Urban News

(AUSTIN, Texas) -- More time in the gym or on the playing field and less in the high school band or chorus room. That's the proposal that is being made in Austin, Texas, to revamp school schedules in the coming year.

According to the American-Statesman, the city's superintendent of schools, Pat Forgione, will pose the question of re-ordering priorities to parents and interested parties sometime next month.

The concept of having more P-E time was raised by the state's School Health Advisory Council. The deteriorating physical condition of students -- caused by bad diet and too little exercise, coupled with hours in front of the computer and television and driving rather than walking -- is of grave concern to experts on the panel.

But increased emphasis on physical fitness in schools would have both a positive and negative effect.

On the one hand, hiring more physical education teachers and providing more P-E time would free up classroom teachers for several hours a week so they can take care of grading papers and just unwind, if they have the time.

On the other hand, plans call for the extra classroom hours to be taken from time now used by band and chorus sessions. And the emphasis on sports to the detriment of the arts already has some people up in arms.

(PHOENIX) -- Teachers who feel that their lives are being threatened by students have a hard time switching schools. That's the assessment of the Arizona Republic. Under state law, it would appear that students have better protections of their personal safety than do teachers.

The publication says that nearly one of every 10 teachers in the state has reported threats of injury in the past year. The statistics were complied by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Legislation called the No Child Left Behind Act makes it possible for students who feel their lives are threatened by other students to ask for a transfer to a "safe" school.

No such protections, though, exist for teachers.

Sparking a renewal of the debate was the killing of three professors at the University of Arizona's College of Nursing in October.

(MEMPHIS) -- One of the cities most closely associated with the blues (the Beale Street area) and rock music (Elvis and Graceland) is living up to its heritage now that the holidays are here. In Memphis, music is everywhere. Over this past weekend there were caravans of carolers, some riding fire trucks. Even a brightly decorated trolley car made it way into the city center, decked out for Christmas, complete with singers.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal says that hundreds of thousands of church members are participating. Between the rehearsals and actual performances, it's tough not to hear some kind of music being sung at night in nearly every Memphis neighborhood.

One focal point of early celebrations over the weekend was the city's Praise of Zion Baptist Church. The publication says that a visiting choir from LeMoyne-Owen college "rocked the building" in its celebration of the Christmas season.

(MINNEAPOLIS) -- A major urban construction project is actually on schedule and within budget. Hard to believe? Just talk to city fathers in the Twin Cities. The massive metro light-rail project is more than 65 percent completed and right on track, financially.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says that although things are on track now, any construction delay or weather problem could throw the project into the read and behind deadline ... things are that tight.

The total rail project has an expected pricetag of more than $675 million.

Some recent unexpected costs, including bad soil in the right of way of part of the line, were offset by the elimination of several ordered rail cars and some landscaping projects.

The most recent statistics were revealed after construction was stopped for the winter on a major section called the Hiawatha Line.