The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 210, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 5, 2005 Page: 3 of 10
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Tuesday, July 5,2005
®be JSaptoton feun 3
Studies bolster evidence linking watchingTV to poor academics
By UNDSEY TANNER
- The Associated Press
CHICAGO v— Too much TV-watch-
ing can harm children’s ability to leam
and even reduce their chances of getting
a college degree, three new studies sug-
gest in the latest effort to examine the
effects of television on kids.
Critics faulted the research for not
adequately considering the content of
the TV watched, but experts said it bol-
sters advice that children shouldn’t have
TVs in their rooms.
The separate findings were published
Monday in the July issue of Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
One of the studies involved nearly
400 northern California third-graders.
Those with TVs in their bedrooms
scored about eight points lower on math
and language arts tests than children
without bedroom TVs.
A second study, looking at nearly
1,000 adults in New Zealand, found
lower education levels among 26-year-
olds who had watched lots of TV during
childhood.
A third study, based on, nationally rep-
resentative data on nearly 1,800 U.S.
children, found that those who watched
more than three hours of television daily
before age 3 scored slightly worse on
academic and intelligence tests at ages 6
and 7 than youngsters who watched less
TV The effect was only modest but still
worrisome, said co-author Frederick
Zimmerman, a researcher at the
University of Washington.
The studies took into account other
factors that might have influenced the
outcome, such as household income.
But they largely ignored other research
that “found positive associations
between children’s educational TV
viewing fand subsequent academic,
achievement,” according fo an Archives
editorial.
“Reliable and valid estimates of
viewing, including content-based mea-
sures, are critical to our understanding
of the effects of TV on young children,
especially children younger than age 2
years,” the editorial said
Previous research has linked televi-
sion exposure in young children with
attention problems.
The American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends that youngsters under 2
not watch any television, that older chil-
I
dren watch no more than two hours
daily, and that TVs be kept out of chil-
dren's rooms.
Recent data suggest, however, that
U S. youngsters from infancy to age, 6
watch an average of one hour of TV
daily, and that 8-to-18-year-olds watch
an average of three hours daily. . 1
John Wilson, senior vice president of.
programming at PBS, released a state-
ment saying that other studies have
shown that the Public Broadcasting
Service’s children’s progftims, which
include “Sesame Street,” can benefit
child development.
State briefs
Shark sightings prompt
beach closure
HOUSTON — A state park in
Southeast Texas closed its beach
Monday after five sharks were
spotted offshore over the week-
end.
Lee Roberts, manager of Sea
Rim State Park in Sabine Pass,
about 85 miles east of Houston,
said one or two sharks are often
spotted each month about 1QO to
150 feet off the shoreline during
the summer. But the weekend
sighting of five sharks within two
hours “is considered a potential
problem,” he said.
The beach has been closed in
the past for bacteria, but
Monday’s closure was the first
because of sharks. On Sunday a
dead 7-foot bull shark washed
ashore.
Roberts said the sharks came
as close as 30 feet from the
shore, where he spotted fish that
sharks are known to eat, includ-
ing menhaden.
“The sharks are doing what
sharks do,” Roberts said, “cruis-
ing for food."
Park officials alerted beach vis-
itors over the weekend to the
shark spottings. Max Jaimes, a
Beaumont landscaper at the
beach Sunday, sard he wasn't
worried.
“They don't bother us," he
said. “It’s not like they're up here
and running around with us on
the sand."
Roberts said beachgoers can
stay, '“but don’t go in the water.”
Dropout rates reports
to include GEDs
FORT WORTH — The state high
school dropout rate could
increase up to 10 percent next
year, but not because more stu-
dents are qu ittrng school.
The Texas Education Agency
plans to change the way it tracks
dropouts, adding students who
receive General Education
Diplomas.
For years critics have said the
agency undercounted the dropout
rate because it didn’t include GED
students.
For example in 2003, 4.5 per-
, cent of students dropped out; 3.3 ,
percent earned GEDs. Another 7.9
percent took five years to gradu-
ate. That set the four-year high
school completion rate at 84.2
percent. Under the new tracking
system, the rate could increase to
10 percent, the Fort Worth Star-
Telegram reported in its Monday
editions..
The new reporting methbd
would put the statistics more in
line with the federal govern-
ment’s. The National Center for
, Education Statistics -has consid-
ered GED students dropouts since
1989. The federal government
’uses the center's statistics to
compare state dropout rates, .
The statistics are also used to
determine the economic cost of .
dropouts.
Texas loses $11.4 billion in
gross state product each year,
according to Texas Comptroller
Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Her spe-
cial report, “The Cost of
Underpaying Texas Teachers,”
says the cost of dropping out over
of lifetime'is $236,111 for women
and $365,707 for men.
Group hopes to sell
naming rights of library
FRISCO — Getting your name
on Frisco’s new library or one of
its bookshelves could be a real
possibility — if you have the cash.
In' an effort to raise money for
future library facilities and equip-
ment, the Frisco Public Library
Foundation — a nonprofit organi-
zation formed two years ago — is
asking the city for the ability to
sell the naming rights of the city’s
library. .
Under fire proposed agreement,
donors would receive a plaque if
they funded at least 75 percent of
the cost of an item. The size of
the plaque would be determined
by the contribution amount. The
City Council is expected to
approve the agreement with the
foundation in August.
The Associated Press
.officials insist the violence will not disrupt
landmark legislative elections slated for
September. '
The U.S. military said the attack was car-
ried out "with precision-guided munitions
that resulted in the deaths of an unknown
number of enemy terrorists and noncombat-
ants.”
“The targeted compound was a know n
operating base for terrorist attacks in Kunar
province as well as a base tor a medium-
level terrorist leader.” it said. "Battle dam-
age assessment is currently ongoing.”
The statement added U.S. forces "regret
the loss of innocent lives and follow strin-
gent rules of engagement specifically to
ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded.
However, when enemy forces move their
families into the locations where they con-
duct terrorist operations, they put these
innocent civilians at risk.”
Wafa said it was unclear who was killed
in the .initial attack in'the tiny village of
Chechal. “Maybe some militants were
By FRANK GRIFFITHS
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. and
Iraqi forces raided
insurgent safe houses near
Baghdad - International
on Monday, arresting.
100 suspected militants, includ-
ing foreign fighters, the U.S.
military said.
In Cairo, the family of Egypt’s
top envoy to Iraq, who was
abducted over the weekend in
Baghdad pleaded for the diplo-
mat’s speedy release and said it
had heard nothing of about his
whereabouts. Ihab al-Sherif’s
abduction was an apparent bid to
dissuade Arab governments
from strengthening ties to the
U.S.-backed government.
A car bomb detonated by
remote control in western
Baghdad on Monday killed two
civilians, including one woman,
and wounded four more, police
said. Elsewhere, four gunmen
: killed a senior member of the :
Kurdish Democratic Party’s
Mosul branch, a party
spokesman said, Jirjis
Mohammed Amin Was shot
inside his sister’s home in the
northern city. ~
A second attack by gunmen in
Mosul, 225 miles northwest of
Baghdad killed a bodyguard of
Associated Press photo/Hadi Mizban
U.S. TROOPS Secure the area
after a car bomb in Baghdad,
Iraq killed two ■ civilians and
wounded four more on Monday.
the provincial Nineveh gover-
nor,police said. He was killed in
front of his home in the eastern
part of the city, which is the cap-
ital of Nineveh province. :
In the Iraqi capital, about 600
Iraqi army soldiers and 250 U S,
soldiers took part in Operation
Muthana Strike, which started
early Monday and targeted
al leged insurgents sate houses in
neighborhoods near the west
side of the . Baghdad
International Airport, the mili-
tary said in a statement.
At least100 suspected insur-
gents, including alleged foreign
fighters, were arrested, the mili-
tary said. Those captured includ-
ed Egyptian suspects, it said,
The raid which the military
said was based on. tips from
was designed to
... suspects.- seize illegal
weapons and gain intelligence to
disrupt future attacks.
“The success of the Iraqi
; army demonstrates their level of
training and high commitment
to rid Iraq of terrorists” said U.S,.
Col. Kenneth Roberts in the
statement. "I am proud of our
Iraqi counterparts. They .are
well-led and well-trained,”
A joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol came
under fire Sunday south of
Baghdad, killing five Iraqi sol-
diers and wounding three more,
the U.S. military raid Monday
There:: were no reports of
American casualties. Up to 40
suspected insurgents were cap-
tured after the attack in
Youssiflyah. 12 mile's south of
Baghdad.
. On Sunday, officials and wit-
nesses said al-Sherif. 51. chief of
Egypt’s diplomatic mission in
Baghdad was seized Saturday
wight by about eight gunmen,
after he stopped to buy a news-
paper in western Baghdad.
Al-Sherif was pistol-whipped
and forced into the trunk of a car
as the assailants shouted that lie
was an “American spy,” the wit-.
nesses said speaking on condi-
tion of. anonymity Sunday
because they feared reprisals.
Al-Sherif s brother-in-law and
family spokesman, Yaliia
Hussein, said Monday he has
received no demands from the
kidnappers nor the Egyptian
Foreign Ministry, which has
been in contact with Iraqi
authorities. There; has been no
claim of responsibility. .
“We know nothing at all. We
don't know what the kidnappers
want but l am sure the Foreign
Ministry is exerting all the effort
, to let him free,” Flussein said.
hi t aiio, the Egyptian.Foreign
Ministry said contacts were
• underway with the Iraqi govern-
ment "and all other sides” to
win his release.
()ne of Iraq’s most prominent
Sunni Arab political organiza-
tions; the Iraqi Islamic Party,
quickly condemned the kidnap-
ping.; V.
More than 1,400 people have
been killed in insurgent attacks
since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-,
Jaafari announced his new gov-
ernment. dominated by Shiites :
and Kurds, on April 28.
Afghan civilians killed in U.S. air strike, officials say
By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan An American
airstrike in Afghanistan's ’ rugged eastern
mountains killed 17 civilians, including
women Mid children, an Afghan official
said Monday. The U.S. military confirmed
civilian deaths but said the numbers were
unclear. - . , v. :,
An initial airstrike destroyed a house, and
as villagers gathered to look at the damage,
a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on
the same target. Kunar provincial Gov.
Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press.
The airstrike came in the same province
where a U.S. transport helicopter was
downed last week in the deadliest single
blow to American forces since they ousted
the Taliban in 2001.
An unprecedented spate of rebel attacks
across the! country have left about 700 peo-
ple dead and threatened to sabotage three
years of progress toward peace. Afghan
killed, but I don't know.” he said. “The 17
.people were killed in the second bombing.”
Meanwhile, the fate of missing members
of a team of four Navy SEAL.S remained
■ uncertainMonday.-' :
Wafa said a second missing service mem-
ber had. been located in his province,
wounded and sheltering with an Afghan
family. His information came from Afghan
intelligence sources, he said.
But a senior U.S. Defense Department
official in Washington said a second Navy
SEAL had not been found: The official
spoke on condition of anonymity because of.
the sensitivity of ongoing rescue operations.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Co1. Jerry
O'Hara declined to ,comment on the gover-
nor's comments, except to say "we hold
every hope for those who are still missing.”
The, serviceman rescued on Saturday
had taken shelter in an Afghan village
elder's home in the province before
American forces were notified of uis loca-
tion and picked him up, Wafa said:
favors gay marriage
| ATLANTA — The United Church
I of Christ's: rule-making body voted
overwhelmingly Monday to
approve a resolution endorsing
same-sex marriage, making it the
largest Christian denomination to
y do so. _
The vote is not binding on indi-
vidual churches., but could, cause 1
some congregations to leave the
fold. _ Y
Roughly 80. percent of the rep-
resentatives on the church's 884-
member General Synod voted to
approve the, resolution Monday, a -
day after a smaller committee rec
oinmended it.
The Rev. John H. Thomas, pres
ident of the United Church of
Christ, said with the vote on
Independence Day, the rule ma*
ing body "acted courageously to
declare freedom."
The resolution calls on member /
churches of the liberal denomina- Lo-
tion of 1.3 million to consider
wedding policies "that do not dis-
criminate against couples based
on gender." i
’: it also asks churches to consid;
er supporting legislation granting ’
equal marriage rights, to gay and:
lesbian couples arid to work '•
against laws banning gay mar-
riage.
FEMA seeking millions
back from overpayments
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The
Federal ^Emergency Management
Agency has asked, thousands of
Floridians whose homes were
damaged by last, summer's four
hurricanes to give back more than
$27 million in aid overpayments.
FEMA'earlier this year began
mailing letters to residents in
efforts to recoup the overpay- :
merits from people who received
federal aid after Hurricanes
Charley. Frances, Ivan and .Jeanne
hit Florida Iasi August and ■
September. ■
According to data supplied to
The News-Press of Fort Myers
through: a Freedom of Information
Act request, the, agency detailed
6.579 cases in which they say
people owe a total of $27.2 mil-
lion. ■’
Many of the problems stem
frofii FEMA providing money for
items that were later covered by
property! insurance policies, more
than one person from the same
household applying for benefits ar
from processing errors'.
Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokes-
woman in Washington, pointed out
that the $27 million is less than 1
percent df the more than $5 bil-
lion FEMA has committed to
Florida's hurricane recovery.
The Associated Press
' Associated Press ph'oto/Karim Kadim
U.S. SOLDIERS EAT lunch and cake at the dining hall decorated to mark Independence Day at Camp Victory in Baghdad on Monday.
U.S., Iraqi forces arrest at least 100
suspected militants in Baghdad raids
Nation briefs
Judge orders brothers
freed in missing teen case
ORANJESTAD; Aruba—"a judge
in Aruba ordered on Monday the
immediate release of two
Surinamese brothers held for
nearly a month in the disappear-
ance of an Alabama teenager but
the 17-year-old son of a top jus,
tice official on the island was held
for 60 more days.
The justice Official’s- son, Joran
van der Sloot, and Surinamese
brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and
Satish Kalpoe, 18, have been
held since-June 9 on suspicion
they had knowledge about the dis-
appearance of 18-year-old Natalee
Holloway, of Mountain Brook,
Alabama. The three young men
have acknowledged that they were
with Holloway the night she disap-
peared.
Holloway vanished in the early
hours of May 30, the last day of a
five day vacation on the Dutch
Caribbean island to celebrate her
high school graduation with 124
other students.
“The detention of Deepak and
Satish K. has not been pro-
longed,” court clerk Isella Wernet
said, reading from a prepared
statement outside the court- ;
house, "The Suspects are ordered
released immediately. The deten-
tion of Joran van der S. has been .
prolonged 60 days beginning
today." '
United Church of Christ
4
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 210, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 5, 2005, newspaper, July 5, 2005; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1051566/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.