Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Monday, Mar. 14 edition of The Parthenon
Citation preview
Monday, March 14, 2011Marshall University’s Student Newspaper marshallparthenon.com
Brain ExpoCabell County elementary students celebrate Brain Awareness Week Life, Page 4
Onlinemarshallparthenon.com
Inside
PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY MARCUS CONSTANTINO
Volume 114 I No. 103
Opinion ....................... 2Sports ........................ 3Life ............................. 4
49° 38°
TODAYON TV
C M Y K 50 INCH
The Bachelor8 p.m. ABC
Harry’s Law10 p.m. NBC
House8 p.m. FOX
Pretty Little Liars8 p.m. ABC Family
Gossip Girl9 p.m. CW
HYAMP will benefi t
Huntington’s youth.
Page 2
Students cook Ramen
noodles for charity.
Page 4
Life
Opinion
Let us know what you
think on Facebook and
Twitter.
Online
Conference USA
basketball tournament in
El Paso ends.
Page 3
Sports
Today’s Weather
BY RACHEL HUNTER
Over 700 people gathered at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston on Saturday a� er-noon to rally in opposition to the abolition of rights for state workers in Wisconsin and the ongoing campaign to dimin-ish workers and union rights in many states.
� e Wisconsin Senate passed legislation on Wednesday for a bill that will take collective bar-gaining rights away from state workers and teachers. Wisconsin state Gov. Walker signed the leg-islation into law on Friday. � e Wisconsin State capitol has been the center of a power struggle be-tween state workers and unions against Gov. Walker and the Re-publican held legislature for the past month.
Several politicians, legislatures, activists, and labor leaders spoke at the rally. State Senate President and acting Gov. Earl Ray Tom-blin, Speaker of the House Rick � ompson, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, acting Senate President Je� Kessler, Vice Presi-dent of the Teamsters Ken Hall, and House of Delegates Rep-resentative Meshea Poore were among the speakers at the rally.
� e Chairman of the West Virginia Republican Party Mike Stewart was opposed to Satur-day’s rally. Stewart referred to the rally as a waste of time and that it was “embarrassing.” However, many people came to the labor rally to show their support for workers everywhere.
“� e labor movement we grew up in, an injury to one is an injury to all, and I’ll stand with the people in Wisconsin,” said Mike Caputo, of the United Mine Workers of America.
Ethan Young, sophomore philosophy and German ma-jor from Hurricane, W.Va., was among the crowd at the rally. Young said he has been involved with political organizations such as the International Socialist Or-ganization and Campus Antiwar Network for most of his college career.
“I am inspired to be out here because if unions are losing strength or losing rights, then the entire working class loses,” Young said. “College students historically have been a part of working-class movements and the assault against unions are as-saults against teachers and a� ect the budget for schools, which directly a� ects the quality of edu-cation and makes it harder for college students to enter a com-petitive work force.”
� e theme of solidarity was prominent throughout the rally.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re black, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, it doesn’t matter if you’re male, it doesn’t matter if you’re female, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay, it doesn’t matter if you’re straight, all that mat-ters is that you’re union,” said Meshea Poore, House of Del-egates representative.
Rachel Hunter can be contacted at [email protected].
West Virginians sing for “Solidarity Forever”
O v e r 8 0 b i l l s completed on fi nal day of LegislatureBY ANNA SWIFTTHE PARTHENON
With only a day to complete legislation on over 80 bills, the last day of the West Virginia Legislature’s 80th session Satur-day wasn’t quite the circus a bystander might expect.
� e House convened at its usual punctual times, albeit much more frequently.
� e Senate milled into its meetings at a rather relaxed pace, like usual.
Delegates and senators rushed o� to committee meetings to hammer out the details of contested legislation as they had done for the past 60 days.
Delegate Jim Morgan, D-Cabell, said the � nal day wasn’t like it used to be, however.
“When I � rst came in 1988, we didn’t have quite the big control of the bills, and it got to be somewhat of what’s been described as a circus,” Morgan said. “People would stand and shout for recognition. Now, expect for the fact that were run-ning until 9 p.m., it’s almost like any other session… It’s very orderly, and it’s done in accordance with the way it ought to be done.”
But while the last day of the Legislature’s session may have calmed down over the years, it wasn’t quite identical to any other regular day either.
Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, said legislators “� ne-tune” the issues they wish to focus on during the last day of the session.
“� ese are usually the topics that they’ve worked hardest on during the session, and those that are still alive and need a lot little work during these last few hours is where we put our attention,” Jenkins said during an early a� ernoon interview.
Delegate Kelli Sobonya, R-Cabell, said that, of the issues focused upon, the main challenge of the day is in under-standing which amendments have been made by the other chamber.
“You may have voted for a bill but then they did some-thing over there, and you’re not sitting in the audience so you have no clue what they did,” Sobonya said. “And so when they come back over here, you really have to be on your toes, especially with the quick pace, to be able to have an under-standing of what they did so you don’t get it wrong.”
While Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, added the last day has its “peaks and valleys,” Delegate Carol Miller, R-Cabell, agreed with Sobonya that the last day is � lled with work.
Bill on authorization between state police and Marshall forensic science center completeBY ANNA SWIFTTHE PARTHENON
Many bills were introduced during the West Virginia Leg-islature’s 80th session, but only a few became completed legislation.
Of the bills reported on this semester in � e Parthenon, the following passed at least one chamber:
• SB337, which would create the primary o� ense of the failure to wear a seat belt.
• HB2539, which would authorize the West Virginia State Police to enter into an agreement with Marshall’s Forensic Science Center for certain DNA testing.
House Bill 2539, which was o§ cially completed Saturday, is now awaiting the governor’s signature.
Delegate Kelli Sobonya, D-Cabell, and a sponsor of the bill, said the legislation will help the Forensic Science Center pursue more fundraising in light of decreased federal funds since the passing of the late Robert C. Byrd.
• HB2555, which would ban texting while driving.� e ban on texting while driving did � nd success in both
the Senate and the House this week but could not � nd agree-ment in its amendments.
Delegate Dale Martin, D-Putnam, and a lead sponsor of the bill, said, however, that if the appropriate committee � nds interest in it again next year, then the ban could have another chance of making it through. If so, it would be the � � h year that the bill would have been introduced in the Legislature.
� e following advanced to a second reading in their re-spective chamber but were never voted upon:
• SB362, which would increase the tax on tobacco prod-ucts by $1.
• SB411, which would allow employees at Marshall and other institutions of higher education the opportunity to run for a seat in the Legislature.
� e following stayed in committee and, thus, never had the opportunity to be voted on in their respective chamber:
• SB 25, which would create a smoke-free West Virginia by banning smoking in all public places and within 15 feet of windows, doors or ventilators.
• SB429, which would create scholarships speci� cally available to children of war veterans.
• HB 2367, which would redistrict the state of West Vir-ginia from 58 to 100 districts and, thus, create single-member
See BILLS I 3See LEGISLATURE I 3
BY BARBARA DEMICK, LAURA KING AND MARK MAGNIERLOS ANGELES TIMESMCT
FUKUSHIMA, Japan — � e number of missing and feared dead in Japan’s epic earthquake soared early Sunday as a reeling nation struggled to contain a nuclear crisis, pluck people in tsunami-inundated areas to safety, quell blazes and provide aid to hundreds of thousands of people le� homeless and dazed.
As the second full post-quake day dawned, authorities said about 400,000 people had been forced to « ee the giant swath of destruction, more than a quarter of them evacuees from the area surrounding the Fukushima nuclear complex, 150 miles north of Tokyo. � e crisis intensi� ed as o§ cials reported that three of the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant were in trouble, and emergency measures were being taken to cool them.
� e country’s chief Cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, was quoted as saying that a meltdown may have occurred in at least one reactor and that authorities were concerned about the possibility of a meltdown at a second reactor.
Dozens of people were believed to have been exposed to el-evated levels of radiation, but o§ cials sought to reassure the public that there was no signi� cant health risk to the general population, even though cesium and iodine, byproducts of nuclear � ssion, were detected around the plant. � e incident could rank as the worst atomic accident in Japan’s roughly half-century of nuclear power generation.
With punishing a� ershocks continuing to jolt the quake zone, the Japan Meteorological Agency revised the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0, Kyodo News agency said. � e U.S. Geological Survey had not altered its reading of magnitude 8.9.
� e Japanese military was mobilizing 50,000 of its per-sonnel, together with ships and planes, for a rescue e� ort that is a race against time. In a country where every mod-ern convenience has long extended into even remote areas, the basics of daily survival — food, water and power — were
unaccustomedly threatened.Even in Tokyo, where the damage was limited, the rhythms
of a normally throbbing metropolis were stilled. In many central districts, the trademark neon blaze was absent on streets that were eerily deserted. � e subway system was run-ning again, if sporadically, but on a Saturday evening, when its cars would normally be packed, some slid through sta-tions all but empty, like ghost trains.
“It is believed that more than 1,000 people have lost their lives,” said Edano, the Cabinet secretary.
But assessments of the disaster were far from certain. Although the o§ cial missing tally stood at 650, in Miyagi prefecture, north of Tokyo, o§ cials said Saturday night that there had been no contact with about 10,000 people in the town of Minamisanriku, more than half its population.
Some people decided to try to get more information about missing relatives on their own.
When Tokyo o§ ce worker Yuki Ochiai, 25, heard that three-quarters of the 24,000 people living in the coastal town of Rikuzentakata were unaccounted for, he headed north to � nd out the fate of family living there. He rode his motor-cycle because roads were impassable by car.
“� is is crazy,” he said as he stopped to buy water and gas outside Fukushima, still far from his destination. “One place. � e other 18,000 people, they don’t know where they are?”
Japan’s peacetime military, the Self-Defense Forces, was mobilizing a relief-and-rescue force of 50,000, the Defense Ministry said, including a special unit to help nuclear evacu-ees. Nearly 200 aircra� and 45 ships were en route or in the tsunami zone, the ministry said.
� e U.S. military, whose bases are sometimes an irritant to local Japanese, was helping in the e� ort. � e Americans said there were no injuries or serious damage at their bases, and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet would be providing search-and-rescue sup-port along Japan’s northeastern coast.
Japan rushes to save quake victims and stave off potential nuclear disaster
See JAPAN I 3
A group of talented, free-spirited, and innovative entrepreneurs created
the Huntington Youth Arts and Music Project (HYAMP) in 2004.
Their mission was to establish an alcohol-free musical venue for the community. It attracted people of all ages and it was regarded as a safe place for teenagers to hang out. Dave Laven-der, journalist for
the Herald-Dispatch, noted that a host of musical talent was at-tracted to the HYAMP and more than 400 bands played in the original location.
They initially operated in a building located on 20th Street near Cabell Hall. They turned a run-down industrial building with limited utilities into a community-friendly place available to people of all ages. They were a different breed of entrepreneurs. They stood in contrast to the tyranni-cal Wall Street capitalists who have been blamed for the current economic recession. The HYAMP founders and volunteers set out to make a difference in the community. They succeeded in revitalizing a dilapidated build-ing, attracting talented musicians to Huntington, and encouraging peaceful community activities. The project ended in 2007 due to budget woes but it has returned with great momentum. The new HYAMP opened on March 11th and it embodies many of its origi-nal characteristics. One of the distinguishing features of their venue is that it is alcohol-free.
The Huntington community has a plethora of traditional bars and clubs. However, very few places are friendly to underage people. The HYAMP is about music. It’s about people coming to-gether to enjoy a shared interest. Ultimately, it’s about enriching the community. Their efforts can stand as an example to other com-munity action organizations who share the goal of establishing a safe place for musical expression.
The founders, volunteers and customers of the HYAMP should be commended for their commit-ment to the musical enrichment of Huntington. Their efforts and participation make our commu-nity a better place.
Contact Michael Adkins at [email protected].
EDITORIAL
HYAMP is good for the community
Where did you fi rst hear about the news in Japan?
What are your plans for spring break?
EDITORIAL CARTOON I RICK MCKEE I THE AUGUST CHRONICLE
■ Twitter■ Facebook■ Television
■ Staying at home ..................................................76%■ Go to the beach ..................................................... 18%■ Go on a mission trip ................................................. 6%
OpinionMonday, March 14, 2011marshallparthenon.com
2
State governments should support teachers
MICHAEL ADKINSLEXICON OF REASON
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
RESULTS
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble; and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment
Online poll
marshallparthenon.com
C M Y K 50 INCH
PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY DEANNA BAILEY - [email protected]
THE PARTHENON STAFFEXECUTIVE EDITORWhitney Burdette
MANAGING EDITORDeanna Bailey
LIFE EDITORAshley Grohoski
COPY EDITORArian Jalali
PHOTO EDITORJohn Yeingst
NEWS EDITORMarcus [email protected]
WEB EDITORMichael Spurlock
CONTACT US ADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION
109 Communications BuildingMarshall UniversityOne John Marshall DriveHuntington, WV 25755
E-mail: [email protected]. Newsroom.......304-696-6696
Fax...................304-696-2732
Nerissa Young...........304-696-2736Adviser
Sandy Savage-York...304-696-2273Advertising Manager
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters can be e-mailed to The Parthenon with word length of 350 to 450 words. Writers must give contact information and editors will contact them to verify information and identify before anything is published.
MICHAEL ADKINSCOLUMNIST
RICH LOWRYTHE RICH LOWRY COLUMN
The real shame in WisconsinWhen the Wisconsin General
Assembly voted to pass Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, the Democratic legislators made themselves indistinguishable from the protestors surrounding the assembly floor.
They wore the same pro-union orange T-shirts. They behaved in the same sophomoric way, break-ing out in a noisy, finger-pointing demonstration. They chanted the same ubiquitous word: “Shame!” They might as well have brought guitars onto the floor for a Woody Guthrie sing-along.
The fight in Wisconsin has focused on collective bargaining rights, but that is not the main event. As Daniel DiSalvo of the City College of New York-CUNY notes in a Weekly Standard ar-ticle, 24 states either don’t allow collective bargaining for public workers, or permit it for only a segment of workers.
The most important measure at stake in Wisconsin is the gov-ernor’s proposal for the state to stop deducting union dues from the paychecks of state work-ers. This practice essentially wields the taxing power of the government on behalf of the institutional interests of the unions. It makes the govern-ment an arm of the public-sector unions. It is a priceless favor.
Wisconsin doesn’t collect dues for Elks lodges or the NRA. What makes these organizations differ-ent from public-sector unions is that people freely choose to join them and freely choose to pay their dues. They are truly vol-untary organizations that don’t rely on the power of the state for their well-being. Walker wants to give members of public-sector unions a measure of this same autonomy.
When Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels ended collective bargain-ing and the automatic collection of dues in 2005, the number of members paying dues plum-meted by roughly 90 percent. In 2007, New York City’s Transit Authority briefly stopped auto-matically collecting dues for the Transport Workers Union, and dues fell off by more than a third.
Public-sector unions are a creature of government, and the Democrats are the party of gov-ernment. The two of them have identical interests and world views, and both want to lever-age government to swell their campaign coffers. How to char-acterize this? The word “shame” comes to mind.
(c) 2011 by King Features Synd., Inc.
OREGON DAILY EMERALDUNIVERSITY OF OREGONUWIRE
Like many states in the union, Wisconsin is facing budget issues as a result of the economic reces-sion. To mitigate the budget crisis within his state, Gov. Scott Walker is attempting to pass a budget bill that would effectively remove the collective-bargaining rights of public employees. It should be noted that before the bill’s
proposal, Wisconsin teachers agreed to take pay cuts in light of the state’s poor economy as long as they were able to negotiate the cuts as a group.
Public school teachers play a crucial role in American society. Performing noble work for medio-cre compensation, they help shape the future. Despite curriculum requirements and a lack of public resources, they still manage to empower and enrich the minds of students. They educate those who
cannot afford a private education, and they pave the road for students toward new opportunities to better themselves and their communities.
Some of teachers work in dan-gerous inner-city neighborhoods, and others deal with special needs students who require a large amount of time and effort. They preserve democracy and prevent our country from becoming a plu-tocracy. To deny their importance would be unpatriotic in every sense of the word.
Apparently Walker does not agree.
Walker has a stark agenda in-fl uenced by private donor David Koch, whose advertising campaign centers around the current highest salary of a Wisconsin school teach-er — more than $80,000 — and the economic impacts on the state. In addition to the campaign, Wis-consin’s capital has been accused of blocking a pro-union website. What’s more, members of union movement American Federation
of Labor and Congress of Indus-trial Organizations continue to be labeled as “cop-haters” by conser-vative pundits.
Though the bill would cut teachers’ salaries and their right to negotiate, it would simultaneously allot new funds for transportation services that are outsourced to private companies. Since the bill’s proposal, 14 Democratic senators have left the state in an effort to protest and keep the bill from be-ing passed in the state legislature.
3
C M Y K 50 INCHC M Y K 50 INCH
PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY BRANDON ANICICH - [email protected]
CL031411CLASSIFIED CLASSIFIED
2 x 8.0
Monday, March 14, 2011marshallparthenon.com
8 runs batted inby Isaac Ballou in Saturday’s doubleheader against Ohio, four of which came from a grand slam
Marshall struggles in doubleheader against Ohio
BY JAKE SNYDERTHE PARTHENON
� e University of Memphis Tigers led for only seven seconds in Saturday’s men’s Confer-ence USA Tournament championship game.
Seven seconds was all they needed.� e Tigers took out the host University of
Texes El Paso Miners 67-66 a er tournament Most Valuable Player, freshman guard Joe Jackson, knocked down two free throws with seven ticks le . � e Miner shot attempt fell short and Memphis reigned as the 2011 con-ference champions.
“To beat a team like that, with the type of tal-ent they have and as well coached as they are in their home arena, that is hard to do,” said Josh Pastner, Memphis head coach. “� at’s a credit to these young men. � e student-athletes, these young men, made plays. It’s a players’ game, and the players made plays.”
It was four freshmen who led the way for the Tigers. Forward Tarik Black and guards Chris Crawford, Will Barton and Jackson all recorded double � gures in points on the game. Jackson led the squad with 17 points.
Jackson was also handed the task of guard-ing standout UTEP senior Randy Culpepper. Culpepper came into the game averaging 19 points per game in the tournament.
Jackson held him to seven.“Let me tell you something about Joe Jack-
son,” Pastner said. “Coming into the beginning of the year, one of the big knocks on Joe was, ‘Ah, he doesn’t guard; he doesn’t play defense.’ You know what? � is tournament we put him on the other teams’ best players every game.”
� e � rst half was controlled by UTEP. � e home crowd came out rowdier than they had been all tournament and the Miners jumped out to a nine point lead. Memphis fought back to tie it at 21, and again at 23, before UTEP went on a 13-4 run to � nish the half up by 9.
UTEP took control from the beginning of the second half riding the hot hand of senior Christian Polk. Polk posted 13 points in the second half, including hitting 3-4 from behind the arc. Polk � nished with a game high 27.
A er a three by Polk that put the Miners up by 12, Memphis began to � ght back.
Back-to-back buckets cut the lead in half. Crawford tacked on a three by and the lead was brought down to three. UTEP pushed the
it back to � ve with a dunk by junior forward Gabriel McCulley. Jackson brought it within two a er another three-point-play the old-fashioned way with 2:30 to play.
Crawford hit a three to tie the game; the � rst tie in over 18 minutes. Crawford ended up go-ing 4-4 from behind the arc in the second half.
“I told him at hal ime, ‘For us to win, you have to make at least three or four threes,’ be-cause he hadn‘t been shooting the ball well,” Jackson said. “What did Chris do? He came out and went � ve for six in the game. � at’s a big part of us winning today.”
At 65-all, UTEP hit another free throw to go up one. A er the two teams traded posses-sions without a score, Memphis took the ball over with 25 seconds to play. With ten to go, Pastner called a timeout.
In the � nal possession, Jackson drove to the basket and got fouled on the shot. Jack-son calmly hit the two free throws, staring right into the teeth of the UTEP student sec-tion, to put his team up with seven seconds to play. Polk’s shot fell short and the Tigers took it home.
“Congratulations to Memphis, they played exceedingly well in the second half,” UTEP
head coach Tim Floyd said. “� ose young kids are very special talents.”
Tiger players celebrated by raising the con-ference championship sign in front of the UTEP student section.
“� e whole tournament’s fans were just downing us every game,” Black said of the cel-ebration. “It was very satisfying to hold up the Memphis sign in front of their faces, and have them just drop their heads.”
UTEP shot 47.2 percent to Memphis’ 41.5 percent. � e two teams took the same amount of shots, 53, with UTEP hitting three more than the Tigers. Memphis, however, shot six percent better from behind the arc and nine percent better from the free throw line, none more important than the � nal two by Jackson.
“� ose games that we won, earlier in the year in overtime and close games, we’re go-ing to be good for us later on,” Pastner said. “I knew when we get to conference they were going to be close game; and we have found a way to win.”
� e NCAA tournament begins Tuesday, March 15. Jake Snyder can be contacted at [email protected].
Memphis crowned kings of Conference-USA tournamentPARTHENON FILE PHOTO
HERDZONE
ATHENS, Ohio – Marshall dropped both ends of a doubleheader at Wren Sta-dium against Ohio University by scores of 9-8 and 13-12 on Saturday a ernoon in nonconference baseball action.
Isaac Ballou � nished with a career-high eight RBI. It marked the most RBI in a single game since Nate Lape re-corded seven at Dayton on April 1, 2008.
He � nished the game 4-for-5 with a grand slam, two-run triple, two singles and a stolen base.
Over two games Marshall rapped out 26 hits and hit at a .347 (26-75) batting average.
Marshall coughed up an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the ninth as Ohio scored four times, capped o© with a bloop foul-out sac ª y to win game one of the double-header, 9-8.
Rhett Sta© ord led the o© ense going 3-for-4 with a two-run double, while � or Meeks and Kenny Socorro each added a pair of hits. James Lavinskas scored three times in the loss.
Herd starter Shane Farrell did not
� gure in the decision, as the righthander worked a season-high 6.2 innings, giving up � ve runs (three earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts.
Reliever Tyler Stage fell into a two-out issue in the seventh. A er Stage plunked Lavinskas, Meeks clubbed a base hit to set the stage for Sta© ord. Already with two hits on the day, Sta© ord demolished a pitch to dead center, bouncing o© the wall allowing both base runners to mo-tor around and even the score.
Stage appeared to be rattled as he un-corked two wild pitches in a row to bring home Sta© ord to help the Herd regain the lead, 6-5.
MU added onto its small cushion when Meeks knocked in a run with a sac ª y in the ninth and would score another on a very peculiar play. With two outs and Kris Hecktor at the dish someone from the stands yelled “balk” a er Ohio reliever Tyler Backstrom threw a pitch. Maynard, who was on � rst as a pinch runner, slowly jogged towards second, but no balk was actually called by an um-pire. He was able to stay in a rundown until Lavinskas scored as both were safe on the double steal.
� e Herd led 8-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, but a four run Bobcat rally capped o© Ohio’s win. Victor Gomez made a great over-the-shoulder catch with one out in the ninth, but Bryan Barnes beat the throw to win in walk o© fashion, 9-8.
Isaac Ballou knocked in eight runs including a grand slam, and Marshall scored four times in the top of the ninth but came up short, 13-12 in game two.
Beyond Ballou’s day in the batter’s box, Victor Ramos went 3-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI, while Socorro, V.Gomez and Louie Helmburg each roped a pair of base hits.
In the top of the sixth, MU led 7-2, but Ohio answered back with 11 runs over the course of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Down 13-8 in the top of the ninth, the Herd bat-ted around scoring four runs on five hits, including consecutive RBI singles from Ramos, Ballou and V.Gomez with two outs. With runnres on first and third, Kris Hecktor hit a seed but it was hauled in by Ohio shortstop Wes O’Neill to end the game, giving the Bobcats the twinbill sweep.
“I’ve got so many bills to pull, so much information that we try to keep up with, so you really have to keep on your toes,” Miller said.
Along with a rapid pace, the Legislature’s � nal day met with a tense point during the late a ernoon.
During the Senate’s third ª oor meeting, Sen. Mike Hall, R-Putnam, mentioned the House would not take Senate amend-ments anymore, an action that would a© ect a number of bills.
With only hours le to go until the end of the regular session, Hall’s statement was followed by a resolution on the part of Sen. John Unger II, D-Berkeley.
“We are not going to recede from all of our positions on all of our bills,” Unger said. “We have been diligent on our work, and they have not. We are not going to spend the rest of the night cleaning up a mess that they have created and we have not.”
However, as the House convened shortly a er, the tension seemed to resolve.
Several Senate amendments were passed, and a certain relief and cohesive-ness could certainly be evidenced in the members of the House.
As the vote registered in favor of a bill requiring insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorders, a piece of legislation that had been in the workings since Jan. 20, delegates purposefully turned to one another in applause.
“It’s an energetic time,” Jenkins said. “It’s a time when a lot of work gets done, but those who’ve been around this process kind of get the bug and enjoy the energy and level of activity that occurs on the last day.”
He also said that typically the last day produces the most completed legislation.
“It’s just like a term paper, or like a � nal
exam: You cram at the end,” Jenkins said. “If you look at the actual number of bills passed in the � rst 30 or 45 days, it’s just a handful, and most of the work of the Legislature, in terms of the � nal passage of legislation, occurs in the last few days and, in particular, today.”
Of nearly 2,000 bills introduced throughout the session, over 100 were completed on earlier days. Compare that to over 80 bills completed Saturday alone. And with the clock ticking to midnight, it seemed that every piece of legislation introduced in the House’s � nal 11 p.m. meeting passed.
Bills passed Saturday revolve around all sorts of issues, but of particular interest to Marshall’s community are the following:
• SB239 & SB330, which, among other things, grants Marshall more time to de-posit money into research endowments and allows Marshall to invest $30 million, compared to only $18 million.
• SB2159, which protects college media from having to reveal sources in court, unless so as to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury.
• HB2695, which allows educational broadcasts, like West Virginia Public Radio, to fundraise with certain private nonpro� t organizations.
Each of these bills await the governor’s signature. According to the Legislature’s website, acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will have � ve days to sign the completed legis-lation into law.
But with the end of the Legislature’s regular session, the chambers still have yet another critical issue to resolve through means of a special session.
Next up on the agenda will be the budget bill, an annual piece of legisla-tion already introduced by the House and Senate, that will continue to be de-liberated this week.
Anna Swift can be contacted at [email protected].
LegislatureContinued from Page 1
districts for the House.• HB 2716, which would require
the regulation of “dangerous dogs.” By not advancing beyond a com-
mittee or chamber, the above bills are said to “die in committee,” according to the Legislature’s website. Despite their lack of success this year, how-ever, they could be reintroduced next year.
Anna Swift can be contacted at [email protected].
BillsContinued from Page 1
� e task was a daunting one. Whole communities were still underwater from the massive tsunami unleashed by the quake, the most powerful in Ja-pan’s recorded history. � ose included Rikuzentakata and the smaller town of Miyako, both in Iwate prefecture.
In the town of Kesennuma, in Miyagi prefecture, fires merged into a mega-blaze stretching for more than half a mile. The wel-fare ministry said 171 “welfare facilities,” such as nursing homes, had suffered damage.
Adding to the urgency, nearly 6 million homes were reported to be without electric-ity, and more than 1 million lacked water.
At the crippled nuclear complex in Fukushima, authorities still were unable to explain why excess levels of radiation were detected outside the grounds. An explosion was heard near a reactor at the No. 1 plant about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, and plumes of white smoke could be seen.
Edano said the blast was caused by a buildup of hydrogen in the cooling system, and described the attempt to evacuate about 200,000 people from the area as a precaution.
JapanContinued from Page 1
C M Y K 50 INCH
PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY ASHLEY GROHOSKI - [email protected]
Monday, March 14, 2011marshallparthenon.com
Students learn functions of brain at Brain Expo
BY CHERIE DAVISTHE PARTHENON
The International Student’s Organization and Beta Al-pha Psi held their second Ramen Noodle Cookoff to raise money for Palms for Life.
Teams gathered to cook Ramen noodles in a variety of different ways Saturday at 10 a.m. Each team had 30 min-utes to prepare their dish and three people judged each round. There were four rounds and the winners moved on to the final round.
Rowland said the idea for the cook-off came from their faculty adviser. Beta Alpha Psi then decided all proceeds should go to charity.
Palms for Life, a nonprofit organization, received $1,100 last year from the Ramen Noodle Cookoff. The money raised this year has not been officially counted, but Tyler
Rowland, the president of Beta Alpha Psi said they have raised enough to reach their goal of $2,500.
The International Students Organization was asked by Beta Alpha Psi to cosponsor the event.
Both organizations chose to sponsor the country Swazi-land, meaning all money raised will go directly to Swaziland.
“Many people have lost parents due to the HIV pan-demic,” said Channon Mdziniso, mathematics graduate student from Swaziland. “We are having a number of fami-lies without parents. Those kids don’t have anything to eat in the morning when they go to school. They don’t have any food because they don’t have parents to provide for them. This program is going to help. How can you study at school without anything in your stomach?”
Mdziniso said Swaziland children are going to soup kitch-ens to eat and the soup kitchens are trying hard to keep up with the number of children that are coming.
“It feels great to help,” said Bintou Diao, president of the International Student Organization. “We decided to choose Swaziland and I knew Channon was here on campus. I called her and said this is happening, you have to come. She’s really happy to be here.”
Delta Sigma Pi took home the bragging rights and an embroidered chef hat when they won the Ramen Noodle Cookoff for the second year in a row.
“I hope more people come next year and have more con-testants to make it a bigger event and raise more money for bigger causes,” Diao said.
Rowland said anyone interested in donating to Palms for Life can send a check to the Marshall University Lewis Col-lege of Business and put Beta Alpha Psi in the attention field.
Cherie Davis can be contacted at [email protected].
R a m e n n o o d l e c o o k o f f h e l p s c h a r i t y
CHERIE DAVIS | THE PARTHENON
The International Student’s Organization and Beta Alpha Psi joined together for the charity. This year’s proceeds were sent to Swaziland.
CHERIE DAVIS | THE PARTHENON
Teams gathered to cook their original Ramen noodle recipe to raise money for the nonprofi t organization, Palms for Life.
COREY OXLEY | THE PARTHENON
Children were offered to interact with activities that help them become more familiar with their brain and its functions. The worldwide effort draws kids into the study of the anatomy of their brain. Students and teachers from Marshall’s College of Science and College of Liberal Arts volunteered to educate the younger students with various stations.
BY COREY OXLEYTHE PARTHENON
Students of all ages came out to learn about the brain Friday. � e third annual Brain Expo took place in the basement of the Memorial Student Center. Students and teachers from the College of Science and College of Liberal Arts partici-pated in educating children about the brain.
“Brain Expo is part of an international ef-fort called Brain Awareness week,” said Nadja Spitzer, postdoctoral associate and director of Brain Expo. “� is is a world wide e� ort to educate the public about the brain and neuro-science. Scientists all over the world go out and teach kids about science. � ey really bring sci-ence directly to the kids.”
� is year, Brain Expo had about 21 stations with over 100 volunteers helping out at each sta-tion. Students from elementary schools all over Cabell County and home school students attend Brain Expo every year.
“� e stations have everything from ba-sic brain anatomy, how your re� exes work,
optical illusions and even ways to keep your brain healthy,” Spitzer said. “Brain Expo is open to the public so anyone can come but right now we are targeting elementary school kids.”
Spitzer said inviting kids to Brain Expo is great because it really gets kids excited about science at a young age.
“We are just trying to get that spark that gets kids excited about working with science,” Spitzer said. “At each station, we have some sort of activity that teaches them about science, but it’s also fun. � ey either play some kind of game, color something or build something.”
Spitzer said they had so many schools ap-ply that they couldn’t invite all of them. She said they had 214 kids attend this year and that wasn’t counting people from the public. She said that’s as many as they can handle and they hope they can expand next year.
Jessica Rowe, a May 2010 nursing graduate
from Barboursville, W.Va. said her boyfriend is in the College of Science and that’s how she got involved with Brain Expo. “It’s a good experience working at Brain Expo,” she said.
“Our station deals with classical conditioning and it has been packed all day.”
“I started helping since it started up a few years ago,” said Craig Riccelli, who graduated in May 2010 with a mo-lecular biology degree from Follansbee, W.Va.
“I really enjoy interacting with kids. Brain Expo can teach kids some basic ideas about the brain and something they can tell their parents they learned when they get home.” He said the best way to get involved with Brain Expo is to watch for � iers, posters and e-mails.
“I like volunteering and saw a � ier on the wall with an e-mail address about to get in-volved,” said Cassidy Anthony, freshman
athletic training major from Shepherdstown, W.Va. “Dr. Spitzer went around to a lot of my classes asking for volunteers. A lot of the peo-ple volunteering have helped out before.”
“In addition to Brain Expo, we also visit schools as well,” Spitzer said. “We have kind of extended the Brain Awareness week into a Brain Awareness month because we want to give Mar-shall faculty enough time to go out and educate kids.”
Spitzer said Brain Awareness week includes things like expos and lectures. She said anything that can educate the public about the brain takes place all over the world.
“Next year, we are going to need more vol-unteers because we are going to be bigger and better,” Spitzer said. “We put up posters asking for volunteers and biology faculty to make an-nouncements in their classes.” She said they also have a website that provides information to get involved as well at www.marshall.edu/baw.
Corey Oxley can be contacted at [email protected].
Facts about your brain1. Every minute about 750ml of blood pumps through your brain.2. Your brain makes up about 2% of your body weight. 3. A human brain is about 75% water. 4. A human brain is made up of 100 billion neurons.5. A human brain weighs about 1350g.
Courtesy of infobarrel.com
