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Today's News for January 8, 2007System NewsState News National News Legislative Update Photo of the Day About this series 1/7/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader Since classes opened in September, Herald-Leader racing writer Maryjean Wall has been getting to know the inaugural class of 11 students at Chris McCarron's North American Racing Academy. She reports today on their successes and failures during the first trimester and will continue to track their progress as they move toward graduation and potential careers as jockeys over the next year and a half. Appalachian Food: Defining a Culture 12/30/2006 Appalachian News-Express, Pikeville In celebration of Appalachian History Month, Big Sandy Community and Technical College library is proud to present Mark Sohn. Dr. Sohn will discuss Southern Appalachia as a culturally distinct mountain region that extends from Maryland to northern Georgia. From stack cakes and shuck beans to moonshine and cast iron cookpots, he will discuss the region's unique cuisine. A food tasting will follow the presentation. Mark Sohn is a Professor of Psychology at Pikeville College in Kentucky and has published several cookbooks. The most recent cookbook is entitled Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture and Recipes published by University of Kentucky Press. For questions, please call Judy Bowen at 889-4750. The presentation is part of the Library Seminar Series and is free and open to the public. Date: January 17, 2007 Time: 11:30 AM Place: Art Gallery in the Magoffin Building on the Prestonsburg Campus Big Sandy Community and Technical College Army officer from Kentucky killed in Iraq Writer: Associated Press 1/8/2007 Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer LOUISVILLE -- A U.S. Army Reserve officer from central Kentucky died Friday in a roadside bomb explosion, his widow said Sunday. U.S. Army Maj. Michael Lewis Mundell, 47, of Brandenburg, was killed Friday in Fallujah, Iraq. He was serving with the 108th Division, a training unit of 4,500 soldiers that is headquartered in North Carolina. Military officials had not announced the death Sunday evening through the Department of Defense. Audrey Mundell, 41, said casualty officers arrived at their home in Brandenburg about 5 p.m. Friday. "My first thought was, 'Are you sure? Are you sure it's him?' " she said told The Associated Press. Her husband, who went to high school in Pennsylvania, had served 11 years in the Army before rejoining in November 2005. He left for training at military outposts nearly a year ago. He left for Iraq on Father's Day last year, Audrey Mundell said. Mundell had been working with other soldiers looking for improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs. She said his main duty was helping train the new Iraqi army. "The casualty officer told me that it doesn't matter how good a soldier they are. It's a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. Just a day after Thanksgiving, he had been wounded when a sniper's bullet pierced his portable radio and Kevlar vest. When wounded, he looked in the direction of the shot and saw a sniper in a minaret of a mosque, his widow said. They were unable to find the shooter. He was supposed to be on "light duty" but refused less dangerous assignments, Audrey Mundell said. She said her husband of 21 years had trained his whole life for a military career. "But once our kids came along, his perspective changed a little," she said. The couple met while she was a college student at Elizabethtown Community College and he was taking an advanced officer course at Fort Knox. In addition to his wife, he leaves four children, Erica, 17; Ryan, 14; Zachary, 13; and Dale, 11. Mundell's body was to have returned Sunday evening to the United States. Burial will be in Kentucky. BCTC GETS $1.4 MILLION FOR NURSING PROGRAM: GRANT WILL EXPAND INSTRUCTION, ADD LAB EQUIPMENT AND SPACE 12/24/2006 Lexington Herald-Leader A $1.4 million federal grant will support Bluegrass Community & Technical College in its effort to increase the number of nurses to alleviate a serious nationwide shortage. The President's Community Based Job Training Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor will support the Bluegrass Regional Advancements and Innovations in Nursing, or BRAIN, project. As a result, the community college will be able to expand instruction and add lab equipment and space for facilities, according to a release from BCTC. In addition, the grant will provide for the creation of a center to identify high-risk students and provide them with tutoring and $235,000 a year in scholarships. "By supplementing BCTC's traditional nursing programs with non-traditional learning methods such as evening and weekend classes, Web-based learning, and apprenticeships, the BRAIN project will provide more alternatives for demographic groups which are underrepresented in traditional learning situations to enter into and become successful in the nursing field," BCTC President Jim Kerley said. Carolyn Lewis, assistant dean of nursing, said that with the Nursing Student Resource Center the "emphasis on diversity will not end with student recruitment, but we will ensure that students from under-represented groups have the support they need for success." BCTC offers Medicaid nurse aid training, licensed practical nursing, and registered nursing programs at its Lexington, Lawrenceburg and Danville campuses. For more information, go to www. bluegrass.kctcs.edu or call (859) 246-6200 in Lexington, (859) 239-7030 in Danville or (502) 839-8488 in Lawrenceburg. BCTC Holds Open Casting Call for Theater Production of Blessed Assurance 1/5/2007 Kentucky Commission on Women Bluegrass Community & Technical College's theater program will hold an open casting call for its first production of Laddy Sartin's Blessed Assurance. Auditions will be held on Thursday, January 25, 2007 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. in the Student Center on the Leestown Campus, 164 Opportunity Way, Lexington. A second audition will be held on Friday, January 26, 2007 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on the Cooper Campus, 470 Cooper Drive, Lexington. (room to be announced) For more information, contact Tim Davis, Theater & Film Program Coordinator at (859) 246-6672. Big Sandy Community and Technical College presented their annual Evening of Christmas concert and celebrated the release of Big Sandy Singers' second album "Going Home" 1/5/2007 Floyd County Times (Prestonsburg) Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) presented their annual "Evening of Christmas" concert on Saturday, December 16, 2006 in the Gearheart Auditorium on the Prestonsburg Campus of BSCTC.. the first show sold out within two hours of tickets going on sale so a second show was added to accommodate people who wanted to hear InHarmony, Serenade, and The Big Sandy Singers. InHarmony, the all-female community-based choir from Big Sandy Community and Technical College was formed in September of this year and the concert was will be the group's first full performance. "The women's voices are lovely," said director Laura Ford Hall. "It is such a beautiful sound and I am so proud of each of the ladies for their dedication and talent." The group sang a variety of Christmas selections including "Little Drummer Boy" and "Breath of Heaven." InHarmony also performed a short presentation for the BSCTC annual Christmas Dinner at Mayo Auditorium in Paintsville on December 1 and lead Christmas caroling at the Mountain Home Place on December 9. The ladies of InHarmony shared the stage with Serenade, an auditioned community-based, all female performance ensemble and the Big Sandy Singers, the elite, auditioned student-singing group. In addition to the performance, The Big Sandy Singers released their second album, "Going Home," during the show, which featured the Singer's new signature song "A Father Who Can." In addition, LouAnna Calhoun, one of the Big Sandy Singers released her newest CD "Held" that evening. Both CDs are now available to the public for a $10 donation each. You can get your copies by contacting Laura Hall at the college or go to the website at www.bigsandy.kctcs.edu and select Performing Arts from the menu. For more information call or email Laura Ford Hall at (606) 889-4764; laura.hall@kctcs.edu. BSCTC awarded 105 graduates with degrees, diplomas and certificates 12/27/2006 Paintsville Herald One hundred five graduates received degrees, diplomas or certificates in the December 8, 2006 graduation at Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC). Held in the Mayo Auditorium on the Mayo Campus of BSCTC in Paintsville, KY, the graduation was a celebration of accomplishments and beginnings. Adorned in lovely greens and holiday decorations, the auditorium was filled with family, friends and well wishers as the graduates filed in to celebrate their Commencement. Dr. George D. Edwards, President of BSCTC, applauded the achievement of the graduates as he told them, "Don't forget the people who helped you reach this milestone. Remember to thank the parents, friends, teachers and others who made it possible for you to go to college and succeed." Dr. Edwards introduced the commencement speaker, the Honorable John David Preston, Family Court Judge. Judge Preston spoke about lifelong learning, telling the graduates that research shows that they may change careers as much as 3 or 4 times in their lifetime. Each change will require preparation so they can expect to continue learning all of their life. He congratulated them on their accomplishment and wished them success in their lives. Music for the event was provided by Big Sandy Singers Laura Ford Hall, LouAnna Calhoun and Susan Scott. LouAnna, a graduating student, and Laura, Director of the Big Sandy Singers, sang "When You Believe." Susan sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." Keithen McKenzie, Mayo Campus Coordinator, acted as emcee for the ceremony. Bobby McCool, Vice President of Institutional Services, introduced special guests. Randall Roberts, Pikeville Campus Coordinator, announced Student Recognitions and Awards. Dr. Nancy B. Johnson, BSCTC Provost, presented the graduates for awarding of credentials. The pianist was Bryen Lynn Goble. For the program and including a list of graduates, please check the posted graduation program on the BSCTC webpage: www.bigsandy.kctcs.edu. BSCTC Stages Mock Homicide Investigation 12/20/2006 Mountain Citizen, Inez Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) instructors joined efforts with Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) to stage a joint mock homicide scenario at Hazard, KY on December 12, 2006. The scenario began promptly at 9:00 a.m. at the Center for Rural Law Enforcement, also known as "The Forum" or "The Hal Rogers Building." Students enrolled in PLS 403, EKU, Homicide Investigation, and CJ 201, Big Sandy Community and Technical College, Introduction to Criminalistics, joined together to attempt to solve a "make-believe" murder. BSCTC Criminal Justice Associate Professor Mike Dixon and Assistant Professor Shawn Roop staged the event. Dixon said, "The goal of this event was to provide the students with a "hands-on" learning opportunity, so as to test their knowledge of the course material contained in these two classes. More succinctly, the scenario was designed to bring textbooks alive through a practical application of textbook information and knowledge." To provide realism, student participants assumed roles as patrol officers, evidence technicians, detectives, and command officers who were charged with solving a homicide scenario that included the discovery of a female victim, information provided by live witnesses, and the pursuit of leads found at the scene and those provided by multiple, additional role players. Student participants found themselves moving about different locations in the attempt to solve the case. Dixon added, "The scenario is based upon, to a considerable extent, the TV Show known as "The First 48," which is based upon real-world detectives , in different U.S. cities, who attempt to solve real cases." "Six and Counting" was the title of the event. Student participants were afforded a maximum of six (6) hours to develop and/or arrest a worthy suspect. At 3:00pm, the scenario was halted, and an immediate after-action meeting was held to assess student actions. Realism was the rule of the day. As much realism as possible was introduced. There was tangible mock evidence to be gathered. Photographs and sketches of the crime scene were required. Witnesses had to be developed, statements and interrogations were required, and student detectives were required to act upon the information gathered to solve the crime. Local and state-level support from various police agencies was solicited, and a minimum of guidance and "coaching' was provided, when prudent and necessary. It is intended that this effort will receive worthy media coverage to afford the participants attention for their efforts as a significant news item, as well as an effective recruitment and marketing tool for both institutions. The mock homicide investigation was developed and orchestrated by Michael D. Dixon, Associate Professor, Criminal Justice Program Coordinator Big Sandy Community and Technical College. Dixon also serves as Adjunct Instructor, Eastern Kentucky University College of Criminal Justice and Police Studies. Business People: EDUCATION 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal The Kentucky Community and Technical College System has named Jay Box, president and chief executive of Hazard Community and Technical College, a vice president of the system, effective Jan. 16. He will replace Jon Hesseldenz, who retired in June. Box will be one of four vice presidents assisting KCTCS President Michael McCall with system operations out of the Versailles offices, and the 16 community and technical colleges on 65 campuses across the state. R. Kathy Smoot will serve as interim president of the Hazard college until Box's successor is chosen. Chalk Dust Project helps Graves County rediscover schools Writer: Associated Press 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal MAYFIELD, Ky. -- The one-room schoolhouse was covered in weeds, yet a quick look inside let Debbie Smith know she'd found one of the nation's most endangered buildings, located in a small Western Kentucky town. The one-room Hickory School was built for black students in 1925, one of thousands of school buildings created for minorities in part from a fund created by Julius Rosenwald, a former president of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Between 1917 and 1932, more than 5,300 schools, teachers' homes and vocational buildings were constructed with help from Rosenwald's fund. In 2002, the buildings were placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the most endangered places in the country. But thanks to an effort by the Graves County school system, at least one of the schoolhouses will be saved. The Hickory School is one of the most pleasant discoveries of the Chalk Dust Project, an initiative by the school board to chronicle each of the schools that has dotted the county from 1880 to the present. About 165 schools have been discovered so far, including the Hickory School, which at one time was one of four Rosenwald schools in the county, with others in Sedalia, Water Valley and Mayfield. "This is one of the few Rosenwald schools remaining in the South," said Smith, the coordinator/teacher for the gifted and talented in Graves County. Smith is coordinating the project with community education director Kim Wheeler. "They had to follow the Rosenwald floor plan, which was determined by how many teachers there were and what direction the building faced. Rosenwald only gave $300 to $500 for the school, and the community pitched in the rest." The owners of the school have promised to give the building to the school district so it can restore the structure and move it to the Graves County High School campus. "We want to use it as a museum and learning center for teachers in Graves County and Mayfield," Smith said. Some of the $25,000 tab for moving the school will be picked up by grants from Lowe's and the National Trust, and students at West Kentucky Community & Technical College could do some of the restoration work. Smith said response for the countywide project has been "tremendous." "Our older seniors went to many of these schools and they like reminiscing about them," she said. "There are little places, like Poyner's Chapel, where there's now just a road in the county named for them." Column: Remembering the ladies Writer: Linda Winstead 1/7/2007 Madisonville Messenger Two months ago on Nov. 8, a male student in a history class expressed surprise that I didn't begin class that day with the announcement that for the first time in history a woman would become Speaker of the House of Representatives. I laughed and said it wasn't our topic that day, but was happy that he recognized the significance himself. Last Thursday, California U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first female speaker. As a society, we should try to eliminate our preoccupation with "firsts" for women, African-Americans, Jews, Hispanics, Muslims, etc. We cannot claim that racism, sexism, intolerance for any religion but Christianity, or any other sort of prejudicial classification are gone until we stop emphasizing labels instead of character in our leaders. On the other hand, "Speaker Pelosi" is historically significant. Politically speaking, women have come a long way indeed. In a conversation with her husband, John, in 1775, Abigail Adams questioned what kind of laws would be enacted if the colonies separated from Britain. "I suppose," Abigail said, "in Congress you think of everything relative to trade and commerce, as well as other things." Then she went on to give her husband a list of "what taxes should be imposed and suggested that America hold on to its gold and silver because inflation was making paper money worthless." Pretty sophisticated political talk for women in those days, one might think. When John was away at Congress in 1776, Abigail wrote to him: "I long to hear that you have declared independence ... and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could." Disappointed that women's rights continued to be ignored, Abigail wrote her famous husband again: "I cannot say that I think you very generous to the ladies, for whilst you are proclaiming peace and good will to men, emancipating all nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over wives. But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken." Abigail Adams made the threat 230 years ago; Nancy Pelosi made good on it last week. She helped Democrats regain power and broke through the "marble ceiling" that traditionally has kept women out of leadership positions in Congress. Pelosi promised "our daughters and granddaughters that the sky is now the limit", that "anything is possible." (Perhaps not for Hillary Clinton in 2008 but for the right woman in some future presidential election.) Katie Couric, also familiar with breaking barriers, recognized the work of Susan B. Anthony last week when reporting on the historic 110th Congress. Ms. Anthony worked tirelessly to achieve the right to vote for women but died before the 19th Amendment passed. Couric asked, "Wouldn't Susan B. Anthony be proud? Or, might she have said, 'What took so long?'" The 110th Congress consists of 535 members, the Senate and House combined. Of the 535, 90 are women. Still not an equitable representation considering the numbers of women in the population, but an increase of almost 3 percent since the last election. Few people fail to recognize the prospects as more women are inspired to run for office: more women will run and win. Nancy Pelosi may have cut in line in the traditional pecking order that has existed on Capitol Hill, but her goals should be similar to those of men who have held the speaker's gavel. Her promises to bring about ethics enforcement, increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, cut student loan interest rates in half, repeal subsidies to oil companies, and more are not women's issues. These are issues that affect all Americans, regardless of gender, race, religion, and so forth. Speaker Pelosi understands that her performance will be scrutinized, criticized, lionized, and demonized. She has asked colleagues to judge her by the "quality of her leadership and the results we achieve together, not as the first woman." The rest of us should judge her likewise. But, Pelosi also recognizes the historical significance in her election. "As the first woman Speaker of the House, I will work to make certain that I will not be the last." Good for her. Ms. Winstead is a retired teacher with the Hopkins County school system and a part-time instructor at Madisonville Community College. Education Honors 1/7/2007 Paducah Sun Tony Dawkins of Paducah is a Dec. 16 graduate of Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., with a master's degree in criminal justice. West Kentucky Community & Technical College students Alissa Morehead and Amy Owens were nominated by the school to the All-USA Academic Team. The annual program, sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa, USA Today and the American Association of Community College, recognizes 60 outstanding two-year college students. Morehead, a resident of Reidland, is president of the Student Government Association at WKCTC. She is employed by Walgreen's as a pharmacy technician. Her parents are Ronald and Janice Morehead of Paducah. Owens, a business administration major, is president of the college's Phi Theta Kappa chapter. She resides in Paducah with her 13-year-old twins. Sixty-three seventh graders at Paducah Middle School have been identified in the Duke University Talent Identification Program as academically talented students, based on standardized test scores from the last two testing cycles. The students may choose to complete either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT Assessment college entrance examination in December or January. Duke TIP then provides them with comparative information concerning their academic abilities and resources for educational opportunities. Qualifying in verbal tests and subtests: Emilee Ayers, Kelsey Bartlett, Bethany Beal, Shaire Blythe, Rebecca Boone, Brandon Boyett, Vashti Calhoun, Olivia Carner, Tim Carrigan, Kaitlyn Chapman, Tekia Chess, Reco Cunningham, Zomi Dickson, Whitney Greene, Courtney Hawkins, Xrissy Hillsman, Jared Holt, Ngodoo Itiavkase, Kayla Jones, Lashonta Jones, Leon Jones, Mason Malone, Jimmie McAfee, Amer McClure, Gabe Nolan, Emily Page, Bishlam Pea, Anthony Pina, Jocelyn Przybylo, Charity Ryan, Cody Schultz, Johneshia Scott, Breck Severns, Taylor Sloan, Chandler Smith, Seth Stevens, Alexandria Taylor, Alexis Taylor, Logan Thieke, Gavyn Williams, Mackenzie Williams, Crystal Wring and Mary Grace Wyant. Qualifying in mathematics: Emilee Ayers, Kelsey Bartlett, Djreya Boyd, Davy Buchanan, Olivia Carner, Tekia Chess, Kaitlyn Curry, Maximillian Curry, Zomi Dickson, George Flarsheim, Courtney Hawkins, Jared Holt, Leon Jones, Blake Kettler, Blake Perry, Quanesha Roberts, Charity Ryan, Chandler Smith, Erika Smith, Seth Stevens, Zachariah Strahan, Alexandria Taylor, Alexis Taylor, Jennifer Taylor, Luke Voorhies, Terrance Wade, Deven Wagers, Chonda White, Gavyn Williams, Hunter Willingham, David Woeltz, Crystal Wring and Justin Wynne. Falling off in their studies - Students in new jockey training program learn to get back up on their horses and ride Writer: Maryjean Wall 1/7/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader Jason Truett lay on his back in the dust, his legs sticking straight up in the air. Talk about a bad day. Jockey school at the Kentucky Horse Park was no joy ride for Truett on this cold December afternoon. But his ride wasn't over. Chris McCarron's new North American Racing Academy is no place for wimps. You get back on your horse when you fall off. With McCarron beside him for encouragement, Truett returned to his mount, Deuce, and rode like the jockey he wants to be. Early on, some people questioned whether McCarron's idea for turning young people into jockeys while awarding them a college degree would get out of the starting gate. Now, with the first trimester in this two-year program completed, McCarron's 11 students have progressed from simply learning to ride to riding racehorses at a gallop in open fields. They learned, even if they fell off their mounts occasionally. Falling off is part of riding. Even McCarron, 51, sometimes hit the dust during his long and storied Hall of Fame career. McCarron retired in 2002, worked on the Seabiscuit movie and briefly worked as president of Santa Anita racetrack in California. But for a long time he'd had this idea that he would like to teach aspiring jockeys how to ride. He moved from California to Kentucky. He floated his idea past Keeneland president Nick Nicholson, Kentucky Horse Park executive director John Nicholson and others who shared McCarron's vision for a school. They urged him to go ahead. One huge assist was getting the program set up under the umbrella of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which will award the associate degrees. The inaugural class of student jockeys began work in September. The next four months would see them studying equine science and horse physiology. During other trimesters they will also study math, science, personal finance, nutrition, computer applications and oral communication. Most of all, they were to learn to ride. Some had never been on a horse. Learning means falling Keep him on the rail. You look like you're drunk-driving. Riding instructor Aimee Knarr was reminding a student to keep a straight course. The jockey wannabes found it hard, in the beginning, to steer their mounts. It's like steering a car. To turn right, you squeeze the right rein or pull with slow, steady pressure downward toward your right knee. When changing gears -- called gaits on a horse -- you try not to pop the clutch. Five days a week, the student jockeys learned by riding in the lesson show rings at the Horse Park. They built up their time from 20 to 30 minutes, when they began on the park's tamed mustangs, to an hour a day on thoroughbreds. McCarron gave most of the lessons, often with help from his daughter, Stephanie, 27. McCarron, speaking: Bring your wrists down closer to his neck, Brad. McCarron, Stephanie, Knarr and Racing Academy projects manager Jennifer Voss-Franco work the lesson rings on foot, reminding the students constantly about proper form. The students need to develop leg strength to ride with their seats balanced on top of, but not in, the saddle. This is the racing position. It's not easy. But it is easy to lose your balance. Every time a rider fell off his horse, someone drew a little horseshoe on the dry-erase board outside that particular horse's stall. A gelding named Toots had collected the most shoes: four. Nearing the end of the trimester, Truett had taken the most falls: six, including one resulting in a black eye. Despite this, he has taken to riding "like a duck to water," according to McCarron. He jokingly called him "Duck." Truett might turn out to have what it takes. Cassie Buckley had the worst fall, breaking an ankle. But she appeared to be getting back into good form before the Christmas break, eager to make up missed time on horseback. She was galloping horses in the fields with her classmates. McCarron is discovering a new side to himself as a teacher. He is articulate, patient with students, and obviously enjoying himself in this role. Like a duck to water, as he said about Truett. McCarron said that, throughout his career, he was accustomed to showing other jockeys how to improve techniques. He was able to demonstrate technique to anyone looking for a better way to change leads -- the horse's leading leg at the gallop -- or how to switch the whip from one hand to the other or pull down another set of goggles. Teaching beginning equitation to the student jockeys was another matter. The basics had become so subconscious to McCarron that he found it hard to articulate these to beginners. He asked his daughter for help. Stephanie McCarron is a show-ring rider and trainer who recently opened her own training barn for hunters and jumpers on the McCarron farm in Scott County. "Stephanie has been such a great help," McCarron said. "It's a lot easier for me now that they're cantering and getting their stirrups pulled up in the position I'm used to being in." McCarron, again: Subtle cues for her, Corey. She's not as lazy as Luke. The thoroughbreds go by names of Luke, Eddie, Lilly, Toots and so on. These are their new names since retirement. Many are offspring of well-known sires, including Conquistador Cielo, Runaway Groom, Bet Twice, Wild Wonder and Malabar Gold. Some people gave horses to McCarron. He got two on loan from the Secretariat Center, operated by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation at the Horse Park. He's looking for more good horses. From worms to bugs Margi Stickney, director of education at the Horse Park, teaches the students their classes in equine science and physiology. On one day, she demonstrated why horses need to receive regular deworming treatments. Stickney passed around jars containing the various types of worms horses harbor in their systems if not properly dewormed. The worms in the jars, big wads of them, look ugly enough to make anyone ill. "Enjoy your lunch," Stickney said, laughing. Back inside the barn on another morning, Reid McLellan, Ph.D., joined veterinarian Duncan Peters in explaining to students about an abscess Lilly picked up in one foot. The injury was not serious, and not uncommon at the track. Peters welcomed the students' questions, for the more they understand about any malady or injury, the better they'll adapt to working at the track. McLellan, whose title is instructional specialist and whom the students call "Doc," manages the students in their barn work -- their class known as racehorse care. He helped McCarron design the program's curriculum. McLellan brought to the program a doctorate in animal breeding and genetics. He was co-developer of the Groom Elite program taught at many racetracks. He has headed up animal science teaching programs and was a racehorse trainer. Soon, the students will begin learning how to talk to owners, trainers, and the media. McCarron wants to polish them. He also wants them to learn to eat properly. Students will receive instruction in nutrition. He and his wife, Judy, are appalled at what the students eat. "Horrible" is how McCarron describes their eating habits. Judy, who once owned and operated a restaurant in San Marino, Calif., called To Dine For, said the jockey hopefuls need to learn how to diet -- and how to cook. One night she took one of the women to the grocery, partly to teach her how to read nutritional labels and how to shop for healthy foods. "She didn't even know those rotisserie chickens are good for you," Judy said. "They think if you eat salads all day long, you're going to get thin." The problem with eating only salads, as Judy explained, is you get hungry and begin eating junk food. And that's not how you maintain a jockey's low weight. McCarron said the jockey hopefuls need to trim down to no more than 107 or 108 pounds if they're to begin their careers with the apprentice weight allowance. The weight allowance, called "the bug," averages out to 5 pounds deducted from the weights their mounts are assigned to carry. Supposedly this makes up for the riders' inexperience. 'A very difficult world' The jockey wannabes move to their Equicizer machines every day after lunch. Their fitness routine is a killer. The Equicizer, developed by former jockey Frank Lovato in New York, simulates riding a horse. The neck bobs. The barrel moves up and down on springs. Jockeys use these machines to get fit after a long layoff. McCarron ordered seven Equicizers for the program. Each one wears the name on its saddle towel of a famous horse McCarron rode: Alysheba, Flawlessly, Alphabet Soup, John Henry, Precisionist, Tiznow and Sunday Silence. McCarron is teaching the students how to ride a race while working their Equicizers. They learn the rhythm of race-riding while watching videos such as the Hollywood Turf Cup that McCarron won on John Henry. They break from an imaginary starting gate, steady their Equicizers down the backstretch, then pick up their speed turning for home. McCarron makes them ride hard toward the finish line. Students sweat and run out of breath. "It's starting to stink in here," one of them said. If McCarron turned his back at all, some students slacked off their pace. They thought he couldn't see them, but they learned he has eyes in the back of his head. McCarron to student, with the John Henry video rolling: "Get your seat down in that saddle." Student to McCarron: "But your butt is up in the air." "And I'm telling you to get yours down," cracks McCarron. The exchange ends. The student reverts to hard riding. He probably won't sass McCarron again. On one particularly bad day, McCarron was exasperated. Students were not getting as fit as he'd wanted. He had been telling them for weeks that they needed to work out at home or at a gym in their free time. The students complained they leave school too tired to work out. "Give them a break. They're just kids," Judy told her husband. "But I can't give them a break," McCarron said. "I'm expecting to thrust them into a man's world, a very difficult world." That also goes for the four women in the program. If they had not gone to this school, the wannabes never would have received such personalized and detailed instruction. At the track, you're on your own if you want to ride a racehorse. You teach yourself and, "It's a literal crash course," said a professional exercise rider, Stephanie Slinger, 20, from Detroit. "A lot of people get hurt," Slinger said. "A lot aren't very good riders. They never learned the right way to do it." McCarron thinks riding in North America has suffered because standardized training has not been available. Horse owners invest millions of dollars in their stables -- only to discover no more than a shallow pool of people competent to ride. One trimester complete The most amazing thing is that no one had opened a jockey school in Lexington before McCarron decided to move here from California. "This country has fallen a little behind," said retired New York jockey Robbie Davis, whose daughter, Jacqueline, is a Racing Academy student. Other countries, from Japan to France to Peru, have jockey schools. The idea was a natural for Lexington, according to horseman Remi Bellocq. He said a core group including Keeneland, the Horse Park, himself, and the Jockey Club had looked into it. But, Bellocq said, "We really needed a catalyst." Their plans stalled -- until McCarron announced he was moving to Kentucky in 2005 to open such a school. The group got behind McCarron. Bellocq, chief executive officer of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association at the Horse Park, now is the Academy's vice president. With the first trimester completed, McCarron's 11 students are moving toward their next step: learning how to gallop a horse on the racetrack. Are they ready for this next phase? Will all of them make it? McCarron was more encouraged when they left for their Christmas break than he had been two weeks earlier -- on the day he "blasted" them, as he described his blowup over their lack of physical fitness. Their horsemanship had really progressed. They also rode their Equicizers much better by the time school had ended. But McCarron warned them that, if they backslid over the holidays, he wouldn't let them take horses onto the track. He knows the horses will pull. The riders will need strength. When they hit the track, these former racehorses are going to have "racing flashbacks," as McCarron put it. School picks up again Monday when class transfers to The Thoroughbred Center on Paris Pike, where there are two racetracks. As they left for the holidays, students signed a Christmas card for their teachers. McCarron will be eager to see how serious they remained about riding over the holidays -- and if they're fit enough when they return to go on to the next step. HCC gives scholarship to rescuer Writer: Jennifer P. Brown 1/7/2007 Hopkinsville New Era Hopkinsville Community College has offered a scholarship to Seth Hooks, the Cadiz man who rescued a 4-year-old boy from a burning car last month. HCC President James Selbe read about Hooks' bravery in a New Era story on Dec. 23 and learned Hooks wanted to go to college. Selbe thought the college should help and called Jason Warren, dean of student affairs, to see what they could do. The college had some money available for students like Hooks who didn't graduate from high school but had earned a GED, Warren told Selbe. "We were really pleased we could do something to help," Selbe said. Hooks, 21, waits tables at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Cadiz. On Dec. 12, Hooks was getting a ride with his sister and came upon the wreckage of a fiery crash on U.S. 68 at Rainbow Hill. He ran to the burning car and pulled Hunter Wiseman from the vehicle. Hooks suffered burns on both hands and had to delay a test he was planning to take to enter the National Guard. Now with the scholarship offer, he is thinking college is a better option, said his mother, Lisa Alonso. The college gave Hooks a $500 scholarship, said Selbe. It will be renewable each semester as long as Hooks maintains good grades. Hooks, who returned to work this week, met with an advisor at the college Friday and hopes to major in criminal justice. He'll have to find transportation before he starts his classes. He doesn't own a car. Hooks also met Selbe Friday and shook his hand. The bandages he was wearing at Christmas have been removed. Local Folks - Artwork of Evans sisters to be featured in exhibit Writer: SHERRY SPEAKMAN 1/8/2007 Harlan Daily Enterprise The Evans family has no shortage of artistic creativity, with two sisters producing pieces that continually keep them in the limelight. Both Meaghan, 18, a student at Southeastern Community College, and Tessa, 13, a seventh-grader at Evarts Elementary School, will be among the featured artists in "Images from the Mountains - 2007." According to a press release from Appalshop, which sponsors the exhibit, "Images" is in its 20th year of displaying talent from the Appalachian region. The exhibit lasts for one year, traveling to galleries throughout eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia. The show offers the opportunity for established and emerging artists to reach a wider audience. The girls credit their father's side of the family as the source of their artistic talent. Meaghan said her dad, Don Evans, and his whole family "like to draw." But both girls said it is their mother's prompting and encouragement that has caused them to develop their talents. Linda Evans, a medical transcriptionist at the Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital, has taken the girls to both private classes, as well as keeping them involved in the Artists' Attic, now located in the old courthouse. The Artists' Attic was established several years ago and is a gallery for artists around the mountains. Meaghan said it was her mother who saw the ads in the local newspaper for the Artists' Attic. The girls recall receiving art supplies for Christmas numerous times. Tessa remembers what piqued her interest in art. "I saw Meaghan doing it, and I thought it was neat," she said. She remembers being only about 5 or 6 years old when she started drawing cartoon characters, something she still enjoys doing on occasion. On the contrary, Meaghan remembers her initial projects were animals. Both have participated with entries in the Swapping Meet for several years. Tessa, in particular, recalls entering the event for the first time when she was in the first or second grade. "But I didn't win this year," Tessa stated, mentioning her drawing of George Washington only placed second or third. The entries in the Images of the Mountains 2007 will begin their traveling circuit on Jan. 8, opening at Pikeville College. Meaghan said her drawing of her paternal grandmother, Julia Evans, of Redbud, titled "Mamaw," took nearly two months to complete, the project receiving activity as her busy schedule allowed. She said she had drawn the piece to enter the Burley Coal Art Contest at Morehead State University and wanted to do a realistic portrayal of her grandmother. The piece received an honorable mention. On the other hand, Tessa said she only worked about an hour on her entry, "Van Gogh's Dr. Paul Gachet." "It was just in a calendar and Mom said she liked those kind of pictures, so I drew it for her," Tessa said. Tessa said she entered a drawing last year titled "Mother and Child," which was also featured in the traveling art exhibit. Both girls intend to continue drawing. Meaghan hopes to become an art teacher. She is currently pursuing a degree in elementary education. As for Tessa, she just likes to draw, but at 13 she has several years to decide. MEET THE STUDENTS: Here are the 11 students in the inaugural class at Chris McCarron's North American Racing Academy: 1/7/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader Cassie Buckley Age: 18 Home: Pittsfield, Mass. Height, weight: 5-2, 115 Buckley has been riding about three years and even brought her two horses with her to Kentucky. Although she's had more experience on horses than most of the students, she wound up with the only serious injury thus far: a broken ankle. She is still enrolled in the school, but was temporarily confined to doing work only on the ground, such as grooming horses and helping other riders saddle up. "I hate not riding," she said. After dropping out of high school, Buckley said, she spent some time working at a racetrack in West Virginia. She got a GED and was going to enroll in a community college, until she learned about the Racing Academy in August. She discovered the school just in time, while looking on the Internet, and took the last available spot. Jackie Davis Age: 19 Home: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Height, weight: 4-10, 103 Like classmate Jessica Oldham, Davis comes from a "jockey family." Her father is retired New York jockey Robbie Davis. She had ridden all kinds of horses since she was 3 years old but had never ridden on a racetrack. When Davis began talking about learning to ride racehorses, she remembers her father expressing displeasure. "He tried to discourage me. He said he didn't want his daughter at the racetrack. He said, 'Why don't you become a first-grade teacher since you're good with children.' "Now, he supports me," Davis said, telling how enthusiastic her father is about the academy. "He thought it was better than me going on a farm to learn. It's a more controlled environment," she said. "My dad has been saying for years that racing needed something like this." Davis said her main challenge now is increasing her strength. Although she thinks she was born to ride racehorses, she also has other plans. One of those is to finish college. "I've seen so many young kids get hurt on the track and they don't even have a high school degree," she said. Mikey James Age: 21 Home: Glendora, Calif. Height, weight: 5-0, 108 James was working in "this little mom-and-pop hardware store" near Santa Anita Park when people from the track kept coming into the store and telling him, "You ought to ride." But at first, James thought, "Are you kidding me? It's nuts." He became a snowboarder instead. James said he found the idea of race-riding nutty because, "you're flying 35 miles an hour on an animal. I do pretty crazy stuff (on the snowboard), but I can control it." At first he wasn't so sure he could control a horse. But he's catching on. "A jockey back home came into my store. He gave me Chris' number," James said. He got brave and phoned McCarron. Now he's a student. "I think I'm learning fast, honestly," he said. The first time he got on one of the mustangs, even before he advanced to riding a thoroughbred, "the horse was kind of doing his own thing. I didn't know what I was doing," he said. "By the fourth day, I thought, 'I can do this.'" Blake Hoefman Age: 20 Home: Asheville, N.C. Height, weight: 5-1, 105 Hoefman enrolled because he'd dropped out of technical college after 11/2 years and "I had to do something." He made up his mind to become a jockey after he saw 18-year-old Fernando Jara win the Belmont Stakes last June on Jazil. "If he can do it, I can do it," Blake decided. He didn't anticipate it would be difficult to learn to ride horses. "I've always been a competitor," he said, "playing soccer, golf, pretty much everything." Hoefman speaks Spanish fluently, which will be a great help to him on the track. His personal challenge in this program is "an attitude problem," he said. "I let things from daily life bother me when I'm riding." And, as he's learned, horses are so sensitive they pick up immediately on their riders' bad moods, reacting negatively. "I'm doing better," Hoefman said. "I try to think about the simplest thing, sometimes the mountains or the beach. I'm always calm. I don't get scared. Things like thinking about girls, things like that bother me." Hoefman, who lives with fellow students Mikey James, Corey Mongan, Jason Truett and Brad Wilson in a house near the Horse Park, said that a small rivalry exists among them. "I look at them as competitors," he said. "They're my friends, and I try to help them. But I don't tell them everything I know." By the way, he added, "This is my first media interview." Corey Mongan Age: 22 Home: Hagerstown, Md. Height, weight: 5-5, 115 Mongan heard about the academy from a friend. He had attained an associate degree in college and was two years away from becoming a teacher. "But I'd always said, if somebody would teach me how to ride I would consider doing this," he said. His parents, he recalled, were not pleased that he was abandoning a teaching career. He says they're still trying to adjust. Mongan had never been to a racecourse until McCarron took the students to Keeneland this past autumn. He played a lot of soccer and basketball although he was too small to get in much "team time" at school. He's also finding it difficult to make the switch from playing team sports to riding horses. "They've told us we've got to have our heels down, which is a big difference compared to playing soccer and basketball," he said. "Sports like that, you've got to cut, you're moving around, and it's a team sport so you're used to making everybody else better and them making you better as well. Now, it's solely individual." He's had trouble keeping his heels down. But he figured out if he loosened his riding shoes, he was better able to make the adjustment. Mongan said McCarron has advised him to lose weight. "Some of the guys haven't had to worry about it so much and they eat a lot of fast food," he said. "I live with them and they eat it right in front of me. But really, I've done pretty good with it." Driving back from Maryland after Thanksgiving, he stopped at Hardee's, "where they have those big burgers, and I got a chicken sandwich and small fries and made sure I drank water instead of soda." Chris Rebac Age: 18 Home: Louisville Height, weight: 5-foo, 111 pounds Rebac phoned Chris McCarron from Croatia to inquire about the North American Racing Academy. He found out about the school when he stopped at the Kentucky Horse Park on his way to Europe to spend time with relatives. Rebac's father, who likes racing, especially harness racing, was always telling him he should become a jockey because he's built slightly. "I'd ask, 'What's that?' I didn't even know what a jockey was until last year," Rebac said. Rebac finds jockey school difficult at times. He even thought about leaving the program in November. "You've got to have a strong mental game to do this. Sometimes, I don't have that," he said. "I know I've got the physical part of it down, but sometimes the mental part is hard on me. ... Most people do think" that riding is entirely physical, "but if something happens, if a horse is pulling you across the field, you've got to be able to think straight and stay calm at the same time." Rebac considered his long-term goals when he went home for Thanksgiving and decided to remain in the program. "I guess I'll be here till the end," he said. Anna Roberts Age: 18 Home: Franklinton, La. Height, weight: 5-3, 105 Roberts wanted to be a jockey from the time she was a young girl. When she was 9, she saw Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone at the track and thought, "that was the coolest thing in the world." Before that, she'd thought of racing like major-league baseball: Only men could participate. Seeing Krone wised her up. Roberts said her mother found out about the academy while reading about racing online. Roberts had been riding hunter-jumpers but had also begun going to a racehorse training center near her home, although she never exercised the thoroughbreds on-track. Her difficulty has been in retraining the muscle memory in her legs so that she can ride racehorse style, in the small saddle. The leg and knee position is different than for riding hunters and jumpers. "So, I've had to totally reconstruct my leg," she said. "I'm not very strong with my arms, so it's hard for me to hold the tough horses. But other than that everything seems to be going well." Jason Truett Age: 20 Home: McKee, Ky. Height, weight: 4-9, 97 Truett came to Keeneland one day, hoping to get a job. He liked to watch the races. While at Keeneland, he picked up a track program and read an article about the academy. Like some of the other students, Truett had never ridden a horse. But he has big plans. "I want to be a jockey," he said. "I've been a fan of racing but I never really thought about it (being a jockey) until my junior year in high school. One of my teachers told me, "You've got a lot of athletic ability. You should look into this." He played basketball and baseball in high school. McCarron said Truett's nickname is "Duck," because he's taken to riding "like a duck to water." Jessica Oldham Age: 28 Home: Lexington Height, weight: 4-11, 105 Oldham has long harbored a dream of becoming a jockey. But her dream was put on hold a few years ago when she wasn't progressing the way she had hoped. She said she soured on exercising horses. Her solution was to enlist for a two-year tour of duty with the Navy in 2002. "I went there pretty much to prove myself to myself," Oldham said. She said she graduated as the only sailor to win two awards, one for being a good shipmate. When she left the Navy, "I felt like I could hold my head high." Oldham entered the Racing Academy with the hope she can still pursue her dream of riding in races. She doesn't think her age will work against her physically, although she is concerned that some people might think she is too old to begin a race-riding career. "I have hope that people know me so well and they know my work ethic, and hopefully they'll see what I can do and that it doesn't make a difference," she said. Both her parents, John and Suzie Oldham, were jockeys. "Luckily for me, having two short parents as riders, I don't have to worry about my weight," she said. Oldham hopes a riding career will add to her experience in the horse industry which already includes working for TVG as a graphics operator, working in the mutuels, in the photo finish department, and in photography. Matt Straight Age: 21 Home: East Greenbush, N.Y. Height, weight: 5-4, 113 Straight learned about the academy from reading The Blood-Horse, a trade magazine. He sent an application right away, last spring. "My whole life I wanted to be a jockey," he said. Straight grew up about half an hour from Saratoga Race Course. He said he would often go to the races where he would hang around outside the jockeys' locker room, getting to know some riders. "My parents gave me 100 percent support," he said. "It's kind of their dream, too." He remembers his first visit to Saratoga. His parents took him. "It was a terrible, rainy day," Straight recalled. But he loved it. "Next thing you know, I wanted to go back every day. It clicked with me." Brad Wilson Age: 22 Home: Burlington, Ontario, Canada Height, weight: 5-2, 110 Wilson learned about the academy from a racehorse trainer in Canada. Wilson had been exercising horses at a training center near Woodbine, and the trainer "knew that I was at a standstill with my riding." Actually, Wilson was cleaning stalls more than he was riding. He enrolled because "I need someone to help me get to the next level. I got into this to be a jockey." Wilson, who lives with fellow students Hoefman, James, Mongan and Truett, said a small amount of rivalry exists among the five. "We're always competing, pushing each other, in working out or whatever," he said. "It's always in good fun. We always joke around," such as who's staying on his horse and who's been falling off. "One of the students was saying they should get a reality show out of this." NARA AUDIO Slide Show 1/7/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader To see a series of pictures of Hall-of-Fame Jockey Chris McCarron and the first class of students enrolled in the North American Racing Academy, click on AUDIO Slide Show. North American Racing Academy 1/7/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader About the Academy: Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron opened the North American Racing Academy in Lexington in 2006. The inaugural class of 11 students recently completed the first trimester in a two-year program that will ultimately lead to an associate degree in Applied Science in Equine Studies from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. With this degree, graduates will pursue jobs as jockeys, as horse trainers, or in any industry-related businesses. Tuition: For in-state students, tuition is $109 a credit hour or $1,744 for the 16 credit hours during the recent trimester. Out-of-state students paid KCTCS $4,704. Some students received scholarships; others took out student loans. Requirements: Anyone wishing to apply to the North American Racing Academy must first be accepted as a student by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Students must be at least 16 years old with a high school diploma or General Educational Development certificate. Requirements also include weight restrictions, plus the ability to speak and write English. Applicants must weigh no more than 120 pounds when wearing boots, riding pants, safety helmet and vest, and holding a jockey's saddle and gear. For further details, visit the Racing Academy Web site at http://nara.kctcs. edu/. 'Everyday People': Exhibit details long-ago black history Writer: Judy Jenkins 1/8/2007 Henderson Gleaner The nation was still reeling from the start of the "Great Depression" when an enterprising Henderson County resident got a notion to start a part-time business. Little did Early Woolfolk suspect that business would endure for some 70 years and tickle the tastebuds of barbecue fanciers who came from distant sites such as Chicago and Indianapolis. Years ago, Early -- now deceased -- told the late E.L. Overfield about the genesis of Woolfolks' Barbecue. E.L., in a guest column for The Gleaner, related that Early had bought a goat for $1.50 and spent all day cooking that critter only to find to his great disappointment that the animal was pretty much inedible. Undaunted, Early purchased another one the following weekend and evidently tried a different culinary technique because this one was downright delicious. He fed his family with it and sold enough to pay for the goat's purchase. Encouraged, he dug a pit "in the grove down front" of his rural property and began to cook two days a week. A few years later, he invested in a concrete block building on U.S. 41-A. and firmly established the reputation that made Woolfolks' Barbecue synonymous with good eating. That building still stands, though it was damaged by a fire six years ago. But the family no longer is barbecuing. Prince Woolfolk, the son of Early, said last week that he sure would like to have some of that mutton "right now." Many others feel the same way. The Woolfolks and their contribution to the county's past are part of a massive undertaking that began nine months ago and is culminating in an exhibit that represents the most ambitious black history project ever conducted here. It's called "Everyday People," and the free-to-the-public display of text and photographs at Audubon Museum kicks off next Thursday with a community reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the museum. The exhibit will continue through March, and can be seen during the museum's new winter operating hours, 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The project has been spearheaded by Alan Gehret, museum curator, and Roy James, museum building and maintenance supervisor. Neither is from Henderson -- Alan's from Pennsylvania and Roy's from Mississippi -- but both have dedicated themselves to excavating as much information as possible about local African Americans who "lived their lives and tried to better themselves and their community." Those individuals include a woman who was a longtime public health nurse and something of a legend at the old, now defunct, Douglass High School, where she provided immunizations. Alan and Roy have been told that when students smelled rubbing alcohol in the corridors, they knew that Jane Cole was there giving shots and using alcohol to swab the arm that was about to receive the needle. Also included in the exhibit are members of the hard-working Brown family, who have provided services through the generations. They include Mike Brown, a distinguished looking gentleman who started a blacksmith business here in 1866. His granddaughter, the late Annette Brown, became a revered teacher and poet and for years wrote a weekly column for The Gleaner. Roy and Alan say they came across some surprises during their many interviews and other research. Roy was amazed, for instance, to learn of the black county residents who served in the Civil War. One account lists at least 51 African American Civil War veterans who are buried here, and their names include familiar ones such as Brooks, Cosby, Dixon, Gilbert, Posey and Cabell. As Roy and Alan labored to fulfill this project, they both came to feel that they had known so many of their subjects. They've been assisted by their wives, Carol Gehret and Mary James, and by a committee of eight: Rev. Anthony Brooks, Anne Cabell, Pierre Jackson, Glenda Langley, Mary Dee Miller, Thomas Platt, Rev. Robert Whitlock and Chip Williams. They've turned up fascinating photographs, such as one taken circa 1916 of the one-room school for black students in Anthoston. Those youths, who hung their hats on the back wall, were warmed by a pot-bellied stove and excused from class during harvest time. It's intended that the exhibit be added to throughout the year, and on display for a period every year. There's still much that the organizers hope to learn, and plenty of coveted photos still tucked away in local closets and attics. All materials are copied, and the originals are kept by their owners. Alan and Roy lament that many of the people in the exhibit are no longer with us, but some, like Thelma Johnson, are. Thelma, a remarkable woman, was the first African American elected to office in Henderson County. She was elected to the school board in 1978 and served until 1986. As of last Wednesday, the exhibit's materials covered eight long tables and were pinned to 11 table-sized panels. It frankly appeared that it would be impossible to get it all into exhibit form within a week, but Alan assured us he and Roy and others will work day and night to achieve that goal. "Sleep," Alan laughed, "is greatly over-rated." Ali Center urges birthday greetings for champ Writer: Associated Press 1/8/2007 Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer LOUISVILLE -- Fans of Muhammad Ali will have a chance to send a personal greeting to the boxing great on his 65th birthday next week. Well-wishers can send their greetings through the Muhammad Ali Center Web site >a href="http://www.alicenter.org">alicenter.org or by getting a picture taken with a birthday banner at the center. School classes and groups are being encouraged to send group photos with signs or banners expressing regards to Ali on Jan. 17, spokeswoman Jeanie Kahnke told The Courier-Journal. Ali, who has Parkinson's disease, doesn't plan to attend the birthday celebration, Kahnke said. People can come to the center in downtown Louisville on Jan. 17 between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. to have a picture taken with one of three banners. The photos will be assembled into one or more albums to be given to Ali. The photos and greetings will become part of the center's archives. Civil rights vets monitor supreme court case Writer: Emily Burton 1/6/2007 Madisonville Messenger Any attempt to color-code students strictly according to race makes Brenda Watson nervous. Having grown up in Hopkins County during the era of a dual school system -- one for blacks, another for whites -- Watson knows firsthand the inequality of "separate but equal." She was active in the desegregation movement in college, even shot at in Nashville while driving black students to a rally. "I and my friends fought for what we though was right, which was equal rights ... for anyone who wanted to come to the great melting pot of America," Watson said. It is little wonder the retired teacher has taken a deep interest in the recent desegregation debate in Jefferson County, one that now involves the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawsuit was filed by parents of Louisville students challenging the school's minority ratio program, because the system denied their children placement in preferred schools based on race. The applications for placement were denied to maintain the school's approved racial quota of between 15-50 percent minority students. Whereas desegregation has been an ongoing battle in Louisville -- a federal judge finally ordered it in the summer of 1975, 20 years after Brown v. Board of Education -- Hopkins County quietly began desegregation on a voluntary basis decades earlier. In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were not "separate but equal," and ordered the public school systems be racially integrated. The local transition was not an easy one, but from it has blossomed an educational system now focused on preparing its students for life in a culturally diverse world. Ted Parrish, Hopkins County Schools human relations coordinator, has worked in the Hopkins County school system for the past 44 years, a period that has seen a major policy shift in the education of minority students. "When I started here, there were separate school systems. There were all African-American schools and the white schools had started to integrate voluntarily," he said. "But not on a large scale." Madisonville was home to two private kindergartens, not affiliated with the school system, which had integrated classrooms, said Watson. Catholic schools had an all-inclusive policy at the time, operating on the principle that race mattered little when it came to a religious education. If your parents paid tuition, you went, Watson said. "If you were Catholic, you went to school, it didn't matter if you were an orangutan." While Madisonville High School students would cheer their black counterparts at Rosenwald in athletics, many had no desire to sit in the same classrooms, she said. The schools were separate, as the state allowed, but their equality was never a question. They weren't. When white pupils' textbooks became outdated, they were passed down to Rosenwald, said Watson. She noticed the inequality at a young age, after filling and refilling her bicycle basket with books to peruse in her free time. "But the sad thing is, when I checked those books out of the library ... every card in the back of the book said 'Madisonville White Public Library,'" Watson said. "It struck me as early as third grade, that there was a grave disparity." Watson recalled a time in college when she heard President Kennedy speak, two weeks before he was killed. "And I remember looking up and seeing, for the first time in my life, snipers in buildings," she said. "And I thought, 'Oh my God.'" Hopkins County was not a hot spot in the desegregation movement, but was not free from the angst it caused around the country. One of the first African-American families to attend the desegregated schools were the Van Leer children, said Watkins. "We were afraid that there would be repercussions to the first kids," she said. "They threatened to burn Mrs. Van Leer's house down ... I just remember Mrs. Van Leer telling me how afraid she was." But supporters of desegregation "knew what was right, and we knew what we were doing was right," she said. The day Pride Elementary opened its doors to black students, people drove to the school and parked outside, just to watch what would happen. The students walked into school without incident and held open the door for students of any race to follow, as they have in every school in the district, said Parrish. "There are areas throughout the county where you'll find a larger portion of one population over another, but even there, you would find some diversity," he said. Hopkins County schools' struggle less for racial diversity, in comparison to their Louisville counterparts, because minority races are intermixed through the districts, rather than clustered in specific areas of the community as they are in Jefferson County, said Parrish. Minority students are not bused to schools in order to affect a minority ratio. Through open enrollment, most children attend the school of their choice, and there are no set quotas of minority students required at each school, said Assistant Superintendent Linda Zellich. Students who apply for open enrollment are judged not on their race -- Zellich doesn't think the question is even included on the application -- but on their previous attendance and disciplinary record as well as their academic performance. Rather than busing the school focuses on teaching students how to "live and learn and work in a culturally diverse neighborhood," Zellich said. Teachers are required to spend three hours of their annual professional development training on classes related to cultural diversity. Those lessons have now become hands-on, with many classroom demographics now including students from India or Asia, others of Russian decent or Spanish heritage, she said. If a school does not strive to maintain an atmosphere of cultural acceptance and racial diversity, some fear the classroom will revert to its segregated roots. Without some form of a minority ratio guideline in larger cities of segregated populations, such as Louisville, "I think we would eventually regress to the same type of situation we had before integration came," said Parrish. "I think the ratio they speak of is important only to the degree that it provides more equitable education opportunities," he said. "And if there was a way to guarantee that equity without busing, that would probably be preferred." But educators must be wary of taking desegregation and busing to extremes, and do just as much harm in the process as "separate but equal," said Watson. If a student's race counts more than her classmate's, more than her academic history, then she is not equal in the eyes of the school system -- she becomes a mandated ratio, Watson said. Rather than busing, she would like to see the problem solved outside of the classroom. If companies hire and promote an economically and racially diverse staff, if every parent has the same opportunity in the community and can live where they please, then their children's classroom will mirror that diversity and racial acceptance, she said. "If other agencies are doing their part, then (segregation) shouldn't happen," Watkins said. Inside the classrooms, the local debate is not what minority percentages or ratios should be mandated, but rather what will best give students the tools to succeed. The school's priority is to encourage the academic success of its students, as well as prepare them to work in a diverse and expanding society, said Zellich. If the student and parents are happy along the way, and comfortable with the school the child attends, the greater influence that education will have, she said. "That's kind of the key to success," said Zellich. "I think if students feel good about their school, and they're happy there, that's going to enhance their academic endeavors." And in the end, that is the whole purpose, she said. Comment: Jobs are pulling our kids away Writer: Chuck Stinnett 1/7/2007 Henderson Gleaner If you want to know why western Kentucky kids are leaving for the Golden Triangle, I can tell you that one reason is: It's where the new jobs are. Many western Kentucky communities are shrinking. Eleven counties in the region (including Union County) lost population from 2000 to 2005, according to Census Bureau estimates. Others are growing slowly: Henderson, Daviess, Webster, Hopkins, Crittenden, Muhlenberg, McCracken and Christian counties, among others, rank in the bottom half of growth rates so far this century. Many of our kids are moving away. Take my wife's family. Donna is one of five siblings who grew up in Grayson County, between Bowling Green and Owensboro. Four of them still live in Grayson County; Donna is the only one who moved away, but she still lives in western Kentucky. Not so for her brothers' and sister's kids. Of her five adult nieces and nephews, only one still lives in their native Grayson County. Three of them went to school in central Kentucky, and stayed in that area (two in Lexington, one in Cincinnati and working in northern Kentucky). Why? Well, they like the amenities of larger cities, with their variety of restaurants and entertainment. But their was another draw as well: Good jobs. The triangle remains golden From 1995 through 2005, Kentucky enjoyed a net gain of 170,761 jobs, according to data from the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training. That was an increase of 11 percent - not a bad showing. But where are those jobs? Mostly in the Golden Triangle, an area typically identified as the counties bounded by Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky. For these purposes, I included those counties contained within Interstates 64, 75 and 71 as well as the Kentucky counties that lie within the Louisville, Lexington and Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan areas. Those Golden Triangle counties account for just 26 of Kentucky's 120 counties. But they accounted for 111,753 of the net new jobs. That's fewer than one-fourth of the counties attracting for 65 percent of the new jobs. But the 29 counties that are wholly west of Interstate 65 experienced a net gain of just 10,984 jobs, an increase of only 4.4 percent. If you include two border counties on I-65 - Warren (Bowling Green) and Hardin (Elizabethtown) - the job gain improves considerably, totaling 30,685. But that's still less than one-third of the employment growth in the Golden Triangle. Saving what we've got Job growth isn't the only issue; the need to keep the jobs we've got is vital, too. Western Kentucky hasn't been altogether successful with that. Nine counties in the region suffered a net loss of jobs from 1995 to 2005. Three of the four Kentucky counties that lost 1,000 jobs or more are in western Kentucky. Webster County is one of them, having lost 1,202 jobs, including losing more than 800 coal mining jobs and nearly 250 manufacturing jobs. Union County, meanwhile, lost 725 jobs, mostly from closed coal mines. Henderson County's job base increased by 748, but only because of the opening of the Hudson (now Tyson) Foods chicken processing plant. Some of coal mine jobs may return with plans by Peabody Energy, Alliance Coal and industry veteran Ron Siler to open new mines in Webster and Union counties. But bringing in manufacturing and distribution center jobs is another matter. For those, having interstate highways is vital. The 10 Kentucky counties with the most job growth over the past 10 years are all located on interstates (and eight are located in the Golden Triangle). As I noted in another forum recently, only three counties in western Kentucky managed to grow by 2,000 or more jobs: Warren, Christian and McCracken. All three are located on interstates. McCracken County grew by 3,000 jobs. Christian County added 6,200. Warren County swelled by more than 11,000 new jobs. (But even that is dwarfed by the 22,700 job gain in Boone County in northern Kentucky.) Kentucky plans to upgrade some state parkways to bring I-69 and I-66 through western Kentucky. But "Future I-69 corridor" signs along the Pennyrile Parkway notwithstanding, that's years away. In the meantime, credit the Northwest Kentucky Forward economic development agency for re-emphasizing aid to existing companies. And credit the Henderson Chamber of Commerce with once again urging companies to offer summer internships to local college students to show them what careers might exist here for them. If your business can offer an internship, give the chamber a call. Editorial: Filling the tuition gap 1/7/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal The rising cost of a college education is one of those sneaky issues. For most folks, it doesn't portend a national crisis. Certainly students who don't have good jobs, trust funds or comfortable and generous families are upset about it. But beyond that, it's something about which educators, bureaucrats and certain categories of parents complain. It's not at the top of the national to-do list, alongside George W. Bush's war, Social Security's future and immigration's impact. But Congress is under a lot of pressure to do something about tuition charges, room-and-board rates and textbook prices that keep going up, up, up. State legislators regularly menace state colleges and universities about the impact of rising costs on student access, which is, after all, what public campuses were created to provide. There's a quietly raging national debate, which reverberates in Louisville and around Kentucky, pitting access against quality. Lawmakers warn that debt compromises the ability of today's graduates to create families and start careers. Some say America's ability to compete in an emerging information-based economy is at risk. The University of Louisville has taken a tentative, but welcome, first step, promising poor students they can attend and graduate debt free, if their families are at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty line. If trustees approve, and they certainly should, U of L will begin making up the difference between rising costs and available financial aid. It's the right idea, even if it isn't being extended, initially, to enough students. The state's other major research institution, in Lexington, has promised to reveal its own plans, soon. A real solution would require state government to admit that public higher education, among many other things, is unwisely underfinanced. It's a basic precept, in education as in business, that you have to invest in order to get a return. Editorial: FUTURE NOW - Sun remade for high-tech world 1/8/2007 Paducah Sun There's a book out about advertising strategies. One chapter focuses on newspapers and other forms of print. The chapter begins like this: "Forty years ago Marshall McCluhan wrote 'print is dead' -- and then he wrote ten books to prove his point." The quote is from "The Little Blue Book of Advertising" by Steve Lance and Jeff Woll. It is the start of the authors' rebuttal to the populist notion that newspapers, print and perhaps other traditional media are doomed by the Internet and other modern things. Similar obituaries have been written over the years for broadcast television -- supposedly doomed by cable TV, and more recently, Ipods and TiVo. Likewise for local radio, soon to be undone some say by satellite radio, music phones, what have you. It all makes for interesting conversation, but it is not reality. In local markets, local newspapers, television and radio dwarf the reach and influence of the Internet and other forms of media, and that's not likely to change significantly in our lifetimes. (In fact, newspapers dominate the Internet nationally in terms of local content, site traffic and revenue). The Little Blue Book makes this observation: "The Internet (in case you haven't noticed) is just print delivered on a different platform. ... Print is still an effective way to reach and speak to your audience. Just speak to them in ways that deliver your message." Put another way, there are more players competing for a slice of the pie in our business these days, but it's a fast-growing pie. Winning the competition is about finding more ways to be more effective and stand out above clutter. That is the backdrop and some of the reasoning reflected by today's announcement on our front page that The Paducah Sun will invest $12 million during the next two years to erect a state-of-the art printing facility. The technology therein will give us vastly increased abilities in terms of the quality of the newspaper (and other products) we produce. It will provide the flexibility to develop new, high-quality niche publications to serve smaller customers and non-traditional readers/customers. And it will give us the capability to target who receives those products with a level of sophistication and selectivity heretofore not possible. The most obvious change for readers will be the look of the newspaper itself -- more color, sharper color, and sharper typefaces. Advertisers will benefit through more availability of color positions and color options. Color's impact on ad effectiveness is well-documented, but older press technology in use here and at most older facilities sharply limits its availability and location within a given day's newspaper. Paducah, McCracken County and our region will benefit from these changes in several ways. First, local newspapers are a big part of the overall impression people have of communities. Content is key, obviously, but the look and the quality of the product say something about the community and the willingness of businesses to invest in it. The new facility will send a similar message. Experienced business people -- and with more than 110 years in publishing we consider ourselves such -- do not make $12 million investments in communities or industries without seeing great future potential in both. Businesses also do not make $12 million investments in downtowns they do not expect to grow and prosper. Many newspapers have in recent years moved printing facilities to the suburbs, perhaps maintaining news offices downtown, but otherwise transmitting pages and sometimes moving sales staffs to outlying facilities. The wonderful and truly unique job Paducah and McCracken County's leaders have done to redevelop and revitalize our downtown from the dormancy that existed just 20 years ago is a rarity, and makes our decision to stay an easy and comfortable one. We have in the design of our new facility incorporated a feature that will provide what we hope will be one more reason for visitors to come to our downtown and stay awhile. The printing building will include a "glass wall" feature that runs the approximate length of the new press. To the uninitiated it may not sound like much, but many newspapers including those in Lexington and Louisville have incorporated this concept into their printing plants in recent years and found it to be a significant point of interest for visitors. Given that the Sun's present, relatively antiquated press and other equipment attracts tours by more than 1,000 school children and others each year, we believe the opportunity to watch the new press towers operate day or night without having to arrange a tour is something many folks will take advantage of. In addition to the "glass wall" our architect, Nick Warren, is attempting to work form as well as function into some of the interior beams and superstructure to lend interest and excitement to what people will see from the outside viewing area. All of these features do add expense. However as one of the oldest exisitng downtown businesses the Sun has tried to do its part over the years and we continue that commitment with this design. To say we at the Sun are excited about this venture is an understatement. We hope our readers and the community share in that excitement as the project unfolds, and that this investment will continue to bring momentum, opportunity, and pride to downtown and our community at large. -- Jim Paxton Educational effort helps families - Literacy program seeks to aid immigrants Writer: Darhiana M. Mateo 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal In a mostly empty, makeshift classroom at the Americana Community Center, Zahra Abdalla finished drawing a picture of the flag of her native Somalia. Beside her, 10-year-old Quluda Hashi, her daughter and the youngest of four siblings, carefully wrote the words rice, bread, sumbuse and kawape -- staples in Somalian cuisine. The two were taking part in Americana's new Family Literacy Center program by illustrating important cultural traditions for their family. "She wants us not to forget our religion or culture, to finish at a great school and get a good job," Quluda said, translating her mother's hopes for her children. Based on an idea developed over seven years, the literacy center program aims to tackle simultaneously the social, educational and cultural needs of up to 17 resettled immigrant families in Louisville by the end of the year, with a goal of helping them integrate and succeed in American society. A partnership between Jefferson County Public Schools' Family Education program and the Louisville-based National Center for Family Literacy, the literacy center program emphasizes helping parents ensure that their children succeed in school. The idea is that it isn't enough to just educate the child, but the whole family must be uplifted so they can move forward together. "We realized that ... we need to do things in a different way," said Edgardo Mansilla, executive director of the community center at 4801 Southside Drive. "If we don't take the leadership now, the ones falling behind are the families." Adapting better, faster Research shows that, when family members work together, they adapt to a new society better and faster, Mansilla said. Often immigrant families like that of Gaston Mukaz of Congo struggle with a new language, job and culture. While his children try to adjust at school, Mukaz works long hours to support them. "We don't have time to talk with our children," said Mukaz, a father of five who came to Louisville with his family two years ago through Kentucky Refugee Ministries. "In my country, we must eat together, sit together and talk," said Mukaz, who was an accountant in Africa but now works as a cook and bookkeeper at Ramsi's Cafe on the World on Bardstown Road in the Highlands. "Here one of my children eats by himself, the other one comes two hours later." But Mukaz said the literacy program can help. He said he joined the program in part because it means setting aside time with his children. "I want to learn. I make sacrifices to start to learn, take classes here," he said. "I must do that." Americana's program began in mid-November. Funding for the first year -- more than $110,000 -- comes from various sources, including anonymous private donors and several community action foundations, Mansilla said. Contributors include the Louisville-based CE and S Foundation, which has agreed to give $50,000 a year for three years, and the Gheens Foundation, the Henry Vogt Foundation, Metro United Way and the Metro Louisville Human Services department. The program has eight immigrant families so far. Parents get adult education classes, GED preparation, career and goal counseling, and English-as-a-second-language classes. Children experience mentoring, homework aid, after-school activities and cultural programs to build self-esteem while overcoming the "generational gap" that can distance first-generation immigrant parents from their second-generation children. The program also includes joint activity time for parents and children every other week. Sharon Darling, president and founder of the National Center for Family Literacy, said the goal is to make the whole family succeed. "We need to take advantage of this strong sense of family (that) immigrants come to us with and not destroy it, which will happen if we educate the kids and not the parents," she said. The national center, founded in 1989, works to combat low literacy, which the organization views as a debilitating tradition often is passed from parent to child. Darling said the approach has yielded success stories from many of the 6,000 such programs in the country, about 70 percent of which are aimed at immigrant populations. At the community center, Quluda Hashi switched from Somalian to English with ease. Her mother, speaking in halting English mixed with Somalian, said one of her dreams is for her daughter to attend a "great college" and get a good job. But Zahra Abdalla, who also speaks Arabic, Swahili and some Italian, is concerned that she can't help her daughter with math, which Quluda struggles with, or understand what Quluda's teachers are saying at parent-teacher conferences. "She's worried about how she's going to know what's happening in my life in school if she can't understand," Quluda said. She said she looks elsewhere for help with her homework. "I do as much as I can by myself, and when I can't I ask my brothers or uncle for help." Preparing parents The goal of the program is to prepare parents to be the "first and most important teacher for their child," said Tracey Noles, coordinator with the school system's Family Education department. Jefferson schools will provide a "family educator" for the community center to help parents become more familiar with the American school system. Carrie VanWinkle, associate director at Americana, said the effort still faces many challenges, including language barriers, overworked parents and children in schools scattered throughout Louisville. "If we can do this the right way, we'll have immigrant families who can contribute better to society and who understand better what's going on and how to be a part of the whole," she said. Experience and depth - MSU faculty show comes to Ashland's First Friday Writer:MIKE JAMES 1/8/2007 Ashland Daily Independent ASHLAND -- Faculty in the art department of Morehead State University conclusively disproved the old saw "Those who cannot do, teach," Friday at the Ann Davis Gallery on Winchester Avenue. The yearly show of works by MSU art faculty opened for the monthly First Friday Art Walk. The wide variety of pieces demonstrates "an extraordinary depth of experience and diverse backgrounds," said gallery owner Zoe Brewer. Nevertheless, the disparate works "come together in a wonderful way," Brewer said. Artists and media represented include: --David Bartlett, digital photographic prints. --Robert Franzini, prints. --Stephen Tirone, stoneware. --Jenny Bell, acrylics. --Elizabeth Mesa-Gaidos, stitched fabric. --Ellie C. Herring, acrylic on wood. --Gary Mesa Gaidos, digital photographic prints. --Dixon Ferrell, acrylics. --Greg Penner, ceramics. --Emma Gillespie Perkins, paper and willow branches. The show is a good sampling of work by faculty members, said Bartlett, whose own display was a selection of photos he'd taken in Montreal. "There's a variety of media, styles and subject matter," Bartlett said. "They show great vitality and variety from traditional to contemporary." Bartlett's prints, shot on the streets of Montreal with digital equipment, show building and shopfronts with great attention to color, texture and detail. The work is a departure from his long-time adherence to traditional film photography in black and white, he said. Franzini said his works employ various printmaking techniques. Tools are among his preferred subject matter -- one print depicts three somewhat ambiguous implements that might be a drill bit, a shovel and a wedge. "I have a fascination with tools, not just the function but the form, the shape and the surface," Franzini said. The exhibit is a testament to the talent on MSU's faculty, Brewer said. "They have such high standards and discipline," she said. The show will remain open through Jan. 30. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, or by appointment. The gallery is at 1516 Winchester Ave. Ford executive: Explorer's ride not done yet - Detroit welcomes 100th auto show Writer: Robert Schoenberger 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal DETROIT -- Sales fell 25 percent last year, and further declines are expected this year, but don't count Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer out, a key executive said yesterday during the first media day of the 100th annual North American International Auto Show. "We sold 180,000 Explorers last year. Everybody was writing us off and writing the segment off," said Mark Fields, Ford's vice president for the Americas and the executive in charge of the company's turnaround plan. He said the entire sport utility vehicle segment is fading, but the Explorer retook the sales crown in the category last year after falling behind the Chevrolet Trailblazer in 2005. The Explorer, Fields said, "is regaining its momentum." In a show of confidence, Ford will install a new media system on the Explorer, built at the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road, this fall. Fields announced the Sync media system with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who joined the news conference via satellite from Las Vegas, where the Consumer Electronics Show is being held starting today. A key option on the redesigned 2008 Focus that was unveiled yesterday, the Sync lets drivers control wireless phones, iPods and other digital devices using their in-car systems. "In the past, the Sync is the kind of feature that would have been reserved for luxury vehicles," Fields said. He declined to provide a price, other than to say the Sync would be reasonable. The system will go in the Focus, Explorer, Explorer Sport Trac pickup and nine other vehicles. The annual auto showcase featured the usual mix of cars that will be on the road within a year, cars that might never be built and dramatic displays. Mercedes, for example, turned its area into a skating rink. Professional figure skaters glided on the ice while vehicles with the company's all-wheel-drive system drove circles around them. For some automakers, the show was a platform for what's coming. Production began last year on Toyota's 2007 Tundra pickups at the company's new plant in San Antonio. Work starts in Princeton, Ind., later this month. The trucks go on sale next month. Although executives acknowledged a tough economic situation for trucks, Ford and Toyota officials said the number of new products might spur more interest in the segment, driving up sales. Ford's Fields pledged that the automaker would remain the sales leader, despite the difficult market. Ford sold 796,039 F-Series pickups last year. Despite a 12 percent annual decline, it was still the best-selling vehicle line in the country. About 40 percent of the F-Series trucks were Super Duty models built at the Kentucky Truck Plant on Chamberlain Lane. For other automakers, the show is a look far ahead. General Motors took on critics who accused the company of killing electric cars by showing off the Chevrolet Volt, a new take on an electric car. The Volt concept car uses GM's new E-Flex system, an electric drive system that can get its power from battery packs, hydrogen fuel cells or small electric motors. Unlike hybrids, which use gasoline engines to drive the wheels in addition to electric motors, E-Flex vehicles are driven only by electricity. The engines installed do nothing but charge batteries. Design guru Bob Lutz said the modular design will allow GM to use gasoline engines in some markets, diesel engines elsewhere and eventually fuel cells in all parts of the world. For environmentalist critics, "the Volt is an inconvenient truth," Lutz said, referencing the title of former Vice President Al Gore's 2006 documentary on climate change. Lutz had other reasons to celebrate yesterday, as GM swept the 14th annual car and truck of the year awards. GM's Saturn Aura was named car of the year, beating Toyota's Georgetown, Ky.-built Camry and Honda's Fit subcompact. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup line won truck honors, beating Ford's Edge crossover and the Mazda CX-7, a vehicle that shares much of the Edge's components. Herald-Leader hires new editor 1/8/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader The Herald-Leader has hired Linda Austin as its new editor, Publisher Tim Kelly announced Monday morning. Austin has been executive editor of The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., since 2003. "I know Linda to be passionate about journalism, focused, innovative, and forward-thinking about the future of newspapers both in print and electronically," Kelly told the Herald-Leader staff in an e-mail message. Check back at Kentucky.com for updates on this story. Kentuckian teaching democracy in Iraq Writer: HEATHER LYTLE 1/8/2007 Henderson Gleaner MADISONVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- American democracy took hundreds of years to evolve into the political system we recognize today. History books have devoted chapters to Christopher Columbus, the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War. Semester-long classes are taught in high school and college on structure, politics, political parties, budgets, laws, and other aspects of government. Madisonville police officer Wade Williams left recently to resume his one-year assignment to help teach democracy to Provincial governmental authorities in Ninewa, Iraq. "It's amazing how little knowledge of the process they have," he said. "It's hard breaking them out of the mold. They were so used to waiting on Saddam saying this is what you do." Bit by bit, he works with Iraqis on processes like developing a city budget. Some days, he may show how a candidate can run for office or how a less popular political party can increase its votes. Williams served in active Army duty from 1991-94. He joined the Army after high school and it turned out to be the best choice in his life, Williams said. He learned discipline and structure from the Army, pointing out his father died when he was 13 years old. "I didn't really have my feet grounded," Williams said. "It turned me around." After the Army, Williams went into the Reserve. In 1998 he began his career with the Madisonville police. The 2nd Battalion, 398th Regiment 100th Division Army Reserve was sent to Iraq, in April. Before he went overseas, he was selected for 17 weeks of training for civil affairs officer qualification at JFK Warfare Center in North Carolina. Williams was chosen to teach the Iraqi administration political processes due largely to his background, being a reservist and the fact that he is only three credit hours from receiving his master's degree in public administration from Murray State University. "The Army believes I have a better handle on how the public system works rather than an infantry officer," he said. "(By using working reservists) is how the Army pulls in those needed skills." Ninety-five percent of all civil affairs officers are from the Reserve, Williams said. Williams, two bicultural, bilingual advisers and two translators work as a team to assist the provincial council in developing a local government. He meets on a regular basis with 176 provincial, district and sub-district council members. He teaches, coaches and mentors them in democracy, leadership, public support and understanding of the Iraqi Constitution. He said some days he may have to show them how to conduct a meeting. Then he may have to instruct them on how to seek bids for a project. One meeting focused on how to run for an election. "It's from the ground up," he said. Williams believes it will be two generations before a difference is seen from a country run as a dictatorship to a democracy. "They were treated so brutally, they don't know what freedom is," he said. "It is going to take their kids to see it a little and then their kids to start pushing the envelope over there." The task could become overwhelming, Williams said. But when he witnesses democracy working in a country that was once under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein for three decades, it makes the task bearable. "When they are able to question their government," he said. "It's these little things that are a huge step. I take these small wins." Louisville chosen for "The Big Read" project 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal The National Endowment for the Arts is spearheading a 2007 initiative to encourage the reading of high quality literature throughout America. The Louisville Free Public Library has been chosen to play a major role in the project and is one of 72 libraries in the country receiving substantial funding to create and promote "The Big Read" activities and programs in its community. "The Big Read" strategy is to have everyone in a community read and discuss the same book during the same time period. The NEA program offers a choice of eight major American works of literature for the project. Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" has been selected for Metro Louisville and Louisville's "The Big Read" will take place throughout February, 2007. The NEA has provided the Louisville Free Public Library a $20,000 grant for the project in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. Additional local funding has come from the Community Foundation of Louisville and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The largest portion of the funding will go for the purchase of 5,000 copies of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" to be distributed free to Louisville area public and private high school students. The Library will have 900 copies of the book in its collection for individual check out and book discussion kits. There are a few audio copies. More copies of the book will be added if demand dictates. The Louisville Free Public Library has already scheduled 20 book discussion programs at its neighborhood library locations and helped organize 15 additional book discussion programs at universities, high schools, social centers and museums throughout the community. The list of participants is expected grow and a complete schedule of events and programs will be published the last week in January 2007. More information: www.neabigread.org. To arrange book club events or community organization programs write: thebigread@lfpl.org Louisville's "The Big Read" will kick off at the Main Library Thursday, February 1, 7 p.m. with a one-woman portrayal by actress Lorna Littleway of Zora Neale Hurston called "The Last Dust Track." Ms. Littleway has recently performed the program at the Zora Neale Hurston Museum in Florida. The event is free but tickets are required; call 574-1644 for ticket information. Louisville's "The Big Read" coincides with African American History Month and the Library is planning additional programs to celebrate the historical significance of Zora Neale Hurston's life and works. Students hash out stem cells with film Writer: MIKE JAMES 1/7/2007 Ashland Daily Independent GREENUP -- Just mentioning stem cell research can provoke a heated discussion. The medical practice of harvesting the cells for research and disease treatment has drawn national attention and sparked fierce ethical battles. When Cindy Collier launched a study of cell reproduction in her sophomore honors biology class at Greenup County High School, she tapped into the controversy to draw her students into a research project. Over the weeks before the Christmas holiday, they delved into the pros and cons of research about stem cells, which are unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells like heart or nerve cells, so they're valuable for treating a host of medical conditions. The research is controversial because embryos are one source of the cells and critics believe that harvesting the cells from an embryo takes a human life. The end product of their research were short movies they produced and showed to each other last week in the school computer lab. By the time they presented the movies, they'd wrestled not just with the scientific concepts Collier set out to teach them, but the ethical issues facing scientists and lawmakers. Also they honed their research skills and technological familiarity with computer editing software. Some of the students changed their own personal positions on stem cell research once they'd completed the project, but persuasion wasn't really the point, Collier said. "It was about exploring the controversy," she said. The research was vital because students typically knew little about what the cell are, how they're harvested and what they're used for, she said. "Some students think they're from abortions." The project started with class discussions about the spectrum of ethical positions. Teams of four students chose a stance and started their research. Not satisfied with canned references and Web sites, one team approached Richard Ford, an Ashland physician, for primary-source information. "By talking to Dr. Ford, we got a more personal view than we would have from an Internet source," said team member Ashley Wright. A local doctor with firsthand knowledge of the subject lent credibility to their presentation, Wright said. Some students interviewed family members dealing with heart disease, Alzheimer's disease and other maladies for which stem cell research holds promise, Collier said. Researching a scientific topic in terms of its ethical pros and cons served to broaden the educational experience, Collier believes. "We talked about bioethics. We always want students to explore before they form opinions." Research aided them in forming more accurate judgments, she said. Making the movies was a better educational experience than writing essays or reports, said Aaron Thompson. "It made it more interactive so we learned more," he said. The demands of organizing the material into an easy-to-understand format was a big part of it, Wright said. "It helped me take it to a level that anyone could understand, whatever their views." Collier said she was careful to point out the difference between opinion and scientific fact. Economists' Group Will Ease Policy Forbidding Discriminatory Language in Job Ads Writer: DAVID GLENN 1/8/2007 The Chronicle of Higher Education After a period of widespread discontent, the executive committee of the American Economic Association voted on Thursday to loosen restrictions on references to minority groups in the association's job notices. The decision was formally announced on Saturday during the association's annual meeting here. Since 1986, the association has banned advertisements in its newsletter, Job Openings for Economists, that discriminate "on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual preference, or physical handicap." And for at least a decade, it has interpreted that policy with an unusual strictness, so as to forbid phrases such as "We encourage applications from women and members of underrepresented minorities." Broad language such as "We are an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action employer" has been accepted, but explicit encouragement to particular groups has not. Three months ago, Stephanie Seguino, an associate professor of economics at the University of Vermont, was angered when the association deleted language from a recruitment ad that declared that her department "welcomes applications from women and underrepresented ethnic, racial, and cultural groups, and from people with disabilities." Ms. Seguino notified colleagues, and several e-mail lists have been ablaze with discussion since October. Dozens of scholars at the Chicago meeting wore small maroon ribbons as a gesture of protest. As Ms. Seguino and her allies see it, the association was foolishly censoring commonplace phrases that might play a small role in broadening the representation of women and people of color in the discipline. (According to the most recent report of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, women earned 27.9 percent of the economics Ph.D.'s issued in 2004, a percentage that has been generally flat during the last decade. And a 2006 report on a study by Gregory N. Price, a professor of economics at Jackson State University, noted that only 44 of the 2,785 faculty members in Ph.D.-granting American economics departments were African-American.) During the Chicago meeting, the association's executive committee conceded the argument. The new policy's exact terms have not yet been set in stone, but the association will now allow recruitment language that encourages applications from people who belong to underrepresented groups covered by federal civil-rights law. "We will permit the discussion of those groups now when it's done in terms of broadening the applicant pool," John J. Siegfried, a professor of economics at Vanderbilt University and the association's secretary-treasurer, said in an interview on Saturday. "But we will continue to prohibit such language if you're talking about hiring criteria." Other Controversial Wording According to several accounts, the most contentious issue during the board meeting was the treatment of advertisements from sectarian religious colleges, which are legally permitted to discriminate on the basis of religion. (The federal government gives that power only to colleges that can demonstrate that religion is fundamental to their mission.) Early last year, Peter J. Hill, a professor of economics at Wheaton College, a Christian institution in Illinois, wrote an essay objecting to the association's refusal to publish an advertisement declaring that Wheaton's faculty must "affirm a Statement of Faith and adhere to lifestyle expectations." Such requirements are perfectly legal, he noted, adding that it seemed pointless not to inform prospective applicants about the college's nature. Under the new policy, the association will treat such advertisements exactly as it does announcements that mention race, gender, and sexual orientation, Mr. Siegfried said. That is, from now on, Wheaton will be permitted to "encourage" or "welcome" applicants who are evangelical Protestants -- but the association will still not allow Wheaton to list evangelical Protestantism as a job requirement, even though such advertisements are legal. In a 2005 blog discussion about Mr. Hill's complaints, Jacob T. Levy, who is now an associate professor of political science at McGill University, defended the association's position. Religious colleges ought to be legally free to discriminate in hiring, he wrote, but such discrimination "also seems to me a bad, nonscholarly thing to do, and the scholarly associations are under no obligation to pretend otherwise." In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Hill said that he regards the new policy as a partial step forward. "I'm pleased to hear that the association has recognized that colleges have distinctive identities and that they might want to encourage applications from particular groups," he said. Mr. Hill added, however, that he fears that it might be unfair and deceptive for his college to place ads that "welcome" evangelical candidates but do not make clear that an evangelical identity is actually a requirement. "Wheaton will probably have to think carefully about whether it would place such an ad," he said. Like Mr. Hill, Ms. Seguino's allies have declared a partial victory. "The option that the executive committee took was a positive step," Deborah M. Figart, dean of graduate studies and a professor of economics at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, said in an interview on Saturday. "But we need to continue to build a consciousness-raising movement about the dearth of women and people of color at all levels of economics," said Ms. Figart, who was the principal organizer of the maroon-ribbon protest. Mr. Price, of Jackson State, said in an interview on Friday that he believes that the conflict was overblown. All along, the association has handled its job-language policies in a clumsy but essentially honorable manner, said Mr. Price, who is the president-elect of the National Economic Association, an organization of black economists. "What is important is to be sure that the applicant pool is diverse, and we believe the AEA board understands that," added Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong, a professor of economics at the University of South Florida, who is the National Economic Association's current president. Mr. Price and Mr. Gyimah-Brempong said that they believe that the AEA's now-abandoned restrictions on minority-group language were not an attempt to stifle affirmative action, as some of Ms. Seguino's allies have claimed, but were instead the product of an awkward compromise about how to handle advertisements from sectarian religious institutions. Instead of expending so much energy on the conflict over the advertisement policy, Mr. Price and Mr. Gyimah-Brempong said, it would have been better for activists to think about how to enhance the success of minority students and junior scholars. (During its meeting on Thursday, the AEA's board also voted for a substantial increase in the budget of the association's summer program, which offers more than 30 scholarships a year to members of minority groups. The program will soon move from Duke University to the University of California at Santa Barbara.) Distribution of Panels While the advertising issue appears to have found a resolution, another dispute is still simmering: Several small organizations that participate in the annual economics meeting are angry about plans to cut the number of panels they can offer in future years. The conflict is a product of the January meeting's unusual history. Since its founding in 1885, the American Economic Association has almost always held its annual conferences under the umbrella of the American Social Science Association or a later, unrelated consortium called the Allied Social Science Associations. By roughly 1975, the American Economic Association had become by far the largest entity within the Allied Social Science Association, or ASSA, and had taken over responsibility for planning and financing the January conference. Today 50 organizations participate in the January meeting, and some AEA members have expressed concerns that the smaller groups are taking up too much oxygen. Roughly a decade ago, Mr. Siegfried said, the AEA sponsored only 130 of 550 sessions at the January conference, which some members thought was much too few, given the association's size and its leading role in organizing the meeting. "A series of presidents have complained that they have had to turn down an enormous number of excellent papers," Mr. Siegfried said. "We also have no other meeting during the year, while most of our sister associations do hold separate meetings of their own." Last year the association began a program to gradually expand the number of AEA panels at the January conference, while reducing the number of panels offered by certain smaller organizations. The reductions have been determined by a formula based in part on how many people have attended each organization's panels during the last four years. When news of the latest cuts hit several months ago, members of several "heterodox" economics organizations -- those that are methodologically or ideologically to the left of the AEA -- held extensive discussions about whether it might be time to leave the January conference structure, and perhaps to consolidate their meetings with those of the International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics, a 14-year-old organization. Most of the scholars argued that it would be better to stay in the ASSA. On one e-mail list, James T. Peach, a professor of economics at New Mexico State University wrote, "We should remain to remind them that not everyone thinks alike. Besides, our very presence is evidence of non-maximizing behavior." Beyond the dispute over the panel slots, some leaders of smaller organizations are concerned that they hold essentially no voice within the Allied Social Science Association. "All of the small groups are essentially here at the sufferance of the AEA," Al Campbell, an associate professor of economics at the University of Utah and a member of the steering committee of the Union for Radical Political Economics, said in an interview on Friday. In previous years, the January meeting has featured a "secretaries' breakfast" during which leaders of all of the participating organizations have gathered to discuss the administration of the conference and other issues of common concern. Three weeks ago, Mr. Siegfried sent an e-mail message announcing that the breakfast would no longer be held. Mr. Campbell and Ms. Figart said that the cancellation of the breakfast -- and the fact that the AEA could take that step unilaterally -- underscores the lack of democracy in the social-science association. The secretaries' breakfasts "served no purpose," Mr. Siegfried said during the interview. Other smaller ASSA committees, he said, can give a range of organizations a role in planning the meetings. Gates' CES Keynote Aims at 'Connected Experience' Writers: Rob Pegoraro and Yuki Noguch 1/8/2007 Washington Post LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft's big push for consumers this year is the "connected experience" and the company sent its chairman and Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates, to Las Vegas to highlight it at the 40th International Consumer Electronics Show. Gates took to the stage at the Venetian Hotel and Casino for 90 minutes Sunday night, touting technology that can tie together personal computers, stereos, TVs and cell phones. His keynote speech, Gates' 11th at CES, featured a demonstration of Windows Vista, the long-delayed replacement for Windows XP that will arrive in stores at the end of this month. He highlighted a series of new computer designs that take advantage of new Vista features, such as a Sony desktop computer that functions much like a digital video recorder, plugged into a TV so it can record shows for viewing later. There was also a demonstration of a new "home server," a squat box to be made by Hewlett-Packard that will share a library of music, photos and movies over a home's network. This server will also automatically back up the files on people's computers and even allow traveling users to log in remotely. But the crowd pleasers were demonstrations of things such as a Sports Lounge, software for Media Center PCs that delivers Fox Sports news and statistics around a TV broadcast of a game. There was also photo software from Microsoft that lets photographers combine photos to produce the images they wish they had taken, instead of the imperfect images that captured family members with closed eyes. A demonstration of new video screen saver software that brings that old waterfall desktop background picture to life prompted the rare "oooh" from the audience. It was standing-room-only in the 3,500-seat ballroom on the Las Vegas Strip, when Gates -- in his characteristically fashionless style -- emerged like a superhero on a stage spanning 100 paces. His speeches have become a must-attend event at the annual technology trade show, considered to be the one of the largest events of the year. Rarely are the demonstrations of a product that can be purchased today. Instead, Gates offers attendees a glimpse of what to expect in the new year -- such as synchronization software that links the cell phone and the car stereo. Called Sync, the new car computing technology expected in a dozen Ford vehicles this year, will allow users to beam their address books and music files from cell phones to their cars. The Sync software will also be able to read aloud incoming text messages, freeing drivers from having to look down at a phone's screen. "Our ambition is to give you connected experiences 24 hours a day," he said. "In thinking about that, one of the areas demands special work and that is in the car." He also offered a peek at Microsoft's latest updates to the home-of-the-future prototype it maintains at its Redmond, Wash. headquarters. Gates showed how software and hardware embedded throughout the home allowed family members to share entertainment and information and even redecorate on demand -- such as a touch-sensitive wall that, with the tapping of a few buttons, can change an assortment of photos to live video clips of the family dog to an Xbox racing game. Robbie Bach, president of the company's entertainment and devices division, recounted Microsoft's efforts in cell phones, music players and video-game consoles. Among all those categories, the Xbox 360 game console stands out as one of Microsoft's greatest successes of the last year. Bach said that Microsoft had shipped 10.4 million of the devices by the end of December, half a million above its own prediction. Sony's competing PlayStation 3, meanwhile, suffered through public, embarrassing supply shortages. He said that more than 5 million people had signed up for the Xbox Live online service, a game-playing network. Microsoft is now starting to sell digital movies and other non-game content over this service-- much as, for instance, Apple has steadily expanded the scope of its iTunes Store beyond just music. Bach also demonstrated an Xbox 360 playing an Internet-Protocol television ("IPTV") broadcast. Many broadband Internet providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, are looking to switch to this technology to deliver TV to homes, since it can carry more channels than a traditional cable setup. How Bush education law has changed our schools Writer: Greg Toppo 1/8/2007 USA TODAY The walls are speaking these days at Stanton Elementary School in Philadelphia, and they're talking about test scores. Post-It notes with children's names tell the story of how, in just five years, a federal law with a funny name has changed school for everyone. "We spend most of our days talking about or looking at data," principal Barbara Adderley says. Test scores run her week. She meets with kindergarten teachers on Monday, first-grade teachers on Tuesday and so on. The meetings begin with a look at each teacher's "assessment wall," filled with color-coded Post-Its representing each pupil and whether he or she is making steady progress in basic skills. Once students master a skill, the Post-Its move up the wall. "If they don't move, then we have to talk about what's happening," Adderley says. What's driving the talk? President Bush's landmark education law, dubbed No Child Left Behind. A cornerstone of Bush's domestic agenda and one of his few truly bipartisan successes, it took what was once a fairly low-key funding vehicle (it was known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act before Bush borrowed the catchy name from the Children's Defense Fund) and turned it into a vast -- and contentious -- book of federal mandates. ON DEADLINE: Have kids? Teach? Involved in school? Share your opinions and experiences At its simplest, the law aims to improve the basic skills of the nation's public school children, particularly poor and minority students. At Stanton, it seems to have made a difference. In 2003, fewer than two in 10 kids here met state reading standards; by 2005, about seven in 10 did. The law turns 5 years old today. It faces a tough future as Congress prepares to reauthorize it -- a group of 100 education, religion and civil rights leaders today announces an effort calling for "major changes." Is it improving education nationwide? It's too early to tell -- many schools didn't get around to enacting most of its more than 1,000 pages of regulations until two or three years ago. U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says the law wasn't being fully implemented in all 50 states until 2006. But one thing is certain: No Child Left Behind has had a major influence on the daily experience of school for millions of kids. Here are five big ways it's changing schools. It's driving teachers crazy Here's a pretty safe rule of thumb: Start in the classroom and travel up the educational food chain. The further you travel, the more you'll find that people like the law. Mention it to most teachers and they'll just roll their eyes. Many principals tolerate it. Ask a local superintendent, a state superintendent or a governor and the assessment gets rosier as their suit gets more expensive. Carmen Meléndez quit her job as a bilingual language arts teacher at an elementary school last spring in Orange County, Fla., after the law prompted her principal to institute 90-minute reading blocks and a scripted curriculum -- in the process making individualized instruction impossible. Meléndez also found that she couldn't teach poetry anymore. "It was insane," she says. "The kids were all jaded. They were tired -- they hated school." Most of the frustration, teachers will tell you, comes from the stress of mandated math and reading tests. The law requires that virtually all children be tested each year starting in third grade -- and it doles out growing penalties if schools don't raise scores each year. Naturally, test day in most schools is fraught with tension. "They're 8 years old, and they're so worried about a passing score," Meléndez says. "I think that's inhumane." Dianne Campbell, director of testing and accountability in Rockingham County, N.C., told the American School Board Journal in 2003 that administrators discard as many as 20 test booklets on exam days because children vomit on them. Also, many state rating systems (which often predated No Child Left Behind) now end up celebrating the same schools the federal law slams. Longstreet Elementary School in Daytona Beach, Fla., has scored high on the state ratings for five years, but Longstreet is one of 21 Volusia County schools due for "corrective action" this year under the law. "Our parents are thrilled at what happens at our school -- and a lot of what happens at our school has nothing to do with No Child Left Behind," says counselor Bill Archer. Jack Jennings of the Center on Education Policy, a Washington education research group, says some of the testing actually helps drive better instructional strategies and, in that respect, is helpful. But he says teachers tell him they're overwhelmed by the sheer volume of testing, which can last six weeks in some schools. "I don't think you can go into a teacher meeting in the country without somebody bringing up No Child Left Behind," he says. After five years, the law has even spawned an online petition that, as of Sunday, had about 22,500 signatures of people urging Congress to repeal it. Along with his signature, teacher Mark Quig-Hartman of Vallejo, Calif., said: "I am well on my way to becoming an embittered and mediocre teacher who heretofore considered teaching to be a profession, not a job. I once loved what I did. I do not now, nor do my students; school has become a rather grim and joyless place for all." Teachers' unions have often been the law's loudest critics. One top National Education Association official even entertained the NEA's 2004 conference in Washington by appearing onstage with an acoustic guitar and singing a protest song with this unforgettable hook: "If we have to test their butts off, there'll be no child's behind left." And if you think it's just teachers who complain, think again: 2006 saw even the law's most ardent supporters complaining, but for a very different reason: They say states and school districts game the system by lowering their standards. Because the law allows each state to set its own pass/fail bar on skills tests, "proficient" means something different depending on which state you live in. The percentage of Missouri fourth-graders at or above "proficient" in English is only 35%, but 89% of Mississippi fourth-graders meet that state's standards. In math, only 39% of Maine fourth-graders are proficient or better; in North Carolina, 92% are. Philadelphia Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas jokes that to really improve scores in his city, he could make classes smaller and modernize buildings. "Or we can give everyone the Illinois test," he says. It's narrowing what many schools teach If nothing else, the law's first five years have proved the maxim "What gets tested gets taught." The law's annual testing requirements in math and reading have led many schools to pump up the amount of time they spend teaching these two staples -- often at the expense of other subjects, such as history, art or science. Jennings found that 71% of districts are reducing time on other subjects in elementary school. "What we're getting under (the law) is a very strong emphasis on building skills at the expense of history and literature and science," says researcher Thomas Toch of the Education Sector, a Washington think tank. Other critics say the law has created a "complexity gap." Children in lower grades have made improvements -- some impressive -- in basic skills, but the improvements vanish in middle school and beyond, when kids are tested on more complex conceptual thinking. Brown University researcher Martin West this fall compared federal data from 2000 and 2004, and found that since No Child Left Behind, elementary schools have spent, on average, 23 fewer minutes a week on science and 17 fewer minutes on history. He also found that in states that test history and science each spring, teachers spend about half an hour more a week on each subject. He also found, oddly, that after a large jump in the 1990s, schools actually spend a few minutes less a week on math -- but they still spend more than twice as much time on math than on either history or science. And they spend more than twice as much time on reading and language as on math. "Schools really do respond to the incentives that are provided to them," West says. "That places a huge premium on getting the incentives correct." But he and others aren't quite ready to say the law is dumbing down school. Researcher Jane Hannaway of the Urban Institute theorizes that improved reading skills may help children understand other topics, even if they're spending less class time on them. She recently looked at Texas fourth-graders' standardized test scores and found that they had some of the nation's highest marks in science -- even though they don't tackle science until fifth grade. One possible theory? The children in Texas were simply able to read the test questions better. 'Invisible' students get attention Even opponents of No Child Left Behind grudgingly concede that, five years out, the law has revolutionized how schools look at poor, minority and disabled children in big cities, who often find themselves struggling academically. It forces schools to look at test score data in a whole new light, breaking out the scores into 35 or more "subgroups." If even one group fails to make "Adequate Yearly Progress," or AYP, in a year, the whole school is labeled as "in need of improvement." Perhaps most significant, the law has given a handful of big-city superintendents the political leverage to make radical changes -- they can now make the case that "federal requirements" make them necessary. In Philadelphia, public schools CEO Paul Vallas invoked the law when, in one school year, 2002-03, he replaced all of the city's elementary and middle school math and language arts textbooks and hired Kaplan, the test-prep company, to write a standardized core curriculum. He pumped up full-day kindergarten and preschool -- Philly students are now 50% more likely to have attended preschool than before the law -- and instituted extended-day math and reading programs for struggling students. "No Child Left Behind gave us the cover to do it," he says. In the past three years, he also has dismissed 750 teachers who didn't meet minimum standards the law put in place. "We would have never been able to do that without the federal (Sword of) Damocles hanging over our head," he says. Superintendents in New York City, Chicago, San Diego and elsewhere have made similar -- and sometimes bigger -- changes under the cover of No Child Left Behind. Spellings says the law has had similar effects nationwide. "It has built an appetite to pay attention to kids who have been overlooked previously," she says. A few observers, such as Mike Petrilli, a former top Bush administration official, say the law has been felt most keenly by suburban school districts, where for years low achievers weren't a priority because high-achieving kids could bring up the district average. Petrilli, who now works for the Fordham Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, says the idea of breaking out poor and minority kids' scores was "really revolutionary" in most suburbs. It has prompted many suburban districts in places such as Montclair, N.J.; Shaker Heights, Ohio; and Evanston, Ill., to form a co-op that shares ways to help once-neglected minority kids. "There's general agreement that (the law) has created more of a sense of urgency," says education blogger and Virginia State Board of Education member Andrew Rotherham. What that looks like in individual schools varies, but in many, "urgency" is not pretty. "It really has brought the Hounds of Hell down on the schools of Prince William County," says Betsie Fobes, a recently retired eighth-grade algebra and pre-algebra teacher at Parkside Middle School in Manassas, Va. "This AYP business is just killing us -- absolutely killing us." Parkside, which has seen a large Latino influx, didn't meet its goals two years in a row -- so now teachers must attend twice-weekly meetings, often focused on testing. They've built in a tutorial period, and even secretaries do their share of tutoring. "The entire school is revolving pretty much around these kids who fit into these subgroups," Fobes says. It's making the school day longer If a restaurant takes 12 eggs and makes a lousy omelette, will adding another two eggs make it better? If a school can't teach a child to read in seven hours, will eight do the trick? Under No Child Left Behind, the answer is: Probably yes. The law requires schools that don't make adequate yearly progress to offer free transfers to a better-performing public school. If results don't improve the next year, the school must begin offering free after-school tutoring -- in many cases with classes taught by the school's own teachers with whom the kids were failing during the school day. William Bennett, Ronald Reagan's education secretary, invoked the egg metaphor, and as it turns out, a lot of families -- and teachers -- are willing to try the omelette. In the 2004-05 school year, 1.4 million students were eligible for the tutoring, and about 17% took advantage of it. Spellings says the tutoring is often provided by different teachers from the ones a kid sees during the regular day. Perhaps more important, she says, the law is forcing large districts such as Los Angeles to figure out how to keep kids from needing tutoring in the first place. "They're ... sitting there thinking, 'What the heck? How can we have so many kids who can't get to grade level in the course of the school day? What needs to happen in the school day different?' " It's changing how reading is taught Forget everything else No Child Left Behind stands for. If it does nothing else, advocates say, it will have improved poor kids' reading in unprecedented ways. A few say it already has. The law gives schools $1 billion a year to spend on reading and focuses it, laser-like, on 5,600 schools that serve the nation's poorest 1.8 million kids. It starts with kids as soon as they enter school and, so far, has trained 103,000 teachers on "scientifically based" reading strategies heavy in phonics, step-by-step lessons and practice, practice, practice. And because many schools build their reading programs around what primary grades do, it could affect millions more students' reading skills. How could it fail? Easily, say critics such as Susan Ohanian. She points to overly scripted reading curricula and a curious little reading test called DIBELS, which makes it easy to rate children's reading skills, in part by asking them to look at nonsense words; it then rates them on their ability to read the words aloud -- very quickly. "I have never seen anything like this," says Ohanian, a former New York teacher who blogs about education in general and No Child Left Behind in particular. She bemoans the loss of teacher autonomy and says DIBELS is one of its worst symptoms. "I don't dispute that it's quick and easy and it's a tool -- and if you just used it that way, I probably wouldn't have a problem with it," she says. But she adds: "They're using DIBELS to hold kids back in kindergarten. And that's where it becomes really evil. Some kids are just not ready for that skills stuff." Stem Cells Discovered in Amniotic Fluid Writer: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 1/8/2007 The New York Times Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research. Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported Sunday that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells. They reported they were able to extract the stem cells from the fluid, which cushions babies in the womb, without harm to mother or fetus and turn their discovery into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone. But Dr. Anthony Atala, head of Wake Forest's regenerative medicine institute and the senior researcher on the project, said the scientists still don't know exactly how many different cell types can be made from the stem cells found in amniotic fluid. The scientists said preliminary tests in patients are years away. The cells from amniotic fluid ''can clearly generate a broad range of important cell types, but they may not do as many tricks as embryonic stem cells,'' said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientist at the stem cell company Advanced Cell Technology. ''Either way, I think this work represents a giant step forward for stem cell research.'' Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, said the finding raises the possibility that someday expectant parents can freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection. Nonetheless, Daley said, the discovery shouldn't be used as a replacement for human embryonic stem cell research. ''While they are fascinating subjects of study in their own right, they are not a substitute for human embryonic stem cells, which allow scientists to address a host of other interesting questions in early human development,'' said Daley, who began work last year to clone human embryos to produce stem cells. Atala said the research reported in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology expands far beyond similar work. At a heart research conference in November, Swiss researcher Simon Hoerstrup said he managed to turn amniotic fluid stem cells into heart cells that could be grown into replacement valves. Hoerstrup has yet to publish his work in a scientific journal. ''Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well,'' Atala said. It took Atala's team some seven years of research to determine the cells they found were truly stem cells that ''can be used to produce a broad range of cells that may be valuable for therapy.'' Atala said the new research has found even more promising stem cells with the potential to turn into many more medically useful replacement parts. ''We have other cell lines cooking,'' Atala said. The hallmark of human embryonic stem cells, which are created in the first days after conception, is the ability to turn into any of the more than 220 cell types that make up the human body. Researchers are hopeful they can train these primordial cells to repair damaged organs in need of healthy cells. However, many people, including President Bush, oppose the destruction of embryos for any reason. The Bush administration has restricted federal funding for the embryo work since 2001, leading many scientists to search for alternative stem cell sources. The advance is the latest in the so-called regenerative medicine field that has sprung from Atala's lab in Winston-Salem, N.C. In April, Atala and his colleagues rebuilt bladders for seven young patients using live tissue grown in the lab. In the latest work, Atala's team extracted a small number of stem cells swimming among the many other cell types in the amniotic fluid. One of the more promising aspects of the research is that some of the DNA of the amnio stem cells contained Y chromosomes, which means the cells came from the babies rather than the pregnant moms. 2007 legislative session convenes, chamber and party leaders named 1/5/2007 LRC eNews FRANKFORT -- The Kentucky General Assembly convened in Frankfort last week, for four days of attending to "organizational" matters before returning to the Capitol Feb. 6 for the lawmaking portion of its 30-day odd-year session. The main order of business when lawmakers gathered Jan. 2 was the selection of chamber and party leadership for the coming two years. After that, committee chairs and memberships were assigned, in a week marked by the swearing-in of new and returning members as well as briefings from committee chairs on key issues facing the Legislature this winter. In the Senate, all top leadership remained intact. Senate President David L. Williams, R-Burkesville, and President Pro Tem Katie Kratz Stine, R-Southgate, were re-elected unanimously to their leadership posts. This will be Williams' fifth term as president, and Stine's second as president pro tem. In addition, both party caucuses in the Senate kept their leadership teams in place. The majority Republicans re-elected Sen. Dan Kelly of Springfield as their floor leader, Sen. Richie Sanders of Franklin as their caucus chair, and Sen. Dan Seum of Louisville as their whip. The minority Democrats re-elected Sen. Ed Worley of Richmond as their floor leader, Sen. Johnny Ray Turner of Drift as their caucus chair, and Sen. Joey Pendleton of Hopkinsville as their whip. Senate stability was also striking in that all 38 senators returned from the 2006 session, with no incumbent Senators retiring or losing re-election bids in November. On the House side, Speaker of the House Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, and Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Louisville, were also re-elected by the full chamber. This will be Richards' seventh term in the top job and Clark's eighth in the second-highest . House Democrats re-elected Majority Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook to his post. But they also chose a new face, Rep. Charlie Hoffman of Georgetown, as their majority caucus chairman and named Rep. Rob Wilkey of Scottsville to be majority whip. Wilkey replaces longtime Majority Whip Joe Barrows, who retired from the House last year. House Republicans re-elected two of their leaders, Minority Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown and Minority Caucus Chairman Bob DeWeese of Louisville. A new face, Rep. Stan Lee of Lexington, was elected minority whip. Membership stability is also evident on the House roll call this year, with 84 incumbents returning from the 2006 session. Some 16 newcomers will be sprinkled around the House floor this year as a result of the November elections, although two of those are former legislators reclaiming their old seats. This winter's "short" session will re-convene for its remaining 26 working days on Feb. 6, with one challenging but not-altogether-unpleasant task at hand: Deciding how best to utilize a state budget surplus that by some estimates may run to as much as $279 million. While the odd-year session does not normally write a full state budget (the two-year spending plan is usually passed in even-numbered years) some budgetary adjustments and fine-tuning are almost inevitable. This year, the re-funding of certain capital construction projects authorized by last year's Legislature but vetoed by the governor after the deadline for veto overrides had passed has been suggested as one spending priority. So has shoring up the state's potentially overburdened pension plan. Correcting problems still plaguing the state tax structure for small business is also considered a likely session topic. As many as 200 pieces of legislation may have been filed for consideration by the time this reaches print -- with hundreds more to come, if the past is any indication. But a quick look at some of the bills pre-filed in advance of the session may give a hint at the variety and complexity of issues the 2007 session may tackle. Please keep in mind this is not a comprehensive list: Senate Bill 16 would let voters decide on an amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky to allow the General Assembly to permit casinos in Kentucky. House Bill 11 would authorize certified peace officers to enforce U. S. immigration laws and prohibit local governments from prohibiting their peace officers from doing so. SB 3 would prohibit anyone convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor sexual offense from changing his or her name without prior consent of a trial court. HB 53 would require that children under 8 years old who are between 40 and 57 inches in height and weigh less than 80 pounds be secured in a child booster seats while in vehicles. HB14 and HB 21 would require Kentucky public schools to use the abbreviations A.D. (Anno Domini) and B.C. (before Christ) exclusively when referencing historical dates and time. HB12 would require that documents produced or used by the state be in the English language only unless otherwise authorized by law. HB 41would create the compulsive gamblers awareness and treatment fund. HB 108 would establish a preservation program aimed at saving the state's historic rock fences. HB 93 would require the forfeit of ownership of animals involved in cruelty and torture cases and would prohibit ownership of animals of the same species for two years. HB 60 would establish a "sales tax holiday" near the start of the school year to allow Kentuckians to purchase computers and other items for school without paying state sales tax. SB 6 would ban slaughter and intrastate commerce in horse flesh for human consumption. SB 5 and HB 54 and HB 37 would raise the minimum wage. HB 28 would prohibit the desecration of the national or state flag under circumstances likely to produce an imminent breach of the peace. HB 97 would require public schools to provide students with 30 minutes of daily structured physical activity. SB 12 would let voters decide on an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution to extend the terms of state representatives from two to four years and state senators from four to six years. HB 47 would create a "tax-me-more" account within the state general fund to receive voluntary contributions from individuals and entities that believe they are taxed too little. HB 113 would provide tax credits to people and businesses who buy new hybrid dual fuel electric vehicles. To view the text or follow the progress of these or any other bills during the 2007 session, visit the Legislative Research Commission website at lrc.ky.gov. Column: Even a $279 million pie can't provide everyone a slice Writer: David Hawpe 1/8/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal One of my favorite journalistic ironies appeared in Campbellsville's Central Kentucky News-Journal. My yellowed copy of the layout, dated July 11, 1988, includes two photographs: one of a local pilot adjusting his helmet and another of that same fellow sailing above Old Greensburg Road. The headline reads, "Bobby Wright reaches for clouds in his ParaPlane." The story includes this scene-setting by news editor Stan McKinney: "From a distance, one would almost swear that the sound is of a chainsaw, or at the very least a lawnmower in need of a new muffler." "I've always wanted to fly," Wright burbles. But there's a small notice, boxed inside the story, that adds context: "Bobby Wright should be coming home from Humana Hospital-University in Louisville where he has been recovering from the crash of his ParaPlane last Monday afternoon." Most journalism benefits from context. Take, for example, last week's edition of the News-Journal, which notes that (1) state lawmakers are about to convene, (2) a $279 million budget surplus is under discussion, and (3) one possible use, according to Rep. Russ Mobley, R-Campbellsville, is funding for "the long-in-the-works lodge and golf course project at Green River Lake." The paper's editorial board concedes, with so much money available, "it's only reasonable that all sorts of groups will be asking for a piece of the pie." But, says the News-Journal, "it's only right that Taylor County ask for its share, too." Last week's lead editorial argued, "Gosh darnit, Taylor County has been promised a lodge and golf course at Green River Lake since the days of the Wallace Wilkinson administration.... Surely, in all those millions of dollars, there can be a few set aside to fulfill an old promise." The problem is that every town, every county, every region of Kentucky has its list of unfulfilled promises. And all of that promised spending can be justified, especially in a state where so many rural communities need economic help -- either because they are part of the Eastern Kentucky poverty pocket that depresses every statistic by which civic health is judged, or because they have been trapped by the tobacco economy's collapse, or by small-town factory closings, or by the departure of ambitious and talented young folks. When he was still president at Murray State University, King Alexander used to insist that I visit what he called the new "ghost towns" of Western Kentucky. Out there, as in all of conservative, tax-averse, anti-government rural Kentucky, there's a powerful push for more public investment, in everything from park lodges to better roads, water lines to school buildings, even to community colleges and full-blown four-year campuses. Mobley is just one of many rural lawmakers who expect help from Frankfort. Which is why maybe half of the state tax revenue Louisville provides is redistributed elsewhere. That's why a responsible governor must be so tough-minded, and provide such firm leadership. That's what voters should be looking for in this spring's gubernatorial primaries: toughness and leadership, the capacity to say "no" and the wisdom to know when "yes" is the right answer. Even though the governorship has been weakened (since the days when, say, a Julian Carroll controlled the flow of legislation by consulting his big black book), it's still possible for a strong-willed, well-informed occupant of the big office on the first floor of the Capitol to move events two floors up. Among Republican candidates, incumbent Ernie Fletcher says he can do it. Businessman Billy Harper thinks he can do it, too, and so far his campaign has spent more than $2.4 million of his own money, based on that conviction. Meanwhile, lots of people, including me, think former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup would be especially well prepared to do it, given her proven ability to focus, focus, focus and push, push, push. That's why so many hope she gets into the GOP race. Among declared Democrats, Treasurer Jonathan Miller has shown the discipline necessary to overcome complaints, early in his career, that he swept back into Kentucky from Harvard with grandiose expectations for quick political elevation. He has made something of his state office, and stuck to the task. So far he faces only little-known Harlan County contractor Otis Hensley and once-well-known Steve Beshear, whose past public service has been estimable. Beshear was, in particular, a superb attorney general, with the toughness needed to probe state police misconduct, and to handle such divisive issues as posting the Ten Commandments. The better candidates know that every story about that $279 million revenue surplus should include an insert, set in bold type, describing Kentucky's unmet needs in everything from social services to education programs. Not to mention a $21 billion unfunded state pension liability. Politics requires context, too. David Hawpe's columns appear Sundays and Wednesdays on the editorial page. His e-mail address is dhawpe@courier-journal.com. Donated to WKCTC 1/8/2007 Paducah Sun Jennie Stuart Medical Center staff sonographer Barbara Creekmur (right) shows West Kentucky Community & Technical College diagnostic medical sonography class president Trish Murphy the school's new ultrasound machine. The machine, valued at $20,000, was donated to WKCTC by the Hopkinsville hospital.  Jennie Stuart Medical Center staff sonographer Barbara Creekmur (right) shows West Kentucky Community & Technical College diagnostic medical sonography class president Trish Murphy the school's new ultrasound machine. The machine, valued at $20,000, was donated to WKCTC by the Hopkinsville hospital. Photo of the Day Gallery |