The Best and the Worst of the Week
Nancy P. Hunt ,
director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the University
of New Orleans, has won the 2003 Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching,
Learning and Technology. The award, granted annually by the International Conference
on College Teaching and Learning to honorees worldwide, recognizes creativity,
innovative strategies and the use of technology to support higher education
learning.
Laura Maloney,
executive director of the Louisiana SPCA, has been asked to serve on a prestigious
national board that develops programs and identifies issues concerning animal
care and shelters. The 12 members on the Humane Society of the United States'
National Companion Advisory Group are "the best and brightest" animal welfare
and shelter experts in the United States, says HSUS Regional Coordinator Jay
Sabatucci, who nominated Maloney.
Some
Louisiana prosecutors
between 1970 and 2003 -- particularly in Orleans Parish -- consistently committed
errors and improprieties, such as the withholding of evidence, that led to unfair
trials and convictions. That's according to a study released last week by the
Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity, which listed 27 convictions
or sentences in Louisiana that were reversed on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct.
The Louisiana Legislature
shirked a federal court-ordered settlement designed to expand funding for home-based
care for the elderly and disabled, a program slated to start last week. Legislators
instead cut $10 million from its planned $38 million allotment and ordered the
Department of Health and Hospitals to delay the program for three months and petition
the federal court to scale back the agreed terms.
