IFANT blog

A London Underground line will close for four days while engineers test a new signalling system.

The Jubilee Line will close at 0001 GMT on Christmas Day until Monday morning. Operator Tube Lines said the new system would speed up journey times.

Meanwhile workers who maintain the Tube’s power supply will strike from Christmas Day in a row over pay.

Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) members will walk out from 2000 GMT on Thursday until 0800 BST on Saturday.

Discussing the Jubilee Line closure, maintenance firm Tube Lines said Christmas was the “best time” to undertake the work as it would cause the least disruption for commuters.

NASCAR will test drivers for performance-enhancing drugs next month under a tougher policy that also bans using illegal drugs and abusing prescription medications.

NASCAR likely will test drivers the third week of January, and crew members must submit results from an approved lab by Jan. 16, according to documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

A NASCAR memo sent to teams lists specific banned substances for which crew members must be screened. No similar guidelines were issued for drivers, as NASCAR reserves the right to test competitors for anything.

In “Digging Out Roots of Cheating in High School” (Editorial Observer, Oct. 12), Maura J. Casey writes that experts believe that near-universal cheating is a bad habit and a challenge. Nonsense. Cheating is corrupt and should not be tolerated in any form.

Entering law students are told outright that cheating will result in expulsion. The school must report such behavior to the state board, and the student will not be certified to practice. The penalty for cheating is catastrophe.

How much greater, then, is the reward of knowing one mastered the subject matter honorably and is competent in the profession. If business schools had such standards, Wall Street wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in today.

New Zealand will need 317 runs to defeat Bangladesh after dismissing the hosts for 242 on the morning of the fourth day of the first Test in Chittagong.

Masharafe Mortaza made a useful 44 to establish a healthy lead and give Bangladesh real hope of taking the upper hand in the series.

The hosts resumed their second innings on 184 for eight – a lead of 258 runs – and the tail frustrated the tourists with a resilient performance with the bat.

Mashrafe Mortaza and Abdur Razzak, unbeaten on five and nought overnight respectively, were steady at the crease, as Kyle Mills and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori tried to find the breakthrough.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is using the closed-down Waldo-Hancock Bridge to conduct tests on how better to protect suspension bridges from terrorist attacks.

The 77-year-old span over the Penobscot River between Prospect and Verona Island has sat idle since it was shut down nearly two years ago, replaced by the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge.

The Department of Homeland Security is now working with the Maine Department of Transportation on testing that involves looking at vibrations and how they affect the old bridge.

Some Charleston County teachers say officials didn’t allow snacks or breaks during standardized testing this year, when scores dropped at an inner-city school that had been a beacon of achievement.

The (Charleston) Post and Courier reported Sunday that district officials said they only tried to make sure snacks and breaks didn’t distract students from the tests at Sanders-Clyde Elementary School.

Officials are now questioning what they call an unusual number of eraser marks on old tests, and authorities are investigating.

Former principal MiShawna Moore has denied cheating or asking anyone to cheat on the state Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests at Sanders-Clyde Elementary.

BRAD Haddin always knew wicketkeeping in India was going to be tough, but even he may have been surprised by his difficulties in the first Test.

At first glance, Haddin’s 23 first innings byes would indicate a poor job.

That’s four more than Adam Gilchrist let through in Chennai seven years ago for the most conceded by an Australian in a Test against India.

But Haddin did well not to pass Wally Grout’s Australian record of 31 considering the unfavourable bounces he regularly faced, with deliveries spitting up or dying on him.

Do you know whether the air inside your home is safe to breathe?

The Fond du Lac County Health Department on the third floor of the City County Government Center, 160 S. Macy St., has radon test kits available.

Short-term tests of 4 to 7 days cost $8. If the results are elevated a retest with a long-term test, which costs $20, to verify the results of the first test is needed, according to a press release from the Health Department.

A radon measurement professional certified in radon measurement can also conduct a test.

Eastern Health’s lab services director Terry Gulliver was grilled by Justice Margaret Cameron on Wednesday over his reaction to 2003 memos about problems with testing in the pathology lab.

In the memos, Dr. Gershon Ejeckam described several immunohistochemistry tests, including hormone receptor testing, as erratic, unreliable and unhelpful. He went on to shut down the tests for several weeks.

After a line of questioning by inquiry lawyer Sandra Chaytor, Cameron seemed bothered by Gulliver’s attitude to Ejeckam’s warnings.

“As an outsider, when I read phrases like ‘having remained unreliable, erratic and therefore unhelpful for diagnostic purposes,’ my reaction is that’s serious stuff,” Cameron said.

A very different kind of test in Springdale schools Wednesday. It doesn’t measure intelligence, but health. Kids heights are measured and weight taken, to determine their body mass index.

When BMI testing became mandatory in 2003 people worried kids would be teased during or after testing. A survey done partly by the University of Arkansas for Medical Science eases those fears.

“The BMI testing is done with confidential reports so that shouldn’t have any impact on weight based teasing,” said Lead Author on the study, Rebecca Krukowski.