By Saeed Shah
McClatchy Newspaper (MCT)
NAUDERO, Pakistan — Benazir Bhutto left a last will and testament that maps out the future for her political party and who should lead it in her absence, her husband Asif Zardari disclosed on Saturday.
The document will be presented to her Pakistan People's Party on Sunday. It's expected to include her preference for who should lead the party in her absence. Zardari himself would be a highly controversial contender. Their son Bilawal would win a huge amount of goodwill, but is still a teenager, and Zardari appeared to rule him out on Saturday.
"He's too young. He's 19 years old," Zardari said.
Posted by courier at 08:21 AM. Filed under: News
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Benazir Bhutto
wikipedia photo>By VOA News
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis crowded an emotional funeral Friday for assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Throngs of people lined the streets as the coffin holding Ms. Bhutto's body was taken to her final resting place and lowered into a grave next to her father at the family mausoleum in southern Sindh province.
Angry Bhutto supporters continued street protests Friday - attacking police stations and government offices, and torching cars. At least 23 people have died since Ms. Bhutto was killed on Thursday.
Posted by courier at 08:00 AM. Filed under: News
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By Julia Prodis Sulek, Barbara Feder Ostrov, Kim Vo and Leslie Griffy
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
Family and friends of Carlos Sousa Jr. gathered at his mother's San Jose, Calif., apartment Wednesday, devastated and angry that he was mauled to death by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day.
His parents said they didn't know the 17-year-old junior at Independence High School was the victim of the mauling until the San Francisco coroner's office called Wednesday morning.
"I can't believe it," said father, Carlos Sousa Sr. "I just want to wake up tomorrow and start all over again. This never should have happened."
Posted by courier at 07:52 AM. Filed under: News
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Vernon Eddins' middle
school graduation picture
Police have identified the James Logan High School freshman murdered on the Barnard-White Middle School campus Friday as Vernon Matthew Eddins.
According to school and police officials, Eddins was murdered shortly after school was dismissed at the middle school on Whipple by a gunman who was part of a group of Latino students who were confronting a group of black students. One of the Latino students pulled a handgun and shot at least twice, hitting Eddins in the chest.
Despite attempts to keep him alive, he died on the doorstep of the Barnard-White administration office.
Posted by courier at 06:37 AM. Filed under: News
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Compiled from staff and wire reports
A 14-year-old James Logan freshman died at the entrance of Barnard-White Middle School after being shot in the chest in what may be the latest episode of an ongoing race-based gang war in the community.
The freshman, whose name The Courier is withholding until it is officially released by the police department, was gunned down just outside the Barnard-White administration office, where efforts to save his life failed.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should call the Union City Police Department at 510-471-1365.
Posted by courier at 07:09 AM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
The killing of a Union City boy near Barnard-White Middle School prompted Logan Principal Don Montoya to tell his staff to be especially vigilant as school let out for a long winter holiday.
Without mentioning the specific school site or circumstances, Montoya told the Logan teachers to stand at their classroom doors for at least 10 minutes after the 3:30 dismissal time because of a fatal shooting at Barnard-White Middle School.
Posted by courier at 05:30 PM. Filed under: News
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By Rick La Plante,
New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
The Board of Education on Tuesday night received an update on the New Haven Strategic Plan and approved minor changes suggested by the Planning Team, which reassembled last month to review progress made during the first two years of the plan and consider whether revisions were necessary.
The 25-member team of students, parents, teachers, classified employees administrators and other community members - the majority of whom were members of the original Planning Team in 2005, reiterated and validated the Strategic Plan. The team recommended that implementation continue on existing elements rather than adding any new initiatives.
Posted by courier at 12:53 PM. Filed under: News
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Electron micrograph of a single
breast cancer cell.
National Cancer Institute photo
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Women who get lumpectomies for breast cancer may one day have a simple option involving stem cells for reconstructing the affected breast, researchers reported Saturday.
Doctors in Japan used stem cells derived from liposuctioned fat to repair the craters left in 21 women's breasts when cancerous lumps were cut out.
Posted by courier at 08:04 AM. Filed under: News
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By Sarena Bains, Courier Staff Writer
Principal Don MontoyaLogan Principal Don Montoya today will host the first meeting of a committee made up of teachers and other staff members, called the Faculty Advisory Committee, formed to address issues of the "climate" of the school and provide him with advice about how to deal with those issues.
The idea for the committee, modeled on the Principal's Advisory Committee made up of students, came up at a faculty meeting held in November to discuss the problems the school experienced at the beginning of this semester.
Posted by courier at 09:14 AM. Filed under: News
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By Debbie Ly, Karen Mui, and Jennifer Torres, Courier Staff Writers
Students work at The Tule Ponds
Math Science Nucleus photoThe Tule Ponds at Tyson Lagoon may not sound familiar to many in our community, but their existence is very much significant, acting as a major factor in protecting the environment, the animals, and our own health.
Logan students can help preserve the ponds and earn community service hours at the same time.
These ponds were first acquired by the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, intended at first to be used as a flood basin called the Tyson Lagoon Wetland Center. However, in 1998, Richard Wetzig envisioned a site where teachers could also educate their students about the importance of storm water. He then founded the Tule Ponds project, which constructed a large water-filled basin, and three ponds.
Posted by courier at 09:11 AM. Filed under: News
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By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT)
Megan Meier, from her
Myspace pageST. LOUIS — The public's frustration over the inability to punish those accused of using a phony identity to send hurtful messages to a teenager who later killed herself has pushed policy makers into action. But, some experts are already questioning whether the new laws will work in an electronic medium that is evolving daily.
Since the story of 13-year-old Megan Meier's suicide became public last month, at least two local cities have made Internet harassment a crime. Megan's hometown of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., was first. Then Florissant, Mo., followed up with its own ordinance.
"Somebody has got to do something," said Dardenne Prairie Mayor Pam Fogarty. "This is uncharted territory. Well, somebody's got to put the chart down."
Posted by courier at 09:25 AM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
Leadership Advisor Francis Rojas has tweaked the Student Senate to engender more discussions of student concerns rather than simply provide a way to distribute ASB announcements.
In a letter to The Courier, Rojas said "Traditionally, Student Senate has been a forum for giving announcements about what ASB and graduating classes are doing or planning. However, it is my hope, together with our ASB Leadership, that our Student Senate meetings become a forum for students to voice their ideas on issues affecting the student body, and to help me, the Activities Director, and Leadership to provide solutions for problems or activites that promote a better experience for all students.
Posted by courier at 01:30 PM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
No sex, only intimate dancing known as "freaking," occurred at the Homecoming Dance, Logan Principal Don Montoya said today in an email to staff asking for additional supervisors for the upcoming Winter Ball.
In the email, written in part as a response to a Friday article in The Courier, Montoya wrote that, "based on my conversations with students at my PAC meeting and with the supervisors/administrators who were present at that dance, I do not believe the level of "misbehavior" described in that article actually occurred."
Posted by courier at 01:05 PM. Filed under: News
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New Haven Superintendent
Pat Jaurequi
New Haven Schools Photo
Recent violent incidents around Union City prompted New Haven Schools Superintendent Pat Jaurequi to send a letter home to parents Thursday advising them to keep close tabs on their students.
"As you may have read in the newspaper or heard from friends or neighbors, there was a fatal shooting in our community during the week before Thanksgiving break and there have been two shooting incidents in the community since school resumed," Jaurequi wrote.
One of the shootings involved a female African-American student from New Haven's Conley-Carabello High School in South Hayward.
Posted by courier at 03:49 PM. Filed under: News
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Leadership Advisor Francis Rojas
addresses senators while ASB
President Kirsten Ignacio looks on.
Jennifer Weiss/Courier Photo
Discussion of drunkeness and sexual behavior at the Homecoming Dance and what to do about it dominated the first Student Senate meeting of the year Thursday.
Sexual activity at the dance was so widespread that the Pavilion in which the dance was held smelled of sexual activity, Associated Student Body President Kirsten Joyce Ignacio told the assembled senators during the second period meeting, using a slang term for the female genitive organ. Ignacio added that she believed most dance goers got drunk before attending.
Posted by courier at 01:20 PM. Filed under: News
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George W. Bush at a White
House news conference Tuesday.
White House/Joyce N. Boghosian photo
WASHINGTON — Iran was attempting to build a nuclear weapon but halted the effort in the fall of 2003 and doesn't appear to have restarted it, the declassified key judgments of a comprehensive new U.S. intelligence report said Monday.
The report said that Iran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggested that "it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005. Our assessment that the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure suggests that Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously."
Posted by courier at 10:21 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante,
New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Kevin Harper was elected President of the Board of Education on Tuesday night and Gertrude Gregorio was elected Clerk. Mr. Harper, who served as Clerk this year, replaces Jenn Stringer as President. On behalf of the Board, Superintendent Dr. Pat Jaurequi thanked Ms. Stringer for her service.
Board Members also agreed on the following appointments (and alternates):
▪ Regional Occupational Program Board: Jenn Stringer (Gertrude Gregorio)
▪ Alameda County School Boards Association: Jonas Dino (Jenn Stringer)
▪ Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Board: Gertrude Gregorio (Jonas Dino)
▪ New Haven Schools Foundation: Kevin Harper (Gertrude Gregorio)
▪ California Interscholastic Federation: Gwen Estes
Posted by courier at 12:25 PM. Filed under: News
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By Karen Mui,
Courier Staff Writer
On Monday morning, James Logan teacher Dee-Anna Ramirez, to her horror and surprise, that her classroom suffered acts of vandalism.
“I care very much about the students here, so it is very distressing and disappointing that they would actually do something like this,” Ramirez told The Courier Monday.
Posted by courier at 10:12 AM. Filed under: News
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