Marketing & Communications: Today's News
|
Back to Today's news
Today's News for December 6, 2005System NewsState News National News Area students battle brains at WKCTC 12/6/2005 Paducah Sun More than 60 high school students will match wits Wednesday in the President's Academic Cup Competition at West Kentucky Community and Technical College. After students participate in written assessments in math, science, social studies, language arts, and arts and humanities, teams will compete in three matches to try to advance to the semifinals. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. in Rosenthal Hall Room 111. Participating high schools include Reidland, Paducah Tilghman, Graves County, Hickman County, St. Mary, Caldwell County, Murray, Lone Oak, Calloway County, Carlisle County and Marshall County. The competition is sponsored by the Paducah Junior College Foundation Inc. and the West Kentucky Academic Association. For more information, contact Gary Goodaker at 534-3113. Better funding for community colleges high on list Writer: Lori Harrison 12/6/2005 Madisonville Messenger Additional funding for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System operating budget ranks high on the legislative wish list presented Monday at Madisonville Community College. KCTCS is seeking $227.3 million in benchmark funding in 2006-07 and $246.9 million the next year from the General Assembly. "That represents a little over a 9 percent increase over where we are today," Dr. Michael B. McCall, KCTCS president, said during the breakfast meeting on the stage at Glema Mahr Center for the Arts. The audience included local leaders and at least three state lawmakers. KCTCS received about $79 million less this year than comparable, "benchmark" colleges in other states, McCall said. The two-year operating budget request, which is included in recommendations compiled by the Council on Postsecondary Education, will close the gap but not eliminate it. Officials hope to obtain enough funding over the next four years to bring the system up to comparable institutions in other states. If the request is fully funded, MCC's operating budget will go from $24.7 million now to $27.2 million in 2007-08. That includes an additional $1.8 million in benchmark funds over the biennium. "The name of the game is quality, expansion of programs and faculty, and not operate on bare bones," said Dr. Judy Rhoads, MCC president. The General Assembly approved increased funding for higher education earlier this year. However, this followed three rounds of cuts. These cuts left operating expenses at "bare bones" levels, Rhoads said. If the request goes through, MCC would increase operating expenses by 25 percent and add full-time faculty members in Spanish, art, math and technical fields, she said. "We're going to be able to do a lot more, provide more services," Rhoads said. The KCTCS legislative agenda also seeks funding for special initiatives, such as the University Center of the Mountains and developing colleges, and capital projects. KCTCS has 41 projects on its capital budget request, however only three have been included in the CPE's recommendation to the legislature. None of the recommended projects are at MCC. KCTCS has placed $3.6 million in renovations to the John Gray Building on MCC's north campus as No. 10 on its list. It has also requested $7.6 million for the second phase of construction at the Muhlenberg campus, ranking that at No. 14. The MCC session is among a series of similar meetings on KCTCS campuses during the next two weeks. KCTCS faces stiff competition for funding as organizations across the state ready their legislative requests. While the state had $200 million in excess funds while setting the state budget earlier this year, deficits are projected as soon as 2007-08, said state Rep. Jim Gooch. Some funds need to be restored to the budget, such as $90 million for the high-risk health insurance program and money to cover state employees retirement, he said, plus lawmakers must decide how to handle the Medicaid shortfall. "We need more monies," Gooch said. "That's a real dilemma. Having said that, there are things, and I believe education is one, that are investments. It's a fact that a person's earning potential is directly proportional to their educational level. "As we train people, we get that money back," he said. State Sen. Jerry Rhoads -- Dr. Rhoads' husband -- predicted a tough session as lawmakers deal with the Medicaid shortfall. However, he said he thinks a budget will be approved on time and in a bipartisan manner. "We lag behind in higher education funding," he said. "I think Dr. McCall's presentation illustrated, again, the inadequate funding that we've provided." McCall, for his part, is positive about the system's chances for funding. "I remain optimistic," he said. "What we need to do is continue the good thing set out in 1997 (in the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act). Higher education has proven that the better educated a person is, the more they can contribute to our state." Faculty Achievements 12/5/2005 Community College Week Mathematics professor Diane Adams of Hazard Community & Technical College in Hazard, Ky., has been named the Developmental Educator of the Year by the Kentucky Association for Developmental Education. Adams has previously won the John Brown Outstanding Faculty Award. Hurricane victims now training for nursing jobs to help others Writer: GINA KINSLOW 12/3/2005 Glasgow Daily Times Stevie and Sandra Leavell are glad to be in Kentucky. The couple recently relocated to Fountain Run after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. The Leavells lived in Mississippi, but were working in New Orleans when they learned the hurricane was headed in their direction. They decided to head home, but the storm caught up with them. High winds ranging from 165 to 175 mph were causing the Seven Mile Bridge on Interstate 10 to sway. The couple drove across the bridge in the blinding rain and wind, and shortly after crossing it a section of the bridge collapsed. "That was so scary," Sandra said. "You couldn't even see the person in front of you." The Leavells lost everything to the hurricane. They lived in a shelter for five days before a group of people from south central Kentucky and northern Tennessee came to their aid. The group, which was composed of people from various churches in the Lafayette, Tenn. area, traveled to Mississippi and brought several hurricane victims back with them. When Jeff and Melinda Downing of Fountain Run learned hurricane victims would be coming to the area, they, too, decided they also wanted to help and agreed to donate housing. "Jeff had just decided that we had a house empty and he had heard them talking about it on the radio, so he called my friend, who is a preacher in Lafayette, about the house and asked if they wanted to stay there," she said. Among the 12 families who came back with the church group were the Leavells, who accepted the Downing's offer and moved to Fountain Run. It didn't take them long to decide they wanted to make south central Kentucky their new home. "I love it here," Sandra said. "It's so beautiful." Shortly after arriving in south central Kentucky, the Leavells, who are in their early 40s, began looking for work in the Allen County area, as well as in Franklin and Bowling Green. Stevie had worked in construction and Sandra had sat with the elderly before the hurricane, but after witnessing Hurricane Katrina's aftermath they've decided to seek medical careers. "I wanted to get into a new line of work," Stevie said. "At my age, I needed to get into something less physically demanding and something with a cleaner work environment. We both wanted to get into jobs helping others. If you've seen the disaster we've seen, you'd want to help others, too." It was during his search for work that Stevie learned about Bowling Green Technical College's nurse aid training program in Glasgow. He eventually spoke with Dr. James Isenberg, who told him about Bowling Green Technical College's Operation Rebuilding Lives Program. Operation Rebuilding Lives was created shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Through the program, Hurricane Katrina victims can receive training, Isenberg said. After learning about the Leavells' situation, Bowling Green Technical College waived tuition for the couple to attend nurse aid training. The Salvation Army in Bowling Green joined in and issued a voucher to cover the cost of the couple's textbooks and their state nurse aid testing fee. "They came the first night of class and we signed them up," Isenberg said. After becoming nurse aids, the Leavells hope to further their education. Stevie is considering a career as a either a licensed practical nurse or an X-ray technical, while Sandra is looking into becoming a registered nurse. The couple plans to eventually relocate to Bowling Green and will send for their children once they are settled. "We pray that we will never have to go through a storm like that again," Sandra said. "We are on our way to a new life." State almanac revival introduced 12/6/2005 Madisonville Messenger The revival of the Kentucky Almanac was introduced to Madisonville Monday during a news conference and book signing. Dr. Michael B. McCall, Kentucky Community and Technical College System president, signed copies of "Clark's Kentucky Almanac and Book of Facts 2006" after a legislative briefing at Madisonville Community College. He wrote an essay on colleges and universities that is included in the book. "In 1788, we had our very first almanac," said Florence Huffman, president of the Clark Group. The almanac was published through 1856. The 784-page book is a collection of facts on Kentucky's history, notable personalities, vital statistics, sports, government, natural resources, agriculture, business, the arts and cultural attractions. The foreword was written by the late historian laureate Thomas D. Clark. Others speaking during the news conference were McCall and Madisonville Mayor Karen Cunningham. The soft-cover almanac is available for $19.95 at the MCC Bookstore, Wal-Mart, Kroger and other bookstores. Angling for the Top 20 12/6/2005 Inside Higher Education In 1997, political leaders in Kentucky embraced a campaign to turn the state's flagship campus, the University of Kentucky, into one of the top 20 public research universities in the country by 2020. Legislators and the governor at the time, Paul Patton, argued that the state could not transform its economy and better educate its citizens without significantly strengthening the research and education enterprise at its leading university. Skeptics scoffed, noting that dozens of universities covet spots in the top 20, when, as the name suggests, it only has room for 20. On Monday, officials at the University of Kentucky unveiled a "Top 20 Business Plan," in which they sought both to measure the progress the university has made toward that goal so far and lay out exactly what would be necessary, financially, to ultimately achieve it. The analysis suggests that the university faces a steep climb -- but that's no reason not to make the effort, says Kentucky's president, Lee T. Todd Jr. "We're quite aware of the competition -- I like to say in my speeches that I haven't gotten a single letter from a president of a top 20 university saying they want to drop out," Todd says. "But the state of Kentucky needs something like this to happen in a desperate way, and I'm confident that the state will be far better off if we're shooting for this goal than if we're not." The sorry statistics that prompted Kentucky politicians to adopt a sweeping reorganization of the state's higher education system nearly a decade ago have changed little. Today, 19 percent of Kentuckians have at least a bachelor's degree; the national average is 27 percent. The poverty rate is 3.4 percent higher than the national average. The state ranks 47th in workforce education, 42nd in high-tech jobs and 47th in the number of scientists and engineers. (The figures look even worse, the new report shows, compared to the states that have public research universities in the top 20 -- California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.) The legislative "compact" that aimed to set the University of Kentucky on its ascent was contentious, because it engaged in a form of addition by subtraction: The university could not become a top-ranked comprehensive research university, lawmakers and the governor reasoned, if it also continued to be responsible for operating the state's community and technical colleges. So in exchange for severing the community and technical colleges from the university (and creating a new system for them), the General Assembly committed to making available funds to move the flagship into the nation's top tier. Unfortunately, says Todd, only half of that "quid pro quo" has been achieved so far. "The 'quid' happened -- the community colleges are gone," the president says, adding that there has been relatively little in the way of "quo," as tight state finances have limited new state spending and forced some budget cuts on the university in recent years. University officials have fallen short, too, Todd says, by failing to document exactly what is needed to get where it wants to go. Before becoming Kentucky's president in 2001 (and after nearly a decade on Kentucky's faculty), Todd spent the bulk of his career starting and running companies with private investment funds, and says that that time influenced his approach. "When I was in startup mode, trying to raise money from venture capitalists, if I didn't have a plan, I knew I shouldn't bother going in the door," he says. "Everybody's trying to become a top 20 university, but we don't tend to see it spelled out very clearly what that means and how they want to get there. That's what we've tried to do." To assess where Kentucky needs to go, university leaders sought to figure out how far it has come so far. To do that, they created a nine-point index (based on previous work done by the Association of American Universities, the University of Florida's Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance, and others) designed to rank 88 public research institutions, which includes such things as student faculty ratio and graduation rates, doctorates granted, faculty awards and citations, and receipt of research funds. By that measure, Kentucky has risen to 35th from 40th in the eight years since legislators passed the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act. The five institutions it surpassed during that time, according to the university's composite index, were the University of Illinois at Chicago, Iowa State University, and the Universities of Missouri at Columbia, Delaware and Cincinnati, in places 36 through 40. Next up on the ladder, in places 31 through 34, are the University of Utah, Virginia Tech, the University of California at Santa Barbara and Indiana University. Whether that's meaningful movement depends on one's view. Travis Reindl, director of state policy analysis and assistant to the president at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, likens the situation to running a marathon. "When you're training for a marathon, your improvement when you first start out is in minutes, but the further along you go, it's in seconds, as you reach a point of more marginal gain," says Reindl. "In this case, the first 5 slots, the first 10 slots, might be pretty easy to knock off, but the next 5 or 10 could be extremely difficult." Todd uses a different analogy, which, not surprisingly, offers a rosier assessent. Citing Jim Collins's Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap, and Others Don't, he talks about how difficult it is to get a flywheel (which produces and stores angular momentum) moving at the start, but how once it's moving, the pace tends to pick up. "We had to get this concept going in the state at a time when we've had budget cuts of $73 million," Todd says. "The fact that we've moved up five slots in that period of time says that we've got the flywheel moving, and with the right investment, we can keep it moving." The "right" investment is no small amount. The university is essentially proposing its own quid pro quo: Over the next 15 years, it plans to increase enrollment by 7,000, to 34,000; boost its undergraduate graduation rate by 12 percentage points, to 72 percent; add 625 faculty members, to a total of 2,500; and more than double its research expenditures, by $470 million to a total of $768 million. The plan commits the university itself to raising about 40 percent of the $1.1 billion in total funds needed to reach those goals, through a mix of fund raising, cost savings and increased funds from federal and other kinds of research. But the Kentucky plan calls for significant increases in money from the state's general fund and from tuition, counting on average annual increases of 5.8 percent in state appropriations and tuition that would rise by 9 percent a year through 2012 and then 4 percent a year between then and 2020. The current public policy climate, in which state funds are tight and politicians and the public are highly critical of big tuition increases, creates questions about the realism of Kentucky's plan, says Reindl of the state college association, as well as the difficulty of sustaining the momentum if the university is indeed able to move up the ranks. "It's audacious anmd appealing to have big goal like hitting the top 20 by 2020, and I don't think anybody would question that striving to move up is a good thing," he says. "The fundamental question for legislators and the governor is, what are the tradeoffs? How does that square with where the state sees itself going? There may be other parts of the state's higher education objectives that pursuing a top 20 research university could really crowd out." Thomas Layzell, president of Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education, the statewide college coordinating board, notes that the University of Kentucky's push for the top 20 is but one part of the state's larger higher education plan. The council's budget request to the General Assembly this year more or less matches what's called for in the university's new business plan, and the panel is similarly seeking increases for other institutions and other priorities. He acknowledges, though, that "every dollar that somebody gets is another dollar that somebody else doesn't, and that legislators may find it difficult to meet the University of Kentucky's needs and all those of the other institutions in the state, too. "It'll be a very delicate balancing act, to say the least," Layzell says. But Layzell agrees with Todd's view that politicians and taxpayers can't decide how much they're spend on improving the state's flagship university unless they know exactly how much it will cost and what their money will buy -- which Kentucky officials have now given them. "We are going to ask Kentuckians to invest in their flagship university as they never have before," Todd said in a memo to trustees about the business plan. "I don't blame those across campus and across Kentucky who are skeptical. Skepticism is a product of experience. And the recent period of lean budgets makes it hard to have confidence in our chances. But if we do not put a specific statement of cost in front of the Governor and the members of the General Assembly, we cannot blame them for giving us the resources we need." Keeping the brains in the Bluegrass Writer: John Stamper and Linda Blackford 12/4/2005 Lexington Herald-Leader Scott Heid was the kind of student who signaled a brighter future for Kentucky -- until he graduated and moved to Ohio. For more than 20 years, Heid attended some of the most prestigious public and private schools in the state, soaking up knowledge from highly paid scientists and culturing cancer cells in multimillion-dollar labs. By the time he finished graduate school at the University of Kentucky in 2000, the onetime Governor's Scholar had a doctorate in pharmacology and a masters in toxicology. But Heid couldn't find a company in Kentucky that needed someone with his hard-earned skills. He now lives in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, where he works as a senior toxicologist at Procter & Gamble. "I would have loved to stay in the state," said Heid, who was born in Boyd County and grew up in Louisville. "I'm a Kentucky boy through and through ... and now my intellectual capacity is being used in the state of Ohio." Heid's story is all too common in the state, where officials only recently began serious efforts to start or recruit technology-driven companies that can use the state's brightest minds. Of the $1.8 billion spent on business subsidies and incentives by the Cabinet for Economic Development over the past quarter century, less than five percent has gone to high-tech initiatives. It wasn't until 2000 that legislators even established a program to bolster the state's fledgling knowledge-based economy. Since then, the cabinet has spent about $71 million on buildings, business incubators and high-tech start-up companies through its Department for Commercialization and Innovation (DCI). Although the department's efforts have already produced several small successes, national rankings suggest that Kentucky's high-tech efforts aren't keeping pace with other states. The state dropped from 46th in 2002 to 48th in 2004 on the Milken Institute's State Technology and Science Index, an analysis by the respected California think tank. "We're making improvement, but certainly it's not sufficient to be globally competitive," said Kris Kimel, president of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. (KSTC), a non-profit that has helped manage some of DCI's investments. "Incremental improvements will never get us to the point of a much more prosperous life for a majority of citizens." Without jobs to anchor UK graduates in Lexington, the metro area's population of young, single, college-educated people declined by 13 percent between 1995 and 2000, according to a 2003 U.S. Census Bureau report. Heid and his mentor, UK associate professor Hollie Swanson, could think of only one of his classmates who remained in Kentucky. "I don't think the state is truly reaping the benefit of these kids they're churning out because many of them are going elsewhere," said Heid, 32. "It's time for the state to grow and develop some industry to catch up with the great academic stuff that's going on at UK and U of L." Cabinet Secretary Marvin E. "Gene" Strong says that most incentives in the last 25 years have gone to businesses with manufacturing or low-tech jobs because those were the types of companies interested in Kentucky. "We can only attract the kinds of businesses here that we have the work force to support," Strong said. Still, Strong said his cabinet is adapting to the changing economy. Almost all new growth initiatives at the cabinet in the next two years will relate to entrepreneurship and high-tech development, he said. The cabinet is requesting that legislators increase DCI's budget -- about $8.2 million this fiscal year -- by $6.6 million next year and $11.5 million the following year. This summer, Gov. Ernie Fletcher also announced that he will consider asking legislators to approve an array of new incentive programs to help lure the high-paying jobs offered by biotechnology and life-science companies. If fully funded by the legislature, the proposals would cost more than $200 million. However, there are questions about how efficiently the state has spent some of the money already earmarked for high-tech development. More than $14 million has gone to construct or purchase buildings, including $4 million for a largely vacant shopping mall in Bowling Green. A "legitimate argument" can be made against some of DCI's investments, said Richard Furst, a former dean of UK's Gatton College of Business and Economics, who prepared an analysis of DCI's spending earlier this year for Strong. "The numerous programs funded over the last two to three years need to be much more closely monitored and their efforts integrated," Furst wrote in his report. He also recommended changes "that will lead to a more rational decision-making process." The shopping mall in Bowling Green is now home to Big Lots, Dollar General and Western Kentucky University's Center for Research and Development. WKU bought the old Bowling Green mall in 2001 after legislators earmarked money for the project, but the facility soon ran into financial trouble. To keep the building open, documents indicate that the cabinet allowed WKU to lease about 20 percent of the building in 2002 to an anchor tenant "that is neither technology-driven nor research-intensive, but would, by way of the additional revenue provided, support the Center and its purpose." A data-processing firm soon moved in and began paying annual rent of $75,400. The state has since established a high-tech business incubator in the building and helped equip research space for WKU. Companies in the business incubator have created 32 jobs, said Deborah Clayton, who was named commissioner of DCI this summer. In all, there are 205 non-retail jobs at the center. "When you look at that, it's kind of a slam dunk," Clayton said. DCI, which until last year was called the Office for the New Economy, has also helped fund four other high-tech business incubators across the state. But Lexington, home to the state's flagship research university, didn't get one. Although the state was willing to put $500,000 into a proposal for a Lexington incubator, the project fell through after estimates to renovate the proposed downtown location increased from $3.1 million to $5 million. "It's kind of ironic that we've built and funded incubators in all the areas of the state except the area with all the research," Furst said. A new incubator proposal for Lexington is now under consideration, Clayton said. Using universities Despite his criticisms, Furst is a big believer in upping DCI's funding. He calls the program a "big success," noting that more has happened in the last three years to encourage commercialization of university research "than the previous 20 combined." One of DCI's highly touted programs is a statewide network of Innovation and Commercialization Centers, which focus on helping university scientists and entrepreneurs hone their ideas into innovation-driven businesses that private investors will fund. "The commercialization centers that Kentucky has set up in the last couple of years are a really good example of one of the big trends we've seen, which is a focus on encouraging entrepreneurship and really providing intensive assistance to start-up companies," said Dan Berglund, president of the State Science and Technology Institute, a non-profit that encourages high-tech development. DCI has invested about $6 million to help operate the centers, which are managed by Kimel's KSTC, while the Council on Postsecondary Education has provided about $7 million to invest in more than 100 fledgling companies. Those companies have since created 842 jobs with an average annual salary of $56,802, according to KSTC data. Private investors have plowed $78 million into the start-ups. Unlike most of the state's other corporate subsidy programs, Kentucky owns a portion of many businesses that KSTC has helped support. So far, KSTC has been able to cash in on its position in two companies, bringing the state $394,000 for future investment in other ventures. It holds ownership positions in another 27 start-ups. While national experts praise Kentucky's recent efforts, they also suggest that the state's late start leaves a decade or more of expensive work still to be completed before most high-tech companies would consider locating or staying in the state. In the meantime, voters in at least half a dozen other states have approved spending far more -- up to $3 billion -- to nurture high-paying jobs for their highly educated work forces. "The smart states are trying to build around the research strengths of their universities," said Walt Plosila, a vice president of Battelle, a global research and development company. "Today, there is a lot more understanding that universities are part of economic development." A dog named Derby As Kentucky tries to catch up with the rest of the nation, Scott Heid puts down roots in Ohio. He's now part of P&G's Future Works team, known as an "innovation engine" for the consumer products giant. On Sundays, he teaches a class for young couples at nearby Lakota Christian Church. His wife, Stephanie, who grew up near Wilmore and has a masters degree from UK, is a stay-at-home mom who takes care of three daughters, ages 4, 2 and 7 months. Heid now doubts that Kentucky will ever again be home for his family. But they have named their golden retriever Derby. "The window for me is probably gone," he said. "I just hope that there will be more industry there in 5 or 10 years to provide opportunities for graduates coming out then." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is one in an occasional series of stories looking at Kentucky's economic development programs, their costs and benefits. Today's highlights the lack of jobs for highly educated people. Knox goes high-tech with new digital range Writer: Erica Walsh 12/4/2005 Elizabethtown News-Enterprise FORT KNOX - The Army's first digital training range is up and running. The Wilcox Digital Multi-Purpose Training Range opened Friday at Fort Knox. Using the Army's latest range technology, visitors were able to watch a tank crew fire at targets in the field through a digital link to the tank itself. A black and white video feed showed the crew driving on the range, locating a target, loading the gun and firing. Microphones also captured the crew's activity inside the tank. Seconds after the gun was fired, a boom from the blast echoed throughout the building. "The whole purpose of this range is to improve the learning process," Wilcox range manager Stuart Holder said. Wilcox features state-of-the-art technology that allow instructors in the range's operation center to view what is happening inside each vehicle in the field through digital links. "Instructors will be able to reinforce things they do well and correct the things that don't go so well," Holder said. Voice and data communications link targets to the command center and mounted cameras relay video. At about four miles, the range is the longest on Fort Knox. The course features two roads that have six battle positions each and more than 150 infantry and armor targets. "The range by itself is absolutely a very good range," Holder said. "This system makes it absolutely the best range in the world." Brig. Gen. Albert Bryant Jr., the post's deputy commanding general, said Wilcox Range will continue to serve a purpose even after the post's realignment. "This facility will ensure that we remain the premier training ground for pre- and post-BRAC actions," Bryant said. "We're not building a white elephant." In addition to tanks, the range can also be used by helicopters, Bradley and Stryker vehicles and infantry units. Wilcox also can be used for live-fire events, combined arms, infantry, artillery and aircraft operations, special operations and convoy operations. Construction began on the $34 million project in 2002. Kentucky's Congressional delegation was instrumental in obtaining funding for the range, Bryant said. Fort Knox continues to be a vital part of the Army, U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Cecilia, said. Wilcox Range will ensure the post stays vital and will increase the Army's strength by providing necessary training. "The training that goes on here will continue to go on here," Lewis said. "This range, that will prepare our soldiers ... means so much to our country and the Army of the 21st century." Lexington Wins Bid For World Equestrian Games 12/6/2005 WKYT-TV Channel 27 MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - The International Equestrian Federation on Tuesday awarded its coveted 2010 games to Lexington, Ky. - the first time the World Equestrian Games will be held outside Europe. There were no immediate details on the vote by the Switzerland-based federation, which met in the Bahraini capital. The 2010 World Equestrian Games, first held in 1990 in Stockholm, will be the largest sporting event ever to be held in Kentucky - larger even than the Kentucky Derby. Officials at the Kentucky Horse Park, where the games will take place, have projected attendance at more than 300,000 during a two-week period, with 800 athletes from between 40 and 50 countries competing. Kentucky Horse Park executive director John Nicholson said the games would generate $100 million. "The operating budget for the games will be about $33 million," Nicholson said. The games include seven disciplines - show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining. METTLE TO THE PEDAL: Joe Bowen inspires kids, grownups on his ride Writer: Peter Mathews 12/3/2005 Lexington Herald-Leader STANTON - If an ordinary person rode a bicycle across the country, the route would probably be a straight line. If you are Joe Bowen, and you once walked from California to Kentucky on stilts, straight lines will not do. Bowen recently came home to Powell County after 9,937 miles on the road. The retired construction worker made the trip to honor his literary heroes and to help schoolchildren in Eastern Kentucky, and because Joe Bowen is a man who acts on his dreams. In 1967, Bowen was 24 and getting ready to leave the Air Force. His friends were being sent to fight in Vietnam. Bowen thought about a book that had inspired him, by a writer who wanted to reconnect with America. It was John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. At a time when nobody was riding a bike across the country, Bowen set out from Lompoc, Calif., with "$43.85 and a whole lot of faith," he said in an interview this week. He worked odd jobs to finance his 14,000-mile trip home. It took him up mountains, through deserts, past national landmarks -- all the things he'd have missed on a straight-line course. He rode through Little Rock, Ark., shortly after the Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated, and watched neighborhoods burn. He met Elvis Presley and George Wallace, and many ordinary Americans whose kindness overwhelmed him. This year he turned 62. It was time to see how things along the route have changed. "I'd rather him be a regular guy, come home at 5," said Bowen's wife, Barbara. "But on the other hand, it's just something he's got to do. He's kind of programmed different." Before he left Lompoc this past April, Bowen warmed up with a 750-mile ride from Paducah to Red River Gorge. In Frankfort, Gov. Ernie Fletcher presented him with the state's first "Unbridled Spirit" Award. Bowen rode with family and friends at times, but mostly he was alone with his bike, named Rocinante. That was the name of Steinbeck's camper in Travels With Charley and, before that, Don Quixote's horse. He saw an America that is noticeably more crowded, with 98 million more people. Where he once saw sturdy structures in logically planned towns, he now sees a culture in a hurry: Empty former Wal-Marts with acres of asphalt. Hastily constructed homes and businesses that can't withstand hurricanes or tornadoes. "The old structures are still there. That baby you put up with toothpicks, it's gone," he said. "We are a throwaway society, buddy, and I don't know if we can keep on doing it." On a Web site that chronicled his trip, he says he refused to stop in Deadwood, S.D., because it has become a "miniature Las Vegas." But he saw much that inspired him, too. He met one of his heroes, former President Jimmy Carter, and was amazed by what a regular guy he is. Bowen got to talk to him about Powell County and kids. As the sun rose over a reservation in southeastern Arizona, he watched a coming-of-age ceremony for an Apache girl. The ceremony, called Na'ii'ees, included hours of music and dancing, and was conducted entirely in the Apache language. He was in Alabama when he learned that civil rights icon Rosa Parks had died. He watched as horses drew her hearse to St. Paul's AME church in Montgomery. Bowen had met Parks in 1986, when they both received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Bowen received his for his charitable work. He managed to find many of the people who had befriended him on the 1967 trip, some of whom he had had no contact with since then. He saw few hitchhikers this time but many more people on bicycles, some of them riding great distances, too. He meandered so much that on Sept. 17, after having ridden 6,000 miles through 12 states and two Canadian provinces, he was back in California, only about 400 miles from his starting point. Nearly everywhere, he encountered kindness: restaurant owners who wouldn't take his money, or new friends who put him up for the night. "The American people are still solid. They are still real and they still care about each other," he said. There was time for romance, too. Bowen had met Barbara on his first bicycle trip in 1967, when she was the wife of a close friend. In the intervening years, she was widowed and he was divorced. In September, they got married. There were no disasters, but Bowen did have a close call at Kootenai National Park in British Columbia, the prettiest place he visited. "I ate lunch with a black bear," he said. "I didn't mean to. It scared the crap out of me." Bowen was eating peaches when a truck driver stopped to warn him that the bear was across the road, eating dandelions. The man kept his truck between Bowen and the bear while Bowen quickly pedaled off. Bowen, a retired construction worker, meets a visitor at a Stanton restaurant wearing a brown T-shirt that pictures a bicycle with the word, "Simplify." On one wrist is a plastic yellow bracelet honoring another of his heroes, Lance Armstrong. A grandfather of nine, he does not have the rail-thin physique one might expect of a long-distance rider. He lost 30 pounds on the trip but says he likes his wife's cooking too much. Bowen's trip was coordinated by the Campton-based Appalachian Heritage Alliance Inc., one of a dozen organizations that sponsored the trip. The alliance helped him keep in touch with schoolchildren, most of them in Powell, Wolfe and Menifee counties. Bowen took along a BlackBerry personal digital assistant, which he never quite got the hang of, and a laptop. The children exchanged letters with Bowen, and their teachers planned lessons on his travel: calculating miles he rode, studying land forms, or concentrating on a particular "Joe state." Yesterday, Bowen visited four Powell County schools and told students what he had seen. Bowen will return to the road in March for a 4,000-mile trip through Washington, D.C., and the Midwest. He will be telling everyone about Kentucky. David Musser, the alliance's education director, said people have been writing from all over the United States to say "how Joe has inspired them to do something that they need to do." "He's shown them that they can also live their dream." On the Net http://appalachianheritagealliance.org/rediscover_america.htm Security preparedness studied Writer: Sarah Magee 12/3/2005 Madisonville Messenger Is al-Qaida going to attack in Hopkins County? The possibility is remote, according to homeland security expert Don Alwes. Based on history, the far greater threat to smaller towns comes from homegrown mass murderers. "We're not here to tell you Osama bin Laden is planning an attack (on you)," Alwes told local officials and others at a presentation Friday morning. "That's unlikely," he said. "But there are people within a gas tank's drive, that if you gave them motivation and opportunity they would do a lot of damage -- internal terrorists." This past week Alwes led a team from the Kentucky Community Preparedness Program conducting vulnerability assessments in Hopkins County. The KCPP's mission is "prevention of acts of terrorism and other crimes of mass violence in small and medium-sized communities." Alwes said one of the questions he is always asked is, "How does our community stack up against others?" "One thing we look for is the level of interest and participation from local officials," he said. "We've had nothing but cooperation from the sheriff, police and Broc Oglesby (of Hopkins County Emergency Management Agency). We've had the mayor and the judge-executive show up not once, but twice," he said. "It's rather uncommon for officials to be so active. This is a really good sign for your community," Alwes said. This area is like most others in terms of preparedness for mass violence, he said: Some things are being done right, but there is room for improvement. The potential internal terrorist targets visited by the state team included the courthouse, municipal building, Lake Pee Wee Water Filtration Plant, medical facilities, six schools and several private companies. The target list was prepared based on information provided by local authorities. The team also conferred with law enforcement, Fire Department, emergency management and other agencies. Bob Campbell, safety and security manager at Regional Medical Center, said he had been "impressed with the thoroughness" of the preparedness assessment. It will take some time for the team to analyze and synthesize all the data they gathered. In about 10 weeks, there will be a report with specific recommendations. "Based on their review, I believe they will have some worthwhile recommendations," Campbell said. "It's good to get a fresh outside perspective on things we live with daily. I think it's a benefit." Alwes spoke generally on Friday about measures that can increase preparedness. One is expanded awareness training. "Typically, law enforcement has some training in those areas," he said. "We'd like to see it expanded for all emergency personnel. "There was a case a few years ago in the Philippines where the fire department was called to a grease fire on a stove. Because of some training the firemen had, they were able to recognize ingredients for explosives sitting on a separate counter and interrupt an attack on 12 American 747s being planned. "We would like to see enough training that emergency medical technicians and firemen would know enough to recognize explosives or to realize someone was engaging in a suspicious behavior," Alwes said. The vast majority of police departments across Kentucky lack policies on active shooters or suicide bombers, he said. "Every department has a policy on the use of force," he said. "Police are trained that if there is a person in a building shooting, they should wait for a SWAT team to arrive. "That didn't work then and doesn't work now," Alwes said. "If someone is actively hurting people, we need to train with a policy to go in and stop that if (officers) think they can do it without losing their own lives. We need to teach police how to go in safely in small groups and confront people doing harm," he said. Todd wants state to invest in UK - Goal: Top 20 in research 12/6/2005 Kentucky Post (Covington) University of Kentucky President Lee Todd says the school is seeking an unprecedented amount of money from the state to try to become one of America's top 20 research universities. "We are going to ask Kentuckians to invest in their flagship university as they never have before," said Todd. UK officials today announced a "business plan" that calls for increases of $19 million - about 6 percent - in state funding each year over the next 14 years. Under the plan, the university also intends to increase: Enrollment by 7,000 to 34,000 The number of faculty by 625 to more than 2,500 The graduation rate by 12 percent to 72 percent Research expenditures by $470 million to $768 million Outreach efforts to improve agriculture, health care, economic development and communities. The plan anticipates holding tuition increases to under 10 percent until 2012 and predicts increases of under 5 percent as 2020 approaches. The university would commit to increasing its private fundraising and research efforts, as well as generating cost savings, that would total $438 million. "Let there be no doubt: The University of Kentucky intends to become a top 20 public research university by 2020," Todd said. "Kentucky's economic success demands it and the people of Kentucky deserve it." The UK president said it's important for the people of Kentucky to know how much money is needed over the next 15 years for the university to reach its goal. "A detailed business plan is an unusual way to plan for the future of a public university," Todd said. "In fact, we know of no other public university in the U.S. that has done it." Todd said Kentucky needs a top 20 research university because it will help residents live better lives. He said states with top 20 research universities all have per capita incomes above the national average, Medicaid enrollment numbers below the national average and fewer poor children. Kentucky's numbers are just the opposite. Median household income in the state is about $8,000 below the national average, Kentucky's poverty rate is more than 3 percent above the national average and 24 percent of children in the state live in poverty. Of the 50 states, Kentucky is 47th in workforce education and the number of scientists and engineers, 42nd in high-technology jobs and 33rd in the number of fastest growing companies. "We must commit ourselves to competing in the knowledge economy or resign ourselves to the same low incomes and fragile economies of the past," said Todd. The UK president said a long-term financial commitment is needed to enroll more students, hire more faculty, modernize classrooms and build more research space. The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education estimates that by 2020 one out of every three Americans will have a bachelor's degree or higher. If Kentucky is to reach the national average, it needs to increase its number of bachelor degree holders by 210,000 over the next 15 years. For that reason, said Todd, increasing UK's enrollment is "essential." However, he said, enrollment growth must be preceded by "substantial increases in our faculty. And we need to pay our faculty better." "Over the next several years, the people of Kentucky must decide whether they are willing to do what it takes to lay the financial and capital foundation necessary for our continued success," he said. It won't be easy, Todd said. "We are a poor and under-educated state," he said. "We live in a culture that does not put enough value on a college education. "Low per capita incomes make it difficult to commit the resources we need to increase our education levels and improve our economy. But we will not have higher per capita incomes without more people with bachelor's degrees. "Our struggles as a state to deal with our social, economic and health problems will continue as long as we passively accept low levels of educational attainment as inevitable in Kentucky. It really is that simple." What other states do to foster high-tech job growth 12/4/2005 Lexington Herald-Leader * In November, Ohio voters approved a $500 million bond issue to invest in high-tech projects that are part of Gov. Bob Taft's "Third Frontier" program. * In 2003, Arizona invested $440 million in research facilities. * In November 2004, California voters approved a $3 billion bond issue for stem-cell research. * In 2005, Connecticut committed $100 million over a period of 10 years to fund embryonic and adult stem-cell research. * Since 1999, Illinois has invested more than $200 million in research and business-incubator facilities at the University of Illinois. * In 2005, Indiana authorized establishing a $1 billion Research and Technology Fund financed by a series of bond issues. * In 2005, Iowa committed $500 million over a period of 10 years to support tech-based economic development and other initiatives (the Grow Iowa Values Fund). * In April 2004, Kansas committed $500 million over 15 years to the Kansas Bioscience Initiative, which includes funds for research facilities. * In 2000, North Carolina voters approved a $3.1 billion bonding program that allocated $949 million for capital projects, including research facilities, at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State. White-supremacist symbol spurs college controversy - Bellarmine studies acceptable speech Writer: Deborah Yetter 12/6/2005 Louisville Courier-Journal A Bellarmine University task force will study what constitutes acceptable speech on campus, prompted by a white-supremacist armband worn by a student, President Joseph J. McGowan said yesterday. The student, Andrei Chira, 18, has stirred up controversy by wearing a Blood and Honour armband decorated with a symbol of the group. On its Web site, the group identifies itself as a promoter of "white pride and white power," and traces its origins to the British "skinhead" movement. Chira said yesterday that Blood and Honour is associated with National Socialism, a movement founded by Adolf Hitler, but that he doesn't consider himself a white supremacist. "I'm proud to be white, but I'm not really interested in supporting one race over the other," said Chira, who has close-cropped hair and was wearing a black tie, white shirt and black jacket. So far, Bellarmine officials have not asked Chira to re- move the armband that he said he has been wearing for the past few months. McGowan said in his statement yesterday that "most, if not all" members of the Bellarmine community are upset by the views that the armband represents. But McGowan said forcing Chira to remove it would be "denying free speech, which I believe is contrary to being a true university." The debate has divided students and faculty at the Roman Catholic school. Chira said he considers himself a National Socialist, but he doesn't believe he is promoting the movement by simply wearing an armband. "It's a personal thing -- kind of like putting a Republican bumper sticker on your car," he said. But others disagree, including Joshua Golding, chairman of the Bellarmine philosophy department, who said the armband promotes the organization's hateful views. Golding sent an e-mail this weekend to Bellarmine students and faculty outlining his objections. "It's outrageous and it's offensive," said Golding, who is Jewish. He said he and his wife had relatives who died in the Holocaust. "Bellarmine is perfectly within its rights to tell this fellow this is out of place." Yesterday, about a dozen students conducted a "Sit in for Free Speech" in a hallway outside the office of Fred Rhodes, vice president for student affairs. "None of us here agree with the message on the armband," said Chris Polito, 18, a freshman from Hebron, Ky., who helped organize the event. "But we agree with the right of free speech." Because of the growing debate, however, McGowan said he will ask a task force of administrators, faculty and students to recommend how the college should handle such situations. McGowan said his task force should begin its work within a week but he didn't set a timetable for its conclusions. Chira, a freshman from California, said he is not endorsing Nazi views or white supremacy. Rather, he said, he likes the organization's support for musicians who adhere to Blood and Honour's views -- such as a one-party system and a strong central government. He said he doesn't understand why some people are upset. "I think it's blown way out of proportion," Chira said. Students at yesterday's sit-in -- which resembled a study-in as they crammed for final examinations being held this week -- said they didn't plan any further actions but wanted to show support for freedom of expression. "If you start putting restrictions on what a person can support, where will it end?" asked Megan Oed, 18, a freshman from Indianapolis. Erin Ott, 18, a freshman from Cincinnati, agreed. "I think a lot of people are missing the point," she said. "The real issue is First Amendment rights and freedom of speech." Johns Hopkins U. Will Lead New Research Consortium on Dealing With Major Disasters Writer: REBECCA ARONAUER 12/6/2005 The Chronicle of Higher Education The Johns Hopkins University will lead a consortium conducting research on how the nation should prepare for and respond to major disasters, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday. Johns Hopkins, which was chosen from among 34 applicants, will receive $15-million over the next three years for the consortium, which will consist of 22 colleges, universities, research institutions, and medical organizations. The research center, to be based at Johns Hopkins, will be called the Center for the Study of High Consequence Event Preparedness and Response. It will study issues of prevention, awareness, and risk assessment of "potential large-scale incidents and disasters," and reactions to such events. The research will also focus on infrastructure integrity, surge capacity, and the interaction of networks. Lynn R. Goldman, a professor of environmental health sciences, and Gabor D. Kelen, a professor of emergency medicine, will lead the program. The Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response, which was created after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, will lead the consortium. The consortium will be the fifth Homeland Security Center of Excellence. Others are located at Texas A&M University at College Station, the University of Maryland at College Park, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the University of Southern California. |