News Digest:
Monday, October 27, 2008 11:02 AM PDT
GOOD AFTERNOON
OREGON
War in Iraq claims Eugene soldier
EUGENE (AP) — A soldier from Eugene has died from wounds he suffered in Iraq this month.
Pfc. Cody J. Eggleston died Friday at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. The 21-year-old had been injured by indirect fire on Oct. 16 in Baqubah, the Department of Defense said. Eggleston joined the Army in July 2007, not long after his graduation from North Eugene Alternative High School, and was an infantryman assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
OSU, UO get grant for green chemistry center
CORVALLIS (AP) — Oregon State University and the University of Oregon have received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create a new Center for Green Materials Chemistry.
The schools say research at the new center should lead to advanced electronics with a reduced environmental footprint, higher performance and lower cost.
If the joint research program at Oregon and Oregon State is successful, the new center could be eligible for another $25 million in federal funding.
IDAHO
S. Idaho schools ditch old report cards
BOISE (AP) — A school district in southwestern Idaho plans to ditch traditional letter grades to provide a more detailed report card to parents on how their kids measure up against state benchmarks in subjects such as math.
The Meridian School District plans to replace the traditional grades — A, B, C, D and F — with a new number system of 1 through 4 during the next several years. The school district includes about 33,000 students and will start implementing the new report card system with elementary math students this year. The district plans to eventually extend the grading system to most subjects and include middle school students. The traditional letter grading system is too vague so that parents ‘‘never really know what made up the grade,’’ said Jackie Thomason, director of assessment and accountability for the school district.
