South Bend, Indiana; August 6, 2008

Local

Obama Visits Concord High: Barack Obama arrived at South Bend Regional Airport last night for his scheduled speech today at Concord High School in Elkhart.

The Obama campaign staff would not confirm the rumor that the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was going to use the occasion to name Indiana Senator Evan Bayh as his running mate. Bayh was scheduled to appear with Obama at Concord.

Traffic Delayed at Bronson-Michigan Viaduct: Traffic was delayed yesterday afternoon at the intersection of Bronson and Michigan—two blocks north of CFH—when a semi-trailer got wedged in the viaduct.

Traffic had to be re-routed two blocks west to Lafayette Street for an hour or two.

Free Press Sports

Silver Hawks 3, Lugnuts 0: The Hawks (28-16) increased their lead to two games over second-place Dayton and four games over the first half-season champion Lansing Lugnuts at the Cove last night.

Starting pitcher Tom Layne (W 5-3) Jeff Dietz, and Clay Zavada (S, 4) combined for a 4-hitter.

Taylor Harbin had three hits—including an RBI-double in South Bend’s 2-run seventh.

Collin Cowgill, Harbin, and Sean Coughlin had consecutive doubles in the seventh.

Cowgill and Coughlin each had two hits. Matt Oxendine also had a single and an RBI-double.

The two teams meet again tonight, Thursday, and Friday at 7 p.m.

MLB NL: Cubs 11, Astros 7; Marlins 8, Phillies 2; Mets 6, Padres 5; Brewers 8, Reds 1; Cardinals 6, Dodgers 4 (11); Rockies 8, Nationals 2; Diamondbacks 3, Pirates 1; Braves 11, Giants 4.

MLB AL: White Sox 10, Tigers 8 (14); Red Sox 8, Royals 2; Blue Jays 4, Athletics 3; Rangers 8, Yankees 6; Orioles 3, Angels 0; Mariners 8, Twins 7.

MLS Superliga Final: New England 3, Houston 2. .

WNBA Scores: No games scheduled during Olympics.

Olympic Women’s Soccer: Norway 2, USA 0 (partial score, end of first half).

Weather

Today High 83 Low 59 Partly Cloudy

Thu High 81 Low 58 Partly Cloudy

Fri High 76 Low 56 Partly Cloudy

Sat High 76 Low 56 Partly Cloudy

Sun High 79 Low 61 Partly Cloudy

TV Schedule: 16—8-10 p.m., Baby Borrowers (two episodes); 22—8 p.m., Greatest American Dog; 9 p.m., Criminal Minds; 25—8 p.m., America’s Next Top Model; 9 p.m., Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious; 28—8-10 p.m., So You Think You Can Dance (two-hour episode); 46—8 p.m., Lester Sumrall Teaching; 8:30 p.m., Making Healthy Choices; 9 p.m., Harvest; 57—8 p.m., Wife Swap; 9 p.m., Supernanny; 69---8-9 p.m., Twilight Zone (two episodes); 9-10 p.m., Whacked-Out Videos.

Uncle Ron’s Ramblings

Emily Leaving for Africa: Fans and friends of CFH administrative assistant Emily Pickerell are having to deal with a double dose of bad news.

Not only is she leaving shortly for Africa on a Fulbright Fellowship, it appears that she will have to put her acting career on hold.

In spite of her busy schedule at CFH the last 20 months, Emily found time to be the star of two South Bend Civic Theater Productions.

In addition to Emily’s administrative duties, she supervised the planting at the garden north of the CFH buildings and in the planters on the sidewalk. She also edited the CFH Artistic Newsletter.

Emily’s last day at CFH will be Friday, August 22.

She will be living and working in Tunis, the capital city.

Tunisia is on the northeast Mediterranean Coast of Africa; it was formerly part of French North Africa. It is bordered on the west by Algeria and on the southeast by Libya. The seacoast runs for 3,200 miles on the north and east of the country.

The Sahara Desert takes up 40% of the country; the other 60% has some of the most fertile farmland in Africa.

Tunis was built on the site of the ancient city of Carthage. The ruins are still located by the sea--outside the modern city--just as they were in the movie “Patton” when they were visited by Generals George S. Patton and Omar Bradley.

Tunisia was the sight of two major World War II battles: Kasserine Pass—the worst debacle in U.S. military history since Little Big Horn—and the allied victory at el-Alemein.

Tunisia has been ruled by the Phoenicians (it was they who founded Carthage), Romans, Normans, Berbers, and Ottomans, in addition to the French. The French kept the Bey system of leadership installed by the Ottomans.

Tunisia became an independent republic in 1956 and the last Bey headed for the Bay in 1957. He was replaced by a president.

The president formerly ruled for life. Now he is elected for a five-year term (s). He appoints the prime minister and cabinet. The legislature consists of two chambers.

The country is 98% Muslim, mostly Sunni. The president appoints the Grand Mufti of the Republic and mosques are state-owned.