Apr 12, 2012 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Nearly a half-century after African-Americans were admitted to predominantly white Texas A&M University, a black student has finally reached the pinnacle of one of its signature organizations.

Marquis Alexander next school year will become commander of A&M’s Corps of Cadets, a high-profile post that involves establishing the cadets’ dress codes for their military-style uniforms and setting their daily schedule, including physical training that can begin before dawn.

“I’m not going to lie. There is a sense of pride that’s there,” Alexander, 22, said Wednesday, standing in front of the “Corps Arches,” an arched brick wall that marks the entrance to the dormitory area for the 2,100 members of the Aggie Corps of Cadets. “I look at it as encouragement to other people to get out and do whatever they want no matter what their background is.”

Texas A&M is about 100 miles northwest of Houston where Alexander, the oldest of 10 children in his family and the first to go to college. Despite recruiting efforts by the school, Houston’s inner-city areas where Alexander grew up in the Third Ward and attended high school in the Fifth Ward typically don’t produce future Aggies, and black students represent less than 4 percent of the 40,000 undergraduate students at the College Station campus.

“A lot of people from that part of town don’t come here,” said Alexander, who already spent a year and a half in the Marine reserves before enrolling at Texas A&M in 2009. “Everyone has their views and I knew what I was coming into when I came here, but it’s been very positive.”

The corps’ racial makeup largely reflects the university, but Alexander suspects that will eventually change.

“We’re working on that,” he said. “We’re growing steadily. I can serve as a testament.”

His first exposure to A&M was during a high school visit. The Corps of Cadets was his group’s first stop and where he got his first “Howdy,” a greeting so synonymous with the school that people who enter an elevator at A&M’s Rudder Tower get an automated “Howdy” over a speaker.

When his acceptance letter from A&M, the only school to which he applied, didn’t arrive promptly, he signed up for the Marine reserves. The acceptance note eventually came but too late to renege on his Marine commitment. A year and a half later, he enrolled.

His continuing duty as a reservist, where he’s a corporal, also makes him the first person with actual military experience to head the corps, whose graduates are outnumbered only by the nation’s military academies in the amount of men and women who head from college to the armed forces. In A&M’s case, however, membership in the corps doesn’t require graduates to join the military, although nearly half do.

He acknowledges becoming the “face of the university” and he hopes to participate in efforts to encourage people from areas like his at home to make something positive of their lives.

“Coming out of that area, you don’t see a lot of success stories,” Alexander said. “There’s not a lot of role models for that particular area. What you see is this guy living on the street or this guy selling drugs or this guy going to go to prison. Things like that. I hope to serve as a beacon of hope that: Hey, you can do this too.”

A number of cadets applied for the commander position for the 2012-13 school year, then underwent scrutiny that included a five-minute presentation before an 11-member panel that included school officials, the reigning corps leadership and the corps commandant, retired Brig. Gen. Joe Ramirez.

“This is a young man who has all the right qualities,” Ramirez said. “You can see he has a level of maturity that’s probably not common among the cadets of that same age. He brings a command presence, leadership ability. He’s comfortable speaking. … He looks the part of a leader.”

Texas A&M opened its doors in 1876. Blacks and women weren’t allowed until 87 years later. The first African-Americans joined the corps in 1964. The first women cadets came a decade later. By contrast, rival University of Texas was racially integrated in 1950.

In A&M’s centennial year, Fred McClure won election as body president, making him the first black student to assume the post that’s considered a campus equal to corps commander and Aggie yell leader, a position once held by Gov. Rick Perry. McClure estimated that in 1976, only about 250 black students were at the school.

“I think he and I share the same passion for Texas A&M,” McClure said, referring to Alexander. “It just so happens that we happen to share the same skin color. That’s pretty cool too.”

Albert Broussard, an African-American history professor, said Alexander’s achievement was “an important event but largely symbolic.”

“I don’t want to minimize the importance of this event, but I would not refer to this as a turning point,” he said. “Turning a new page in the long history of this university … would be more appropriate.”

Alexander, who hopes for a career as a military lawyer or intelligence work, said he wasn’t even aware he was the first black cadet commander until someone told him.

“I don’t know why it’s taken so long,” he said. “But I know the corps’ process is that they will always put the best people in the spot. I can honestly say my race didn’t play a factor. I hope it’s because I was legitimately the best person for the job.”

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A Texas teacher is taking legal action after she was fired from a Christian middle school for being pregnant and unmarried.

Cathy Samford, 29, who was a volleyball coach and science teacher at Heritage Christian Academy in Rockwall, Tex., told ABCNews.com she had no idea she would lose her job over her pregnancy.

“I’m not just some teacher that went out to a bar and got pregnant went back to school saying it’s okay,” she said. “I was in a committed relationship the whole time, and probably would have been married if things had gone differently and this would be a non-situation.”

New Delhi, April 12: All schools, barring unaided minority institutions, will have to set aside 25 per cent of their seats for disadvantaged sections in the neighbourhood, the Supreme Court ruled today.

The top court settled the question by upholding the relevant clause in the right to education law, saying that advancement of education is a recognised head of charity and rejecting a slew of petitions filed by several unaided schools.

Since the act deals with children up to 14 years of age, the 25 per cent rule will cover Classes I to VIII.

The 2:1 judgment, delivered by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia, means the 25 per cent rule will also apply to aided minority institutions.

?We hold that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, is constitutionally valid, the Chief Justice said, reading out the majority judgment.

The court listed the categories that will come under the purview of the law:

Schools established, owned or controlled by the appropriate government or a local authority

Aided schools, including aided minority schools, receiving aid or grants from the appropriate government or the local authority to meet the whole or part of their expenses

Unaided non-minority schools not receiving any kind of aid or grants from the appropriate government or the local authority to meet their expenses.

However, the court clarified the clause would infringe on the fundamental freedom guaranteed to unaided minority schools under Article 30(1) of the Constitution and would not apply to such schools.

The bench said the judgment would operate from today, which means the rule would kick in from the academic year 2012-13. However, any admissions given under the 25 per cent rule by unaided minority schools prior to the pronouncement of the judgment shall not be reopened, the bench clarified.

The bench rejected the contention of the petitioner schools that the clause infringed on their right to practise or profess a trade, occupation or business under Article 19(1)(g). The rights under Article 19 can be subjected to reasonable restrictions, the court said.

The right to education act cannot be said to be an unreasonable restriction on this right, the court said, adding that unaffordability cannot stand in way of access to education.

The bench rejected the contention that the clause would impinge on the autonomy guaranteed to minority institutions under Article 30.

The court voiced concern that the act applied only to day scholars and not to boarders. There are boarding schools and orphanages in several parts of India. The act can only apply to day scholars. It cannot be extended to boarders. To put the matter beyond doubt, we recommend that appropriate guidelines be issued under Section 35 of the act clarifying the above position.

The bench urged states to use the act’s provisions to re-organise financial outflow at the micro level by weeding out non-performing, under-performing or non-compliant schools receiving grant-in-aid and ensuring that only institutes that fulfil norms and standards can continue.

The court said this was needed to achieve the objective of the act to not only give free and compulsory education to the children in the neighbourhood school but also provide quality education.

However, in his dissenting judgment, Justice KS Radhakrishnan said the state could not abdicate its obligation to give effect to socio-economic rights of citizens to non-state actors. While praising the intent of promoting social inclusiveness, he disagreed with the way the state was trying to achieve its means.

Explaining the rationale of upholding 25 per cent seats for weaker and disadvantaged sections in private unaided schools and aided minority schools, Justices Kapadia and Swatanter Kumar, who upheld the act, lauded its intent. The act has been enacted keeping in mind the crucial role of universal elementary education for strengthening the social fabric of democracy through provision of equal opportunities to all, the court said.

LOS ANGELES, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg School’s Norman Lear Center, announces a call for entries for the 13th annual Sentinel for Health Awards. The deadline for all entries is June 15, 2012.

The Sentinel for Health Awards, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recognizes exemplary achievements of television storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives. Eight categories of storylines will be recognized: primetime drama, primetime comedy, primetime minor storyline, daytime drama, Spanish-language telenovela, children’s programming, global health, and climate change.

The 2012 winners will be selected through two rounds of judging. Health topic experts from CDC and other partner organizations will review entries for accuracy of health issues. Judges from entertainment and public health organizations will review finalists in each category for entertainment value and benefit to the viewing audience to determine the winners. Information for award applicants can be found here.

“TV writers and producers not only entertain audiences, but they affect them as well,” said Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center. “We know this both from our research, and from stories that viewers tell. This award recognizes the responsible and creative use of that power by television writers and producers.”

Sandra de Castro Buffington, director of Hollywood, Health & Society, adds that writers want their storylines to be realistic and accurate. “Writers contact HH&S to access highly credible experts, quickly and free of charge, to ensure a storyline is on track. We work with dozens of shows and respond to hundreds of requests by writers each year on topics such as birth defects, malaria, tuberculosis, drug abuse, youth violence and organ donation.”

Last year, the NBC drama Parenthood received first place in the primetime drama category for accurately portraying the challenges involved in raising a child who has Asperger’s syndrome. An episode of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy earned first place for a primetime minor storyline about cystic fibrosis, and the Telemundo TV series El Clon won first place in the telenovela category for a storyline about the importance of Pap smears to prevent cervical cancer. In the children’s programming category, PBS’s Sesame Street took top honors for a storyline about healthy eating on a budget. ABC’s Off the Map was named the winner in the global health category for excellence in storytelling on the topics of cultural competency regarding childbirth in the Quechua culture, mining health hazards, and the exploitation of hope among terminally ill people.

Funded by CDC, The California Endowment, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Barr Foundation, The Grantham Foundation and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, Hollywood, Health & Society provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for health storylines, including online materials, and consultations and briefings with experts. Based at the USC Annenberg School’s Norman Lear Center, HH&S is a one-stop shop for writers, producers and others in search of credible information on a wide range of public health topics. For more information about resources for writers, go to
www.usc.edu/hhs .

The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. From its base in the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges between faculty who study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap between entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. For more information, visit
www.learcenter.org .

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism is among the nation’s leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,900 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in journalism, communication, public diplomacy and public relations. For more information, visit
www.annenberg.usc.edu .

SOURCE Hollywood, Health & Society

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Students in low-income neighbourhoods are facing exposure to elevated levels of air and noise pollution due to the location of their schools near major roads, a new study suggests.

Researchers from Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia looked at nearly 1,500 public elementary schools in Canadas 10 largest cities.

Addresses were geocoded with the proximity to the nearest major road calculated for each school. Researchers gathered data on income and neighbourhood characteristics from the 2006 census.

Studies of children who live near major roads have found that traffic-related air pollution is associated with lower lung function, impaired lung growth, asthma, ear infections, and lower cognitive functioning, said SFU geography graduate student Ofer Amram. He co-authored the study with SFU health sciences assistant professor Ryan Allen and three UBC colleagues.

Amram said similar studies of traffic-related noise have found links to increased blood pressure, reduced sleep quality and cognitive deficits. Research also reveals that when children are exposed to higher air pollution and noise at school it can lead to poorer average academic performance, he noted.

Based on measurements of nitrogen oxide concentrations, ultrafine particle counts, and noise levels in three Canadian cities, researchers defined schools located less than 75 metres from major roads as their zone of primary interest.

Across the countrys 10 biggest cities, 16.3 per cent of public elementary schools were located with 75 metres of a major road, with a wide variability between cities.

Researchers found schools located in neighbourhoods with a higher median income were less likely to be near major roads. Meanwhile, those housed in more densely populated neighbourhoods were more frequently close to major roads.

Amram said the study looked at overall patterns across Canadian cities and said the relationship of closer road proximity for schools in poorer neighbourhoods was pretty consistent across the cities they investigated.

But he noted that the results dont necessarily describe the situation at every individual school, but rather the general relationship between proximity and neighbourhood income.

Amram said he hopes the research can help officials determine where to build new schools, and serve as a guide for improvements like constructing sound barriers or installing filters in ventilation systems at existing schools.

Howard County schools Superintendent Sydney Cousin unveiled Thursday night a $697 million budget for fiscal year 2013 that is about 2 percent greater than last years budget and adds 69 new positions to address enrollment growth.

Most new positions would be teachers: 43 in elementary school, 12 in high school and one in middle school.

In addition, the budget calls for no layoffs or furloughs, school officials said.

BROWNING, Mont. A pair of rare winter wildfires fueled by 60-mph gusts burned buildings and forced hundreds from their homes overnight on Montanas Blackfeet Indian Reservation, but better weather conditions on Thursday helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes.

The grass fires started around sundown Wednesday and together grew to 16,000 acres by early Thursday, said tribal spokesman Wayne Smith. At least 300 people were evacuated from homes and a boarding school, though no injuries had been reported.

Its probably the biggest grass fire in reservation history, Smith said. It was just a wall of fire heading east.

Smith estimated between 10 and 15 buildings were damaged or destroyed on the northwestern Montana reservation east of Glacier National Park. Fire incident commander Robert LaPlant confirmed Thursday evening that one home had been destroyed but did not yet know the total number of structures damaged.

JR Clark, a rancher who lives off Boarding School Road north of Browning, the site of the larger fire, said he and a hired hand ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed to fight the blaze.

I said, `Youre going to have to throw me in jail because Im not leaving, Clark said. I had to save my ranch.

The two of them used a tractor with an attached plow to attack the fire as it approached the main house. After working from 6 pm until 3 am, the danger had passed. They were able to save Clarks house and another one across the highway, but a neighbors house was destroyed, as was one of Clarks barns.

It came up and jumped out of the river and down the hill and burned it down. There was nothing anybody could do to stop it, Clark said.

Residents of Browning, the reservations largest city, said the fires illuminated the sky and created a chaotic scene as the citys streets were flooded with emergency vehicles and people unsure of what was happening.

You could see flames all around on the east side of Browning, they were very clear and bright, said resident Gabe Renville. It was chaos. It was a danger to be out. There was traffic and flashing lights and I was afraid somebody was going to get run over.

Gusting wind blew the fires east, away from Browning. Rain fell at 5 am, followed by a snow flurry around noon, helping crews gain the upper hand. The fires had not grown any larger and were 85 percent contained by Thursday afternoon, LaPlant said.

At least 80 firefighters and volunteers from the tribe, neighboring counties and several federal agencies responded, fire manager Tyson Runningwolf said. They were assisted by farmers and ranchers like Clark whose land stood in the path of the fires.

Most of the firefighters were going to be pulled off duty Thursday night and resume the mop-up the next morning, LaPlant said.

Crews were helped by Thursdays weather conditions, as the wind died down to 15 mph and a cold front raised the relative humidity to 70 percent, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Ben Schott.

One fire, called the Y-fire, started southeast of Browning, has scorched at least 12,000 acres, Smith said. Another blaze called the Boy Fire erupted north of Browning around the same time, burning at least 6,000 acres.

The Boy Fire was likely caused by a power line that was downed by the wind, said Glacier Electric Cooperative Inc. communications manager Virginia Harman. Utility crews checked the site and the fire appears to have started where the line touched the ground, she said.

The origin of the Y-fire, however, is nowhere near the utilitys equipment, she said.

We dont believe that one was caused by us or our systems, Harman said.

Fire officials were investigating the cause of the fires, but there has been no preliminary determination, Smith said.

About 200 residents and students were evacuated from the Boarding School Road area, where there is a boarding school, while another 100 people from two Hutterite communities were evacuated to the Cut Bank Civic Center about 35 miles east of Browning.

Renville said his 12-year-old daughter, who attends the school, sent him a text message at 5:30 pm Wednesday saying there was a fire near the school. Buses were sent and the schools staff used their personal vehicles to evacuate more than 60 students and bring them to the Blackfeet tribal offices in Browning, where their parents picked them up, Renville said.

The Hutterites arrived in Cut Bank about 9:30 pm Wednesday and remained until after 1 am, when US Highway 2 reopened, said Jennifer Biegler, Cut Banks parks and recreation director. Volunteers and local officials brought blankets, food, water and coffee for the evacuees.

They were hungry and worried and nervous and anxious, Biegler said.

Evacuation orders have been lifted for the Seville and Hidden Lake Hutterite colonies, KSEN-AM in Shelby reported. US 2 was re-closed to through traffic between Cut Bank and Browning Thursday morning, the radio station reported.

There have not been any further evacuations, Smith said.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Voters in a tiny Native village increasingly eroded by storms on Alaskas northwest coast have overwhelmingly said yes to building a new school 7 miles away, a step some hope will eventually lead to the seemingly impossible task of relocating the remote community.

Kivalina City Clerk Marilyn Swan said the unofficial count in Tuesdays election was 107-11 in favor of the proposed school site in an unoccupied area called Kisimagiuqtuq.

Kivalina administrator Janet Mitchell hopes the support adds new life to a proposal to relocate the crumbling village, one of Alaskas most eroded communities. She also hopes it hastens construction of a long-desired road that would provide economic development and an escape route for the community of 400, which has seen Kivalina shrink from 54 acres decades ago to half that size today.

Kisimagiuqtuq about seven miles northeast of the Inupiat Eskimo community is on higher ground and may be a potential gravel source.

This is just the beginning, Mitchell said of the vote, which to her means residents are ready to move away from Kivalina, and theyve been ready for a long time.

Kivalina and at least one other imperiled village, Shishmaref, are planning relocations. But only the Yupik Eskimo village of Newtok, about 460 miles south of Kivalina, has begun the actual physical labor of moving.

Once Kivalinas city council formally counts the votes and certifies the election, the village can proceed with a feasibility study to determine if the proposed school location would work. Other sites have been studied in the past, only to fall short.

If the site is deemed suitable, the village will have to formally request a land transfer from NANA Regional Corp., the Alaska Native corporation that owns the land. Walter Sampson, vice president for NANAs land office, said the process takes about three years.

Its not an overnight thing, he said. But he added the village can get a permit almost immediately to allow such efforts as feasibility studies.

A junior varsity hockey game between Benilde-St. Margarets High School and Wayzata High School during a holiday tournament in St. Louis Park, Minnesota on Friday, Dec. 30 began brightly for Benilde sophomore Jack Jablonski, who scored the opening goal for the Red Knights. But a shocking injury suffered during the second period has left Jablonski paralyzed.

As the 16-year-old Benilde student skated after a puck, he was pursued by a pair of skaters from Wayzata. The first hit him between the shoulder blades and the second pushed him against the boards.

His face slammed against the boards and his body was straight up and down, Benildes junior varsity coach Chris McGowan said.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Wayzata coach Duke Johnson described the play as odd.

It wasnt a booming hit, he said. Was it a check from behind? Yes, added Johnson. Did our kid take eight strides and then hit him? No.

The Wayzata player who delivered the blow that sent Jablonski into the boards was issued a five-minute major penalty for boarding as well as a 10-minute game disqualification. Regardless of the intent or the legality of the hit on Jablonski, it was immediately clear that he was injured, badly. After telling his coach that he had no feeling in his hands or feet, Jablonski was taken to a nearby hospital, just five miles from his 930-student high school.

This is a very serious spine injury, said Dr. Tina Slusher, who treated Jack when he arrived at the intensive care unit at Hennepin County Medical Center. He was placed in a halo to stabilize his spine.

Its a parents worst nightmare, Mike Jablonski, Jacks father, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Sunday while at the hospital. He dropped and didnt move. Right then and there I knew that my son, that there was something seriously wrong.

Updated: January 5, 2012 10:50PM

Wrestling

Romeoville 43, Plainfield East 33: Lexus Coleman (113), Aron Nava (152) and Josh Owens (220) were among the winners by fall for host Romeoville in the Southwest Prairie.

Oswego East 35, Plainfield South 17: David Dominy (120) had a pin for visiting Plainfield South in the Southwest Prairie. Miguel Silva (106) and Jake Meeder (160) were among the other winners for the Cougars.

Plainfield North 36, Oswego 28: Visiting Plainfield North won the Southwest Prairie dual.

Sandburg 51, Joliet Central 15: Host Joliet Central was beaten in the SouthWest Suburban Blue.

Lemont triangular: Eric Kirkman (170 pounds) and Mike Devitt (220) each had two pins in helping Lemont beat Argo 60-15 and Reavis 43-20 in the South Suburban meet.

Girls Basketball

Andrew 38, No. 4 Lincoln-Way North 36: Stephanie Pearson scored 11 points for visiting Lincoln-Way North (13-4, 3-1) in the SouthWest Suburban Red.

Richards 41, Lemont 35: Courtney Toth had a game-high 20 points for visiting Lemont (4-12, 3-2) in the South Suburban crossover.

Peotone 56, Plano 39: Brittney Campione provided 14 points, 13 steals and 11 rebounds for visiting Peotone (17-2, 7-0) in the Interstate Eight.

Coal City 44, Herscher 31: Emily Halliday had 13 points to lead host Coal City (9-9, 4-3) in the Interstate Eight. Britta Spelde tacked on 12 points, seven rebounds and six steals for the Coalers.

Providence 56, St. Viator 42: Anna Novak tossed in 17 points to lift visiting Providence (9-8, 2-1) in the East Suburban Catholic.

Dwight 47, Sandwich 41: Lisa Bruner totaled 17 points and eight rebounds to propel host Dwight (5-11, 2-5) in the Interstate Eight.

Thornton 39, Lincoln-Way West 38: Amanda Hozzian’s 14 points led visiting Lincoln-Way West (7-7, 2-2) in the SouthWest Suburban Red.

Seneca 49, Westmont 31: Alyssa Applebee had 19 points to guide host Seneca (13-7, 7-1) in the Interstate Eight.

Reed-Custer 51, Wilmington 45: Caitlyn Welch scored 17 points for visiting Reed-Custer (3-14, 2-5) in the Interstate Eight. Lauren Homerding had 16 points for Wilmington (2-13, 0-7).

Women’s Basketball

Maryville (Mo.) 76, Lewis 65: Labrenthia Murdock scored 25 points to lead visiting Lewis (3-8, 1-2) in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

Boys Bowling

Joliet West 2,264, Bolingbrook 1,983: Mike Layfield’s 278 game and two-game series of 489 propelled Joliet West in the SouthWest Suburban Blue dual at Town Country Lanes. Nick Bartholomew added a 258 game and 479 series for the Tigers.

Lyons 2,801, Plainfield North 2,775: Eric Maybach had a 234 game and 644 series over three games at Rolling Lanes in Countryside.

Girls Bowling

Lockport 1,977, Lincoln-Way East 1,677: Bri Zabierek had a two-game series of 450 to pace Lockport in the SouthWest Suburban Blue meet at Thunder Bowl. Courtney Fowler added a 276 game for the Porters. Sarah Schmidt led Lincoln-Way East with a 374 series.

Joliet West 1,689, Sandburg 1,686: Angie Palomar contributed a 220 game and 358 series to spark Joliet West in the SouthWest Suburban Blue dual at Orland Bowl.

Boys Swimming

Lincoln-Way Central 94, Lockport 88: Lincoln-Way Central won the SouthWest Suburban Blue meet in New Lenox.

Contributing: Josh Krockey