Judge rejects recount request in mayoral race
A presiding judge declined to grant a request brought by the San Diego League of Women Voters to require the county’s Registrar of Voters to count originally discounted ballots in the city’s mayoral race.
The group had asked the courts to force the registrar to count several thousand ballots on which voters had written in a candidate but had not filled in the corresponding “write-in” bubble. Most of the ballots were suspected to be for San Diego Councilwoman Donna Frye.
Without the additional ballots, Frye trails incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy by approximately 2,500 votes, according to the most recent data released by the registrar.
“Those of us who stand for the proposition that all votes cast should be counted suffered a setback,” Frye stated in an announcement put out by her campaign.
Despite the ruling, which the organization indicated it would not appeal, Frye praised the energy stirred by her unexpected write-in campaign.
“In five short weeks, we accomplished what no one believed possible,” she stated. “For our cause is more than a campaign about filling in bubbles — it is about giving a voice to a citizenry that calls for an end to back-room deals, politics as usual and an attitude of government arrogance and entitlement.”
The campaign also pointed to a private survey, conducted mid-November, giving Frye the most favorable opinion of all mayoral candidates among 100 polled voters. Though more respondents also said they had voted for Frye, her lead was well within the poll’s margin of error.
The registrar will announce the official winner on Nov. 30.
Playboy launches contest for college photographers
Citing its role in showcasing the work of the finest photographers, the publisher of Playboy magazine has launched a new college contest to find “the next great photographer.”
As a part of its third annual College Nude Photography Contest — open to full- or part-time college students — the company has asked photographers to submit at least 10 “tasteful female nudes,” according to a company statement.
“Submissions should be visually innovative — a creative new take on Playboy’s trademark style of photographing beautiful women,” it stated.
A single winner will receive $500, have his or her work published on the magazine’s Web site and be flown to the company’s Chicago headquarters for “an in-studio photography session with a Playboy model.”
Alzheimer’s center receives $4 million gift from trustee
UCSD Foundation Trustee and member of the UCSD Board of Overseers Darlene Shirley has awarded, jointly with her husband, a $4 million gift to support the campus’ Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
The gift was announced in conjunction with the National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month.
“This gift will enable us to continue to recruit the most talented clinicians and researchers to UCSD to further expand our patient care, clinical trials and basic research efforts,” department of neurosciences chair and the center’s director Leon Thal stated.
Half of the gift will establish a rotating chair in the department that will fund Alzheimer’s research by faculty members. The rest of the money will be used to fund start-up packages for new faculty, support research and pay for clinical trials at the university.
College founded by Pat Robertson to close
William Tyndale College, a private religious institution founded in Farmington Hills, Michigan by Christian broadcaster and activist Pat Robertson, has cited “a significant funding shortfall” in a decision to close its doors after Dec. 31.
“Tyndale deeply regrets that it is forced to cease offering Christ-centered undergraduate education,” Tyndale Board Chairman Denis Root said in a university announcement. “We understand, however, that God is sovereign, and that we must accept this closure action as being consistent with his will.”
The university first faced similar financial problems and a potential closure last spring, when it received an additional $2 million in support. However, after an expected “substantial increase” in student numbers did not materialize in fall 2004, the university decided to cease its operations.
Researchers find new data about deadly tsunami
A group of researchers that included scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UCSD have uncovered new information about a 1946 tsunami while exploring the seafloor off the coast of Alaska.
Their findings may cause modelers to rethink the cause and characteristics of the tsunami, which killed more than 150 people and caused widespread destruction on coasts between Alaska and Anarctica, according to Scripps researcher Tony Rathburn.
