Author William Paul Young said he wasn't trying to write a best-seller when he wrote "The Shack." He merely wrote the story for his six children, with no intention of it being published, according to the author's Web site.

Young will speak tonight as part of the Ministers Week activities sponsored by Brite Divinity School.

"The Shack," which was on The New York Times Best-Seller List for nearly a year, is a story that offers a unique perspective on the nature of God, especially in the midst of suffering, according to Brite's Web site.

Ever since a TCU student reported a sexual assault on campus last fall, the TCU community has become very concerned about the overall safety on campus. TCU Police and university administration reacted quickly to the incident and have made various efforts to provide the highest security within the premises of the university. For example, the university has made sure every landmark and walking path on campus is well lit at all times.

Despite differing perspectives on campus and around the community, there is a consensus that President Barack Obama had a complicated first year. However, community members will not as easily agree on his approach to health care.

Steve Maxwell, a Fort Worth attorney and chairman of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, said Obama's first year has been a roller coaster filled with wars, economic crises and bipartisan discord.

"To take that on, just in and of itself, to be able to process it all, is an accomplishment all by itself," Maxwell said.

Gov. Rick Perry's decision to not submit an application for federal education funding because of the strings attached to the funds may have been made with sincere consideration for the state curriculum,...

The university has determined that the TCU chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity was not involved in a Jan. 9 branding incident that reportedly occurred in Colorado, but individual students are still being investigated, a university official said Wednesday.

"The university has completed its investigation and found that the fraternity was not involved," said Don Mills, vice chancellor for Student Affairs said.

The university's chapter of Alpha Delta Pi sorority held its 10th annual Mardi Gras Mocktail Blend-Off on Wednesday in the Brown-Lupton University Union Auditorium.

The blend-off was originally designed to raise alcohol awareness and eventually became the main philanthropy event for Alpha Delta Pi. In the blend-off, teams from different campus organizations blend non-alcoholic beverages in a competition for the grand prize, which is donated by area businesses or organizations.

The university will be closed Friday because of the frosty weather, Provost Nowell Donovan said in an e-mail Thursday evening.Classes may be canceled, but Donovan urged students not to close their books."I...

Nearly everyone has a favorite teacher. I can distinctly remember two of mine, Ms. Paque and Ms. Collins. They were great educators, spinning torrents of exciting material out for their students to attempt to catch. They were pleasant and kind, but demanded extraordinary effort. At the time, it seemed a bit overwhelming, and I remember distinct moments when I was ready to quit. Of course, they were experts in encouragement as well.

Editor's note: This column contains explicit lyrics.

I was in my car the other day when "Down Rodeo" by Rage Against the Machine came on the radio. There's no doubt these guys are talented musicians, but their philosophical consistency is lacking.

There were some lines in the song that made me chuckle: "A thousand years they had the tools/ We should be taking them/ Fuck the G-ride! I want the machines that are making them."

The struggling Horned Frog basketball team will welcome another squad that has fallen on tough times, the Utah Utes, to Daniel-Meyer Coliseum tonight. Both teams have lost four of their past five games with a win over Air Force, the common denominator for both.

TCU (11-13, 3-6) topped the Falcons 65-51 Saturday in Colorado Springs behind junior guard Greg Hill's career-high 23 points. Prior to the victory, the Frogs had not won a game since they beat UT Pan-American on Jan. 20.

With a one-win lead in the Mountain West, the Lady Frogs head to Salt Lake City to face the University of Utah Utes.

TCU is currently on a 19-game home-win streak but lost their last road match to the University of New Mexico on Jan. 30.

Utah owns an 8-6 lead in the all-time series with the Frogs. TCU won their last two showdowns with the Utes including the Jan. 9 game in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, which the Frogs won 62-41.

Clad in sophisticated rodeo wear and sitting in a spacious back room of Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum, Mayor Mike Moncrief looked deeply introspective as he mulled over his answers to a string of personal questions. While Crayola might describe the color of his blazer as "Texas chestnut," the rich hue was not the only stand-out aspect of the mayor's appearance that day. A single golden Stock Show & Rodeo pin resting neatly on his left lapel seemed to sum up Moncrief in perfectly simple terms: "This Thing is Legendary."