NBC

Students Hone Language Skills in Summer Study
Perfecting English can be tricky for those who know the language, so it's even more work for those just learning it.
June 2009
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/49290332.html

Must Apple discuss CEO Jobs' health?
by Rachel Beck
June 22, 2009

This week, Apple Inc. wasn't shy about touting the sales of its latest mobile device. But the company didn't say anything confirming reports from over the weekend that co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago.

So do investors across corporate America have the right to know this sort of information as they struggle to manage their recession-hit portfolios? What are the rules under U.S. securities laws?

Here are some questions and answers about disclosure requirements.

Q: Why did news about Jobs' liver transplant come from The Wall Street Journal and not from Apple?
A: Companies don't have to give updates on their executives' health. That is typically not considered "material information," which must be disclosed under rules put forth by the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Nothing is required to be disclosed unless the health issue affects his ability to steward the company appropriately," said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Jobs also has been on medical leave since January, which means he technically isn't working for the company in an executive capacity.

Q: But Jobs is an iconic figure and Apple's fortunes seem to rise and fall with his health. Shouldn't that require greater disclosure?
A: If information isn't deemed "material," then the decision to disclose lies in the hands of Apple's board, said Alexa A. Perryman, a professor of management at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. She said the SEC rules lack specific guidelines regarding executive health disclosures, which means corporate directors have discretion over what kind of information they decide to tell the public. "It's a fuzzy, gray area of what is required," Perryman said. "There is certainly interest among investors, but that doesn't mean they have a right to know." However, even though Apple isn't required to disclose information about Jobs' health, it might make sense for the company to do so -- even if that can rattle the stock. When Jobs announced in January that he was taking a leave of absence through June because his medical problems were more complex than he initially though, Apple shares sank 7 percent. Apple's stock fell more than 1 percent on Monday to around $138 a share in the first day of trading since the transplant news came out on Saturday. "From a legal standpoint, Apple doesn't have to disclose a thing. But from a transparency standpoint, they should disclose," said Elson, from the University of Delaware. He says that even though Jobs' health may be his personal business, Jobs represents so much of the Apple brand that investors deserve to be updated on the status of his health.

Q: Will Apple ever have to disclose the liver transplant?
A: No. "This can be deemed a private situation and can be kept confidential," said G. William Speer, senior counsel at the law firm Bryan Cave in Atlanta. "The information only has to be known by the board and the company." If Jobs returns to work in the coming weeks as the company says he plans to do, then there is even less likelihood that the company will feel the need to disclose any specifics relating to his transplant. J. Robert Brown, a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, said even though investors would like to get updates about his health, "the courts are going to be hesitant to require companies to disclose medical histories." That may be particularly true in this case, Brown said, because the transplant apparently didn't impede Jobs' ability to return to Apple. Even though companies for the most part don't have to disclose CEO health issues, many companies do -- but well after the fact. Perryman, who has studied corporate health disclosures, has found many companies wait until the executive is healthy again to tell investors about the problem.

WFAA-online

Theater Summer of Shakespeare in Dallas-Fort Worth
by Lawson Taitte
June 14, 2009

Between May and October, Dallas and Fort Worth will see no fewer than seven class-A productions of the Bard of Avon. The flurry started with Kitchen Dog Theater's visceral Titus Andronicus last month and will culminate in October with the Dallas Theater Center's first show at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts' new Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Summer, though, sees the peak activity. Fort Worth inaugurated the new Trinity Shakespeare Festival with two shows this week, and Shakespeare Dallas will begin its three-play season Wednesday with The Taming of the Shrew. And this list doesn't include many smaller companies, like Fort Worth's Condensed Shakespeare Guild, which opens Friday.

"I don't think you can get too much," says T.J. Walsh, the Texas Christian University professor who just founded Trinity Shakespeare Festival. "He's arguably the greatest storyteller in the English language. You can get too much of bad stories, but not of good ones."

Fort Worth had a long tradition of outdoor performances by Shakespeare in the Park, but that company folded after its 2001 season. Walsh saw a void, got a TCU grant for community outreach and has assembled casts mixing professional actors and theater students. His theaters are indoors – a Shakespearean festival niche that hasn't been filled here before.

According to Walsh, one reason for concentrating on Shakespeare is economics.

"Shakespeare's name value brings in the public," he says. "Our production of Hamlet brought people to TCU who had never come before. People show up for Shakespeare who wouldn't come to Marlowe or the Jacobean playwrights. And if you're doing Shakespeare, grants come in and you get corporate interest."

A young, New York-based director with a growing reputation for mounting the classics, Alexander Burns, whom Walsh hired to stage Romeo and Juliet in Fort Worth, points out that the National Endowment for the Arts "has continued to spend more of their money in promoting specifically Shakespeare" than on other theatrical projects.

"By and large, the statistic of so much Shakespeare in such a short time is an encouraging one," Kelly says. "It suggests we have a increasingly large commitment to a very good thing."Plan your life

• Shakespeare Dallas performs The Taming of the Shrew and Merry Wives of Windsor (TX) through July 25 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre, 1500 Tenison Parkway. 214-559-2778. www.shakespearedallas.com.

• Trinity Shakespeare Festival presents Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet through June 28 at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth. 817-257-5770. www.trinityshakes.org.

Patient wants right to refuse electroshocks
AP story
May 14, 2009

The court order authorizing electroshock treatments for Ray Sandford says that when he arrived at a psychiatric hospital early last year, he was "grossly psychotic" and violent toward staff and other patients.

Sandford, who has been declared legally incompetent, said he agreed to the treatments at first, but after more than 40 of them he finds it hard to remember names and other things. His bipolar disorder is under control, he says, and he should have the right to say no.

The court disagrees, but advocates of the mentally ill who call themselves the "mad pride" movement have rallied to his defense.

Two court-appointed examiners — a psychiatrist and a psychologist — reported to the court last summer that Sandford had improved significantly as a result of the ECT and drug therapy, but they agreed he remained a danger to himself and needed continued ECT. He failed to persuade a judge last December to stop the treatments.

Pamela Stuntz, a psychology professor at Texas Christian University who hasn't been involved in the case, said the fact that Sandford was moved into a less restrictive setting suggests that "the people who've been treating him have been doing a very good job."

For a complete story, visit http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-12-electroshock_N.htm.

Analysis: Cheney attacks may not help GOP
by Steven R. Hurst
May 13, 2009

To the chagrin, perhaps, of Republicans looking to rebuild the tattered party, Dick Cheney has grabbed the spotlight.

The recurring theme of the once-reclusive and largely unpopular former vice president: President Barack Obama has put Americans in danger of a new terrorist attack by promising to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and banning torture.

When Obama took office, former President George W. Bush went quietly to his new house in Texas, slipped intentionally into anonymity and honored protocol by staying silent about his successor.
But Cheney, widely remembered for heading to undisclosed secure locations at times of national crisis and for working invisibly behind the scenes, has done just the opposite.

"He sees himself in a position where his legacy is called into question, and he wants to get his story out before history gels," said Jim Riddlesperger, professor of political science at Texas Christian University.

For a complete story, visit http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5is5VnvQUdDNozO5pjszrt6BK72LgD98571LG0.

Lizards Sunbathe for Better Health
They sun themselves to keep warm and to produce vitamin D.
by LiveScience Staff, LiveScience
April 21, 2009

Lizards and other cold-blooded critters bask in the sun to keep warm. But they also do it for the vitamin D, a new study finds.

"It's a longstanding assumption that thermoregulation is the only reason that lizards bask," said study leader Kristopher Karsten, a biologist at Texas Christian University. "Our results suggest that in addition to thermoregulation, vitamin D regulation appears to have a significant impact on basking behavior as well."

For the complete story, visit http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/plants-animals/2009/04/21/lizards-sunbathe-for-better-health.html.

Laid-off alumni asking alma maters for help
by Scott Nishimura
04/18/2009

More alumni are returning to colleges this year — not just to visit, but to seek career help.

The schools are offering their career centers for assessments, launching support groups, running more networking receptions and calling on employed alumni for help.

Texas Christian University waived the $350 charge for the 100 employers who exhibited at the university's spring job fair this year.

The added demand from stressed alumni, who have either been laid off or are worried about their jobs, has put a strain on the university career centers that are already working to help soon-to-graduate students find jobs.

"Whenever I hear of a company having layoffs, I immediately think of how that's going to affect us," said LaTanya Johns, director of the Graduate Career Service Center at TCU's Neeley School of Business. Johns is handling all of the Neeley MBA alumni who "are coming back," allowing her staff of five to focus on helping students about to graduate. About 60 alumni are actively using Neeley's services, many since the holidays.

TCU's career-services unit, which often teams up with Johns, has seen a 400 percent increase in the number of alumni seeking help in the last five or six months, said John Thompson, executive director. Typically, the department will see 20 to 30 alumni in a school year. Already this year, "we're over 100," Thompson said.

Sites like Monster and CareerBuilder took a big bite out of traditional newspaper job listings within the last several years. But potential employers and headhunters are increasingly bypassing those sites and using stealthier networking tools to find candidates.

"You're not going to see a lot of the positions advertised somewhere," Johns said. "You're going to learn about them through a professional association mixer. You really have to rely on face-to-face interaction and less on technology."

One ray of sunshine for universities is that alumni who are still employed are offering to help.

At TCU Career Services, Thompson has also been changing things. Besides waiving the fee for employers at this spring's job fair, Thompson is adding networking receptions for specific majors, such as nursing, oil and gas, and anthropology.

Gov. Rick Perry says secession is on Texans' minds
by Anna Tinsley
April 15, 2009

Don't mess with Texas. Or else.

That's the message Gov. Rick Perry sent to officials in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday after he attended a tea party rally in Austin.

He said the federal government has strayed somewhat from what our founders wanted and is choking Americans with excessive spending and taxation.

Although Perry made it clear that he doesn't see the need to secede and isn't advocating it, he said there's no question that it's on the mind of some Texans. That was obvious at tea parties around the state, where "Secede" was a popular sign slogan.

"Texas is a unique place," the governor told reporters in Austin. "When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that.

"My hope is that America, and Washington in particular, pays attention," he said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot, to boot."

Perry stressed later in an interview with the Star-Telegram that he never specifically said that Texas should consider trying to secede.

"America is a great country, and Texas wants to stay in that union and help our way out of this" economic downturn, Perry said. "I'm trying to make Washington pay attention to the 10th Amendment. We are Americans, proud Texans, and we will do everything we can to get America back on track."

The Civil War pretty much settled whether a state -- even Texas -- could secede, said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University. Perry's statements were likely delivered with an eye toward the 2010 race, Riddlesperger said.

"Gov. Perry, like others in the country, are frustrated with tax rates and the growth of the national government," Riddlesperger said. "Certainly that's understandable.

"But for him, Kay Bailey Hutchison is probably going to run against him, and he wants to position himself so that he can say she's part of the big government in Washington and he is not."