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The Pittsburgh-area Woodland Hills Academy will be receiving extensive renovations over the 2014-15 school year, according to a May 26 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article. The renovation work, to cost around $15 million total, will require the school's more than 500 students and teachers to relocate for at least one academic year to the Word of God School in nearby Swissvale, the article states. The renovations will use about 80% of remaining funds left from a bond that the Woodland Hills School District took out in 2005. The Woodland Hills Academy Building, approximately a century old, is expected to receive a number of updates and upgrades during the renovation. Some of the district's planned changes include increasing lighting panels throughout the building, an elevator and lowered water ...

Colorful artwork, maps and shapes often cover the walls in a typical elementary school classroom. Are these displays encouraging learning, or could they actually be a distraction? In a new study by Carnegie Mellon, researchers found that busy decorations correlated to distracted behaviors.The research, published in Psychological Science, details how highly decorated classrooms impact children in more ways than one. When exposed to these classrooms, instead of a more bare classroom, children were more likely to spend time off-task, experience smaller learning gains, and be more distracted. Though children are not usually actively examining the walls, the results are in line with earlier studies on how children are impacted by the physical setup of learning environments. "Young children s...

A Rochester woman faces charges after being arrested earlier in May for the alleged theft and sale of stolen jewelry. Shaumyk Santiago, 21, is accused of breaking into a home in Wolcott, NY in January and stealing many of the owner's valuable pieces of jewelry. After Ms. Santiago sold the items to the Jewelry and Coin Exchange, a pawn shop for valuable items, on West Ridge Road in Greece, she found herself in cuffs. Santiago awaits further proceedings on the matter, but for now, she has been sent to the Wayne County Jail on $10,000 bail. Theft in Rochester is Nothing New Theft in Rochester isn't exactly a novel concept. According to the most recently available statistics, the Flower City plays host to 7,683 thefts per 100,000 people every year, or over 15,000 annually. Among those crim...

The High Museum of Art, located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, is pleasing quite a few car enthusiasts with a new exhibit celebrating 17 concept cars and their designers. It's not the first exhibit of its kind, but it's certainly one of the best received. The exhibit features all sorts of prototype goodies for gearheads, including the Firebird I XP-21, the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, and other vehicles that didn't quite make the leap from concept to street car production. The exhibit, running until September 7, 2014, represents the only chance many car enthusiasts will have to see works from the maddest minds from BMW, Bugatti, and other producers from the 1930's onward. 'But Cars Aren't Art!' As with any other exhibit that doesn't feature 200-year-old paintings from the great arti...

As most Americans know, the green movement is big right now, and recycling everything from clothing to natural resources is one of the easiest ways to save our planet. However, not only does the environment benefit from these efforts, but so do people who are in need. Although recycling may seem like a fairly new idea, it's not. Humans have been reusing metals since the beginning of the Bronze Age 3,000 years ago, but it is plastics and other mass-produced materials that we have yet to get the hang of recycling. Yet while metal recycling can often turn a profit (and this profit, not the issue of sustainability, is what motivates these initiatives), clothing and fabric often wind up in landfills instead. Synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, and rayon, along with natural fiber...

According to a published report from the Centers for Disease Control, over 10,000 two and three-year-olds in America are being medicated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — a number that has experts highly concerned because of the implications of diagnosing this disorder at such a young age. Many have labeled the high number of prescriptions as medically irresponsible.Current pediatric guidelines established by the American Academy of Pediatrics do not recommend any diagnosis for children three years of age or younger, including the distribution of any stimulant medication — the results of which have never been tested for efficacy or safety on children that young. While medications can help treat the condition in adults, they are not without risks, including growth suppression, ...

Investigations into the death of a three-year-old boy who died from drowning in a daycare pool this past December are still ongoing in West Miami-Dade. This week, police discovered that a state inspector had approved the fencing at the home day care center without ever having actually measured the gate, the fence, or the gaps between the slats in order to make sure children could not slip through. At the end of last year, parents Mirelys Morales and Yunior Feliciano were shocked to find out from their daycare that their son had fallen into a pool, and had drowned. The daycare had been recommended to them by their son's nursery school. Maylind Brache was in charge of the home daycare, and left the children during the day under the care of her mother. The boy was left alone on a patio,...

Serious flooding is much more common than you might think. In fact, just days ago, a Chicago interstate was covered in water. "Storms brought up to 4 inches of rain to parts of the northern suburbs, flooding many streets and basements, and swelling some rivers past their banks," CBS reports. The flooding temporarily closed an important highway, U.S. Route 41. "It was closed in both directions because of a flooded viaduct, which prompted Lake Bluff elementary and middle schools to cancel classes on Tuesday," CBS continued. The flooding stranded large cargo trucks as well as drivers of more traditional vehicles. "Drivers in some places along Route 41 chose to abandon their vehicles. Firefighters from Knollwood rescued at least six people from their cars and at least one person from a home be...

The recent downpour of rain across the country has raised serious concerns for several homeowners. Basements have flooded as the rain seeps through the foundation, leaving some homeowners with several inches of water that their city is unprepared for, and their insurances are unwilling to cover.In Ohio, heavy storms this week have created a stir among North Olmstead residents who feel that the city is not responding to the plight of homeowners affected by the rain. They claim that the water buildup on the curb outside their homes runs into their house, damaging their property. One resident's wedding dress was ruined by the water in her home. Others explain that sump pumps and water drains are backing up, leaving large amounts of water on their basement floors. But their gripe is also wi...