Supreme Court justice heads to campus

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. will visit the OU College of Law today to speak with students in several classes and to deliver the Henry Family Centennial Lecture.

“This is a very significant event in the life of our college and our concluding centennial event,” Andrew Coats, dean of the College of Law, stated in a press release. “It is believed that this is the first time in the history of Oklahoma that a sitting chief justice has come into our state.”

Roberts, the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was appointed by former president George W. Bush and has served since Sept. 29, 2005.

Roberts received his bachelors degree from Harvard College in 1976 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1979.

Norman police to set up alcohol checkpoints

This weekend, the Norman Police Department will set up multiple police checkpoints throughout the city in an effort to increase enforcement of drunken drivers this holiday season.

Police will use checkpoints, saturation patrols and educational tactics in order to reduce the number of intoxicated drivers.

This is the kickoff to a larger initiative that will continue through 2010. Funding for this program will come from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office.

OU to host high school students for Geography Awareness Week

Approximately 60 local high school students will join the OU Department of Geography today for a hands-on opportunity to learn more about geography, and current geotechnology directly from professors and geography experts and celebrate Geography Awareness Week.

Students from AP Human Geography and AP Environmental Science classes at Norman, Moore and Southmoore High Schools will explore Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing to learn how outdoor enthusiasts, politicians and emergency responders use geotechnology to answer questions and help make people’s interactions with each other and their environment safer and more rewarding.

The students will also complete an activity using Global Positioning System technology, a tool becoming widely used in commercial products such as car navigation systems. In addition to learning how to use GPS technology to map their surroundings, the participants will explore its many other uses in human geography and environmental science.

“Geotechnology has been identified as an emerging major growth industry by the U.S. Department of Labor,” said Jason Julian, assistant geography professor. “This event will introduce teens to the technologies currently being used by geographers and other scientists, show them the impact of this rapidly growing field.”

-Daily staff reports