OMAHA, Neb., Aug. 12 -- The University of Nebraska Medical Center issued the following news release: Diplomas will be conferred on 213 University of Nebraska Medical Center students on Friday, Aug. 13. The following is a list of graduates by college, degree, and hometown. There are no formal ceremonies for summer graduation. UNMC College of Medicine (Omaha) Bachelor of Science Anchorage, AK -- William Berki Murfreesboro, AR -- Jarrett Stark Phoenix, AZ -- Sayda Fairfield, Dar  more

LAWRENCE, Kan., Aug. 12 -- The University of Kansas issued the following news release: University of Kansas Continuing Education's Kansas Fire and Rescue Training Institute has renewed its accreditation from the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress following a three-day site visit in May. The institute, based in Lawrence, provides training and national professional certification for firefighters throughout Kansas. The accreditation allows the institute to continue offering nat  more

NORTH NEWTON, Kan., Aug. 11 -- Bethel College issued the following news release: When it comes to religious history, the standard college textbook for "Western Civilization" has a blank, one a recent conference at Bethel College was planned to help begin to fill in. After more than 50 years of scholarly study of the Anabaptists, such a text nowadays will cover the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in 16th-century Europe - with references to Menno Simons (from whom the name "Mennonite"   more

YPSILANTI, Mich., Aug. 12 -- Eastern Michigan University issued the following news release: Eastern Michigan University student Thomas Benoit was recently honored with the Clark E. DeHaven Scholarship by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS). Benoit, of Milan, was one of only four students in the country to receive the $5,000 scholarship. "This is my first ever scholarship, so this moment for me is significant and extraordinary," said Benoit, 35, a se  more

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 11 -- St. John Fisher College issued the following news release: Oprah Winfrey has referred to this program as "an organization that has set out to prove that poor, black children can and do succeed." And this past July, Dr. Russell H. Coward, Jr., Chair of the Adolescence Education Department, learned that truth when he accepted a summer teaching position with the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). HCZ uses a unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a community, helps chil  more

OLYMPIA, Wash., Aug. 12 -- The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission issued the following news release: Treaty tribes in western Washington had a successful start to the Fraser River sockeye fishery this month after a few disappointing years. View photos of the fishery in the San Juan Islands on NWIFC's Flickr feed.http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwifc/sets/72157624703317640/with/4882172337/ About 11 million sockeye are expected to return to the Fraser River in British Columbia this year.   more

OLYMPIA, Wash., Aug. 12 -- The Washington state Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission issued the following news release: Treaty tribes in western Washington had a successful start to the Fraser River sockeye fishery this month after a few disappointing years. View photos of the fishery in the San Juan Islands on NWIFC's Flickr feed (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwifc/sets/72157624703317640/with/4882172337/). About 11 million sockeye are expected to return to the Fraser River in British   more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The Motion Picture Association of America issued the following news release: Today, a broad coalition of entertainment industry guilds, unions and studios, including the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and Motion Pictu  more

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 11 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation Knoxville Field Office issued the following news release: John Dale Henegar, 42, of LaFollette, Tennessee was sentenced today by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, United States District Judge, to serve 24 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. This sentence followed Henegar's guilty plea to bank fraud charges on January 25, 2010. On July 21, 2009, a federal grand jury retur  more

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., Aug. 12 -- Rep. Michael E. McMahon, D-N.Y.(13th CD), issued the following news release: Today, Rep. Michael E. McMahon commended the Senate for coming back into session to pass a critical border security bill, which the House of Representatives passed with unanimous consent during its emergency session this week. HR 6080, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Border Security, which Rep. McMahon supported on August 10, 2010, provides $600 million to strengthen bo  more

PETERSON AFB, Colo., Aug. 12 -- The North American Aerospace Defense Command issued the following news release: When Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Simer, U.S. Northern Command J38 Special Activities Branch, found out he was advancing to senior master sergeant, he knew he'd be enrolled in professional military education, he just didn't know it would be in Canada. Thanks to a push from his command senior enlisted leader, the Air University command chief master sergeant and even the Chief Maste  more

NEW YORK, Aug. 12 -- Amnesty International issued the following news release: Amnesty International has condemned the US government's decision to go ahead with the military commission trial of Omar Khadr at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, describing the move as another violation of human rights by the USA in the name of countering terrorism. Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was taken into US custody as a 15-year-old in 2002 in Afghanistan, following a fire fight with US forces. He is f  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced that she plans to offer an amendment to upcoming food safety legislation to ban Bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles, sippy cups, baby food and infant formula. BPA is a toxic chemical and known endocrine disruptor. Today, Senate negotiators released an agreement on food safety legislation that does not include language banning BPA.  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The U.S. Department of State issued the following transcript of the daily press briefing: INDEX: DEPARTMENT Food-affected Populations in Pakistan / Assistance to Pakistan / Helicopters en route to Ghazi Airbase Secretary Clinton's Upcoming Speech on the Obama Administration's Global Health Initiative Assistant Secretary Arturo Valenzuela's Travel to China Under Secretary Hormats' Meeting with a Member of India's Planning Commission AFGHANISTAN Wikil  more

CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 12 -- The Gemological Institute of America issued the following news release: The Summer 2010 issue of the Gemological Institute of America's (GIA) Gems & Gemology, now available, features a comparison of two of the world's most important blue diamonds, new sources of opal and cutting-edge technology for pearl identification. In the lead article, Dr. Eloïse Gaillou and colleagues describe how they tested the famed Wittelsbach-Graff and Hope diamonds to determine if t  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Transportation signed an agreement with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department for $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to construct portions of a new, four-lane interstate bypass and access road on Highway 71 from Bella Vista, Arkansas to Pineville, Missouri, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced today. "The Recovery Act   more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the following information: U.S. import prices increased 0.2 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, following declines in each of the two previous months. The advance was led by higher fuel prices, which more than offset a second consecutive drop in nonfuel prices. In contrast, export prices decreased in July, falling 0.2 percent after falling 0.7 percent in June. Imports   more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The White House's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued the following news release: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced the country-specific in-quota allocations under the tariff-rate quotas on imported raw cane sugar, refined and specialty sugar and sugar-containing products for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 through Sept. 30, 2011). Tariff-rate quotas allow countries to export specified quantities of a product to t  more

NORTH NEWTON, Kan., Aug. 11 -- Bethel College issued the following news release: When it comes to religious history, the standard college textbook for "Western Civilization" has a blank, one a recent conference at Bethel College was planned to help begin to fill in. After more than 50 years of scholarly study of the Anabaptists, such a text nowadays will cover the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in 16th-century Europe - with references to Menno Simons (from whom the name "Mennonite"   more

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Aug. 12 -- The city of Newport News issued the following news release: Meet Ebrima Secka. On any given day you can find him in houndstooth chef pants, white button-up jacket, with a beaming smile. Most of the time he can be found traveling to and from the Chesapeake Retirement Community, where he is employed as a chef. It's gainful employment he can be proud of, but he's more over-joyed by his latest achievement: passing his citizenship exam. A native of Gambia, a West A  more

PETERSON AFB, Colo., Aug. 12 -- The North American Aerospace Defense Command issued the following news release: When Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Simer, U.S. Northern Command J38 Special Activities Branch, found out he was advancing to senior master sergeant, he knew he'd be enrolled in professional military education, he just didn't know it would be in Canada. Thanks to a push from his command senior enlisted leader, the Air University command chief master sergeant and even the Chief Maste  more

NEW YORK, Aug. 12 -- Amnesty International issued the following news release: Amnesty International has condemned the US government's decision to go ahead with the military commission trial of Omar Khadr at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, describing the move as another violation of human rights by the USA in the name of countering terrorism. Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was taken into US custody as a 15-year-old in 2002 in Afghanistan, following a fire fight with US forces. He is f  more

TULSA, Okla., Aug. 12 -- The University of Tulsa issued the following news release: Stern is a research fellow of the Oil, Energy & the Middle East Program at Princeton University where he teaches the program's flagship course. His lecture, titled Peak Oil and Illusion: A Century of Energy Scarcity in U.S. Middle East Policy, will begin at 7 p.m. in Helmerich Hall Room 219 followed by a question-and-answer period. The event is free and open to the public. "We're excited to have Dr. Ster  more

RIPON, Wis., Aug. 12 -- The Ripon College issued the following news release: Ripon College is one of the country's best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features Ripon in the new 2011 edition of its popular guidebook, "The Best 373 Colleges" (Random House/ Princeton Review). It is also listed among the top 152 "Best of the Midwest" college in the publication's "Best Colleges Region By Region" website feature. "Year   more

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Aug. 12 -- Western Washington University issued the following news release: Western Washington University's Small Business Development Center (SDBC), Whatcom Community College, along with sponsor Whidbey Island Bank, will host ThinkBiz 2010 - Small Business Conference Sept. 9 and 10 at Whatcom Community College's Heiner Center. ThinkBiz is a simple, affordable training and networking conference to help businesses stabilize and begin to move forward from the challenging e  more

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- The U.S. Department of State issued the following transcript of the daily press briefing: INDEX: DEPARTMENT Food-affected Populations in Pakistan / Assistance to Pakistan / Helicopters en route to Ghazi Airbase Secretary Clinton's Upcoming Speech on the Obama Administration's Global Health Initiative Assistant Secretary Arturo Valenzuela's Travel to China Under Secretary Hormats' Meeting with a Member of India's Planning Commission AFGHANISTAN Wikil  more