Rita’s death toll remains low

Tu-Uyen Tran, Bill Hanna and Martin Merzer

Knight… Rita’s death toll remains low

Tu-Uyen Tran, Bill Hanna and Martin Merzer

Knight Ridder Newspapers

ABBEVILLE, La. — Rescue and repair — and relief — were the orders of the day Sunday as crews searched by boat and helicopter for people who were trapped in splintered coastal communities while Hurricane Rita’s human toll remained remarkably low.

Hundreds were rescued in Louisiana’s low-lying, thoroughly devastated Vermilion Parish alone.

“Everything is just obliterated,” Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said after a helicopter tour of fishing and vacation communities shattered by Rita’s 120-mph wind and 15-foot storm surge.

Thanks largely to the evacuation of nearly 3 million people and in contrast to the ghastly toll of Hurricane Katrina, only two deaths were directly attributed to Rita.

Twenty-four people also died when a bus carrying them inland caught fire Friday, however, and some people were still missing in the marshy Louisiana lowlands.

NYU files legal brief against Solomon Amendment

Barbara Leonard

Washington Square News (NYU)

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK — New York University filed a legal brief alongside six other universities with the Supreme Court late Wednesday night denouncing the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment, which withholds federal funding from universities that ban military recruiters from campus.

The brief is a welcome support for the NYU School of Law and the other 29 institutions collectively comprising the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, which filed suit along with five individual litigants against the United States Department of Defense in fall 2003.

The Supreme Court agreed to review the case on May 2 after the federal government appealed a decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2004 that the Solomon Amendment contradicts universities’ first amendment right to ban recruiters whose hiring practices may be discriminatory.

New survey finds increase in stealing among roommates

Rebecca Miceli

Daily Collegian (Penn State)

(U-WIRE) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When Ryan Henderson’s roommate received a package of homemade cookies in the mail, Henderson was eager to help himself to the baked goods and satisfy his sweet tooth.

But Henderson, a freshman communications major at Pennsylvania State University, said that his situation could be different if the two weren’t friends.

“We share everything and have no defined separate things,” Henderson said.

Not all college students have had such success with their roommates, though. A newly released survey published by http://www.drugstore.com revealed that simple theft by college roommates is on the rise.

Fifty-two percent of surveyed students between the ages of 18 and 24 admitted to helping themselves to their roommate’s supplies.

Snacks like cookies and chips were some of the most commonly reported “borrowed” items, while paper, pencils and other school supplies were also high on the list.

MCATs to go paperless; students worried

By Jennifer Daddario

The Lantern (Ohio State U.)

(U-WIRE) COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ask any pre-medicine student what the most important exam they take as an undergraduate will be and their response will probably be the Medical College Admission Test.

Now those students have another reason to worry about the MCAT — there are only two paper and pencil versions of the test left. In early 2007, the paper MCAT will be replaced with a computer-based version.

According to a recent Kaplan survey of 3,858 students, 82 percent of students feel they will perform worse on the computer-based test than on the handwritten version.

Amjed Muftafa, MCAT Program Manager for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions said that there are pros and cons to both versions, but the switch can be a good thing.

“There is an added level of complexity included with the MCAT,” he said.

STD vaccines in works, but for children

By Tran M. Phung

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A wave of experimental vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases could revolutionize the prevention of such infections during the next few years, but there’s a catch: The shots are likely to work best when given to children as young as 11.

The first vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus — the leading cause of cervical cancer — could be submitted for approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by year’s end. Another vaccine against genital herpes is in advanced clinical trials, and shots for gonorrhea and chlamydia are in the works.

Already the injections have drawn moral opposition from some conservative groups, who fear such immunizations could give young teens a green light to have sex.