Year: 2013

‘Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ seems to be the idea of the Passport to Waco program, but simplicity does not always mean big benefits for some vendors.

Passport to Waco is a simple concept: Students visit the seven businesses listed in the Passport and get it stamped from each place. In order to get it stamped, the student must make a purchase from the business. The booklet is then turned into the student government office by April 13 in exchange for a prize that has yet to be determined.

Ninety-five percent of state prisoners will re-enter society at some point, according to the National Reentry Resource Center.

The Waco Reintegration Roundtable is working to help ease the transition of those ex-convicts.

A gas explosion that sparked a massive, block-engulfing blaze in an upscale Kansas City shopping district injured 14 people, a city official said Tuesday evening, adding it is believed that an accident by a utility contractor may have caused the blast.

A Senate education panel spent hours Tuesday maligning the state’s standardized testing system, even questioning whether it’s appropriate to ask youngsters across sun-kissed South Texas math problems about the possibility of frost forming on their sidewalks.

By the end of the meeting, it seemed the exam stood only a snowball’s chance in Brownville of surviving the legislative session without a major overhaul.

As children, many athletes had dreams of going pro. They fight through the blood, sweat and tears trying to get stronger and faster. However, athletes still need to make time for school since the sport they play is an extracurricular activity.

Players in high school and middle school are required to do the work and pass their classes or else they become ineligible. So once they get their diploma they are free to do as they please, right? Not anymore, at least not if you want to play in the NBA or the NFL.

The Baylor Bears earned their first win of the season by defeating the Texas State Bobcats 6-3 at Baylor Ballpark Tuesday night. The Bears’ overall record is now 1-3 heading into a weekend series against UCLA at home.

The Bears came out early in the top of the first and made some uncharacteristic mistakes defensively.

The Baylor Bears will host the Iowa State Cyclones at 8 p.m. today in the Ferrell Center in a crucial Big 12 Conference match up. With both teams knotted at 7-5 in conference, this single game could determine seeding in the Big 12 tournament and eventually in the NCAA tournament.

“Every home game is so critical, especially at this time of the year in the Big 12,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “We’ve won two out of our last three and we need to keep that momentum going.”

With spring break right around the corner, many students are scrambling to make plans for that one precious week without school. This year, a unique alternative from the usual cruises, lake houses and festivals has presented itself in MTV and United Way’s Spring Fix.

MTV, the music television channel, has partnered with United Way and mtvU, the 24-hour college channel, to organize an alternative spring break for students who wish to spend their break in a philanthropic way.

Every year, Baylor holds All University Sing for Greek organizations but students not involved in a Greek organization don’t have to miss out – they can join Sing Alliance.

Sing Alliance is a student-run group for students who are not part of a Greek organization.

Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines.

“The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data.

An East Texas jury sentenced two women to prison Tuesday after convicting them of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was 8 months old and hiding him for eight years before he was found.

Gloria Walker was sentenced to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently. Her daughter, Krystle Tanner, was sentenced to eight years for kidnapping and eight years for the lesser charge of reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.

We often hear of the phrase “daddy’s little girl” as if fathers and daughters share a special bond unlike any other. A study at Baylor shows that this father-daughter dynamic may be linked to sports.

Dr. Mark Morman, director of graduate studies in the communication department, has released a study showing that fathers and daughters are fostering relationships through shared activities. He performed this study with alumna Elizabeth Barrett, who now works in the Texas House of Representatives. Barrett could not be reached for comment.

Attendance.

There have countless debates on this topic before, and that’s to be expected from a large student body composed of people who pay thousands of dollars to be here while pursuing a degree. From how strict policies are from one college to another, to how hard it is to keep track of several different policies a student may have for each class, attendance will always be a hot-button issue on campus.

And don’t even get us started on the seemingly pointless regulations on what is considered an excused absence and what’s not.

The Facebook page titled “Today’s Music Sucks,” with a profile picture of a radio being smashed by a sledgehammer, has 927 likes. There are certainly more than 927 people in the world today who hear pop artist Justin Bieber sing, “I was like; baby, baby, baby, oh!” and want to find a deep cave to hide in with their iPod chargers and collections of the “right” kind of music.

If we just cut all of the crap out, we might be able to save ourselves.

GAME ONE: Loss, Baylor 4, UC Irvine 6

Baylor baseball started the season in California to take on UC Irvine in a three-game weekend series. For the first time since 2007, Baylor started the season on the road.

Students, staff and faculty will gather with the Waco community on April 13 to give service to the greater Waco…

Student Financial Services is hosting a workshop titled “Understanding Student Loans” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today in the Beckham…

Phi Alpha Theta is holding a book sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in front of the Tidwell…

Baylor professors have signed and filed a letter in opposition to Sen. Bill 128, filed by Texas Senator Brian Birdwell on Jan. 17. The bill would allow students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

Dr. Blake Burleson, a senior lecturer in the religion department, and Dr. Robin Wallace, a professor of musicology in the School of Music, took the letter and the 120 signatures by Baylor faculty and staff to Birdwell’s office Monday.

Baylor students lined the walls of Russell Gym and cheered on six Special Olympics teams walking in behind their team’s banner.

To kick off the Area 12 Special Olympics basketball tournament at Baylor this weekend, the teams made a lap around the gym and enjoyed the cheers and applause from their fans before competition began.

Being able to travel, study what you love, and have fun at the same time may seem impossible, but to Rachel Cliburn, it’s all in a day’s work.

Currently in the Netherlands, Rachel Cliburn is an outgoing, positive person who enjoys the study of addiction and its effects on the brain.

The dates are set.

At the end of this month, Brittney Corley, a 2006 Baylor graduate with a degree in fashion merchandising, and Dr. Rochelle R. Brunson, a Family and consumer sciences professor, will bring the classroom to the workplace.

Brunson’s students will experience what it is like to work and deal with problems in a real business environment.

Russian authorities have blamed “inhuman treatment” for the death of a 3-year-old boy adopted by an American family, but Texas officials say they are still investigating claims that the child was abused before his death.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Monday that it had questions about the death of an adoptee authorities identified as Maxim Kuzmin. The committee is the country’s top investigative agency.

The Baylor Bears lost Saturday 81-61 to the No. 10 team in the nation, the Kansas State Wildcats. The Wildcats forced the Bears into 19 turnovers and dominated the second half of play.

Baylor played competitive basketball with Kansas State in the first half, but too many turnovers and mistakes led to the loss.

Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers’ playboy owner who shepherded the NBA team to 10 championships from the Showtime dynasty of the 1980s to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday. He was 80.

He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant.

No. 1 Lady Bears defeated No. 3 UConn 76-70 in front of a sellout crowd in Connecticut Monday night. Everybody in the stands wore pink in support of the Play 4Kay Challenge to support breast cancer awareness.