WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5A
EDUCATION
s or nies.
Evolution hearings begin tomorrow
BY JOHN HANNA
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — In a building where visitors once could view a natural history display, three State Board of Education members plan to hash over what critics say about a long-dead British scientist and his theory of evolution.
Four days of hearings, set to begin tomorrow, are a precursor to a review in June of proposed changes in the state's science-testing standards. Facing a receptive conservative board majority, advocates of intelligent design hope it will revise the standards to expose students to more criticism of evolution.
Intelligent design advocates also hope their critique of evolution will receive widespread news coverage and bring what they view as a robust scientific
debate to the general public's attention.
"I expect that our side is going to focus on the science pretty rigorously," said John West, senior fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, which supports intelligent design research. "I hope the media doesn't just cover the antics but what's actually said."
But many scientists and some science groups are hoping people don't consider the hearings a debate over science. Critics of intelligent design view it as creationism and argue the hearings are rigged against evolution.
A coalition of science and education groups plans to set up a booth inside the building but aren't planning on calling any witnesses — or debating the science supporting evolution.
"By the end of Thursday, the media will be totally bored with
hearing the ID people get up and spout their drivel all day," said Harry McDonald, president of Kansas Citizens for Science. "The whole purpose of these hearings was to create the facade that science debates ID, and we're not going to debate it."
Evolution, attributed to Charles Darwin because of his 1859 book, "On the Origin of Species," says environmental conditions cause species to change over time. It says such change can lead to new species and that different species, such as man and apes, can have common ancestors.
Intelligent design says that some features of the natural world, because of their wellordered complexities, are best explained by an intelligent cause.
West said there will be no discussion during the hearings
about intelligent design, only evolution.
But McDonald said: "It's going to be clear that they have political and religious agendas."
ponticlear and Board Chairman Steve Abrams has said the hearings will inform board members, himself included, about science. To critics, the hearings mirror the famed Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, when a Dayton, Tenn., teacher was convicted of violating a state against teaching evolution.
And the hearings — set for tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and May 12 — will resemble a trial. Evolution critics plan to call 24 witnesses, who will make Power Point presentations and face both cross-examination and questions from the three presiding board members.
Department of Education staffers were working yesterday on arrangements for the
hearings inside a 180-seat, second-floor auditorium in Memorial Hall. The building, near the Statehouse, houses state offices but once was home to the Kansas State Historical Society.
Until the 1970s, it also was home to a natural history display about birds on its top floor. Studying birds provided crucial evidence for Darwin as he developed his theory.
The doors to the auditorium sit between two bronze plaques containing excerpts from President Abraham Lincoln's writings, including from his Second Inaugural Address in 1865, contemplating the Civil War between North and South.
The plaque reads in part:
"Both read the same Bible,
and pray to the same God; and
each invokes His aid against
the other."
MILITARY
Legislation gives military billions
BY Liz Sidoti THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators agreed yesterday on a measure that would provide $82 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan and a nearly tenfold increase in the death benefit for survivors of troops killed in combat zones.
Overall, the legislation gives President Bush most of what he asked for and pushes the costs of two conflicts and other efforts to fight terrorism worldwide beyond $300 billion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Congress had promised to pay only for urgent items in the spending package, but the final legislation ended up with the same overall price tag as the president's proposal.
president — most of the money — $75.9 billion — is slated for military operations, nearly $1 billion more than what the president wanted. About $4.2 billion will be spent on foreign aid and other international relations programs in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, roughly $1.5 billion below Bush's proposal.
The legislation reflects a desire by Congress to give the Pentagon what it needs while holding the line on State Department spending. The House is to vote on the measure tomorrow. The Senate is expected to take it up next week when it returns from a week-long recess.
recess. The legislation also includes immigration revision provisions, including one that will make states verify that driver's license applicants are U.S. citizens or
legal immigrants.
legal immigration Since the president asked for the money for Afghanistan and Iraq in February, the House and Senate had differed slightly over what portion of the spending package should go to military operations and how much should go to foreign aid.
devices used by insurgent Congress also included the death-benefits provisions but limited the one-time payment to survivors of those who died in combat zones. Some lawmakers had wanted families of all troops who are killed — no matter where they died — to be eligible. The increase would apply retroactively to families of troops killed in combat zones, as defined by the U.S. statute and including in Iraq and Afghanistan, beginning on Oct. 7, 2001, when U.S. military operations began in Afghanistan.
should go to foreign ducks.
In the end, lawmakers added more money to protect troops at war, including funding to arm vehicles used in combat zones and counter makeshift explosive devices used by insurgents.
Agromathos The one-time benefit increases to $100,000 from the current $12,000 payment.
The measure also increases life insurance benefits for all troops to $400,000 from $250,000 and creates a new insurance benefit of up to $100,000 for those who have suffered traumatic injuries such as losing a limb or eyesight.
The bill also includes a provision meant to protect the C130J cargo plane from being scaled back by the Pentagon and language that would prohibit the Pentagon from reducing its fleet of 12 aircraft carriers.
NATION
Scientific citizen
Jack Krebs pauses between classes this past Friday at Oskaloosa High School in Oskaloosa, Krebs, who teaches math and is technical coordinator for the high school, has been affiliated with Kansas Citizens for Science in the debate over science testing standards in Kansas schools.
Orlin Wagner/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Improve CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
At meals, there would be pills sitting on their plates, he said.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
"It was a brand-new thing," Hadl said. "We didn't know about it. The coaches didn't know about it. We just thought it would help us win games."
Although he and about 10 other players never took the pills, Hadl said, the players who did were adversely affected.
Congress began investigating steroids in professional sports earlier this year. Congress has already investigated major league baseball and football. It
and were "The drug caused them to have mood swings and highs and lows," he said.
L”
It was a brand new thing. We didn't know about it.The coaches didn't know about it.We just thought it would help us win games."
John Hadl
Former KU quarterback
will continue to investigate other sports, including professional basketball.
The panelists agreed that steroids were a controversial
issue in professional sports but said Congress should hold back for now.
"It's an extremely complicated subject." James said. "And until we have a better understanding of what we're dealing with, Congress should stay out of it."
James said steroid use could be dealt with on four levels: Individual, team, baseball government or federal government. Steroid use can't be fixed at the individual or team level because there was still a desire to cheat to get ahead of other players or teams, James said.
He said the players needed to make an agreement with governing body of baseball to reach appropriate standards for testing.
- Edited by Nikola Rowe
Ceremony honors fallen journalists
ARLINGTON, Va. — In a somber rededication of a memorial to journalists who died in the line of work last year, 78 people were honored yesterday, their names written on the spiraling glass structure.
on the spilling gun of the Iraq war claimed the lives of 25 of them, including a CNN producer, a Polish television correspondent and an Italian freelancer who was kidnapped and murdered by a militant group.
In a ceremony under a midmorning sun that reflected a rainbow of colors off the memorial, family, friends and collegues gathered to hear the 78 names read aloud.
names released Overall, 2004 was the third deadliest year for the profession in nearly two centuries, according to the Freedom Forum, which adds names to the memorial and rededicates it each year to mark World Press Freedom Day. More people died in this manner in 1991 and 1994.
Among those who died last year in two dozen countries, some were caught in the crossfire of war, while about half were murdered because of their work.
Speakers noted a global trend of targeting journalists and they criticized authorities for sometimes failing to fully investigate such killings.
Elizabeth Wolfe/
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Recognition
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feedback from the judging team saying that they didn't know what they were supposed to be judging on," Bauer said. "The rubric gave them something to base their decision off of."
One chapter that caught the attention of the judges was Delta Gamma sorority, one of the chapter excellence award winners. The new rubric established credibility to the winners, said Karen Butler, Delta Gamma president and Wichita junior.
Clint Jones, Kappa Sigma member and Troy senior, stood out to the judges as well. He was one of five Outstanding Senior Award Recipients for his efforts in leadership, service and scholarship.
and served Jones said he was humbled to receive the award, but was well aware of his accomplishments. He is a first-generation college student from a about an hour north of Lawrence, he said.
"It just shows that no matter what your background is, you can come up and make the most of your experiences at the University of Kansas," he said. "I didn't need an award to show me that, but it's nice to know your efforts are acknowledged."
— Edited by Austin Caster