This is the archive for September 2008
A printer like the one in the
drafting room created this
working 3d prototype.
Idrees Najibi/Courier photor
Have you ever seen a Star Trek episode in which Captain Kirk pushes a button, and some science fiction machine creates whatever Kirk ordered?
Well, science fiction has become science fact in teacher Richard Lawrence's drafting classroom.
The James Logan Drafting program recently purchased a 3D printer. Now some of you might be asking yourselves, “A printer that prints 3D pics, big deal”.
But it doesn't print pictures; it prints 3D objects.
Posted by courier at 11:29 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Less than a month after being notified it would be in “program improvement” under a narrow definition of federal law that Interim Superintendent David Pava called “absurd,” the New Haven Unified School District has learned it was labeled in error.
“I’m pleased to announce that we are not a program improvement district, but frankly, it bothers me to have to do so,” Mr. Pava said. “We shouldn’t have to ‘clear our name,’ so to speak, not in a district where teachers, classified employees and administrators work so hard every day to care for our students and their families.
“The New Haven community knows this is a quality school district.”
Posted by courier at 09:14 AM. Filed under: News
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By Edwin Garcia
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Get ready to remove your fingers from that tiny keyboard while driving.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed into law a measure banning motorists from text messaging and e-mailing while operating a vehicle.
The law, written by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, takes effect Jan. 1.
Posted by courier at 07:32 AM. Filed under: News
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The first credit card
SAN JOSE, Calif. — They called it the Fresno Drop.
Fifty years ago this month, Bank of America mass-mailed to nearly every home in Fresno, Calif., a small piece of plastic called the BankAmericard. The credit card had arrived, a shiny corkscrew for each recipient to unbottle thousands of dollars in spending money that hadn't existed before they ripped open those envelopes.
That first taste went right to Fresno's head. By the second year, cardholders had racked up nearly $60 million in purchases. BankAmericard morphed into the Visa powerhouse. And a half-century later, as America embraced and then exported the concept of buying things with money folks didn't necessarily have, the whole world has gotten tipsy.
Posted by courier at 04:24 PM. Filed under: News
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By Oscar Avila
Chicago Tribune (MCT)
HAINA, Dominican Republic — Officially, Carlos Noel does not exist.
Although his French last name is a giveaway that his family roots go back to neighboring Haiti, Noel is not an illegal immigrant living in the shadows like his parents. Noel was born in the Dominican Republic country and, according to the constitution, entitled to citizenship.
But under a strict new policy, the Dominican government has refused to issue ID cards to Noel and tens of thousands of others whose parents were illegal immigrants.
Posted by courier at 11:58 AM. Filed under: News
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Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson
U.S. Treasury Photo
WASHINGTON — President Bush's $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street ran into trouble Sunday as Democrats insisted on provisions for struggling homeowners and limits on CEO pay that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson opposes.
With the cost of the proposed bailout effort equal to about $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States, Democrats began pushing for language in the rescue plan that would steers additional aid to homeowners struggling to stay in their homes and prevent foreclosures.
Posted by courier at 11:39 AM. Filed under: News
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By Tim Johnson, Shashank Bengali and Tom Lasseter
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
BEIJING — Signs of crisis rippled around the globe Thursday as fears that the ailing U.S. financial system would drag down the rest of the world ricocheted from trading floors in Singapore to the streets of Hong Kong and energy markets in Europe.
While markets gyrated, Russia's president made an unusual appeal for the United States to calm the global financial turmoil it had unleashed and oil-producing countries scrambled to cope with lower prices, indications that the crisis has the potential to reshape politics, as well as finance.
Around the globe, fear pervaded trading floors, leaving many traders dazed.
Posted by courier at 08:10 PM. Filed under: News
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Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama,
speaks to supporters at the University
of Virginia Wednesday. (Chuck Kennedy/MCT)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — John McCain blamed Wall Street's "casino culture" and Barack Obama blamed Republicans — including McCain — on Wednesday for the financial turmoil that led to the government's takeover of the nation's largest insurer.
"The government was forced to commit $85 billion," McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, said in a statement about the Federal Reserve's loan Tuesday night to American International Group. "These actions stem from failed regulation, reckless management and a casino culture on Wall Street that has crippled one of the most important companies in America."
Posted by courier at 08:19 PM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
The Board of Education on Tuesday night received an update from the Division of Teaching and Learning on the status of small learning communities at James Logan High School, in conjunction with Action Plan 5.1 of the New Haven Strategic Plan.
Personalization is critical to meeting individual needs on a 4,000-student campus, Chief Academic Officer Glynn Thompson and Principal Judy Billingsley told the Board, and Vice Principal of Teaching and Learning Matt Smith said the “freshman families” program, entering its second year, has helped clarify needs and identify greater opportunities. Mr. Thompson told the Board that supporting the program will remain a priority in 2008-09, even as the Division and Logan’s teachers and administrators begin working together on a “redesign” that could help solve some of the complexities of a large campus.
Posted by courier at 02:38 PM. Filed under: News
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Top: The Media Center at lunch last year
Bottom: The Media Center at lunch this year.
Media Center photos
With the doors to the "carpeted hallway" closed and locked during the lunch periods, students are finding it difficult to visit the school Media Center during lunch, resulting is a steep decrease in the number of students enhancing their educations through use of the facility..
According to Carla Colburn, the Media Center specialist who runs the facility, “there is a 75 percent decrease in the number of students attending the library since last year.”
Posted by courier at 10:24 AM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
House Principal John Rodriguez is recovering from injuries suffered Tuesday afternoon when he was run down by a car in the staff parking area adjacent to the band room.
Rodriguez, the 11th grade house principal, "was supervising behind the campus along the Fire Lane near the band room when he attempted to stop a vehicle," which had been driving along the Fire Lane several times before, according to a report by Principal Judy Billingsley. Rodriguez "intended to stop the vehicle to tell the driver that he could not use the road," Billingsley said.
Posted by courier at 07:35 AM. Filed under: News
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By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
WASHINGTON — Wall Street shook to its foundations Monday after a series of historic events that included the bankruptcy of a major investment bank, the hastily arranged sale of another and the near collapse of one of the most iconic of blue-chip companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 504 points, or 4.4 percent, to 10,917.51 — its lowest close in two years and its steepest one-day decline in seven years. The S&P 500 fell by 4.7 percent and the technology heavy Nasdaq was down 3.6 percent.
The colossal market drop came on an unprecedented day that featured Wall Street mainstay Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the sudden, breathtaking sale of investment bank Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50 billion.
Posted by courier at 05:53 PM. Filed under: News
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Traffic backs up trying to get
out of the parking lot after school.
Alejandro Samaniego/
Courier Photo
The lack of school buses to ferry James Logan High School students to and from the sprawling campus is proving inconvenient for some former riders, and for drivers stuck in traffic on snarled streets around the school at drop-off and pickup times.
"It takes me 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot," said Chris Arboleda, a senior, because of the additional number of cars on the area streets as parents and others fill in for the absent buses. " I get home a lot later."
Posted by courier at 06:56 AM. Filed under: News
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By Pamela Yip
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)
DALLAS — The Internet, which has wrought major changes in the way people conduct their lives, is changing the way people manage their finances and borrow money.
What social networking sites like My Space and Facebook have done for online personal interaction, Web sites like finicity.com, Prosper and GreenNote are now doing for personal finance.
"This is the second stage of social networking," said Chris Larsen, chief executive of Prosper. "Social networking started out as communication and entertainment, and now has evolved into more basic things such as business services and finance."
And it shows no sign of letting up.
Posted by courier at 03:00 AM. Filed under: News
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U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Sumalee Bustamante
forms up the female class of trainees for physical
training at the Kirkuk Iraqi Police Academy, Iraq.
DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Ave I. Pele-Sizelove,
U.S. Air Force.
BAGHDAD — Parliament on Sunday suspended legal immunity for secular Sunni lawmaker Mithal Alusi, opening him up to possible felony charges for traveling to Israel last week to participate in an international counterterrorism conference.
"Are you holding me accountable for not hiding secrets? For being honest? For not walking behind the curtains?" he demanded of his colleagues Sunday. "It is better than visiting in secret."
Posted by courier at 06:56 PM. Filed under: News
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A jammous, a large water buffalo
used by locals primarily for meat and
milk, approaches a Humvee in the
Fedaliyah area of New Baghdad, Iraq.
U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Lyndsey Dransfield
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government approved in principle a deal potentially worth billions of dollars with Royal Dutch Shell to exploit the immense amount of natural gas in southern Iraq that is now being flared off, the government said in a statement.
Under the agreement approved Sunday, Shell will build the infrastructure to capture and purify the 700 million cubic feet of gas now being burned off every day at the southern oil wells to relieve pressure on the reservoirs below.
Posted by courier at 06:52 PM. Filed under: News
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Courier Staff Report
Some Courier readers have been unable to access the online student newspaper today due to network problems.
Courier Advisor Patrick Hannigan said the problem had something to do with a domain name server that directs internet traffic the The Courier's site.
Technicians are looking into it. There is no estimate of when the troubles will be solved.
"Please bear with us while we work out these problems," Hannigan said. "We apologize for the inconvenience, but until these problems are resolved, we're not going to be updating the page as frequently."
Posted by courier at 02:50 PM. Filed under: News
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki greets
U.S. soldiers in January, 2007 DoD Photo
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has been on a roll, and American officials are getting worried.
Once perceived as a sectarian Shiite Muslim leader, the U.S.-backed Maliki has won over Sunni constituents in recent months with offensives to curb Shiite militias in southern cities such as Basra and Amara and in the Baghdad Shiite slum of Sadr City.
He then turned his security forces north to wrest control of Mosul and Diyala province from Sunni extremists. U.S. forces provided strong backing, and except for Basra and Sadr City, the operations were announced in advance so that militants and insurgents had a chance to run.
Posted by courier at 07:22 PM. Filed under: News
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By Larry Eichel
The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)
With the conventions over, the stage has been set for the final acts of the amazing 2008 presidential campaign.
And the shape of things to come seems relatively clear.
From here on, the race will be about Republicans saying that Barack Obama is not ready to lead and Democrats countering that John McCain offers more of the same.
It'll be about whether the Republicans, with their groundbreaking vice presidential candidate, can now credibly claim to be the true agents of change.
Posted by courier at 04:48 PM. Filed under: News
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Gorki Aguila
Image: procubalibre.org
MIAMI — Cuban punk rocker Gorki Aguila is irreverent, vulgar — and bolder than any other performance artist in modern Cuban history.
His lyrics blasting the Cuban dictatorship are so strong, the Miami Herald can't print too many of them. The founder and lead singer of the 10-year-old group "Porn for Ricardo" walks around the streets of his western Havana neighborhood with T-shirts that say things like, "59: Year of the Mistake."
In a case that has drawn attention around the world, the 39-year-old rocker went on trial Friday on charges of "pre-crime social dangerousness" that could send him to jail for up to four years.
Posted by courier at 10:34 AM. Filed under: News
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By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer
Hillview Crest Elementary School recorded one of the most dramatic improvements in student achievement in the state – a remarkable 71-point gain – and Alvarado Middle School jumped 38 points to join the “800 Club” according to Academic Performance Index (API) scores released today by the California Department of Education.
As a whole, the New Haven Unified School District recorded double-digit improvement for the third time in four years, jumping 13 points. Every sub-group improved, including African American students by 22 points, socio-economically disadvantaged students by 17, English learners by 12 and Hispanics by 11. Scores also improved among whites (24 points), Asians (14), Pacific Islanders (8), Filipinos (7) and students with disabilities (4).
Posted by courier at 11:25 AM. Filed under: News
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Students sit on the floor in Tim Campbell's
American Lit class. Courier Photo
Overcrowding in classrooms is being addressed by counselors, who are laboring to "level" out the most crowded classrooms by reassigning students, Vice Principal Matt Smith announced to the school this morning, but it hasn't happened quickly enough to prevent annoyance and frustration among students and teachers.
In an email to staff, Smith wrote, "Many of you have commented on the large class sizes that we've opened with. While to a some extent this was expected, our hard-working counselors are actively trying to reduce and balance class sizes where possible."
Posted by courier at 08:47 AM. Filed under: News
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Workers make last minute finishing
touches on the stage at the Republican
National Convention at Xcel Energy
Center in St. Paul Sunday.
Brian Baer/Sacramento Bee/MCT
MINNEAPOLIS — For John McCain and the Republicans, Hurricane Gustav carries both political peril and opportunity.
The storm is an unwelcome reminder of the Bush administration's bungled response to Katrina three years ago — but also a chance to show the party of nominee-to-be John McCain was different.
The initial hurdle was cleared when McCain largely suspended his convention's opening day Monday, avoiding the prospect of split-screen TV of delegates reveling in St. Paul while a killer storm lashed the Louisiana coast.
Posted by courier at 06:40 PM. Filed under: News
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