Colin Donohue

From the Wilmington Star-News (7/21/09): Given the choice many, if not most, government officials would choose to conduct their business in secret. Thankfully, the decision isn’t left up to them. Under North Carolina law, the presumption is that government documents and meetings are open to the public unless an exemption is specifically written into the law.

Ashley Barnas works in a cave. Well, not a literal cave, with the high, damp walls, the darkness, the things that go bump in the night. But a figurative one that's probably better defined as a little room in the middle of a larger newsroom. It's affectionately referred to as a cave, and the employees who work inside it have hung bats from the ceiling and drawn pictures of sunshine on the windowless walls.

Elon University Provost Steven House visited with students and alumni in Los Angeles July 17-23, where he attended an alumni function and spent time at L.A. landmarks with students.

Casting isn't the glamorous position. It's just a name in a long list of credits. Certainly, the weight of a motion picture's success rests more on the visible shoulders of the movie stars and director. But put the wrong actors in the wrong parts, and a movie can fall apart. And it's that tension, that stress that invigorates Joanna Bateman.

Students in the Elon in Los Angeles program will have the opportunity to attend the Marina Del Rey Summer Classical Concert at 7 p.m. (PST) June 23 at Burton W. Chace Park.

From the Daily Advance (7/18/09): The Issue: House OKs change to public records law Our position: Owens tried to weaken bill with amendment

Legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite died July 17 at the age of 92. Cronkite was famous for his reporting of the Kennedy assassination, Watergate and the U.S. space program. Cronkite came to Elon April 8, 2003, and had a conversation with David Gergen, a former adviser to four U.S. presidents and the chair of the Elon School of Law advisory board.

Forget about orientation. Forget about easing into an internship. Lauren Murphy didn't dip in a toe to test the waters. Instead, she was thrust shoulders deep into her internship with MTV in Los Angeles: She had to work the MTV Movie Awards.

The Elon in Los Angeles program, a nine-week experience during which students live and intern in L.A., started its second year May 30 with a more ambitious structure and more enthusiasm from the students.