Lead-writing class notes

  Teacher Merit Pay Tied to Education Gains. Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts has a bold plan to improve public education in his state by offering merit pay tied to classroom performance. By MICHAEL JANOFSKY. NYT

BOSTON, Sept. 29 - Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts has a bold plan to improve public education in his state. It involves new laptops for students, new science and math teachers and, the most ambitious component of all, merit pay tied to classroom performance that could add $5,000 or more to a teacher's annual salary. (NYT)


Headline, & Web summary:
  Freed Reporter Says She Upheld Principles. Judith Miller returned to the New York Times newsroom declaring that she had upheld the principles she had gone to jail to protect. By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE.

Original head & lead:

  Freed Reporter Says She Upheld Principles.
Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter who was released from jail last week after agreeing to testify in a case involving the leak of the name of a C.I.A. operative, returned to the newsroom yesterday declaring that she had upheld the principles she had gone to jail to protect.


  Behavior: Stopping for a Smoke on the Road to Popularity. Popular students appear to be more likely to take up smoking than their less popular peers, a new study of sixth and seventh graders in Southern California shows. By NICHOLAS BAKALAR. NYT

  Two players dismissed at UT; another disciplined. The University of Tennessee dismissed Monday night linebacker Daniel Brooks from the football team and forward Jemere Hendrix from the basketball team. Basketball forward Andre Patterson was indefinitely suspended for conduct unbecoming a UT student-athlete. (WATE)


Obituary writing

  Robert Hanson, last Memphis Belle crew member, dies. Robert Hanson, the last surviving crew member of the famed Memphis Belle B-17 bomber of World War II, has died of congestive heart failure. (WATE)

AP boston.com
nipsey_russell
 

October 3, 2005

NEW YORK --Nipsey Russell, who played the Tin Man alongside Diana Ross and Michael Jackson in "The Wiz" as part of a decades-long career in stage, television and film, has died. He was 80.

The actor, who had been suffering from cancer, died Sunday afternoon at Lenox Hill Hospital, said his longtime manager Joseph Rapp.

Born in Atlanta, Russell launched his television career as Officer Anderson in the 1961 television series "Car 54, Where are You?" He also appeared in the 1994 film version.

He became a fixture on popular television game and talk shows, where he was welcomed for his poetic delivery that earned him the moniker the "poet laureate of television." He also took his signature four-line poetry on the road for readings and performances.

Russell also appeared in the films "Nemo" in 1984, "Wildcats" in 1986 and "Posse" in 1993.

He settled in New York after graduating from the University of Cincinnati and serving as an Army captain in Europe during World War II, Rapp said.

© Copyright 2009 Bob Stepno. Last update: 7/27/09; 3:57:36 AM.