Below The Fold: Texas Closing Achievement Gaps, Alaska Open For Drilling?

It hasn't gotten too much national play, but West Coast papers are buzzing because Congress is one step closer to drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, signaling the near end (legislatively, at least) of the long-disputed environmental issue.

And Paris isn't the only city besieged by riots. Days of violent protests in Ethiopia are continuing following that country's disputed parliamentary elections. The AP reports that according to doctors in the region, yesterday's violence "came a day after police shot dead at least 23 people and wounded dozens more."

A few weeks ago, it looked like achievement gaps at public schools were generating attention in Colorado papers. The Houston Chronicle reports today that Texas is experimenting with solutions to achievement gaps between low-income students and their classmates. Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order Wednesday for a $10 million incentive pay plan that would go to teachers at 100 schools that "do the best job raising test scores among low-income students," writes the Chronicle. Some school district officials are skeptical that the plan doesn't provide enough money to influence teachers.

Since deconstructing the rules and regulations for government programs is often about as simple as learning Icelandic in a day, in advance of the Medicare Prescription Drug plan set to commence in 2006, the Detroit Free Press has launched a series that will be publishing answers to readers' questions about the program. It runs through Nov. 15, the first day for Medicare recipients to sign up.

Elsewhere around the country, individual states and communities are also finding ways to address health care woes. The Des Moines Register reports that two hospitals are offering significant discounts for low-income and uninsured patients. In Massachusetts, the State House approved a bill that would cover "nearly all the state's 500,000 uninsured residents within three years," writes the Boston Globe. The vote "launches a long-awaited debate with Governor Mitt Romney and the state Senate over healthcare for the uninsured, a goal that has eluded politicians in Washington and Massachusetts for decades."

And while a cultural icon for New Mexicans, R.C. Gorman -- known as the "Picasso of American Indian art" -- has passed away, an icon of science may have been rediscovered, say archaeologists in Poland.

Oh, and if you make more than $100,000 a year, don't lie to the IRS. Seriously.