Illini grad talks to students from space station

URBANA, Ill. (AP) — University of Illinois graduate Mike Hopkins earned cheers from an audience at his alma mater when he spoke via NASA video hookup from the International Space Station.

"University of Illinois, Fighting Illini, I hear you loud and clear, and I'm ready to answer some questions," Hopkins said, standing in front of an Illini flag in the space station on Tuesday.

Hopkins had 10 minutes to answer questions from Illini aerospace engineering students at the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications. He is a 1991 engineering graduate and was co-captain of the Illini football team.

The News-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/17wF8oW ) that Hopkins has spent six months aboard the space station.

Students had to send in their questions ahead of time so Hopkins would be prepared to answer. They asked him about what he does at the space station, living in space and the future of space travel.

"The station is even more amazing than I ever thought it was going to be," Hopkins said.

Hopkins said his favorite thing to do in space is float.

"It doesn't get old, even just in the middle of the work day as you go floating around from one module to another. It's just fun," Hopkins said.

Then he did a flip.

Sophomore Nick Fulton said he would like to be an astronaut and found Hopkins' talk insightful.

"It was interesting to see his viewpoint and to talk to him while he was in space," Fulton said.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com

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Austrian drives flaming car to fire station

VIENNA (AP) — Some Austrian firefighters didn't have to leave their station to deal with a recent alarm. The blaze came to them instead.

Fireman Roland Brandl says that colleagues were doing chores at the station in the town of Pregarten Wednesday when a car sped in with flames shooting from beneath it.

One man grabbed an extinguisher and doused the fire. No one was hurt.

The blaze was apparently caused by a cleaning cloth which was left under the hood.

State broadcaster ORF says the unidentified driver drove about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) to the station after a passer-by alerted him to the fire.

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Eyeballs found in trash at Kansas City gas station

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say they are trying to determine how a medical box containing a pair of eyeballs ended up in a trash bin at a gas station in Kansas City.

Police spokesman Steve Young says a worker at a Conoco station in the city's north called police after finding the cardboard box late Wednesday. The box was labeled, "Keep refrigerated."

Young says police aren't sure if the eyes are human, or whether any crime has been committed. Surveillance video shows two men in a blue Toyota leaving the package on the trash bin.

Police say no eye banks or hospitals in the area were awaiting delivery of any eyeballs.

The Jackson County Medical Examiner's office is holding the package while the investigation continues.

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Eyeballs found in KC gas station trash not human

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say a pair of eyeballs found in a medical box in a Kansas City gas station's trash bin aren't human.

Police spokesman Steve Young said Thursday that the police lab examined the eyeballs and determined they likely came from a pig.

Young says a worker at a Conoco gas station in northern Kanas City called police after finding the cardboard box late Wednesday. The box was labeled, "Keep refrigerated."

Surveillance video shows two men in a blue Toyota leaving the package on the trash bin.

Young says police aren't investigating further because no crime appears to have been committed. Earlier, police had said that no eye banks or hospitals in the area were awaiting delivery of any eyeballs.

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