rimblr.com

Buffalo senior quarterback Drew Willy has been named to the preseason watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award which is presented annually to the nation’s top senior collegiate quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation.
Willy, the only quarterback from the Mid-American Conference among the twenty-six senior quarterback candidates named by the Foundation to its annual preseason watch list, returns for his senior season at Buffalo after a record-setting 2007 campaign that saw him set single-season school marks with 258 completions, a .684 completion percentage and the best single-season pass efficiency rating in Bulls history (135.7).
"Drew really came into his own a bit last season," Buffalo head coach Turner Gill recently told MAC Report Online. "But with Drew it’s not just about stats but about body language and making smart decisions."
Willy tossed fifteen touchdowns last season and was picked off only six times and is currently tied for the all-time career mark in completions at Buffalo. With another 2,035 yards passing this season Willy would also own the school’s all-time career passing yardage mark. Last season Willy passed for 2,572 yards in twelve games.

macreportonline.com

Earthquakes extend Crew’s scoreless drought
Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Ryan Johnson and Ramiro Corrales scored to lead the San Jose Earthquakes to a 2-0 win Saturday over the slumping Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer.
The Earthquakes (3-6-1) won for the second time in their last three matches andavenged a 3-2 loss to the Crew on May 10.
Since that game, when Columbus scored three goals in an 11-minute stretch torally for its fifth straight victory, the Crew (6-4-1) haven’t scored a goal.Columbus is winless in its last four - including three straight losses.
Columbus came close to ending its goalless streak less than 10 minutes into thematch when Guillermo Barros Schelotto delivered a free kick from the right sidethat Chad Marshall headed on goal.
San Jose goalie Joe Cannon was in position and made an easy save on the Crew’sonly shot on goal in the half in the ninth minute.
San Jose countered with its only shot on goal in the first half and the ‘Quakesmade it count.
Ronnie O’Brien sent a cross from the right sideline to the far post to Johnson,who jumped to head the ball off Columbus goalie Will Hesmer’s hand and into theleft side of the net in the 10th minute.
Johnson scored his second goal of the season despite having Crew defender EzraHendrickson right next to him. O’Brien’s assist was his second of the season.
Corrales doubled Sane Jose’s lead in the 60th minute. He headed a cross fromO’Brien past Hesmer for his second goal of the season. O’Brien increased hisassist total to three.
Columbus started to show some life offensively after going two goals down. Butwhen the Crew looked to have cut the deficit in half when Alejandro Moreno putthe ball into the back of the net in the 66th minute, the goal was wiped out ona hand ball.

seattlepi.nwsource.com

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 June 2008, 06:00 CDT
By Caroline Brothers and Matthew Saltmarsh
Airlines ratcheted up the pressure on governments Monday to roll back regulations that they argue are damaging their industry at a time when soaring fuel prices have pushed many carriers into a “desperate” situation.
At its annual meeting here, the global trade body for the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, warned of a significant drop in profitability and a collective loss of up to $2.3 billion because of the effects of high oil costs and the economic slowdown in Europe and the United States.
Other issues that are vexing the industry include a lack of clarity about European Union and national governments rules toward state aid and mergers, and the exact role that airlines will be expected to play in emerging systems for emissions trading.
“After enormous efficiency gains since 2001, there is no fat left and skyrocketing oil prices are changing everything,” said Giovanni Bisignani, the chief executive of IATA. “The situation is desperate and potentially more destructive than our recent battles with all the Horsemen of the Apocalypse combined.”
Crude oil prices hit an all-time high of $135.09 a barrel on May 22; prices have roughly doubled in the past year.
If the price of oil, which is now just below $130 a barrel, averages $107 in 2008, the aviation industry would lose $2.3 billion for the year, Bisignani said. Should it hold at $135 a barrel for the rest of this year, the industry would lose $6.1 billion.
“The key short-term question is who is best hedged against the oil rise,” said Hartmut Moers, an analyst at the bank Sal. Oppenheim in Frankfurt. “And then further out, you look for the airlines with robust operations, the flexibility to adjust and the ones that are best capitalized.”

redorbit.com

Guess what? Minneapolis public schools are doing it.
That’s my response to Bill Blazar’s list of do’s to persuade him to vote yes on the 2008 school referendum (Opinion Exchange, May 16). Our goal — to implement by 2012 practices that will make every child college ready — is ambitious. The action steps and timeline provided by our new strategic plan make it achievable. Blazar cited the following areas to address, and to which we have committed:
• Student achievement. We are focused on increasing curriculum rigor and strengthening instruction for the 2008-09 school year. We will use referendum funding to reinforce the essentials necessary to the success of our goal, aligning preK-12 programs for college readiness, and implementing new math, science and literacy initiatives.
• Achievement gap reduction. This spring, we identified and began correcting practices and policies that perpetuate the performance difference between white students and students of color. Our 2012 goal is to reduce the achievement gap by 75 percent.
• Progress reporting. We are committed to regularly reporting on both the success of our students and the effectiveness of our strategic plan. We have developed a district scorecard with specific student achievement measures, leading indicators and targets. Currently, 48 percent of our students score "proficient" or "advanced" on state reading exams; our goal is to increase that number to 80 percent by 2012.
• Hiring and retaining successful teachers. Through programs like the newly launched MPS Principals’ Academy, we are developing a highly effective principal corps able to establish and lead outstanding instructional teams. Additionally, our strategic plan outlines action steps for cultivating a high-performing teacher corps and setting clear expectations for all staff at every level.
We are asking for $60 million for the 2008 referendum. Half of this amount would go toward math and science, early literacy and up-to-date textbooks and technology. The other half, a renewal of the 2000 referendum, would continue to be used to manage class sizes.

startribune.com

May showers once again make an appearance today. The best chance of showers in Greeley is this morning then skies will slowly clear through late afternoon and evening. High temperatures look very cool by May standards with most of Weld County barely reaching the mid-50s. Normal high temperatures are in the upper-60s! Any wind should be 25-mph or less.
Our FOX-31 Good Day Colorado crew will be in Fort Collins today at Spring Canyon Community Park until 10 a.m. Be sure to bring an umbrella and a raincoat if you’re heading outside this morning.
As high pressure slides in tonight skies will slowly clear, setting us up for some sunshine and highs warming to around 70 degrees. Even warmer air surges into northern Colorado this weekend. We expect high temperatures around 80 degrees both Saturday and Sunday under sunny skies.
If you’re headed into the mountains today expect morning snow accumulating between 3-6 inches. The snow will stop in the afternoon and skies will go partly cloudy. 9,000-foot highs: Around 42 degrees.
-FOX-31 Meteorologist Chris Tomer

greeleytrib.com

Bibb, Laurens and Johnson counties took the heaviest brunt of the storm fury that pummeled Middle Georgia on Sunday, but other counties across the midstate reported problems.
Here’s a look at damage reports, compiled mostly from area sheriff’s offices:
Baldwin County Several trees and power lines were knocked down, but no homes sustained heavy damage, a dispatcher said. By early Sunday evening, workers were still trying to clear roads, and some homes were still without power in the area.
Only a handful of houses sustained damage in the storms, and one injury was reported when a limb broke through a roof and hit a woman, said Randall Pate, chief of the Crawford County volunteer fire department. “We lucked out this time,” he said. Some trees were down early, and workers were in the field by 5:30 a.m., ready for the worst. “After we saw that we didn’t have major damage, we were in Macon all day” helping there, he said.
The majority of damage in the county was in the southeastern portion, particularly in the Stephensville community along Ga. 112, Sheriff Richard Chatman said. A couple of homes were damaged, but there were no injuries. Also, there was some damage to Wilkinson County High School, and the entire top of the football field house was torn away. By 7 p.m., most power was back on to county residents, Chatman said. Several mobile homes in Irwinton were damaged by falling trees Sunday morning.
Several trees and power lines were knocked down in the southern part of the county, in the Culloden area, near Ga. 74. Half a roof was torn off one home, a sheriff’s office dispatcher said.
Houston, Peach and Crisp counties
Storm damage was less severe south of Macon. Houston County 911 reported trees and power lines down, but no injuries or damage to homes. A Peach County 911 dispatcher said she hadn’t had any reports of significant damage, and the Georgia State Patrol post in Cordele said there was a lot of rain and wind in the area when the storm came through, but no reports of damage.

macon.com

Hagan won the North Carolina Democratic primary for a Senate seat on Tuesday, taking 60 percent of the vote in a five-person race. She will face incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole in November.
Hagan is the daughter of Lakeland developer Joe P. Ruthven and the late Jeanette Chiles Ruthven. She was born in North Carolina and graduated from Lakeland High School in 1971 and from Florida State University in 1975. She completed law school at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she met her husband, Chip, from Greensboro, where they live today.
A bank trust officer and mother of three, Hagan, now 54, ran successfully for the North Carolina state Senate in 1998 and has served as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Hagan’s victory in the Democratic primary was a landslide. She now faces Dole, a former member of Republican presidential Cabinets and the wife of Robert Dole, the former U.S. senator from Kansas and Republican presidential candidate in 1996.
Hagan said she was always around politics because of her famous uncle, whose long career as an elected official included serving as Florida governor and U.S. senator, and her father, a former Lakeland mayor and city commissioner.
When she was in Lakeland earlier this year for a fundraiser sponsored by her dad, Hagan said facing Dole doesn’t worry her. She recalled that “Uncle Bud,” as the family called Lawton Chiles, defeated a governor in a Democratic primary and a Republican congressman, who was heavily backed by the Nixon administration, to win the U.S. Senate seat from Florida in 1970.
In February, Hagan said she intended to point out what she said was Dole’s almost continual absence from North Carolina once she was elected in 2002.
[ Ledger Political Editor Bill Rufty can be reached at 802-7523 or bill.rufty@theledger.com. ]

theledger.com

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Fierce clashes raged in Beirut onThursday after the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah said theU.S.-supported Lebanese government had declared war bytargeting its military communications network.
Security sources said the fighting killed at least sixpeople and wounded 15. The sound of exploding grenades andautomatic gunfire was heard into the night in the worstinternal strife since the 1975-90 civil war.
Lebanese governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri proposeda deal to end the crisis under which government decisions thatinfuriated Hezbollah would be considered a “misunderstanding.”
The decisions would then be referred to the Lebanese army,which has been neutral in the confrontations, giving armycommander General Michel Suleiman the option to suspend theirimplementation.
Political sources said Hezbollah appeared in no hurry torespond to the proposals, which included ideas previouslyrejected by the opposition for ending Lebanon’s 17-month-longpolitical conflict.
The U.N. Security Council called for “calm and restraint,”urging all sides to return to peaceful dialogue. The WhiteHouse urged Hezbollah to stop “disruptive” acts.
Fighters from Shi’ite movements Hezbollah and Amal groupexchanged assault rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades withpro-government gunmen, including fighters loyal to the SunniFuture movement, in several areas of the capital.
Security sources said Hezbollah gunmen overran at leastthree offices of the Future group. Many cars and shops were seton fire and scores of terrified civilians fled the hot spots.
Hezbollah launched a new street campaign on Wednesday,piling pressure on the government after it declared the networkillegal and removed the head of airport security, a figureclose to the group, from his post.
Supporters of Hezbollah and its allies have blocked roadsleading to the airport — Lebanon’s only air link to theoutside world — and other main streets, paralyzing much of thecapital.
The airport was barely functioning with only a few flightsarriving and taking off, airport officials said.
Fighting escalated minutes after Hezbollah chief SayyedHassan Nasrallah said the only way out of the crisis was forthe government to rescind the decisions and attend talks to endthe political conflict with the Hezbollah-led opposition.

canada.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, April 27 — Fifth-year senior Virginia goalkeeper Bud Petit often celebrated his saves against Duke in the ACC men’s lacrosse tournament title game Sunday with a fist-pump and, once, with a head-butt to a teammate. Duke fifth-year senior Dan Loftus was much more reserved; he rarely showed any emotion until he was named the tournament’s most valuable player following Duke’s 11-9 victory before 3,758 at Klockner Stadium.
Such a close outcome did not seem likely late in the third quarter. At that point the Blue Devils (15-1) led 11-3 after an extra-man goal by fifth-year senior Matt Danowski. Around then, dozens of fans began heading for the exits.
To that point, No. 3 Virginia (12-3) had used an offense so patient that it was warned three times for stalling.
Coach Dom Starsia scrapped the game plan and went to a more desperate approach. Namely, he paired freshman brothers Rhamel and Shamel Bratton on the first midfield with fifth-year senior Peter Lamade.
His logic was that the Brattons are the team’s most athletic players, and Starsia wanted them to pressure second-ranked Duke’s defense.
"I felt like it was a game where we needed to go by people," Starsia said. "And they’re two of our more dynamic athletes. We hoped we could create things. . . . If Brian Carroll gets his hands free he’s deadly, but they were putting a short on him and we weren’t able to go by there so easily."
The move paid off when Rhamel Bratton scored to cut Virginia’s deficit to 11-7 with 8 minutes 56 seconds to play. It was 11-8 following an extra-man goal by sophomore Carroll with 1:42 left. And it was 11-9 after senior Ben Rubeor scored on a fast break 10 seconds later.
After the next faceoff, which Virginia lost following a pushing infraction, Duke Coach John Danowski called timeout. As the home crowd cheered and stomped on the aluminum bleachers, Danowski had a simple message for the team: Relax.

washingtonpost.com

1323: And up at the top, Raikkonen clocked the leading time from Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso, who continues to show Renault have found a bit of extra pace during the three-week break. It’s all looking pretty close up there at the minute.
1321: Let’s start with those who won’t be going through to the next session. Out go Sato and Davidson for Super Aguri, Sutil and Fisichella of Force India, Sebastian Vettel for Toro Rosso and, after finishing second in final practice, Red Bull’s David Coulthard drops out in 17th place.
“He’ll be disappointed as yet again Mark Webber is up there in 11th place. So that equals David’s worse performance from Bahrain.”
BBC 5 Live analyst Maurice Hamilton
1320: A flurry of changes in the dying seconds of the session. Big breath and I’ll get you there in just one second.
1319: Bottom of the standings and facing the axe are Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato for Super Aguri, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella for Force India; Sebastian Vettel for Toro Rosso and Rubens Barrichello in Honda.
1317: Here we go then, Ferrari unleash their true pace as Raikkonen races round the circuit in 1:20.701 to climb to the top of the standings.
1312: Kovalainen left it a bit late for McLaren but he is looking pretty fast through the first sectors and he does enough to move into third after losing time through the final sector.
1312: The Renaults continue to look good with Alonso up to fourth and Piquet in sixth. Massa brings his Ferrari out and Kovalainen gets going in his McLaren too. So we’ll have a look at whose in the danger zone shortly. Looks like all the usual suspects will go safely through.
1312: I spoke too soon, here comes Alonso now for Renault. Jenson Button is sporting new “Dumbo” wings on the front nose of his Honda and he climbs up into fourth place after a decent run.

news.bbc.co.uk