Trustee Stanley Gault given generous award

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges has bestowed the Earl F. Morris Trustee Award to Stanley C. Gault. Gault has been a member of the College’s Board of Trustees for 28 years and Chairman for 13 years.

According to the foundation, the award is given to an individual who has “demonstrated commitment and service above and beyond the norm.”

Spending deficit predicted to increase

The Wooster City school district is predicting that the spending deficit will reach $4.3 million by 2011. Superintendent Michael Tefs said that deficit spending will be $3.5 million in 2010 and that number will most likely nearly double by 2011. New bills like House Bill 920, which restricts school funding revenue from property value will help to combat spending.

Census response to be higher than predicted

The percentage of households that have mailed back their Census forms could top the 2000 response. The participation rate hit 71 percent Tuesday, just one point below the 2000 Census rate. The U.S. population has grown almost 10 percent since 2000, to an estimated 309 million. More forms were expected to trickle in through this past week.

New aviation policy to get rid of computers

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration is asking that airlines now create and enforce policies to ensure that pilots focus on flying their planes safely instead of being distracted by laptop computers and other devices. The statement refers to an October 2009 incident when Northwest pilots overflew their destination by 150 miles because of personal distractions.

Flight from Iraq to U.K. finally a success

The first commercial flight from Iraq to the United Kingdom in 20 years landed at London’s Gatwick Airport late Sunday night and took off for Baghdad Monday morning. Commercial air flights between the nations have been haulted since the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Among the people onboard the first flight was the Iraqi Minister of Transportation and other ministry officials.

Robber still at large for cash register theft

Rittman Police are investigating the second incident in two weeks in which a masked man has taken the cash register from a business. Police are currently unsure if the two are connected.

The two robberies took place on April 10 and April 17, respectively. Rittman Chief of Police Mike Burg said no one was hurt during either robbery, and that neither cash register has been recovered. Burg described the robber of the April 17 incident as a 6-1 white male of about 195 pounds.

Childhood obesity creates military stress

Mission: Readiness, a non-profit group composed of retired military leaders, released a report on Tuesday alleging that unhealthy school lunches pose a national security threat.

The report claimed that child obesity leaves 27 percent of young adults “too fat to fight” and urged Congress to take action for less junk food in schools, better nutrition programs for children and overall more funding for federally provided school lunches.

“Since 1995, the proportion of recruits who failed their physical exams because they were overweight has risen by nearly 70 percent,” former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John M. Shalikashvili told ABC News.

U.S. to negotiate Iran nuclear issue

The United States has opposed a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program, wanting to first work through negotiations and United Nations sanctions to prevent the development of nuclear weapons.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied charges that Tehran is building weapons of mass destruction, asserting that the program is only designed to generate electricity.

“Military force is an option of last resort,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said in a Singapore press briefing. “It’s off the table in the near term.”

Volcanic ash affecting air traffic control

Following the problems caused by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, Europe air traffic returned to 75 percent of normal capacity on Wednesday, though airport officials warned that clearing the backlog of flights would take days. Regional aviation agency Eurocontrol estimated 100,000 flights were cancelled since last Thursday.

The continent’s bigger airports, such as London’s Heathrow Airport, reopened late Wednesday. Meteorologists still claim Eyjafjallajokull is erupting, though recent plumes of ash are not reaching as high altitudes as before. Authorities may revive air traffic regulations if winds strong enough to disperse the ashes make conditions dangerous.

Spring ends with Faculty at Large talk

Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Pam Pierce will present “Circle-Squaring and Other Geometric Puzzles” as the third and final Faculty at Large lecture for the spring semester.  Pierce’s lecture, which explores the Banach-Tarski paradox, will be delivered Tuesday, April 20, at 11 a.m. in the Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

Local hospital given national distinction

Wooster Community Hospital was recognized recently by Thomson Reuters as being one of the Top 100 hospitals in the nation.  This is the third consecutive year WCH has been named to the prestigious ranking, which considers patient satisfaction, post-discharge indicators, patient safety, mortality, complications, re-admission rates and a number of other patient-care factors.  WCH is one of only three Ohio hospitals and one of four hospitals in the medium-size range (100-249 beds) to be named to the list three years in a row.

Obama requests safety records from mine

President Barack Obama called for mine safety officials affiliated with the Upper Branch Mine in West Virginia to report next week on last week’s explosion, the mine’s safety record, and steps that will prevent future disasters.  Obama made a statement last Friday emphasizing the need for mine safety as the death toll of the disaster reached 29.  The Upper Branch Mine explosion is the deadliest mining accident in nearly 40 years, and officials are still unsure of what sparked the initial explosion.

Renowned publisher files for bankruptcy

The Tribune Co, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times and owner of several television stations, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan on Monday.

Lenders immediately decried the plan, deeming its details “unfair” and demanding the right to propose a rival bankruptcy plan.  Years of declining advertising revenue and mounting debt led to a motion of bankruptcy protection in December of 2008.  Tribune Co’s plan awards senior credit facility members 91 percent of its stock and outlines plans to emerge from Chapter 11 later this year.