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STRAIGHT STUFF
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, an assistant professor at UT Austin and a founding member of the DFW Network of Hispanic Communicators, will discuss "Hispanics in Education" as the keynote presentation at the Network's Scholarship Awards Reception on Tuesday, May 4, at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak in Dallas. The reception starts at 6 p.m. followed by the program at 7:15. Tickets are $45 at the door. The RSVP deadline has passed, but there still might be a plate of food for you. Contact info@dfwhispanic.org or go to dfwhispanic.org. ...
Star-Telegram health reporter Mitch Mitchell is the invited guest at the quarterly meeting of PRSA's Health Care Special Interest Group on Wednesday, May 5, noon-1 p.m. in the large auditorium at the American Heart Association Tarrant County office, 2401 Scott Ave. RSVP for lunch to Sherry Miller at sherrymiller@texashealth.org, or call (817) 882-2550. ...
Glenda Thompson of Gestures Marketing will lead a discussion at the next PRSA Consultants Group meeting -- 11:15 a.m. Friday, May 21, at Central Market -- of what it's like working as a PR professional in the frantic, sometimes unprofessional environment of politics. Expect insights from someone who's "been there, done that" and would probably do it again. ...
Volunteers are needed for PRSA's community service committee. Contact Julie O'Neil at j.oneil@tcu.edu. ... The 2004 IABC District 5 Silver Quill call for entries is coming soon. Info at iabcusd5.com. ... PRSA national has added "Career Tools" as a member benefit. The Internet-based product offers job and career management tips, including search steps, assessments, networking and research resources, plus an online community where participants exchange ideas. Go to prsa.org/_Membership/benefits/index.asp?ident=index0. ...
The Religion Newswriters Foundation is offering up to $5,000 per person to journalists taking college-level courses on religion. The new Lilly Scholarships in Religion are part of $50,000 available this year to help full-time journalists working in the general-circulation media cover tuition, books and fees at any accredited college, university or seminary. Deadlines are quarterly, with the next being July 1. More at religionwriters.com, or contact Jennifer Pearce at (614) 891-9001 ext. 3 or pearce@religionwriters.com.
SPJ national update: Maybe if the memo had come with Mapsco coordinates, and just a lie in the heat of prattle. President Bush said that a memo he received a month before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" "said nothing about an attack on America." National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, in testimony to the independent commission investigating the attacks, spoke of a government on high alert that summer. The president "had us at battle stations during this period of time," she said. On the day after receiving the memo, reporters ran into Bush manning fortifications at the Ridgewood Country Club in Waco. He seemed carefree. "No mulligans, except on the first tee," he said to laughter. Bush spent most of August 2001 on his Crawford ranch. His staff said at the time that the biggest issues on his agenda were federal funding of stem-cell research, education, immigration and Social Security. More here and here. ... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign had no evidence that a woman accusing him of sexual assault had a police record before it e-mailed reporters that they should check her background. Other court documents filed in Rhonda Miller's libel suit revealed that the campaign had sent an earlier e-mail that also suggested that the 53-year-old stuntwoman had a criminal record. Within hours of sending the e-mails, the documents show, Schwarzenegger's campaign determined that Miller had no record but never issued a clarification or an apology. More here.
SPJ national update II: Scalded by Scalia, more fallout from weapons of mass distraction, and supporting the troops. Reporters from the AP and The Hattiesburg American were ordered to erase their tape recordings of a speech April 7 by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at a Hattiesburg high school. A deputy federal marshal confronted the AP reporter in the front row of the auditorium while Scalia talked on stage about the Constitution. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press protested, as did the Radio-Television News Directors Association and SPJ. Scalia later apologized to the reporters and said he is revising his policy to permit recording his speeches. More here and here. ... Since the 9-11 attacks, the administration has faced an exodus of counterterrorism professionals, many disappointed by a preoccupation with Iraq that they say undermines the terrorism fight. Former counterterrorism officials said at least half a dozen have left the White House Office for Combating Terrorism or related agencies. More here. ... The Army is conducting medical tests on GIs who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq. Of nine members of an Orangeburg, N.Y., National Guard unit examined by a doctor at the request of the New York Daily News, four had "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from spent U.S. artillery shells containing depleted uranium, the newspaper reported April 5. Six of the nine contacted the paper after unsuccessfully appealing to the Army for testing. More here.
