Part 2 of my three part series
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* Also the mystery of how US Democrats make office, so regularly, when their strongholds suffer as that Mineapolis bridge
* Haneef's cousin dies from wounds from terror attack
* Newspaper editor killed, believed targetted
* Nasa prepares Pheonix Mars Lander
* No comment from ALP over boundary changes
* Teachers Federation campaigns for less pay.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Mystery of Webster's Curse 2
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We want less time with kids, tired teachers plead
By Bruce McDougall
THE state's 50,000 public school teachers are demanding to spend less time with students in class because they are "overwhelmed" by their workload.
Teachers have launched a campaign seeking extra "release time" from classes in 2240 primary and secondary schools.
They will ask the Iemma Government to increase staff numbers in schools, at a cost of millions of dollars, to cover for teachers who are out of class doing other work.
The Teachers' Federation claims too much work is impairing teachers' ability to operate effectively.
"Unreasonable teacher workload is debilitating for the profession and quality public education," senior vice president Bob Lipscombe said.
"For some it is also impacting adversely on their health.
"Teachers have difficulty in accessing such basic entitlements as lunch and morning tea breaks."
Among the demands teachers have made are:
AN extra two hours' release time per week in primary schools;
AN additional two 40-minute periods release time per week in high schools;
AN extra hour of release time a week for TAFE teachers;
EXTRA clerical and support staffing; and
THE reduction or phasing out of playground duty.
A spokesman for Education Minister John Della Bosca said yesterday most primary school teachers already received two hours of release time every week.
"High school teachers receive six hours of release from face-to-face teaching each week," he said.
"These arrangements have been in place for years and provide teachers with time away from the classroom to undertake a range of activities, including time to review teaching programs, prepare assessments and work on other planning activities.
"Schools also have three pupil-free days a year to enable teachers to undertake planning and professional development.
"We support these arrangements and there is no plan to change them."
Mr Lipscombe said teachers were demanding the restoration of minimum lunchbreaks uninterrupted by playground duties or meetings.
Teachers earn up to $75,000 a year on an incremental scale based on years of service but increasingly are being required to meet performance standards.
Technology, increased professional development and the imposition of new curricula are among the issues teachers say are putting them under pressure.
I believe teachers don't spend enough time with their students. I feel the campaign of the teacher's federation anticipates the budget decision of the State Government to limit salary increases.
Bridge collapse: 4 dead, more bodies under water, cause probed
from news.com.au By staff writers and wires
AS the search for victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse continues, the search for who to blame has begun with a report emerging that state authorities had been warned years ago that the bridge was "structurally deficient".
While the official death toll from Thursday's shocking collapse stands at four, recovery workers have said there are 30 people still missing and they know there are bodies in at least some of the cars still under water.
“Several (more) people are confirmed dead at the scene,” Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said, in addition to the four deaths already confirmed by the local coroner.
"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," the local police chief Tim Dolan was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
The search for bodies was stalled while the water level in the Mississippi river was lowered. Divers had also battled strong currents in their bid to identify how many people were trapped under water.
In Washington, the White House has said that a federal inspection of the bridge in 2004 found that it was "structually deficient".
Transport officials have said it rated only 50 out of 100 in a stability report, but that did not mean it was classed as unsafe.
However White House spokesman Tony Snow has said: "If an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions."
Minnesota's Governor, Tim Pawlenty, has said the state was never warned that the bridge should be closed. "There was no call by anyone that we're aware of that said it should be immediately closed or immediately replaced.
"It was more of a monitor, inspect, maintain, and potentially replace it in the future," he said.
A 2001 state report concluded that the bridge "should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future" and recommended not to replace the bridge "prematurely".
Investigators will try to piece the bridge back together in a bid to determine what caused the collapse, which occurred during repair work being carried out during the evening rush hour.
The investigation process could take up to a year, officials have said.
"It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," National Transportation Safety Board chairman Mark Rosenker has said.
'Say goodbye'
Relatives have gathered at hospitals in the area of the collapse, hoping for news on loved ones still missing. More than 70 people were injured in the incident.
Witnesses reported dramatic scenes as the 20-metre high span disintegrated.
"The bridge started falling, cars were flying everywhere and I saw the water coming up," said Catherine Yankelevich, who was driving across the bridge when it fell.
Her car ended up in the water but she managed to roll down her window and swim to safety.
"People who were pinned or partly crushed told emergency workers to say 'hello' or say 'goodbye' to their loved ones," police have said.
A school bus carrying mostly children landed on its tires, and the 59 children and adults on board scrambled out the back exit, bloodied and bruised.
“There was smoke and noise. Everybody was screaming,” said one girl who had been on the bus.
US President George W Bush has called the disaster a "terrible situation". Governor Pawlenty has said the accident is "catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota".
Haneef's terror suspect cousin dies in hospital
from news.com.au
GLASGOW bomb plot suspect and cousin of Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef has died in hospital from severe burns suffered in the airport attack.
Kafeel Ahmed, 27, suffered severe burns in the attack at Scotland's biggest airport on June 30.
Mr Ahmed, from Bangalore, was the driver of a Jeep Cherokee which crashed into the terminal building.
He was being kept under armed police guard in a Scottish hospital.
"We can confirm that the man seriously injured during the course of the incident at Glasgow Airport on Saturday June 30 has died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The man died earlier this evening and the circumstances surrounding the death have been reported to the procurator fiscal," a spokesman for Strathclyde police said.
Newspaper editor shot dead
from news.com.au
A CALIFORNIAN newspaper editor has been shot dead in what police believe was a targeted attack, the Associated Press (AP) has reported.
Chauncey Bailey, who was described as an outspoken editor, was shot dead near a courthouse at around 7.30am local time (12.30am AEST), Oakland Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said.
Mr Holmgren said that witnesses told police that a single gunman had shot Mr Bailey and then fled.
AP reported that police were trying to identify a motive for the killing by investigating any possible connections with Mr Bailey's work, as the shooting did not appear to be random.
Mr Bailey had been a reporter for The Oakland Tribune before moving to the Oakland Post in June, and had previously worked for several other area media outlets, including KDIA radio and Soul Beat TV, a local cable channel.
He wrote for the Tribune for more than 10 years before being named editor of the Post, a weekly community newspaper, AP reported.
Oakland Tribune managing editor Martin Reynolds said Mr Bailey was "a friend, a valued colleague and a loving father" whose coverage of Oakland's black community was "a tremendous asset."
Liberal Party insults Sydney working class
By Clare Masters
BESIEGED NSW Liberals are facing a fresh scandal, with accusations of snobbery and elitism after a bizarre attack on working class families in some of Sydney's historic suburbs.
Liberal Party state director Graeme Jaeschke, who is already facing calls for his resignation over the disastrous Cook preselection battle, had objected to proposed changes to the boundaries for Malcolm Turnbull's seat of Wentworth on the grounds that the "working class" inner-city should not be included in a seat that represents the east's "beach and surf clubs culture".
The boundary changes submission, signed by Mr Jaeschke, argues against the expansion of Wentworth, claiming it is an "Eastern Suburbs community defined in its character".
The paper argues the "mainly working class tenement housing" of the city would not sit well alongside the "icons such as Bondi, Tamarama and Bronte".
Even school children were targeted because city schools have "geographically diverse student populations rather than being Eastern Suburbs schools".
Does this paper show the Liberals as a party of snobs? Vote in our poll below right and join the debate via the feedback form at the end of this story.
Yesterday community groups and residents were outraged, saying the paper was insulting to the working families in the city.
"I think it's wrong to claim this area as working class," Darlinghurst's Matthew Talbot Hostel chief executive Eric Ellem said.
But Mr Jaeschke says East Sydney, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo "have always been seen as part of the city rather than part of the Eastern Suburbs (let alone having a connection with beaches and the coast)", adding the "mainly working class tenement housing for city workers was built on the low-lying areas of East Sydney, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo".
The submission was made last year, although the contents received little attention. But now with the election campaign in full swing and Liberal candidate Malcolm Turnbull publicly embracing the city streets as his own, community groups are speaking out over the attack.
Darlinghurst mother Helen Giles has lived in the area for nine years and said it had changed dramatically.
"I don't think calling it working class is accurate," she said.
"It has gentrified a bit but it's a very diverse area and there are a high proportion of working parents."
Party sources were yesterday pointing the finger at Mr Jaeschke, saying they were worried about the image of the party portrayed by the submission.
"It's a stupid thing to say," said one source yesterday.
Another Liberal source said Mr Jaeschke was "surrounded by sharks at the moment".
Last night, Mr Jaeschke appeared to have succeeded in dumping Mr Towke as candidate for the southern Sydney seat of Cook following allegations there were inaccuaracies on his nomination form. A fax ballot of the party's state executive will decide Mr Towke's fate today, but a number of ballots had already come in supporting his being dropped as a candidate.
NASA readies Phoenix for Mars life study
From correspondents in Cape Canaveral
NASA this weekend will launch space probe Phoenix on a nine-month journey to Mars' arctic region, to dig through ice for clues to past or present microbial life on the red planet.
The Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled for blast-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 4, with a first attempt at 5.36am local time and a second attempt, if needed, at 6.02am.
The full launch window for the 680-million-kilometre, $420 million mission to Mars extends until August 24.
If all goes according to schedule the Phoenix should land on Mars in late May, 2008.
NASA hopes to land the probe on flat ground with few or no rocks at a Martian latitude equivalent to northern Alaska on Earth.
At that site the Phoenix is likely to face temperatures that range from minus 73C to minus 33C.
Once it lands safely on the Martian surface, the probe will deploy a set of research tools never before used on the planet.
The solar-powered craft is equipped with a 2.35m robotic arm that will enter vertically into the soil, aiming to strike the icy crust that is believed to lie within a few centimetres of the surface.
The Phoenix's robotic arm will lift soil samples to two instruments on its deck.
One instrument will check for water and carbon-based chemicals, considered essential building blocks for life, while the other will analyse the soil chemistry.
Many scientists see signs of ancient rivers and oceans on the arid and sterile surface of Mars, and believe the planet may once have harboured some forms of life.
In 2002, the NASA probe Mars Odyssey detected huge quantities of hydrogen on the Martian surface, a likely sign there could be ice at a depth of less than 1m.
AFP
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