| Tips to help motorists ‘Drive Smart' during the fall
The cool, rainy days that mark fall in Kentucky create a particular type of driving hazard. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Department of Transportation Safety believes that taking care of your vehicle is an important step in creating safe driving habits and is offering tips on tire maintenance so you may "Drive Smart" this season. Stopping on wet roads can take up to four times the normal stopping distance. If the tread is worn, tires will tend to hydroplane, meaning the vehicle will skim over the surface of the road with little or no traction. As temperatures drop, special attention should be paid to your tires. How to Check Your Tread: All you need to check your tread is a penny. Insert the penny into the tread in a couple of spots on each tire.
Experts say principals not prepared for today's schools
John Warren's job as principal at Northwest Laurens Elementary School comes with a list of duties a mile long. Lead. Manage. Mediate. Discipline. Plan. Perform. Succeed. "The school business is dynamic and changing," said Warren, 51, an educator for 20 years. "To anybody just getting into it now, it can be overwhelming." While there is a strong supply of school leaders in the pipeline, many principals in schools now and coming up through the ranks aren't prepared for the work it takes to lead 21st century schools, a study released this month by the Southern Regional Education Board says. Since 2002, the Atlanta-based group has studied what progress its 16 member states, including Georgia, have made to better prepare their principals for success.
Calendar -- West Des Moines/Clive/Waukee
2007 Annual Iowa Chinese Community Photography Contest - Entries are being accepted; photos must have been taken between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2007, in Iowa, China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. Awards will be given in two categories: unaltered photos and computer-enhanced photos. Photographers must have been residents of Iowa this year. IowaChinese@yahoo.com; 988-0901; www.IowaChinese.org. Submission deadline is Jan. 5.
The Impressionists and Glass - 6:30-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Nov. 13. Class on techniques of glass fusion with instructor Cynthia Shulman. Caspe Terrace, 3320 Ute Blvd., Waukee. $40-$50 per project, $73 tuition; 277-6321; www.jewishdesmoines.org. Reservations required.
Pastels - 6:30-9 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 15. Class on techniques used with pastel as well as color theory with instructor Kathy Glenn.
Professors find altruism a skill to be practiced
In just about anyone's book, the Chico State University course "What Motivates Altruism?" was very rigorous. Students had to buy 10 books and read between 250 and 300 pages a week for a semester. The authors were no lightweights: they included Albert Camus, Richard Dawkins, Immanuel Kant, Iris Murdoch and Peter Singer. Class members had to take two major tests, write two papers of nine to 10 pages, do a final 25-page research paper, and make a presentation. In addition, each student was assigned to "shadow" for four to five hours a week someone in the community who had been identified as an "altruist." The students were to try to figure out what made these people tick and to record their observations in a journal. Sounds like enough to scare away most students, and maybe it was.
City Council Sticks w/ Rural/Metro
Rochester City Council decided Rural/Metro Ambulance will continue serving Rochester. But Mayor Bob Duffy is questioning how the decision-making process played out. He had recommended Monroe Ambulance for the job. A panel charged with fielding proposals for the city's next ambulance contract chose Monroe over Rural/Metro, based on a better fleet, technology, service record and the fact it was a local, woman-owned company. Rural/Metro reportedly threatened to pull out of Rochester if it lost the contract. That would have cost 200 union jobs. City Council gave Rural/Metro a six-month extension and it revised its proposal. City council called it nearly equal to Monroe's. The mayor says this process compromises the city's system of awarding contracts. "I think we can sometimes send the wrong message," Duffy said.
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