It was a sea of pink at Sunday’s UNC-Wilmington women’s basketball game against Hofstra.

Both teams donned as much pink as possible in support of breast cancer research. Proceeds from the game will support the Kay Yow Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Cancer Fund.

The longtime NC State women’s basketball coach died last month after a 22-year battle with breast cancer.

Fans who wore pink to Trask Coliseum were admitted to the game for just two dollars. Fans also had the opportunity to purchase pink wrist bands, pink head bands and pink megaphones.

The Lady Seahawks, by the way, won the game 72-62.

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As part of the school’s Operation Teen Safe Driving Program, members of Bolingbrook High School’s Student Government passed out “Safe BHS” wristbands to fellow students as they came to school this week.

The wristband giveaway was designed to promote safe and responsible driving among teenage drivers, many of whom have a tendency to drive aggressively, speed, weave in and out of traffic, drive distracted or cut off other drivers, school officials said.

For the past three weeks, the Student Government, in conjunction with the Driver’s Education Department at the high school, has been educating the student body on the need to make good decisions when they are in the car as either a driver or a passenger.

Two weeks ago, students painted driving statistics on windows outside the cafeteria. Last week, 251 students wore black T-shirts to school to call attention to the 251 teen drivers who died in Illinois automobile accidents last year.

On Feb. 17, a table with a banner will be set up in the cafeteria during lunch and any students or staff who have lost a loved one or a friend in an automobile accident will be invited to sign it.

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A program for elementary school children that combines math with karate embodied all the kick and kid appeal to become an educational winner — and that is precisely what has happened.

Brandywine School District’s Harlan Elementary School in Wilmington was selected as one of six winners this year in the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce’s annual Superstars in Education Award. The school won for its “Belting Out the Facts” initiative, a program started by sixth-grade math teacher Sam Fawks that encourages students to earn colored “belts,” actually wristbands, by working through progressively more difficult math problems. A black belt is the ultimate prize, and the children wear the wristbands with pride.

“The program has focused in helping our students fill in the gaps as they’re learning division and multiplication facts,” said Cora Scott, the school’s assistant principal. “I think it definitely engages them. It follows that karate format of structure and setting goals and focus.”

“Belting Out the Facts” proved successful after 74 percent of the students taking the Delaware Student Testing Program met or exceeded the standards in math, an increase over the previous year’s percentage by 3.3 percent.

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The lights were low and the music was just loud enough to make you shout your qualifications across the bar.

For those desperate to find work, it was a tenser happy hour than usual at Houston’s House of Blues. But on the other hand, a few sips of Pink Slip Lemonade could take the edge off of meeting a prospective employer.

Houston’s first “pink slip party” was a testament to the swelling demand for jobs and to the increasing resourcefulness of people who have gone months without work. Modeled after Wall Street’s networking mixers for laid-off financiers, Wednesday night’s event was meant to help prospective employees meet employers as a face and a name instead of as a resume on a desk.

As Houston’s unemployment rate nudges past 5.5 percent, career counselors say job seekers need to do whatever they can to set themselves apart from the competition.

“Ninety percent of jobs are found through networking, not on a job board,” said Michelle Tepolt, a manager for Workforce Solutions, a government-funded employment services agency. “The more feelers you have out, the better.”

The agency has seen a landslide of newly unemployed Houstonians. Its Westheimer office alone, one of 16 employment centers in Harris County,  saw as many as 1,000 job seekers a day last month.

The face of unemployment is changing, too.

“In the last few months we’ve gone from blue collar to more white collar,” Tepolt said.

As savings accounts bottom out, the unemployed are motivated to push the limits of the traditional job search.

At the House of Blues on Wednesday, about 100 job seekers milled about, outnumbering potential employers by about 20-to-1. Pink wristbands signified unemployment. Green wristbands meant you had a job to offer.

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Warriors beat Melbourne Storm 24-12 in opening pre-season NRL match in Hamilton

The Warriors have claimed a 24-12 victory over the Melbourne Storm, in a good start to their pre season NRL rugby league campaign.

The Warriors wore black wristbands and spent a minute in silence to pay respects to former teammate Sonny Fai, who went missing at an Auckland beach in early January and is presumed to have drowned.

A crowd of around 11,000 in Hamilton donated roughly $10,000 to victims of Victoria’s bushfires.

The match also featured the successful return of Stacey Jones to the Warriors’ jersey.

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