Gally Prez in Cali

Gallaudet President T. Alan Hurwitz spoke at California State University in Fresno for the first time yesterday. He told those who gathered on the campus that Gallaudet's goals include enrollment growth, better retention and graduation rates, and revenue generating operations. Hurwitz says he hopes to see the school go from 2000 students to 3000 enrolled students during his tenure.

Academic Bowl Winner

The Maryland School for the Deaf has won the 2011 Academic Bowl Champion for Deaf and Hard of Hearing for high school students. Instead of holding regional tournaments and having the finalists travel to Gallaudet University for the championships, the University decided to have all 78 teams travel to Washington. The championship game pitted Maryland against New Mexico School for the Deaf. The final score was 48 to 29. Maryland won last year as well.

Captioning at NFL Games

An appeals court has upheld a lower court decision that deaf football fans should have access closed captioning at Washington Redskins' games. Deaf fans have no way of knowing what music is being played over the public address system during games. That's why the NAD sued five years ago on behalf of 3 deaf fans. The court ruled the that this is part of the entertainment experience at FedEx Field, and deaf fans should have access it, under ADA law. But the court also said captioning was not required for play-by-play coverage provided in the stadium concourse through the Redskin's radio station. Since the lawsuit was first filed, the stadium operators started captioning some content on boards throughout the facility. Both courts ruled that this was not enough since this could be stopped at any time.

Laser-based Hearing Aids

A University of Utah group is working on a way to use lasers to create a new kind of hearing aid. Led by biomedical engineering professor Richard Rabbitt, researchers say exposing hair cells to low-power infrared light (like those used in laser pointers) causes them release neurotransmitters and activate adjacent neurons. This could lead to the development of new optical hearing aids. These laser-based ear implants could stimulate cells with thousands of sound wavelengths.

Film Fest Today

A Deaf Film Festival starts today through Saturday in Rochester, New York. For more information, click here.

Matlin Interview

Parent Dish spoke with Marlee Matlin about her role on this season's Celebrity Apprentice and raising four kids here.

Gally Breaks Streak

Gallaudet's baseball team ended a 37-game losing streak with a win over St. Mary's yesterday. It's the first time in 14 years the Bison have beat the Seahawks. Gally won by a score of 6-3 in the first game of a double hitter. St. Mary's won the second game of the double hitter 7 to 5. Gallaudet now has a record of 8 and 15.

Implant Recall Leads to Resignations

The CEO and CFO of cochlear implant maker Sonova have resigned. An investigation commissioned by the company's board of directors revealed the company did not properly notify investors about a major correction in its profit report due to a recall by Advanced Bionics of its cochlear implant. Sonova bought the implant maker recently and voluntarily recalled its HiRes 90K cochlear implant. After the report became public, chief executive officer Valentin Chapero and chief financial officer Oliver Walker quit. The chairman of the Board of Directors, Andy Rihs, says he will step down from his position as well. Board member Alexander Zschokke has been named as interim-chief executive officer while board member Robert Spoerry will become Chairman.

Today.. 31 Years Ago

It was on March 30, 1980 that the Broadway production of Children of a Lesser God opened in New York

Bring a Kleenex

The Miracle Worker is being performed in Houston through April the 9th. The Houston Press has a review here.

Inova Health System has cut a deal with the Justice department to end a complaint about the company's failure to provide sign language interpreters during medical services. An expectant mother and other deaf people said the northern Virginia health care provider violated ADA law. The agreement, which still needs court approval, requires Inova to pay $95,000 to the deaf individuals along with a $25,000 civil penalty. Inova has agreed to provide at the several hospitals it operates in the suburbs of Washington, DC, training for its staff and a plan to meet the future needs of deaf clients. Under a separate agreement, Inova agreed to pay $25,000 to two other deaf people who complained about the same problem.

Funding Restored

The Rochester School for the Deaf and ten similar New York schools will not lose $98 million in state funding that was originally cut out of the budget. The Governor's office backed down on the move following protests from parents, teachers and advocates of the facilities.

Terps Needed

There is a lack of qualified interpreters in Indiana. WXIN-TV in Indianapolis offers a video report below. You can read the story here.

Film Fest

The 4th annual Deaf Rochester Film Festival takes kicks off Friday with a round table discussion takes place Friday with deaf filmakers and workshops for student filmmakers. Find out more about the New York event here.

Eliminated!

The deaf team on this season's Amazing Race have been cut from the competition. On the 5th episode of the CBS show, Margie and Luke (a mother and son team) along with the other 8 teams went from Lake Park, China to India where they faced a tea challenge. Luke struggles to complete the task and winds up crying on the floor in frustration. His mother gives him a hug and tells him that she believes he can finish and he does. But it's too little, too late. They arrive last and are eliminated from the competition.

Hospital Lawsuit

A Maryland hospital is being sued by a deaf woman. Jennifer Simmons and her mother, Susanna Paulay, are accusing St. Joseph Medical Center in Townsend of refusing to provide an interpreter during a medical emergency. The suit says they are seeking unspecified damages. The hospital defends its policies and procedures, but officials say they've haven't seen the lawsuit yet.

Film Fest

A film about a deaf man will open the 35th Cleveland International Film Festival tonight. Hamill is based on the life of wrestler and ultimate fighter Matt Hamill whose home state is Ohio. Some 150 films will be shown during this year's festival. Read more here.

Apprentice #3

The third episode of The Celebrity Apprentice, which includes Marlee Matlin as a contestant, aired Sunday night. One of the more remarkable moments in the show came when Gary Busey revealed that the deaf actress told him he had a hearing impairment and recommended going to her doctor. Busey found out he had lost some 60% of his hearing. Busey told host Donald Trump:

"Marlee Matlin brought me a miracle last Saturday. She sent me to see her doctor -- the head of The Hearing Foundation -- at the Marriott Hotel in Times Square. He took 40 minutes to make me two hearing aids that go in the canals of my ears."

Each team (the contestants are divided by men and women) was given two RV's and a $5000 budget to come up with an outdoor camping experience. At the end of the episode, Trump fired former super model Niki Taylor from the NBC show. She supervised the woman's losing effort in the contest.

School Faces Budget Crisis

Here's an article about how budget cuts could hurt the Cleary School for the Deaf on Long Island. Read it here.

School Faces Closure

The Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf needs $28,000 immediately to stay open or the school could close within weeks. Several of the school's major supporters have withdrawn their support because of economic reasons. The school receives about $50000 in public funding as a charter school for each of the nine students who learn English and ASL. The staff consists of two teachers and one administrator. Read more information about the school here.