Publication Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2005
News Digest
News Digest
(November 23, 2005)
Palo Alto man charged in Atlanta slaying
A former California gubernatorial candidate, Scott Winfield Davis, was arrested at his Hawthorne Avenue home without incident last Friday morning on a charge of murder.
Davis, 40, has been charged with the 1996 Atlanta slaying of David Coffin, Jr., an heir to the founders of a Connecticut corporation. Coffin was shot to death, and his home and sports car were set on fire. Coffin had been dating Davis' estranged wife at the time, and Davis and his wife later divorced.
Davis had been arrested in 1996 but was later released by Atlanta police. He is now in the Santa Clara County Jail awaiting extradition to Atlanta.
Continued investigation led the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury to return last week's indictment, said Erik Friedly, director of public affairs of the Atlanta Police Department.
"The district attorney's office felt we had re-worked the evidence enough for an indictment," Friedly said.
Atlanta and Palo Alto police officers made the arrest Friday.
Davis was a candidate in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, but withdrew once his name was publicly linked to the Atlanta case.
"I'm 100 percent innocent," Davis said at the time. "At this point, it just feels like harassment and I want it to stop."
-- Don Kazak
Stanford students named Rhodes scholars
Two Stanford University students are among the 32 Americans who have been named Rhodes Scholars, winning scholarships and expense stipends to study at Oxford University in England for two to three years.
Elizabeth W. Mayne, a senior from Denver, Colo., will graduate from Stanford next month with a bachelor's degree in biological sciences. She is also an actor with the Stanford Shakespeare Players. At Oxford, she will study for a master's degree in physiology.
Tanya Ali Haj-Hassan of Amman, Jordan, is a senior majoring in human biology. She is the founder of the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, a campus group that focuses awareness on Palestinian issues. She plans to study for a master's degree in global health at Oxford.
-- Don Kazak
Business school to get $30 million
The Stanford Graduate School of Business will receive the largest gift in its history, the university announced Wednesday. Anne T. and Robert Bass will give the school $30 million.
Half of the gift will be earmarked for faculty endowment, which supports new positions, teaching and research. The remaining gift will include $5 million in matching funds for other alumni making donations and $10 million to fund the newly named Bass Seminars, an expansion of a current seminar program.
"This very generous and strategic gift not only provides us with direct funds but encourages other alumni to leverage their donation and make a larger gift to the school than might otherwise have been possible," Robert L. Joss, dean of the school, said.
Robert Bass is a former member and chair of the university's board of trustees. Anne and Robert Bass co-chair the Stanford Campaign for Undergraduate Education, which has raised more than $1 billion.
-- Don Kazak
County homeless get donated Stanford bicycles
A thousand bicycles abandoned by Stanford University students are being refurbished and distributed to homeless people through the Cycle ReCyclery, a program developed by a 17-year-old Los Gatos high-school senior.
Derek Beck, a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory, struck on the idea for refurbishing and donating bikes after spending the summer of 2004 working with InnVision, a local housing and service provider for homeless residents of Santa Clara County, said Cycle ReCyclery spokeswoman Jennifer Hall.
Initially, Beck and several friends collected and repaired bikes to donate to local charities. Now, he and InnVision are collaborating on the bikes donated by the university.
Beck and several other local high school students repair the bikes at the Cycle ReCyclery and hope to recondition 20 bicycles a week.
The first distribution to the homeless took place Monday.
For information on donating time, materials or funds to the Cycle ReCyclery, call (408) 354-2693.
-- Bay City News Service
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
