UO E-clips, Oct. 29

Deadly foam kills seabirds, puzzles scientists -- The Associated Press, appearing in the Seattle Post Intelligencer (Scientists know what caused the ocean foam that has killed thousands of seabirds in Oregon and Washington, but they don't know exactly why it suddenly showed up in such deadly abundance off the Northwest coast. ... Why now? "This is the big million-dollar question," said Michelle Wood, a phytoplankton specialist at the University of Oregon. The organism flourishes in warm, stratified water - ocean water with a warm layer on top. Last week, the ocean was warmer than usual.)

Killer foam: Was it a freak event or a warning? -- The Oregonian (A simple organism that killed thousands of seabirds in Oregon and Washington has stunned scientists who are combing through clues in hopes of unraveling its mystery. They can name it. They can measure it. They can peer at it under a microscope. But they do not know exactly why it suddenly burst into deadly profusion for the first time off the Northwest coast and whether this was a freak event or a harbinger of the future. ... So, what made it bloom so profusely now? "This is the big million-dollar question," said Michelle Wood, a phytoplankton specialist at the University of Oregon.)

Classroom Bucks Go To Duck Athletics -- Eugene Weekly (The UO has long claimed that its lavish athletics department is financially self-sufficient. Turns out that's not really true. The UO Athletics Department is receiving a $1.54 million dollar subsidy in 2008-09 from state coffers, according to the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE) budget. That's a 32 percent increase in the athletic subsidy from the year before.)

Slipping commercial into newscast just plain wrong -- Evansville Courier & Press (When is a commercial not a commercial? When it's part of a news program. If you are a regular viewer of WEHT-ABC25's "Daybreak" newscast, chances are pretty good that you've seen the "McDonald's McCafe Monday" commercial that the station recently slipped in after Scott Dimmich's weather forecast. ... The problem with this commercial message was that it came not during a break, but during the newscast itself. ... In a 2004 study, researchers from the University of Oregon found that such advertising within newscasts, a practice known as "stealth advertising," was becoming more prevalent, especially in smaller television markets. The study called stealth advertising "an apparent threat to the long-term credibility of television news.")