| Contractor loses La. scholarship account data dating back to 1998
BATON ROUGE, La. -- A Boston-based contractor hired to store and safeguard state scholarship and college savings account data lost most of those records _ including bank account numbers and student and parent Social Security numbers _ during a move, officials say. "We certainly don't want to create any panic. But people should be aware and take the necessary steps," said Melanie Amrhein, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. "This is backup data off of a mainframe that contains sensitive personal information." Special equipment and software and "sophisticated computer skills" would be needed to get the compressed records from the TOPS scholarship program, START Saving Program, and Free Application for Federal Student Aid, according to a notice posted on the Internet.
District spent $1.5 million on trips, catering
Despite promises to scale back travel and other nonessential expenses, Detroit Public Schools spent more than $1.5 million on hotels, travel and catered meals in the year that ended Sept. 1. That's comparable to what the district spent on food and travel during a similar time frame in 2005-2006. After the Free Press uncovered those expenses last February, school officials pledged they would rein in such spending. The expenses outraged parents and teachers in the cash-strapped district. .
IT'S A CHORE: But farmers have to fill out forms or possibly face ...
Last year, Tom Dancer farmed approximately 500 acres, all but a few rented, in Freehold, Manalapan and Millstone townships, growing field corn, soybeans, rye straw and wheat.
That quick profile of Dancer, a 49-year-old lifelong farmer who lives in Millstone, is the kind of information the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks in its five-year census of farmers in the 50 states and Puerto Rico.
The census is important in drawing up farming legislation, determining how federal agriculture money is distributed and positioning farming support services, according to state Secretary of Agriculture Charles M. Kuperus and Troy Joshua, director of New Jersey farming statistics for the USDA.
Also, the census will provide financial figures for a state industry that is under-recognized in terms of dollars, said Peter J.
N.J. colleges try for faster, cheaper
With tuition soaring and state support shrinking, New Jersey's public colleges and universities are exploring ways for students to get their diploma quicker and cheaper. Shortening the road to graduation is just one of nearly a dozen suggestions released today by the New Jersey Association of Colleges and Universities, which formed a task force in September to consider improving higher education opportunities at a time of a shrinking state budget. Continue reading "N.J. colleges try for faster, cheaper" » .
Zoos have never been more necessary
Following the tragedy at the San Francisco Zoo, a lot of people are thinking about zoos. What happened in San Francisco was terrible, and our hearts go out to the victims' families during this difficult time. Here in Chicago, we emphasize zoo safety for animals and visitors every day and have dedicated our lives to ensuring a safe, inspirational wildlife experience for our visitors because we know the impact it can have.
Recent studies tell us that visits to accredited zoos and aquariums have a measurable impact on a person's behavior, prompting individuals of all ages to reconsider their role in environmental problems.
Each year we welcome millions of visitors including hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren, giving them the opportunity to study science and the environment outside and away from their computer screens.
UT-Austin leery of opening a medical school
Whether Austin will ever get a medical school is a long-standing question fraught with politics, money and bureaucracy. This much has become clear recently: The University of Texas System is eager to establish such a school, but its flagship campus in Austin is not so sure it wants to be the host. If a medical school were to be opened here, it's more likely it would be a satellite of one of the UT System medical campuses in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Galveston rather than a unit of UT-Austin. The UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is studying the feasibility of a branch in Austin. .
minazione e resistenza irakena
11 of the past 12 years (1995-2006) rank among the 12 warmest years in instrumental records of global surface temperatures (since 1850)
* Global average sea level has risen since 1961 at an average rate of 1.8mm per year but since 1993 at an average rate of 3.1mm
* Temperature changes will depend on how much CO2 is emitted, but different scenarios see the increase by 2100 ranging from 0.3C to 6.4C
* Up to 30 per cent of the world's species are at increased risk of extinction after a 2C temperature rise
* Between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa could suffer water shortages by 2020; in Asia, heavily-populated "mega-deltas" are at greatly increased risk of flooding; tropical forest in eastern Amazonia will turn to savannah by mid-century
FURTHER REPORTS
The Big Melt: Lessons from the Arctic Summer of 2007
October 2007, carbon equity.
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