PSU-MIAMI TO OPEN 2001 FOOTBALL SEASON IN PRIME TIME
The first 100,000-plus crowd in Beaver Stadium history will be treated to a primetime clash between Penn State and Miami (Fla.) on Saturday, September 1, 2001. ABC Sports announced today it will televise live the contest between the Nittany Lions and Hurricanes to a split national audience at 8 p.m. EDT. The Penn State-Miami tilt not only marks the opening of the 2001 season and renewal of a memorable series between the national powers, but also will be the first game in an expanded and renovated Beaver Stadium, which will have a capacity of 106,500. The $93 million construction project will be completed for the upcoming season and will add more than 12,000 seats, giving Beaver Stadium the nation's second-largest capacity. The Penn State-Miami clash will be just the sixth night game in Beaver Stadium and first since the Nittany Lions hosted Rutgers on Sept. 25, 1993. For more on this story, visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com.
A CLEARER PICTURE OF THE PRE-OXYGEN ATMOSTPHERE
Methane and carbon dioxide, not ammonia, were the greenhouse gases that compensated for a less energetic sun's ability to warm the Earth during the pre-oxygen Archean era, according to Penn State geoscientists who are looking at what the atmosphere was like prior to 2.3 billion years ago. James F. Kasting, professor of geosciences and meteorology, and geosciences graduate student Alexander A. Pavlov looked at a variety of ways to estimate the methane concentrations in the Archean atmosphere when the sun produced only 80 percent of its present energy. The researchers note that methanogenic bacteria, given abundant nutrients, could have converted 90 to 95 percent of the existing hydrogen at the time into methane, producing a methane level in the Archean of 1,000 times today's level. Kasting addressed the topic at the Earth Systems Processes Conference today (June 26) in Edinburgh, Scotland. For the full story by A'ndrea Elyse Messer, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2001/archeanatmos.html.
WPSU-FM PRODUCER WINS MURROW AWARD
The Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) has recognized WPSU-FM producer Cindi Deutschman's work with a Regional Award in the annual Edward R. Murrow Awards Competition. The award is for Excellence In Writing, and is based on a sample from Your Voice/Your Choice, last year's issues-oriented election project. RTNDA is the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism, and has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Murrow Awards since 1971. For more information about WPSU-FM, visit http://wpsu.psu.edu/default1.html.
BROCHURE ENCOURAGES FEEDBACK ON EPA REGULATIONS
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers major changes in farming and water quality regulations, researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are providing a free guide that will help citizens understand the issues and implications. Shaping New EPA CAFO Rules: A Guide to the Proposals and Comment Process is a fact sheet assembled by Charles Abdalla, associate professor of agricultural economics, and Alyssa Dodd, extension associate in agricultural economics and rural sociology. The guide highlights the important parts of the EPA-proposed regulations on large-scale animal agriculture or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO). Farmers and other citizens have until July 30 to comment. The fact sheet explains how to tell if a farming operation is a CAFO, highlights the changes proposed in the regulations and gives specific suggestions on how anyone can make effective comments to the EPA. For the full story, visit http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/news/june01/epa.html. Copies of the guide are available from Abdalla at (814) 865-2562. The fact sheet will also be posted on the Web at http://agenvpolicy.aers.psu.edu/cafo/.