Missing Montana math teacher is dead, school officials

(Reuters) - A Montana high school math teacher who vanished last weekend while on her morning jog is dead, and a man has been taken into custody in connection with her disappearance, authorities said on Friday.

Sherry Arnold, 43, was last seen setting off for a run on Saturday in her hometown of Sidney, a fast-growing agricultural community in northeastern Montana. Her husband, Gary Arnold, later reported her missing, police said.

Sidney Public Schools Superintendant Dan Farr said law enforcement authorities had informed family members and district officials of Arnold's death, but declined to elaborate.

Sidney Police Chief Frank DiFonzo said in a prepared statement that authorities had taken one man into custody and were seeking information from another in connection with Arnold's disappearance.

A 47-year-old man has been jailed in neighboring Williston, North Dakota, and a 22-year-old man is being held for questioning in Rapid City, South Dakota.

"Because this investigation is rapidly moving forward, we are not able to provide any details of the case at this time," DiFonzo said in the statement.

He said a tip to a crime hotline led to the breakthrough in the investigation, which has blanketed the northern prairies of Montana and the Dakotas and drawn investigators from the three states and the FBI.

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser said the crime had shattered the sense of security in the community of 5,000 people, where new homes were being built amid rapid growth brought on by a boom in oil and natural gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing.

"We never think it will happen in a small town. Now it has and we have to deal with it," he told Reuters.

Smelser said Arnold's disappearance and death has prompted a run on handguns and concealed weapons permits, especially among women, and caused some residents to view outsiders with mistrust.

Arnold, a math teacher at Sidney High School, vanished on Saturday after leaving her home wearing running clothes and mittens. One of her shoes was recovered during an initial search of the area.

A statement on the school district's website said counselors would be on hand following the news.

"She's a well-respected, well-liked teacher," Farr said. "She was the kind of teacher that every parent would want in front of their children. She would go the extra mile to help one of her students."

The school district dismissed students early from class on Friday afternoon and cancelled planned sports events.

Farr said counselors have been available to students and staff since Arnold vanished and that additional support would be offered in coming weeks.

Late Friday afternoon, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer released a statement about Arnold, saying she would be remembered as "a wonderful daughter, mother, wife, teacher and a beloved member of the Sidney community."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune)

(This story corrects the headline and first paragraph to reflect officials saying the missing woman is dead rather than she has been found dead.)

View the original article here at Yahoo News!

Missing Montana math teacher found dead

(Reuters) - A Montana high school math teacher who vanished last weekend while on her morning jog has been found dead, and a man has been taken into custody in connection with her disappearance, authorities said on Friday.

Sherry Arnold, 43, was last seen setting off for a run on Saturday in her hometown of Sidney, a fast-growing agricultural community in northeastern Montana. Her husband, Gary Arnold, later reported her missing, police said.

Sidney Public Schools Superintendant Dan Farr said law enforcement authorities had informed family members and district officials of Arnold's death, but declined to elaborate.

Sidney Police Chief Frank DiFonzo said in a prepared statement that authorities had taken one man into custody and were seeking information from another in connection with Arnold's disappearance.

A 47-year-old man has been jailed in neighboring Williston, North Dakota, and a 22-year-old man is being held for questioning in Rapid City, South Dakota.

"Because this investigation is rapidly moving forward, we are not able to provide any details of the case at this time," DiFonzo said in the statement.

He said a tip to a crime hotline led to the breakthrough in the investigation, which has blanketed the northern prairies of Montana and the Dakotas and drawn investigators from the three states and the FBI.

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser said the crime had shattered the sense of security in the community of 5,000 people, where new homes were being built amid rapid growth brought on by a boom in oil and natural gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing.

"We never think it will happen in a small town. Now it has and we have to deal with it," he told Reuters.

Smelser said Arnold's disappearance and death has prompted a run on handguns and concealed weapons permits, especially among women, and caused some residents to view outsiders with mistrust.

Arnold, a math teacher at Sidney High School, vanished on Saturday after leaving her home wearing running clothes and mittens. One of her shoes was recovered during an initial search of the area.

A statement on the school district's website said counselors would be on hand following the news.

"She's a well-respected, well-liked teacher," Farr said. "She was the kind of teacher that every parent would want in front of their children. She would go the extra mile to help one of her students."

The school district dismissed students early from class on Friday afternoon and cancelled planned sports events.

Farr said counselors have been available to students and staff since Arnold vanished and that additional support would be offered in coming weeks.

Late Friday afternoon, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer released a statement about Arnold, saying she would be remembered as "a wonderful daughter, mother, wife, teacher and a beloved member of the Sidney community."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune)

View the original article here at Yahoo News!

Colombia: Union protest teacher deaths

A trade union group says 2 more teachers are killed -- one in May, one in JuneThey were both members of the Teachers' Association of CordobaColombia is the world's deadliest country for trade unionists, the group says49 of the 90 union members killed worldwide in 2010 were from Colombia

(CNN) -- Two teachers in Colombia have been killed in as many months, a prominent alliance of trade unions said Friday, calling on the government there to do more to bring those responsible to justice.

Dionis Alfredo Sierra Vergara and Alejandro Jose Penata Lopez were both members of the Teachers' Association of Cordoba, according to a statement from the International Trade Union Confederation, or ITUC, the world's largest federation of trade unions.

Sierra Vergara, a primary school teacher, was reportedly killed on May 15. Citing an eyewitness, the union confederation said he received a call on his cell phone. Where he went outside to answer it, Sierra Vergara was attacked and shot three times.

Penata Lopez was murdered on June 20, according to the ITUC. He disappeared after he left school. His body was found later having shown signs of torture, having reportedly been hung with barbed wire.

The men were the latest trade unionists apparently targeted in Colombia, which the ITUC calls the most dangerous country in the world for union members.

In the department of Cordoba, alone, 20 teachers have been killed since December 2008, according to the ITUC. At least six of those teachers -- including Sierra Vergara and Penata Lopez -- were reported slain this year.

"The context of almost total impunity for these murders has led to an alarming humanitarian crisis in the education sector and has put teaching and trade union actions at risk," the trade union alliance said Friday. "(It) clearly refutes the Colombian governments' statements in international forums about human rights' improvements."

According to the group's 2011 survey of 143 countries, Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists.

Of the estimated 90 trade union members killed in 2010, 49 of them were in Colombia. Another 20 people were reported to have escaped attempted attacks that year in the South American nation.

CNN

Religion, rights and the workplace clash in Muslim teacher case

By Mustafa Ozer, AFP/Getty Images

Muslim pilgrims perform the final walk around the Kaaba (Tawaf al-Wadaa) at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 16, 2010.

EnlargeCloseBy Mustafa Ozer, AFP/Getty Images

Muslim pilgrims perform the final walk around the Kaaba (Tawaf al-Wadaa) at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 16, 2010.

The local school board refused, but the Justice Department stepped in last December and sued on behalf of Khan, saying she was denied "reasonable accommodation" to perform a duty of her faith.

USA TODAY EDITORIALThis should not be a court battleSince then, a number of questions have arisen about the hajj and whether the Justice Department should have backed the teacher.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show last Friday. "Teachers have summers off. ... Muslims are urged to travel to Mecca at least once in their lives. Not during a specific time frame, like the end of the school marking period."

On Tuesday, at a Senate hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused the Justice Department of taking "the wrong case."

"Can she go on the hajj during the summer?" the senator asked Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, who testified at the hearing. "Is there a requirement that she go for the three weeks that she chose during the middle of the school year?"

According to Islamic scholars, making the hajj during summer vacation would have required Khan, 29, to postpone her trip for nearly a decade.

The hajj commemorates the trials of the biblical patriarch Abraham, who Muslims consider a prophet, and takes place over five days during the 12th month of the Islamic year. The date of the annual pilgrimage shifts because Islam is guided by a lunar calendar; last year, 2.8 million Muslims from around the world traveled to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, Nov. 14-18.

Asking a Muslim to move the pilgrimage to summer is like asking a Christian to celebrate Christmas in July, says Sayyid Syeed, who directs interfaith and community affairs for the Islamic Society of North America.

Muslims can travel to Mecca throughout the year, but these trips are not considered a fulfillment of the hajj obligation.

"If she waits, and she gets sick and dies, how will she be able to explain why she did not do it? There is a compelling passion to go as soon as possible," said Syeed.

Along with believing in monotheism and Muhammad's prophecy, praying five times daily, giving alms, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, every Muslim is required to make the pilgrimage at least once. About 20,000 Americans complete the hajj yearly, according to Syeed.

According to the hadith, a collection of teachings by Prophet Muhammad and his companions, Muslims who do not make the hajj should not be considered Muslim.

Muhammad also said that those who have the health and "means" to undertake the journey but fail to do so "die on the branches of ignorance," said Shaykh Abdool Rahman Khan (no relation to Safoorah Khan), the resident scholar at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Ill.

Before airplanes and boats, Muslims would set out by foot or camel on a trip that might take years and prove perilous. In many parts of the world, Muslims save for a lifetime before they have enough money to make the trip.

Their relative affluence puts pressure on young American Muslims to perform the hajj as soon as possible, even with lives crowded by family and work obligations.

"In American society, perhaps, people are confused about whether they should give up everything because (Islamic tradition) says so, or whether they can apply their own wisdom," Khan said.

Muhammad was referring to more than finances when he said all Muslims who have the "means" must perform the hajj as soon as possible, he said.

"You have to look at a variety of factors: Do you have enough security in what you are doing with your job and your family?" Khan said. "Practicing religion is not ignoring everything else. You have to balance it all."

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