In the Know

 

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For those of you who missed our show, here it is in print for you.

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The readers were in this show were written by Vanessa Castaneda, Aaron Aiken, Abhinav Kumar, and Xorje Olivares. Brian Genchur and Melinda Merola helped research. Vanessa Castaneda stacked the show.

Today is Wednesday, June 4th, 2008. You’re reading the summer season premiere episode of In The Know which airs every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on 91.7 FM KVRX Austin (and streaming online at kvrx.org). For those of you who have never listened to the show, In The Know is the news talk show that puts you in the know about stuff U-T Austin students are discussing.

I’m Vanessa Castaneda, I’m Abhinav Kumar, and I’m Xorje Olivares.

V: Tonight we’re talking about Narcolepsy: What is it exactly?

A: Is it something that you can catch from your dirty room mate?

X: And can having it prevent you from getting a driver’s license?

V: We’ll be talking about that with KVRX Sports Director Aaron Aiken and U-T Austin Alums Brian Genchur and Melinda Merola. More with them in the second half of the show. But first, the news.

————–Xorje:

The U-S is bringing home its ships from the coast of Burma after officials refused U-S aid to help cyclone victims. French and British ships have also left. Although more than 2-million people need help, it is unclear why the government will not accept help.

——–Abhinav:

The Texas Democratic Convention will be held this weekend in Austin. More than 15 thousand delegates are expected to attend to nominate Democratic candidates for the November general elections. The Austin Convention Center will host the weekend’s events and the city expects to profit from the number of people visiting for the convention.

——-Vanessa:

A new affordability index from the Real Estate Council of Austin shows that Austin is faced with higher taxes and lower paychecks than in past years. The council’s affordability index comes from property and sales tax rates from Travis County, Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, CapMetro, Austin Community College and the Travis County Hospital District.

Though taxes have only increased by .8 percent since last year, the Combined Cost of Government Index reflected a decrease in average household income by four-tenths of a percent to $69,300. The average tax burden increased by 12.2 percent to roughly $5,984. The council concluded that 8.6 percent of a family’s total income goes towards taxes – the highest percentage in the index’s 18-year history.

——– Xorje:

School is out permanently for one East Austin high school.

State education officials announced today that they will officially close down Johnston High School. The high school has performed poorly on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills or TAKS test for the past four years and was rated academically unacceptable.

Austin Independent School District does have the opportunity to submit a plan to repurpose the school by the beginning of the next academic school year. Its plan must be approved by the Texas Education Agency.

To be repurposed, the newly-named campus must house an entirely different instructional program. Superintendent Pat Forgione says such a plan will be presented to the Austin School Board on Monday. District officials have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow at Johnston to talk with members of the community about their intentions.

Because of the closure, about 50-percent of the students and 75-percent of the campus adminstration and staff will have to be reassigned to another school.

 

——Abhinav:

The Texas Department of Public safety is beginning a new program to find uninsured drivers. The TexasSure program will match policies from state insurance providers with driver and vehicle information. A driver who is pulled over and found to be uninsured will be fined 350 dollars. Multiple offenses will mean greater fines and possible suspension of a driver’s license.

———Vanessa:

An outbreak of Salmonella across the United States has been linked to raw tomatoes. Health officials are warning against eating raw tomatoes and suggest cooking any tomatoes before eating them. 21 cases have been reported in Texas since the outbreak began.

——–Xorje:

Tyson Foods Inc. has begun killing and burying the carcasses of 15-thousand hens that tested positive for exposure to a strain of the bird flu in northwest Arkansas.

Tyson says that routine blood tests conducted last week indicated the presense of a less harmful strain of the virus. The U-S Department of Agriculture has since found that the birds did not have any active infections and were of no threat to humans. Tyson says it will still dispose of the birds.

Director of Arkansas’s Livestock and Poultry Commission Jon Fitch says Tyson will bury the 15-thousand hens at the Arkansas farm to avoid spreading the disease.

It was back in 2004 that a similar outbreak was discovered in Texas. Over 48-thousand hens were destroyed because of the contamination. Tyson is the largest meat producer in the world and supplies chicken for several fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

————Abhinav:

A consumer advocacy group is asking the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of eight artificial colorings used in certain foods.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says they have compiled nearly three decades worth of studies showing that some artificial dyes can lead to increased hyperactivity in children. The F-D-A says there is no evidence to indicate that food additives cause A-D-H-D or learning disabilities in children.

An F-D-A spokeswoman says that color additives go under safety reviews prior to marketing and that samples of each coloring are tested regularly. The center is asking that the F-D-A require a warning label on foods with artificial dyes in the meantime.

Colorings are mainly used to simulate color in fruits and vegetables. Some of the colorings that the center wishes to ban include Yellow-5 and Red-40.

———— Vanessa:

Presumptive Democratic Nominee Barack Obama has said, “Yea I got this thing. Who’s running with me?” Obama has created an official vice president search panel. To win the democratic nomination a candidate needs 2,118 delegates Obama 2,154 delegates. Clinton has 1,919. although Hillary Clinton has not lost officially, she has been questioned frequently by the media about whether she’s going to run as his V-P. Look like she’s “open” to the idea. Clinton will probably concede by Saturday says A-B-C news and New York Times’ websites.

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Abhinav’s declaration (Please see Comment #1 for this blog post).

—–Fade up: Song: Need You Tonight

Artist: Mylo

Destroy Rock N Roll Album

http://www.imeem.com/people/xAf3o/music/bE7ob0DA/mylo_need_you_tonight/