Cross Country
One for the Record in New England
The rain came to the Northeast last week, and it came, and it came. By the time the skies cleared, 17 inches of precipitation had fallen in some areas, causing the worst flooding in 70 years. Throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine, rivers swelled over their banks, inundating homes and businesses, washing out roads, and sending debris and sewage downstream. At least 2,500 people were forced from their homes. Recovery may take some time. In Boston, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the damage in his state alone would run into the tens of millions of dollars; he asked President Bush to declare Massachusetts a disaster area. In the hard-hit Merrimack Valley, some of the largest losses were expected at the numerous machine shops and metal plating firms that supply the area's medical device industry. Reimbursement from flood insurance was expected to be modest, because few people in the affected states carried such policies.
At Duke, Questions and New Charges
The mysteries surrounding the Duke University rape case continued last week with the strong profession of innocence by the third member of the men's lacrosse team to be indicted in connection with an incident at a house party in March. "These allegations are lies, fabricated, and they will all be proven wrong," said Dave Forker Evans of Bethesda, Md., who was charged with rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping. Evans said he had helped police execute a search warrant of the house where a dancer says she was raped, willingly provided DNA samples, and offered to take a polygraph test. When officials declined, he took a private polygraph, which he said he "passed absolutely." Lawyers have urged a speedy trial, but it's unlikely the case will be resolved soon. "This case is not going to jump ahead of the line and be handled any differently," Judge Ronald Stephens told the court in Durham, N.C. Prosecutor Michael Nifong says he doesn't expect a trial until next year.
In a separate development, an external investigation found that the school's administration was too slow to grasp the severity of the scandal. The report cited information gaps, noting that some administrators first learned of the situation from the campus newspaper seven days after the incident.
When an Essay Is a Fireable Offense
What do you do if your witch hunt actually finds a witch? That question faced officials at the University of Colorado- Boulder last week when a five-person committee released a 125-page report on ethnic studies Prof. Ward Churchill, finding that he falsified material and misrepresented sources. The tenured professor came under intense criticism in 2005, when he wrote an essay equating the victims of the 9/11 attacks--specifically businessmen working in the World Trade Center--with Nazi Adolf Eichmann.
Churchill's case was passed to the research misconduct committee after the university determined the First Amendment protected his essay. Although the committee expressed "concern regarding the timing and, perhaps, the motives" of its own investigation, each panelist recommended either firing Churchill or suspending him for two or five years without pay. A decision is expected in mid-June. "I disrespected no one," Churchill said. "They did."
Big State, Big Hair, Big Oil, Big Speed
Texans boast that everything is bigger there. They could say faster, too, if West Texas becomes home to the highest speed limit in America. Drivers along Interstates 10 and 20 near bone-dry towns such as Midland-Odessa and Kerrville could legally go 80 mph if the Texas Transportation Commission agrees to a new speed limit proposal as early as this week. More than 30 years since it was first proposed, the 80-mph marker came up again after a study found that 85 percent of drivers in the area already drive up to 79 mph. But safety advocates oppose the measure, saying it invites accidents and fatalities. And some environmental and energy groups say the higher limit will only increase the demand for gasoline.
You Want Polite? Try Minneapolis
While those Texas motorists may be cruisin' down the highway, in other, more congested places, drivers were feeling just a tad, well, frustrated. A poll-based survey released last week ranked Miami as the top city for rude driving and road rage. The survey, by AutoVantage, an automobile membership club, also listed New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix as places where motorists commonly speed, tailgate, cut off other drivers, honk the horn, or make obscene gestures. Young drivers and people with long commutes were found to be especially testy. No major differences were found between male and female drivers. Courteous drivers? The survey found some of those too--in Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle, and Atlanta.
With Alex Kingsbury, Angie C. Marek, Silla Brush and Associated Press
This story appears in the May 29, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.