THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008
NEWS
3A
NATIONAL
Counterterrorism center quietly begins operations
A map of lower Manhattan is displayed at the counterterrorism command center of the LOWER Manhattan Security Initiative in New York, a $100 million project started after Sept. 11.
BY TOM HAYS ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The setting could pass for a high-tech trading floor; men in dark suits sitting at tiered banks of desks, studying a steady stream of video and data on floor-to-ceiling monitors.
But the front doors to the 28th floor office near Wall Street are unmarked, and the men aren't fixated on stock market fluctuations. The stakes in their line of business, they say, are much higher.
The tenants — counterterrorism officers with the New York Police Department — have transformed the space into the new nerve center for an ambitious plan to protect lower Manhattan from terrorist threats. The center quietly began operating earlier this month, the first phase of a $100 million project sparked by the Sept. 11 attack that destroys the World Trade Center.
The project will rely largely on 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras covering roughly 1.7 square miles in and around the financial district. So far, about 150 cameras are in place, with 250 more coming on line by the end of the year and the rest by 2011.
The program was modeled in part after the "ring of steel" surveillance measures in London's financial district. But police officials
was allowed into the nerve center on the condition he not disclose its exact location.
here said it will exceed that effort in scope and sophistication.
The 33 officers assigned to the
"I believe we'll have the safest business district in the world," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during a visit to the command center, situated in an office tower that is also home to brokerage, research and insurance firms.
The project will rely on 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras covering roughly 1.7 square miles in and around the financial district.
An Associated Press reporter
assigned to the center monitor the live feeds round-the-clock. As the volume of images increases, the NYPD hopes to incorporate "smart surveillance" software programmed to automatically detect possible
signs of trouble — an unattended bag, an unauthorized vehicle — and sound an alarm.
On the street, 30 police cars
with two roof-mounted cameras have begun reading license plates of passing and parked cars; an additional 96 stationary readers will also be installed. Computers check the scanned plate numbers against a database of stolen and suspicious cars, while interactive maps help officers pinpoint their locations and track their movements.
The command center eventually will also receive data from devices designed to detect any radiological and biological threats posed by cars and trucks crossing through the neighborhood on Canal Street or entering the 16 bridges and four tunnels serving Manhattan.
Police said they picked the downtown location so that private security officials would have ready access.
School may change its focus Planned campus exclusively for LGBT students faces pressure to be inclusive of all bullied students
NATIONAL
BY KAREN HAWKINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHICAGO — Planners of Pride Campus never shied away from touting their proposed high school as a haven for gay youth seeking refuge from sometimes hostile traditional classrooms.
But under mounting pressure from ministers and gay activists, the name has changed and the focus broadened to create a school that would be one of the nation's largest to serve any students victimized by bullying and harassment.
If approved by the country's third-largest school district Wednesday, the Social Justice Solidarity High School would join several smaller U.S. campuses aimed at serving students who have been tormented for everything from their religious beliefs to their
beliefs to their weight.
It's a less explicitly gay version of a plan first presented to Chicago's board of education in October by schools chief Arne Duncan, whose name has been
allies" has been replaced by one that offers protections for students regardless of "orientation," but doesn't men- tion sexuality.
Instead, Solidarity school aims to address "city-wide concerns over violence, bullying and harassment"
floated as a possible Education Secretary under President-elect Barack Obama.
The new language echoes the mission statement of Milwaukee's Alliance School, where lead teacher Tina Owen said staff have been successful in attracting — and protecting — a wide range of students, from those who identify as "Goth" to teens with disabilities.
The Social Justice High School: Pride Campus was to open in 2010 and eventually serve 600 students, about half of whom were expected to identify as gay.
The Solidarity plan has the same timeline and enrollment goals, but a different mission.
"The gay community has fought so long to be inclusive and now you're going to isolate them."
The Pride Campus mission statement to serve "the underserved population of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning youth and their
WILFREDO DE JESUS
Reverend of New Life Covenant
"They find it to be a place
"They find it to be a place where they can be themselves. It's a safe place."
TINA OWEN
Lead teacher at Milwaukee's
Alliance School
where they can be themselves," Owen said. "It's a safe place."
School's 125 students identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.
But even without a mission statement aimed directly at gay youth, about 60 percent of Alliance
enced harassment in the past year because of their sexual orientation and 60 percent felt unsafe at school.
Not surprising considering students nationwide say sexual orientation and gender identity are two of the top three reasons behind bullying and harassment.
Appearance is No.1, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
A 2007 GLSEN survey of more than 6,200 middle and high school students found that 86 percent of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered students experi-
ondary school students.
In the same survey, 33 percent reported skipping a day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe, compared to 4.5 percent of a national sample of sec
"Harassment is the rule, not the exception, if you're an LGBT student," said Kevin Jennings, founder of the New York City-based GLEN.
Chicago's school board had been slated to vote on the Pride Campus proposal in October, but the vote was delayed as school officials and organizers heard from ministers, gay activists and conservatives opposed to segregating gay students.
"If we're going to have a separate high school, let's put the bullies in the high school, not the (gay) kids," said Rick Garcia, political director for the gay rights group Equality Illinois.
The Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus of New Life Covenant Church on Chicago's West Side said ministers' message to the school board was "don't segregate, tolerate."
"The gay community has fought so long to be inclusive and now you're going to isolate them," De Jesus said. "This is not sending the right message."
Critics argued that gay teens aren't the only ones being bullied and that taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used to provide a one-sided education on a controversial topic.
TRADITION KEEPERS
Win a behind-the-scenes tour of Allen Field House and meet Coach Self
One lucky Tradition Keeper, along with two friends will win a private, behind the scenes tour of Allen Fieldhouse. The winner and friends also will have a private meet and greet with KU basketball Head Coach Bill Self! This is a new event sponsored by the KU Student Alumni Association.
Registration Dates
Nov. 14
Nov. 19 & 20
11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Adams Alumni Center
(Home Football Friday)
10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Kansas Union
The winner will be announced at the Tradition Keepers Finals Dinner, Dec. 15 2008, at the Adams Alumni Center.
The tour will be given during the first week of school in January 2009, by a KU marketing representative. At the end of the tour, the winner and friends will meet Coach Self and have a chance to get autographs and take pictures.
1. Stop by a registration table and fill out an entry form.
How to enter
2. To be eligible for the contest, a student must be a member of Tradition Keepers for the 2008-2009 school year.
3. Make a suggested donation of $5 to the Assist Youth Foundation. All donations benefit the Assist Youth Foundation.
Questions? Contact Stefani Gerson at 864-4760 or sgerson@kualumni.org.