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By BILL [email protected]
Close cooperation between police from China and Iowa has ensured that the accused killer of Tong Shao, Xiangnan Li, will stand trial in China.
After Shao’s body was found on Sept. 26, 2014, Iowa authorities be-gan weighing their options, John-son County prosecutor Janet Lyness said.
“We quickly found out that China does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.,” Lyness said. “So we worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Of-fice and the Department of Justice to get in contact with the Chinese Con-sulate.”
Lyness said the Justice Depart-ment communicated with the Chi-nese authorities about the possibility of Li’s prosecution in China.
“I think that there was significant pressure from the Chinese govern-ment and the family of the victim on the authorities to make an arrest,” she said “The Department of Jus-tice also indicated our hope that he would be prosecuted as well.”
After initially contacting Chinese authorities, Lyness sent a letter con-taining facts about the case to those authorities in April.
Several Chinese officials, including local, regional, and national police, as well as a government prosecutor, came to Iowa during the first week of June.
At that time, that authorities in Io-wa learned Li had turned himself in to Chinese police in late May.
“We really had no idea until they came over that he had been arrest-ed,” Lyness said. “No one from Iowa went over to China as a part of this investigation.”
The Chinese police met with Io-wa City police, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office, Ames police, the medical examiner on the case, and several witnesses.
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Flu scrambles egg production
SEE FLU, 3
The nation’s egg production drops as Iowa feels the symptoms of avian influenza.
By GIRINDRA [email protected]
The nation is in the midst of one of the deadliest avian-influenza outbreaks in recorded history, and Iowa is right at the center.
“This is one of, if not the largest, avi-an-influenza outbreak that we’ve ev-er seen,” said Dustin Vande Hoef, the communications director for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
The recent bird-flu epidemic, which so far has caused 14 million chickens to be “depopulated” by their farmers, is prov-ing to have large-scale ramifications across the country.
Iowa is still the nation’s largest pro-ducer of eggs, out-producing its nearest competitors, Ohio and Indiana, by nearly 100 percent.
Jonathan Spurway, the vice president of marketing and optimization at Rem-brandt Foods — one of the nation’s larg-est egg producers — calls the outbreak
an “unprecedented event”; the average size of chicken flocks across the United States has dropped by 13 percent.
“We’ve never seen this level of bird mortality,” Spurway said.
He said there is a direct link between
the avian-influenza outbreaks in Iowa and the drop in egg production that has occurred over the last few months.
Randy Olson, the executive director
SEE SHAO , 3SEE LAWS, 3
LGBT community looks aheadAfter the Supreme Court ruling, the LGBT community still faces a fight for civil rights.
SEE LGBT , 3
A chicken peeks under a partion separating the chicken from collected eggs on Jan. 19, 2006, at Eli Bontrager’s chicken farm. The avian-flu epidemic, which hasn’t hit this area, has affected egg production in Iowa. (The Daily Iowan/File Photo)
Several local and state laws begin today.
Iowa City and cities across the state will see some changes starting today.
From selling growlers — containers that hold craft beer — at grocery or con-venience stores to not paying taxes on
self-pay laundry services, several bills became law this past legislative session, which ended in June.
New state laws usually take effect on July 1 unless House or Senate members make special provisions. Such was the case with the 10-cent per gallon increase on gasoline and diesel fu-el taxes, which went into effect on March 1, as well as the school starting date, which sets public schools to begin on Aug. 23.
Iowa City residents will also see one local or-dinance come into play today, too.
Here are some of the changes Iowans will see.
Water price increaseIowa City residents will now see a small
spike in their water bills.For the second year in a row, there has been
a 5 percent increase on water prices.Iowa City Finance Director Dennis Bockenst-
edt said this is the second increase the city has seen in the past two years totaling an increase of 10 percentage points, but this comes after several years of decreases for water prices.
The spike is directed to capital improve-ments, Bockenstedt said, including a large-scale water-structure replacement.
Refillable craft beer containersA new step for craft brewers begins today.Legislation will go into effect that will allow
businesses that hold a Class “C” alcohol per-mit, such as convenience and groceries stores, to fill and refill “growlers” — reusable contain-ers — with craft brews that would be consumed off the business premises.
The growler can be no larger than 72 ounces and will not be considered an open container as long as the growler remains unopened.
A person filling the growler also must be at least 18 years old, according to the law.
Iowa isn’t at the forefront of this law.Several states have implemented similar
legislation, including Idaho. Iowa’s southern neighbor, Missouri, had a similar proposal that did not make it past the Legislature.
Funeral protests
Families having a funeral will not have to worry too much about unwanted interruptions.
New legislation that begins today will keep protesters 1,000 feet away from a funeral, me-morial, or burial service, as well as a funeral procession.
Previously, demonstrations had to be 500 feet away.
The law came into place after members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested funerals of military-service members killed in Iraq and Af-ghanistan.
By REBECCA [email protected]
International cooperation marks Shao caseWork between Iowa and Chinese police led to the intentional homicide charge for Xiangnan Li in the Tong Shao case.
By YUN [email protected]
The Supreme Court on June 26 ruled that same-sex couples could get married nationwide, but the historic victory does not mean that the fight for LGBT civil rights is over.
“It is really important to celebrate this achievement,” said Bria Marcelo, a diversity resources coordinator at the University of Iowa. “But there are still a lot of components of civil rights that need to be looked at.”
There are still a lot of issues fac-
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The Daily IowanSOCCER FEVER
Alex Pircer and Melissa Pugh celebrate the U.S. soccer win over Germany in Donnely’s Pub on Tuesday. The No. 2 United States beat No. 1 Germany, 2-0, to move on to the World Cup final. (The Daily Iowan/Cora Bern-Klug)
METRO
State eyes computer coursesBy ALLIE [email protected]
Iowa’s high-school students could soon be required to take com-puter-science courses as a part of Iowa’s pub-lic-school curriculum.
Last week, a state committee recommend-ed that Gov. Terry Bran-stad require the classes for high-school students throughout the state.
“When we made the recommendation last Tuesday, we made it clear that computer science as a core re-quirement is not more important than other classes such as the arts, drama, and the like,” said Mark Gruwell, a co-chairman of the STEM computer-science group. “We need to rec-ognize that computer science complements these other disciplines.”
Alberto Segre, a Uni-versity of Iowa profes-sor of computer science, said he thinks high-school students should be exposed to computer science, but he is skepti-cal about the implemen-tation of these courses.
“In principle, it’s a great idea. [But] people say computer science, and they mean differ-ent things,” Segre said. “Anybody can teach a computer-science class
on how to teach Excel and Word; is that going to qualify?“
Tight school budgets and a lack of qualified teachers are also prob-lems that need to be addressed before a new mandated course can be implemented, he said.
“You have a struc-tural problem of how
do we train teachers to teach computer science when there isn’t even an endorsement at the state level?” Segre said. “There’s no incentive to teach high school if they’re coders or they’re computer scientists.”
Gruwell said at this stage of the recommenda-tion, the way the course would be integrated in to high schools is still unclear.
“We don’t know what that computer-science component will be yet,” he said. “That discus-sion is for another day. There’s a lot of discus-sion to be had about
things like funding, but we’re confident that there is a way to imple-ment [the changes] and at the same time meet funding needs.”
City High School ju-nior Esme Rummelhart said she would like to see more computer-sci-ence classes at her high school.
“Personally, I would like to get more famil-iar with computers,” she said. “Being more com-fortable with computers and taking computer science can be helpful in a lot of different fields.”
Because of the na-ture of the subject, the STEM committee made it clear when proposing its recommendation that an array of classes are needed to complement students’ interests.
“Having options would be a necessity since com-puter science is a very broad topic and people will use it different-
ly,” Rummelhart said. “There are all sorts of fields that tie into it so having to do it is proba-bly much more of a ben-efit than a [detriment].”
Segre said the opti-mal high-school course would be a survey course, which teach-es students how to go about solving computa-tion problems.
“It should be an ex-posure to what we call computational think-ing,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you can write the code to do it. It means you’re prepared to un-derstand something like an algorithm. Even just understanding what an algorithm is is going to be helpful.”
While still unclear what a mandated high-school course of comput-er science would look like, Segre said, if im-plemented properly, the course would be invalu-able in a technological world.
“It’s a great idea. It should happen,” he said. “We should teach some-thing about computer sci-ence in high school. Ev-ery high-school student will be better equipped for this millennium be-cause they’ve been ex-posed to algorithmic thinking, computation-al thinking, and think-ing about computing.”
Christie ready to fight
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is “now ready to fight for the people of the United States of America” as he opened his 2016 presidential campaign on Tuesday.
Christie, who made his announce-ment in Livingston, New Jersey, at his high-school alma mater, has been governor of the state since 2010.
“America is tired of hand-wring-ing and indecisiveness and weakness in the Oval Office,” he said. “We need to have strength and decision-making and authority back in the Oval Office. And that is why today I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States of America.”
The once-popular Republican is looking to make a comeback after he dropped in polls following New Jersey’s lagging economy and a scandal — popularized as “Bridgegate” — in which two of the three traffic lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey, were closed on orders from Christie staffers. The closed lanes, which were usually open to access the George Washington Bridge and
New York City, caused massive traffic back-ups for about five days.
Christie, 52, has spent a lot of time in Iowa and has become friendly with Gov. Terry Branstad, but he must still compete with 13
other candidates for Iowa’s heart and political power.
Christie has yet to schedule any visits to Iowa following his presidential announcement; he was last in the state in June. He flew
to New Hampshire where the first primaries are held following his announcement.
— by Rebecca Morin
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers a speech during the Freedom Summit in Des Moines on Jan. 24. Christie has officially announced he will run for the Republican presidential nomination. (The Daily Iowan/Margaret Kispert)
‘You have a structural problem of how do we train teachers to teach computer science when there isn’t even an endorsement at the state level? There’s no incentive to teach high school if they’re coders or
they’re computer scientists.’— Alberto Segre, UI professor
Follow us on Twitter @TheDailyIowan
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THE DAILY IOWAN | DAILYIOWAN.COM | WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015 NEWS 3
They also visited sev-eral sites related to the case, including the vic-tim’s home in Ames, as well as where the vic-tim’s body was discov-ered in Iowa City.
Lyness said that after this trip, the Chinese of-
ficials returned and for-mally charged Li with intentional homicide.
“I believe that is compara-ble with a first- or second-de-gree premeditated homicide over here,” she said.
‘The authorities over there have said they will keep us updated about when the trial takes place. He is going to face trial; that’s what’s im-portant.”
Self-pay laundry sales tax
Coin laundry machines will not be subject to sales tax anymore.
Currently, services listed as taxable are sub-ject to state sales tax, such as washing clothes.
Under the new law, self-pay washers and dryers will be excluded.
Other laundering ser-vices will be taxed.
Revenue for veteransVeterans now have a
surefire way of having money allocated to them.
The Iowa Lottery pre-viously allocated money to veterans based on net
profits from specific, vet-eran-designated games. Now, the newly imple-mented legislation has simplified that process so $2.5 million in lot-tery dollars will be al-located to veterans an-nually.
Snowplow lightsDuring the winter, driv-
ers will not have to fear
colliding with a snowplow.As part of a pilot proj-
ect to help reduce traffic accidents, the Iowa De-partment of Transpor-tation will now need to install flashing blue and white lights on the rear of around 175 snowplow ve-hicles.
More than 200 traffic crashes occurred in the past five years with snow-plow trucks in Iowa.
of the Iowa Poultry Associ-ation, agreed.
“There’s no question that the drop is due to the fact that we have fewer hens in Iowa,” he said.
According to the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture, more than 1.02 bil-lion eggs were produced in Iowa in May, approximate-ly 28.2 percent fewer than the 1.42 billion eggs that were produced in May
2014 and 21.5 percent fewer than the 1.3 billion that were produced in April, before the outbreak spread through the state.
Spurway said that of the nation’s 300 million hen population, 200 mil-lion are allocated for pro-duction of “shell eggs” — the kind consumers buy in cartons from their local supermarket — and the other 100 million are used to supply “product market” eggs to be used as ingredients in goods such as mayonnaise, pasta, and some salad dressings.
The majority of birds sickened came from the “product market” popula-tion, where more than 30 percent of hens were in-fected. Spurway said there doesn’t seem to be an ex-planation for this.
The drop in hen popula-tion and egg distribution have had a direct effect on the prices of products con-taining eggs, which Spur-way said have risen by 200 percent in the last month.
He expects prices to peak in the near future and then begin to drop back to normal in the com-
ing months.Despite the state’s larg-
est producers being af-flicted by avian influenza, it appears farms closer to Iowa City remain uncon-taminated.
“We, thankfully, didn’t lose any birds in our sys-tem,” said Ryan Miller, a co-owner of Farmer’s Hen House.
Farmer’s Henhouse is a cage-free, organic egg pro-ducer based near Kalona, 15 miles from Iowa City.
“If you look at Iowa, except for the one case in Winterset, everything was
in the northwest quadrant of the state,” Miller said.
Miller and Vande Hoef agreed that the flu stems from the region’s exposure to wild bird migration, something that must be better controlled if farm-ers are to prevent another breakout in years to come.
“Producers have to fo-cus on biosecurity, so wild birds don’t contaminate their flock by coming into contact with their hens or employees,” Vande Hoef said.
He expressed concern that a subsequent out-
break could occur in the fall as temperatures begin to cool down.
For now, producers are focusing on repopulating their flocks and bringing egg production back up to normal, a process that Spurway said could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months.
“There will no doubt be lessons learned from this outbreak,” Olson said. “We’re very encouraged by all these farmers and the diligence that they’ve shown during this difficult time.”
Craft beers ‘growl’ thanks to new lawA new Iowa law allowing the sale of take home craft beer in growlers will come into effect on July 1By ANDREW [email protected]
Beer lovers and brewer-ies, rejoice.
A new law that allows more retailers to sell craft beer to take home in “growl-ers” — refillable contain-ers usually made of glass — will go into effect today across Iowa.
“There are a lot of breweries who aren’t bot-tling or canning who have been waiting for this,” said Quinton McClain, the owner and brewer at
the Lion Bridge Brewing Co. in Cedar Rapids.
At retailers such as Hy-Vee and Lucky’s Market, this service was already available.
Chris DeSaulniers, the store director of Hy-Vee, 1720 Waterfront Drive, said HyVee had an on-premise license that allowed it to sell growl-ers at its market café.
HyVee has been selling local beers for about one year, he said.
Chris Martinez, an em-ployee at Lucky’s, located in
the Iowa City Marketplace, said the establishment has a license allowing it to sell growlers from its café.
For many stores, this will be the first time they are able to sell beer in this manner. Many estab-lishments with a large se-lection of craft beers are finding different ways to implement growlers.
Chris Moore, the beer manager for John’s Gro-cery, 401 E. Market St., said the store will sell growlers and have growler fills going from Thursday
to Saturday to celebrate the new law.
“This is a first for us, so we’re all pretty excited,” Moore said.
If the growler fills turn out to be a success, he said, customers can expect John’s to keep doing week-ly fill-ups with new beers on tap each week.
Melissa Arp, a specialties coordinator for the New Pio-neer Co-op, address, said the Co-op plans on selling recy-clable growlers in its stores.
“It’s a service New Pio-neer has been excited about
implementing for some time now,” she said.
She said there are no growlers ready just yet, but Co-op customers should see growlers sometime in the coming months.
Arp said the Co-op hopes to promote many smaller lo-cal breweries that don’t bot-tle or can their brews and may go unnoticed by many beer enthusiasts.
Lion Bridge is the type of brewery that New Pi-oneer hopes to promote when it starts selling beer in growlers.
McClain said he doesn’t know who exactly will get in the growler business, but he hopes to see beer-filling stations in many different stores.
Lion Bridge supplies its beer to different bars and restaurants in the Iowa City area and would love to incorporate many local stores as well.
“I think [this law] is a great thing for our brew-ery, and other local brewers whose beer isn’t found bot-tled-up on store shelves,” McClain said.
ing members of the LGBT community, such as em-ployment discrimination, health-care disparity, and housing issues, said Ra-chel Williams, a UI asso-ciate professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies.
“Some of these aren’t necessarily legal issues but are about human rights,” she said.
One of the next main areas of focus is going to be expanding employment protections for LGBT peo-ple, said Zach Wahls, an LGBT-rights activist who
previously lived in Iowa City.
“Today, LGBT workers can be fired because of their sexual orientation in 29 states, and transgender workers can be fired be-cause of their gender iden-tity in 32 states, so there is still a lot of work to do,” he said.
Besides employment dis-crimination, LGBT health care is another big problem, Williams said.
Williams said she thinks the UI Hospital and Clinics has fantastic LGBT health care available.
“That is pretty unusual and special in this country,” she said.
The UI’s Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer,
and Questioning Clinic is located at Iowa River Landing, 105 E. Ninth St., Coralville.
“There, people who iden-tify as LGBTQ are screened appropriately for their sex-ual health,” Williams said. “Every staff there will en-sure an environment that is welcoming for all patients.”
Wahls said he hopes pol-iticians will protect LGBT rights in the future.
“We’re absolutely go-ing to see renewed focus
on electing a Democratic president to make sure that we protect that Supreme Court ruling, which had such a narrow margin,” he said.
“We’re looking at two to four Supreme Court open-ings over the next four to eight years,” he said. “Most of the Republican field has already made clear that they oppose the ruling and many support a constitutional amendment reversing the decision.”
Even though the court ruling makes marriage a right for same-sex cou-ples, there is still a strug-gle for civil rights, Wahls said.
“Marriage equality is a monumental step forward that affirms the worth and dignity of people in same-sex relationships,” he said. “But it’s clear that there are going to be a lot of peo-ple who fight the decision, so actual implementation is still important.”
The Texas attorney general has said legal officers in his state do not have to follow the Supreme Court’s ruling, Wahls said.
“I think in the process of every sort of move-ment there is always backlash,” Marcelo said. “That is true of every movement that hap-pened in U.S. history, and I am hopeful that we can overcome and figure out a way to move forward.”
ProPublica published a report last month re-vealing that the Amer-ican Red Cross raised more than $500 million following the devastat-ing earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Yet, the agency built only six perma-nent homes.
Internal issues, mis-management, and a fail-ure to train foreign vol-unteers properly about the culture and language of Haiti plagued chari-table initiatives in the poverty-stricken nation. Attempts by the Red Cross to defend its relief efforts in the country have been thoroughly debunked by ProPublica and also by Haitian gov-ernment officials.
Fundraising efforts
by the Red Cross for its work continued in-definitely, following the earthquake with no in-tentions of stopping once a goal was reached. A large portion of these do-nations helped to relieve the agency of its $100 million deficit. Charita-ble organizations, espe-cially the American Red Cross, need to be more transparent with the millions of dollars of do-nations they receive fol-lowing crises.
In the village of Campeche, Haiti, resi-dents remain living in shacks built with old, rusty sheet metal even though this area was the focus of an ambi-tious project aimed at “transforming” the poor community. Millions of dollars were pumped into this project, but no tangible benefit to the people of the community can be observed today, according to ProPublica.
First and foremost, the Red Cross has a du-ty to assist those in the
best capacity it sets out to help. However, it also has a duty to the peo-ple who donate large amounts of money to ensure that the money can be traced to an ac-tual benefit to the people around the world who are in the most need.
In the case of the Red Cross, that it may have tried to help does not cut it. It received far more donations than any other charitable organization for this crisis and should be held to a higher standard. Six permanent homes in a three-year span with over a half billion dollars does not meet that.
The Red Cross con-tended that it helped more than 4.5 million in Haiti “get back on their feet.” The organization has provided no evidence to support this claim, and ProPublica’s report seriously contradicts it.
Haitian Prime Minis-ter Jean-Max Bellerive, the leader at the time of the earthquake, called this claim “not possi-
ble,” considering Haiti is only a country of 10 million. If the Red Cross did not help vast num-bers of people and were not building permanent homes, then where did all the money go? At least $100 million went to get rid of the orga-nization’s large deficit that it incurred follow-ing Hurricane Katrina, and most of the other money was undoubt-edly lost in its bloated bureaucracy filled with internal chaos.
It is the responsibility of these international char-itable organizations to be transparent in regards to where contributions are going. However, as a donor, check to see if the charity is registered under the National Association of Charity Officials or if it is deemed trustworthy on Charity Watch or Charity Navigator. It is imperative that people’s money goes to help the people around the world who need it the most, not to help finance an organization.
OpiniOnsCongress 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 peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
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THE DAILY IOWAN is a multifaceted news-media organization that provides fair and accurate coverage of events and issues pertaining to the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Johnson County, and the state of Iowa.
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A hot-button term in Iowa City
LETTER TO THE EDITOR/ONLINE COMMENTS
COLUMN
Gentrification is sweeping the nation and has been for a while. It is difficult to find a major city — or even a small city — in the United
States today that isn’t engaging in some sort of “com-munity improvement.” On its surface, this process seems to be positive: the introduction of more lux-urious amenities and living options as a community shifts from lower class to middle or even upper class.
Today, developers across the country are attempting to build gentrification out of thin air. A dictionary definition, on the other hand, shows that gentrification is a process that oc-curs as middle-class or affluent individuals enter a commu-nity. According to Merriam-Webster, as poorer residents are displaced by the incoming individuals, a community begins to experience a revitalization of sorts. This, however, is not exactly what is happening around the country.
Rather than allowing middle-class individuals to slowly create gentrification as they enter a giv-en area, developers are picking communities they want to gentrify and making it happen.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the state of Texas, finding that the way the state awarded nearly $10 billion in low-income tax credits between 1990 and 2011 reinforced segregated hous-ing, thereby violating the Fair Housing Act, according to Al Jazeera America. Civil-rights groups had sued the state, arguing that the when developers were giv-en money to rehabilitate or build affordable housing, builders kept low-income housing out of “white areas.”
The Al Jazeera article says California has similar strug-gles, noting that the affordable-housing crisis has become a major issue. Nearly 200 cities in California have adopted legislation that requires developers that build 20 or more housing units set aside 15 percent for affordable housing.
During the economic crisis, as foreclosures were occurring left and right, home ownership plummeted — currently at a 20-year low. The need for affordable housing is present around the country not just in Tex-as and California. Yet despite the trend, developers continue to pursue makeshift gentrification in areas that may otherwise be used for affordable housing.
And while it may not be an affordable-housing crisis as seen in California — in which the average cost of a home is 145 percent higher than the rest of the country — Iowa City is also experiencing some gentrification.
Two big projects in the pipeline follow this sort of gen-trification in the Iowa City area, the new $9.5 million, 7,000-seat Coralville arena and the Chauncey.
The biggest concern voiced in a recent DI article with respect to the stadium was traffic, but bigger concerns may lie in whether the Economic Development Authority is focusing on the right priorities: the Editorial Board be-lieves an arena in this smaller market will not offer such catalyst for growth in the Iowa River Landing area.
Additionally, there has been concern voiced about the Chauncey seemingly since the beginning of the project. A quick search on the DI website will reveal several articles ex-pressing community-wide concern about whether the build-ing is the appropriate development project to pursue at this time, given the desperate need for affordable housing.
Gentrification can be a good thing. But forcing such fast-acting economic alterations can result in severe ramifications. It is exciting to see Iowa City and the surrounding area grow, but in the process, it is im-portant for the city to understand its identity. As the university grows, so does the town. It will behoove the city to explore gentrification with respect to this relationship rather than trying to create it on its own.
The Red Cross’ failings in Haiti
Consider climate action
Like many other Iowans, I care deeply about my beliefs and where they originate. Growing up, my dad would stress the importance of getting a good education not only to realize my full potential but to un-derstand issues that affect the world as a whole. I believe climate change is undoubtedly one of those issues.
As a hairstylist, my mom enjoyed creating and appreciating aesthetic beauty with both hair and designs from nature around our home. Floral wallpaper, ocean views, and pictures of sunsets lined the walls. A familiar line in my household was the Joseph Wood Krutch quote, “If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.”
It is this double standard that
contributes to problems associated with climate change. We often think of progress in terms of manmade sys-tems without considering real-world costs. We have multiplied our gains in these systems but reduced our core values. You all have heard of climate change, but what about climate ac-tion? I have used this phrase ever since joining NextGen Climate because it is a call to making everyday decisions and habits count toward protecting our environment, promoting renewability when using natural resources, and preserving a responsible way of life in our families and homes. I ask you to consider what you can do every day to include climate action as part of the political atmosphere (pun intended) of this country.
Keegan Gormally
Online comment on ‘Clarence Thomas’ para-doxical dissent’
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent to the court’s majority opinion affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry: “The corollary of that principle is that human dignity cannot be taken away by the government. Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them. And those denied governmental benefits certainly do not lose their dignity because the govern-ment denies them those benefits. The government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.” First and last glance at the above prompts the question: What the hell does that mean? Abe Lincoln (known as the great emancipator of slaves) defined and defended governance in our land as that of the people, by the people, and for the people. Thus we the electorate of public servants are the sovereign power over the
affairs of our nation with the purpose of equally assuring to all “certain inalienable rights” and this with guiding restriction on government power a “Bill of Rights” directed in protecting each and every individual from violation by governing majority rule. If in the above quote if this is what Thomas was attempting to say, he only partially did so in half-loaf noting that certain rights could not be taken away but his failing to indicate that they had not been given by government in the first place. They come of and with human creation and were not rationed out by government. Thus pursuit of happiness via marriage is not a gift of government but is an inalienable right that government it to respect-fully accommodate — as the court has directed that state governments must do in issue of marriage licenses to consenting adult independent of gender.
Sam Osborne
On Monday, in the wake of the monumental Su-preme Court decision con-cerning same-sex marriage, higher-education affirma-tive action is back before the court. In 2008, Abigail Fish-er, a white woman, pursued legal action against the University of Texas-Aus-tin, the state’s flagship in-stitution, under the allega-tions that her application was rejected based on her race. One year later, the courts upheld the legality of the university’s admis-sions system.
The Texas system accepts all those who graduate from high school in the top 10 per-cent of their class, and others are subject to race being con-sidered in their applications. According to the University of Texas website, approxi-mately 70 percent of its un-dergraduate students grad-uated in that 10th percentile of their high-school class.
Also published on the university’s website, white students are the majority, 45 percent, which could lead one to believe that perhaps the University of Texas isn’t persecuting the white population.
Conservative justices have cast the necessary four votes to review the case, leaving Justice An-thony Kennedy as the swing vote. Given his track record of never voting to uphold an affir-mative-action plan, the situation for civil-rights proponents, affirma-tive-action advocates, and aspiring students of color everywhere looks bleak. The New York Times writes, “It would, all sides agree, reduce the number of black and Latino students at near-ly every selective college and graduate school, with more Asian-American
and white students gain-ing entrance instead.”
Aspiring students of col-or already face numerous socioeconomic obstacles, for it’s impossible to separate issues of class and race, and higher-education opportuni-ties are entirely affected by one’s class or family income. According to the Texas Tri-bune, median income in the state for black and Latino households sits around $36,000, compared with the almost doubled median in-come of $62,000 for white and Asian families.
What does this entail? Economic privilege, and with said privilege comes better elementary- and high-school opportunities — even options for private schools. Economically priv-ileged students don’t have to work during high school, allotting time for volun-teer opportunities or the dedication to a more rig-orous advanced-placement course load. If grades slip, families can hire a tutor.
One could think of the journey from grade school to university as a mara-thon. The average white student trots along in high-end running shoes, training with some of the best coaches along the way, while the average student of color treks along in hand-me-downs, carrying a 20- or 30-hour work week in their backpack like river stones. This is white privilege.
Is that to say the white student doesn’t deserve to cross that finish line? Not at all, but the athlete who made it to that same finish line with the burden of color in contemporary American society worked just as hard, if not a bit harder,
This is why a holistic approach to college ad-missions should not be limited, because factors outside of a college appli-cation without a doubt play a role in a student’s performance, and insti-tutions, such as the Uni-versity of Texas, seem to be helping straddle an ever-present racial di-vide among student priv-ilege in the states.
Backwards on education equality
Jack [email protected]
• Iowa Law: The Oldest Law School West of the Mississippi, Old Capitol Museum Keyes Gallery• The Land Provides: Iowa’s Culinary Heritage, Old Capitol Museum Hanson Gallery• Colombian group Mono Colectivo to exhibit photography, Art Building West Levitt Gallery • Biochemistry Education Lecture, “An Introduc-tion to Enzyme Kinetics,” Casey Andrews, 10:30 a.m., Bowen Science Building Auditorium 2
• English Conversation Class, noon, 2114 Med Labs• The Weepies, singer/songwriters Deb Talan & Steve Tannen, 8 p.m., Englert, 221 E. Washington• Free Jam Session & Mug Night, 10 p.m., Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn
today’s events
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the ledgeThis column reflects the opinion of the author and not the DI Editorial Board, the Publisher, Student Publica-tions Inc., or the University of Iowa.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015 by Eugenia Lasthoroscopes
THE DAILY IOWAN DAILYIOWAN.COM WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015 5
Daily Break
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Make changes to your looks, where you live, or the activities or events you pursue. Don’t let minor incidents at home lead to an argument you’ll regret.Don’t put demands on others or put up with people meddling in your affairs.TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Interact with people whom you can learn from. Participate in events that enlighten you or bring you in touch with new possibilities. Ask questions, and offer your thoughts, but don’t make donations or promises that are costly. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Build momentum, and accomplish the proj-ects that will add to your comfort and your confidence. Put extra effort into finishing what you start and following through with any promises you make. Expand, explore, and live in the moment.CANCER (June 21-July 22):Don’t get involved with people or organiza-tions that demonstrate indiscretion or unpredictability. Gravitate toward the people and the projects you know you can count on. Getting upset will not help you move forward or solve problems with coworkers.LEO (July23-Aug.22): Aim to improve your health, emotional well-be-ing, and your appearance. Don’t limit what you can do because you ha-ven’t updated your skills or are living in the past. Being current in every aspect of life will help you get ahead. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Flex your muscles if it will help you get your way. Putting in extra time and effort at work will not be wasted.Your efforts will lead to a position that will allow you to use your skills fully.LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) :Unsettling changes at home will lead to an altercation with someone who is meddling in your affairs. Don’t let any-one come between you and the people you want to spend more time with. Put the ones you love first.SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Spend a quiet day working on something that will bring you pleasure. Your accomplishments will come from your dedication and passionate way of attacking a project that stimulates and motivates you. Don’t hesitate to take on a new or unusual approach. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Initiate the changes at home or to your résumé that will help you get ahead mentally, physically, and finan-cially. Offer an alternate proposal to someone you want to work with Expect emotions to escalate if you make unreasonable demands. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Share your concerns, but don’t make rash decisions or impulsive moves. Keep the anger level down and search for a creative solution to any problem you face. Strive to achieve peace of mind.AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t feel obligated to take care of every-one else’s responsibilities. Do your share, but leave time for yourself or for romance with someone special. Discussing personal plans will bring about favorable changes to your domestic situation and your love life.PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take action, and make the physical changes to your residence that will make your life easier or help you reach per-sonal and professional goals. Don’t hesitate to call in a favor that could result in a closer alliance.
Possible New Marketing Slogals for the Ledge
• The Ledge: Assembled in the USA with jokes writ-ten in China.
• The Ledge: Now avail-able without a prescription.
• The Ledge: Because laughter is the best medi-cine. For herpes. Besides Val-trex, of course.
• The Ledge: DRM free.• The Ledge: Moderately
funny humor for moderately intelligent undergrads.
• The Ledge: Not as good as Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, but it’ll still be here in a month.
• The Ledge: Soon to be a major motion picture.
• The Ledge: Where “too soon?” can never come too quickly.
• The Ledge: Tested on an-imals — but only ugly ones.
• The Ledge: It would read you if you were a hu-mor column.
• The Ledge: It will eat your children if given the chance.
• The Ledge: You can’t fall off of it, but you can fall in love with it.
• The Ledge: The only col-umn written in Scratch ’n’ Sniff ink.
• The Ledge: It’s on the back so the other pages won’t stick together.
• The Ledge: We are in possession of your entire stock of bases.
• The Ledge: Way too cool for self-referential humor.
ANDREW R. JUHL thanks Lauren W, Brian T, Aaron HH, Eric W, and Matt G for contributing
to today’s Ledge.
What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?— Henry David Thoreau
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whose chemistry has been impossible for opponents to stop.
Iowa guard Whitney Jen-nings averages 31.5 points
a game, with teammates Claire Till and Moran Lon-ning averaging 25.0 and 23.5, respectively.
Iowa’s Alexa Kastanek gives Joens a threat from the point, but last week, she shot just 0-of-9 from the 3 zone.
One matchup tonight fea-
tures an immense wealth of young Iowa talent. When Vinton/Culver’s plays Beat the Bookstore/Westport, in-coming Hawk Tania Davis will square off with Chase Coley and Carly Mohns.
Coley and Mohns will be sophomores next season for the Hawks, and they could
see increased playing time followng the graduation of Doolittle.
Davis, a five-star recruit from Michigan, has led her team to a 2-0 start, and she dropped 34 points last week.
Unkrich coached Davis in Kay DiLeo’s absence for
that game, and he lauded the youngster’s ability.
“I was floored to see how she ran the team and how much she understands the game — things you can’t teach,” Unkrich said. “She’s going to play next season, and she’s going to play well for Iowa.”
GAME TIMECONTINUED FROM 8
PCPCONTINUED FROM 8
Screw wins for pitch-ers. For my money, it’s the most overrated statistic in baseball. Because the Sox are the offspring of a Dumpster fire and a train wreck, and Sale is one of two South Sid-ers having r e s p e c t -able sea-sons (Jose Abreu be-ing the s e c o n d ) , the best p i t c h e r in the AL has only 6 wins — and I wouldn’t put any action on him finishing with more than 12.
Throw away that stat, and look at meaningful pitching metrics such as WAR and FIP, and you’ll see how great Sale has been. According to Fan-graphs, Sale leads the AL in both categories with a 3.4 and 2.10, re-spectively.
Manager of the Year: Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay Rays
Let’s recap the Rays’ off-season. On Oct. 14, 2014, Tampa lost Gen-eral Manager Andrew Friedman to the Dodg-ers, where he became the pres-ident of b a s e b a l l o p e r a -tions. Ten days later, t o p - t i e r m a n a g e r Joe Mad-don opted out of his contract to take a job with the Chi-cago Cubs.
Disaster, right? Wrong.Cash and new GM
Matthew Silverman have
the Rays five games over .500 and tied for first place in the AL East.
— Danny Payne
MVP: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
Is there anything this guy can’t do?
Trout is known for hav-ing an amazing bat (he is hitting .300/.389/.575 for a 172 OPS+ that’s somehow better than his career figure), but his glove is exceptional, as well.
Trout’s fielding consis-tently makes the high-light reel, robbing oppo-nents of game-winning hits (cough, A’s) and s h o w i n g that his A l l - S t a r p e r f o r -mance is a normal routine.
The man is besting his impres-sive career work, and this season, he has cut down his strikeout rate, making him even more valuable than before.
Right now, Trout and Detroit Tigers’ slugger Miguel Cabrera are neck and neck in almost ev-ery batting statistic. If the Angels do well in the postseason and the Tigers continue to strug-gle, Trout will win the MVP for the second year in a row.
Chris Archer: RHP Tampa Bay Rays
In his last seven starts, Archer has struck out 63 batters and walked just 5.
He’s been the Ameri-can League’s top pitcher all year. In his first 13 starts, he has cruised to a 7-4 record with a 1.84 ERA, striking out
108 batters and walking just 20 in 83 innings. He leads the AL in Ks and ranks second in ERA and third in WHIP.
In his last start, against Boston, he al-lowed 5 runs but caused a healthy dose of whiffs, hitting the double-dig-its in strikeouts for the fifth time this year. The 5 earned runs should be a small blip on the radar. Ar-cher has easily been one of the best pitch-ers in all of baseball this sea-son, and we should expect him to get back to his usual dominance in his next start, versus the New York Yankees.
Manager: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros
The only competitor A.J. Hinch has for Man-ager of the Year is Kan-sas City Royals’ manager Ned Yost. Yost’s opportu-nity came last season, and if the Royals don’t win the pennant for the second year in a row, his chances are history.
Meanwhile, Hinch has managed to take a team that went 70-92 with a .432 winning percentage last year and mi-raculously turned it into a top contender in the AL West, cur-rently in first place. The Astros are four games ahead of the An-gels, which should feel pretty great heading in-to the All-Star break.
— Erin Erickson
Salepitcher
Cashmanager
Troutoutfielder
Archerpitcher
Hinchmanager
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Brittany Brown works her way back from injuries.
By CHARLIE [email protected]
Heading to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 10, track sophomore Brittany Brown had her sights set on making the finals and earning dis-tinction as a first team All-American.
Hampered by hamstring cramps, she fought her way to 17th place — earning honorable-mention honors instead.
“Coming into nationals last year at re-gionals, I set a personal record,” Brown said. “This year, I wasn’t able to because I had a hamstring kind of tweak in prelims. It cramped up, and I’ve never had that happen before.”
Coming off a second-place finish in the 200 meters at Big Ten Championships, in which she set an Iowa record with a time of 22.89, Brown believed she was primed to reach the finals in Eugene — which would have required a top-10 finish.
Nonetheless, if Brown’s first two years at Iowa are any indication, Iowa track and field has yet to see her reach her potential.
The soon-to-be junior got off to a blaz-ing start to her college career, earning second-team All-American honors as a freshman in 2014 after finishing 11th in the 200 meters.
Brown has also enjoyed success in the 400-meter relay, anchoring a group that finished first at Big Tens and earned sec-ond-team All-American accolades in 2014.
This summer, the California native is focused on rehabbing a hip injury and coming back stronger and faster, with her sights set on personal records in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
After a sophomore year character-ized by unexpected and nagging inju-
ries, Brown takes nothing for granted.“Going into [last] season, I thought I
could do a lot more, and out of nowhere, my hip started acting up, and at region-als my hamstring cramped up,” Brown said. “It’s very humbling, and it pushes me a lot for next year, hoping that I can get my hip fixed and get back on track.”
Brown is one of several talented fe-male runners coming back for Iowa. Elexis Guster, who earned honorable mention All-American honors at na-tionals, also has two years left as a Hawkeye. Lake Kwaza and MonTayla Holder are set to begin their senior years.
But Brown is perhaps the most in-triguing, given what she is capable of doing after a couple months off to let her hip heal properly.
“I really want to go to indoor nation-als; it’s really hard because they take fewer people than outdoors,” she said. “It’d be really awesome to be an indoor All-American.
“Outdoors, I want to be an All-Amer-ican, top three in the 200.”
And if the drop-off at nationals be-tween her freshman and sophomore seasons provides Brown with anything, it could be motivation to reach those goals next season.
It’s long way off, but that may give her more time to replay the moment in her head.
“I came out of it knowing I wanted to make finals, Oregon’s always a tough place for me to run,” Brown said. “I know I should have made that final and been an All-American … it’s bittersweet.”
By CHARLIE [email protected]
Entering Week 3 of Game Time League, one of two win-less teams will emerge with its first victory of the season.
Bethany Doolittle’s Comfort Care/Pelling squad will take on Brendan Unkrich’s McCurry’s/ Blendcard team, with both teams desperate to break into the win column.
“I think we need to take our time a little bit on offense,” incoming freshman Hannah Stewart of McCurry’s said. “I mean, we do want to get those transition buckets, but once we get in an offensive set, I think we need to kind of slow down a little bit.”
Doolittle’s squad will try to take advantage of Unkrich’s offensive struggles.
Her team has had its own problems putting up points, however. Last week, it scored just 65 in a loss. Although Doolittle poured in 26, the group has struggled to find a second person to her offensively.
Unkrich’s team doesn’t appear to have a go-to scorer at all; Anna Madrigal’s 16 points last week is the team’s cur-rent high on the season.
Despite the early struggles, Truman State forward Courtney Strait appears confident the team is headed in the right direction.
“In the second game, I’d say we got our offense back a
little bit,” she said. “The first game, we were having a bit of trouble scoring, but it’s just about having confidence in each other.”
The group’s real strength is on defense, setting the stage for what will likely be a low-scoring affair.
Two other teams come into this evening undefeated, and they could well stay that way when their respective final buzzers sound.
At 2-0, Randy Larson’s Marion Iron will battle Cullen/Joensy’s, led by Brian Joens, which stands at 1-1.
Larson’s squad looks like the team to beat in the early going. The team boasts a trio of dynamic and skilled scorers
Iowa runner Brittany Brown celebrates after the women’s 4x100-meter relay in Drake Stadium on April 26, 2014. The Hawkeyes took first place. (The Daily Iowan/Joshua Housing)
AL Midseason Awards
MVP: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
This is an easy one. It may sound
like a broken record, but Miggy is near the top of the leaderboard in all three Triple Crown categories this season.
His .349 batting average is tops in the AL, and he’s 1 RBI ahead of Mark Teix-eira and Stephen Vogt for the league lead with 53. His home-run pace prob-ably won’t be enough to get him to the top of the leaderboard, but 15 before July — especially playing in a cold weather city in pitcher-friendly Comerica Park — is more than respectable.
Three MVP awards in four years is a very safe bet for the AL’s best hitter.
Cy Young: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
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Game Time set for third week
Cabrerafirst baseman
SEE PCP, 6
Iowa’s Alexa Kastanek drives the lane for a lay-up on June 16 in Game Time action in North Liberty. Kastanek had 7 rebounds and 4 assists in her team’s loss. (The Daily Iowan/Sergio Flores)
SEE GAME TIME, 6
Hawks sprinter sets high goals
Young talent squares off, and one team will remain without a win after tonight’s games.
GAME TIME LEAGUE
Who deserves the midseason awards for the American League?
