Lead Story
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The Houston Chronicle reported in May that while school districts around Texas are hard-pressed to find money to pay teachers and buy books, they’re having little trouble raising bond money for lavish high school football stadiums: communities surrounding the state’s major cities have recently built or are now planning 23 new stadiums at a total cost of $305.4 million. The new facility in Denton, north of Dallas, cost $20.5 million and includes a $900,000, three-story scoreboard with instant replay, separate locker rooms for each team’s offensive and defensive units, a VIP room, and a two-level press box. In response to charges of misplaced priorities, defenders of the high-end stadiums pointed out that since bond money is earmarked for construction and repairs, the millions couldn’t have gone toward teacher salaries anyway.
The Litigious Society
Least Competent Criminals
Thor Laufer, 42, charged with a string of construction-site robberies in Mequon, Wisconsin, confessed in January that he’d stolen a variety of tools and materials only to throw off investigators; all he really wanted was the doorknobs. According to police, Laufer said he’d been selling the rest of the stolen items but keeping the knobs for his personal collection.
