So far the Democratic-controlled Congress has not done much in the way of legislation. Seemingly, it has spent more time exercising Congressional oversight. Say what you will. However, this Congress achieved at least one clear success by pushing through an increase in the federal minimum wage, which President Bush signed into law on May 25. The bill provides for a three-stage 70 cents increase. The first stage, effective on July 24, increased the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $5.85. By July 24th, 2009, the federal minimum wage will reach $7.25 per hour.

Though the implementation of the plus/minus grading system might give a more accurate representation of students' grades, the lack of consistency in mandating it could create problems for students and...

Heads or tails? With a simple cointoss, the future homes of two fraternities were decided. Pi Kappa Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon, the Sig Ep President Clayton Simons said, determined their future residences in a coin toss last winter. Both fraternities are now housed in the former girls' dormitory, Wiggins Hall , alongside the new sorority, Gamma Phi Beta and freshmen males.

Both fraternities were previously housed in Milton Daniel Hall, which now houses freshman and honors students.

Despite prior warnings, some students had their first taste of alcohol violations before ever stepping foot in a classroom.There were six on-campus alcohol violations since the first day of move-ins, but Sparkle Greenhaw, associate director of alcohol and drug education, said this is not an unusual occurrence.

"Just as soon as students get back on campus, we start getting alcohol violations," Greenhaw said. "The majority of violations come from first-year students."

Andy Dalton was hanging out with friends, watching the No. 1 movie in America when he got the news he was named the No. 1 quarterback at TCU."I was actually told in a movie ... but I came up here on Sunday and that's when they told me," Dalton said. "I went and saw 'Superbad.'"

The redshirt freshman beat out sophomore Marcus Jackson in a contested battle for the starting quarterback slot, opened by the graduation of Jeff Ballard.

After last semester's online course evaluation pilot test, the faculty evaluation committee reported the study was unsuccessful because of a low student response rate found.Catherine Wehlburg, executive director of the Office for Assessment and Quality Enhancement, said, "A reason we had unsuccessful rates was because over 1,000 evaluations were caught in the TCU spam filters so by the time the e-mails were sent back out, the timing was off due to finals week."

From Fort Worth to New York City and all places in between, TCU graduate Adam Golka is making a name for himself.After being awarded the Gilmore Young Artist Award, Golka is now traveling the country, playing in major concert halls, said Dana Ramos, Golka's agent..

The Gilmore Award is given to two students under the age of 22 every two years. Each recipient receives $15,000 to further his or her musical career..

The candidates for the award are judged discreetly instead of in competition form for musicianship and performing abilities over a long period of time.