Second hurricane on Mexico’s Pacific coast leaves more people displaced

An AP article on usatoday.com said about 10,000 citizens were still living away from their homes after Manuel displaced whole neighborhoods and buried one village under a landslide. Some mountain villages were still without electricity and phone service.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/10/21/hurricane-raymond-mexico/3142927/

According to the Washington Post, Manuel caused flooding and mudslides that killed 169 people and caused $4.2 billion in damages. Schools in coastline communities in affected areas remained closed.“According to EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, this was the second most expensive weather-related disaster in Mexican history, behind the $6 billion in damage (2013 dollars) wrought by Hurricane Wilma in October 2005,” said Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.

Schools in coastline communities in affected areas remained closed, and Guerrero Gov. Angel Aguirre urged people to stay off roads because of potentially dangerous rains, according to AP reporter Jose Antonio Rivera. Some neighborhoods and homes that had been hit by Manuel had little time to recover before the arrival of Raymond. 

http://news.yahoo.com/storm-weakens-off-mexico-coast-still-rain-threat-212455933.html

The Category 3 Hurricane Raymond that was threatening the pacific coast of Mexico on Monday has weakened to a Category 1 storm Tuesday.  Heavy rains and mudslides still threaten the country that was devastated by record flooding from Tropical Storm Manuel last month.“There will be heavy rain for the next 72 hours along the Pacific coast – very heavy rain, torrential rain,” said David Korenfeld, head of Mexico's National Water Commission.

CNN.com said Tuesday that a warning was posted for about 140 miles of coastline from the city of Lazaro Cardenas to Tecpan de Galeana. The warning means winds of 74 mph or higher are expected in the next 36 hours, and he storm could produce “significant coastal flooding” and “large destructive waves,” the hurricane center said.

A YouTube video provided by NASA shows a satellite view of Raymond hitting the southwestern coast of Mexico.

By the time Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in August of 2005, it had gone from a Category 5 storm with 175 mph winds to a Category 3 storm with estimated winds of 125 mph to the east of the center on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. http://www.gohsep.la.gov/hurricanerelated/HURRICANECATEGORIES.htm

Eagles future QB not on team

Nick Foles dud of a start against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday has kept the Eagles starting QB position interesting.  Foles left with a concussion in the third quarter after doing little to keep his team in the game in a 17-3 loss at home.  

The Eagles are 3-4 with Vick and Foles this season.

Foles got the nod at QB after Michael Vick missed the last two games with a pulled hamstring. With Foles out indefinitely, Vick took first-team practice reps Tuesday and is expected to start this Sunday against the New York Giants.

Two weeks ago, Foles strong performance against Tampa Bay had beat writers hailing him as the answer for the Eagles.  They feared Kelly might have been wrong on Foles after he lost the starting job to Vick in training camp this past summer.

Jimmy Kempski of Philly.com aggregated Eagles beat writers’ opinions after Foles dominant start against the Buccaneers. The majority of them overwhelmingly supported him.

“Foles not only got the job done, he left little to criticize. He got rid of the ball, threw it accurately, avoided or withstood pressure when necessary, and ran the offense at pretty close to the pace the coach desires. All of that will make Kelly's decision easier if Vick is a coin flip to return from his hamstring injury by next Sunday's home game against the Cowboys,” Bob Ford of the Philly Inquirer wrote.

After his performance last Sunday, fewer had praise for the second-year QB.

Bleeding Green Nation Writer Brandon Gowton thought Foles played abysmally.  In his day-after ruminations on Pro Football Focus grades on player performance, Gowton discovered Foles' numbers justified beat writer's knee-jerk reaction back to Vick. He had one of the worst QB performances of 2013.

“Nick Foles' -7.3 PFF grade is the 2nd worst QB grade for a game in 2013. Only Matt Schaub, in week 5, was worse (-8.9). Foles threw for a mere 80 yards on 11/29 passing. He just looked awful. He also held onto the ball for way too long. In fact, out of the 20 quarterbacks who played on Sunday, Nick Foles held the ball longer than anyone. He averaged 3.51 seconds to throw,” Gowton wrote on Monday.

ESPN Writer Phil Sheridan now thinks the Eagles’ future franchise QB isn’t on the team yet.

“The Eagles are 3-4 with Vick and Foles. Right now, it is hard to imagine either of them being the Eagles’ long-term answer at quarterback,” Sheridan wrote on Monday.

Sheridan is right.

Vick is 33 years old and only signed through this season.  In the playing time Foles received, he has shown bursts of talent, but has never been able to seize the opportunities afforded to him by Vick’s injuries.

His 11-29 passing performance for a paltry 8o yards against Dallas is the latest example, when brilliance would’ve secured him a starting job.

The problem is writers are writing off Foles too soon and proclaiming Vick a savior to hastily.  How easily we forget Vick hasn't led the team to the playoffs since 2010, while Foles only has three starts with the first-team offense on the field.

McNabb wasn't written off after his questionable rookie campaign. Foles will need time.

But the truth is Chip Kelly will likely bring in his own guy in the upcoming draft instead of working with Andy Reid’s leftovers.  With a class that includes Teddy Bridgewater, Tahj Boyd, Marcus Mariota and Johhny Manziel; Kelly we’ll have plenty of options of securing the Eagles franchise quarterback with his first-round pick. 

Now making sure that pick pans out before the city runs Kelly out of town will be the next hurdle.

UM Enrollment Woes Highlight New Trends in Higher Education

            The University of Montana has been in no hurry to announce this year’s enrollment.

When the university puts out the numbers this week it is widely expected to be more bad news -- another dramatic drop in enrollment of resident undergraduate students.

There are many explanations for the drop – an improving economy means more jobs for those without degrees, the continuing increase in higher ed costs.

UM President Royce Engstrom told the Board of Regents to not focus too closely on one year’s enrollment, but this will be the second year UM had significant drops in resident enrollment.

“The enrollment picture is the thing that keeps me awake at night,” he said.

But another, more provocative reason could be behind some of these numbers.

Many more prospective students are asking themselves is a college degree worth it?

            Many communities in Montana are becoming flooded with people holding college degrees, a situation that often leads to underemployment. Census data from 2012 shows 42 percent of Missoula residents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, nearlydouble the national average.

These numbers must give pause to residents considering pursuing an undergraduate degree as they will be competing against many equally qualified people once they graduate.

Perhaps not surprisingly, graduate enrollment is projected to remain in good standing as many people with bachelor’s degrees are finding they must pursue an advanced degree to further distinguish themselves in the workforce.

            “There are too many people on this planet to only have a bachelor’s degree. There is too much competition,” said Alex Rich, an environmental studies major who graduated from UM last spring.

Rich said in order to land a job in her specialty of international environmental policy she will have to continue her education, and is currently looking at law schools out of state.

             The choice facing prospective students at UM – plan on staying in school through a graduate degree or deciding to opt out altogether –could be a larger trend in American education.  Nationwide, over the past ten years students who have obtained an advanced degree have increased by 40 percent whereas students who have completed only an undergraduate degree have increased by 26 percent. This distribution is likely to be split even wider and the middle class(people with only bachelor’s degrees) is likely to shrink.

            If students are forced to choose between avoiding the costs of education or feeling the need to pursue advanced degrees, what could the implications be? Tyler Cowen, for one, sees bigger problems ahead.

            Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, recently published a book called “Average is Over” which uses economic research to suggests broad economic trends could largely explain these decreases in citizens with only bachelor’s degrees.

“I think we’ll see a thinning out of the middle class. We’ll see a lot of individuals rising to much greater wealth. And we’ll also see more individuals clustering in a kind of lower-middle class existence.” Cowen said in an interview with NPR. The interview can be heard here.

This picture spells trouble for the widening economic inequality gap amongst the working class and highly skilled workforce in America because higher education is expensive and typically only students who come from a family of means are able to pursue higher education.

            If Cowen is right, states like Montana may feel it more as economic inequalities sharpen and higher education becomes too expensive for residents.

Fewer people may end up pursuing undergraduate degrees only and many of those who do will do so through online classes.  If those trends continue, Engstrom might have to resort to sleeping pills.

-NPRinterview:http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.htmlaction=1&t=1&islist=false&id=221425582&m=221637238

-Missoulian Article on this year's enrollment: http://missoulian.com/news/local/um-has-enrollment-problem-engstrom-tells-regents/article_dd8f396a-20c6-11e3-8db7-001a4bcf887a.html

-Last Year's enrollment stats: http://news.umt.edu/2012/09/092812enrl.aspx

-Comprehensive Student Demographics Breakdown: http://collegeprowler.com/university-of-montana/statistics/

Opportunities Abroad

The idea of an exciting internship in a foreign land sounds good, until you get to the details. Where will you live? What about support should something go wrong in the country? How do you navigate the legal and paperwork issues?

This is where IE3 comes in for many students at the University of Montana.

“When it came right down to it, it (was) an internship that had everything I wanted,” IE3 Internships past intern, Sarah Hawkaluk, said, “without leaving some of the more terrifying details up to me.”

Hawkaluk had done a previous internship in Missoula before interning in Bolivia through IE3. She remembers that was even “ hard enough to keep track of” by herself.

When she decided to go abroad for a second internship, she did some research and came across the Oregon State University-based IE3.

Hawkaluk is not alone in finding the services offered by IE3. The University of Montana has sent 53 students away on international internships with the help of IE3 Global Internships. IE3 operates in 17 universities in the Pacific Northwest and aims to help students find an internship and provide some structure and support along the way.

According to the IE3 website, the program has sent more than 2,000 interns to over 97 countries since the organization started in 1996.

Kevin Hood, the University of Montana’s IE3 Global Internships campus adviser, says the program came to Missoula in spring of 2009 after several years of discussion between UM and IE3. Hood encourages students to look into other programs as well, in order to ensure a good fit.

“In order to join, we had to waive tuition, which was a really big deal…so we did a lot of work on that,” Hood stated, adding instead of tuition, a fee is still paid to IE3.

The average cost varies depending on the location of the internship. Hawkaluk, estimated her internship costing around $8,000. This includes $3,450 paid to IE3 and a campus fee of around $300. Airfare and traveling costs are largely responsible for the remaining expenses. Though Hawkaluk says most of her costs were covered by scholarships. She advises other students interested in the program to get an early start on scholarships because deadlines are almost always in December the year before they travel.

In addition to finances, students are required to be in good standing academically and enrolled in a degree program at a participating college or university in order to be accepted. They also must also be in at least their academic junior year to be considered.

Students usually earn six credits and work a minimum of ten weeks full time in order to receive those credits. Students need to have a professor from their university that they communicate with throughout the experience. Each professor may require something different from each student, but past intern from Oregon, Khloe Frank, wrote a paper and prepared a presentation in order to receive her credit.

Both students and advisers say the internship is different than the more common study abroad programs offered at most schools.  A global internship through IE3 is a more independently run experience, connecting students to professional environments and are not as structured as a university. The University of Montana offers several other options as well for students interested in travel and internships.

“Study abroad would be a good first step and maybe then spring off that into a(n) internship, is a good, really good way to go often,” Hood said.

Frank said it was a “very individualized experience” during her ten weeks in Bolivia. Both Frank and Hawkaluk said there was very little they’d change about their experience, but recommended talking to the site supervisor as much as possible if an intern would want anything altered.

For both students the experience confirmed their choice in career path while allowing them hands-on experience. They each said they brought back a new perspective with them, as many other students who take advantage of opportunities like this do.

“It’s nearly 13,000 feet in elevation,” Hawkaluk said about Bolivia, “so it was an interesting balance between learning how to breathe and seeing people who were actually more starved for funds and resources than I was for oxygen.”