Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2008 12:00 am
OSU solar team
THE STORY SO FAR: Oregon State University's Solar Vehicle Team competed in the North American Solar Challenge, a 2,400-mile car race from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Canada, that started on July 13.
THE LATEST: Rain Dancer, OSU's car, finished the journey on July 22, with a top speed of 49 mph. "We tied for 14th," said team co-captain Kathy Van Wormer, an OSU doctoral student.
Eighteen schools showed up for the 10-day race, but only 15 were cleared to compete. OSU wasn't allowed to finish higher than 14th because a popped tire prevented the team from completing its qualifying trials.
"We actually succeeded in all of our goals," Van Wormer said. "We competed and finished the race without any major problems. … We built a very sturdy reliable vehicle."
The team is starting its fundraising and design work for next year's competition.
E-mail fixed
THE ISSUE: The Corvallis School District e-mail and voice mail system broke down in July.
THE STORY SO FAR: On July 11, a cooling system in the server room at the district office building failed. Due to the hot weather, the voice mail and e-mail server overheated. District employees received none of the e-mails sent to them during the next two weeks of the outage.
THE LATEST: The system was running again on July 29. Technology manager Duane Jager reported his technicians were able to recover most employees' Outlook database from the previous six months. He encouraged anyone who tried to leave an important message for staff during that time to resend their e-mail or call the employee. "They should not assume their message got through," Jager said.
Power outages
THE ISSUE: At least three power outages at Oregon State University have caused officials to close and evacuate buildings and leave them darkened for up to 12 hours.
THE STORY SO FAR: A power outage at Oregon State University on Wednesday caused the closure and evacuation of Weniger Hall and the Plageman Student Health Center. On July 5, a power outage knocked out electricity to almost a third of the campus. On June 26, a blackout hit 13 buildings on campus.
THE LATEST: According to the university, the outages are not related. Wednesday's was caused when a construction crew cut a power line feeding the building. The earlier problems were caused by aging cables underground that caused short circuits. Those cables now are being replaced in partnership between OSU and Pacific Power.
Lemonade stand
THE ISSUE: A local family has been selling lemonade in front of their house on Witham Hill Drive to raise money for a national childhood cancer foundation.
THE STORY SO FAR: During their first effort, the family made a little over $60 over a few days of sales.
THE LATEST: Friday, after speaking with the Gazette-Times, the family saw sales double, to bring the total to more than $126. Encouraged, they may continue fundraising on warm afternoons for the remainder of the summer.