University Of California

After this month's election, President Bush appeared before a nationally televised audience to acknowledge he had taken a "thumping." Less noticed was the thumping taken by advocates of affirmative action, who could not defeat a Michigan ballot initiative that would prohibit affirmative action in the public sector. The vote was a strong repudiation of the Michigan establishment. Virtually everyone who mattered opposed the measure; still, it passed (58 to 42 percent), along very racially polarized lines.

The next time you wonder why it's so hard to attract and keep good coaches on the high school level, think of Nancy Nibarger. When practice for the Castro Valley, Calif., girls basketball team opens, Nibarger, who has taught for 20 years, will not only have an observer watching every practice, but she also won't even be able to select her team. Instead, Nibarger will have to coach a team selected by a committee, all, likely, because a group of parents placed the interests of their individual children ahead of the welfare of the team.

John W. Peterson, 84, who wrote more than 1,000 gospel hymns in a musical career that began before World War II, died of cancer Wednesday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. His compositions included "It Took a Miracle," "Over the Sunset Mountains," "So I Send You," and "Surely Goodness and Mercy." He headed his own music publishing businesses in Scottsdale since moving to Arizona in the 1970s. Earlier, he served for more than 10 years as president of Singspiration, a sacred-music publishing company in Grand Rapids, Mich.

It's hard to get Harvey Levin on the phone these days. Unless, that is, you happen to have a raging scoop to report. For that, Levin will take your call immediately. Otherwise, take a number. "Harvey's on with CNN International," a harried assistant says, quickly rescheduling your interview. "He just broke a story and he's obsessed," another underling confides at the appointed hour. "Can he talk to you later?" Such has been Levin's life since July 28, when he and the Web site he runs, TMZ.com, broke the story of Mel Gibson's drunken driving arrest in Malibu, Calif.

Ornithology Owl isn't added to endangered list The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a petition to list the California spotted owl under the Endangered Species Act, saying the population is stable and programs that prevent forest wildfires will allow it to thrive. The decision rankled environmentalists who had requested protection of the speckled, football-sized bird -- their second effort to list the owl in three years. The petition's denial was based in part on the recommendation of scientists commissioned to study the owl, said Steve Thompson, manager of the agency's California-Nevada operations office.

Howard County police responded more than 20 times in the past five years to a variety of complaints at an Ellicott City address where they arrested a former University of Maryland, Baltimore County assistant professor this week on charges of working as a prostitute out of her home. Police visits to Brandy M. Britton's two-story beige and brown home on Shirley Meadow Court stemmed from "animal complaints," allegations of domestic violence and other calls, including a few that are listed only as "suspicious."

Peter D. Molan, a Middle East scholar and linguist, died Wednesday of complications from open-heart surgery performed this month at Sinai Hospital. The Tuscany-Canterbury resident was 64. Born in Chicago, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Northwestern University in 1963. He joined the Army and studied at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., where he learned Arabic and graduated with honors. He spent two years as a senior Arabic linguist in Asmara, Ethiopia, doing military intelligence work.

. Cody Young is an evangelical Christian who attends a religious high school in Southern California. With stellar grades, competitive test scores and an impressive list of extracurricular activities, Young has mapped a future that includes studying engineering at the University of California and a career in the aerospace industry, his lawyers have said. But Young, his teachers and his family fear his beliefs may hurt his chance to attend the university. They say the public university system, which has 10 campuses, discriminates against students from evangelical Christian schools, especially faith-based ones like Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, where Young is a senior.

Dr. Mantle L. Hood, a distinguished international scholar and pioneer in ethnomusicology who established a program in the subject at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, died from complications of Alzheimer's disease Sunday at his Ellicott City home. He was 87. Dr. Hood was born and raised in Springfield, Ill. He studied piano as a child and played tenor saxophone in regional jazz clubs in his teens, but had no plans to become a professional musician. After moving to Los Angeles in the 1930s with his mother, he wrote pulp fiction while working as a draftsman in the aeronautical industry.

Bruce Bolt, 75, an earthquake expert at the University of California, Berkeley, died Thursday of pancreatic cancer. Director of the university's Seismographic Stations for 28 years, he traveled the world to investigate major earthquakes, served on panels and commissions, and wrote two books, Earthquakes: A Primer and Inside the Earth: Evidence from Earthquakes. Dr. Bolt, a Berkeley professor emeritus of earth and planetary science, was known for linking engineering and seismology, key to designing buildings that can withstand shaking.