Five student officials were reinstated to their positions by acting Student Body President Erin Hertzog yesterday, just two days after being fired by Cade Bernsen, the student body president who is on leave.

The reinstatements are in accordance with the university policy, which allows fired officials to retain their positions while the Dean of Students Office conducts an official investigation, said Fernando Ascencio, one of the Arizona Students' Association directors who was fired Tuesday. [Read article]

The Arizona Board of Regents will release on Tuesday the names of final candidates for the UA presidency but cannot release any other information until then, an official said.

Fred Boice, chair and spokesman of the search committee, said although no information will be released about the candidates, UA students will have the opportunity to ask the candidates questions when they visit campus next week. [Read article]

Students and their parents receiving loans from the federal government to pay for college may soon face higher interest rates and fees.

The U.S. Congress will soon vote on the budget reconciliation bill, which will increase interest rates for Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students in an effort to decrease federal spending.

The bill would save the federal government $12.7 billion dollars over time by increasing interest rates and fees on federal financial aid for students and their parents, said Hassan Hijazi, assistant director of federal relations at the UA. [Read article]

The upcoming three-day weekend is a popular time for students to head south to take advantage of the lower drinking age in Mexico, but common sense should not be left at the border, officials said.

When students go to Mexico without taking safety precautions, they're more likely to become targets of crimes like theft and sexual assault, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, University of Arizona Police Department spokesman. [Read article]

Some UA students and faculty are planning to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on Monday, but they wonder why the holiday doesn't receive more attention on campus.

Though the celebration is small, students and community members will honor King by marching on Monday from the UA Mall to Reid Park, East 22nd Street and North Country Club Road.

"I think that having a holiday that recognizes that change didn't occur easily is important," said Tani Sanchez, an adjunct lecturer in Africana studies. "It was a major time change in our culture." [Read article]

UA music composition professor Daniel Asia joined the ranks of other illustrious American composers when the Yale University Irving S. Gilmore Music Library purchased his complete archives last August for an undisclosed amount.

Asia has been compiling and sending the manuscripts, letters, and other paraphernalia to Yale over the last month in what the composer describes as an "ongoing process." [Read article]

Ten diabetes researchers and experts in the UA community contributed heavily to the recently published "Handbook of Diabetes Management."

Of the almost 50 authors who contributed worldwide, seven are affiliated with the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and three are affiliated with other UA colleges, said handbook co-editor Vicki B. Guabeca.

Guabeca, who is the director of public affairs and marketing at the College of Public Health, said authors who contributed were chosen primarily because they had a large level of expertise or experience in the field of diabetes research. [Read article]

A UA student who was hit by a van while riding his bicycle near campus Saturday was upgraded from critical to satisfactory condition.

Brandon R. Foltz, a business administration senior, was hit at 6:56 p.m. Dec. 7 and was transported to University Medical Center with life-threatening injuries after a van traveling west on East Grant Road ran a red light and hit Foltz, who was riding north on North Mountain Avenue, reports stated. [Read article]

Things you've always never wanted to know

• The giant squid continues to grow as long as it lives. Some specimens reach a length of 50 feet from the tip of the tentacles to the end of the tail.

• The tallest bird of all time was the moa, a flightless inhabitant of New Zealand that became extinct 400 years ago. It grew to be 11 feet tall. Its drumstick was a yard long.

• To help raise funds for the starving poor of Berlin, Albert Einstein in 1930 sold his autograph for $3 per signature and signed photographs for $5 each. [Read article]