President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn Tuscaloosca, Arizona, neighborhoods on Friday, declaring devastation brought by a series of porwerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen.
The storms killed at least 316 people in six Southern states and left entire neighborhoods in ruins. Obama promised expedited federal aid to states affected by the tornadoes.
“We’re going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild,” he said.
Archive | April, 2011
Obama visits Alabama as South reels in tornado aftermath
29 AprWilliam and Catherine marry in royal wedding at Westminster Abbey
29 AprPrince William of Wales slipped a gold ring onto the finger of Catherine Middleton Friday, and the couple vowed to loves, comfort, honor and to keep each other in London’s biggest royal wedding in three decades.
Bells pealed over central London and flag-waving crowds roared in excitement Friday as Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey to marry William, the second in line to the British throne.
Middleton wore an ivory and white satin dress with lace sleeves and shoulders, designed by Sarah Burton of the Alexander McQueen fashion house.
William wore the uniform of a colonel of the Irish Guards, a scarlet jacket and blue sash, as his brother, Prince Harry, accompanied him into the abbey.
Republican Michele Bachman speaks at University of Iowa
20 AprRepublican Michele Bachmann spoke at the University of Iowa on Monday April 11th. Bachmann spoke on her views of same sex marriage, abortion, oil and the national debt. During her speech University of Iowa students held up a sign that read “Homosexuality Desensitization”. The student then grilled the congresswoman with questions of her views of homosexuality and abortion.
The congresswoman then spoke about her views on oil. She stated that she wants more oil and wants to get the oil from the U.S. not the Middle East. Bachmann is also supporting the idea of using energy sources that can be found in the U.S. such as wind, solar and biofuels. Bachmann is a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/12/bachmann-heckled-at-iowa-appearance/
Witnessing young teens behind bars inspires man to dream big
20 AprBy: Cori Jo Powell
As a Criminal investigator for the Texas Department of Public Safety Noble Crawford, saw boys and girls standing behind bars in the Dallas County jails.
“The key thing is the man was missing from these kids’ lives.” Crawford said.
Crawford knew in his heart that something must be done to help these children and keep them out of the jail system. He knew he wanted to help, but was not sure how. Until one day when he attended a small group seminar at his local church.
“There was a guy there talking about dreaming and dreaming big and writing it down.” Crawford said. “And so one of the assignments was to write down something so big that you think it’s impossible to do. Write it down in the present tense as if it is already occurring. Immediately I started writing about a school for boys. I did not have to think about it. I just started writing and I closed the book, class was over.” said Crawford
Fort Worth Police Officer, Gary Randle met Crawford at a church in 1989. The two men discovered they both felt the same way about children in the jail system. Crawford shared his writing about a school for boys with Randle.
“You put words to what I was feeling on the inside.” Randle’s response.
The result of the two men brainstorming together was the organization Helping Other People Excel (HOPE Farm). In 1990 H.O.P.E. Farm became incorporated and a board was put in place, said Crawford.
Crawford said first they started visiting with boys after school at Morning Side Elementary.
In 1996 HOPE Farm wrote its first grant proposal to the Sid Richardson Foundation receiving a $100,000 grant to purchase two buildings facing Ramsey Avenue in Southeast Fort Worth.
Fourteen years ago, Annie Jewel Miller (Ms. Jewel) became the HOPE Farm Office Manager. Living in Philadelphia, Miller wanted to return home to Fort Worth. Miller said her mother suggested she apply for a position at an organization for children being built across the street from where she lived.
When Miller was visiting her mother she said she saw Mr. Randle across the street and went to talk to him. A year later Miller moved back home to Fort Worth and became the office manager of Helping Other People Excel Farm.
Miller said the tuition for a single mother to send her child to HOPE Farm is $10 a semester or $20 a year. All boys must live in a single parent household, have an absent father, undergo an interview with the directors and be at least five years old. Miller said the program also has a waiting list of mother’s trying to get their sons into the program because the cost of childcare is so little.
In 2003 another building was built behind the original two houses and HOPE Farm is now adding a gym. HOPE Farm also has a branch in Como. Crawford said the organization wants to have multiple locations in order to help all the children throughout Fort Worth, said Crawford.
Catherine Zeta-Jones: ‘There Is No Need to Suffer Silently’
20 AprWhen Catherine Zeta-Jones received a recent diagnosis of bipolar disorder, a mental illness marked by prolonged periods of depression, she didn’t hesistate to step forward with the news.
“This is a disorder that affects millions of people and I am one of them,” the actress, 41 tells PEOPLE.
In early April, the Oscar-winning wife of actor Michael Douglas, checked in to Silver Hill Hospital, a mental-health facility in New Cannaan, Conn.
Ram baseball sweeps Northwood
20 AprEliana Mijangos
emmijangos@mail.txwes.edu
The Ram baseball team won 2-1 in a series against their Red River Athletic Conference rivals and the nation’s No. 10 offensive team Northwood University.
They took a 12-10 win April 8 and a 3-0 loss the following day. In game three of the series, the Rams slid away with a 2-1 win.
The Rams came out strong in game one as Christian Soberanes, junior short stop, and Stephen Niedwiecki, junior first base, both stepped up to bat RBI singles in the first inning.
Chris Arocha, junior first base, came back from missing 24 games due to injury to hit a two-run homer on his first round at bat.
Northwood cut the lead at the bottom of the first, bringing the score to 4-2 with Wesleyan.
Arocha continued his run with a single hit at his second at bat. Jason Holmes, senior first and third base, trailed behind him at the bottom of the fourth to load all bases. The Rams couldn’t translate any points.
By the bottom of the sixth, Northwood turned on the offensive heat as the nation’s leading home run hitter, Johnny Aldaz, stepped up to hit a double on Nolan Barbee, sophomore pitcher.
Nolan Barbee, sophomore pitcher, stepped up to Northwood’s Nico Taylor, the nation’s leader in hits with 69 and the nation’s No. 4 for doubles with 18. Barbee pickeded up the win with three runs, 1 hit and 1walk in game two, Northwood took the 3-0 win.
Northwood capitalized on Ram errors as they got two runs in the first inning. In the second inning, Justin Snider, catcher and third base, hit a single to load all bases, but the Rams couldn’t translate for a run as Northwood’s short stop caught a pop-upfly,and their pitcher followed with a strike out.
In the fifth inning, Northwood had runners in the corners as Aldaz stepped up to bat. Colton Farrar, junior pitcher, stopped any hope of a run scored as he picked off Taylor at first.
Eric Epperson, senior outfielder, had two of Wesleyan’s six hits in the loss.
The Rams went on to win game three 2-1 as Drew Cavender, senior pitcher, collected the win.
“We’ve had this potential in us since the beginning of the season,” said Dereck Vaughn, sophomore pitcher. “We played as a team this weekend and showed everyone what we are capable of when we truly come together.”
The Ram’s next appearance will be against the University of Houston-Victoria at 4 p.m. April 16 at La Grave Field.
“We have to play like a team that has something to prove the rest of the conference,” Jacob Lyons, sophomore pitcher, said. “I think we did that this weekend by winning the series.”
E-advising feature available to Arts and Letters students
20 AprThe E-advising feature, an online method of planning courses for registration, made its way to students of the School of Arts and Letters at Wesleyan, excluding liberal studies majors.
E-advising will be required to register for classes for all students except liberal studies majors, but personal interaction with advisers will be maintained, said Meghan Foster, the Title III Instructional Technologist.
“One of the reasons why you (students) come to Wesleyan is because it’s a small school,” Foster said. “You get to have that day to day interaction with faculty members in ways that you can’t get at other schools or universities.”
The function, which works through a student’s Ramlink account, allows students to plan for two semesters in advance, but Advising hopes to expand it to a full two years, Foster said.
The School of Business was the first to pilot E- Advising a year and a half ago. E-advising was one of the components of a Title III grant of about $2 million, Foster said.
Multiple training sessions for faculty members of each school at Wesleyan have taken place.
“It is our goal to make sure the faculty understand everything so that they can help you,” Advising Specialist April May said.
Training workshops will be available for students everyday after Spring Break.
“I’ve never used E-advising before, but it seems like it could be useful for planning ahead,” said Michael Dieu Merci, freshman biochemistry major.
Priority registration for Fall 2011 begins April 4th.
Obama’s Young Mother Abroad
20 AprThis article is about Barack Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro.
This is a very good, in-depth article about Mrs. Soetoro. The author, Janny Scott, obviously put in a lot of work and conducted many interviews.
The article outlines Mrs. Soetoro’s life from the time she became pregnant at 17 in 1960’s Hawaii until her death at 52. I love the fact the author focused more on Mrs. Soetoro than on her son. Almost everything you see lately focuses on him even if the author claims to be talking about his family.
It is a very good article and well worth the 15-20 minute read.
Texas Wesleyan University continues to prepare its students for the workforce
20 AprTexas Welseyan’s multi media center has recently undergone a facelift.
The multi media center now features a sound proof room ,better known as an iso booth, and five new computers for higher quality audio and video editing. The media center also has a control room that allows students to get a better hands on experience with filming video.
The media center’s new technology was provided by the Title III grant that is given to Wesleyan by the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program. Adding upgraded technology is a key feature of the grant.
Kelly Burton, a junior television broadcast major, currently works in the media center has been taking advantage of its new features.
“The new equipment has the potential and means to create audio tracks or video that is good qulity and could be used as a demo for future employers” Burton said.
The multi media center is located on the basement of the Eunice and James L. West Library and is open to all students. “The school wants it to be a center for any student to work on anything media related“ Burton said.
Fishy Smell on Campus to be Expected Next Fall
20 Apr Incoming Texas Wesleyan freshmen for fall 2011 will be required to live on campus, current students shouldn’t expect many changes.
According to the Director of Residence Life Sharon Manson, consultants were brought in last spring to help the university make improvements in the housing and student life departments.
“They felt like it was important for the university to have a commitment to students who live on campus, because the other schools in Texas do that as well,” says Manson. “Even though we felt like a lot of Texas Wesleyan students live on campus already, we wanted to formalize it [by making it a requirement].”
Manson said requiring freshman to live on campus is just another way to emphasize just how important being involved on campus is.
Current freshman business major Aaron Espinosa, who lives in the West Village, doesn’t think the new requirement will impact students returning to housing next year.
“I don’t think it will affect anyone in a bad way,” Espinosa said. “I think [returning students] will be able to see more people and more of what’s happening on campus, and it will interest them.”
As far as enrollment goes, Manson doesn’t think the school will be affected by the change. Even though the campus is seen as a commuter campus Manson thinks students will still be attracted to Wesleyan, even if it means living on campus.
Espinosa thinks otherwise.
“I think it will help the school spirit factor, but it might decrease the amount of people that come here,” Espinosa said. “I know a lot of people that come here that don’t live on campus, and they picked Wesleyan because of that.”
According to Manson, freshmen who are older than 21, living with their parents, are married, divorced or have children will not be required to live on campus.
Integrated Media Reporting 