I had heard of the atrocities carried out by Westboro Baptist Church and its bigoted pastor Fred Phelps before.

I knew that the church had been picketing at fallen soldiers' funerals, holding signs with "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates the USA," written on them.

But it wasn't until 2005, when Phelps and his more than 70 followers came to my hometown to protest a soldier's death, that I realized the extent of the controversy.

I had never had to face a national scandal like that before.

For its 10-year anniversary, the Staff Assembly is considering some changes in its mission, vision and goals, a university official said.

The needs of the university and the Staff Assembly have changed in the last 10 years, said the Rev. Angela Kaufman, Staff Assembly Chair and minister to the university. Kaufman said the questions the assembly will address in the meeting are whether or not Staff Assembly is still fulfilling its original purpose and, if so, how the group could continue to carry out its mission.

"I didn't think our conviction to the attack was anywhere near where it needed to be," TCU soccer head coach Dan Abdalla said after Friday night's 1-0 victory against the University of Texas at San Antonio....

Students may soon feel the pinch of proposed city budget cuts as officials consider reducing funding for nonprofits and street maintenance in an effort to offset the $59 million city budget deficit.

Dale Fisseler, city manager, said Fort Worth is going to look and feel a bit different, according to a statement in the city's Web site.

"I believe we presented the City Council with a sensitive and responsible budget that minimizes the impact of service reductions on both employees and citizens," Fisseler said.

Students looking to major in sports broadcasting will have the opportunity fall 2010, a university official said.

David Whillock, dean of the College of Communication, said college officials plan to offer the major by next year. Whillock said the major was set to be offered this year, but difficulties with being approved by all the appropriate committees delayed it.

"(Members of the department) were under the assumption that it had gone through all the committees," Whillock said. "It had not completed the undergraduate committee."

The university is not releasing the number of students affected by the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, at the request of Tarrant County Public Health, a university official said.

Don Mills, vice chancellor of student affairs, said that because the university is not testing everybody for H1N1, it would be misleading to release numbers.

"To say we have X number of cases is a guess, and it's not really helpful," Mills said.

The 2010 list of America's Best Colleges published by U.S. News & World Report may give readers a quick fix list of the top colleges in the nation, but a flawed ranking system means that the best schools are not always at the top of the list, the university's dean of admissions said.

TCU climbed the list three places from its rank of 113 last year to 110 on the recently released list of America's Best Colleges. According to the U.S. News & World Report Web site, peer assessment or reputation accounts for 25 percent of the score used to determine rank.

Latin America, a region extending from the southern border of the United States. all the way to the southern border of Chile and Argentina, has long been considered one of the world's most underperforming collective economies. Generalized as a whole, this continent and its close peninsular friends have been viewed more so as a peach tree, ripe with fruit and host to a plethora of pickers. However, beyond its oil and other natural resources, Latin America offers the possibility not only for a regional economic boost, but perhaps an even greater global effect.