In the News                                

Working cash for UO athletic budget went red
The Register Guard (Eugene, Oregon), March 7, 2010 Sunday
Mar. 7--The University of Oregon's athletic department finished the last fiscal year with part of its budget in the red, a sign that the poor economy continues to depress sports revenue just as the large bills for a new basketball arena begin to come due. The department finished the 2008-09 year with negative working capital of $642,000, according to an analysis by the Oregon University System. The OUS, which oversees all seven public universities in Oregon, looks specifically at athletic department finances once a year.

NFL's return could be link to Latinos
San Bernardino County Sun (California), March 9, 2010 Tuesday
For years, America's most popular sport, professional football, has sought to spread into more Latino households. At the same time, a local billionaire, Ed Roski Jr., has been hoping to end Los Angeles' NFL curse by buying and moving an existing team here. So is heavily Latino Los Angeles County an ideal place for this expansion?

Changes to Mount Joy parks plan?
The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania), March 8, 2010 Monday
Mount Joy Township's contested parks plan will be back on the table this week, and could still see some major changes. After the fall election and a slew of resignations brought new township leadership, many in Mount Joy are wondering what will happen to the comprehensive recreation, parks and open space plan long championed by the former group of supervisors.

Director protects many from attacks
Hattiesburg American, March 8, 2010 Monday
Lou Marciani once worried about questions of budgeting and marketing during stints as athletic director at four universities. These days, as director of the University of Southern Mississippi's National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4), his concerns range from identifying stadium security gaps to simulating evacuations in case of terrorist attacks. Things are happening fast for the four-year-old center which moved its 15-member staff into the Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship.

Athletic spending reviewed at Yellville-Summit
The Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, Arkansas), March 8, 2010 Monday
Bulletin Staff Writer YELLVILLE - In the midst of controversy over effective solutions to fiscal distress and a literacy alert, Yellville-Summit School District also is under scrutiny by the Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing Committee for its athletic expenditures. In 2007, the Arkansas Department of Education established rules governing athletic expenditures for public school districts in an effort to standardize reporting. The Division of Legislative Audit is responsible for auditing 20 percent of the state's school districts every year on a rotating basis, ensuring that every school is audited at least once every five years. The audit dated Feb. 8, 2008, for the school year ending June 30, 2007, followed the new guidelines and included Y-S. Compared to districts of similar size, districts in the 3A football conference to which Y-S belonged in 2007, the athletic expenditures at Y-S were significantly higher:

UTEP students vote this week on athletic department fee to help with funding
El Paso Times (Texas), March 9, 2010 Tuesday
EL PASO -- Students at the University of Texas at El Paso will vote this week on whether to help financially troubled intercollegiate sports. A new fee would go toward an athletics fund for coaches' salaries and team travel. If approved, UTEP could impose a new athletic fee of up to $240 a year for a full course load beginning fall 2011. The increase could come in addition to a tuition hike the University of Texas Board of Regents approved last week. UTEP will already see tuition increase from $6,288 to $6,568 per year in fall 2010, and to $6,948 in fall 2011.

Spurs group might be Alamo Stadium's savior
San Antonio Express-News, March 6, 2010 Saturday
Alamo Stadium's future could be as a pro soccer, entertainment and high school sports facility managed by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the holding company that owns the Spurs, Silver Stars and Rampage. Preliminary plans discussed by SS&E and the San Antonio Independent School District last year called for them to enter into a shared-use agreement that would allow SS&E to run the venerable, 70-year-old facility after teaming with the city and county to refurbish it, officials said Friday. Although talks were put on hold after it was discovered the cost to renovate the stadium and outfit it for a pro soccer team was more than $30 million, SS&E and the district haven't ruled out renewing the discussion.

Parks Get Prettier; What has come of '08 bonds to improve sites around city?
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico), March 8, 2010 Monday
"Santa Fe is a first-class city and we deserve first-class parks," declared Bette Booth as she sat back in her chair last week at the city's Parks Division office. Booth, chair of the city's Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission, was echoing an old rallying cry from 2008, one that helped convince Santa Feans that year to overwhelmingly agree to spend $30 million on the city's parks, trails and open space hard hit by drought and neglect. A bond, paid for by a small property tax increase, passed with around 70 percent of the vote. Today, roughly halfway into a three-year plan, about 43 percent of the money has been spent, and around 36 percent of planned improvements have been completed, as have most of the recreation facility renovations, including close to $1 million's worth at Genoveva Chavez Community Center, and at Fort Marcy Complex and Salvador Perez. City officials say the bond has not only improved parks but also boosted pride among residents and parks workers and even provided a small spark to the local economy.

Rio Rancho: City, schools agree to share facilities
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico), March 6, 2010 Saturday
More than 100 people recently showed up at V. Sue Cleveland High School during a free open gym night. "That's just the tip of the iceberg," said Jay Hart, Rio Rancho's director of the Parks, Recreation and Community Service Department.

Consumer rules can take weight off stranded gym members
The Baltimore Sun, March 7, 2010 Sunday
What can you do if the gym where you've been working out isn't working out? That's the conundrum faced by about 3,000 members of the former Gold's Gym in Parkville who received letters last month stating that the franchise location had closed as of Feb. 6. Some customers, like Esther Roskam, were upset because by the time she received her letter Feb. 12, her monthly membership fees had already been automatically debited from her checking account. For some other members, it was more than just a month's fee at risk. They had paid hundreds of dollars upfront for long-term contracts.

Army, Air Force make a Whopper of a decision
Air Force Times, February 22, 2010 Monday
At least 50 Army and Air Force Exchange Service concessions serving U.S. troops in Afghanistan - including many popular fast-food eateries - will close within 90 days under an order issued Feb. 3 by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in that war zone. Troops' fitness centers and Internet access sites are among the facilities that will stay open. But most brand name fast-food outlets, including Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Popeyes, as well as new-car sales offices, jewelry stores, souvenir shops and other retail outlets, are among concessions slated to close.

ATC wants everyone in the pool
The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio), February 28, 2010 Sunday
If supporters of the Aquatic Training Center have their way, Greater Cincinnati will have a new swimming and diving facility ready for use by the end of 2012. The wheels are in motion on an effort to build a new facility in one of two undisclosed locations in the area, according to Bob Farr, a former high school diving coach at Indian Hill and Mariemont, who is president of the non-profit organization.

Group raising funds for Mishicot outdoor sports complex
Herald Times Reporter (Manitowoc, Wisconsin), February 27, 2010 Saturday
Herald Times Reporter MISHICOT - A special committee in Mishicot is raising money to enhance the school district's outdoor sports complex, and the group hopes to break ground in the spring.

Number of defibrillators tops 500 in Fox Cities
The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin), March 7, 2010 Sunday
Post-Crescent staff writer When Dr. John Mielke looks around the Fox Cities, he likes what he sees. A cardiologist who started practicing in Appleton in 1965, Mielke served on a committee in the mid-1990s that put automated external defibrillators in the hands of emergency responders, and that effort has exploded since then. Sign up for news, weather and sports text alerts.

Retailers welcome lycra crowd as gyms fill empty storefronts
The Seattle Times, March 5, 2010 Friday
No longer the 90-pound weakling of the commercial real-estate market, fitness centers are muscling into prime shopping space ceded by traditional retailers. "We have a joke in our industry that the way you know a shopping center is in trouble is if it has a wig store and a nail salon," said Jeff Green, a San Francisco Bay Area retail consultant. "Fitness centers are somewhere between that and traditional retail." Now though, amid a widespread pullback in consumer spending, shopping centers are turning to fitness centers as retailers close stores or stop expanding. The vacancy rate for retail properties in the Puget Sound region topped 6 percent in 2009, up from 4 percent in 2007, according to Pacific Real Estate Partners. In the past two years, the region's average annual asking rent has dropped 18 percent to $19.31 a square foot.

Parents question handling of helmet probe
Herald News (Passaic County, NJ), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Troy Bianchi thought it was just a headache, a nagging reminder of a routine helmet bump with a Lakeland High teammate during football practice. In reality, his brain was bleeding and within days he would wind up in intensive care. Two weeks earlier, the company that reconditioned Troy's helmet ? and thousands of others for teen athletes across North Jersey ? had sent letters to area high schools admitting flaws in its helmet-testing program. The company president would later plead guilty to financial fraud and acknowledge the firm had misrepresented the results of its safety tests. But none of that was known to Troy or his parents, Jodi and Robert, not until long after the memory loss and other consequences of the subdural hematoma he suffered in September 2007 came to light. They did not find out from the Lakeland school district, but from a story published in The Record last November detailing the federal investigation of Circle System Group and the lack of follow-up into its findings by school officials in North Jersey. Now the Bianchis have hired attorney Marco Benucci of Raritan to help them determine if Circle's testing lapses played a role in Troy's injury. And the Wanaque family wants to know why no one told them that their son's safety may have been compromised.

Recreation center to grow on college campus in next year
Daily Record (Wooster, Ohio), March 2, 2010 Tuesday
By BOBBY WARREN Staff Writer WOOSTER -- Students at The College of Wooster will get a new $30 million Student Recreation Center, scheduled to open in January 2012. The school's board of trustees voted Saturday to move forward with the 123,000-square-foot project, which will feature an NCAA- regulation 200-meter track, four intramural courts for basketball, tennis and volleyball, a fitness center, batting cages, lockers and coaching offices. "One of the things I admire about Wooster is that we have invested deeply in our core mission, building the best classrooms, studios, laboratories and libraries," President Grant Cornwell stated in a media release. "It is now time to turn our attention to the facilities that contribute to the quality of campus life for all of our students. That our trustees have led the way in making such generous commitments in this economic climate tells me that they, too, see this project as a strategic priority for Wooster."

Lacrosse continues to gain popularity with S.C. high schools
The Island Packet, March 5, 2010 Friday
He faced nearly a decade's worth of rejection. It was a time in which he was constantly told his dream of public school lacrosse in South Carolina just wouldn't work. For each solution he provided, another obstacle was thrown his way. But Rich Thomas says he never became pessimistic -- no matter how difficult that may be to believe. Seven years ago, his voice was rarely heard. He wasn't even a fly on the wall, for that would have required him being allowed in the room. Nonetheless, Thomas made it his mission to gain respect for the sport he fell in love with some 50 years ago as a kid growing up in the heartland for lacrosse -- the Northeast. His ultimate goal: Get the S.C. High School League to sanction lacrosse.

W.Va. State offers new degree for growing sports industry
Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), February 28, 2010, Sunday
West Virginia State University in Institute is offering a new baccalaureate degree in sports studies. The four-year Bachelor of Science degree has been in the planning stages since late 2007 and classes will be offered in the fall of 2010, said Aaron Settle, program director and associate professor of sports studies and exercise science.

Marygrove to build center for new sports
Crain's Detroit Business, March 1, 2010
Marygrove College plans to break ground this month on a 10-acre outdoor athletic development on its Detroit campus at 8425 W. McNichols Road. The site - to include a running track, soccer field and golf practice facility - will be the cornerstone of Marygrove's expanding intercollegiate athletic program and highlights the college's recent growth. Marygrove's enrollment of on-campus undergraduate students hit more than 1,300 in the 2010 winter semester, up 10 percent from the same period last year and up 25 percent since 2006, said Marygrove President David Fike.

PLNU drops four sports to stay equitable
The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 2, 2010 Tuesday
Point Loma Nazarene University is dropping its men’s golf, men’s track, men’s cross country and women’s softball programs to resolve issues involving federal gender equity regulations. The university also said it will add a women’s golf program in fall 2011. It’s all part of a shake-up resulting from its inability to find a permanent place to play for the softball team. The teams were notified Sunday evening. The university said it will honor the scholarships of the affected athletes or help them find other schools where they can continue their athletic careers. “It’s tough, and we know it will be a for a while,” said Russ Blunck, the school’s associate athletic director.

Report outlines state of GHS athletics
Newark Advocate (Ohio), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Gender equity among fully funded varsity sports? Check. Equity between participating students? Check. Gender equity among coaches? Pretty close. Facilities? Check (for now). Growth? Ever present. Future costs? Don't know yet. These issues were chief among those reviewed Feb. 16 by new Granville High School Athletics Director Kevin Jarrett in a report to the board of education. Answers he found were these: The 20 fully funded high-school varsity sports are split evenly between boys and girls.

Indiana's high court to hear IHSAA case
South Bend Tribune (Indiana), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to rule on the dispute between a former Washington High School girls basketball player and the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Her Washington days behind her, Jasmine Watson is having a successful freshman year at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She's earned a spot on the team's starting five and is one of five freshmen nominated for the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year award.

$2M gym for Tech: Warrior Athletic Center to open by September on campus
The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Mar. 3--Indiana Tech women's basketball player Lesley Williams mentioned one big plus to the university adding another athletic facility to the campus: no more 5 a.m. practices.

Having the girls' IHSAA state finals in Fort Wayne is a bonanza for the local economy
The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Mar. 3--This weekend brings Robert Evans the kind of problem that hotel managers yearn for: Too many people want rooms. "The phone has been going..." he says and trails off, searching for a way to convey the intensity of the bookings. "The phone has been singing." The phone at the Holiday Inn across Coliseum Boulevard from Memorial Coliseum is singing because eight girls basketball teams from across the state will converge on Fort Wayne for the Indiana High School Athletic Association girls state finals this weekend at the coliseum. Along with those teams, the Fort Wayne Convention and Visitors Bureau is anticipating 15,000 to 20,000 visitors -- coaches, classmates, family and fans.

Families reflect on verdict that carries life sentence: Becker used insanity defense at trial
The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Mar. 3--A LLISON -- Todd Thomas said his family feels that justice was served and that the system worked after a jury on Tuesday found Mark Becker guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Ed Thomas last summer. "Without a doubt, no verdict would ever replace Dad, but we take comfort in knowing he's in a better place," Todd Thomas, the son of Ed Thomas, said during a news conference in Butler County District Court shortly after the verdict was returned at 10:41 a.m.

Minority swimmers make splash
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina), February 7, 2010 Sunday 1ST EDITION
By Joe Habina Special Correspondent At age 12, Kai Hickson admits, he wasn't interested in much, other than lying around the house and watching television. But one day, his mom asked him if he would like to join a swim team.

Grants help build a future
Des Moines Register, March 3, 2010 Wednesday
kkielsme@dmreg.com Editor's note: This is a third in a three-part series East High School in Des Moines will build up its athletic history with the help of a Legacy Grant from Prairie Meadows. "The Prairie Meadows Legacy Grant was critical to the overall success of this project - and it will enable us to leverage it for additional funds," said Bob Ligouri, East's softball coach and a member of the steering committee for Williams Stadium renovations. "We project an overall cost to the renovation project to be in the $1.6 million range - all funds have and will come from contributions and grants."

Our View: All must support the pool
Centre Daily Times (State College, PA), March 3, 2010 Wednesday
Community recreation facilities are expensive, as last week’s report on the price tag for long-planned regional parks clearly showed. The projected $19 million cost is daunting, and it got this reaction from elected officials at the Council of Governments General Forum: “I am all in favor of the regional parks concept,” Ferguson Township Supervisor Bill Keough said. “The question is, can we afford it?”

Wauseon family aims to spur pool replacement; $20,000 gift will be donated once campaign begins
Toledo Blade (Ohio), February 3, 2010 Wednesday Correction Appended
WAUSEON -- The family of a civic leader who died three months ago would like to donate $20,000 toward replacing the city's swimming pool, closed last year because of the decay of its concrete walls. But before Henry Zumfelde's widow, Becky, will donate the money from her husband's estate, grass-roots organizers of a fund-raising campaign need to make some headway of their own, son Paul Zumfelde said. The Reighard Park Pool replacement likely will cost well over $1 million.