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Student
soap opera “Almost Legal” to debut today
“Almost
Legal,” a television soap opera produced by students in the
radio-TV-film department, will make its debut at noon today with
a public screening of the first episode in Moudy Building South,
Room 164.
In
a Feb. 12 Skiff article, senior radio-TV-film major Kelly McKenzie
said the plot revolves around teen-age girls from an all-girls private
school in the Northeast who hang out with college fraternity men
— thus the inspiration for the name, “Almost Legal.”
Ten
half-hour episodes are scheduled to be produced this semester.
—Brandon
Ortiz
School
of Music hires new director
A
former vice president of academic affairs at the University of Oklahoma
was hired as director of the School of Music.
Richard
Gipson, who is a former director of Oklahoma’s school of music,
served as interim provost and special assistant to the president
while there. Additionally, he was the principal timpanist for the
Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989 to 1999, according
to a TCU press release. He has served in the same role since 1983
for the Norman Chamber Orchestra.
“Dr.
Gipson brings a superb record of administration experience to TCU,
and we are excited about the School of Music under his leadership,”
said Scott Sullivan, dean of the College of Fine Arts, in a press
release.
A
Corpus Christi native, Gipson received a doctorate of education
from Pennsylvania State University in 1978. He completed his undergraduate
and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.
—Brandon
Ortiz
Yates
psychologist confirms schizophrenia in testimony
HOUSTON
(AP) — Andrea Yates suffered from schizophrenia and didn’t
know right from wrong when she drowned her five children in the
family bathtub last June, a psychologist testified Tuesday at the
Houston mother’s capital murder trial.
Ringholz,
a neuropsychologist from Baylor College of Medicine, said his determination
was based on research culled from her medical and family history,
tests he conducted on the 37-year-old stay-at-home mother and in
line with the Texas legal standard on insanity.
The testimony of Ringholz is key to the defense, which must convince
jurors Yates was insane when her children were drowned one by one
last June 20.
Tuesday
also marked what would have been the 8th birthday of Yates’
first-born son, Noah.
On
Monday, Ringholz said during tests he conducted, Yates was well
within the range of those who test positive for schizophrenia.
He
said he also discovered that Yates’ father, sister and two
brothers had a history of mental illness.
Six
fake drug cases linked to Dallas Police dismissed
DALLAS
(AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed six more narcotics cases
linked to several fake drug cases handled by the Dallas Police Department.
Two
officers have been suspended in connection with the series of questionable
drug busts.
With
the latest dismissals, the Dallas County district attorney’s
office has identified a total of 80 cases to dismiss against 53
defendants. By Monday, 63 cases against 43 defendants had been officially
dismissed.
Senior
Cpl. Mark Delapaz, Officer Eddie Herrera and at least four of their
confidential informants are being questioned in the investigation.
The
two officers were placed on administrative leave with pay on Jan.
15 by Police Chief Terrell Bolton.
The
officers used at least one highly paid confidential informant, who
took part in a series of major drug busts. Later lab tests showed
the evidence to be finely ground gypsum or only trace amounts of
illicit substances.
Environmental
Protection Agency tests for pollution
EL
PASO (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency will begin
testing more than 400 sites on the city’s west side for heavy
metal contamination this week.
The
$300,000 project comes after spot tests showed that soil in some
isolated areas had levels of arsenic and lead that were in excess
of EPA standards. That testing was limited to public schools and
parks.
The
EPA determined there was no health threat because the samples were
isolated and because there is no evidence the contamination is being
blown into the air where people
could breath it.
The
new round of testing is more comprehensive, requiring soil samples
from locations on a grid within a 3-mile radius from the point where
the Mexico, Texas and New Mexico boundaries meet.
Near
the center is the ASARCO copper smelter, which has been inactive
for the past few years, but EPA officials have said they can’t
pinpoint the source of the contamination.
They
said other sources for the contamination could include automobile
exhaust, metal plating operations, brick manufacturers, car crushing
and tire shredding.
University
of Mississippi students’ cars vandalized
OXFORD,
Miss. (U-WIRE) — An investigation by the University of Mississippi
Police Department is ensuing after 28 cars were found vandalized,
causing approximately $5,000 worth of damage in the parking lot
in front of the Kappa Sigma house early Sunday morning.
At
9:30 a.m., UPD Officer Mike Collins noticed the cars were keyed,
their tires slashed and windows broken, with words written in soap
on the windows. Bobby Black, UPD’s captain of investigating,
placed the time of the offenses between 1:30 and 2 a.m.
Twenty
of the vandalized cars belonged to members of the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity, who were out of town for a formal over the weekend.
“We
think it was a group because of the amount of cars involved and
the amount of damage,” Black said. “It would take an individual
a very long time to do this.”
The
remaining cars, one that was severely damaged, belonged to members
of ROTC who also were gone for the weekend.
Black
and Gary Morris, UPD investigators, visited the IFC meeting to inform
members about the investigation and to ask them to ask for information
at their chapter meetings regarding the vandalism.
Memorial
service given to Daniel Pearl at his alma mater
STANFORD,
Calif. (U-WIRE) — A crowd of close to 400 people gathered in
Memorial Church Monday afternoon to listen to tributes, prayers
and music in remembrance of the life of Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl, who received a bachelor’s in communications from
Stanford University in 1985.
Pearl
was researching a story for The Journal in Karachi, Pakistan, when
a group of extremists kidnapped him. The U.S. State Department confirmed
his death Thursday.
The
memorial focused on Pearl as a person and the way he touched the
lives of those with whom he came into contact. Several speakers,
including his former professors and classmates, spoke fondly of
Pearl’s influence on their lives.
University
President John Hennessy, who attended, did not know Pearl personally,
like most members of the audience. Hennessy came to the event “to
honor [Pearl],” he said.
To
commemorate Pearl’s life, the communication department at Stanford
will begin an endowment for undergraduates in Pearl’s name.
Legislators
debate legality of UT infrastructure fee
AUSTIN,
Texas (U-WIRE) — Several Texas legislators are disputing the
legality of the infrastructure fee a little more than a week after
it was approved by the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
The
initial words of dissent came from Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio,
in January, as he sought an official opinion from Attorney General
John Cornyn on the University’s ability to
charge such a fee without the Legislature’s approval.
Another
round of debate about the fee started last week as a topic in the
Joint Interim Committee on Higher Education Excellence Funding.
Several members of the committee questioned Don Brown, the commissioner
of the Higher Education Coordinating Board, and UT President Larry
Faulkner about the authority of the University to pass such a fee
on its own.
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