News Update 11/12/07

Campus News

State legislators had a hearing last week of a proposed legislation which calls for 750 million dollars in improvements over the next five years, and an additional $1.25 million over the following five years to help update old buildings on several Massachusetts college campuses, including UMass Lowell. Last year, a consultant estimated that 90% of the buildings on campus are outdated, and that $225 million in repairs are needed.

Chancellor Marty Meehan will be a keynote speaker at a major regional economic event this Tuesday. The event is called "Back to the Future: Regaining New England's Competitiveness," and is being sponsored by the New England Economic Partnership, or NEEP. The daylong event brings together leading public policymakers and economic analysts from around the region. The conference will also include a national economic forecast presented by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com. It will take place at 12:30 next Tuesday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Auditorium on 600 Atlantic Avenue in Boston.

Students will get the chance to meet artist Richard Metzgar on Thursday. He'll be holding a discussion in O' Leary Library at 3:15 PM on his exhibit "walkingposters," which will include digital prints, digital maps on vinyl, and audio-visual components. The gallery itself will be on display on the first floor of the McGauvran Student Union, and both the gallery and talk will be free of charge.

The Former Secretary of Transportation Fred Salvucci will be in Kitson Hall in room 309 on Friday, November 15th, to talk about the state of Public Transportation in Massachusetts. The talk is called “Transportation Challenges Facing New England: Where We Are, Where We Need to Be, and How to Get There,” and is a part of the Regional Economic and Social Development Center for Industrial Competitiveness fall seminar series. The talk will be held on that day at 12:30 pm. Mr. Salvucci is also a senior lecturer and research associate in MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics.

America Recycles Day takes place on November 15th. An event on campus, in the Wannalancit Mills MIL Conference Room, from 4 to 5:30 pm, will be held in honor of it by the The River Ambassadors – 25 high school student volunteers committed to environmental stewardship. The event is meant to help raise awareness of global warming, and is being sponsored by several other organizations, including the Community Health Alliance, The Lowell National Historical Park, and other organizations.

National News

Arrests were made at a Veterans Day event outside Boston City Hall yesterday. Several anti-war protesters were demonstrationg outside the building, from a group called Veterans for Peace. 15 of it's members and supporters would not move away from the podium, and as a result several were arrested, but an exact number was not given. The protestors said that they are in opposition to the War in Iraq, and unfortunately many veterans view them as traitors because of this fact.

Lastly, here's an update on the WGA writer's strike from yesterday. It has ben conformed by the Fox network that the New Season of the hit show "24" will not air this year, mainly because the season is unfinished. This news has dissappointed fans of the show, and caused Fox to scramble its winter schedule. This has, however, presented the opportunity for Fox to debut some of its new shows, including the Terminator spin-off titled "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," as well as "New Amsterdam" and "The Return of Jezebel James." Also, network execs are hoping the continued success of "American Idol" will help fill the void money-wise.

That does it for the news today this Monday, November 12th.