The James Logan Courier

By Nancy A. Youssef and Sahar Issa
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military Wednesday marked the end of its combat mission in Iraq amid a series of conflicting messages that underscored the mixed feelings many here, both American and Iraqi, have toward a seven-and-a-half-year effort that cost tens of thousands of lives but left the political outcome undecided.

"The problem with this war for, I think, many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid, that is Saddam (Hussein) having weapons of mass destruction," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters as he hopped from one stripped-down U.S. military base to another greeting American troops.

"So when you start from that standpoint, then figuring out in retrospect how you deal with the war - even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States - it will always be clouded by how it began."

By Amina Khan
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — Multiple sclerosis, a disease in which a person's own immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, is a lifelong problem — but its effects can be highly seasonal, researchers say.

Between March and August, patients suffering from multiple sclerosis were two to three times more likely to develop brain lesions than during the rest of the year, according to the paper published in the Aug. 31 issue of the journal Neurology.

By David S. Cloud, Christi Parsons and Edmund Sanders
Tribune Washington Bureau (MCT)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday it has invited the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to Washington next month to resume long-stalled direct peace talks, recognizing "there will be difficulties ahead" in the latest effort to achieve a final settlement of the conflict.

In announcing the invitation, which Israel and the Palestinian Authority both accepted, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged it will be a daunting challenge to reach agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and other decades-old disagreements between the two sides — particularly in the proposed 12-month timetable.

MarketWatch (MCT)

SAN FRANCISCO — President Barack Obama on Saturday outlined plans to ramp up the number of clean-energy jobs in the U.S., with his administration's goal fueled in part by roughly $2 billion in new conditional commitments to two solar companies.

Abengoa SA was offered a $1.45 billion loan guarantee by the U.S. Department of Energy to build a 250-megawatt solar plant in Arizona, and Abound Solar Manufacturing was offered a $400 million loan guarantee toward two plants where thin-solar panels will be manufactured.
The guarantees through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other measures are expected by the awardees to create more than 5,000 jobs, according to a statement from the White House.

By Howard Blume
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — As he offered a routine explanation of corporations in a recent class, high school economics teacher Dan Schlick hardly came across as subversive.

But just by directly talking to students, just by teaching them, Schlick was part of a self-styled staff revolt in the closing days of a Hawthorne, Calif., school nicknamed Hip Hop High.

The teacher "rebellion" against an online-only curriculum marked a final stage at the Academy for Recording Arts, a school that first became known for giving troubled students access to an on-campus recording studio.

By Mark Seibel
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

WASHINGTON — BP pulled 25,290 barrels of oil from its runaway Deepwater Horizon site on Thursday, the company said Friday — a high point in its collection efforts but one that adds to the uncertainty over how much oil is flooding into the Gulf of Mexico and whether the Obama administration is prepared for the worst-case scenario.

The new number would suggest that BP is now recovering between 42 percent and 70 percent of the oil surging from the well, if the most recent government estimate that the well is spewing between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil a day is accurate. BP's live video feed from the leak, however, continues to show dark clouds of crude oil and natural gas pouring into the water.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

The Board of Education on Tuesday night approved a 2010-11 budget that - despite another round of cuts imposed by the state - minimizes a planned increase in class sizes in kindergarten through third grade, saving the jobs of more than 40 teachers.

The $99 million budget - down from $108 million as recently 2008-09 - also enables the District to retain transportation for the middle school students who live farthest from their schools, for the 2010-11 school year only. It also enables the District to postpone for one more year the planned elimination of stipends for after-school activities, until 2012-13.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

Working together to resolve an issue that would have disrupted and distracted students during testing next spring, the New Haven Unified School District and the New Haven Teachers Association have agreed on a change to the 2010-11 instructional calendar.

As approved Tuesday night by the Board of Education, schools will be closed for spring break April 4-8, 2011, instead of April 25-29, as originally called for in the collective bargaining agreement between the District and NHTA. The change will keep students from having to miss a week of school in the middle of the state- and federally mandated testing window.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

John Hazatone, who has 14 years of experience as an elementary school principal, has been hired as principal at Hillview Crest Elementary. The New Haven Unified School District Board of Education approved the appointment Tuesday night.

“We are very excited to welcome John to New Haven,” Superintendent Kari McVeigh said. “His tremendous experience, and his knowledge and enthusiasm, will be a perfect fit for the Hillview Crest family – students parents and staff.”

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

Despite being forced by the state to make yet another round of budget reductions, the New Haven Unified School District will be able to reduce a planned increase in class sizes in kindergarten through third grade in 2010-11, saving the jobs of more than 40 teachers, according to the spending plan that will be presented Tuesday night to the Board of Education.

Pending Board approval, the District also will be able to retain transportation for middle school students for 2010-11 and postpone for one more year the planned elimination of stipends for after-school activities, until 2011-12, Superintendent Kari McVeigh said.

By Erika Bolstad
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

WASHINGTON — BP knew its Macondo well was troublesome in the days leading up to a fatal April 20 blowout, congressional investigators found, but the company "appears to have made multiple decisions for economic reasons that increased the danger of a catastrophic well failure."

From the company's uncommon well design to its fatal decision not to circulate drilling mud, which could have cleared out pockets of gas, and the lack of critical testing, which could have pinpointed problems with its cementing, the company had many points at which it could have prevented an explosion, investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee have found.

By Raja Abdulrahim
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — The Muslim Student Union at the University of California at Irvine should be suspended for one year for its involvement in repeated disruptions of a February speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, according to a disciplinary report released by the university.

The Muslim Student Union has appealed the recommendation.

The speech about U.S.-Israeli relations was interrupted 10 times by students who got up and yelled out things like, "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech."

By Sabina Singh, Courier Comics Editor

In the past, the district had to cut out school bus transportation and other things in order to balance the district budget. Now, after the latest revision of the state budget, the New Haven Unified School District will be laying off teachers. The lay offs will be taking effect in the 2010-2011 school year.

Teachers were notified in March about the lay offs. Most of the teachers who are being laid off are teachers who were hired this year or ones with temporary contracts. The departments facing the biggest cuts are the Math and English departments.

By Brandie Moore, Courier Books Editor

James Hansen started teaching at Logan in the fall of 1976. Now after 34 years of working at James Logan High School, he will be retiring.

Hansen is a well-known teacher throughout the school. He is a teacher that students admire and like. Kids have fun in his class because Hansen doesn't just teach. he also jokes around with the class and makes his class fun.

Asked what he thought of Logan students, he said, "I get along with most of them through humor and hopefully they're learning."

By Ranjana Prasad, Courier Staff Writer

Stand-out members of the James Logan Forensic Team are on their way to the 2010 National Forensic League National Championship in Kansas City, Missouri.

Members of the forensic team left Wednesday for this five-day tournament that is being held from June 14 to June 18. This is the last tournament for the 2009-2010 school year.

Two of the Logan's duo teams are in transit to the competition.