Community Briefs

California declares power emergency

In an unprecedented electricity emergency, California avoided
blackouts by tapping power from enormous water pumps. But worried
authorities awaited a new threat ““ an expected blast of
arctic air that could send energy demands soaring.

California declared an electricity alert Thursday after the
state’s overwhelmed power grid, crippled by idled power
plants and scant supplies, struggled to meet evening demands.

The Stage Three alert lasted about two hours in the evening and
followed hours of increasing stress on California’s
electricity grid, which has been strapped by cold weather, power
plants idled for maintenance and repairs, and dwindling
imports.

But a cold snap expected to hit the West on Sunday, coupled with
scarce resources elsewhere in the region, means California will
face the same threat next week, said officials with the California
Independent System Operator. ISO controls the power grid for much
of the western United States.

“The Northwest is also expecting cold weather and a lot of
power we use is from there and won’t be coming down
here,” said Jim McIntosh, director of scheduling for the ISO.
“Monday is going to be a really big challenge.”

If enough power can’t be found when the demand peaks, it
means the ISO could order rotating blackouts, where blocks of up to
100,000 customers could be without power for up to an hour. In the
winter months, that’s especially dangerous, because the
evening peak is about 6 p.m., said Jim Detmers, managing director
of operations at ISO.

Ninth graders to take practice exam

Gov. Davis wants the ninth graders who volunteer to try his new
high school graduation test in March to take only a practice test
that won’t really count for them.

Davis is worried that allowing the ninth graders who do well to
actually pass the test, as required by current law, would
jeopardize the legality of the test, his interim education
secretary told the state Board of Education on Thursday.

“That one part of the law would make our test development
illegal on its face,” interim secretary John Mockler
said.

Davis plans to ask the legislature next month to pass an
emergency bill to change the law and make the March test only a
practice exam.

Audit sheds light on Irvine cadaver scandal

An internal audit by the University of California at Irvine,
alleges that the former director of its cadaver program
misappropriated money and tried to cover it up.

The report portrays the university’s Willed Body Program
in disarray under the direction of Christopher Brown, who was fired
after allegations were leveled by officials that he sold body
parts, mishandled human remains and held anatomy courses in
secret.

The report’s findings also shed more light on the details
of the scandal that rocked one of the nation’s top medical
schools last year and forced the temporary closure of its donated
body program.

“The initial investigation … revealed issues regarding
the misuse of university assets, conflicts of interest and lack of
internal controls,” Thomas C. Cesario, dean of the UCI
College of Medicine, said in a letter accompanying the audit. The
“audit found no evidence that donated bodies were used for
anything other than scientific research or academic
purposes.”

But the 29-page report, released this week, alleged Brown
performed an unauthorized autopsy at the university for his
sister-in-law’s sociology class, improperly solicited cash
donations and overcharged the university for travel expenses. It
also detailed steps the university has taken to change oversight of
the donated body program.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.