NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST March 31, 2008

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Inside Higher Education
-Among the Uninsured: 1.7 Million College Students
About 1.7 million traditional-aged college students, or 20 percent, areuninsured in the United States. And student health plans - offered by 57percent of all colleges - vary dramatically in terms of services covered,according to a new report on college students and health insurance releasedby the United States Government Accountability Office Friday.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/03/31/insurance

-The 11th Annual Technology Counts is here. This new report, a joint projectby Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) ResearchCenter, is now available online at edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/03/27/index.html. During our edweek.orgOpen House, you can access the whole report for FREE! The report examinesthe K-12 community's response to the United States' perceived failings inpreparing young people to thrive in a high-tech global economy. While you'reat it, be sure to check out some of our past reports and our most recentedition of Quality Counts.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/01/10/index.html


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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Belatedly Making Nice
George Bush and Vladimir Putin, after months of acrimony and years ofinaction, are suddenly ready to talk seriously about serious matters. Wehope it is not too late, since both are nearly at the end of theirpresidencies. There are certainly a lot of things they need to address.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/opinion/31mon1.html?ref=opinion

-The Baton Passes to Asia
It's the end of the era of the white man.I know your head is spinning. The world can feel like one of thosesplit-screen TVs with images of a suicide bombing in Baghdad flashing, andthe latest awful market news coursing along the bottom, and an ad for somestool-loosening wonder drug squeezed into a corner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/opinion/31cohen.html?ref=opinion

-Race and the Social Contract
For all the appeal of America's melting pot, the country's diverse ethnicmix is one main reason for entrenched opposition to public spending on thepublic good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/opinion/31mon4.html?ref=opinion

-Zimbabwe Opposition Insists Mugabe Lost
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The main opposition party pressed its claim Monday thatit had won a landslide election victory to unseat Zimbabwe President RobertG. Mugabe, but the government said nothing about the presidential vote 48hours after ballots had been cast. The only official announcement was thatboth sides were tied in early parliamentary results.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/world/africa/01zimbabwe.html?hp

-A Different Kind of Student Exam
JIM HENNESSY, a Darien High School junior, does not go to school dancesanymore. The 16-year-old is boycotting them because to get in, he has totake a test that he thinks is unfair: Before he and classmates are allowedto enter a dance, they are asked to breathe into a device to determinewhether they have consumed alcohol.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/30breathalyzerct.html


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Washington Post
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Piercing This Bubble For Good
In the past two weeks, the Federal Reserve has lent or guaranteed at least$57 billion to investment banks. This sudden infusion, the first to WallStreet firms since the 1930s, underscores the financial emergency facing thenation. Yet just last June, the markets were euphoric. How, within ninemonths, could a lending bubble inflate to gargantuan proportions and thenburst into this credit market disaster?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001833.html

-Taking Exception
A Day in Court Denied
Last week, the Supreme Court heard a case from Shawqi Omar and Mohammad
Munaf, two American citizens held in a U.S. prison for more than three yearswithout access to lawyers or judges. Omar and Munaf are asking U.S. courtsto examine the legality of their detention at the hands of U.S. troops inIraq. Human rights groups agree that because the men are Sunni Muslims theywill probably be tortured if they are handed over to Iraqi authorities.
Whether U.S. courts can hear their legal challenge depends on whether thejustices can tell green from blue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001834.html

-The Vienna Convention
The U.S. must ensure that arrested foreigners can contact their consulates.
JOS¿ ERNESTO Medell¿n is a Mexican national who has lived in the UnitedStates for most of his life. In 1993, he was arrested in connection with therape and murder of two Texas girls. Although he was read his Miranda rightsand was defended by two court-appointed lawyers, Texas law enforcementofficials failed to inform Mr. Medell¿n of his right under the ViennaConvention to notify the Mexican consulate of his arrest. Mr. Medell¿n wasultimately convicted and sentenced to death, but he failed to raise theVienna Convention argument at trial or during sentencing and did so infederal court only after he filed a habeas petition.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001777.html

-States Are Hit Hard by Economic Downturn
Many Cutbacks Felt by Most Needy
NEW YORK -- In Illinois' Cook County, women in poor neighborhoods no longerhave access to free mammograms from two mobile vans testing for breastcancer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002138.html?hpid=topnews

-First African American Is Elected Bishop of Diocese
Canon at National Cathedral Also Leads Pilgrimage Center
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has elected its first African Americanbishop: the Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton of Washington NationalCathedral.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001779.html?hpid=sec-religion


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-The New Super Tuesday
Primaries in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6 may be the last chance toend the Dem race early.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/129585

-Obama's church gets pep talks
Congregation urged to remain strong
Members of Sen. Barack Obama's church got pep talks from the pulpit Sunday,as their new pastor and a representative from the national denominationurged them to stay strong in the coming months.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-wrightwatch_31mar31,1,3032137.story

-To working class, Clinton talks the talk
Blue-collar voters buoy candidacy
RALEIGH, N.C. - Hillary Clinton kicked off her North Carolina primarycampaign last week at a technical school that bills itself "College for theReal World." After some pleasantries and a stab at a basketball reference,she began to outline what she called "the problems that we face" as anation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-working-class-heromar31,1,940922.story

-Gore Launches Ambitious Advocacy Campaign on Climate
Former vice president Al Gore will launch a three-year, $300 millioncampaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressivereductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks as one of the mostambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001880.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Analysis: Democratic Battle Helps McCain
WASHINGTON -- John McCain's standing in the presidential race grows strongereach day as he benefits from the increasingly personal and extraordinarilyprotracted Democratic nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton andBarack Obama.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033100244.html


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