon's movie work ...
"Well, that's your first mistake," interrupts the 40-year-old actor, one of the most versatile, respected stars on Hollywood's A-list.

Damon is amiably fielding a question about the theme of fate versus free will in his new movie, "The Adjustment Bureau," which opens Friday.

If you consider the roles he's played in films like the "The Bourne Identity" and its sequels, "The Talented Mr. Ripley," and even that underrated comic gem about conjoined twins, "Stuck on You," it seems that he is drawn to characters who have issues with destiny. Will PhD candidates be writing about this at some point?

"I hope not," he says with a laugh.

By Barbara Demick
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

XIAN, China — At 30, Liu Xiaoping is more boy than man, with soft doe eyes that affix visitors with the unabashed stare of the very young and glisten with reluctant tears when his bandages are changed.

It takes effort not to show the pain of the wounds that read up and down his body as a testament to the 10 months he was held captive at brick factories in the Chinese countryside.

His hands are as red as freshly boiled lobster from handling hot bricks from a kiln without proper protective gloves. On the back of his legs, third-degree burns trace the rectangular shape of bricks _ a factory foreman's punishment for not working fast enough. Around his wrists, ligature marks tell of the chains used to keep him from running away at night.

By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the right of small-but-loud Westboro Baptist Church to demonstrate provocatively near military funerals.

In a free-speech ruling that challenges popular opinion, the court ruled that the First Amendment protects even deliberately obnoxious funeral protests. The justices stressed that the court's 8-1 ruling was no endorsement of the church's infamous "God hates fags" message.

"Given that Westboro's speech was at a public place on a matter of public concern, that speech is entitled to special protection under the First Amendment," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.

Courier Staff Report

Funeral services for Logan freshman Julian Gutierrez, who died Saturday, will be held Thursday at the Corpus Christi Church at 37891 Second St., in the Niles district of Fremont.

A viewing and vigil will be held from 5-8 p.m. with a Rosary at 6:30 p.m.
Eulogies will be given during the viewing and vigil period.

On Friday at 11:30 a.m., a mass will be held at the church, followed by a memorial gathering in the church hall.

By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Facebook said it was "actively considering" whether to again allow third-party applications to request mobile phone numbers and home addresses from users younger than 18.

The ability of applications to request that information from users of the social networking site has been controversial since Facebook first allowed it briefly in January. Facebook disabled the feature for all users a few days later, after criticism from some users and privacy experts.

Facebook has said some users might want to share their cell phone number with an application to get text message alerts on special deals, or allow an Internet shopping site to have access to their home addresses to make the checkout process faster.