President will sit in
on university dickering


The rectors of the four public universities have managed to draw President Laura Chinchilla into the negotiations over budgets.

The president met Wednesday with the four heads of the universities, and later Casa Presidencial said that negotiations would resume Friday with Ms. Chinchilla present.
 
Leonardo Garnier Rímolo, minister of Educación Pública, also attended the meeting.

The four universities involved are the Universidad de Costa Rica based in San Pedro, the Universidad Nacional in Heredia, the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica based in Cartago and the Universidad Estatal a Distancia.

The rectors engineered a march of from 10,000 to 12,000 university employees and students Tuesday to apply pressure to the president.

Ms. Chinchilla was trying to stay out of the negotiations.

The central government is offering a 4 to 4.5 percent increase in money paid to the university fund each year. The rectors want more.

Fire at paint company
jams key highway route


A paint company waste treatment plant and storage building went up in flames Wednesday morning creating havoc on the nearby Autopista General Cañas.

This is the same highway that was jammed Tuesday when a bus swerved and killed a mother and child.

The fire Wednesday was at Empresa Pinturas Sur in the La Uruca section of the highway. Firemen got the call just before 10:30 a.m.

They attributed the blaze to a short circuit on a motor at a distillation unit.  Between 40 and 50 firemen responded from much of the Central Valley.

Thick columns of black smoke rose from the site. Later firemen said that an unknown quantity of waste materials went into the nearby Río Torres, although much of the waste was directed into a storage lagoon at the site.

The majority of the 790-square-meter structure suffered damage. That's a building of about 8,500 square feet.

Firemen were helped by a fire protection storage tank at the site containing 200,000 gallons, they said.

The liquids at the site included colorants, fixers and all types of products used to make paint.

Workers from the Ministerio de Salud were at the scene to evaluate the damage to the environment.

Election officials will go
on the air to promote vote


The nation's laws require radio and television stations to donate a half hour of time each week for purposes of education. Usually this is filled by some cultural or scientific report.

However, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones has managed to obtain the time from the Ministerio de Educación Pública and plans to use it to get out the vote for the Dec. 5 municipal elections.

The Tribunal outlined the campaign Wednesday. The campaign is directed at the 2.8 million who are on the voting rolls. There are 30-second spots for television and some 15-second radio spots.

Three police officers held
in Desamparados robbery


Three Fuerza Pública officers were among four persons detained Wednesday as robbery suspects.

Two men are 32 and 37 years old. The two officers and a third man are suspected in a June 22 stickup of a bank patron. The victim lost 5 million colons or about $10,000. A third police officer, a woman, also was detained.

The two male policemen are suspected of pretending to arrest the man who held up the bank patron. The stickup took place in Desamparados.

Two teens ordered held


Two juveniles, 15 and 16, have been confined for two months for investigation involving a gang of minors who were committing robberies in the Pérez Zeledón area. There are at least four complaints against the gang from pedestrians and delivery truck drivers, said the Poder Judicial.

The pair were detained Monday when judicial agents said they also confiscated a knife they believe was used in some of the robberies.