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The unthinkable happened to Dr. Lai Ling Ngan, an associate professor of Christian Scriptures, on Feb. 22, 2012. She crashed and totaled her car after passing out from low glucose levels.

It was the final factor for her to decide to get a diabetic alert dog, according to Ruth Byran, a George W. Truett Theological Seminary student.

Last fall, Truett students and alumni came together to help raise money for the dog. Through fundraising and donations, they have raised $14,000 of the $27,000 necessary for the purchase of the dog.

Baylor’s Mail Services will continue to run with no changes, despite the U.S Postal Service’s announcement to end Saturday mail earlier this month.

It’s no secret that the Postal Service is in trouble. The popularity of email and a costly retirement plan from the House of Representatives have largely contributed to the Postal Service’s financial report of a record $15.9 billion net loss the last fiscal year.

In response, beginning the week of Aug. 5, the U.S. Postal Service will stop mail delivery on Saturdays.

o beyond the Baylor Bubble — that was the idea behind the Community Coffee House.

A panel of three community leaders gave a short presentation and then answered questions from both a moderator and students Tuesday in the Den of the Bill Daniel Student Center.

Ennis senior Briana Treadaway, student government’s external vice president, said she wanted students to know more about their community. Treadaway led the organization for the event.

Catholic and evangelical scholars are speaking across denominational boundaries as part of the third annual Wilken Colloquium.

The colloquium aims to unite the Christian community through open conversation about different denominational interpretations of Scripture.

“People develop friendships that result in Christian unity, despite denominational divisions,” said Dr. Thomas Hibbs, dean of the Honors College.

Welcome Week marks the start of the Baylor school year, but a program this large requires a substantial number of volunteers to lead new students, set up events and provide information.

New Student Programs will be accepting applications now until 5 p.m. on March 8.

Tripp Purks, new student programs coordinator, said Welcome Week is a great time for students to serve.

A ranking BP executive testified Tuesday that the London-based oil giant and its contractors share the responsibility for preventing blowouts like the one that killed 11 workers and spawned the nation’s worst offshore oil spill in 2010.

Lamar McKay, who was president of BP America at the time of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, became the first BP executive to testify at a federal trial intended to identify the causes of BP’s Macondo well blowout and assign percentages of blame to the companies involved.

Rig owner Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton also are defendants at trial, which opened Monday.

Scouts’ honor, merit badges and camping trips come to mind when one thinks of the Boy Scouts. At more than 100 years old, this organization is still a prominent part of American society.

In September, Dr. Byron Johnson and a team of researchers from Tufts will begin researching the effects of this organization on the health, character, and performance of boys who participate in this program.

Johnson, director of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, said little research has been done on the Boy Scouts even though the organization is more than 100 years old.

Baylor earned a dramatic 5-4 walk-off win over Pepperdine on Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark. The win improves Baylor’s record to 3-5.

The game was scoreless through three innings with Baylor starting freshman left-handed pitcher Sterling Wynn. Then the Pepperdine offense gained momentum in the top of the fourth inning.

Pepperdine sparked the four-run inning with power hitting and speed around the bases. Baylor head coach Steve Smith was forced to go to the mound for a pitching change. Senior left-hander Max Garner walked the first batter he faced, and Pepperdine added another run to take a 4-0 lead.

Energy levels were high as the Baylor Acrobatics and Tumbling team won its first meet of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association season against Azusa Pacific.

The first half of the meet featured three events, each with multiple heats.

The three events were compulsories, acro heat and pyramid heat. There were 10 total heats from all three events combined.

The Baylor men’s and women’s cross-country teams persevere not only through distance running but long hours of academic work as well.

On Monday, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced that both teams had received All-Academic honors.

Junior Ben Allen said he loves when cross-country gets awards because few of the team’s athletes go professional.

The Baylor Bears men’s basketball team makes its first conference road trip to Morgantown, W. Va., to take on the Mountaineers tonight. This 7 p.m. showdown will most likely help determine seeding for the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.

The Bears (16-9, 7-7) lead West Virginia by only one game in the Big 12 standings. The Mountaineers are 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the conference. The Bears have lost six of their last eight games and are 3-6 on the road in conference games.

In Baylor’s last contest, Oklahoma defeated the Bears 90-76. With just four games remaining in the Big 12 schedule, the Bears must salvage the season and gain some momentum heading into the postseason.

Regal Entertainment Group, the nation’s largest theater chain, has purchased Waco’s Hollywood Jewel 16 and 42 other Hollywood Theaters across the country for $191 million.

Hollywood Jewel 16 is located at 7200 Woodway Drive.

Regal Entertainment, based out of Knoxville, Tenn., operates 6,880 screens across 38 states.

The study of Robert E. Browning, English poet and playwright, just got a little more contemporary.

Melinda Creech, a graduate assistant at the Armstrong Browning Library, has uncovered a connection in the library’s online digital archives between Browning and Highclere Castle, the set of the hit PBS show “Downton Abbey” — a British period drama which focuses on the fictional, aristocratic Crawley family in the early 20th century.

Before the start of the third season of Downton Abbey on Jan. 6, PBS aired a historical piece on the show, called “Secrets of Highclere Castle.” Creech, like many “Downton Abbey” fans, watched the piece to learn about the real history behind the show.

When is 13 a lucky number? When it’s the number of years it’s taken for the music industry to post its first yearly increase in global recorded music sales, which is what happened in 2012, according to new figures from the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry.

The group’s annual Digital Music Report, issued Tuesday in London, noted that overall music sales rose from $16.2 billion to $16.5 billion, or 0.3 percent, from 2011 to 2012, the first time in 13 years that worldwide sales didn’t decline.

1. Do you think those who have concealed carry licenses should be allowed to bring a concealed weapon on Baylor’s campus?

Yes: A person that has completed the required training and earned their Texas CHL has proven that he/she is a trusted and law-abiding citizen that has made a conscious decision not to be a victim and to potentially defend the defenseless.
Yes: Those who want to do harm will do harm regardless of a concealed handgun license. This would allow staff and students to protect themselves against this type of violence.

Online Survey Results
The survey closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Ninety-two people responded from across the community. Below are the results and some answers from our readers.

To see more answers submitted by readers, check www.baylorlariat.com under the Opinions tab. Tweet @bulariat to submit your own opinion. Tweets will be chosen at the editor’s discretion.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

This famous quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” actually belongs to minor character Marcellus, but this small line from a small character has come to resonate with all people seeking change in their governance.

Things aren’t as bad here as they were in Hamlet’s Denmark— but the issue of the new student regent doesn’t pass the smell test.

Construction workers will temporarily close Interstate 35 just south of Bruceville-Eddy on Tuesday night to demolish the Old Blevins Road overpass, the Texas Department of Transportation reported.

All I-35 main lanes will close at Exit 314 from 7 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday while workers destroy the bridge, forcing drivers to use frontage roads through the area. Workers closed the bridge Monday ahead of the work, TxDOT spokesman Ken Roberts said.

Baylor has added a home game against Wofford College to its 2013 football schedule after its game at SMU was canceled last week.

The Bears will open the season Aug. 31 against Wofford, a Football Championship Subdivision school from Spartanburg, S.C. The Terriers, a member of the Southern Conference, finished 9-4 last season.

he Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran and former Republican senator from Nebraska, as the 24th secretary of defense after a brutal confirmation process that saw members of his own party question his capacity to lead the Pentagon.

Just hours after a vote to end the first-ever filibuster of a defense nominee, Hagel was approved 58-41, by far the narrowest margin for a successful appointment going back to the Carter administration. Hagel could get to work at the Pentagon as soon as Wednesday.

The Hot Seat series brought together Wacoans and Texas officials to discuss the 83rd legislative session last Saturday.

The forum let any topic be brought to the table, but much of the discussion with state officials revolved around the heated topic of education.

The series was presented by the Texas Tribune and hosted in the Stone Room of the Ferrell Center.

The talk of concealed carry on college campuses has sparked a debate among Baylor professors.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell submitted Senate Bill 182 on Jan. 17, which would allow concealed carry on college campuses. Private universities will have the option to opt out.

Dr. Earl Grinols, Distinguished Professor of Economics at Baylor, said he agrees with the bill Birdwell proposed.

Students have engaged in a verbal gunfight that has resulted from the proposal of The Campus Personal Protection Act, introduced by Texas State Sen. Brian Birdwell in early January.

The bill has already resulted in a petition by Baylor professors. Now, students are going vocal.

“I think everyone should have the right to carry a concealed handgun anywhere they want,” Brownsville senior Ruben Pizana said. “But there are restrictions for a reason. I think the concealed carry process should be at least five times harder.”

The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears defeated Oklahoma 86-64 Monday, extending the nation’s largest winning streak to 25 games. Baylor finished the game with six players in double digits as it found its rhythm in the second half and began widening the gap.

Senior center Brittney Griner’s impact on the team was cemented in this game as Baylor struggled when Griner was on the bench due to foul trouble. She recorded another double-double with 15 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks and five assists. Griner also moved up to the fourth highest scorer in NCAA history with 3,045 career points.

Baylor’s 90-76 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday puts the team in a tough situation. The loss brings the Bears’ record to 16-11 overall and 7-7 in the Big 12 Conference. This places the team at No. 6 in the Big 12.

Losing to the Sooners decreased the Bears’ chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament.

With just a .500 record in conference, Baylor has a daunting challenge ahead for the remainder of the season if they want to pull off a coveted NCAA Tournament bid.

Oscar Pistorius on Monday informed South African authorities that he wants to resume athletic training while on bail for the murder case against him, a government official said.

A spokeswoman for the Olympic runner, however, denied that he was making immediate plans to return to the track while awaiting trial for the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

“Absolutely not,” spokeswoman Janine Hills said. “He is currently in mourning and his focus is not on his sports.”

All-University Sing audiences were surprised when judges announced a tie for first place.

During Saturday’s Sing finale, both Kappa Sigma and Kappa Omega Tau won first place.

Woodway senior Stephen Harrison, Sing chair for Kappa Sigma, said he was practically shaking while pumping a trophy in the air.