KU business school schedules job fair

About 85 businesses and organizations will be recruiting new employees Sept. 18 at the Kansas University business school’s annual career fair.

The fair runs from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Kansas Union Ballroom. It is open to the public.

Representatives will include companies in the areas of pharmaceuticals, retail, finance and banking, telecommunications, accounting and consulting. Nonprofit organizations also will be represented.

For more information, call Jennifer Jordan at 864-4446.

Arbor Day group offers trees to new members

The National Arbor Day Foundation will give 10 white pine trees to anyone who joins the group in September. The trees are part of the foundation’s Trees for America Campaign.

The trees are fast-growing landscape trees that grow year-round with soft needles. They will be shipped between Oct. 15 and Dec. 10, the right time for planting, and come with planting instructions.

Members also will receive a subscription to Arbor Day, the foundation’s bimonthly publication, and The Tree Book, with information about tree planting and care. To become a member, send a $10 contribution by Sept. 30 to Ten Free White Pine Trees, National Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebraska City, NE 68410.

KPR begins fund-raiser, seeks unwanted vehicles

Have a car you don’t want? It could benefit Kansas Public Radio.

The Kansas University-based National Public Radio affiliate has teamed with Vehicles for Charity, a Denver-based organization, for its new fund-raiser.

People with usable but unwanted cars, boats, recreational vehicles or motorcycles can call (877) 308-2408 to arrange for pick-up of their item. Vehicles for Charity sells the items, giving 60 percent of the proceeds to KPR and the rest to Vehicles for Charity’s partner, ARC of Denver, which provides advocacy and support services to people with disabilities and their families.

KPR is the first Kansas organization to use Vehicles for Charity, KU officials said.

Alumnus donates funds for multicultural program

A gift of $275,000 from a Kansas University graduate and his wife will allow KU’s Multicultural Scholars Program to expand, officials announced Monday.

The gift is from Douglas L. Miller and his wife, Audrey Tanaka Miller, who live in London. Douglas Miller received degrees from KU in 1966 and 1971.

The Multicultural Scholars Program provides scholarships and mentoring support for students. It was founded in 1992 in KU’s business school and has expanded to eight academic units. It now serves 80 students each year.

The most recent gift allows students in the pharmacy and architecture schools to participate. Of the $275,000, $100,000 will be used to launch the program in the two schools, $25,000 will go to study-abroad scholarships, and the rest may be used to start the program in three other academic units.

Alzheimer’s walk planned for Saturday

Lawrence’s 2003 Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk will be Saturday morning along Clinton Parkway.

Organizer Peg Wessel said she hoped to attract more than 200 people to the event, which starts in the parking lot of Hy-Vee Food & Drug Store, 3504 Clinton Parkway, and will include a one-mile stroll, two-mile walk and five-mile challenge.

Walkers can participate individually or as a team. Proceeds go to support local patient care and counseling services for patients and relatives, Wessel said.

More than 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

Registration is from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. in the store’s parking lot. The walk begins at 9:45 a.m. There is no registration fee, but with a $25 donation, participants receive a 2003 Memory Walk T-shirt.

There will be live music and refreshments, Wessel said.

For more information, contact Wessel at 594-3731.

KPR reaps awards in national competition

“Right Between the Ears,” the Kansas Public Radio comedy show, has been named a national winner in the 2003 Silver Microphone Awards.

The show won the top prize for Best Audio Program-Entertainment. It previously won a Silver Microphone Award for Best Audio Program in 2002 and Best Writing in 2000.

The awards, in their 19th year, are designed to select the best local and regional radio commercials, programs and Web sites in the country.

“Right Between the Ears” opens its 2003-2004 season with performances at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sept. 27 at Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road in Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are on sale at the Union Station box office or by calling 816-460-2020.

Kansas Public Radio broadcasts at 91.5 FM in Lawrence.

Train cars derail near state border

Kiowa– Ten cars of a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train derailed Monday in Barber County in a rural area near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, spilling about 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel from a locomotive.

Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, said the derailment occurred about 2:30 p.m. northeast of Kiowa, about 100 miles southwest of Wichita. She did not know the cause.

Initial reports indicated that homes within a one-mile radius were ordered evacuated. But Joni Boggs, a dispatcher for the Barber County Sheriff’s Department, said the few homes in the area were not evacuated.

The derailment occurred near Kansas Highway 2. Moser said part of the train carried a hazardous material, but Boggs said she was unaware of any substance spilling except the diesel fuel, which was contained.