Watkins to showcase Civil War-era clothing

Clothes will help tell the story of the Civil War era during a presentation this week at Watkins Community Museum of History.

Maryanne Shutler is scheduled to present “A Civil War Sweetheart’s Story” at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the museum, 1047 Mass.

Shutler’s great-grandmother lived through the Civil War and saved many of her possessions. Those items — primarily from the woman’s war-era wardrobe — were passed on to Shutler, who will put them on display and share stories with participants in the program, which is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the museum at 841-4109 or visit the museum’s Web site, www.watkinsmuseum.org.

Youth symphony groups to have auditions

Auditions for the 2004-2005 Topeka Symphony Youth Ensembles will be Aug. 28 at Washburn University.

Rehearsals for three ensembles — the Debut Orchestra, Youth Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra — start Sept. 7. Any musician under 21 may audition. To be a member, a student also must play in his or her school orchestra or band, if such an organization exists.

All rehearsals are Tuesday afternoons with concerts scheduled Nov. 21 and March 6, 2005. There is a $10 audition fee. Once accepted into one of the orchestras, there is a fee of $65 per year, which includes music charges and rental. For families with more than one participating musician, tuition is $65 for the first member and $45 for each additional member. Tuition assistance is available.

For more information, call (785) 232-2032.

Learn about health at Mini-Medical School

Kansas City, Kan.– Registration is open for this year’s Mini-Medical School at Kansas University Medical Center.

The four-week program, organized by the KU School of Medicine, runs Tuesday nights during October. Lectures are from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Rieke Auditorium.

Topics will include diet and exercise, hepatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, cancer, genetic links to diseases and stem cells.

Tuition is $50 for the four-week class. For more information or to register, visit www.kumc.edu/som/minimed or call (913) 588-1227.

KU sets final exams

Kansas University has announced the following final examinations:

• David Feldman, psychology, “When Surprises Aren’t Fun: Expectancy, Violation, and Sense-Making Following the Occurrence of Negative Life Events,” 2 p.m. Monday, 341 Fraser Hall.
• Cameron McCormick, geography, “Geography of Rural Water Development in Northern Cameroon,” 9:30 a.m. Aug. 24, 210 Lindley Hall.

Columbia, Mo.

Gubernatorial foesback SMSU change

Despite concerns from Columbia lawmakers, gubernatorial candidates Claire McCaskill and Matt Blunt say they support changing the name of Southwest Missouri State University.

The Springfield school wants to become Missouri State University.

Opponents say there shouldn’t be two statewide universities battling for limited resources, and that Southwest Missouri State should join the University of Missouri system if it wants to be more than a regional school.