News
in a few
Technology • A
solar-powered fire station, a first
for Long Beach, is now operating at
Second Street and Bayshore Avenue.
The project was completed on the initiative
of 3rd district Councilman Frank Colonna
after British Petroleum offered a $30,000
demonstration grant and installation
for photovoltaic panels. The rooftop
set-up is able to generate three to
five kilowatt hours of electricity,
roughly the same amount a five-bedroom
home would require.
Courts • UC
Berkeley is being sued over alleged discriminatory
practices against Christian private schools
and their religiously-based curricula.
The suit, filed Aug. 25 by the Calvary
Chapel Christian School in Murrieta and
the Association of Christian Schools
International, states five students from
Calvary Chapel Christian School are unable
to apply to University of California
schools despite a strong academic and
extracurricular transcript because their
coursework was considered too tinged
by religion to fulfill university requirements.
Intelligence • The
high school class of 2005 earned the
highest-ever marks on the math portion
of the SAT, a modest change that continues
the steady 25-year trend of improvement
on the country’s most popular standardized
college entrance exam. Significant gaps
between racial groups remain, however,
and officials said they are troubled
by the comparative lack of progress in
scores on the test’s verbal section.
Findings • Recent studies of American college students have shown girls
are beating boys in terms of time studying, grades and time taken to graduate.
A Student Monitor survey of 1,800 students revealed female students study more
often, more efficiently and for longer periods of time than male students.
Male students, on the other hand, are more likely to study later at night,
skim their textbooks and party more often. As a result, female students are
achieving higher grades and graduating in less time than male students, the
study found.
Discount • A
small movie theater outside Tokyo is
offering cheaper tickets to so-called
geeks for a summer romance movie about
a nerdy guy who falls in love. All that’s
needed to get the discount is to ask
for “one ticket for a geek” at
the booth for the Japanese movie “Train
Man.” |
