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Texas
A&M bonfire tradition still on hold
COLLEGE
STATION (AP) — Texas A&M University’s nearly century-old
bonfire tradition — on hold since a deadly collapse in 1999
— will not be resurrected this fall, the school’s president
said Monday.
“I’m
still determined that the horror of that day will never visit our
campus again,” President Ray Bowen said. “My heart wanted
to continue the bonfire but I had to let my brain make the decision.”
He
said there are other ways Texas A&M students can show their
school spirit.
The
90-year-old bonfire tradition was suspended after 12 students were
killed and 27 others injured on Nov. 18, 1999. The 59-foot-high,
wedding cake-style stack of more than 5,000 logs collapsed while
under construction.
The
bonfire traditionally has been lighted on the eve of A&M’s
football game against the University of Texas, its archrival.
Princeton
to expand undergraduate enrollment
PRINCETON,
N.J. (AP) — Princeton University has received a $30 million
gift from the head of online auction house eBay and will use it
to expand undergraduate enrollment for the first time since the
Ivy League school began admitting women in 1969.
The
donation from 1977 Princeton graduate Meg Whitman will go toward
the construction of another residential college for underclassmen
and the expansion of the student body by 10 percent, President Shirley
M. Tilghman said.
All
freshmen and sophomores live in one of Princeton’s five residential
colleges, which include libraries, coffeehouses and theaters.
The
gift will go toward a sixth, Whitman College, which will provide
space for about 500 students. Princeton now has about 4,600 undergraduates.
Whitman,
who helped turn eBay into a global marketplace with 42 million registered
users, serves on Princeton’s board of trustees.
Private
funeral held for student and her baby
OWEN,
Wis. (AP) — A private funeral was held Monday for a 19-year-old
college student who died after giving birth in a dormitory bathroom
and for her baby daughter, who died days later.
Cars
overflowed the parking lot at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, where
the closed service was held for Karen Marie Hubbard and her child,
Julienna Marie Hubbard.
A
joint wake was held for them Sunday, said the Rev. Al Jakubowski
of Holy Rosary. He would not comment on the services.
Karen
Hubbard, of nearby Withee, collapsed late Tuesday in a bathroom
stall in Oak Ridge Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
An autopsy found that she bled to death from complications of childbirth.
Paramedics
found the baby when they removed Hubbard from the stall. The child
had been hospitalized in critical condition, but she died early
Sunday. Medical examiners said the baby died because she was deprived
of oxygen around the time of her birth.
Hubbard,
a freshman pre-pharmacy major, had ignored inquiries from her roommate
and other students while in the bathroom, telling them she was sick
but OK, authorities said.
No
one, not even a roommate, knew about the pregnancy until the baby
was found, authorities said.
Houston
speed limit lowered under air pollution plan
HOUSTON
(AP) — Beginning this week, motorists with a lead foot in the
nation’s fourth-largest city are being told to put on the brakes
instead.
Texas
Department of Transportation workers on Monday were scheduled to
erect the first 55-mph speed limit sign under the state’s new
air pollution plan.
The
slower speed limits target the Houston area’s smog problem,
one of the nation’s most severe.
Officials
said that Houston has been the smoggiest U.S. city in 1999 and 2000
for the past two years, surpassing Los Angeles, based on the number
of days in violation of federal air quality standards. The dubious
honor became campaign fodder against then Gov.
George W. Bush in his presidential bid.
Currently,
cars and trucks routinely travel at 70 mph or higher over much of
the Houston freeway system when traffic conditions aren’t gridlocked.
The
Texas Transportation Commission approved the 55-mph speed limit
Dec. 13 as part of a plan developed by the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission to bring the eight-county region into compliance
with federal ozone standards by 2007.
Challenges
are facing the plan, including some from environmentalists who claim
it won’t achieve that goal.
The
first signs were set to be installed by a highway crew along Farm-to-Market
Road 529 in west Harris County.
The
changeover moves from FM roads, state highways and spurs to area
freeways on March 4-8.
Kenneth
Lay calls quits to Enron after 16 years
HOUSTON
(AP) — Kenneth Lay resigned Monday from Enron Corp.’s
board of directors, cutting his last tie beyond stock ownership
to the company he nurtured for 16 years before it collapsed in U.S.
history’s biggest bankruptcy.
Lay
stepped aside as Enron’s chairman and chief executive on Jan.
23, citing his inability to run the company effectively while facing
numerous investigations and lawsuits stemming from its demise.
But
he maintained his position on the board until Monday, the same day
he was supposed to testify before two congressional committees before
deciding Sunday to maintain
his public silence regarding Enron.
Lay,
59, agreed to appear at the hearings in Washington on Monday and
one on Tuesday with no immunity guarantees. But his lawyer, Earl
Silbert, advised Lay to cancel those appearances after several members
of Congress appeared on Sunday news shows accusing Lay and other
Enron executives of committing crimes.
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