Skeleton found by hunters identified as woman missing since April

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, SC (WYFF) - Skeletal remains found by two hunters in Spartanburg County on Friday afternoon are that of a 20-year-old woman who was reported missing by her mother in May.

Coroner Rusty Clevenger said the remains, discovered in a wooded area off Highway 11 in the Fingerville community, have been identified as those of Crystal Lynn Freeman of Boiling Springs.

Hurricane Nadine Gets Stronger in Far-Atlantic

Hurricane Nadine has gotten slightly stronger as it heads eastward out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported late Saturday morning that Nadine's maximum sustained winds were 80 mph (129 kph). It remains a Category 1 hurricane, and little strengthening is expected over the next two days.

Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benefits


When children learn to play a musical instrument, they strengthen a range of auditory skills. Recent studies suggest that these benefits extend all through life, at least for those who continue to be engaged with music.

But a study published last month is the first to show that music lessons in childhood may lead to changes in the brain that persist years after the lessons stop.

Researchers at Northwestern University recorded the auditory brainstem responses of college students — that is to say, their electrical brain waves — in response to complex sounds. The group of students who reported musical training in childhood had more robust responses — their brains were better able to pick out essential elements, like pitch, in the complex sounds when they were tested. And this was true even if the lessons had ended years ago.

Indeed, scientists are puzzling out the connections between musical training in childhood and language-based learning — for instance, reading. Learning to play an instrument may confer some unexpected benefits, recent studies suggest.

NAEP Shows Most Students Lack Writing Proficiency

After decades of paper-and-pencil tests, the new results from the “nation’s report card” in writing come from a computer-based assessment for the first time, but only about one-quarter of the 8th and 12th graders performed at the proficient level or higher. And the proficiency rates were far lower for black and Hispanic students.

With the new National Assessment of Educational Progress in writing, students not only responded to questions and composed their essays on laptop computers, but also were evaluated on how frequently they used word-processing review tools like “spell check” and editing tools such as copying and cutting text.

Some prompts also featured multimedia components.

According to the NAEP report, released today, the switch from paper and pencil to a computer-based test is tied to recognition of the role technology plays in a 21st-century student’s life. In 2009, a hands-on and computerized science NAEP was administered, and all new NAEP exams are slated to be computerized, including, for example, a 2014 technology and engineering assessment administered entirely on computers.

Teachers union, CPS work to iron out contract details

Negotiators for the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools are back at work today attempting to hammer out the details of an agreement that could get 350,000 Chicago public schools students back into the classroom on Monday.

The outline of a new teachers contract was in place Friday and if the remaining pieces can be completed in talks that began this morning, union delegates could vote this weekend to cancel the strike. A teachers union rally is also scheduled for noon today at Union Park at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street on the Near West Side.

Facebook/spybook is always watching you

Artwork by Jean-naeJ

Facebook can keep on monitoring internet users’ activities even if they have logged off its website.

Using Facebook Connect, and some other social plug-ins, Facebook can launch a cookie on any website that has a "like" or "share" button, which provides Facebook access to an amazing amount of user information, the Business Insider website reported on Thursday.

The plug-ins are used to verify users, but the program also has the ability to gather personal information, such as the IP address of the internet user’s computer, browsing data, outside login information, phone numbers, and so on.

Using a cookie called the "datr" cookie, among other things, Facebook can get information on what the internet user has read on a webpage, even if the user did not click the "like" button. According to the Wall Street Journal, "for this to work, a person only needs to have logged into Facebook or Twitter once in the past month. The sites will continue to collect browsing data, even if the person closes their browser or turns off their computers."