Musical melodies Jon Cook/On-line Forty-Niner AWOL band members Jeremy Scarborough, Joey Malitec, Dave Espinoza and Spencer Daniels entertain the crowd during Thurday’s noontime concert.

 

News

• Critics question executive salaries amid budget crisis
  BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Critics question why some top executives at the University of California received pay hikes despite a funding crisis that is forcing the system to cut enrollment and contemplate raising student fees.

• Computer assisted classes on the rise
  In order to meet demand for faculty technology training, Cal State Long Beach’s academic computing services department is being forced to find new ways to deliver support and training for instructors, despite ongoing budget cuts.

• CSULB professor honored as Social Worker of the Year
  Eileen Mayers Pasztor, a faculty member in the department of social work at Cal State Long Beach, was named Social Worker of the Year for the Los Angeles region of the California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

• Study: Do your boss a favor and call in sick
  SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — American workers should stop trying to be heroes and just stay home when they’re sick— it could be cheaper for their employers, according to a study.

• Judge tells feds to back off from medical pot group
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The federal government must stay away from a California medical marijuana group that grows and distributes cannabis for its sick members, a judge ruled.

 

Opinion

• Our View: Think globally, act locally
  In a roundtable discussion at the University Student Union Thursday, guest speaker Sheik Yassir Ebrahim discussed common misconceptions about Islam.

• There’s something foul on the air
  Listening to Air America Radio, the liberal radio network that debuted two weeks ago in select cities across the nation, is like hearing a broadcast from outer space.

• Campus Voice

 

Diversions

• Movie review: IMAX fails to show Earth’s max beauty
  LOS ANGELES (U-Wire) - “Sacred Planet,” Jon Long’s IMAX documentary, is a template of lush, dazzling imagery that is dense with picturesque details but light on meaning.

• Fanning lends mature spark to ‘Man on Fire’
  LOS ANGELES (U-Wire)- For most 10-year-olds, riding bikes and long division are the most important things in the world.

• MTV Movie Awards names nominees
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — There’s no aarrgg-uing: ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’’ collected a leading six nominations for the MTV Movie Awards on Wednesday, including best movie and best on-screen team for co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.

 

Sports

• 49ers cruise in first round of playoffs
  The No. 2-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team, when firing on all cylinders, can be a handful. Seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara (14-16, 9-14) found that out in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs, collapsing to The Beach (26-5, 19-4) in three-straight games (30-17, 30-27, 30-25).