Pock rock artist Jason Mraz dazzled nearly 1,600 fans last night with his tongue-twisting rhymes and wordplays in Centennial Hall.

The UA concert was the second stop for Mraz and back-up band The Take It Easy Buddies on their Mr. A-Z tour, after kicking it off the night before in Phoenix.

The show was organized by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona Special Events Committee and sponsored by the radio station 92.9 FM KWMT, said Ryan Patterson, ASUA special events director. [Read article]

A string of campus-area accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists struck by cars has drawn attention to the safety of UA crosswalks.

According to Tucson Police Department statistics, cars are more often at fault than pedestrians when failing to yield, with 136 drivers cited since 2000 compared to 107 pedestrians. Bicyclists were the biggest offender, with 200 cited for not yielding in crosswalks since 2000. [Read article]

CIA recruiters may be more interested in what languages you speak rather than your major when they visit the UA campus tomorrow.

CIA representatives said the UA's department of Near Eastern studies, the department of Slavic studies and the center for Middle Eastern studies make the UA an attractive campus to recruit students.

Students fluent in Arabic and Persian are in high demand because 90 percent of the information the CIA collects is from foreign open sources like newspapers or television broadcasts, said CIA recruiter David Burris. [Read article]

The limited accessibility to advanced technology on American Indian reservations can negatively impact students who come from those areas and transfer to a university setting, officials said.

At least 75 percent of the 763 American Indian UA students come from reservation residences, which means they may not have access to many technologies like the Internet or a fax machine, said Karen Francis-Begay, a member of the Navajo tribe and director of the UA Native American Student Affairs office. [Read article]

Katrina benefit luncheon

"The Cats for Katrina Relief" luncheon and raffle will be held today at noon in the Grand Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10, and raffle tickets are also available for $5. All proceeds will be donated to the Tucson-based World Care Organization.

Teach for America alumni recruits top UA seniors

Teach for America representatives are coming to the UA today to recruit qualified seniors to apply for their program to eliminate the achievement gap that exists between children growing up in low-income areas and those growing up in higher-income areas. The information session is free and open to all college students. The session begins at 5 p.m. in the Tucson Room of the Student Union Memorial Center. [Read article]

Condoms named after Clinton, Lewinsky

BEIJING - A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky.

Spokesman Liu Wenhua, of the Guangzhou Rubber Group, said the company was handing out 100,000 free Clinton and Lewinsky condoms as part of a promotion to raise consumer awareness of its new products.

Liu said the company had chosen to use the Clinton name because consumers viewed the 42nd president as a responsible person, who would want to stress safe sex as an effective way to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. [Read article]