President Peter Likins will recommend that regents approve the second-largest tuition increase in UA history, a $490 hike for resident undergraduates that would bring next year's rate to $3,998.

Likins will also request tuition hikes of $700 for nonresident undergraduates and graduate students, and $490 for in-state graduate students, he said yesterday.

If regents approve Likins' request, it would mean resident undergraduate tuition rose nearly $1,500 in two years, slightly more than the previous 16 increases combined. [Read article]

Because of a loss of funding, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center will only be able to offer two programs this semester to celebrate Black History Month.

Alex Wright, director of African American Student Affairs, said UA budget cuts and the loss of key members in a fund-raising committee contributed to the center's lack of money.

Wright said $12,000 was raised two years ago by the Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration Committee. That money was used to bring entertainers, movie producers and art exhibits to the university throughout the year. The money is now gone, and the committee that raised it needs to be revived. [Read article]

Even though Dr. Patricia Hoyer has been conducting research on mice at the UA for more than 15 years, she has a surprising claim: "If I saw a mouse in my kitchen, I would still run and scream."

But the same mouse that she would run away from could offer insight into menopause, if Hoyer pioneers a new procedure in which mice undergo menopause.

Hoyer has been studying menopause at the UA since 1989 and has been working on a new technique that better models how females progress into menopause using mice as test subjects. [Read article]

As polls open for the Democratic primary today, the UA Young Democrats are divided on which candidate to support, but united in beating President Bush.

Despite endorsing different candidates, members said they would fully support the nominated Democrat after the primaries.

The husband and wife team of Jeff and Kathleen Hale, a business graduate student and law student respectively, chair the UA branch of the John Kerry campaign. They support Kerry because they say he is electable and they like his stance on issues that affect young people. But they both say the primary will not divide the Democratic Party during the November election. [Read article]

Tucsonans near the UA have problems with some of their student neighbors, and tonight, they're sitting down with campus officials to talk about it.

ASUA will be sponsoring a Community Relations forum at 7 p.m. in Room 150 of the Harvill building to address problems and concerns among students, neighbors and law enforcement.

Complaints from neighbors of UA students have increased in number, and various organizations and associations are trying to help mend the rift between the community and the students. [Read article]

North Park Avenue between East University Boulevard and East Second Street may be closed until Friday, said Mike Gram, public relations adviser for the City of Tucson.

According to city records, C.F. Jordan Construction has been issued a permit for a full road closure until Friday.

Traffic on the west side of campus is being detoured around the closure.

The construction company is finishing the paving and installation of a walkway around the new Marshall building on the corner of North Park Avenue and East Second Street, which is owned by Park Development LLC. [Read article]

Wildcat: Hi, I'm from The Daily Wildcat and you're on the spot.

Avila: (Sarcastically) Oh, great.

Wildcat: So how many people do you think pee in the pool here at the Rec Center?

Avila: Oh my God! A lot!

Wildcat: So what would you do to me if I peed in the pool?

Avila: Nothing, because I hope I

wouldn't know.

Wildcat: What if I came up and told you that I did? [Read article]

Things you always never wanted to know

Registration: Chaos, Frustration

"The chaos and frustration of registration began yesterday as students walked, milled, waited, pleaded and wrote their way into the second semester. For some, the problems were to have been lessened; pre-registration was experimentally attempted in several colleges. ... For those who weren't lucky enough to be pre-registered, the traditional 200-yard line in front of the Student Union Annex greeted students ready to pick up their card packets." [Read article]