After reviewing the results of a recent survey, the Staff Assembly brainstormed ideas Tuesday to lower the cost of health insurance for employees and the university.The survey, which was conducted by several Staff Assembly representatives and other employees, focused on 116 staff members working in housekeeping and grounds maintenance.

Tara Perez, a horticulture assistant who presented the survey results to the Staff Assembly, said the survey targeted these staff members because there are concerns that some of them are unable to afford health insurance.

"The Kite Runner"By Khaled Hosseini

Everyone has done something he or she regrets - it's a part of life. Some of those things are minor, some are life-altering . but how often does fate offer a chance to atone for the sins of one's past?

In his first novel, "The Kite Runner," Afghan author Khaled Hosseini shows us that even the most painful of memories and the most unspeakable acts are not beyond redemption.

Around the world child obesity is expected to rise, according to an Associated Press article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Monday. This means that almost half of the children in the United States will be overweight by 2010.While this seems of no consequence to college-aged adults, the article also stated that most children carry obesity problems into adulthood. Obesity in adulthood leads to several chronic diseases, including diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Following advancements in bringing Fair Trade Certified coffee to TCU, Frogs for Fair Trade are trying to take their campaign to the next level. The student group succeeded in getting Starbucks locations on campus and Jazzman's Caf‚ in the Tucker Technology Center to offer the coffee but now wants Jazzman's to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee exclusively, said Seth Harris, co-coordinator of Frogs for Fair Trade.

A former independent presidential candidate visited TCU Monday to promote FairVote, a program that suggests presidents should be elected by popular vote rather than electoral. John B. Anderson, who ran for president in 1980, said his proposal can fix the current system of elections.

Anderson said when the electoral college was first invented, it was a good concept, but is now outdated and unfair.

"We urge that the people of the United Stated have the right to choose the president," Anderson said.

Sorority sisterhood means having a family you do not have to love, said an author of The New York Times bestselling book about the secrets of sororities Monday at the Kelly Alumni Center.Alexandra Robbins, author of "Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities," told an audience filled mostly with sorority members that her book is not anti-Greek but just "a fly-on-the-wall look inside sorority life."

When John Townes Van Zandt walked into the theater at the Museum of Modern Art Friday, all eyes were magnetically drawn to the lanky man on the stage, nearly indistinguishable in appearance from his legendary father.Van Zandt's father, Fort Worth-born songwriter Townes Van Zandt, is the subject of director Margaret Brown's new documentary "Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt."

The film follows Van Zandt from his well-to-do birth in south Fort Worth, through his long recording career, and finally to his death of heart failure in 1997.

While most country legends are either dead or recording with Rick Rubin, Bobby Bare has returned with a collection of songs that's easily better than anything else out of Nashville this year.Bare first grabbed the spotlight with tunes like the Grammy-winning "Detroit City," and in 1973, with a collection of tunes penned by Playboy cartoonist-turned-children's author, Shel Silverstein, called "Bobby Bare Sings Lullabies, Legends, and Lies." A maverick in the early '60s Nashville scene, Bare sang quirky songs with snappy countrypolitan arrangements, making him something of a bohemian Eddy Arn