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Urbana

DAILYCITIZEN Informing Champaign County Since 1838

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010 50 CENTS

SPORTS Ohio one of 16 ‘Race to the Top’ finalists

Staff and wire reports
MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Department of
Education named 16 finalists Thursday in the
first round of its “Race to the Top” competition,
which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform
grants.
Selected from a pool of 41 applicants are
Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina,
Graham Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
Carolina and Tennessee. The winners will be
heading for chosen in April, and a second round of applica-
tions accepted in June.
another title “These states are an example for the country
Graham advanced 10 of what is possible when adults come together
to do the right thing for children,” U.S.
wrestlers to the champi- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.
onship quarterfinals at In Champaign County, Mechanicsburg
state on Thursday ... Exempted Village, Graham Local and West
See Page B-1
Liberty-Salem Local school districts applied for
the grant.
A statement from Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland
and State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Deborah Delisle was released Thursday by the
Ohio Department of Education.
In it they state, “This is an exciting day for
education in Ohio. The Race to the Top process
has been and will continue to be extremely com-
petitive, but Ohio crafted a strong application of
which we can all be proud.
“We’ve made a major commitment to Ohio
schools, because we believe that providing
every Ohio child with high-quality educational
opportunities will better prepare them for jobs
and for life. Our selection as a finalist moves
Ohio one step closer to receiving Race to the
Top funds. It also confirms the progress Ohio is
making through our transformational education
reform plan.”
The grants are designed to reward states that
have adopted and will continue innovative
reforms to improve student performance. The
money is part of President Barack Obama’s eco-
nomic stimulus law, which provided an unprece-
dented $100 billion for schools. Much of that
has gone toward preventing teacher layoffs and
addressing other budget concerns. The $4.35
billion “Race to the Top” fund is targeted specif-
ically for education reform.
Applications were read and scored by panels
of five peer reviewers. Those with the highest
average score were selected to visit Washington
later this month to present their proposals. The
Education Department said it expects no more
than half of the money to be awarded in the first
phase of the competition.
Duncan said they are setting a high bar in
the first phase and anticipate few winners.
See ‘Race’ on Page A-2

State wrestling competition begins

County Land
Preservation
holds annual
meeting
Special to the Citizen
The public is invited to
Champaign Land Preserva-
Mechanicsburg's Kyle
tion’s Annual Meeting,
Tuesday, March 16 at 7 p.m. Reese battles Fairport
Margaret Piatt, Assistant Harbor's J.C. Giffin in the
Professor of Theater at 140-pound weight class on
Urbana University, will Thursday during the first
speak about land use over round of the state wrestling
180 years on her Logan meet at the Jerome
County family farm. “They Schottenstein Center in
Lived Long on the Land: A Columbus.
Case Study of One Ohio
Farm Family” is the title of
her talk, illustrated with arti-
facts from the family muse-
um collection.
There will be refresh-
ments and a short business
meeting.
The meeting will be held
in the Urbana Township
Building, 2564 state Route
54, just east of the intersec-
Citizen photo by Alex Howell
tion of Hickory Grove Road
and Urbana-Moorefield
Pike.

Application Toyota secretive on ‘black box’ data

for grant to
be discussed
Citizen Staff Report
The city of Urbana will
hold a public meeting at 6
p.m. Monday in the munici-
pal building concerning a
request for a $3 million
Clean Ohio Revitalization
Fund grant to clean up and
redevelop the former paper
mill plant at 700 W. Court St.
Obama tries
to get more
U.S. visitors
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Barack Obama
has signed a bill creating a
program to promote the
U.S. as a premier tourism
destination for international
travelers.
The U.S. Travel
Association calls it a major
step in addressing the drop-
off in such visits to the U.S.
during the past decade. The
association says the U.S.
welcomed 2.4 million fewer
overseas visitors last year
than in 2000.
The bill is H.R. 1299.
SOUTHLAKE, Texas (AP) — Toyota has for AP also found that Toyota: lems, triggering an avalanche of lawsuits.
years blocked access to data stored in devices — Has frequently refused to provide key When Toyota was asked by the AP to explain
similar to airline “black boxes” that could information sought by crash victims and sur- what exactly its recorders do collect, a company
explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended vivors. statement said Thursday that the devices
acceleration, according to an Associated Press — Uses proprietary software in its EDRs. record data from five seconds before until two
review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews Until this week, there was only a single laptop in seconds after an air bag is deployed in a crash.
with auto crash experts. the U.S. containing the software needed to read The statement said information is captured
The AP investigation found that Toyota has the data following a crash. about vehicle speed, the accelerator’s angle,
been inconsistent — and sometimes even con- — In some lawsuits, when pressed to provide gear shift position, whether the seat belt was
tradictory — in revealing exactly what the recorder information Toyota either settled or used and the angle of the driver’s seat.
devices record and don’t record, including criti- provided printouts with the key columns blank. There was no initial mention of brakes — a
cal data about whether the brake or accelerator Toyota’s “black box” information is emerging key point in the sudden acceleration problem.
pedals were depressed at the time of a crash. as a critical legal issue amid the recall of 8 mil- When AP went back to Toyota to ask specifical-
By contrast, most other automakers routine- lion vehicles by the world’s largest automaker. ly about brake information, Toyota responded
ly allow much more open access to information The National Highway Transportation Safety that its EDRs do, in fact, record “data on the
from their event data recorders, commonly Administration said this week that 52 people brake’s position and the antilock brake system.”
known as EDRs. have died in crashes linked to accelerator prob- See ‘Toyota’ on Page A-2
Retail sales post strongest gains since late ‘07
NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers the broad strength.”
returned to the nation’s malls last He added, there’s still uncertain-
month, buying a surprising amount ty about whether such a robust
of spring clothing and other items pace can be sustained, particularly
and helping stores post the later this year when the sales fig-
strongest retail sales since ures are being compared with
November 2007, a month before more stabilized spending patterns.
the recession began. The February sales report was
The better-than-expected 3.7 the third consecutive monthly
percent gain reported Thursday increase, according to the ICSC.
showed that Americans are still The monthly index excludes Wal-
thrifty, but they are letting go of Mart Stores Inc., which stopped
some of the frugality brought on by reporting monthly sales last year.
the economic downturn. And many Shoppers shrugged off snow-
are willing to spend for certain storms and worries about the econ-
higher-end goods. omy to visit a broad array of mer-
Consumers “are now starting to chants, from luxur y retailer
go back to where they had typical- Nordstrom to middlebrow Macy’s
ly shopped” before the recession, Inc. to discounter Target Corp., AP photo
said Michael Niemira, chief econo- which all reported solid sales
mist at the International Council of increases that beat Wall Street ana- Shoppers crowd through Century 21 department store on Wednesday in
Shopping Centers, who expected a lysts’ estimates. New York. Many retailers report sales gains, even in the face of falling
2 percent gain. “I’m surprised by See ‘Retail’ on Page A-2 consumer confidence and snowstorms that hammered the East Coast.

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