SG BRIEF
Martin Sheen will be the final speaker in KPU's "Leaders of Today Become Leaders of Tomorrow" speakers series on April 14 at 8:15 p.m. in Bender Arena, KPU Director Amanda Fulton announced Sunday night.
Fulton said she asked Sheen to speak about "how his role on 'The West Wing' reflects real life politics and how he can use his fame to bring awareness to social issues."
Sheen would likely speak about the social advocacy projects he's working on, including his opposition to the War in Iraq, advocacy work in Darfur and his faith, she said.
The Undergraduate Senate passed a bill supporting amendments to Coca-Cola's bylaws during its meeting Sunday.
The bill encourages the university, as a shareholder of Coca-Cola, to vote in favor of proposed amendments to Coca-Cola's bylaws to establish a Board Committee on Human Rights in reaction to human rights and labor violations committed by the company, said Georgette Spanjich, a class of 2010 senator and sponsor of the bill.
Additionally, the bill encourages SG Secretary Cait Douglas to write a letter in support of the human rights board and the company's recycling initiatives. Also, the bill asks the university to create a Corporate Responsibility Board to review the human rights practices of companies it invests in. Finally, the bill asks for the university to consider Coca-Cola's human rights practices and recycling initiatives when considering renewal of its contract in June 2009, Spanjich said.
At the meeting, SG President Joe Vidulich announced that G-mail will be the official university e-mail beginning next fall. He said also Blackboard Community, which will enable students to monitor and add money to their EagleBucks accounts through Blackboard, will be launched next fall as well.
The senate also voted unanimously to approve the spring 2008 election results. Board of Elections Director Amy McConnel said 1,405 students voted to elect 23 new officers - 10 of whom were write-in candidates.
SG President-elect Seth Cutter said SG cabinet applications are available on the SG's Web site and are due April 3 at 5 p.m. in the Student Activities office.
The next Senate meeting will take place April 6 at 2:30 p.m. in the Kogod School of Business, room 118.
-REBECCA KERN
METRO BRIEF
Video footage of a rare 1974 AMC Gremlin led investigators to the people behind Thursday's shootings of five vehicles on Interstate 64 in central Virginia, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Police arrested and charged 19-year-old Slade Woodson and a 16-year-old, whose name police did not release, in the apparently unprovoked shootings. Authorities charged Woodson and the teenager with 10 felonies each, according to The Post.
Investigators said the rare car, which they found abandoned in northern Albemarle County, contained "ballistic evidence" that eventually led them to Woodson.
Police sources told The Post the two fired at five passing automobiles and an unoccupied dump truck from various locations along I-64, including an overpass.
Virginia State Police Col. Steven Flaherty said his officers obtained 10 warrants each for Woodson and his accomplice, according to The Post.
Woodson already had a long police record, which includes grand larceny, drunken driving and destruction of property, The Post reported.
-CHRISTOPHER COTTRELL
NATIONAL BRIEF
A Denver sheriff's deputy is serving a 45-day suspension for allegedly slapping another deputy on the rear - an incident that caused his co-worker to quit, The Rocky Mountain News reported Saturday.
City documents show Deputy Francisco Hernandez and five other sheriff's deputies were in an office at the Denver County jail on Aug. 30, 2007 when Hernandez bent over to grab his keys and Deputy Bobby Rogers "slapped him hard on the buttocks."
"If you're going to stick it out, I'm going to hit it," Rogers told The News.
But Hernandez reported the action to his supervisor, which sparked an internal affairs investigation and the suspension, according to the newspaper.
Roger's attorney Derek W. Cole called the suspension "gross overkill."
"It's like executing someone for blowing their nose and not washing their hands," Cole told The News.
Hernandez's story remained constant throughout the investigation while Roger's testimony changed several times, prompting the discipline, according to The News.
-C.C.
INTERNATIONAL BRIEF
The founder of the first-ever British Jedi church said a man dressed as "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader jumped over the fence around his Holyhead, Wales, home and attacked him with a metal crutch in the middle of a TV interview, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
Barney Jones, or Jedi Master Jonba Hehol as fellow "Star Wars" fans call him, founded the Jedi church in honor of the popular science fiction films, according to The Telegraph.
The religion is based on the teachings of Yoda, the small, green creature from the films, according to The Telegraph. It currently has 400,000 followers who claim to believe in the Jedi teachings of the force.
-C.C.
