Joining the big league in supercomputing.  Indiana University and Purdue University will become part of the National Science Foundation's "Teragrid" network, a national program to build the world's fastest computer for open scientific research.  The foundation has awarded $3 million to enable the universities to link their campuses in Bloomington, Indy, and West Lafayette to a national supercomputer network.  The TeraGrid connection could be completed within six months.  With the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in charge of the national project, other partners include the San Diego Supercomputer Center, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, and the Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research.

The battle is raging over the legality of the national do-not-call list, but what about the Indiana no-call list?  The list, which took effect in January, 2002, is very effective and currently contains 1.5 million phone numbers, but a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indy could have affect its status.  It was tested in court in July 2002, but there is currently a lawsuit (arguing the Indiana law violates the state constitution's guarantee to freedom of speech) in federal court awaiting a decision of U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker.  Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter's office is monitoring the federal legal battles and vows he will continue to fight to defend Indiana's law.

It was earlier reported that Ind 11 north of Seymour would close for 45 days, starting today, for repairs to the bridge.  However, because of Octoberfest this week, the road will not close until next Monday!

The boyhood home of Indiana-born astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom will open next spring as a museum devoted to the late astronaut's life.  Grissom's widow and sons were among 150 people who attended Saturday's dedication of the restored home in Mitchell.  Grissom was a test pilot and one of the original Mercury VII astronauts tapped to lead U.S. space exploration in 1959.  He died, along with crewmates Roger Chaffee and Ed White, on January 27, 1967, when Apollo I caught fire during a pre-flight test on the launch pad.

Indiana universities are waging ambitious fund-raising campaigns and attracting record donations.  Although other universities across the nation have had to reduce their fund-raising goals because the sluggish economy has resulted in fewer donations,  Indiana colleges are defying that trend.  At Purdue, millions of dollars are pouring in, and news building are going up on the West Lafayette campus.  IUPUI has raised nearly $906,000,000, surpassing its goal by $200,000,000!  Notre Dame is the only Indiana school that topped the $1 billion mark.  Experts tell the Indianapolis Star that part of the success comes from a heightened awareness of the roles universities can play in rebuilding the state's economy.

Indiana has a program to allow compulsive gamblers to put themselves on a list which bans them from casinos and makes them subject to fines and possible arrest if they enter a casino. But is this program adequate?  For example, what can a wife do with a husband who is a compulsive gambler?  Johnnie Brown reports that her husband has gambled away more than $80,000 or their $150,000 retirement money in the past four years at the Argosy Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN--cash that was supposed to be mortgage money and bills payments at the Argosy Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN.  She has talked to the Argosy execs, but they have told her there is nothing they can do.  She sued in Indiana state court in March 2002, to compel the casino to ban her husband, but the court rejected her claims.  She has now taken the case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to have the case sent back to the Indiana Supreme Court.

A good weekend of football--at least if you are from Purdue or are a Colts fan!  Purdue beat Notre Dame!  And the Colts, starring Peyton Manning, became 4-0 for only the sixth time in their 51-year NFL history and the second time in their 20 seasons in Indy, beating the New Orleans Saints 55-21.  Manning became the first NFL quarter since Washington's Mark Rypien in 1991 to throw six touchdown passes.  He completed 20-of-25 passes in the game.

State lawmakers are reviewing a proposal calling for stiffer penalties on safety violations for companies that put on fireworks displays.  Under the proposal the companies would have to carry at least $1 million in insurance.  The concern that prompted the proposal was the Rhode Island nightclub fire that was caused by indoor pyrotechnics that killed 100 people and injured many others.  Some cities in the state already have ordinances governing indoor use of fireworks, but there are no state laws.  The proposed law would still allow local ordinances, but if the state regulation is more stringent, it would take precedence.  The Indiana Association of Cities and Towns probably will object to the $1 million insurance requirement because it would also apply to displays put on by municipalities, such as the 4th of July.

In Lexington, KY, a smoking ban was to take effect in most public buildings Monday.  However, a group of Lexington bar and restaurant owners are fighting the ban and went to the appeals court the next day after a local judge refused to postpone the ban with a temporary injunction.  The appeals court has ordered a temporary halt on the ban.  A three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals still must decide whether or not to hold up the ban altogether until a local judge in Lexington (Fayette County) rules on its legality.  The hearing is scheduled for October 6th.

Kentucky's largest balloon festival started today and will run through Sunday, featuring balloon races (over 100 balloons!), food, and concerts.  It is held at Bowman Field in Louisville.  Schedule .

Ind. 11 just north of town will be closing for cleaning and painting the bridge over the East Fork of White River.  It will be closed for 45 days beginning Monday.  Earlier this summer it was closed to repair the deck and guardrail.  If the job stays on track, the bridge should be open again on November 12th.

Good news, maybe.  After several years of rising prices, natural gas bills in Indiana are expected to stabilize this winter and should stay about the same as last winter.  However, if the winter is colder than expected, usage would increase, and result in driving up prices.

The Orange County Coalition Against Legalized Gambling has started an information website (www.No-Casino.org) in hopes that it will raise the resistance to the casino before the November referendum.

High school students will have the opportunity to visit Franklin College on October 4th and 15th.  They are invited to tour the campus, attend an admissions presentation, and speak with faculty and other students.  Students interested in attending this event, know as Blue and Gold Day, should call the admissions office at 1-317-738-8062.

A judge has upheld the smoking ban in Lexington, KY, which covers bars, restaurants, and other public buildings, like bowling alleys.  Meanwhile, the smoking ban is being debated in Louisville at a public hearing Tuesday night.  The people behind Smoke Free Louisville view the recent developments as promising and believe it means there will be a smoking ban in Louisville as well.  Louisville's Metro Council has pushed back a vote on the proposed smoking ban until at least October 1st--more than likely it will pushed back until after the election!

Did you sign up for the national do-not-call list that was supposed to slow telemarketing calls starting October 1st?  A federal judge in Oklahoma has ruled it cannot go into effect because the FTC acted without authority.  According to the Federal Trade Commission, the registry contains more than 50 million phone numbers.  Of course, the Direct Marketing Association opposed the plan because the list could cut their business in half and cost a lot of jobs.  Some members of Congress believe the ruling will be overturned.  Residents in Indiana are fortunate to have a state-of-the-art no-call list that is more restrictive than the federal program.  Signing up for the Indiana program is easy.  Simply go to http://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/telephoneprivacy/index.htm

Tonight is going to feel like a September night with lows falling into the lower 40s.  Saturday the high temp will rise to the lower 70's, but nighttime temps will fall again into the upper 40s.

Football schedules have Browntown hosting Salem tonight at 7:30 p.m.   The Seymour Owls will host the BNL Stars at tonight at 7 p.m.

Five companies, including Larry Bird, Donald Trump, and Craig Adolph, a former Indiana State Police officer topping the list, are bidding to open the casino in French Lick/West Baden Springs.  This afternoon is the deadline for applications.  Adolph is currently project manager of a foundation in Auburn, IN, and has been involved in bringing the independent movie company Mike the Pike Films to Orange County.  The other applicants for the Orange County permit are the Bally's casino company of Las Vegas and Jacobs Entertainment of Black Hawk, CO

A new worm that tries to take advantage of Windows users anxious to get their hands on security updates began making the rounds on Thursday, several antivirus firms confirmed.  The worm, which goes by a variety of names, including Swen, W32/Swen@MM, Gibe, and W32/Gibe-F, can pose as an e-mail from Microsoft bearing a bogus security update as a file attachment.  It spreads in several ways, including the traditional mass-mailing method of stealing addresses from Outlook address books on compromised machines, but also propagates over Internet Relay Chat and peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa. Successful infections attempt to steal account information, including usernames and passwords.  The worm also exploits a 2-year-old vulnerability in Windows--for which a fix is available from Microsoft--that allows it to auto-execute on unpatched PCs. In those situations, the receiving system is infected even if its user doesn't open the attached file. Antivirus software suppliers have already posted updates to their products' definition files to detect Swen.

In July General Motors Corp. signed an agreement with federal and state environmental agencies to clean up some residential property near the plant in Bedford.  GM maintains it should not have to pay to clean up those properties a second time as a result of a lawsuit that was filed last year by 30 Lawrence County residents, alleging their properties were contaminated with PCBs starting in 1965 but the property owners were never notified.  PCBs have been linked to human health problems, such as cancer.  The attorney for the plaintiffs claim that the GM agreement with the government agencies should not affect his clients and that the cleanup under the agreement would reduce the contamination to a level that his clients consider still too high.  He maintains the cleanup agreement doest not affect the damages his clients have requested in the lawsuit.  No date has been set for the trial date.

So what is happening to the smoking ban proposal in Indianapolis?  Very little at this point!!  A new poll of 400 voters indicates that 51% oppose a smoking ban in bars and bar areas in restaurants, while 41% back the restrictions.  A restriction applying only to restaurant dining areas received much more support.  Sixty-two percent favored the less restrictive proposal with 33% opposing it.  However, possibly because the issue is divisive, it has disappeared from the top of the City-County Council's agenda and may not be considered again until after the election in November--if at all.  Four months ago the council created a study committee made up of council members, business officials and health advocates to come up with a quick compromise.  The committee reached an impasse and hasn't met in the past two months.  Many cities around the country (including Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Ft. Worth, TX) have established smoking restrictions.  Health advocates vow to continue their effort and maintain that all workers should be protected from secondhand smoke.  The owner (himself a smoker) of Brother Juniper's Restaurant on Massachusetts Ave. is one of many proprietors who have banned smoking on their own, he reports that business has not dropped at all since his restaurant became nonsmoking on April 1st.

Lions and tigers and bears?  Well, maybe not here in Indiana.  But wolves?  Some people think so!  After a wild wolf was shot and killed in eastern Indiana, several Hoosiers have reported they have seen wolves in the state.  A Ripley County farmer reports that he has seen at least four wolves around his property in the past few years, including one that was killed by a trapper who was told by a pelt dealer that the animal was a wolf, not a coyote.  Another couple with a cabin in Brown County reported they spotted what they are sure was a gray wolf in mid-June.  Wildlife officials say they have received reports, but the only confirmed wolf was the one recently killed.  There are established populations in upper Michigan, as well as Wisconsin, and confirmed sightings in lower Michigan. The one killed in Indiana recently was the third one known to make it to the lower Midwest in the past two years. 

St. Ambrose will be sponsoring a memorial service for Gov. Frank O'Bannon Thursday evening, September 18th, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Ambrose on South Chestnut Street.

Last week LJB Gaming Associates, a partnership that includes Larry Bird,  submitted the required paperwork and a certified check for $16,110 to become the operator of the planned casino in French Lick.  Donald Trump's group has also filed.  An attorney for the LJB Gaming Associates reports that Bird does not plan to accept profits if the casino effort is successful but will designate this his profits go toward charities.  There will be a referendum on November 4th concerning whether to allow a casino.  Supporter maintain that it will bring needed jobs and tax money to the area, while opponents claim that a riverboat would increase crime as well as people addicted to gambling. 

The University of Phoenix and DeVry University will begin offering business management classes in Indianapolis.  Indiana college officials report they welcome the competition and believe that the new universities will fuel growth for all.  Only 3.3% of Indiana's adult population 25 years and older is enrolled in any college.  Students at both the new universities will take classes once a week for about four hours in the evening.  There is some criticism to this approach for the traditional universities, claiming that student do not receive enough class hours, questioning the value of an education by part-time instructors, and questioning the amount of material that should be mastered in four hours, one night per week for five weeks.

A happy meal for adults?  McDonalds is testing such a thing this fall.  The new "Go Active Happy Meals" in central Indiana are available starting today in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Muncie, and Kokomo.  Instead of a burger and a toy, it will include a salad, an exercise booklet, and a small pedometer to encourage people to walk more for good health.

At last Monday night's Jennings County School Board, fifteen people showed up to protest a rule in the student dress code concerning piercings.  They were upset with the rule that no jewelry should be worn in the eyebrow, nose, tongue, or other visible place.  Two girls had been suspended for having their tongues pierced, and their father spoke out against the school policy.  The school superintendent explained that the reasons the rule in the student handbook are the safety concern and the interference with instruction.  The piercing makes it more difficult for students to enunciate and be understood.  The rule on piercings has been in effect for several years.  Students who attended the board meeting presented a petition requesting a change in the rule.  The students and parents were told that it would take some hard evidence based on research from medical professionals and from lawyers to prove the rule must be changed.

According to police, a traffic stop in Lawrence County led to the arrests of 28 illegal immigrants from Mexico.  An Indiana State Policeman pulled over a van at the intersection of U.S. 50 and S.R. 446 Saturday night.  The driver was not licensed.  The trooper requested help from other officers when he discovered the back of the van was filled with people.  There were 28 men, women, and minors, all of whom taken into custody by state immigration officials and transferred from the Lawrence County Jail to Indianapolis on Sunday.  The driver is still in the Lawrence County Jail.  He has been deported in the past for being an illegal alien.  After the 28 passengers were taken to Indianapolis, they were processed and issued legal documents allowing each of them 30 days to leave the country before they are again in violation of the law.  Question:  Who is going to keep track of them to see where they go and IF they actually leave the country?!   Does anyone out there believe there Is something wrong with the policy in this country?

In honor of Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon, there will be an interfaith memorial service at noon Friday on the west steps of the Indiana Statehouse.  Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who died Saturday after suffering a stroke five days before.  Funeral service are pending for Saturday or Sunday in Corydon.  The public will be invited to sign a memorial book for O'Bannon at the Statehouse on Thursday.  His body will be cremated and the ashes will be interred in Corydon's Cedar Hill Cemetery in a private ceremony.

ISTEP testing started today, and it will involve twice as many students as it did last year because students in grades 4, 5, 7, and 9 will be taking trial tests in English and math, and 5th graders will also take a new science test, as well.  Some teachers are concerned because they claim that that students still haven't mastered existing English and math material, thus setting them up for failure on the science test.  Last year almost half the students in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10 failed the ISTEP.  Besides makiing the pilot tests permanent next year, the state will also introduce a new graduation qualifying exam, given in 10th grade, which students must pass to receive a diploma.  Algebra will be included on that exam. 

According to a recent poll, Indianapolis residents are opposed to spending more tax dollars on the Colts to keep them in the city.  It also indicated that support is also lacking for public money to be used to build a new stadium.   Mayor Peterson said the results are to be expected, but he still believes that losing the Colts would be a huge blow for the city and that the Colts are essential to Indianapolis' status as a big-league city.  Some think that support will increase if the Colts have a winning season.  The Colts are now 2-0, after winning their home opener Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, 33-7!

Tonight the Brownstown Braves will attempt to continue their winning streak when they play at Corydon Central.  The game starts at 7 p.m.  The Seymour Owls will play at Floyd Central, also at 7 p.m.

The Indianapolis Colts did not sell out Sunday's game by the Thursday noon deadline, so the game will not be televised within a 75-mile radius of Indianapolis, which means that Bloomington, Terre Haute, Kokomo, Muncie and Lafayette residents will not be watching it on television.  The game, an AFC South clash with the Tennessee Titans,  is considered on of the better match-ups in the NFL this weekend.  Although it did not sell out by the deadline, it is possible that a large number of Titan fans will decide to  come north for the game.

The statewide standardized ISTEP-Plus testing period will start Monday.  Before 1996 it was done in the spring of the year, but it was moved to fall because there were complaints that it was too late to do anything with the results by the time the teacher received the results.  Now there are complaints that ISTEP preparation dominates the first few weeks of the school year.  With the test scores becoming so important, the test puts a lot of pressure on kids, teachers, and administrators.  Schools that fail to meet the annual progress goals required under the "No Child Left Behind" education reform law are flagged as needing improvement and if they receive federal Title I money, they may be subject to sanctions including a mandatory restructuring.  The ISTEP-Plus will be taken by students in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10, while students in grades 4,5, 7, and 9 will take a trial version to prepare for next year, when all students in grades 3 through 10 will be tested.

Microsoft issued yet another critical security patch for Windows on Wednesday.   The security bulletin, which affects Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, is available for download from the company's Windows Update site.  The impact of the flaw--if exposed--is significant. It could enable anyone to gain access to most Windows PCs and run any code of the attacker's choice, Microsoft said. Microsoft has rated the vulnerabilities as critical, the highest level possible. Microsoft recommends systems administrators and solution providers that service customers' PCs to download and apply the patch, referred to as Security Bulletin MS03-039 824146.  In addition, users can set up their PCs to automatically update the security patch from Windows Update.  This is the latest in a series of more than 20 fixes and security patches Microsoft has released since July. At a CRN Security Roundtable in New York Tuesday, some solution providers questioned the rationale for exposing news about the security holes to the outside world--especially to potential attackers. However, Windows has been under severe attack by virus and worm writers this summer, and the company is under pressure to report areas of vulnerabilities and issue fixes as soon as possible, observers note.  At least one observer said customers and partners are getting irked by a deluge of security bulletins, which may be starting to cause them to consider some alternatives for some applications.  One security consultant reports that the barrage of attacks on the Windows client of late is minor compared with under-the-cover cybercrime that costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars and cyberterrorist activity that threatens national security, and  hackers are doing way more damage that's unknown.

Doctors continue to monitor Gov. O'Bannon, who is still in a drug-induced coma at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago after undergoing surgery following a massive hemorrhagic stroke Monday.  They report that there are some good signs and that there are also signs of brain damage, which is expected.  He will need intense rehabilitation, and it is unlikely that he will get back all the function he had before the stroke.  Although it is too early to determine the extent of the damage, the doctors will have a news conference today to discuss the governor's progress.  Lt. Gov. Kernan is now acting governor.  According to the process spelled out in the Indiana Constitution, to make the change official Republican Sen President Pro Tem Robert Garton and Democrat House Speaker Patrick Bauer must send a petition to the Indiana Supreme Court for approval of the transfer.  The justices are prepared to issue a swift decision, and the transfer could be completed today.

It's not much, but at least it is a start in the right direction!  The Evansville City Council is considering banning smoking within 25 feet of the entrances to city buildings.

Prompted by the gift of a $5 million 450 acre piece of property with trees and quarries adjacent to the campus, DePauw University will develop the DePauw University Nature Park, a nature preserve with trails, canoeing, and outdoor classrooms, which will nearly triple the size of its present campus.  The first phase of the project, which is expected to be completed by spring, will include five miles of nature trails, campgrounds, two canoe launches on Big Walnut Creek, and an arboretum for outdoor education.  Eventually mountain climbing on the quarry cliffs, an outdoor amphitheater, and a lodge for retreats and overnight guests may be added.  The goal is to make this the premier park in Indiana.  The park will be open to the public.