News In Brief

WOULD WHIZ KIDS DO?

If you attend or graduated from Wheaton (Ill.) College and have never submitted a proposed nickname for a new sports team, here's your opportunity. The administration there has decided to dump Crusaders, which was adopted in 1927, for a kinder, gentler substitute. Duane Litfin, Wheaton's president, said associating with the 11th-to-13th-century campaign to recover the Holy Land from Muslims doesn't project a good image for an interdenominational Christian school. The move, he insists, isn't for reasons of political correctness. The winning entry will be announced Sept. 30, four weekends into football season.

FLOWER POWER

Electric utilities burn all sorts of fuels: nuclear, oil, coal, gas, wood chips, thistles. Thistles? Well, soon anyway. From Spain comes word that two facilities opening in 2002 will consume 105,000 tons of the prickly plants a year. One problem: To keep the growing plants from being eaten by mice, they must be genetically modified to tweak their already bitter taste.

Make it big; spend it big - the states that lead the list

The same states that collect a lot of money in taxes and fees also spend a lot. Not surprisingly, they're the most populous as well. These findings are based on figures just released by the US Census Bureau in its 1998 survey of government finances. The report calculated the combined revenues of state governments at $1.1 trillion; expenditures reached $930 billion. Almost $295 billion, or 32 percent of the latter, went to education. The states that take in and spend the most (in billions):

Revenue

1. California $144.9

2. New York $96.1

3. Texas $57.8

4. Florida $51.7

5. Pennsylvania $48.5

Expenditures

1. California $120.3

2. New York $87.3

3. Texas $51.0

4. Pennsylvania $40.8

5. Florida $39.2

- Associated Press

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society