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“Just say no” to domestic spying

By Chris Lugo | June 28, 2008 |

Big brother is watching you and his name is AT&T. Sometimes he goes by the name of BellSouth and at other times he is known as AOL-Time-Warner. Big brother goes by a lot of names. He is listening to you while you talk and watching you while you type and everything you say could be recorded so he can look at it somewhere down the line.

Now everyone knows that it is not polite to intrude on people in their private moments. The problem is that big brother doesn’t seem to know that peeking into people’s private communication is wrong and it should be illegal. Unfortunately President Bush wants to continue to grant immunity to telecommunications companies in the name of the so called ‘war on terror’ which in actuality is a war on the American people and the telecommunications infrastructure is the front line in the gradual diminishment of civil rights that Congress has permitted in recent years. «Read the rest of this article»

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It’s time to extend unemployment benefits

By Chris Lugo | June 24, 2008 |

America is in the midst of a recession largely attributable to the economic policies of the Bush administration and the Republican party. As a result of this recession, millions of hard working Americans have been put out of work. Almost every family in this country has been touched by the current recession. On top of this, consumers are being forced to pay record high gas prices and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes due to foreclosure. Now is not the time to cut tax paying American citizens off of their unemployment benefits.

Since the beginning of this year nearly 325,000 people have lost their jobs and the unemployment rate is rising. As of May the unemployment rate stands at 5.5%, up nine percent just since April. With the cost of gas, food and medicine many families are suffering.

As a candidate for federal office I support House Resolution 5749, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, which will provide an additional thirteen weeks of extended unemployment benefits in most states. This means that 3.8 million citizens will continue to receive benefits through March of 2009. «Read the rest of this article»

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‘Promote Green’ offers eco-friendly marketing merchandise

June 23, 2008 |

Amanda Davis Weiss, owner and promotional marketing consultant, launched Promote Green this month in the Clarksville and the Fort Campbell/Hopkinsville, Kentucky areas.

Promote Green, a promotional marketing and logo merchandising firm, launches this month offering a full line of eco-friendly custom imprinted advertising specialties. Promote Green aims to give businesses an environmentally responsible alternative to the traditional promotional product.

While attending a local Earth Day celebration this April, Weiss remembers, “I heard the conservation message many times but saw little evidence of the message in the promotional products and giveaways handed out.” According to Weiss, reflection on the issue led to her realizing the need of a local entity enabling all businesses to easily purchase environmentally sound marketing products for everyday use. «Read the rest of this article»

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Florim USA donation to fund scholarships

June 19, 2008 |

Austin Peay State University recently received a financial gift from Florim USA to be used for scholarships. Florim USA has committed to fund annual scholarships in memory of its founder, Ing Giovanni Lucchese. The scholarships are for students majoring in marketing, computer science and chemistry.

Pictured (from left) are Aaron Taylor, APSU computer science student; Tim Swaw, Florim USA human resources manager; Dr. Bruce Myers, APSU computer science chair; APSU President Tim Hall; Dr. William Rayburn, director of the APSU School of Business; Giancarlo Adani, Florim USA vice president of operations; and Alex Silkowski, APSU marketing student. Not photographed is Kimberly Anderson, APSU chemistry student.

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Caleb Wherry begins NASA internship

June 16, 2008 |

An Austin Peay State University computer science student will spend the summer and Fall 2008 semester as an intern in a highly competitive National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program. Caleb Wherry recently accepted a position in NASA’s Undergraduate Student Research Program. He will receive a total stipend of $15,000 as an intern.

Wherry began June 3 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. On Sept. 2, he will begin the fall semester at NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and remain there until Dec. 12. During the Langley internship, Wherry will work with atmospheric scientist Mike Pitts, whose research focuses on the formation and evolution of polar stratospheric clouds using data known as CALIPSO.

Langley Research Center has a new atmospheric trajectory model that staff would like to use to study how the clouds form and evolve with time. Wherry will help the center run the computer models for a number of different scenarios and possibly interface the model with the CALIPSO measurements. Wherry will return to APSU for the Spring 2009 semester.

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Dr. Anne Wall honored for excellence in teaching, learning and technology

June 16, 2008 |

Dr. Anne Wall, assistant professor in the School of Education at Austin Peay State University, recently received the Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.

Wall accepted the award during a special ceremony held at the 19th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, April 16 in Jacksonville, Fla. A total of 42 colleges and universities from around the world nominated faculty to receive awards.

Wall came to APSU in 2004. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Kansas, a Master of Arts and Education Specialist degrees from Austin Peay and a Doctor of Education from Tennessee State University.

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Biofuel research by APSU biology prof could help lessen fuel crisis

June 15, 2008 |

Research by an Austin Peay State University biology professor could help to manufacture hydrogen more efficiently for use as a biofuel in vehicles – and become part of a solution to the current fuel crisis.

Dr. Sergei Markov, assistant professor of biology, has developed a prototype bioreactor that uses the purple bacterium Rubrivivax gelatinosus to produce enough hydrogen to power a small motor. He recently presented a paper, titled “Hydrogen production by purple nonsulfur bacterium in a bioreactor,” at the 108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Boston.

As a result, his work, initially supported by grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, has appeared in a dozen of publications on the Internet, including Science Daily, and on several foreign news Web sites. «Read the rest of this article»

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Awkward facts about climatic disruption

June 15, 2008 |

Cautionary words on climate from a May 1 statement by George Woodwell, the founder and Director Emeritus of The Woods Hole Research Center.

I explore below paths that might, if followed, lead out of the chaos of an open-ended climatic disruption. Unfortunately the issues are complicated, the time for action is now late, and effective action is growing more difficult daily. Effective action is possible, however….

The changes in climate are far more serious than they may appear…. These changes, the warming of the higher latitudes, the destruction of forests, the accelerated decay of organic matter in forests and tundra soils, the melting of permafrost, the change from a reflective frozen white to black open water in the Arctic Ocean, and the warming of the surface water of the oceans all point to an acceleration of the warming trend. These are “positive feedbacks” which dominate as the earth warms and accelerate the disruption. Despite their importance, they have not been included in appraisals that suggest that a two degree average change in the temperature of the earth might be acceptable. The fact is that the feedbacks will almost certainly take the disruption beyond human control well before the temperature rise is two degrees C. Stopping at 2 degrees will not be possible. «Read the rest of this article»

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