Air Force Academy – A researcher thinks he has found a new space-based tool to spy on enemy lands.
Using lightweight materials similar to aluminum foil, Geoff Andersen says it’s possible to build a new type of satellite-borne telescope lens that would revolutionize spy satellites and open new vistas in the field of astronomy. Andersen said the new lens would zoom into targets hundreds of miles below with clarity that would allow operators to read newsprint.
Andersen is experimenting with technology used for microscopes called a photon sieve. It’s the equivalent of using millions of pinhole cameras to focus light beams on a single point.
His 4-inch experimental model is thin as foil and uses 10 million tiny holes to do the job. So far, Andersen said, the model, which cost $1,000 to construct, works better than lenses that cost 10 times as much.
DENVER
Military personnel to get RTD free pass
Active-duty U.S. military personnel soon will be able to ride RTD for free.
Regional Transportation District directors voted Thursday to provide free rides on buses and light-rail cars in November and December.
To get the free service, members of the military will have to show their armed forces identification card, RTD officials said. It’s estimated that there are about 6,700 active-duty military personnel in the Denver area, including reserve and National Guard troops.
The free service does not apply to military dependents.
ST. GEORGE, Utah
Toddler taken from foster home sought
Police were still looking Sunday for a toddler taken from a foster home where his 16-year- old mother had been sent to learn parenting skills.
Police believe Saffire Holt took 1-year-old Andreas Holt with her when she left the home Oct. 14. The case was initially treated as a juvenile runaway, but after almost a week, the state issued an endangered person advisory for the child Friday.
“Our main emphasis of course is to make sure that the baby is cared for,” Sgt. Craig Harding said Sunday. “We’re not sure of her parenting skills. That’s why she was in a foster home under the jurisdiction of the court.”
The child was in the state’s custody because of allegations of abuse and neglect against the mother. They had been living at the foster home for about two months, Harding said.
Police notified officials in Mojave County, Ariz., that Saffire may have taken the child to Colorado City, Ariz., because she used to live there.
PRESCOTT, Ariz.
No case in digging up alleged “Billy the Kid”
Prosecutors won’t seek charges against people who exhumed the remains of a man who claimed to be the outlaw Billy the Kid.
Former Lincoln County, N.M., Sheriff Tom Sullivan, former Capitan, N.M., Mayor Steve Sederwall and others dug up the bones of John Miller and the remains of the man buried next to him at the state-owned Pioneers’ Home Cemetery in Prescott in May 2005.
“It appears officials in charge of the facility gave permission and the people who were attempting to recover samples of the remains believed they had permission to do so,” said Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County attorney’s office, which made the decision not to seek charges.
Sullivan and Sederwall returned the bones, and Pioneers’ Home officials re-interred them in August.
SANTA FE
More-detailed report cards will be tried
The Santa Fe Public Schools district is experimenting with more-detailed report cards that will let parents know exactly what their kids have learned in all subjects.
A typical first-grade report card used to rate students on four levels – “O” for outstanding, “S” for satisfactory, “NI” for needs improvement and “U” for unsatisfactory.
This year, a first-grade student’s report card will show if he or she can count to 100 and add one-digit numbers, for example.
Students can earn a 3 for proficiency, a 2 for approaching proficiency and a 1 for practicing the standard. Students who shine in a particular subject will receive “AS” for “area of strength.”
“This way we can really report strengths and weaknesses,” said Denise Johnston, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction. “It’s a great way to isolate what skills students need to work on.”
In the past, there were as many as 13 different report cards, causing confusion when students moved from one school to another.
The new system, which includes kindergarten through second-graders, “really helps to make sure everyone is on the same page,” Johnston said.
