| UWI at 60 - Its role in nation building
The University of the West Indies officially begins its 60th anniversary celebrations today. Those 60 years were directed at producing a new Caribbean from out of the old. The next 60 years will have to be about producing a global Caribbean and happily the UWI has a strategic plan in place to equip it to do so. The UWI was a product of many things happening at once - modernisation, decolonisation, regionalisation, and nation building. One of the sins ofcolonialism was that for 300 years the British never saw it fit to build a university in the region. It was only after a series of riots in the 1930s that a British commission realised the need to promote a middle class in preparation for eventual self-government. Before adult suffrage, there was no university in Jamaica. By the start of the new century, almost 15 per cent of Jamaicans had access to tertiary education.
Giuliani's work for drug maker probed
Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani. For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team had been building a case that the maker of the painkiller OxyContin had misled the public when it claimed the drug was less prone to abuse than competing narcotics. The drug was believed to be a factor in hundreds of deaths involving its abuse. .
Democrats toughen up
Constitutional Law professor/lecturer at the University of Chicago. Illinois State Senate * Welfare legislation * Created the Earned Income Tax Credit program that gave over $100 million in tax cuts for families throughout Illinois over 3 years. * Expanded early childhood education * Enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases. * Passed, with U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL), the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned most gifts from lobbyists. * Barack Obama sponsored and passed legislation that expanded health care coverage to 70,000 kids and 84,000 adults.
Marathons ran into tough luck in 2007
The most popular Michigan marathons include the scenic Bayshore Marathon along the Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City on May 24, the Detroit Free Press Marathon on October 19 and the Grand Rapids Marathon, also on October 19. Training help is available for marathons both inside and outside of Michigan through Team Playmakers and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training (TNT) program. Note that TNT involves fundraising requirements. .
A talented student rebuilds his life after battling depression - and ...
On the evening of Sept. 28, at an apartment complex in King of Prussia, a tragedy and a miracle occurred 2.5 seconds apart. The tragedy took place when Jordan Burnham, 18, a senior just nominated to the homecoming court at Upper Merion High School, jumped out his ninth-floor window. The miracle happened 90 feet below, when he hit the ground at 50 m.p.h. - and survived. Jordan has no recollection of going out the window. Even though he was suffering from depression, neither he nor anyone close to him ever expected him to do something so impulsive, so lethal. "I had everything to live for," he says now. Today, 114 days later, Jordan's body remains badly broken. With the help of three therapists, he stood on his right leg last week for 60 seconds. He still cannot stand on his left leg, encased in scaffolding.
Councilman MikeK Recalls Knievel Action Figure
Top: Young MikeK playing with Evel Knievel action figure; bottom: MikeK receives inspiration from his childhood friends before leaving for a Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting. I had a classic Evel Knievel motorcycle riding action figure when I was a kid. The stunts my brothers and I would stage for that motorcycle toy were legendary (riding out a second story window, chasing the dog around the house without getting chewed to ribbons, you name it). RIP Evel. I wonder what happened to Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man who played the role of Evel's arch-nemesis in the boyhood action figure wars?/Councilman MikeK. Question: What was your favorite action figure/doll when you were little? .
La-La Land of the Giants
I should have listened to my wife. She told me to wash my car. But I'd been on the road just about every weekend for three months, covering NFL games, and a carwash didn't register on my list of priorities.
So the other day I wheezed up to the Beverly Hills Hotel in my one-headlight Volvo that's covered in dust and bird droppings, and filled with old newspapers, water bottles, my son's basketball, and -- disturbingly -- my daughter's collection of stripped-bare Barbie dolls.
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In Memoriam: Those We Lost in 2006
Gerald R. Ford,, 93 -- Thirty-eighth president of the United States, who ascended to the presidency in the wake of Richard Nixon's resignation. He was the only president never to be elected to national office. His pardon of Nixon helped heal the nation after the divisiveness of Watergate. "My fellow Americans: our long national nightmare is over." Saddam Hussein, 69 -- Former Iraqi dictator; deposed by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Hussein was put on trial for his crimes, convicted and executed. James Brown, 73 -- Musician and entertainer whose legendary talent and innovative hits earned him the nickname, "Godfather of Soul." Dec. 24, 2006 Joseph Barbera, 95 -- Cartoonist who collaborated with William Hanna to produce some of TV's most memorable animated characters.
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