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AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 27, 2006 – More than 400 middle school, high school and college students from across Texas flocked to student expositions at Huston-Tillotson University here Feb. 25 seeking information about military service and civilian jobs in the Defense Department. The expositions were part of the two-day National African American History Month observance sponsored by DoD and Huston-Tillotson in conjunction with historically black colleges and universities. The students were provided information about appointments at the service academies, entry into ROTC programs and civilian career opportunities in DoD, including how to participate in civilian intern programs. Missy Adunbarin, 18, a...

ROME - Italy's highest court ruled Friday that a man who raped the 14-year-old daughter of his girlfriend can seek to have his sentenced reduced because the girl was sexually active, news reports said. The ruling provoked an outcry across Italy, was condemned by UNICEF and prompted other justices on the court to issue a statement saying the ruling was wrong and in the future would be cited as a bad example of a high court decision, the ANSA news agency reported. The case goes back to 2001, when a court in Sardinia convicted Marco T. of sexual violence and...

Radio station sale forces Air America to seek new home Laura Newpoff The Business Journal From the January 20, 2006 print edition One of the first things Bob Christy did when he found out his liberal talk radio station's format was changing to religious broadcasting was to offer his worried staff an exit strategy. "I told them I'd give two-weeks pay to anyone who wanted to leave that day," Christy said. "But nobody did." Christy is general manager of KXXT 1010-AM in Phoenix, home of the Air America Radio format since September 2004. The station was acquired in October, part...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers and police are conducting a house-to-house search for American freelance journalist Jill Carroll, who was taken hostage in the Baghdad area Jan. 7, a senior Iraqi military officer said on U.S. television today. "We isolate areas in cooperation with the police and go house to house searching for Jill," Lt. Gen. Nasser Abadi told Fox News Channel. "We've done three areas now, and tomorrow we'll finish one big district." Abadi, the deputy commanding general of Iraqi Joint Forces, expressed hope that his soldiers would soon find the 28-year-old woman who'd been filing Iraq-based...

The Voices of Medhold, a singing group from the Medical Hold Company at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., entertain the audience while judges tally the results of the Army’s 2006 Margaret “Skippy” Lynn Stars of Tomorrow Talent Contest Jan. 21 at Fort Belvoir, Va. From left to right: Sgt. Jonathan Oliver, Sgt. Carl Oliver, Staff Sgt. Michael Green, Staff Sgt. Alan Drew, Sgt. Michael Walcott, Sgt. 1st Class Samuel Lampkins and Sgt. 1st Class Brenda Goodson. • Printer-friendly version • E-mail this article • Voices of Medhold seeks to soothe injured SoldiersBy Tim Hipps January 26,...

Same source: Persistent themes in art suggest an evolutionary adaptation. We, as well as the ancient Greeks, admire the Hermes of Praxiteles, above Hardwired to seek beauty Denis Dutton January 13, 2006 THROUGHOUT history and across cultures, the arts of homo sapiens have demonstrated universal features. These aesthetic inclinations and patterns have evolved as part of our hardwired psychological nature, ingrained in the human species over the 80,000 generations lived out by our ancestors in the 1.6 million years of the Pleistocene. The existence of a universal aesthetic psychology has been suggested, not only experimentally, but by the fact that...

MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 12, 2005 – Whether the key to a bright future for a country is to educate the children of the present will be tested in northern Iraq over the next generation, based on the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region North. The 324 schools renovated in Iraq's seven northern provinces under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund will benefit 42,000 students. All but nine of the schools are completed, and only one of those will not be finished by the end of January, officials said. Officials also noted that under the Commanders Emergency...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Nov. 3, 2005) -- The Marine Corps is searching for a larger, more capable combat transport to replace the Humvee. The Fires and Maneuver Integration Division of Marine Corps Combat Development Command is outlining the requirements for its future vehicle, dubbed the Combat Tactical Vehicle, with the goal of fielding the first CTVs in 2011. Kevin M. McConnell, deputy director of the Fires and Maneuver Integration Division, said the Humvee, while a battle-proven tactical vehicle, is beginning to show its limitations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The Humvee A2 is a great vehicle, [but] it has...

GULFPORT, Miss. (NNS) -- The Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) aboard Naval Construction Battalion Center (NCBC) Gulfport hosted a Job Fair with local community employers in the Navy Exchange (NEX) plaza on base Oct. 31. Information about hundreds of hourly and salary positions available in the Gulf Coast was available for military personnel and their families looking for employment. Pam Phillips, a Work and Family Life consultant with the Gulfport FFSC, arranged for 25 businesses and organizations to come out to the base for the day to showcase their employment opportunities. “When I started calling area employers, I found...

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano isn't going to ask President Bush to bring Arizona's National Guard troops back from the Middle East. The governor said Wednesday that she read the request that was delivered to her office Monday by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. Sheehan said Arizona could find itself at a disadvantage during wildfires if its troops are busy battling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Napolitano said she doesn't intend to do that. "The deployments from Arizona have been managed in such a fashion that I have never felt that we were left with inadequate resources here," ........

Nine seek seats on CalPERS board http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/13651572p-14493894c.html (EXCERPT) Nine candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for a pair of at-large seats on the 13-member governing board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund. The open seats are for four-year terms starting in mid-January. Overall, six of the 13 trustees are elected by members. The governor appoints two representatives. The Assembly speaker and Senate Rules Committee jointly name one trustee, and the state Personnel Board selects one. The state treasurer, controller and director of the Department of Personnel Administration also serve on the board overseeing...

Native Hawaiians Seek Self-governing Body Sen. Akaka quote: Bill Could Mean Eventual Independence for Hawaiians By National Public Radio, 8/17/2005 8:22:38 AM Editor's Note: Here is the complete National Public Radio transcript from Aug. 16, 2005 with Anchor Steve Inskeep, Reporter Martin Kaste and various guests. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Congress is considering legislation that would give native Hawaiians their own government. It would essentially grant them political status similar to that of Native American tribes. Here's NPR's Martin Kaste. (Soundbite of surf; birds) MARTIN KASTE reporting: You'll find no more potent symbol of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two California House members from opposite parties are asking a federal elections panel for permission to raise unlimited money to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, are seeking an advisory opinion from the Federal Election Commission that would allow them to collect "soft money" from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose ballot measures in the Nov. 8 special election. Both oppose Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. Berman's chief of staff, Gene Smith, said the request was motivated by their desire to raise money to fight it. Schwarzenegger's...

Scientists seek fresh chance to dig up Stonehenge's secrets Robin McKie, science editor Sunday July 24, 2005 The Observer (UK) Stonehenge has always mystified. Julius Caesar thought it was the work of druids, medieval scholars believed it was the handiwork of Merlin, while local folk tales simply blamed the devil. Now scientists are demanding a full-scale research programme be launched to update our knowledge of the monument and discover precisely who built it and its burial barrow graves. This is the key recommendation of Stonehenge: an Archaeological Research Framework, edited by Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University, soon to be published...

LONDON - Britain's Muslim leaders demanded a judicial inquiry Wednesday into what motivated the four "homegrown" suicide bombers who targeted London, as Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed an international conference on rooting out Islamic extremism. The government said all 56 people known to have died in the bombings of three subway trains and a bus have now been identified, but Home Secretary Charles Clarke warned the number could rise. Twenty-seven people remained hospitalized, several in critical condition. Police also have not ruled out the possibility of finding more bodies in the mangled wreckage of a train that is still in...

SACRAMENTO – A group of California lawmakers is trying to block the impact of last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded the government's power to seize private property, a decision that was swiftly criticized by groups across the political spectrum. In the 5-4 decision, the nation's highest court ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses without their consent for private development. State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Northridge, said the court ruling in Kelo v. New London allows governments to "take the house of a person that it doesn't like, and give it to a person that it...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - After months of bickering and political recriminations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders put differences aside and forged a bipartisan compromise over the state budget. Whether such comity can extend to negotiations over Schwarzenegger's proposed reform initiatives and the fall special election remains the looming challenge. Recent polls show the public has lost confidence in Schwarzenegger and holds the Democrat-controlled Legislature in even lower regard than usual. The poor standing has prodded both sides to say they want a global agreement on the initiatives to avoid a bruising showdown in November. "Everyone's willing to talk," Schwarzenegger spokesman...

GENEVA - U.N. human rights investigators, citing "persistent and credible" reports of torture at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, urged the United States on Thursday to allow them to check conditions there. The failure of the United States to respond to requests since early 2002 is leading the experts to conclude Washington has something to hide at the Cuban base, said Manfred Nowak, a specialist on torture and a professor of human rights law in Vienna, Austria. "At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government,"...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's renewed call for greater cooperation between Democrats and Republicans will be tested in the coming days as the administration tries to forge a budget agreement before next week's start of the fiscal year. It may not be easy. Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, said Wednesday they have given ground on a variety of issues and will be reluctant to compromise further. At issue is nearly $1 billion in spending that separates the two parties. Democratic leaders said they are looking for the governor to bring the two sides together. "We are...

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Responding to a precipitous drop in popularity, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday said he wants to seek compromise with Democrats on the state budget and the issues he has placed before voters for a November special election. "I feel that there is an agreement to be had," said Schwarzenegger, appearing more contrite than usual as he answered questions from reporters during a Capitol news conference. "We can resolve this, and then we can go together to the special election - Democrats and Republicans alike - and also that we can solve this budget. It's all about the...