| A long-kept Md. secret: interest-free college loans
Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible. There's no age limit. Recipients range from age 17 to 61. To qualify for a loan, you must apply for federal financial aid. You need to have a grade-point average of at least 2.0 on a scale of 4. And you must have a co-signer for the loan so that if you don't repay it, the co-signer would be on the hook. Central Scholarship will begin accepting applications for the 2008-2009 academic year in January. The deadline is May 31. For more details check out the nonprofit's Web site at www.centralsb.org. .
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.
Danes seek sun, cultural ties to U.S. Virgin Islands
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands — The Danish owned these tropical islands for centuries, but about the only people speaking their language here these days are tourists. History buffs and sun-seekers are flocking here from Denmark, coming in greater numbers than their colonial forebears ever did as the tiny Scandinavian country revives cultural ties with its old Caribbean possession. As Danes rediscover the one-time trading hub as a beach haven, some find themselves asking why their government sold the islands to the United States in 1917. "It was a mistake," joked Karen Larsen, a 60-year-old teacher from Blokhus, Denmark, as she relaxed at a seaside hotel after taking a Danish-language tour through the lush mountain greenery and colonial architecture of St.
Hand-me-down firetruck proves to be a lifesaver
Fire Chief Dennis Massey is proud of the volunteer fire department's 1959 Chevy Spartan firetruck. Massey has been a part of the Village of Palisades firefighting force almost since the beginning in 1996. The all-volunteer department uses hand-me-downs and what they can get on a small budget. .
Pitchin’ a Tent
Tent State University Tent State U. at Rutgers U. Related stories Tennessee Reconsiders Tilt to Merit Aid, Dec. 14 A College-Friendly Take on Rising Prices, Nov. 2 Closing the College Achievement Gap, Oct. 31 Privacy and Politics, Oct. 10 State Student Aid Spending Up 7%, July 10 .
Lobbyists advise anti-lobbyist
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Republican Mitt Romney said Thursday he could govern in the country's best interest because "I don't have lobbyists running my campaign," although Washington insiders are on his senior staff and registered lobbyists are top advisers. One of them, Ron Kaufman, chairman of the Washington-based Dutko Group, regularly sits across the aisle from Romney on his campaign plane, participates in debate strategy sessions and just last week accompanied Romney to a lunch in Myrtle Beach with Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. Another adviser, former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., is chairman of Romney's policy committee. He also is chief executive officer of Clark & Weinstock, and his corporate biography says he "provides strategic advice to institutions with matters before the legislative and executive branches of the federal government." "I think it's time for Washington – Republican and Democrat – to have a leader who will fight to make sure we resolve the issues rather than continuously look for partisan opportunity for score-settling and for opportunities to link closer to lobbyists," Romney said during a news conference.
Hematech sets sights on 2015
The founder of a Sioux Falls-based biotechnology firm hopes the biotechnology used to clone two cows can someday be used to manufacture and develop drugs to treat everything from staph infections to Alzheimer's disease.
"We hope by 2015 to have our initial revenue, and by 2020, we hope to be an established company with substantial development," said founder and president Jim Robl. "We would like to become a major biotechnology company with multibillion dollars a year in revenue. We feel with the products we are developing there are multiple blockbuster applications."
Robl offered his lofty comments after a news conference Thursday to celebrated the 10th birthdays this month of two cloned steers, Charlie and George. The two animals led to the creation of Hematech.
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