I want to be able to search the world's library, BUT...

Chris Jennings

CMMN 400

David Myers

October 22, 2009

 

I want to be able to search the world’s library, but I don’t think Google should rush into this project. The idea of having access to these millions of books is wonderful and would do a great deal for globalization and the rapid spread of new ideas and opinions, particularly where the language barrier is concerned (Toobin, 2007), but this is not a project which should be undertaken haphazardly, which it is if there is so much concern over unorganized citations and sloppy scanning (Toobin, 2007).

Obviously, copyright laws are a major concern in this fight. According to the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Act of 1998, copyright expires after the author has been dead 70 years or, in the case of corporate authorship, 95 years after publication (S.505, 1998). Google says that scanning books still under copyright falls under fair use for copyright laws as a block of 40 or so words around the search terms is available through the search function, but several publishing houses say that the very act of scanning these books poses a threat to the copyright because Google made a copy of the book without permission or payment to the publishing houses, even though suing publishers like Simon & Schuster, the Penguin Group and McGraw Hill are partners in Google Book Search (Toobin, 2007). Furthermore, several publishing houses fear the Google will break antitrust laws by holding a clear monopoly on the Internet book search market (Kennedy, 2009, p. 13), although Google started out as the primary force in some markets, but was quickly overrun by stronger competitors, notably in video (YouTube) and blog search (technorati.com) (Toobin, 2007).

While I do find the antitrust and copyright infringement concerns very valid, I recognize the inevitability of Google Book Search’s victory. Recent history has shown that Internet developments evolve far too quickly for the law to keep up — Google even acknowledged this with the Charles Darwin quote “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” (Toobin, 2007). Music, television and film all have hundreds of places on the Internet where they can be view for free without advertisement even though there are clear laws against this as people are always able to find loopholes in the law. The introduction of torrents into the music-downloading scene, for example, allows people who would otherwise be labeled pirates to slip right through the current copyright laws. I may be no media law expert, but I know a losing battle when I see one. However, it would be irresponsible for the publishing houses and the Authors Guild to give up the fight completely as this would allow Google to proceed unchecked and, in my opinion, nothing is more dangerous than giving a powerful corporation free reign without any boundaries or limitations since the practices of the Bush administration have proven this is at the very least economically, if not ethically, unsound, and thusly Google should proceed with caution and intelligence in expanding the book search program.

 

Works Cited

Kennedy, R. (2009). Law in virtual worlds. Journal of Internet Law, 12(10), 3-20.

Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, S.505, 105^th Cong., 2^nd Sess. (1998).

Toobin, J. (2007, February 5). Google’s moon shot. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/05/070205fa_fact_toobin?currentage=all

Charter, conventional schools compete in Idaho

By JESSIE L. BONNER
Associated Press Writer

GOODING, Idaho (AP) — A few minutes after the bell pulses into his classroom, Gus Spiropulos waits for the fifth graders to finish their noisy parade out the door before he reluctantly begins his calls to parents.

His approach is polite but pointed; there are only a few troublemakers. But he's careful not to stir resentment because parents in this tiny dairy community no longer have to send their children to Gooding Elementary School, or even Gooding Middle School. Starting this fall, they'll also be able to opt out of the traditional public high school here.

That choice is as Idaho lawmakers intended when they authorized charter schools a decade ago, part of a wave of states that embraced an alternative to the conventional classroom.

Since then, conventional public schools across the state have lost students to charter schools. Gooding is the poster child for the impact of charter schools on one of the poorest districts in the state.

"I'm not sure they totally understood what they were doing, the ramifications of putting a charter in a rural school district," Spiropulos said. "Now they know."

While charters have become ingrained in the educational fabric of states like Arizona, Michigan, Colorado and Florida, there are still Idaho lawmakers who consider them a threat to the traditional public school system.

Less than a year after North Valley Academy opened in Gooding, the traditional public school system has lost about 100 students — 10 percent of its total enrollment — and a portion of the tax money that supported those students.

On Feb. 10, voters had to pass a supplemental property tax levy to raise about $325,000 for the Gooding School District to ward off the elimination of music and athletic programs caused partly by the departure of the charter school kids and in part by the economic downturn. The levy gained many supporters, including Dr. Heather Williams, the district superintendent, and it passed 669 to 393, but it also worsened a rift that emerged in Gooding when the school buses started carrying two sets of kids.

The students headed to North Valley Academy wore sharp uniforms, khaki bottoms and polo or button down shirts in red, white and blue. Those bound for the regular public school were suddenly different.

"It segregated the community," said Holly Church, a 30-year-old teacher who lives in Gooding and works in the public schools in nearby Wendell. "People who had been friends for 40 years are now fighting. They're saying, 'my kid goes to the public school,' 'well my kid goes to the charter school.'"

Butch and Mary Stolzman will have grandchildren in both public school systems this fall. They voted for the levy in support of the regular public schools, but parents also seem to like the charter school.

"We haven't quite figured out which one is better," said Butch Stolzman, who owns a pellet mill in town.

More than 30 charter schools have been established in Idaho by teachers, parents and community members. For just about every one of the 11,000 students enrolled in a charter school, there is another kid on a waiting list.

They are public schools, funded with state money, but given more flexibility in how they operate. They draft charters with specific goals and their students are subject to standardized testing, just like they would be in regular schools.

They enroll students through a lottery system and attract a smaller percentage of minorities compared to traditional schools statewide. Several, like North Valley Academy, have adopted rigorous college-prep programs and students adhere to strict discipline codes.

Debra Infanger wanted students in Gooding County, where cows outnumber residents 12 to one, to have the same alternative being offered in school districts across the state. She founded North Valley Academy, which has about 162 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade and will expand to include grades 9-12 this fall.

"I don't regret it at all," said Infanger, the retired owner of a glass repair business. "I don't like to see rural kids shorted just because we live in the country and don't like a lot of traffic."

All five of her children went to regular schools here, she tutored algebra and frosted cupcakes for bake sales.

"I don't want to hurt the traditional public schools. I just believe in choice," Infanger said. "I think having two schools in town just makes both of us work harder."

About 100 miles west of Gooding, lawmakers in the state capital have set the stage for a legislative battle over a plan to temporarily freeze approval of new charter schools for the next three years, beginning in July.

State Sen. Dick Sagness, a Democrat, wants to place a moratorium on the establishment of new charter schools until the economic turmoil subsides.

Charters received nearly $60 million last year in state money, while more than half of the 115 school districts in Idaho have gone to local taxpayers and are operating with supplemental levies, Sagness said.

"If they're in a district where the charter school resides, it's having an impact, opportunities are being reduced," Sagness said. "Tell me how that's fair, or reasonable."

At least one Republican senator vowed to oppose the bill when it was introduced to the Senate Education Committee last month. The legislation, which is likely to fail, has also drawn criticism from public schools chief Tom Luna.

"I think it would send a signal to the parents of Idaho that we are not going to respect their demands," said Luna, who supports a plan to raise the cap on the number of new charters allowed to open each year.

In neighboring Washington state, the Legislature's approval of charter schools in 2004 was swiftly overturned by voters in a referendum at the next election.

But nationwide, efforts to stymie the growth of charter schools have largely failed and there are now 4,600 of them in 40 states with 4.5 million students, said Jeanne Allen, president and founder of the Center for Education Reform, a school choice advocate based in Washington, D.C.

"Lots of people wanted to shut down the competition, but reason prevailed and traditional school leaders learned how to do better," Allen said. "Those who didn't have either continued to suffer or they have closed."

—

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

As development expands, graves go missing

One of several grave markers that have fallen over at the Harless-Bradshaw Cemetery on Brier Branch near Ashford, W.Va. is seen in a Saturday, March 7, 2009 photo. As small family cemeteries and unmarked graves get in the way of mining, timbering and development interests, advocates are asking state lawmakers this year to enact regulations that would require better tracking of the graves.(AP Photo/Bob Bird)

By BRIAN FARKAS
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Walter Young can't find his great-grandmother's grave. The coal company that had it moved doesn't know where the remains ended up.

"It always looked like a safe, good place nobody would bother," the 63-year-old retiree said of the cemetery along Pigeon Creek. "It was up on a hill."

But that hill was in West Virginia's southern coalfields, and over the years, it changed hands. The land around and under the cemetery passed from one coal company to another as mines grew up around it. Now, no one is sure where Young's great-grandmother was ultimately laid to rest.

The loss is a problem that resonates across West Virginia as small family cemeteries and unmarked graves get in the way of mining, timbering and development interests. Advocates are asking state lawmakers this year to enact regulations that would require better tracking of the graves and protect families who believed that their loved ones wouldn't be disturbed.

Young hadn't visited his great-grandmother's grave regularly since the 1970s, but wanted to check up on it when he realized the cemetery, near Delbarton in the southwestern corner of the state, was near a site being built to store coal waste.

When he called for permission to cross company property, he was dumbfounded by the response. The company that now operates the site didn't know where the grave had been relocated.

The graves get lost because sometimes, nearby mining makes it difficut for families to gain access to burial grounds.

One measure the Ohio Valley Coalition is pushing in the legislature would triple the no-disturbance buffer zone around cemeteries from 100 feet to 300 feet. Another would delete seemingly contradictory language in a law intended to protect human remains, grave artifacts and markers.

A third proposal would require coal companies to explain ahead of time how proposed surface mines would affect nearby cemeteries. And a fourth would allow West Virginia University's extension service to use Global Positioning System to map and plot small cemeteries near mountaintop removal mines.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, says coal operators follow the law and try to be sensitive when cemeteries get in the way, treating families with dignity. However, he can't say how often such disputes arise.

International Coal Group's Patriot Mining Co. is currently in court in northern West Virginia, seeking approval to relocate a cemetery where the last burial occurred more then 70 years ago. Patriot received permission last year to move a nearby cemetery.

Patriot estimates there is 7,000 tons of coal beneath the 22 graves it now wants to move. Because of buffer zone and blasting laws, Patriot technical services manager Tom Jones said 80,000 to 100,000 tons of coal would be lost if the cemetery isn't relocated.

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition organizer Robin Blakeman doesn't know how much coal is beneath her family cemetery in Brier Branch Hollow. The Harless-Bradshaw Cemetery had been used by her family and the nearby community since the mid-1800s, and contains the grave of a Civil War cavalry corporal.

In the past five years, Blakeman has watched Ravencrest Contracting slowly encircle the wooded knoll where the cemetery is located. The former farm passed out of her family's hands more then 50 years ago.

On a recent Saturday, Blakeman planted Gladiolus bulbs near several of the stones. As she worked, the sound of heavy mining machinery and trucks drifted across the narrow valley.

"Sometimes in the midst of all this destruction, sometimes the only thing you can do is try and add a little bit of beauty," Blakeman said. "I'm also thinking these flowers will at least alert somebody to the fact that somebody cares."

—

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Tucson man feels call to collect for needy

By ERNESTO PORTILLO JR.
Arizona Daily Star


TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — When Peter Norback heard President Obama's call for community service, the Miles Neighborhood resident decided to start right outside his front door. He began soliciting and collecting food from his midtown Tucson neighbors.

"What a challenge to make hunger go away," Norback, 66, said recently during his weekly collection walk.

His hope is that the city's 180-plus neighborhoods take up the same effort.

"If every neighborhood did this, we could make hunger go away. It can be done," he said.

With a box affixed to his handheld cart, Norback spent about six hours walking most of his Midtown neighborhood which, at his count, includes about 250 houses, not counting apartments and granny flats. It was his sixth week and his most productive: 130 pounds and $23 for the Community Food Bank. The previous week he'd collected 78 pounds and $1.

He also likes that his neighbors have good taste in their donated food.

"It's always good quality. It's nothing you wouldn't eat yourself," he said.

Norback, a self-employed computer consultant, started his one-person campaign by visiting his neighbors, talking to them about his idea and enlisting their weekly contributions. Many were quick to say yes.

One of the first to say yes was Edward Altamirano, who works for the city in housing rehabilitation. He said in his job, which takes him inside people's homes, he sees the need for donated food.

"I see what their pantries look like. I see a lot of empty cupboards and refrigerators," he said, "especially among young families and the elderly."

Jack Parris of the Community Food Bank said a growing number of food-collection drives have sprung up in response to the declining economy and rising need for food.

In December the demand for food rose by 40 percent compared with the year before, said Parris. The demand stretched the food bank's resources, he added.

Last month the food bank began to limit families to one box per month. Previously a family could receive two boxes each month, Parris said.

Chantelle Bowers who lives in the Miles Neighborhood, said she understands the need for donated food.

"I've needed the food bank. Now we need to give back," she said after she gave Norback several cans.

Miles residents leave their donations outside their doors or close to the sidewalk. At each house Norback leaves a thank-you message or sorry-I-missed-you note if there is no food or no one is home. He carries a photo identification badge he created.

"This is new. He put some dollars in there," Norback said excitedly when he found several bills instead of cans.

With some neighbors he chatted for a moment. At one home he knocked but no one answered. But he knew why.

"That's another student," he said. "I think they sleep in on Sundays."

Norback doesn't have help yet but expects to get some soon to help him cover the triangular neighborhood.

As temperature rises, Norback said, he'll have to find a way to beat the heat while he and his neighbors beat hunger.

"I'm going to find a huge sombrero with a fan."

___

Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Man finishes drug rehab, gets married same day

By ELI SEGALL
Associated Press Writer

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — It was a little past 11 a.m., and Billy Daniels was getting worried. A friend was supposed to drive him to Essex County Superior Court, but the man hadn't shown.

This was a big day for Daniels — the biggest in years — and he couldn't be late to court. Until a few years ago, he snorted heroin everyday. But today would be different — today was the start of a new life.

In only a few hours, Daniels would graduate from a state-run drug rehabilitation program. A few minutes after that, he would be married.

For the past five years, Daniels, 47, was enrolled in the county's drug court program. To beat his heroin addiction, his urine was tested twice a week, he had a 7 p.m. curfew, and he attended Narcotics Anonymous.

He also attended a job training program in Jersey City, where he met Sandy Roman, herself a recovering drug addict in the program.

Daniels' story begins in Newark, where he and his four siblings were raised. As a teen he moved to Tulsa, Okla., and at 23 married an 18-year-old. Two days after the wedding, he returned to Newark, bringing his wife and their infant daughter with him.

From the mid-1980s to 2003, Daniels said he snorted heroin three or four times a day, buying little $10 baggies of the drug. He said he snorted it in the hallways of housing projects, and sometimes, on the streets of Newark in broad daylight.

"When you wake up in the morning, you feel kind of sick, can't do nothing," he said. "And then, when you get that bag, that energy takes over you."

His new wife has a similar history. She was arrested for possession of crack cocaine in Camden about six years ago, and child services removed four of her children from her apartment.

Neither of them work. The left side of Daniels' face is paralyzed from Bell's Palsy, a nerve condition, and Roman says she has no cartilage in her knees. They both collect Social Security benefits, totaling roughly $1,000 a month.

After yet another run-in with the law in 2003, Daniels was sentenced to drug court, a strict, state-run rehabilitation program.

Daniels entered the program in February 2004 and, like most participants, had to spend five years there.

Graduation day came in February. Judge Ramona Santiago awarded him a certificate, and a few minutes later married Daniels and Roman.

Daniels' friend never came to drive them to court, so the couple and his mom walked a block to catch the bus.

They entered the courthouse, rode the elevators to the seventh floor, and by 2 p.m., Daniels had graduated from drug court. Roman watched him graduate, then left the courtroom.

She re-emerged within minutes, arms linked with Daniels' probation officer, Dujuan Jones. As they walked down the aisle, a court clerk sang "At Last," by Etta James.

—

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

Iowan brings brass instruments back to life

By DAVE DEWITTE
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — When Aaron Barnard opens a box at Barnard Instrument Repair Inc., he seldom knows exactly what he'll find.

Barnard, 33, handles some jobs that other instrument technicians won't touch at his tiny repair studio in the New Bohemia Arts and Entertainment District in Cedar Rapids.

They often include bodywork, gently hammering out dents in vintage saxophones.

Sometimes, the damaged instrument is a basket case.

"I've restored four saxophones that have been run over," Barnard said.

A full mechanical restoration of a vintage professional-quality saxophone can take a week, and cost $800 to $1,000. Some repair tabs run higher, but Barnard finds many professional saxophone players feel passionately about their instruments.

Vintage professional-quality saxophones made in the United States and France from the 1930s through the 1950s command high prices because of their hand craftsmanship and superior tone. A Selmer Paris sax made in France during the 1950s could fetch upward of $15,000, Barnard said.

"Even the untrained ear can tell the difference," Barnard said.

On a recent Saturday night, so late that Barnard usually has his cell phone turned off, he received a call. It was Ray Blue, an acclaimed saxophonist who had been performing in eastern Iowa. Blue's robe had caught on his tenor sax while it was resting in an instrument stand, knocking it into his soprano sax. Both were damaged, and Blue had to know when they could be fixed.

Barnard wasn't able to help Blue in time for a church performance scheduled for the following Sunday morning — Blue had a third sax that served the purpose — but he was happy to perform emergency surgery on the other two so Blue could complete his bookings.

Barnard's studio has drawers and shelves full of tools, including tools more typically used by gunsmiths, machinists, jewelers and auto body shops. He works alone in his shop, usually listening to recorded jazz or blues, for hours at a time.

Barnard planned to pursue a music degree in college when he was growing up, but "I've always had fun tearing things apart, seeing how they work, and putting them back together." He was steered to the Red Wing (Minnesota) Technical College.

After completing the one-year program, Barnard performed an internship with Randy James at Tenor Madness, an instrument repair shop in Cedar Falls.

Barnard started his own business in 2002 in the basement of his Cedar Rapids home. He moved in 2007 into the Kouba Building on Third Street SE, sharing a studio with Sue Millar of Millar Woodwind Repair.

The building known for its rooftop solar array was severely damaged by last June's flood. After replacing his equipment, Barnard worked from his home for a while, and from a shop in Waterloo.

He moved last November into the nearby Cherry Building, 329 10th Ave. SE, which is home to many other creative businesses, craftsmen and artists.
___

Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Homeschooling families persist in hard times

Andrea Farrier sits at her kitchen table with her children Rachel, 8, left, Rebecca, 4, center, and Sarah, 2, right, as they do schoolwork in their home, Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, in Kalona, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

By DAVID CRARY

AP National Writer

When hard times reached the Schneider household in La Pine, Oregon, the longtime stay-at-home mom took action — getting a job at Subway to offset a drop in her husband's earnings.

What she didn't do was also notable: She didn't stop homeschooling her three teenage children.
Colleen Schneider works evenings so she's home for her favored morning teaching hours. The family scrimps — more frozen pizza, less eating out. But an inflexible 9-to-5 job that would force her to quit homeschooling was not an option.

"I would fight tooth and nail to homeschool," said Schneider, 47, a devout Roman Catholic who wants to convey her values to her children. "I'm making it work because it's my absolute priority."

Other families across the country are making similar decisions — college-age children chipping in with their earnings, laid-off fathers sharing teaching duties, mothers taking part-time jobs — with the goal of continuing to homeschool in the face of economic setbacks.

Before the recession, the ranks of homeschool students had been growing by an estimated 8 percent annually; the latest federal figures, from 2007, calculate the total at about 1.5 million.

'We're going to see continued growth," said Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute in Salem, Oregon. "The reasons parents home-educate are not passing, faddish things."

Christopher Klicka of Warrenton, Va., senior counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association and co-teacher along with his wife of seven homeschooled children, says hard times enhance homeschooling's appeal as private school tuition becomes unaffordable and some public schools contemplate cutbacks.

"People are looking to homeschooling as an alternative more now in light of economic circumstances," he said, citing its low cost and potential for strengthening family bonds.

At Allendale Academy in Clearwater, Fla., which provides resources for homeschoolers, enrollment has risen 50 percent over the past two years to about 900 students as families desert private schools, says academy director Patricia Carter.

"Often one parent has been laid off," she said. "That makes private school tuition impossible, and they don't want to send their kids back to public school."

Her academy charges $65 per year to support students through 8th grade, $95 for high school students, compared to private school tuitions often running many thousands of dollars per year.
For frugal families, homeschooling can be a good fit. Used academic material is available at low cost; free research resources are on tap on the Internet and at libraries.

Michael Marcucci, of Middlebury, Conn., is president of the Connecticut Homeschool Network, which has about 1,500 member families — including 34 who signed up in January alone.

"During difficult times, people tend to go back to basics," Marcucci said. "I know a family with five children — the father's been out of work 18 months and they're still homeschooling."

His own family, with three homeschooled children, got a taste of that challenge last year when Marcucci, a banker, was out of work for six months. His wife continued homeschooling, rather than seek a job, and he supplemented his job-hunting with teaching stints of his own.

"It was a chance to reconnect with family, to get to know your children in a different way," he said. "I was excited about the opportunity to teach Greek history, to help out with algebra."

Andrea Farrier, a mother of three girls from Kalona, Iowa, does double-duty — homeschooling her daughters and working part-time for her school district as a supervisory teacher for 23 other homeschool families. Several are struggling financially — in some cases because of a father's layoff — but abandoning homeschooling so the mother can find a job is not their response, Farrier said.

"These families are already sacrificing — when times get tough, there's no belt left to tighten," she said. "These are families who homeschool because public education wouldn't serve the needs of their children — it's the last thing they'll give up."

Among Farrier's colleagues — both as a homeschooling mom and as a part-time teacher — is Crystal Gingerich, 44, of Kinross, Iowa.

Her husband, Joe, used to be a self-employed electrician, but business dwindled and he's now a truck driver whose routes across the Midwest keep him away from home except on weekends. That leaves her single-handedly running the household on weekdays, and teaching her four children.

In Michigan, among the states hardest hit by recession, April Morris, 44, of Auburn Hills remains committed to homeschooling even though she's now working full-time at Target — a job she started after her husband was laid off from his computer job.

The three oldest Morris children have moved on to college, but 13-year-old Ben continues to homeschool, getting help from his father and older siblings as well as his mother, who works evenings and has Thursdays off to maximize her teaching availability.

In Southfield, Mich., mother of eight Abbey Waterman says she's able to continue homeschooling her four youngest children thanks in large part to support from the four oldest, who've been willing to chip in with earnings from caddying, guitar playing and tutoring.

So far, her husband, Kevin, has been steadily employed with a financial printing company, but the family takes nothing for granted.

"His company laid off two entire departments — so we're not sure he'll be laid off or not," Waterman said. "If he was, my college-age kids offered to get jobs so we could continue what we're doing."

Shelly Mabe, a coordinator for a group of 250 Christian homeschooling families in Michigan's Macomb County, said she hasn't heard of any of them giving up homeschooling — but some have moved to other states where laid-off fathers had better job prospects.

In La Pine, Oregon, Schneider is still trying to adjust to the challenges that arose when a booming local real estate market collapsed and her husband's earnings in drywall work plummeted.

Schneider hopes to leave Subway soon to work as a caregiver for the elderly, but she's intent on continuing to homeschool.

"I've seen too much good come out of it to change now," she said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Ex-NBA star gears up for Detroit's mayoral race

Mayoral candidate Dave Bing speaks to supporters at a primary election night rally in Detroit, Wednesday Feb. 25, 2009. Voters were deciding Tuesday in the special, nonpartisan election, which two of 15 candidates will advance to a May 5 runoff to replace the former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, sent to jail last year. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

By COREY WILLIAMS

Associated Press Writer

DETROIT (AP) — Dave Bing made a smooth transition from basketball great to manufacturer and auto supplier. He is looking for a similarly uncomplicated path to becoming Detroit mayor.

With a little more than two months to go before a May 5 runoff for the city's highest elected office, the 65-year-old NBA legend and businessman said he'll work on his game plan as he goes up against incumbent Ken Cockrel Jr.

Despite finishing first with 26,327 votes, or 29 percent, in Tuesday's special nonpartisan mayoral primary, "a lot of work has got to be done," Bing told The Associated Press in an interview.

Cockrel, a former city council president whose roots stretch deep into Detroit's contentious political soil, came in second with 24,665 votes, or 27 percent. Cockrel and Bing, both Democrats, beat out 13 other candidates seeking to complete ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's second term.

Cockrel has had five months of on-the-job training after moving up to the mayor's office from his council post with Kilpatrick's resignation in September. He's been tasked with correcting a budget deficit that could approach $300 million, rampant home foreclosures and unchecked unemployment.

Bing knows that if he is elected, the city will look to him for solutions to the same problems. Part of his plan to save money could include consolidating or axing some city departments.

"It's not an easy decision," said Bing, who was responsible for about 500 employees as founder and chair of The Bing Group.

"Whether it's business or whether it's politics, you do it with empathy more than anything else," Bing said of layoffs. "But on the other hand, I think you've got to be straight with people. People can understand even though they may not agree with you."

Cockrel has proposed 10-percent pay cuts to city workers and minimal layoffs as part of his plan to reduce the deficit. Bing said Cockrel has taken too long to take action. He expects to make decisions on such issues within 30 to 90 days, if elected.

"We are where we are because nobody was willing to make the hard choices," Bing said. "Are you better off trying to find the cancer, cut it out and save the patient, or do you just let the patient do a slow death? I would prefer to cut the cancer out."

While the city's fiscal troubles did not begin with Kilpatrick and partly can be blamed on the swooning auto industry and national economic malaise, the problems deepened during the Democrat's six-plus years as mayor.

Kilpatrick was released early this month after serving 99 days in jail. He pleaded guilty in September to obstruction of justice and no contest to assault. He admitted he lied during a civil trial to cover up an affair with his chief of staff, with whom he exchanged sexually explicit text messages.

Cockrel has said Bing's high-profile basketball and business background does not intimidate him. Cockrel has been elected three times to the city council. His late father, Kenneth Cockrel Sr., was a longtime city activist and served on the council.

Bing spent 12 seasons in the NBA after the Detroit Pistons drafted him second overall in 1966 out of Syracuse University. He played nine seasons in Detroit before being traded. He founded Bing Steel in 1980 and was elected to basketball's Hall of Fame in 1990.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Taj Mahal to be inducted into Blues Hall of Fame

In this July 23, 2005 file photo, Henry St. Claire Fredericks, known as Taj Mahal, performs on stage during his concert at the Blue Balls Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone, Sigi Tischler, file)

By JAKE COYLE

AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Taj Mahal, the blues legend whose vibrant, worldly music encompassed African-rooted sounds of all kinds, will be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Mahal, born Henry St. Clair Fredericks, has been selected along with New Orleans soul singer Irma Thomas, Chicago bluesman Son Seals and ragtime guitar player Rev. Gary Davis to join the Blues Hall in Memphis, Tenn. They will be inducted in a ceremony on May 6, which will be followed the day after by the Blues Foundation's 30th annual Blues Music Awards.

"I'm very happy that a group of my peers think it's something I deserve after the years I've put into the music," said Mahal, 66, speaking by phone from the San Francisco Bay area.

California is one place Mahal has spent a lot of time, though the nearly nomadic singer-guitarist noted: "I pretty much move around wherever I like."

The same could be said of Mahal's music, which has for four decades dug deeply into sounds of many places, particularly Africa, the Caribbean and Hawaii.

"He was into globalization long before the rest of us," said Jay Sieleman, executive director of the Blues Foundation.

Mahal was raised in Springfield, Mass. His mother was a schoolteacher from South Carolina and his father, of Caribbean roots, was a jazz pianist. Later, his stepfather came from Jamaica.

"As a youngster, my parents made me aware that all that was from the African Diaspora belonged to me," said Mahal. "So I came in with Caribbean music, African music, Latin music, gospel music and blues."

Mahal, a two-time Grammy winner, in 1968 released his self-titled debut, which included contributions from Ry Cooder, an early collaborator. It included the great "Leaving Trunk" (in which he sings "I ain't never seen no whiskey, but the blues made me sloppy drunk"). One of his most famous tunes is "She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)," which ended up in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers."

His international influences, Mahal said, aren't from his constant travels, but from always being fully invested in such music. He sees blues as running far beyond the Mississippi Delta and back through music.

"I was always taught that Latin, Caribbean people were cousins to me, as well as blues was a cousin to me, as well as Africans were direct relatives to me," he said. "It was all a part of my language."

Still, Mahal's music was always blues at its foundation: "Sometimes the blues is like the whole meal. ... Other times it's like a spice that's thrown in there."

Mahal, who last year released "Maestro" and is touring this spring, doesn't know yet if he'll perform at the Blues Hall of Fame induction. But if he does, he — as always — would hope to see people moving in the audience.

"Most people that play blues don't dance do it! It's a listening music and a music they have a lot of knowledge about it," said Mahal. "They got country line-dancing down there in Nashville. Why can't we do some blues dancing down there in Memphis?"

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On the Net:
http://www.tajblues.com
http://www.blues.org

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Rhode Island activist is go-to man for immigrants

By HILARY RUSS

Associated Press Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Juan Garcia's cell phone is rarely idle.

While in meetings, at rallies or even in bed, immigrants are calling him, asking for help with everything from paying rent to handling immigration agents at their doorstep.

Garcia, who came to the United States in 1977 in the trunk of a car to escape a bloody civil war in Guatemala, his homeland, has been especially busy in the year since Gov. Don Carcieri signed an executive order that targets illegal immigration.

Garcia has emerged as the go-to person for immigrants unwilling to work with police or state agencies for fear they or someone they love could be deported.

A community organizer for the Immigrants in Action Committee, a nonprofit group with about 550 members, the 56-year-old Garcia has become one of the most public faces of opposition to Carcieri's March 2008 order. It requires state police and prison officials to identify illegal immigrants for deportation and mandates state agencies and contractors use a federal database to validate employees' legal status.

Garcia believes the order is confusing and has led to racial profiling. He believes illegal immigration should be treated as a civil — not criminal — violation, a view that rankles people like Terry Gorman, who wants immigration laws tightened and strictly enforced.

"I respect that he fights for what he believes in, even though I totally disagree with it," said Gorman, founder of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement.

Garcia educates recent immigrants on everyday concerns: They must have a license to drive a car off a sales lot, he tells them, and they can't walk around with open beer containers or play loud music into the night.

Garcia's activism dates to his childhood. As a 10-year-old, he and other kids threw rocks at Guatemalan troops storming into their village to kill students during the country's 36-year-long civil war which began in 1960.

Garcia sneaked into the U.S. in 1977 — "without documents, without anything," he said — and settled in San Antonio, where he later married a U.S. citizen and raised two children.

He gained legal, permanent residency through his wife but after a divorce moved to Rhode Island, where he had two brothers he barely knew. He found work welding in Pawtucket. But his face bears the scars of a brutal assault that led him, inadvertently, back to his religious faith and a renewed sense of activism. In 1992, attackers stabbed him a dozen times, nearly killing him, during a robbery.

"I felt I hated the people who did this," he said. "I didn't want to feel hatred against anyone."
Searching for peace, he wandered into St. Teresa of Avila, a Catholic church near his Providence home. He began going regularly, and started working in 1998 with Immigrants in Action, which is housed in the church.

He relishes his role as an activist and adviser for new immigrants, but he knows the limits of what one person can do.

"Every day it's the same," he said. "People think I have a magic wand, that I can resolve everything. But no."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Water aerobics teacher still making a splash at 89

By DARIN FENGER

The Sun

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — Jannet Shumate hasn't discovered the fountain of youth, but she has found a magical swimming pool.

Five days a week Shumate dons a swimsuit and jumps into the pool at Sunny Sands RV Park for her beloved water aerobics classes. But this water lover isn't a student. Shumate is the much-loved teacher, and she swears that keeping active in the pool shaves decades off her years — all 89 of them.

"I think the water is my best friend," she said, beaming. "I just feel wonderful when I'm in the water."

Shumate's water aerobics classes are famous at Sunny Sands RV Park, which was recently the site of a celebration. Shumate's students threw her a party to celebrate her 25th year of making waves at Sunny Sands. About 30 people showed up to play bingo and eat her favorite meal — pizza.

"We just love her. She's one in a million, that's for sure," said aerobics student Rita Girard. "To be moving like she is at 89 is pretty remarkable. Sometimes we have a hard time keeping up with her."

Shumate gives all the credit to the water, which she said really does feel like her natural habitat.

Shumate grew up in Michigan and always lived near Lake Michigan or Lake Huron. She started lifeguard training with the Red Cross at age 12 and went on to teach swimming at her high school and at summer camps.

In addition to her education work in the pool, Shumate also taught in various schools. Her career in education spanned 30 years.

"I taught everything from kindergarten all the way through English 101 at two universities," she said.

Shumate and her husband started spending their winters here in 1982. She moved to Yuma for good after her husband died in 1994.

Between 15 and 20 women show up each morning for water aerobics with Shumate. All are residents of Sunny Sands.

"I think I gain so much from this because I've made so many good friends," Shumate said.
She stressed that keeping busy is the secret to feeling good at 89, an age she said she never honestly thought she'd see.

"My family are all very short-lived. My mother died at 63. My father died at 74. So I never thought I would reach this age," Shumate said. "I just think that as long as you keep doing things you'll be fine. Just take the best you can get in life and enjoy what you've got."

She lived at the park for 19 years, but has since moved in with her daughter, Jannet Banks.

Banks marveled at her mother's ability to keep going strong despite having arthritis in both knees and having broken a hip a while back. But Shumate shrugs off those physical challenges as long as she's got a swimming pool around.

"I am limited on land," she said. "Only in water am I free."
___
Information from: The Sun, http://www.yumasun.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Free e-book captures kids' hopes for Obama

This undated photo provided by kidthing, inc. shows a letter and drawing for President Barack Obama by Anthony Pape, 10, of Dubois, Pa. (AP Photo/kidthing, inc.)

By LEANNE ITALIE
Associated Press Writer


NEW YORK (AP) — End war, forever. Make the planet greener. Please help my dad find work. Make it rain candy!

Thousands of kids detailed their hopes and expectations for President Barack Obama in letters and drawings as part of a worldwide project, with 150 chosen for a free e-book being released on Presidents Day.

Most had tall orders for the new guy in the White House.

Anthony Pape, 10, of Du Bois, Pennsylvania, offered: "I hope that we will have no war ever again. I mean why are we fighting why can't we all be friends."

Fellow 10-year-old Sasha Townsend of Soquel, California, had a similar request, and then some.

"I would appreciate it if you would try to make this a greener planet and try to bring home the troops and end the war," the fifth-grader wrote. "I am very luckey because I am not part of a military family, but it saddens me to hear about all the people who die in Iraque and know that somewhere In the world people are greiving over a lost family member."

Seven-year-old Aaron Van Blerkom's letter was simpler — but no less problematic.

"Dear Mr. Obama," the Pasadena, California, first-grader began, "Please Make it rain candy!"

The "Dear Mr. President" project was a joint effort between the National Education Association and kidthing.com, which is putting out the book for use with its downloadable media player. A special hardcopy edition of the book will be sent to the White House for Obama, who has done wonders to bring the office of the presidency to life for young people.

The letters were written in January amid Obama-mania at inauguration time as schools scrambled to bus kids to special viewing events and come up with computer screens and TVs for them to watch in classrooms and auditoriums.

Kids ages 5-12 were eligible to participate. Submissions flooded kidthing, including some from other nations.

Lawrence Hitchcock, chief executive officer of the Web site, said more than 4,500 letters were considered for the book on a heart-wrenching range of topics that don't stop at an end to the war and climate change.

"We had, 'My dad's out of work, fix the company, please get more jobs,' Hitchcock said. "There were Latino kids saying, 'Please change the immigration laws so my dad can come back from Mexico.' This is a profound snapshot of a social narrative of young kids during an important moment in history. It really kind of stunned us what came in through the front door."

Another of the winners, 12-year-old Destiny McLaurin, a sixth-grader from Medford, New York, had friendship on her mind.

"I hope Mr. Barack Obama will one day create a holiday for children from around the world" she wrote.

In interviews, some of the letter-writers remained optimistic that "Yes We Can" was more than just a campaign slogan.

"I feel very proud because I know he'll be able to make a change in the country and we'll be a lot more happier," Destiny said. "I think he should make people feel more welcome, people who don't really get along with other people."

Aaron's wish is a little more specific. If Obama makes candy drop from the sky, he's hoping for his favorite: candy canes! And if the president showed up at his school, he'd have these requests:

"Make fires and earthquakes not exist. Make no tornadoes or any of those things that break things."

An 11-year-old boy from Ohio drew himself in tears at the side of a relative. His dream, he wrote, is that a "cure for cancer will be found" with Obama in the White House, "Because it took my aunt to a better place on father's day."

Another child drew Obama as the "new sunrise of America." One made Earth and labeled it "Obamaland," and still another created the president's face as half dark and half light skin tones with the words: "United We Are One."

Sasha's drawing is an all-green globe. Her enthusiasm for Obama and his ability to get the job done speaks volumes: "I just think he's really, really awesome."

___

On the Net:

Free "Dear Mr. President" book, beginning Monday: http://www.kidthing.com/dmp

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Retiring doctor delivered 16,000 babies

By SHELLEY HANSON
Wheeling Intelligencer


WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — Dr. John Battaglino has counted about 320,000 fingers and toes during the past 47 years.

He's also gazed into 16,000 pairs of eyes and swaddled a total 64,000 tiny arms and legs, all belonging to the 16,000 babies he has delivered during his career.

That's nearly an infant for every day he's worked as an obstetrician/gynecologist at Wheeling Hospital. And now Battaglino, 78, is retiring.

"That's almost the population of Wheeling," Battaglino said of his deliveries. "All of them are memorable. ... It never gets boring to do a delivery. Every day a baby is born, it's a miraculous event.

"I used to complain about getting up at 3 o'clock in the morning, but it was always a happy thing. But there's nothing sadder than a stillbirth and to go through it with the parents. There's nothing you can do but cry along with the parents. God gives and God takes."

Originally from Bluefield, W.Va., Battaglino is the son of Italian immigrant parents, the late John Sr. and Filomena Pastor Battaglino.

He attended medical school at West Virginia University and the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Va. He interned at a hospital in Worcester, Mass., did his residency at the Mayo Clinic and his fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Battaglino also served in the U.S. Army in Berlin, Germany.

"I was there when they put up the wall," he said of the structure that was built to separate East and West Germany and since has been demolished.

Battaglino conducted his first delivery at St. Phillips Hospital in 1953 when he was a medical student in Richmond. He was more nervous than the mother.

"She told me everything to do," he added.

Eight years ago Battaglino decided to phase out his obstetrics practice because of the rising cost of malpractice insurance premiums. But he continued gynecology.

Battaglino's final delivery held an ironic twist: the father had been a baby that he delivered years earlier, marking the second generation of that family that had come into this world under his care.

"There are seven or eight doctors now in Wheeling that I delivered," Battaglino said, noting he also taught them as medical residents. "They were very at ease, very respectful. They were all good students and good doctors. They've all done well - some of them are the most prominent in town."

Battaglino himself never married or had children.

"I thought no woman would put up with that life," he said of being a doctor. "Although I did come close a couple times. ... I have missed out not having my own children. I do have regrets. God's plan was for me to be a doctor."

Battaglino never ceased to be amazed in his job.

"To think they start out as a microscopic egg and nine months later there's a perfect human being," he said. "How a person could ever be an atheist, I don't know."

Battaglino said after vacationing in Florida, he plans to come back to Wheeling and continue serving as medical director at the Good Shepherd Nursing Home and Welty Home. He also plans to continue working with the Wheeling Hospital's cancer commission and teaching program.
___

Information from: The Intelligencer, http://www.theintelligencer.net

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Alabama students eat barbecue for grades

From left: Will Foster, Jr., Jeff Vaughan, Matt Lee and Art Richey sample the sauce at Dreamland Bar-B-Que in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Thursday Jan. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Jamie Martin)

By JAY REEVES
Associated Press Writer


TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Four college students walk into a smoky restaurant, sit at a table under a blaring TV and order up their class work for the day — two slabs of spare ribs dripping with reddish sauce, white bread on the side.

But this isn't lunch. It's writing about barbecue for an A.

The four spent January visiting some of the South's best barbecue restaurants for course credit from Birmingham-Southern College in a self-designed class that combines heaping mounds of meat with academics, all spread across five states.

After cleaning their plates and licking their fingers, the group would leave each joint with bulging bellies to document their experience with stories, photos and video posted on a blog and the Web site they built, southernbbqboys.com. Those components, along with a final essay each one is currently finishing, are being graded by the English instructor who helped them design the class.

So what do you learn in such a course? Eat enough barbecue and you'll gain weight, get sick or both. And 3,100 miles is a long, long way to drive for dinner in a 1998 Ford Expedition with a plastic pig's nose attached to the front.

"It's been great," said senior Art Richey, who came up with the idea for the epicurean odyssey. "But I'm definitely not going to have barbecue for a while after this."

Richey, of Russellville, Ala., wanted to take a road trip and write reviews of restaurants during Birmingham-Southern's monthlong interim period, which lets students propose out-of-the-box projects and complete them for credit.

Working with English instructor Robin Mozer, Richey developed a course contract with Will Foster of Alpharetta, Ga.; Jeff Vaughan of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Matt Lee of Cullman, Ala.

They sketched out a trip through Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. They stuck to places that specialize in pork because Southerners know pork is the only real barbecue.

The group had a few places in mind, but they also created a Facebook group and took suggestions for other stops. They were soon overwhelmed with hundreds of recommendations, many from complete strangers.

The point of the endeavor, at least academically, was for the students to develop their writing, and they say that their storytelling and descriptive skills have improved as a result. Richey said he learned that it wasn't enough just to say a restaurant's barbecue sauce tasted good. "You have to describe it, say it's sweet as molasses or spicy hot."

"They've really put a lot of effort into it," said Mozer. "They're all focused on improving their writing; that's one thing I heard from all of them."

The trip wasn't without snags, though: Lee got food poisoning after a stop in Raleigh, N.C., but he remained on the trip.

Foster's pants are fitting a little tighter — he thinks he gained as many as 7 pounds — but he said it was worth it.

"We actually calculated that my GPA is going to go over 3.0 because of barbecue if I make an A," said Foster, a junior majoring in business administration. "Who'd have ever thought it?"
___

On the Web: http://www.southernbbqboys.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Arizona high school starts mariachi program

By SUSAN RANDALL
Casa Grande Dispatch


CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — When Steve Heil moved to Casa Grande several years ago, he wondered why its public schools had no programs for stringed instruments like those in some other states.

Heil, who is principal of Casa Verde High School, was talking to students in September about the kind of electives they would like to have, and they told him they wanted a music program.

"How can we be involved?" they wanted to know.

Kim Calderone, a Casa Verde parent and the owner of Accelerate the Arts mobile music store, suggested that he call Maureen Berger, musical director at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and School and president of Golden Corridor Center for the Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides string classes to adults and children, puts on concerts and is developing youth and adult orchestras in Pinal County.

Heil, Berger and Calderone met last fall with about 20 Casa Verde students who said they would be willing to give up their lunch break to start a mariachi band, playing traditional Mexican music.

There was no money in the budget, but Calderone volunteered to begin working with the violin players in October so they could learn how to play before they tried mariachi music.

Berger volunteered to coach the trumpet players. Jazz musician and guitar teacher John Sutton volunteered to work with the string players. They started teaching the young musicians in January.

Berger said she, Calderone and Sutton are all part of the Golden Corridor and are volunteering to bring this program alive.

"The reason we are so successful," Calderone said, "is our love and passion for music and for the students. And they want so badly to learn."

Calderone said some of the students played by ear when they started the program but could not read music. Others had not played an instrument since elementary school.

"We want our students to learn how to read music, write music, understand the elements of music, experience the different genres of music — and not just learn to play by ear," she said.

Even though the class and teachers are volunteers, they are following the general national standards for music defined by the Music Educators National Conference.

"I am so proud of these young people," Berger said. "They're dedicated to making this a success and taking ownership of the program. I think it will be highly successful because the kids definitely want to do it. They are motivated and they have the ability. They just so impress me with how far they have come in such a short time."

And mariachi music is enjoyable, she added.

"It has a lot of joy in it. It's not easy. There are musical challenges — in particular with the trumpets, because they are in all the sharp scales and keys."

Last week, an audience piled up in the hallway outside the open classroom where the group practiced "De Colores," ''La Valentina" and "Las Golondrinas" (the swallows).

"There are two things that are really hard to play," Sutton told the group as he conducted the rehearsal, "slow and soft."
___

Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Cancer researcher Stephen Williams dies at 62

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dr. Stephen Williams, who led Indiana University's Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center since its creation in 1992, has died of melanoma at the age of 62.

Williams, who died Sunday, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2006, and the cancer returned in 2008.

Under his leadership, the cancer center experienced tremendous growth and last year opened a $150 million facility at IU's medical complex in downtown Indianapolis, one of only 63 accredited cancer centers in the nation.

Dr. D. Craig Brater, dean of the IU School of Medicine, said Williams was successful in building the center because of his ability to focus people on common goals.

"He's just a nice guy," Brater said. "If somebody says they can't get along with Steve, you just instantly know it was their problem; it wasn't Steve's problem."

Williams wrote more than 150 medical articles. His research included ovarian and testicular cancers.

He was born in the central Indiana city of Shelbyville and grew up in Bedford. He graduated from DePauw University and received his medical degree and performed his residency and fellowship through IU.

Survivors include his wife, Kathryn, and their children, Thomas and Caroline.

A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday at Zionsville United Methodist Church.

Williams spoke about his fight against cancer as he received the IU President's Medal of Excellence in August when the Simon Cancer Center celebrated its expansion.

"In the last couple of years, I myself have become a cancer survivor and recently completed a very difficult treatment," Williams said. "As I reflect on the last few months and how difficult it has been for me, it is absolutely clear that treatment, while important, is not good enough. I can say definitely that it is easier to prevent and detect cancer than it is to treat it."

___

Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Designer melds tech, fashion in crafty electronics

Alison Lewis poses for a photograph with one of her creations, "Shiny Clutch," in Philadelphia, Nov. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

By RACHEL METZ
AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — With her carefully styled blond hair, expertly applied makeup and fashionable blue dress, nothing about Alison Lewis even hints at the word "nerd" at a Manhattan party for her first book.

But ask her about circuits or light-emitting diodes and you'll see that she is equally familiar with switches and soldering irons as with swatches and seams.

Her book, "Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew," brims with instructions for projects that combine technology with clothing and accessories. For instance, there's a music-blaring bag, a pillow with a cell phone headset, an illuminated skirt and wriggling squids for cats to play with.

Lewis, who is 34 and lives in Philadelphia, wants to communicate that technology doesn't need to be complicated or unfriendly. In fact, it can be approachable and stylish enough to tote or wear around town.

This idea of adorning clothing with wires and LED lights might sound incongruous. But electronics have seeped deeply into our lives. You might care as much about remembering your cell phone and MP3 player as your wallet and keys when you leave the house. And if you're already toting these gadgets with you, why not integrate their functions with your hat or bag?

Lewis' work also speaks to the popularity of crafting — the hand-fashioning of everything from afghans to zombie dolls — and do-it-yourself electronics. Both have swelled over the past few years, helped by publications like O'Reilly Media Inc.'s Make and Craft magazines and Web sites like handmade marketplace etsy.com and online crafting community Craftster.

Besides Lewis' book, which is the culmination of nearly three years of work with artist and designer Fang-Yu Lin, she hosts a Web video show called "Switch" that integrates fashion and technology. And she has co-taught a fashion technology class at Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

But "Switch Craft" could bring her widest audience thus far, buoyed by a mini-flurry of similar fare released in the past year. This includes the book "Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting" by designer and friend Syuzi Pakhchyan, and a book that explores the intersection of clothing and technology by Lewis' co-teacher at Parsons, Sabine Seymour.

"This is going to change the way people craft," Lewis says.

She sought to make "Switch Craft" more approachable than other books. Nothing in it requires any computer programming, and several projects can be made with a modicum of craftiness and minimal tech know-how. Some, like a hat with a pouch for an iPod Shuffle, require no tech skills at all.

Pakhchyan, a media designer who lives in Los Angeles, thinks that making technology accessible to a general audience is Lewis' strength.

"She's basically giving people the first step and opening their mind to it," Pakhchyan says.

With the help of a sewing machine, I tried making one of Lewis' simpler projects: A foil-lined cover intended to protect your passport's radio frequency identification chip from nearby snoops who might be scanning for personal data.

After a few hours and some ripped-out seams, I had a pretty cute red-and-white patterned cover. I'm not sure how well it will protect a passport, though — I tested it by slipping an RFID-laden key card inside and was still able to open doors around the office.

But even if that project ends up being more paranoia chic than protective, it felt good to make something that appealed to both the nerdy and crafty sides of my brain. I'm less intimidated now by the idea of a light-up skirt.

Lewis' own trajectory toward the intersection of geekery and style began during her childhood in Arlington, Texas, when Lewis' mother made some clothes for her and taught her to sew. Lewis made her own fashion creations, and remembers trying to dress like people in magazines — sometimes to ill effect.

"Trust me, it's not good to show up in junior high wearing white jeans with multicolored skinny stripes and little pink pumps and my hat," she says, smiling.

Lewis graduated from college with an art degree, as her penchant for painting briefly took center stage. Eventually, she became a Web site designer. But she wanted to work in a more tactile medium and enrolled in Parsons in 2002 to earn a master's in a field known as communication design and technology. There, she took a class that taught her some geek basics, such as how to build a simple circuit.

"I kind of cried through the whole thing," Lewis jokes, describing an early project in which she would move the arms of a Barbie doll that was wired to a computer, and various female images would flash on a screen.

The interactivity made her feel like she was giving life to something. "And it felt like, 'Wow, why didn't anybody teach me how to do this before?'" she says.

From the start, Lewis incorporated colors, textures and soft imagery like dandelions into her projects — unafraid to make gadgets plush or pink to counteract the coldness she sees in technology.

As a result, many of the projects in "Switch Craft" figure to appeal more to women, such as stuffed key chains embedded with magnets and LEDs so they "kiss" and light up when they get close.

Yet Lewis is careful to characterize the book as not just an electronics guide for girls.

"I feel like if you just say, 'Hey girls, here's an electronics book,' most girls that are already into electronics are the ones picking it up. I want them to pick it up, but I also want a larger, broader audience," she says.

Indeed, there are several projects that might appeal to guys with geek tendencies and a sense of style — like a laptop bag that lights up when it discovers a Wi-Fi hot spot.

In any case, if you're having trouble getting your boom box bag or jiggling cat toy to work despite meticulously following Lewis' instructions, don't despair. It's not hard to seek retribution on the author — the book includes a plan for making a wriggling voodoo doll.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Motocross rider Jeremy Lusk dies after accident

Jeremy Lusk, an American freestyle motocross racer, controls his motorbike during the X Knights competition in San Jose, Feb. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/La Nacion, Albert Marin)

By MARIANELA JIMENEZ
Associated Press Writer

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Jeremy Lusk, an American freestyle motocross rider, died of head injuries Tuesday after crashing while trying to land a backflip in competition. He was 24.

Jorge Ramirez, chief of the intensive care unit at Calderon Hospital, said Lusk suffered severe brain damage and a possible spinal cord injury.

Lusk won a gold medal at the 2008 X Games. He was injured Saturday night when he failed to complete a full rotation while attempting a Hart Attack backflip and slammed headfirst into the dirt. Lusk crashed in almost identical fashion in the freestyle semifinals at the 2007 X Games but was not hurt.

He had a successful 2008 season, winning Freestyle gold at the X Games and silver in Best Trick when he landed the first double-grab Hart Attack backflip. He won a bronze helmet in Freestyle at the Moto X World Championships in his hometown of San Diego.

"Jeremy motivated me to be a better person, he was my best friend," said Brian Deegan, the founder of Lusk's riding group Metal Mulisha. "One day, we will all be reunited and will ride together again."

Chris Stiepock, the vice president and general manager of the X Games franchise, said Lusk "had emerged as one of the world's best freestyle moto riders."

"He was a tremendous athlete and competitor and represented the sport of freestyle motocross very well," Stiepock said.

Ramirez said Lusk died with his parents and his wife, Lauren, at his side.

"He was in a medicine-induced coma as a protective measure, and the medicine was being reduced to see how his body responded," he said. "That didn't mean he was going to wake up. He was in shock and that got worse last night, until he stopped responding and entered into cardiac and respiratory failure."

Lusk lived in Temecula, Calif.

A trust has been set up in his memory, and donations can be made through the Athlete Recovery Fund, www.athleterecoveryfund.com.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Amtrak ceremony honors black Pullman porters

By EVELYN NIEVES
Associated Press Writer


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In an era when America traveled by train, one of the best jobs a black man could land was working as a Pullman porter. It also was one of the worst.

The hours were grueling — 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The pay was poor and the work menial at best. Porters cleaned toilets, made beds and satisfied the whims of passengers who sometimes called them "boy" or worse.

Still, Pullman porters saw the country, met famous people and supported families.

On Tuesday, Amtrak honored the legacy of Pullman porters, who formed the first black labor union in the country in 1925.

"It was a wonderful life," recalled 98-year-old Lee Gibson, who traveled from Los Angeles to join four other members of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The group accepted awards at the Oakland Amtrak station, thanked their families and shared memories.

Similar gatherings were held in Chicago and Washington last year.

The porters were named for the sleeping-car trains invented by Chicago industrialist George Pullman. The first Pullman porters, hired after the Civil War, were former slaves.

Their ranks swelled until they reached 20,000 in the early part of the 20th century, making them the largest group of black men employed in the country.

"They stopped using 'porter' when Amtrak took over the trains in 1971," said Troy Walker, 90, of Seattle. "The white people they hired didn't want to be called 'porter' and they didn't want to wear the uniform."

Standard uniform was a starched white jacket, black tie and visor cap. Walker recalled donning the uniform and serving what he called the finest meals on some of the finest trains in the world during his 30 years on the Pullmans.

The oldest living porter is 107, the youngest 70, said Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago. Randolph was a New York pamphleteer and civil rights leader who organized the porters' labor union.

"They are a very interesting piece of history that has been mostly forgotten," she said. "And my hope is that what we're doing introduces this history to other generations and makes them understand the significance of what these men did."

Hughes created a National Historic Registry of Pullman Porters in 2000 and was able to track down 7,000 former porters. "They all say the same thing," she said. "'We didn't think we were doing anything special.'"

James Smith started working on the train in 1943. "I'm one of the babies here," he said, "I'm only 83." The retired Simi Valley engineer recalled serving Negro League ballplayers, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey and Hollywood starlets.

Thomas Henry Gray, 71, remembered working summers on the train as a college student before becoming an engineer for Boeing Co. in Seattle. He recalled waving to his father, also a Pullman porter, and grandfather, a brakeman, as their trains passed one another across the Northwest and Southwest.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Slain Florida girl Caylee Anthony remembered

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The grandmother of slain Florida toddler Caylee Anthony told hundreds of mourners Tuesday that her granddaughter was able to win the love of strangers and inspired them to come together for a common purpose.

"Caylee Marie has taught some to love a child whom they've never met," Cindy Anthony said during her granddaughter's memorial service at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. "Caylee Marie has brought thousands of strangers from all religious backgrounds in one church to pray."

The service came two months after the girl's remains were found in swampy woods near her grandparents' home where she lived with her mother, who has been charged in her death. Before the discovery, hundreds of volunteers — most of whom had no personal connection with the girl — had helped search for her after she was reported missing over the summer.

First Baptist Pastor David Uth remembered Caylee, saying this was one of those days "you don't know what to say." And he offered a "prayer of peace" for her mother, Casey Anthony, who was jailed less than a mile away on a first-degree murder charge. She has pleaded not guilty and claims a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee.

Casey Anthony could have asked for permission to watch the memorial broadcast live on TV but didn't, according to jail officials. The 22-year-old said in a statement read by her attorney that she missed Caylee "every day and every minute of every day."

Images of Caylee, who was 2 when she disappeared, flashed on a giant screen in front of the sanctuary as a pianist played, "You Are My Sunshine" and "If You're Happy and You Know It." A video montage of her jumping on a bed and dressed like an Easter bunny ended the two-hour service.

Cindy Anthony and her husband, George, who arranged the public service, urged mourners to support their daughter.

"It breaks my heart today that Casey isn't here today to honor her child who she loved so much," Cindy Anthony said during the eulogy. "Casey, I hope you're able to hear me today. I love you and I wish I could comfort you right now. I wish I could take away all of your pain and wipe away your tears."

Caylee disappeared in June, but her mother didn't report her missing until a month later, telling authorities she was looking for her.

George Anthony, who was hospitalized last month over concerns he was suicidal, said his daughter deserved love and letters of support while she was in jail.

"I miss my daughter, Casey," George Anthony said. "Do not form judgments because I tell you, you do not want to be in any of our shoes."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Carolyn d'Amboise, photographer and dancer, dies

NEW YORK (AP) — Carolyn George d'Amboise, a photographer and former dancer married to former New York City Ballet star Jacques d'Amboise, has died. She was 81.

He said she died Tuesday at their Manhattan home after a long struggle with primary lateral sclerosis, a rare neuromuscular disease.

A native of Dallas, Carolyn d'Amboise started her career performing in 1940s Broadway musicals as Carolyn George. In 1952, she joined the New York City Ballet, where she met her husband.

They married in 1956.

Jacques d'Amboise tells The Associated Press his wife "brought to flower the better part of me."

He and their four children are planning a celebration of her life on March 30 at Manhattan's Symphony Space.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Fuller, co-founder of Habitat for Humanity, dies

In this Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 file photo, Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller poses at a home in Habitat's Global Village in Americus, Ga. Fuller died Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009, after visiting a hospital in Americus, Ga., according to his wife, Linda. He He was 74. (AP Photo/Walter Petruska, File)

By DORIE TURNER
Associated Press Writer


ATLANTA (AP) — A millionaire by the time he was 30, Millard Fuller gave up his fortune and invested his life in Habitat for Humanity — a Christian charity that has built more than 300,000 houses and turned poor people into homeowners by using "sweat equity" and no-interest loans.

Fuller, who co-founded Habitat with his wife Linda, died early Tuesday morning near his south Georgia home after suffering from chest pains, headache and difficulty swallowing, his wife said. He was 74.

The couple was planning to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August with a 100-house worldwide "blitz build." Those plans will likely go forward without him.

"Millard would not want people to mourn his death," Linda Fuller said. "He would be more interested in having people put on a tool belt and build a house for people in need."

From its beginning in 1976, headquartered in a tiny gray frame house that doubled as Fuller's law office, Habitat grew to a worldwide network that has provided shelter to more than 1.5 million people.

Habitat home buyers are required to work on their own houses, investing what the Fullers called "sweat equity."

Preaching the "theology of the hammer," Fuller built an army of volunteers that included former U.S. presidents, other world leaders and Hollywood celebrities.

One of Habitat's highest-profile volunteers, former President Jimmy Carter, called Fuller "one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known.

"He used his remarkable gifts as an entrepreneur for the benefit of millions of needy people around the world by providing them with decent housing," Carter said in a statement. He called Fuller "an inspiration to me, other members of our family and an untold number of volunteers who worked side-by-side under his leadership."

The son of a widower farmer in the cotton-mill town of Lanett, Ala., Fuller earned his first profit at age 6, selling a pig. While studying law at the University of Alabama, he formed a direct-marketing company with his friend Morris Dees — who later founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. — selling cookbooks and candy to high school chapters of the Future Homemakers of America. That business made them millionaires.

When Fuller's capitalist drive threatened to kill his marriage, the couple, who wed in college, sold everything to devote themselves to the Christian values they grew up with.

"I gave away about $1 million," Fuller said in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press. "I wasn't a multimillionaire; I was a poor millionaire."

The couple's search for a mission led them to Koinonia, an interracial farming collective outside the south Georgia town of Americus. There, with Koinonia founder Clarence Jordan, the Fullers developed the concept of building no-interest housing for the poor — an idea that eventually grew into Habitat for Humanity.

For the first 14 years, Fuller's salary was just $15,000; his wife worked 10 years for free.

Fuller's works won him numerous accolades, including a 1996 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. For nearly three decades, he was the public face of Habitat, traveling the world to hammer nails and press bricks from local clay alongside some of the Earth's poorest.

Jeff Snider, executive vice president of Habitat during the early '90s, recalled Fuller as a man driven by his commitment to the destitute. Once, Snider said he suggested setting aside some of the money Fuller raised.

"He had one and only one response, which was, 'The poor, Jeff, need the money now,'" he said. "So we ran the place full tilt, on the edge all the time, and it was stressful — but he was right."

A scandal that had smoldered for years flared anew in 2004 to sully Fuller's legacy.

Habitat's international board moved to oust Fuller as chief executive officer after allegations surfaced that he had sexually harassed a female staff member in 2003. The move came despite the board's conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the charge.

However, the allegations mirrored complaints in 1990 from female staffers and volunteers that led to Fuller's yearlong exile from the organization's headquarters.

Fuller acknowledged he had kissed and hugged the women who made the 1990 complaints, but argued they had misinterpreted his actions. He categorically denied the later charge.

President Carter intervened in both instances to prevent the board from ousting Fuller.

In 2004, Fuller reached a compromise allowing him to stay on in the largely ceremonial role of "founder and president." After the Fullers backed out of an agreement not to discuss the situation publicly, the board voted in 2005 to oust them.

Months later, the Fullers and their supporters formed The Fuller Center for Housing, a fundraising group for Habitat affiliates.

The ouster and a subsequent relocation of Habitat to Atlanta "cut the heart out of Habitat," said Dees.

Fuller attributed his ouster to disagreements with the board over whether to slow the charity's growth. He argued Habitat was becoming more bureaucracy than mission.

Throughout the scandal, Fuller insisted he did not want to do anything to compromise Habitat's mission.

"I've always felt that this is God's work," he said. "And it's always been bigger than me, from day one."

___

Associated Press Writers Dionne Walker in Atlanta and Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

Obama picks Republican commerce secretary

President Barack Obama listens to Sen. Judd Gregg, left, a New Hampshire Republican, speak, after the president announced Gregg as his choice for commerce secretary, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press Writer


CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Democrats have complained that Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is too pro-business, but the former tax lawyer is also known as a cool-headed and stubborn negotiator willing to break ranks with his party if need be.

Gregg, a key player in devising the $700 billion banking bailout package in the fall, is the only person ever elected senator, congressman, governor and executive councilor in New Hampshire. Now he's in the running to add another title to his long resume: commerce secretary.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would be tasked with helping President Barack Obama steer the nation out of the recession.

"The people who have worked with Judd will tell you, whether they were working with him or against him, that he's smart; he tends to be very disciplined in approaching a problem," said former GOP Sen. John Sununu.

A month after defeating Sununu in November, New Hampshire Democrats sent out a news release in which state party Chairman Raymond Buckley accused Gregg of being George W. Bush's "top enabler" in the Senate and predicting he would be held accountable for the failed economy, the war in Iraq and "the entire Bush tenure."

Then, after Gregg expressed skepticism about bailing out the auto industry, Buckley accused him of hypocrisy, saying, "Just months after selling the bailout to the American people, the so-called Judd the Great has now decided to abandon them instead." Gregg eventually voted to stop progress on the auto bailout.

But Buckley changed his tune when the prospect of Gregg leaving the Senate enhanced Democratic chances for victory next year; Gregg's replacement would serve the remaining two years of his term but not run for the seat in the 2010 election.

"If (President Obama) determines that Sen. Gregg is essential to his effort to rebuild America's economy, then we should trust his judgment and support his decision," Buckley said Monday.

Despite his long, close ties to the Bush family, Gregg has bucked his party on some issues. He opposed Bush's 2005 energy bill, voted against a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and has supported embryonic stem cell research.

He also has found himself at the center of floor fights in Congress.

Last year, he slowed action on the Democrats' first two major pieces of legislation, ethics reform and a minimum-wage increase. He later helped block debate on a Democratic measure opposing the president's troop increase in Iraq.

Those efforts had Democratic Leader Harry Reid likening Gregg to a basketball player sent into a game to throw elbows and rough up opposing players.

Obama apparently wants to use those elbows on his team. On Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs joked that Gregg might join the president, his aides and advisers on the basketball court.

"Sen. Gregg looks like he might have an inside game," Gibbs said.