SSCAC and Woodson Library co-host famed artist, historian

Dr. Samella Sanders Lewis, 86, widely collected and exhibited as an artist (primarily a printmaker) and also revered as an art historian and writer on African Art, stops by the South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan, on Friday, 6 p.m. -9 p.m., with historian Dr. Richard Long to discuss and sign copies of her book. Barthe: Life in Art, which took 20 years of extensive research to produce. The literary work traces Richmond Barthe's life and brilliant career-path as an artist and sculptor from the rural South to Chicago, to energizing New York and finally to Jamaica and Pasadena, Calif. SSCAC is currently exhibiting Dr. Lewis' works through Aug. 29. Both the exhibit and book …

Astronauts to deliver pump for balky space toilet

NASA rushed Wednesday to get a special pump on board shuttle Discovery to fix a balky toilet at the international space station, as the launch countdown got under way.

The space station's Russian-built toilet has been acting up for the past week. The three male residents have temporarily bypassed the problem, which involves urine collection, not solid waste.

Russian space officials are providing the pump to launch aboard Discovery on Saturday. The shuttle's seven astronauts arrived at Kennedy Space Center a few hours ahead of the start of countdown Wednesday afternoon.

At the same time, a NASA employee was en route to Florida from Russia with the 1 …

Missing Wis. woman found slain Suspect nabbed in Aurora attic, led cops to Kane farmhouse

Hours after police located Joseph Foreman Jr. hiding in an Auroraattic, Foreman led investigators to a secluded, vacant farmhouse inrural Kane County where they found the body of 49-year-old LindaDuchaine, authorities said Thursday.

The discovery at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday ended a frantic six-daysearch for Duchaine, a Wisconsin woman who vanished April 9 from herdaughter's apartment in west suburban Batavia.

"That was a sad conclusion to events of the last few days,"Batavia Police Chief Dennis Anderson said Thursday. "We had hopedthat would not happen."

An autopsy was pending, but authorities said it appeared Duchainehad been beaten to death, possibly with a metal …

Lateral mechanical coupling of stereocilia in cochlear hair bundles

ABSTRACT For understanding the gating process of transduction channels in the inner ear it is essential to characterize and examine the functional properties of the ultrastructure of stereociliary bundles. There is strong evidence that transduction channels in hair cells are gated by directly pulling at the so-called tip links. In addition to these tip links a second class of filamentous structures was identified in the scanning and transmission electron microscope: the side-to-side links. These links laterally connect stereocilia of the same row of a hair bundle. This study concentrates on mechanical coupling of stereocilia of the tallest row connected by side-to-side links. Atomic Force …

Pervak, Kudryavtseva advance at Tashkent Open

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) — Top-seeded Ksenia Pervak and defending champion Alla Kudryavtseva were the only seeded players to survive the second round at the Taskent Open on Wednesday.

In the quest for a first career title, Pervak beat local wild card Sabina Sharipova 6-3, 6-3, while Kudryavtseva defeated Vitalia Diatchenko 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

After trading breaks, the 52nd-ranked Pervak, who reached her first WTA Tour final in Baku in July, broke Sharipova twice in the first set and won four consecutive games in the second.

The sixth-seeded Kudryavtseva dropped her serve in the opening game but won the next six games to win the set. Yet, she struggled on her serve for the …

Congo group accuses soldiers of killing animals

An environmental group is accusing Congolese soldiers of killing more rare wild animals in a national park in Congo's volatile east.

Bantu Lukambo of Innovation for Development and Environmental Protection said Monday soldiers killed the animals in Virunga National Park in February while stationed in the area to fight rebels. Their toll includes seven hippos, …

Arson alleged in Brown office fire

AUGUSTA, Ga. The former security chief of James Brown has beencharged with arson and theft for an April fire that destroyed some ofthe singer's priceless mementos and music.

Richard Glenn, 39, was indicted Tuesday on charges of first-degree arson, theft and three counts of first-degree forgery. Heallegedly stole $75,000 and later set fire to Brown's office to hidethe theft.

Investigators began working on the case after the April 28 fire atJames Brown Enterprises destroyed the office. Investigators said thefire also destroyed evidence concerning the April 11 theft of a$75,000 check made payable to Brown that ended up …