Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 6

Nation A6 Arizona Daily Star Thursday, April 5, 2001 MTT to place materials for courses online free Jk y'. a "It's obvious MIT has embarked on a bold new course," said Stanley Ikenberry, former head of the University of Illinois and president of the American Council on Education. "What we may be seeing is that the promises of a pot of gold at the end of Internet rainbow for education, as in so many other areas, are a little more elusive than it perhaps appeared two or three years ago." MIT's offerings would differ from those of profit-making ventures in that it would not give credit, grant degrees, and have instructors engage in online teaching and supervision. Hal Abelson, an MIT professor of computer science and a leader of the group behind the idea, said he hoped other universities would follow. He said the cost of the project could be about $100 million over 10 years, which the school plans to raise from private sources.

Tax collector declines to accept office again -at 104 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CRETE, 111. After 16 consecutive terms, 104-year-old Emma Schweer didn't campaign for reelection as Crete Township tax collector. "It would have been a little rough for me to go from house to house," explained Schweer, who was also unopposed. "I use a walker, and I am alone." Schweer collected 2,837 votes Tuesday to hang onto the distinction as likely the oldest elected official in the United States. Schweer was appointed to the office in 1965 after the death of her husband, who had held the post since 1933.

She was responsible for typing tax bills, collecting real estate and personal property taxes and taking tax revenue to the Will County seat in Joliet. The post has been ceremonial, and unpaid, since the county took over tax collection in the township in the 1970s. "There isn't even a job right now," Schweer said yesterday. "But they keep putting me back CHICAGO TRIBUNE CHICAGO A groundbreaking initiative announced yesterday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to make materials for nearly all its courses available to everyone online at no charge could be a boon for learners but a problem for schools and private companies hoping to profit from delivering education over the Internet. The plan, which eventually would put lecture notes, course outlines, reading lists and class assignments for about 2,000 graduate and undergraduate courses on the school's Web site, represents a strong commitment to free, online education.

The academic world has been puzzling for the last few years over how best to exploit the potential of the Internet. Some institutions have entered into profit-making ventures to provide courses for online credit The Associated Press Emma Schweer didn 1 campaign for re-election this year, after 16 consecutive terms as tax collector for Crete, but she received 2,837 votes anyway, making her arguably the oldest U.S. elected official derful, admirable woman, we haven't put up anybody to run against her for years," said Norenna Schumacker, the township's Democratic Committee chairwoman. Schweer has said she doesn't expect to be around in four years to run for the office again, but "if I am and they put my name on the ballot, I just might give it a shot." on the ballot." Schweer calls herself "a dyed-in-the-wool Republican," but Democrats aren't willing to challenge her. "Out of respect for this won- Well-off U.S.

students similar to Asians in math competition National parks imperiled, conservationists say at urban schools in Miami, Rochester, N.Y., Chicago and elsewhere understood math and science on the level of students in the lowest-scoring nations, such as Iran, Tunisia and Macedonia. The outcome of the tests, known as Benchmarking Reports of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, underscores the inequalities between rich and poor school districts, and highlights how ill-prepared students from the poorest areas are to compete for jobs. THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON Eighth-grade pupils in wealthy school districts in Illinois and Maryland did nearly as well as students in the top-performing Asian nations on an international mathematics competition, according to results of a worldwide examination released here yesterday. The study showed students from wealthy suburbs in Illinois, Michigan and Colorado matched or surpassed the top Asian scores in science. In contrast, eighth-graders Endangered parka I Alaskan parks, including Denali, Kat-mai.

Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, and WrangeU-St Elias. I Big Bend National Park in west Texas. I Fire Island National Seashore on New York's Atlantic Coast I Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. IGlacier National Park in Montana. (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tennessee and North Carolina.

(Petrified Forest National Park. I Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and Big Cypress in South Florida. I Stones River National Battlefield, Tennessee. I Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana. likely to be directed toward "brick and mortar" projects.

"His initial budget has very little new money for the parks," said Thomas Kiernan, president of the group. The 82-year-old nonprofit organization is also calling for an extra $600 million annually to solve a myriad of problems threatening the nation's 384 park units. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of the Interior said that a response to the list was being formulated. Although many of the parks are threatened by encroaching commercial development and industrial pollution, visitors also add to the problems.

The list cites Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park as one example. Tourists remove about 12 tons of petrified wood from the site each year in violation of federal law. President Bush has pledged $4.9 billion to the parks budget this year, but the study contends 98 percent of the money is THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Environmentalists warned yesterday that air pollution, development, overuse and misguided funding priorities threaten the nation's network of national parks. The National Parks Conservation Association released its list of most endangered parks and urged the Bush administration to place more emphasis on preservation and conservation instead of roads, buildings and energy exploration. Around the that District Superintendent H.

Lynn Stevens had charged up to $16,000 a month on a school credit card over two years. According to the documents, Stevens bought flowers, chocolates, car washes, airline tickets and meals, and charged items at casinos and Las Vegas hotels. I I I llll I II 1 1 III HI Willi I III In lill I llllllilli lilillll III lllin lllllliliil lllilliHilllllHIIIMillHIMIIIIMWIHIII III ll i II i I I p' Amen' i i )i I 1 'r I It hut I-. "V1 i Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort Spa, Oahu Mountain-view accommodations 5th Night free 50 off one air ticket and free rental car Daily buffet breakfast for two 7 nights from $910 Per Person Savings up to 50 WISCONSIN Man who drank, got hurt wins case MADISON A man who got drunk on a business trip and suffered severe frostbite after passing out in the cold is entitled to worker's compensation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled yesterday. In a 4-3 ruling, the court upheld a ruling of the Wisconsin Industry Review Commission.

The commission had said William Larsen was in northern Wisconsin expressly for work, but it also reduced his compensation by 15 percent, since he was hurt while he was intoxicated. Larsen, owner of a metals analysis business, was on a trip to Tigerton in January 19 when he stopped off at a tavern and had several drinks. Larsen then went to a mobile home that he owned for business trips, but he could not open the door because it was covered in snow. He broke a window in the door but got dizzy and fell asleep. When he woke up, he was lying inside the trailer with the door open, and his hands were frostbitten from temperatures at least 25 degrees below zero.

His fingers and thumbs on both hands had to be amputated. SOUTH CAROLINA Boy, 10, hit by train saves self with belt ABBEVILLE A boy whose leg was severed by a train used his belt as a tourniquet to save himself from bleeding to death a skill he learned from his mother when she was studying to be a nurse. Alex Compton, 10, was crossing the tracks near his home Monday when his foot got caught on some rocks. After the accident, he removed his belt and tightened it around his thigh to stem the bleeding, rescue workers said. He learned the technique from his mother, Lisa, who had studied first aid at nursing school.

ILLINOIS Man convicted in assault on Girl CHICAGO A jury yesterday found a 29-year-old man guilty of charges he sexually assaulted and beat a 9-year-old girl, leaving her blind, unable to walk and brain-damaged. Patrick Sykes showed no emotion as jurors read the verdicts. He was found guilty of four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, and one each of aggravated kidnapping and attempted murder in the January 1997 attack. He faces up to 120 years in prison. The attack left the child, called Girl in the news media, in a wheelchair and unable to speak.

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