Antennas Up
The Douglas County school board in Denver, Colorado, recently signed contracts with Sprint PCS and two other cellular phone companies to place antennas atop three district schools, The Associated Press reports. The district, which had previously sold space to a Sprint antenna, will make $50,000 in the next school year from the rentals. A Sprint PCS spokesperson says the company, which has already installed antennas on 70 Colorado schools, has about 400 more offers pending in the state with the nation’s highest elevation. While some studies have linked radio transmissions to leukemia, the state health department says no conclusive evidence proves the connection.
$65 Million Lady
Eugenia Sitaras, a New York City kindergarten teacher who won half the $130 million jackpot in the New York state lottery late last year, has said she does not plan to quit her job. The 26-year-old even delayed claiming her share of the largest lottery prize in state history by a few weeks so she could prepare for parent-teacher conferences.
Rabbit, Run
Godwin Collins Onunwah, a 7th grade teacher who attempted to suffocate a rabbit in front of his special education students at Gage Middle School in Huntington Park, California, has been charged with animal cruelty under state law. The teacher allegedly placed a live rabbit intended for dissection in a plastic bag, sealed it, and waited for the animal to die. When the rabbit was still alive at the end of class, he put it in a cupboard to perish over the weekend. The Los Angeles Unified School District does not permit dissection in middle schools, says district spokesperson Hilda Ramirez, and dissections in high schools can be performed only on animals purchased from scientific centers. Onunwah, who has been placed on administrative duty, has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
Fuming Over Buses
Students from Castle Heights Elementary School in Los Angeles donned gas masks at a December press conference to encourage California air regulators to spend $50 million to replace diesel-powered school buses with natural gas buses. In spite of the spectacle, the state decided to invest only $25 million in such vehicles.
