Muara Teweh!

A local academic whose mysterious disappearance captivated Edmontonians until his body was found in the North Saskatchewan River Tuesday will be forever immortalized by a University of Toronto scholarship established in his name.

In a letter to the UofT Mathematics Department, Chair John Bland called Robert Barrington Leigh, 20, “an exceptional student” who was “shy and modest, despite his enormous abilities.”

The student was visiting his family in Edmonton when he disappeared Aug. 13. His body was recovered Tuesday and his death ruled non-criminal.

Barrington Leigh was to enter his fourth year of math and physics studies at the UofT this fall, and was already taking graduate-level courses by his second year.

He’d won top awards there, and at several international math competitions. Bland expected him to pursue graduate studies at a top university, “and to have a brilliant career.”

A memorial for Barrington Leigh will take place in Toronto Sunday at the Duke of Gloucester pub on Yonge Street.

Sunday in Edmonton, Barrington Leigh’s family will host a private gathering for their son’s friends and family at 1 p.m. at the Strathcona Community Centre at 10139-87 Ave.

The city’s high-school graduation rate has slipped below 40 percent — worse than every city in America except Detroit. State education officials recently labeled six Baltimore City public schools as “persistently dangerous.” Some 22,000 students languish in schools that have failed state benchmarks for six or more years.

Unfortunately, Maryland state lawmakers appear unwilling to reform even the worst public schools in Baltimore City. During the last legislative session, Gov. Robert Ehrlich proposed a state takeover of 11 chronically failing public schools. The General Assembly not only approved a measure to delay changes for one year, it overrode Gov. Ehrlich’s veto of the legislation.

Yet change could come to city schools if the Bush administration and some in Congress have » Read more after the jump →

When I was in grade school, I bowled in a junior league at Sunset Bowl in Waukegan. I won a tournament, and the league put $125 in an account with the Junior Bowling Association. This money was stipulated for college use only.

Last year, I was thinking about the cost of books for my second year of college and I remembered the scholarship. I took the letter to Sunset Bowl and was told they had new owners and knew nothing of this scholarship. The person at the desk took the letter and said he would look into it.

I stopped back several times and had no luck. I asked for the letter back, but they said they did not have it. » Read more after the jump →

Harvey Binnig and Leah DiCaro have always had a dream.

For Binnig, that dream was to play college football and further his education. For DiCaro, it meant advancing her Christian beliefs and learning to help others like her little sister, who has been a family inspiration since the day she was born 11 years ago.

Binnig and DiCaro are now living those dreams.

Binnig and DiCaro are both college freshmen, Bening at Rowan University in Glassboro and DiCaro at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

It’s hard to imagine more model teenagers than the former Riverside and Cherokee High School students. Each excelled in both academics and athletics. Each were also young, respected role models in their communities. » Read more after the jump →

General Electric Co. Vice Chairman David Calhoun, whose unit produces more than 25 percent of the company’s sales, is leaving to be chief executive officer of VNU Group BV, publisher of the Nielsen ratings and Billboard magazine.

Calhoun is the first top executive to quit since Jeffrey Immelt took over in 2001. Fairfield, Conn.-based GE is known for churning out management talent. The CEOs of The Boeing Co., Home Depot Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. came from GE.

The next challenge for 49-year-old Calhoun, who managed the GE division that includes jet engines and power-plant turbines, will be fueling growth at VNU.

The Dutch company was acquired by private equity firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. last month, and Calhoun will focus on television and broadcast research and plans for a ratings system for Internet programs.

“There will be something of a learning curve, but I would think it would be pretty fast,” said Mary Anne Sudol, an analyst in New York at Caris & Co. who owns GE shares in her personal investments and rates them a “buy.”

“Calhoun was knowledgeable about other businesses, and that includes NBC Universal. VNU would not be a completely strange business to him.”

Calhoun succeeds interim CEO Rob Ruijter at VNU. He helped build sales in GE’s infrastructure unit, the biggest of its six main divisions, to an estimated $47 billion of the company’s $165 billion forecast for this year. John Rice, also 49 and a vice chairman running the industrial division, will succeed him, GE said Wednesday.*By RACHEL LAYNE
BLOOMBERG NEWS

General Electric Co. Vice Chairman David Calhoun, whose unit produces more than 25 percent of the company’s sales, is leaving to be chief executive officer of VNU Group BV, publisher of the Nielsen ratings and Billboard magazine.

Calhoun is the first top executive to quit since Jeffrey Immelt took over in 2001. Fairfield, Conn.-based GE is known for churning out management talent. The CEOs of The Boeing Co., Home Depot Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. came from GE.

The next challenge for 49-year-old Calhoun, who managed the GE division that includes jet engines and power-plant turbines, will be fueling growth at VNU.

The Dutch company was acquired by private equity firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. last month, and Calhoun will focus on television and broadcast research and plans for a ratings system for Internet programs.

“There will be something of a learning curve, but I would think it would be pretty fast,” said Mary Anne Sudol, an analyst in New York at Caris & Co. who owns GE shares in her personal investments and rates them a “buy.”

“Calhoun was knowledgeable about other businesses, and that includes NBC Universal. VNU would not be a completely strange business to him.”

Calhoun succeeds interim CEO Rob Ruijter at VNU. He helped build sales in GE’s infrastructure unit, the biggest of its six main divisions, to an estimated $47 billion of the company’s $165 billion forecast for this year. John Rice, also 49 and a vice chairman running the industrial division, will succeed him, GE said Wednesday.*By RACHEL LAYNE
BLOOMBERG NEWS

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A leader of House Republicans’ re-election efforts on Thursday said he believes taxes and border security are the top issues for voters in Nevada’s 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts.

U.S. Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, repeatedly cited the axiom “all politics is local,” and said that in Nevada that meant voters would support an extension of tax cuts and stronger protections at the nation’s borders.

“House elections, they are won and lost on pocketbook issues,” said Reynolds, R-N.Y.

The congressman rejected Democrats’ assertion that President Bush’s low approval rating would drag down Republican candidates in the state, saying “the president is not on the ballot.” » Read more after the jump →