For the TCU theatre department, summer without Shakespeare just didn't seem sweet.

"A community that is as rich in culture and fine arts as Fort Worth, it needs to have a professional Shakespeare company," said Harry Parker, theatre department chair. "It's really a dearth."

Parker and associate theatre professor T. J. Walsh hope to help fill that void with the June 2009 debut of the Trinity Shakespeare Festival at TCU.

University officials from some of the nation's best-known colleges are pushing for lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, but the chancellor said he is unsure of his stance on the issue.

Chancellor Victor Boschini said he is weighing both sides and has yet to make a decision.

However, Boschini said the university will abide by state and local laws regarding alcohol consumption.

"Barcelona, my mind is full of foreign people faces ..., I don't exist any more, Barcelona; ... being your sounds wife, your extroverted labyrinth" tells us the song that accompanies the characters along the latest Woody Allen film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Narrated by Christopher Evan Welch, this rueful comedy is one of the best films of the year as it ingeniously combines art, passion, romance and madness in an exotic ambience.

A rising demand for land professionals has caused enrollment in TCU's petroleum land practices program to double since last fall, a Neeley School of Business official said.

Marcia Ivey, assistant director of executive development at the Tandy Center for Executive Leadership, said the program was prompted by interest in the Barnett Shale, a large natural gas reserve encompassing more than 5,000 square miles and covering at least 17 counties in North Texas.

Beginning Tuesday, the Mary Couts Burnett Library will be open 24 hours a day for five days a week.

June Koelker, dean of the library, said because of the Labor Day holiday, the library will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning and will stay open continuously until Friday night at 8 p.m.

Normally. the library will open Sunday at noon and stay open continuously until Friday at 8 p.m.

Koelker said the Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. will go unchanged.

Editor's note: The headline on this story was revised for accuracy at 12:37 p.m. Saturday.

TCU's Phi Kappa Sigma chapter has lost its charter and been kicked out of its house, a university official said.

Josh Schutts, coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life and IFC adviser, said the decision was made by the national organization in conjunction with TCU this summer.

Intramurals at TCU will begin registration for the first wave of sports within the next week. From softball to paper football, the University Recreation Center is the place for students to sign up for...

In recent history, the support of evangelical Christian voters has been more important to the Republican Party than ever. Without it, George Bush would likely have lost the 2000 and 2004 elections. These days, it's hard for a Republican to get elected without strongly opposing abortion, same-sex marriage and gun control. But during a recession under one of the most unpopular Republican presidents in history, John McCain has quite a mountain to climb to become a candidate that conservatives will really want to rally behind.

An $8 million donation from a Fort Worth couple this summer will fund scholarships, stipends and facility upgrades for the Honors Program, the Mary Couts Burnett Library and the Andrews Institute of Mathematics,...