Track: Marcellus Shale.mp3 

Last week, "Global Alert" previewed the Nov. 3-5 Indiana University of Pennsylvania symposium on economic, environmental and political issues involved in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania's bedrock a mile underground.

This week, we review a highlight of the week's events - the Nov. 3 screening in Eberly Auditorium of the award-winning documentary film "Gasland" and the panel discussion and debate that followed. "Global Alert" producers Garritt Fleming, Rob Miller and Kevin Smith recorded and reported the action and reaction.

By Dustin Mendus

Retired Navy Capt. James A. Lovell Jr., the former U.S. astronaut depicted by actor Tom Hanks in the Oscar-winning 1995 film "Apollo 13," recounted his historic space exploits to a well-attended town-and-gown audience in Fisher Auditorium on Monday night.

Lovell, 82, was the protagonist in the film and the commander of the ill-fated 1970 NASA mission on which it was based. He and two crew members were on their way to the moon when an explosion aboard their capsule crippled the controls and changed their mission from expansive scientific exploration to basic human survival. Lovell guided the crew safely back to Earth.