The bodies of two Cornell students have been found near the school's main campus in the past month.
On Feb. 18, rescue workers recovered the body of economics freshman Bradley Ginsburg from the Fall Creek Gorge. Three weeks later, the Ithaca Fire Department found the body of engineering sophomore William Sinclair in a nearby location.
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March 12, 2010
Johnny Weir ‘Not Family Friendly’ Enough For Stars On Ice?
Johnny Weir represented the United States in the Vancouver Olympics last month, but that accomplishment is evidently not enough to earn him a spot on the Stars on Ice Tour. Nobody doubts the American figure skater's skill: in addition to competing at the Torino Olympics in 2006, he finished sixth at the 2010 Winter Olympics and is a three-time national champion.
Rather, it seems Weir may have been left off the team because he is "not family friendly." As GLAAD notes, such a claim "would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation." The blog post continues:
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Rather, it seems Weir may have been left off the team because he is "not family friendly." As GLAAD notes, such a claim "would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation." The blog post continues:
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March 11, 2010
State Legislatures Take Aim at Women
State legislatures are often fertile ground for contentious or ribald behavior. And, while great strides have been made in the past decade to diversify our state representatives, the good ol' boys network seems to be prevailing. Just in the past month two shockingly retro bills have either passed or been discussed in legislatures on opposite sides of the country.
Let's start with my home state of the past 18 years, Virginia. Never known for its progressive politics or willingness to embrace change, things are not looking up in the state that once proudly used the slogan "Virginia is for lovers." In recent years, we have not been a warm and loving place for gay people to live. Now it's looking less friendly for heterosexuals, at least based on a recent bait-and-switch ploy in the Virginia statehouse.
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Let's start with my home state of the past 18 years, Virginia. Never known for its progressive politics or willingness to embrace change, things are not looking up in the state that once proudly used the slogan "Virginia is for lovers." In recent years, we have not been a warm and loving place for gay people to live. Now it's looking less friendly for heterosexuals, at least based on a recent bait-and-switch ploy in the Virginia statehouse.
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March 10, 2010
Why Departing Dems Have It Right, By the Numbers
It's not often that someone turns in his membership card to the most exclusive club in the land. But when Evan Bayh decided to give up his seat in the U.S. Senate last month, he sparked a trend continued by Rep. Eric Massa this week. The departing legislators, citing partisan politics, give inside-the-beltway confirmation to something Americans have felt for years - Washington is broken.
We think Bayh, and those who continue to follow him, are onto something. And the numbers back them up. According to data from our users in 50 states, a quarter of the U.S. Senate votes along with its constituents only 30 percent of the time. In other words, when these 25 Senators, Republican and Democrat, say yea or nay on the Senate floor, they're voting against their hometown neighbors on two-thirds of the country's most important issues. What's more, half of the Senate votes against those back home more than 50 percent of the time.
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We think Bayh, and those who continue to follow him, are onto something. And the numbers back them up. According to data from our users in 50 states, a quarter of the U.S. Senate votes along with its constituents only 30 percent of the time. In other words, when these 25 Senators, Republican and Democrat, say yea or nay on the Senate floor, they're voting against their hometown neighbors on two-thirds of the country's most important issues. What's more, half of the Senate votes against those back home more than 50 percent of the time.
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March 9, 2010
Purple Lab & What it’s Like to be on HSN
March 5, 2010
Taking Black History Month Beyond February
Now that February is over and Black History Month has ended, how soon will it be before the celebrations end? I'm not trying to stir anything up, but it seems that once Black History Month is over, there go the programs honoring our ancestors. There go the many lessons taught to our children in school about individuals who made a difference. There goes the support from major corporations that underwrite such programs. The Black history books are put on the shelf until next February. Our history and the celebration of it are once again pigeonholed into one month. And who do we have to blame but ourselves?
Every year during the month of February we pause to pay homage to the many heroes, heroines and pioneers whose shoulders on which we all stand. You've heard the running joke before; the reason Black History is celebrated during the month of February is because it's the shortest month of the year! (In fact, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who launched Negro History Week in 1926 to bring national awareness to the contributions of African-Americans, chose February because Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were both born in that month.)
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Every year during the month of February we pause to pay homage to the many heroes, heroines and pioneers whose shoulders on which we all stand. You've heard the running joke before; the reason Black History is celebrated during the month of February is because it's the shortest month of the year! (In fact, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who launched Negro History Week in 1926 to bring national awareness to the contributions of African-Americans, chose February because Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln were both born in that month.)
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WATCH: Colleges Protest Tuition Hikes, Budget Cuts and Racial Discrimination (VIDEOS)
Growing tuition hikes. Increasing budget cuts. Rising racial tension in campuses during the so-called "post-racial" Age of Obama. It's been a very busy month for student activism in America's colleges -- and not just on March 4, when thousands of students took the streets, especially in California.
Here are some of the MUST-SEE videos of student protests.
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Here are some of the MUST-SEE videos of student protests.
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March 4, 2010
Celebrating History Can Inspire Us to Make it
March is Women's History Month all over the country, but the idea for it started in California 32 years ago.
No surprise, since our state and our women have been at the leading edge of innovation in so many areas of American life. In the last six years, we've upped the ante by celebrating, honoring, and highlighting the lives and work of the extraordinary women in our state.
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No surprise, since our state and our women have been at the leading edge of innovation in so many areas of American life. In the last six years, we've upped the ante by celebrating, honoring, and highlighting the lives and work of the extraordinary women in our state.
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The Coming Battle of the Ritz Carlton
President Obama's announcement yesterday began the final chapter in the 14-month war over health care reform. The decisive battle will obviously take place on the floor of Congress. But the most symbolically powerful battle may take place next week some miles from the Capitol, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on the edge of Washington's tony Georgetown neighborhood.
That's where executives from America's health care industry will gather under the banner of AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) to plot - and then execute - a last-ditch attempt to defeat health insurance reform.
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That's where executives from America's health care industry will gather under the banner of AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) to plot - and then execute - a last-ditch attempt to defeat health insurance reform.
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March 3, 2010
Former Lehman Women React to “Doozie” of a Story
On Monday night, in response to my article in this month's Vanity Fair on Lehman's Desperate Housewives (which was an excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers), hundreds (literally) of Lehman's former women executives anxiously listened into a conference phone call helmed by Anne Erni.
Erni used to be the chief diversity officer at Lehman, and now works in the same capacity for Bloomberg. The participants on the call all used to belong to WILL -- the acronym for Women's Initiatives Leading Lehman, an organization set up by the diversity-obsessed former Lehman president Joe Gregory.
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Erni used to be the chief diversity officer at Lehman, and now works in the same capacity for Bloomberg. The participants on the call all used to belong to WILL -- the acronym for Women's Initiatives Leading Lehman, an organization set up by the diversity-obsessed former Lehman president Joe Gregory.
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