USA TODAY articles from April 2004

USA TODAY archives from April 2004

What if terrorists wipe out congress?(National Affairs)
April 1, 2004... Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, just about every aspect of national security has been debated, but very few of them have implications that could shake the core of the country's legal underpinnings--the Constitution. One such...

No killing in future conflicts.(Weapons Of War)
April 1, 2004... New cutting-edge technologies will help make war faster and safer for combatants in the next decade. They even may make it unnecessary. Advances in weaponry. sensors, intelligence, and communications will render tomorrow's conflicts totally...

Open markets promote democracy.(Worldview)
April 1, 2004... Free trade and a liberated population tend to go hand-in-hand. The most economically open countries today are three times more likely to enjoy full political and civil freedoms than those that are financially restrictive. Nations that are...

War on terror hits crime shows.(Entertainment)
April 1, 2004... In television's portrayal of law and justice, civil liberties have become public enemy number one, maintains Elayne Rapping, professor of media study, University at Buffalo (N.Y.), and author of Law and Justice as Seen on TV. Crime, criminals,...

Abuse underreported in many states.(The Elderly)
April 1, 2004... Although all states have laws and services in place to detect domestic elder abuse, only about one in five actual cases is reported and sub stantiated. How cases are detected and dispatched differs significantly across the nation because laws...

Noteworthy.(brief items )
April 1, 2004... Providing financial support to parents or other elderly relatives is a common practice today. Often. this financial sacrifice can be offset by claiming certain tax benefits, such as medical expenses. Beyond that deduction, a parent or elderly...

Inviting consumers to imagine themselves.(Advertising)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A "product is not really how you see yourself, but it is an idealized image of what you'd like to be," explains Carolyn de la Pena, an assistant professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and a former branding...

Bands and brands need loyal fans.(Marketing)
April 1, 2004... Most companies spend a lot of time and energy trying to find and keep customers. What they really should be doing, however, is creating fans, indicates Roger Blackwell, professor of marketing, Ohio State University, Columbus. America's staid,...

Perfect mom image impossible to attain.(Mass Media)(The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women)(Book Review)
April 1, 2004... Women should not allow the media to define what the "perfect mom" is because they will suffer from guilt and low self-esteem trying to achieve an impossible goal, asserts Susan Douglas, a communications studies professor at the University of...

Heartburn pill deters ulcers.(Medication)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... For those who take certain pain-killer drugs regularly to help ease arthritis pain or other chronic aches, the relief comes with a price: a quadrupled chance of developing ulcers over the longer term, as their digestive systems brim with acid...

Preferential transfers not always legitimate.(Bankruptcy)
April 1, 2004... It is a phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. As bankruptcy filings continue to increase, debtors and trustees are becoming much more aggressive in demanding that creditors return payments received prior to the bankruptcy filing. That is...

Pre-Nup cohabitation promotes divorce.(Relationships)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Even though more than half of couples now do it, compared with only 10% 30 years ago, living together before marriage still is linked to higher rates of troubled unions, divorce, and separation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park,...

Interracial marriages common in military.(Armed Forces)
April 1, 2004... Interracial marriages are more likely to occur within the military than outside it. Moreover, these unions nearly have doubled over the last 20 years. Contributing factors include diverse national recruitment, international exposure, and...

Employee giving in an age of skepticism.(Philanthropy)
April 1, 2004... "Creative" accounting practices; bigwigs who duplicitously line their own pockets at the expense of workers; financial mismanagement that leads to reams of bad publicity. If this list sounds like snippets from news stories about corporate...

New wives abide by hubby's imbibing.(Marriage)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... A wife tends to adapt to a husband's drinking behavior during the first year of marriage, with his alcohol consumption influencing who they choose as friends and the role of drinking in their social life. maintains the University at Buffalo...

Men and women are from mars.(Life In America)
April 1, 2004... It turns out men and women are not from different planets after all, relates research from a Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., interpersonal communication specialist. For more than a decade, Americans have bought books and games based on...

Why girls go delinquent.(Teenagers)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Girls who go through puberty earlier than their peers are more likely to be involved in delinquency, but not for the reasons often suspected, according to an Ohio State University, Columbus, study. It has long been speculated that...

Psych classes psych athletes.(Sports Medicine)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Collegiate athletes may be able to perform better in their sports by spending more time in the classroom, according to an Ohio State University, Columbus, study. Student-athletes who took a semester-long academic class that focused on...

Curt responses simply unacceptable.(Adolescents)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... If your teenager tries to shut you out with terse, one-word responses when you are trying to have a conversation, keep on communicating, advises psychologist Lauren Solotar of the May Institute, Norwood, Mass. Though difficult at times, it is...

Reigning glory: 18th century Franch engraving.(Museums Today)("Prints and Illustrated Books in 18th-Century France" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art)(Critical Essay)
April 1, 2004... One of the most innovative epochs in the history of printmaking--from the extravagances of the royal court to the beginning of the French Revolution--is celebrated in the exhibition "To Instruct and Delight: Prints and Illustrated Books in...

Drinking buddies undo PSAs.(College Life)
April 1, 2004... College students' drinking behaviors are influenced more by their perceptions of their friends' drinking than by social norms marketing campaigns that encourage students to "go along with the crowd," according to a University of Iowa, Ames,...

Children valuables as cultural interpreters.(Bilingualism)
April 1, 2004... Bilingual children who act as linguistic and cultural interpreters should be viewed as an asset to American society, not a liability, argues Guadalupe Valdes, professor of education, Stanford (Calif.) University. "In many countries, to be...

Fifth-graders, collegians equal in accounting.(Education)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Gifted and talented fifth-graders are able to understand basic accounting nearly as well as college sophomores, maintains a case study from Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. Sixteen fifth-grade students scored almost as well as their college...

Isolated girls most at risk.(Suicide)
April 1, 2004... Parents probably can get no more devastating news than that their child has committed suicide. Why such tragedies occur has been studied widely and debated strongly, but what is clear is that suicide among U.S. teens has risen dramatically in...

Seeking new job at old position.(Employment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Finding time to pound the pavement is a common dilemma for employed job seekers. Yet, where there is a will, there is a way, indicates a survey developed by Accountemps, Menlo Park, Calif., a temporary staffing service for accounting, finance,...

Risk aversion slows recovery.(The Economy)
April 1, 2004... Risk taking--a vital ingredient to the last economic revival in the mid 1990s--appears to be lacking during this recovery, particularly among job seekers, maintains John Challenger of the international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &...

Job search woes for college grads.(Labor Market)
April 1, 2004... For the first time since the 2000-01 academic year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicts a 13% increase forecast in hiring new college graduates. However, there will be fiercer competition than ever seen for those jobs,...

Auguste Rodin's magnificent obsession.(Sculpture)
April 1, 2004... More than any sculptor of his age, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) revealed in his finished work the process of how he made each piece and so pioneered the self-referential aesthetic of modern art. In opposition to the academic standards of his era,...

Old homes pose dangers.(Remodeling)
April 1, 2004... As spring warms up and building projects around the house become more plentiful, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, Des Plaines, Ill., reminds homeowners to keep environmental hazards to a minimum during construction efforts....

Natural gas supplies a safe bet.(Energy)
April 1, 2004... Sudden price spikes have led to speculation that the U.S. is facing a critical shortage of natural gas. However, a study by the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) at Stanford (Calif.) University concludes that gas supplies are likely to meet growing...

IRS's "free" advice often wrong.(Income Taxes)
April 1, 2004... Each year, tens of millions of people seek help from the Internal Revenue Service during tax filing season and, too often, they are sorry for it. Remember the wisdom of the proverb, "You get what you pay for." While IRS advice comes with no...

Bush, USDA helping minorities.(Business & Finance)(Department of Agriculture )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... "Minority owned firms are key to creating economic prosperity," stresses Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman. "Ensuring that these entrepreneurs have access to the markets and resources they need to succeed is a major focus of...

The changing face of American farms.(Agriculture)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The National Agricultural Statistics Service has announced the state and national demographic data from the Census of Agriculture, which is conducted every five years; the first was taken in conjunction with the 1840 population census. Remarks...

When a life and a death are commemorated in a taste.(Philosophy)
April 1, 2004... The next time you are about to pop a chunk of moldy Gorgonzola, lamb's lung, aged beef, or urine-scented kidney into your mouth, consider its meaning. "Part of the experience of this sort of meal," theorizes Carolyn Korsmeyer, professor of...