Schools experiment with paying kids

WASHINGTON – Friday is payday at KIPP DC: KEY Academy, and some sixth-grade girls gather at the makeshift school store trying to decide how to spend their hard-earned money.

They received paychecks for behaving well, doing their homework or making academic gains. The money is pretend. But it can be used at the store for genuine items such as pens capped with fluffy feathers, pencil cases shaped like animals and colorful erasers.

Schools, under pressure to boost student achievement, are offering incentives — field trips and cash, for example — to motivate students.

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Utah town may revise ban on bikinis at city pool

KANAB, Utah – A ban on bikinis at the city pool is expected to be revised, ending a short-lived prohibition on the popular two-piece pool attire. But that does not mean that lifting the G-rating is going to lead to poolside G-strings.

“My recommendation is going to be no thongs or string bikinis,” said City Councilwoman Nina Laycook, who called the original dress code an oversight.

Laycook said the policy will probably be revised at the council’s meeting June 24, bringing Kanab back in line with city pools even in the state’s most conservative communities.

“We were so engrossed with safety and health issues we overlooked the wording,” Laycook said. “We are addressing that now by amending the policy.”

Bikinis that don’t reveal too much will be allowed, as will Speedos for men when the new public pool — known as the Cowboy Water’n Hole — opens July 4 in the community just north of the Arizona state line.

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Hiker sacrificed himself to save his wife

A hiker who lost his life on Mount Rainier lay down in the snow and used his body’s warmth to protect his wife and a friend from the 70-mph winds of a freak June blizzard, national park officials said.

When it became obvious the trio could not find their way back to base camp in whiteout conditions, they dug a snow trench with their hands. Eduard Burceag, 31, lay down in the snow while his wife and friend lay on top of him. Later, when they begged him to switch places, Burceag refused, saying he was OK.

“In doing so, he probably saved their lives,” park spokesman Kevin Bacher said Thursday.

Mariana Burceag, also 31, survived the storm, as did the couple’s friend, Daniel Vlad, 34.

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