September 5, 2007, 1:18 pm
Gillmor found dead:
Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor was found dead in his apartment Wednesday, a Republican leadership aide said.
The aide said the body of the 68-year-old Republican was found by staff members who went to his apartment after he failed to show up for work. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death. Gillmor’s office did not respond to a reporter’s call.
Gillmor, who represented Ohio’s 5th District in the Bowling Green area of the state, was first elected to Congress in 1988.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.
Gillmor, who served as a judge advocate in the Air Force after graduating law school, won a seat in the Ohio state senate in 1966, and served there for 22 years, rising to the senate presidency. After an unsuccessful run for governor in 1986, Gillmor was elected to the U.S. House in 1988 after eking out a 27-vote victory in the primary.
As a House member was a little-known but solid Republican vote, and a reliable conservative on social issues.
He led legislative efforts in such areas as cleanups of commercially contaminated sites known as brownfields and enacting financial service reforms. He was also a strong advocate of a constitutional amendment to ban unfunded mandates on the states.
He is survived by his wife and five children.
September 5, 2007, 1:10 pm
Hat tip to Matt Johnson for this recent news item out of Arizona:
Hundreds of students in Arizona are trying to learn English from teachers who don’t know the language, state officials say.
The kids are taught by teachers who don’t know English grammar and can’t pronounce English words correctly. Last year, for example, a Mesa teacher stood in front of a class of language learners and announced, “Sometimes, you are not gonna know some.” A teacher in Phoenix’s Creighton Elementary District asked her kids, “If you have problems, to who are you going to ask?” A Casa Grande Elementary District teacher asked her kids to “read me first how it was before.”
Each year, the state evaluates a sampling of classrooms where kids are learning English. Last year, officials visited 32 districts and found similar problems at nine. Some teachers’ English was so poor that even state officials strained to understand them. The state also found that students learning English at all ages were being taught by teachers who did not have appropriate training or materials. At a dozen districts, evaluators found teachers who ignored state law and taught in Spanish.
Sounds like a job for NYC Educator!
September 5, 2007, 12:57 pm
September 5, 2007, 12:36 pm
September 5, 2007, 12:34 pm
September 5, 2007, 8:53 am
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