School grants

On the morning of Oct. 5, President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, paid a visit, along with camera crews from CNN and Fox News, to Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a charter public school in Washington. The president dropped in on two classrooms, where he asked the students, almost all of whom were African-American and poor, if they were planning to go to college. Every hand went up. “See, that’s a good sign,” the president told the students when they assembled later in the gym. “Going to college is an important goal for the future of the United States of America.” He singled out one student, a black eighth grader named Asia Goode, who came to Woodridge four years earlier reading “well below grade level.” But things had changed for Asia, according to the president. “Her teachers stayed after school to tutor her, and she caught up,” he said. “Asia is now an honors student. She loves reading, and she sings in the school choir.” Bush’s Woodridge … [Read more...] about What It Takes to Make a Student

Seo Jun-won The KBO on Tuesday indefinitely suspended Seo Jun-won after the former Lotte Giants pitcher was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offense. Seo was indicted by the Busan District Prosecutors Office under Article 11 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth, which deals with the production or distribution of child or youth sexual exploitation materials, on March 23. According to the indictment, Seo is suspected of having persuaded a minor that he met online to take a picture of their body and send it to him in August last year. He was released by the Giants immediately after the news broke. The KBO indefinitely suspended Seo Tuesday under Article 152 of the league regulations, which grants the KBO commissioner the right to indefinitely suspend a player until a disciplinary committee can meet. The KBO will call a disciplinary committee meeting once the judicial process has been … [Read more...] about Seo Jun-won suspended after being indicted for violating child sexual offenses act

In 1980 an ecologist and an economist chose a refreshingly unacademic way to resolve their differences. They bet $1,000. Specifically, the bet was over the future price of five metals, but at stake was much more -- a view of the planet's ultimate limits, a vision of humanity's destiny. It was a bet between the Cassandra and the Dr. Pangloss of our era. They lead two intellectual schools -- sometimes called the Malthusians and the Cornucopians, sometimes simply the doomsters and the boomsters -- that use the latest in computer-generated graphs and foundation-generated funds to debate whether the world is getting better or going to the dogs. The argument has generally been as fruitless as it is old, since the two sides never seem to be looking at the same part of the world at the same time. Dr. Pangloss sees farm silos brimming with record harvests; Cassandra sees topsoil eroding and pesticide seeping into ground water. Dr. Pangloss sees people living longer; Cassandra sees rain … [Read more...] about Betting on the Planet

The coronavirus pandemic has been defined by so much loss. Of lives, jobs, relationships. Of normalcy. But amid that upheaval, there have been occasional moments of hope, small positive changes borne from the chaos of the past three years. Hundreds of you wrote to us about the ways that pandemic disruptions surprisingly reshaped your lives for the better. Some of you found time to start a new business venture or fall in love. Lockdowns allowed you to spend more time with your children or parents, or prioritize your own happiness through daily morning walks, new recipes or oil painting. In June 2020, I adopted a sickly kitten, a responsibility I wouldn’t have been able to take on had I not been newly working from home. Now she’s almost 3 years old and a lovable companion for whom I feel immensely grateful. Reading your pandemic silver linings genuinely improved my week. I hope you enjoy them, too. Here’s some of what you shared, lightly edited for clarity. “In the spring … [Read more...] about Californians Share Their Pandemic Silver Linings

Public outrage is swift following mass shootings, such as the killing of six people at a Christian elementary school in Nashville. Sorrow and sympathy are widespread. But what comes next from policymakers is likely to depend on which political party is in charge of a state. Don’t expect new gun controls in Republican-led states, such as Tennessee or Texas. But when similar tragedies occur in Democratic-led states, more gun limits are likely — even if they already have restrictive laws. Mass shootings generally don’t seem to change a state’s basic political makeup. “Democratic-led states tend to focus more on firearm restrictions whereas Republican-led states do not and often emphasize lessening regulations on guns,” said Jaclyn Schildkraut, executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The fact that responses seem predicated by Republican and Democratic labels is perhaps an indication of the nation’s … [Read more...] about Mass shootings seldom shift partisan policies despite outcry

Good evening. Here is the Wednesday, March 29 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes. Skryť Turn off ads Article continues after video advertisement Skryť Turn off ads Article continues after video advertisement Try a sauna tent at Zlaté Piesky resort (Source: Courtesy of Slovak Sauna Community.) A sauna in a tent is something between a Finnish sauna and a steam sauna. It’s not too hot, the heat doesn’t drive you out of it, and thanks to a powerful stove with a huge reservoir of rocks, there’s amazing fine steam. The sauna tent is one of five outdoor saunas that the Slovak Sauna Community has constructed at Wakelike Beach at the Zlaté Piesky summer report. Skryť Turn off ads More stories on Spectator.sk TRAVEL: Meadows turn purple in central Slovakia's mountain saddle. These meadows are strewn with saffron . SCHOOL: Košice to get first … [Read more...] about News digest: One man’s mission to improve science in Slovakia

TikTok once again finds itself mired in scrutiny as its CEO is being challenged by Colorado's Republican Congressman Ken Buck to provide answers regarding "criminal behavior that your application has promoted through its algorithm." In a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew previewed exclusively by Newsweek , Buck raises concerns that TikTok's algorithm may have played a role in promoting videos instructing users on how to break into 2010-2021 Hyundais and Kias during a time in which carjacking have increased in major cities across the country. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are moving to introduce bills allowing the Biden administration to ban TikTok on the grounds that its parent company ByteDance is based in China, meaning it holds little power to stave off data requests from the Chinese Communist Party. During a House committee hearing on the issue last week with Chew, lawmakers showed a video threatening violence against the committee. "It's deeply concerning that … [Read more...] about Colorado congressman Buck challenges TikTok to pull ‘how-to’ carjack videos

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida ripped Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo over “social engineering” in the CHIPS Act Wednesday. “We have got to stop the Biden administration from doing social engineering, okay, and we got to go back to say to ourselves why don’t we pass bills with some accountability in them?” Scott told Fox business host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump administration official. “Why don’t we say, ‘if we want chips made in the country, let’s pay for it, if that is important enough to us.’” Kudlow referenced Tuesday editorials in Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal , both of which blasted the CHIPS Act for failing to deliver on promises to revitalize computer chip production in the United States. Bloomberg noted that chips took 25% longer and cost 50% more, while The Wall Street Journal criticized Raimondo over mandates on pay scales for construction workers and plans for child care issued by the Commerce Department. (RELATED: ‘Hell Of A Legacy’: … [Read more...] about ‘We Got No Return’: Sen. Rick Scott Rips Commerce Secretary For ‘Social Engineering’ In CHIPS Act