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Monday, December 8, 2008
Lady Bears dominate Lamar, 83-36
Baylor wasn’t in a giving mood tonight.
The 10th-ranked Lady Bears limited Lamar to 21.4 percent shooting in coasting to an 83-36 win over the visiting Lady Cardinals at the Ferrell Center.
Junior post Danielle Wilson went to work early on in the paint, finishing with a team-high 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in just 22 minutes. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, sophomore guard Melissa Jones contributed 10 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Morghan Medlock also put up a solid effort for the Lady Bears (8-1) off the pine, with 14 points and nine rebounds.
BU’s leading scorer on the season, Rachel Allison, struggled with her shooting, hitting just two of 11 attempts for a season-low seven points. But Baylor’s defense more than overcame its occasional off-target shooting, holding Lamar (5-2) scoreless for more than nine minutes in the first half.
Baylor is back in action Saturday at home against Samford.
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Dow Jones finishes up nearly 300 points
U.S. stocks climbed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at its highest level in a month, as investors cheered President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge of massive infrastructure investment and a likely deal for the auto industry.
“It looks like a bailout for the automakers is in the works. [And] over the weekend, Obama laid out a government-funded work program that would be the largest since the 1950s, which is stirring the bulls this a.m.,” said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
After climbing above the 9,000 level for the first time since Nov. 10, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 8,934.18, up 298.72 points or 3.5 percent. The finish is the highest close for the Dow since Nov. 7, when it ended at 8,943.81.
Twenty-three of the blue-chip index’s 30 components finished in the black, led by General Motors Corp., up 20.8 percent.
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Junior college football player verbally commits to Baylor
Butte Community College offensive tackle Danny Watkins has only played organized football for two seasons, but he’s obviously a quick learner.
The 24-year-old native of British Columbia has made a verbal commitment to play for Baylor after making a weekend visit to Waco.
Watkins grew up playing hockey in Kelowna, B.C., and was a fireman in Canada before he decided to try out for the football team at Butte Community College, located in Oroville, Calif. Rivals.com rates Watkins a four-star offensive lineman.
“Danny had always been a hockey guy before some people told him he should try football,” Butte Community College coach Jeff Jordan said. “He came down here and tried out and has started 22 games for us.”
Jordan said the 6-5, 290-pound Watkins developed quickly as an offensive lineman, but he’s still learning football lingo.
“We were in a close game last year, and our guys were yelling for our quarterback to spike the ball,” Jordan said. “Danny said, ‘What’s that?’ “
Jordan said Watkins visited Arkansas and Hawaii before verbally committing to Baylor. Watkins plans to enroll in January after graduating from Butte Community College later this month.
“Baylor was one of the first big-time schools to recruit Danny, and he feels like he’s a good fit,” Jordan said.
Watkins is the second Canadian offensive lineman to verbally commit to Baylor in this recruiting class. Philip Blake, a Tyler Junior College lineman who is from Lennoxville, Quebec, verbally committed to Baylor earlier this year.
The Bears now have verbal commitments from 15 players in this class, including four-star offensive lineman Ivory Wade from Dickinson.
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Texas teen wins big for research on fighting hospital infections
NEW YORK (AP) — Medical research projects by a student from Texas and a team from North Carolina won $100,000 prizes Monday in a prestigious high school science competition.
Prizes of $10,000 to $50,000 were presented to five other high school students and five teams of two at the awards ceremony for the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology.
Wen Chyan, 17, a senior at Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Texas, won the individual top prize for chemistry research on combating hospital infections.
“I developed an anti-microbial coating for medical devices like breathing tubes and catheters,” he said. “These infections infect more than 2 million hospital patients and kill more than 100,000, so it’s a very severe problem in our health care system.”
Sajith Wickramasekara and Andrew Guo, both 17 and seniors at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, N.C., won the team prize for genetic research aimed at identifying new chemotherapy drugs.
“We were looking at developing a model to take existing chemotherapy drugs and improve them, and in the process identify new ones easily,” Wickramasekara said. Kushlani Wickramasekara said her son and Guo worked on the project from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily over the summer.
James Whaley, president of the Siemens Foundation, which sponsors the competition, said the sophistication of the students’ projects shows that “the United States can and is producing the very best and brightest in the world.”
The Siemens competition, which has also been known as the Siemens Westinghouse Competition, was begun in 1998 to recognize American’s best math and science students. Finalists were chosen at regional competitions and brought to New York for a weekend that included a Broadway show.
The other individual winners were: —Eric K. Larson, Eugene, Ore., $50,000. —Nityan Nair, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., $40,000. —James Meixiong, Evans, Ga., $30,000. —Ashok Cutkosky, Columbia, Mo., $20,000. —Hayden C. Metsky, Millburn, N.J., $10,000. The other team winners were: —Eugenia Volkova of South Salem, N.Y., and Alexander Saeboe of Katonah, N.Y., $50,000. —Erika Debenedictis and Duanni “Tony” Huang, both of Albuquerque, N.M., $40,000. —Christine S. Lai and Diyang Tang, both of Acton, Mass., $30,000. —Raphael-Joel Lim of Indianapolis and Mark Zhang of Sugar Land, Texas, $20,000. —Aanand A. Patel and William Hong, both of Fullerton, Calif., $10,000.
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Governor looking for ‘Fit Texans’
If you’ve had a success story about overcoming health and weight challenges, then Texas Gov. Rick Perry is looking for you.
I’d like to nominate our own Terri Jo Ryan, whose efforts to lose weight and be healthier have been chronicled here. She’s looking fantastic.
Here’s the release about the Texas Round-Up 2009 Fit Texan Competition:
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry today announced Texas Round-Up’s statewide search for the 2009 Fit Texan, Fit Family and Fit Kid. The Fit Texan Challenge encourages adults and children who have overcome health and weight challenges through lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise, to submit their personal success stories. The 2009 Fit Texan winners will be recognized at the 6th annual Texas Round-Up race and fitness festival in April 24-25, 2009 in Austin.
“It is never too early or too late to begin taking steps to a healthier you and to commit to an improved quality of life,” Gov. Perry said. “The influx of success stories associated with the challenge is an inspiration to those looking to make positive changes in their lives, and I encourage all Texans to step up, get active, and get fit.”
“The Fit Texan challenge gives us the opportunity to reward Texans who have made positive changes to overcome health obstacles and are focused on living a healthy life,” said Texas Round-Up Executive Director Meredith Garcia. “We have witnessed several great transformations and want to acknowledge our fellow Texans for their hard work. Previous winners of these challenges have inspired other Texans who are struggling to live a healthy life and we expect to see the same outcome in 2009.”
In addition to being a Texas Round-Up spokesperson, Fit Texans will receive a VIP weekend to attend the Texas Round-Up 10K, 5K, Family Mile and fitness festival. Adults and children who have made healthy improvements are invited to enter the contest. Deadline for entry is Feb. 28, 2009.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, an estimated 27 percent of Texas adults are obese, well above the national average of 24.4 percent, costing the state $3.3 billion in 2005. If current trends continue, an estimated 46.8 percent of adult Texans will be obese by the year 2025, costing the state $15.8 billion annually.
In 2004, Governor Rick Perry launched the Texas Round-Up statewide fitness initiative to motivate and encourage Texans to become more active and incorporate healthy choices into their daily lives. Today, Texas Round-Up is an independent not-for-profit organization working to improve the health of Texas through education and promotion of physical activity and healthy living.
For complete details, contest rules and offerings, please visit www.texasroundup.org.
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Access Now ready to put you in Christmas spirit
For a dose of the holidays, stroll over to our Access Now entertainment blog. There you’ll find mention of tonight’s showing of A Charlie Brown Christmas on ABC, and did you know that this year marks the 25th anniversary of A Christmas Story with lovable little Ralphie?
Here’s the original theatrical trailer (still crack up every time I see Ralphie “dressed like a deranged Easter Bunny”):
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Blackwater guards surrender in Utah
Blackwater Worldwide security guards used machine guns and grenade launchers against unarmed Iraqi civilians, some with hands up and others fleeing, prosecutors said today in announcing manslaughter indictments against five of them.
A sixth guard admitted in a plea deal to killing at least one Iraqi in the 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square. Seventeen Iraqis were killed in the assault, which roiled U.S. diplomacy with Iraq and fueled anti-American sentiment abroad.
The five guards surrendered today and were due to ask a federal judge in Utah for bail.
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No one hurt in fire at A&M building
Nobody has been hurt in a fire that damaged one room of a building at Texas A&M University in College Station.
A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said the state fire marshal’s office was expected Monday to review the damage on the first floor of the Bell Building.
Stephenson says some nearby rooms probably also had smoke damage from Sunday night’s blaze. He says investigators will look at whether some type of short involving a computer caused the fire.
KBTX-TV reports smoke and flames could be seen Sunday night coming out of a window of the Bell Building, which Stephenson says houses kinesiology studies.
Stephenson described the Bell Building as an older structure on the western edge of campus.
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Priest chases thief, recovers some church money
A priest in Washington, D.C., chased a man who swiped money collected to help the poor, and recovered one bag tossed by the suspect.
Read that story here.
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Five Gitmo detainees say they want to confess
Five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks told a military judge today that they want to immediately confess at their war-crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, setting up likely guilty pleas and their possible executions.
The five said they decided to abandon all efforts to defend themselves against the capital charges on Nov. 4, the day Barack Obama was elected to the White House. It was as if they wanted to rush toward convictions before Obama — who has vowed to end the war-crimes trials and close Guantanamo — takes office.
Abruptly reversing course on previous attempts to defend themselves in the death-penalty case, the five announced they wanted to drop all motions presented on their behalf. The judge said competency hearings were pending for two of the detainees, precluding them from immediately filing pleas.
In a letter the judge read aloud in court, the five defendants said they “request an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions.”
The letter implies they want to plead guilty, but does not specify whether they will admit to any specific charges.
The judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, asked Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants if they were prepared to enter a plea. So far, Mohammed and three others said they agreed with the letter; the fifth remained to be questioned by the judge.
Mohammed, who has already told interrogators he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, also told the judge today that he had no faith in him, his Pentagon-appointed lawyers or President George W. Bush.
Sporting a chest-length gray beard, Mohammed said in English: “I don’t trust you.”
The pretrial hearings this week could be the last court appearance for the high-profile detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The first U.S. war-crimes trials since World War II are teetering on the edge of extinction. Obama opposes the military commissions — as the Guantanamo trials are called — and has pledged to close the detention center holding some 250 men soon after taking office next month.
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Waco launches all-digital, high-def channel
Waco officials this morning launched what they say is the first high-definition city cable channel in Texas.
Here’s the announcement:
The Waco City Cable Channel, WCCC-TV, launched the first government access all-digital HD channel in Texas today, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m. Mayor Virginia DuPuy, City Manager Larry Groth, the WCCC-TV staff, Grande Communications representatives, and Rushworks Broadcast equipment representatives led the launch ceremony in the new WCCC-TV studio at City Hall.
The public is invited to an open house showing off the studio from 2 to 5 p.m. today.
Read below for the rest of the news release from the city:
The new HD channel is available on Grande Channel 410. The new all-digital technology is now providing current SD viewers on both Time Warner and Grande channel 10 with an improved picture quality, as well as stereo surround sound. Some of the new programming scheduled for the premier this week includes Sounds of the Seasons from City Hall, Brazos Nights concerts, as well as the Veterans Day and Christmas parades.
Since June of this year, the WCCC-TV staff has been creating all new programming and numerous short segments about our City, its people and government all in 1080p HD that for standard definition (SD) viewers and especially high definition (HD) viewers will provide an incredibly sharper image of Waco.
History of WCCC-TV
On July 16, 1992, the Waco City Cable Channel began broadcasting from its studios in the Waco Convention Center. During the last eight years, the variety and quality of local programming produced and aired on the channel has escalated to a level that has gained WCCC-TV national recognition, including being identified as one of the top three government access channels in the nation by the Cable Access Guild. Based on the consistent contribution of quality local programming Grande Communications has made Texas’ first Government Access HD channel available to the City of Waco.
The Conversion to Digital and HD
As the scheduled conversion from analog to digital television occurs across the nation in February 2009, Waco’s older analog broadcast equipment was replaced with new digital HD cameras, and digital editing and playback equipment. In addition, as the scheduled total renovation of the Waco Convention Center begins, the studios have been relocated to the first floor of City Hall.
Now for the first time, a studio with a small set will provide the opportunity for numerous interview-style programs to better inform Waco area citizens about the City and its operation. Some of the new interview style programming will include monthly program updates from all three Chambers of Commerce and other agencies that receive financial support from the City of Waco.
All costs related to the new studio and conversion to digital HD were funded completely through the two cable operators as set forth by the recently adopted State cable franchise agreement. No city tax funds have paid for the new studios or equipment.
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Supreme Court rejects appeal over Obama’s citizenship
The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.
The court did not comment on its order today rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election.
Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth — his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject — he cannot possibly be a “natural born citizen,” one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.
Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.
At least one other appeal over Obama’s citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and the Hawaii secretary of state has confirmed.
Berg says Obama also may be a citizen of Indonesia, where he lived as a boy. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg’s lawsuit. Federal courts in Ohio and Washington state have rejected similar lawsuits.
Allegations raised on the Internet say the birth certificate, showing that Obama was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, is a fake.
But state officials in Hawaii say they checked health department records and have determined there’s no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.
The nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org examined the original document and said it does have a raised seal and the usual evidence of a genuine document.
In addition, Factcheck.org reproduced an announcement of Obama’s birth, including his parents’ address in Honolulu, that was published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961.
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Waco under wind advisory
Waco and surrounding counties are under a National Weather Service wind advisory until 8 pm. Southerly winds increasing to 20 to 30 mph, with gusts to 35 mph, are expected.
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Take a stuffed bear to tonight’s Lady Bear game
Tonight’s Lady Bear basketball game at the Ferrell Center will feature the third annual Care Bear Drive. Fans who take a stuffed teddy bear to the 7 p.m. contest with Lamar University can get in for half-price; the first 500 fans with a stuffed bear also will receive a T-shirt.
Those stuffed bears will then be taken by Lady Bears players on Dec. 13 to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center to be presented to children in the pediatric unit. First National Bank McGregor is sponsoring the drive.
Bears also will be given to siblings and young relatives who are visiting the patients.
For more about the Lady Bears’ game tonight, click here.
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Dow Chemical to shed 5,000 jobs
More bad news on the economic front with the announcement from Dow Chemical that it’s cutting 5,000 jobs, closing plants and shedding assets.
That’s about 11 percent of its global workforce. The company also said it planned to close 20 facilities.
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Relive the exciting high school football weekend
It was quite the Saturday for high school football. The furor still hasn’t subsided over that thrilling 43-42 Midway loss to Longview, at least judging by the comments to the story.
Reicher grabbed its eight state title with its dominating 49-17 win over Austin Regents. We’ve got action photos, fan phtoos and video from that contest.
Meanwhile, both La Vega and Mart moved into state championship games this weekend with victories.
Be sure to hit our photo slideshows for shots from the games and in the stands.
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Wall Street off to strong Monday start
Wall Street extended its rally into a second session today as investors grew optimistic that President-elect Barack Obama’s plan for a huge infrastructure spending package will help boost the crippled economy.
Obama announced over the weekend plans for the largest U.S. public works spending program since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago. That could bolster the economy by putting thousands of people to work building schools and other construction projects.
Investors also appeared more comfortable that the government is closer to legislation that would dole out billions to America’s three biggest automakers within a week. Congress is expected to pass a $15 billion bailout for Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., and Chrysler as soon as Tuesday.
Obtaining the aid might come in exchange for the jobs of the companies’ top executives. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said Sunday that Rick Wagoner, GM’s chief executive, “has to move on.”
The Dow Jones industrial average is up more than 200 points in early trading.
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Pakistan arrests suspected Mumbai plotter
Security forces overran a militant camp on the outskirts of Pakistani Kashmir’s main city and seized an alleged mastermind of the attacks that shook India’s financial capital last month, two officials said today.
The raid was the first known response to demands by India and the United States that Pakistan targets the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, which have sharply raised tensions between South Asia’s two nuclear-armed powers.
Backed by a helicopter, the troops grabbed Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi among at least 12 people taken Sunday in the raid on the riverbank camp run by the banned group Laskhar-e-Taiba in Pakistani Kashmir, the officials said. There was a brief gunfight in the camp near Muzaffarabad before the militants were subdued, the officials said.
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Arrest made in killing of tame deer in Houston
You might recall a blog post a while back about the killing of a tame deer named Mr. Buck in Houston that angered animal lovers. The Houston Chronicle reports that an arrest was made in the case.
The 23-year-old suspect kept the deer’s head in a freezer chest at his home, police say. And, according to police, the docile Mr. Buck apparently didn’t go down without a fight.
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We could see some rain today
Good morning, Waco. It’s overcast and damp, but forecasters are saying the chance of rain is only about 20 percent today. There is a chance for thunderstorms after noon.
Otherwise, we’re looking at windy conditions with a south breeze between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. We should reach about 71 degrees for a high.
The chance of rain increases to 50 percent this evening, but with the cloud cover it’ll stay warm. The low is forecast for about 60 degrees.
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