A few years ago, the things we have today were unthinkable: Hybrid cars? What kind of crazy hippie are you?But now, with hybrid cars hitting the luxury market and becoming mainstream, cleaner energy is entering the realm of possibility. And with it, a whole new spectrum of alternative fuels and clean energy is becoming available to us.

The temptation would be to blow them off. After all, only liberals worry about the environment.

But before you do this, take a closer look: Our Republican president is supporting this measure. Big business is hopping on board.

Freshman radio-TV-film major Jeff Thurber works hard for his grades.He studies about 20 hours a week, more when he has tests, to maintain his 3.2 GPA, a solid B average.

Under the new system proposed by the Faculty Senate, however, Thurber's B average could be a plus.

Under the plus/minus grading system, recommended by the Senate in September 2005, Thurber would be a B+ student.

Since the debate first began two years ago, the proposed plus/minus system has been one of the most debated and misunderstood issues on campus.

Every donated dollar to the Tarrant Area Food Bank gets translated into four and a half meals for hungry people in 13 counties. Last Tuesday, the House of Student Representatives passed Justin Brown's program allowing students to use their meal card money to buy food to donate to charity. With this recent buzz around the issue of hunger comes an easy opportunity to make a big difference in the local community and worldwide. That's right; Hunger Week is here again. Not only are there awesome events all week, you can actually donate money right off your meal card.

Throughout the history of our beautiful country, our economy has been founded upon the backs of immigrants, those who are willing to do jobs most people would not do, only for the chance to live in a country that boasts the opportunities of freedom and liberty. It was immigration that began our country in the early 1700s, kept it moving throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and is the mainstay of our economic prosperity today.The article published on Thursday titled "Citizenship nonnegotiable; live here legally or leave" is an example of the ignorance of the real facts about immigration.

The Center for Academic Services has joined the AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences to provide three new professional advisers funded by the Vision In Action plan. The VIA initiative is spending $932,000 over five years to recruit advisers in an effort to improve academic advising because students expressed their dissatisfaction with advisement by specialized major departments, said Michael Butler, associate dean of the AddRan College.

With an average of 100 students this year at Programming Council social events, attendance is just not cutting it for Council leaders.Alina Tennie, Programming Council chair, said the group is having trouble competing with students' other social interests.

"It's really hard to pull the interest of students without alcohol and partying," Tennie said. "We normally never schedule an event on a Thursday or Friday night because we know that no one will show up."

Sorry, Bud Selig, but you're not fooling anyone.Yes, the steps Major League Baseball - and you, as its commissioner - appears to have taken toward the eradication of steroids in the sport are considered positives. And yes, it is likely that, with your new policies in place, professional athletes will think twice about juicing up.

But let's be honest. All this recent work you've done to regulate performance-enhancing drugs isn't about creating a better future, is it?

It's about cleaning up the past.

Health insurance prices will increase by 14 percent next year for students using the university-offered insurance plan. The price will rise from $483 a semester to $552, according to a release from the Health Center.Marilyn Hallam, assistant to the director of the Health Center, said the price increase is due to rising health costs in the community. She also said the coverage is the same as last year: The plan still carries a $500,000 policy maximum and still has an out-of-pocket pay system.

Journalists will discuss factors affecting the transformation of media at the second annual Schieffer Symposium, "The Changing Communications Landscape," at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Student Center Ballroom.Bob Schieffer, who graduated from TCU in 1959 and for whom the school of journalism was named in March 2005, will moderate the panel. Schieffer is currently the interim anchor of the "CBS Evening News" and has been the anchor and moderator of "Face the Nation" since 1991.

With an increase in applicants to TCU comes an increase in admissions standards, said the chairman of the TCU admissions committee.Jim Atwood, the chairman, said TCU now has the ability to be more selective in who it admits because higher standards of academic preparation are expected.

"One factor given increased emphasis, certainly at TCU, is leadership experience, which is seen as an important complement to academic preparation," Atwood said.