art institute of chicago

Pensacola Junior College's annual Faculty Art Show runs through the holidays and into next year, closing Jan. 4. Its 19-member art department isn't short on ideas, and a few surprises accompany this year's edition.Photography has usually been the department's stronghold, even as video and digital media flood academia. David Hines, Warren Thompson and Mark Francis have an implicit competition, but their approaches are night and day.Hines is a traditionalist, shunning computer manipulation with his darkroom aesthetic. His 35mm "guerilla shots" are spontaneous urban takes of Amsterdam. People go by without noticing his surveil-lance, a tactic whose quality seems purely accidental.Francis is more interested here with landscape and architecture that ranges from the stillness of the desert to the regal lion-statued entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago.Thompson is more photojournalistic, a sense that hits home with a grid of 40 black-and-white shots of Mardi Gras partygoers taking a break from poverty or the banality of modern life.Cynthia App fills the gallery's video space with her documentary film, "The Lost Island." This gentle but affirming presentation of Perdido Key struggling to preserve its native animals is as highly polished as it is convincing.Spiros Zachos, known for his 2-D figurative work, has taken up ceramic sculpture as if he's found a new calling.

Spertus now showcase from top to bottom

The airy new building, which opens to the public Nov. 30, serves as the main educational and cultural center for the Chicago region's 285,000 Jewish residents but is designed to welcome people of all faiths, Sulkin said.

The structure was built expressly to accommodate the institute's main functions, including a museum that displays both fine art and objects from its world-class collection of Jewish-related artifacts. It provides an expanded, state-of-the-art Asher Library, one of North America's largest Jewish libraries with 120,000 volumes, 250,000 periodicals, films, videocassettes, DVDs and documents. A climate-controlled room will house 4,000 rare books and maps.

It also houses the school around which the institute was founded in 1924, then known as the College of Jewish Studies.

Crowder eyes breaking ground for first phase of energy center

NEOSHO, Mo. — Crowder College officials plan to begin seeking bids in January for construction of the first phase of the Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center in hopes of having the building complete and occupied by late winter 2009. Crowder eyes breaking ground for first phase of energy center By Derek Spellman

Trafalgar Travel expands to Caribbean

The local branch network expansion began in 2001. There are now 11 branches in seven parishes, with two more set to open in the new year. Two of the major strategies for business success employed by Trafalgar Travel are cutting-edge technology, and the training of staff to multi-task. These have paid dividends, as Graham ranks his team among "the best in the world, the best team in any company. I believe in our people. Our turnover rate is less than one per cent per year."

Graham says part of the reason for their excellent performance lies in the "pay-to-productivity policy" which means employees are rewarded financially-based on the level of performance they put in. All levels of staff, he states, have an incentive programme, so they know that in addition to company benefits, that they are entitled to, they earn what they work for.

Art from a youth-driven social justice campaign

ASHEVILLE � Outward Bound showcases murals-in-progress created by members of the Unity Projects at Reynolds, Owen and Asheville high schools and Asheville Middle School at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the FLOOD Gallery Fine Arts Center, 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District.

ORU plays a vital economic role here

Oral Roberts University, embroiled in a lawsuit intensely critical of its leaders and their spending, is no insignificant token in Tulsa's econo my, business people say.

It trains students for the work force; it spends money in the community; it employs about 1,600 people; it attracts visitors to the city; it provides consumers for businesses, and it has helped spawn businesses.

"I think it would really hurt the Tulsa economy if we lost ORU," said Vinson Reed, broker for McGraw Realtors.

Matt Davis, general manager of The Plaza shopping center across from ORU at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue, pointed out the unique Christian education ORU provides and said, "Wouldn't you think that all Oklahomans would want to see that setting continue to thrive and do well?"

Some critics have said they do not approve of ORU President Richard Roberts and want to see new leadership at the school.

A Brangelina holiday in New Orleans

Christmas is a time to spend at home with family, and that's where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will spend the holidays — at home in New Orleans.