Monday,  Aug. 26, 2013 • Vol. 15--No. 42 • 23 of 29

(Continued from page 22)

• Maj. Nidal Hasan showed no reaction after being found guilty last week by a military jury, which will now decide whether the Virginia-born Muslim who said he opened fire on unarmed American soldiers to protect insurgents abroad should be executed.
• Twelve of the dead were soldiers, including a pregnant private who pleaded for the unborn child's life. More than 30 others were wounded in the 2009 attack on the Texas Army post, where investigators collected more than 200 bullet casings.
• At the minimum, the 42-year-old Hasan will spend the rest of his life in prison.
• "This is where members (of the jury) decide whether you will live or whether you will die," Col. Tara Osborn, the trial judge, told Hasan on Friday following his conviction.
• ___

As Chicago Public Schools embark on mayor's 'new beginning,' Safe Passage workers stand watch

• CHICAGO (AP) -- Thousands of Chicago Public Schools students will head to new schools Monday, the first day of what Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called "a new beginning" for the nation's third-largest district after a number of schools were closed.
• As students go, many will be accompanied by some unfamiliar faces: A crop of newly hired workers in yellow reflective vests, Chicago firefighters and even the security guards from local public libraries, all of them expected to stand guard to ensure kids get to and from school safely.
• The effort known as Safe Passage -- which stations workers and others along designated routes to help students who must cross gang boundaries -- is perhaps the most visible sign of how much is at stake for students in a district that has long struggled academically and financially, as well as for a mayor who has vowed since taking office that he would turn things around.
• "Safe Passage is about more than just building a route to school," Emanuel told about 1,000 people during a training session last week. "It is about building a route to college, career and beyond, so that once our kids get to school, they get the world-class education they deserve."
• The Chicago Board of Education -- hand-picked by Emanuel -- voted in May to close about 50 elementary schools and programs, a move Emanuel and schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said would allow the district to improve academics and help pay down a $1 billion budget deficit.

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