USA TODAY articles from April 2002

USA TODAY archives from April 2002

Does the Internet represent the future of voting? (Technology).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Elections of the future may be more convenient, accurate, and faster for voters and election officials if researchers can improve the technology for voting via the Internet. Another factor is whether election officials can entice voters to use...

Technological potential of online government. (Internet).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Governments worldwide are not using the full technological potential of the Internet, a survey conducted by the London-based World Markets Research Center found. Out of 196 nations audited, the U.S. was one of only three that scored more than...

During the 2000 presidential election. (Noteworthy).(lost votes)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... During the 2000 presidential election, 4-6,000,000 votes were lost due to problems with ballots, equipment, registration, or polling place errors. According to experts at MIT, Cambridge, Mass., and California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,...

America's businesses. (Noteworthy).(failure to reward employees)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... America's businesses are doing a poor job in rewarding a job well-done, a survey of executives by OfficeTeam, a staffing firm for administrative professionals, discovered. Though 64% said companies are effective in acknowledging top performers,...

A tight job market. (Noteworthy).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A tight job market will mean that college seniors must start their search as soon as possible, suggests Jeannine Harrold, director of the Career Center, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. While the sluggish economy has forced many companies to...

Managing time. (Noteworthy).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Managing time is the greatest challenge facing executives today, according to a survey by RHI Management Resources, a consulting services firm providing accounting and finance professionals on a project basis. Time management was cited by 35%,...

Mothers who lack confidence in the parenting skills of men are likely to limit the involvement of fathers in raising their children, say Jay Fagan and Marina Barnett, professors of social administration, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. (Noteworthy).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Mothers who lack confidence in the parenting skills of men are likely to limit the involvement of fathers in raising their children, say Jay Fagan and Marina Barnett, professors of social administration, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa....

More than half of American children. (Noteworthy).(children and organized sports)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... More than half of American children play organized sports each year, but about 70% of them quit by the time they reach 13 and even more have dropped out by 15. Douglas Abrams, a University of Missouri-Columbia law professor who has coached...

Health. (Noteworthy).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Health was rated the most-important attribute to have by 53% of those surveyed by the American Heart Association, outdistancing love (39%), money (seven percent), and fame (one percent).

Mushrooms. (Noteworthy).(toxicology)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Mushrooms that sprout up in lawns following heavy rains may be deadly, warns Brett Roth, assistant professor of emergency medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "Consider all mushrooms toxics," he recommends....

As nations shrink, city-states may multiply. (Governance).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Nation-states will probably yield more of their authority to local governments in the decades to come, according to Maurice Strong, a longtime United Nations official and consultant. "We may see a reemergence of a modern version of the...

Ecstasy usage increasing among teenagers. (Drug Abuse).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... Use of the drug ecstasy continued to rise among American teenagers in 2001, following sharp increases among young adults and adolescents in recent years, but the rate of growth finally is beginning to slow. That result comes from the national...

Protecting against physical disaster. (Business).(disaster recovery planning)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... As the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 so vividly illustrated, a business can be struck by disaster at any time. While most will never be hit by terrorists, physical disasters can take many forms, including earthquakes, vandalism, floods,...

Fascinating and frightening facts and legends. (Drugs).(narcotics)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse, by Paul M. Gahlinger, published by Sagebrush Press, includes a number of facts and anecdotes concerning drug use through the ages. Typical are the following: * The...

Antiterrorism legislation may face backlash. (Civil Liberties).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A backlash against antiterrorism legislation passed following the Sept. 11 attacks will grow, leading to a fierce struggle over civil liberty issues, predicts Sandra Braman, Reese Phifer Professor of Telecommunications and Film, University of...

Post-September 11 premiums soar. (Insurance).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the potential for other incidents, insurers are increasing rates, asking for higher premiums, and making terrorism coverage difficult to obtain, notes John Fitzgerald, an insurance expert at Ball...

Identifying countries with security problems. (Worldview).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... People who think and act internationally need a way to assess the potential risks of living or investing in a foreign country. How can they tell when a nation is unstable? "Stability is not a single factor, but a complex array of economic...

Attacks on food supply unlikely to succeed. (Terrorism).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Terrorists who intend to kill or seriously harm large numbers of people by attacking the U.S. food supply are unlikely to succeed, maintains Doug Archer, a food science professor at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural...

National database to trace animal diseases. (Bioterrorism).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... As America faces the threat of anthrax assaults, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames (Iowa) Laboratory are preparing a tool that could help in the battle against bioterrorism. The Identification and Documentation of Currently...

Post-September 11 search for safety. (Security).(psychologist makes forecasts for 2002)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Many Americans are likely to equate sameness with safety and, as a result, will be less likely to move from their homes during the year following the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, predicts Jerome Rosenberg, a University of Alabama,...

Being a good boss in bad times. (Management).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Push can come to shove for good managers when orders drop 50% or the economy slides into a recession, and downsizing becomes unavoidable. "There's a difference between being a good boss and being popular," argues John E. Lillich, professor...

Noise may endanger employees' health. (Workplace).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... For most office workers today, the dream of the big corner office is far cry from reality. Instead, current trends in office design have relegated 25,000,000 Americans to open-plan office space, or "cube farms," where a sense of teamwork and...

Evaluating employees the right way. (Personnel).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Employee evaluation should start early, when management, using a focused selection process, chooses the right person for the job, argues Daniel O. Lybrook, associate professor of organizational leadership and supervision, Purdue University,...

Wired workplace demands adjustments. (Telecommuting).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... While numerous companies have been quick to adapt to the opportunities to do business using the Internet, they still are grappling with the management challenges the wired workplace presents. Nowhere are the challenges greater than in...

Baseball as America. (Museums).(exhibition examines relationship between baseball and society in the United States)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The first major exhibition to examine the relationship between baseball and American culture, currently at New York's American Museum of Natural History, will travel to nine museums across the nation. Organized by the National Baseball Hall of...

Fans fighting to retain teams. (Sports).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... When Major League Baseball threatened to eliminate the Minnesota Twins, fans rallied around the franchise like it was an old friend in dire need of help. They and local politicians were able to forestall contraction for 2002. The outpouring of...

M-commerce advocates should heed e-commerce failures. (Economics).("mobile commerce" - shopping over Internet using wireless devices)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The shine may be off e-commerce in the American economy, but that hasn't stopped some business people from getting excited about the "next big thing"--m-commerce. Mobile commerce will supposedly transform the economy by allowing customers to...

Not all ideas are good patent candidates. (Law).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Not every idea, product, or process invented by a company is a good candidate for a patent, maintains Jeffry W. Smith, a patent attorney with the Madison, Wis., law firm Lathrop & Clark LLP. "Each original idea, product, or process must be...

Avis, Sprint, and Nokia lead in customer loyalty. (Consumerism).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... Brands that best reflect customer values and concerns were the top performers in the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Leaders List for winter, 2001-02. The top 10 finishers were Avis, Sprint, Nokia, Budweiser, Motorola, Ritz-Carlton, AT&T, Miller...

Financial birthdays to remember in 2002. (Taxation).(tax laws pertinent to certain ages)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Sometime during this year, members of your family will celebrate their birthdays. Beyond simply being a year older, some of these birthdays may be financially significant because of tax or retirement reasons. According to the Financial Planning...

Should you tap your 401(k) in an emergency? (Finance).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... You or your spouse have just been laid off and money is tight. There sits your 401(k) plan, plump from several years of good returns, even after the current market slide, waiting for you to use it. Resist the temptation, say many financial...

Rewards of an active lifestyle. (Fitness).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Ever wonder why you feel cranky, stressed, and sleepy? times, the cause is physical inactivity. Don't worry if you are marathon runner or aerobics isn't your thing. The slightest movements--even simple stretching--and applying variety, balance,...

Physicians must be patients' advocates. (Disability).(cases of disability caused by work-related injuries)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... "Everyone loses when workers are injured or disabled for long periods of time. The insurer, employer, and society suffer the economic losses, while the employee suffers the individual loss from time off work, decreased income, and costly...

Is a raw food diet dangerous for dogs? (Pets).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The current fad of feeding Fido a raw meat diet may be detrimental to his health, according] to Lisa Newman, president of the International Natural Pet Care Association and author of eight books on natural pet care. She says that the daily...

Global warming may be nearly over. (Climate).(unorthodox reading of the greenhouse effect)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Global warming is a natural geological process that could begin to reverse itself within 10 to 20 years, predicts Robert Essenhigh, E.G. Bailey Professor of Energy Conservation, Ohio State University, Columbus. He suggests that atmospheric...

Old tires could be used to pep up turf. (Recycling).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... If anyone is wondering what to do with millions of recalled tires, a University of Florida, Gainesville, researcher has a suggestion: Grind them up and spread them on athletic fields and golf courses. Grady Miller, an assistant professor in the...

Helping plants withstand environmental stress. (Agriculture).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Imagine two crops of corn or soybeans each growing season. Plant in March; harvest in July. Plant another crop; harvest in November. What to most farmers would sound like pure foolishness could become a reality within a decade, according to Ray...

Parents disagree with lawmakers over reform. (Education).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... As education reform is debated by lawmakers in Washington, the sixth annual national survey by Horace Mann Educators Corporation reveals that American parents of school-age children have a different set of concerns than those addressed by the...

Ethically editing news photos digitally. (Journalism).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... DigitalCustom Group, Inc., San Francisco, has issued a set of ethical guidelines for the use of digital image editing in journalism. They are designed to assist news, travel, and nature editors in formatting internal policies for the ethical,...

Home furnishings with a patriotic motif. (Decorating).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Consumers who are looking to express their patriotic spirit at home will soon find a variety of ways to display the colors of Old Glory. From sofas to tables to baskets to lamps, the flag's colors and stars-and-stripes motifs can be found on...

Putting a halt to neighborhood decline. (Urban Life).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Rowdiness, teen loitering, public drinking, neighbors fighting, boarded-up houses, and graffiti are signs that a neighborhood may be on the verge of declining, according to creators of the "broken windows" theory. However, criminal justice...

Are you overtaxing your electrical system? (Home Safety).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The rise in highly equipped home offices, combined with today's increased technologies, means houses are inundated with computers, entertainment systems, and appliances that have caused electricity use to soar. "In today's homes, it is common...