A self-admitted neo-Nazi was convicted two weeks ago for beating and killing an openly homosexual man in 2002 but was not convicted of committing a hate crime, even though he admitted he killed the man because of his sexual orientation.

Philip Walsted was found dead outside of IBT's bar, 616 N. Fourth Ave., with dozens of injuries inflicted by a baseball bat.

David Higdon was charged with first-degree murder Jan. 28, and his prosecutor said he killed Walsted because of Higdon's affiliation with a neo-Nazi group. Higdon will be sentenced March 28 and he stands to serve anywhere from 25 years to life in prison or possible execution. [Read article]

Members of the Commencement Policy Committee said students should expect to see "honor guards" and security checkpoints at this spring's commencement.

The security measures were put in place at the 2004 winter commencement to end the long-standing ritual of throwing tortillas during the ceremony.

UA administrators said the ritual had become disruptive over the last few years and sought new measures to prevent graduating students as well as their guests from bringing in tortillas and other disruptive items. [Read article]

To be an Orthodox gay rabbi is to be a duck-billed platypus.

That's coming from someone who knows - Rabbi Steve Greenberg, the first openly gay orthodox rabbi, who spoke to about 70 students and other Tucsonans last Thursday night in the UA Hillel Center.

Greenberg traveled to Tucson from New York City to speak as part of Temple Emanu-El's Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray "Living Judaism" speaker series. [Read article]

The last time he wrote a book, it spent more than nine months on The New York Times best-seller list and was translated into German and Japanese. That was 1992.

His newest book, published last summer, was recently nominated for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Professor Gerald Swanson is on a roll.

Swanson is a professor of economics in the Eller College of Management and holds the Thomas R. Brown Chair in Economics Education at the college. [Read article]

Whether governmental funding of religious-based social services is justified was the topic of conversation yesterday regarding the separation of church and state, both literally and financially.

Mark Chaves, professor and head of the sociology department, addressed controversies about the work of religious organizations and their efforts to receive government funds for social services

There have been efforts to direct more public funds to religious organizations that do social services, he said. [Read article]

Three professors are assisting students in starting a new club to show how the field of public relations is different than how HBO's "Sex and the City" portrays it.

The public relations club delves into the crux of the career, emphasizing how the job encompasses a lot more than is depicted on television.

"We want to dispel the myth about public relations, that it's just writing press releases, throwing parties and entertaining celebrities like in 'Sex and the City'," said Alaina G. Levine, club adviser and director of special programs in the College of Science. [Read article]

Senior's bummed the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, but monkeys cheered him up

Wildcat: My name is Kylee and you're on the spot. Did your team win the Super Bowl?

Moreno: No, they did not.

Wildcat: Aww. Really?

Moreno: Yeah, I personally really didn't care. They weren't my favorite team. I'm a Falcons fan, so ... I really didn't care who really won, but I was going for the Eagles though. I was tired of the Patriots. [Read article]

Things you always never wanted to know