Knox in the News

From The Register-Mail:
Anyone who watched Sesame Street circa 1990 may remember an animated video of a boy named Carl and his neighbor Frank the Fish…

Two decades later, five Knox College students are bringing the video and its message of water conservation into Galesburg and Knoxville elementary classrooms as part of a group project they’ve dubbed “Put a Stop to the Drop.”

Knox sophomore Hannah Basil of Chicago said the project, assigned in an environmental studies class called “Explorations and Opportunities in Sustainability,” was never meant to include community outreach.

“We could have done a water audit, or just looked at how Knox uses water,” said Basil. “But we started talking about what we could do, and …”

Basil’s group member and Knox College junior Carrie Danner of Roselle continued, “As soon as we talked about the idea of going into classrooms, we were just like, ‘Yep, that’s what we’re doing.’ It was more exciting sounding and a lot more influential.”

Basil, Danner, and three other group members – Dylan Reynolds of Jackson Heights, N.Y., and Amanda Wollarb and Kaylah Murphy, both of Knoxville – spent the next few weeks coordinating with area elementary school principals and teachers to enter their classrooms and present to students.

“Put a Stop to the Drop,” includes a PowerPoint presentation, interactive brainstorming session, a pledge to save water and more. The group donned matching T-shirts Tuesday and Thursday and visited Mable Woolsey Elementary, along with Silas Willard and Cooke schools.

The students are neither elementary education majors nor do they have much experience with young children in a classroom setting, but all said they’ve been pleasantly surprised with the outcome…

From Register-Mail:
Less than a week after being swept by rival Monmouth in a doubleheader, the Knox College baseball team returned the favor Saturday.

The Prairie Fire rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to win Game 1 7-6, then used a pair of big innings to roll past the Fighting Scots 14-4 in seven innings in the nightcap.

“It was good to see the kids compete hard, just like they have been the last two weeks,” said Knox coach Jami Isaacson, whose team snapped a six-game losing streak and picked up its first Midwest Conference victories of the season. “We finally got a few breaks and made the most of them.”

Knox (7-17, 2-6) trailed 6-3 after six innings in the opener but got within a run heading into its last at-bat. Bob Dempster’s one-out single tied the game, and the Fire won in walk-off fashion when Monmouth (16-9, 5-3) reliever Lucas Skul walked David Jewell with two outs to force in the winning run…

From The Register-Mail:

With farmers market season just around the corner, Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, visited Knox College on Monday to discuss a bill moving through the state legislature that could increase participation among local bakers and canners.

Koehler is the chief sponsor of SB 137 which seeks to deregulate some of the requirements small vendors have to go through to be able to sell homemade baked goods or canned items at farmers markets.

As a small business operator, Koehler and his wife sell bread and other baked goods at farmers markets. He said current law, which calls for all value-added food items to be produced in a commercial kitchen, can be “very cost-prohibitive” to would-be entrepreneurs.

Koehler said SB 137 — soon to be SB 840, due to problems in the House — would only apply to sellers of “non-harzardous foods,” such as baked goods, relishes, salsas, jellies and jams. It would require a food sanitation license and a label that states “homemade and not subject to state inspection.”

He said the bill has garnered bi-partisan support and passed out of committee unanimously, but health departments, especially the Cook County Health Department, “hate this bill,” as it would reduce their oversight.

Koehler said he remains committed to passing the bill this year, with or without Cook County, possibly with an exception for communities of more than one million people…

From the Missourian:
Former President Bill Clinton will receive an honorary degree May 6 from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg and speak at commencement.

Clinton will be given the doctor of humane letters degree, an award approved Monday by the UCM Board of Governors, said Jeff Murphy, assistant director of university relations for media relations…

Clinton will speak at the evening commencement ceremony in the Multipurpose Building. There will be additional announcements when more details about the visit are available.

Clinton has also received honorary degrees from Tulane University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Hong Kong, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Pace University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Knox College and McGill University.

From The Register-Mail:
Concealed carry legislation is moving through the Illinois House of Representatives, and with the tragedies of Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University fresh in his mind, Knox College President Roger Taylor is keeping a close eye on it.

“I’m hoping the General Assembly will provide an exemption for college campuses,” said Taylor on Friday.

Last week, Taylor said he sent an email to the Knox faculty and staff to let them know about the bill — HB 148: Family and Personal Protection Act — and urged them to contact Rep. Don Moffitt, a recently added co-sponsor of the bill, in support of a complete exemption for college campuses.

“I think it’s important for everyone to be involved in the legislative process,” said Taylor. “Walking around college campuses, which by their very nature are open places, it’s just a very scary idea to think concealed carry would be allowed.”

John Schlaf, the college’s director of campus safety, did not respond to requests for comment, but Justin Steele, a member of the Student Senate and chairman of the Safety & Security Committee, which acts as a liaison between the Campus Safety office and students, said he supports Taylor’s involvement.

“Roger Taylor’s obviously a smart man,” said Steele, sophomore chemistry major from White Hall. “I think he understands the students better than anyone on campus, and he made the right decision in suggesting the faculty should contact our representatives to have colleges be exempt.”

Steele said concealed carry would hinder campus safety, and that he would consider having Schlaf present to the Student Senate what implications the bill would have if it became law, with or without the exemption.

“Campus Safety is here to protect us, so us trying to protect ourselves would just make matters worse,” said Steele.

Student Senate President Sam Claypool offered similar sentiment. She said she’s not opposed to the bill entirely, but she’s concerned that public universities might not have the option of prohibiting concealed weapons…