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Monday, April 15, 2013
cm-life.com GAMER 4 LIFE
SPRING FOOTBALL
Weekend Local Area Network party attracts more than 200 to Finch Fieldhouse » PAGE 3
Quarterback competition heats up with starting spot on the line » PAGE 7
CMU junior dies Sunday after falling 4 stories in Grand Rapids Member of club hockey team, Zachary Bunting, 21 ‘would do anything for you’; roommate calls incident ‘mind-boggling’ By Justin Hicks Senior Reporter
Central Michigan University student Zachary Bunting, 21, died Sunday morning after falling four stories inside an entertainment complex in Grand Rapids. At approximately 2:10
a.m., Grand Rapids police responded to a call that a man had fallen at The Big Old Building, 20 Monroe Ave N.W., and found Bunting at the bottom of the stairwell, according to a GRPD news release. He was pronounced dead on scene. Witnesses told detectives the Grand Ledge junior sat
on the railing, intending to slide down it, and lost his balance, falling from the fourth level to the bottom of the open stairwell. GRPD Lieutenant Dave Schnurstein said no foul play is suspected, and it is unknown whether alcohol was involved prior to Monday’s autopsy.
The B.O.B. is a downtown Grand Rapids entertainment complex that houses restaurants, lounges and a brewery. Bunting was a defenseman on the CMU men’s club hockey team. His teammate and roommate at the hockey house on Deerfield Road, Ricky Jones, said Bun-
ting was hanging out with friends at the B.O.B. after attending the Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game earlier in the evening. Jones said he will remember Bunting as one of the nicest people he has ever met. “A lot of people say this about people who have
passed, that they were such a good person, but it is completely an understatement to say he was a good person,” Jones said. “He would do anything for you. To have this happen to him … is mind-boggling.” A BUNTING| 2
Franklin Village FBI raid executed on behalf of Los Angeles division By Tony Wittkowski Senior Reporter
The FBI agents who raided an apartment in Franklin Village Thursday, acted on behalf of the agency’s Los Angeles division. L.A. Division spokesperson Arie Dekofsky confirmed Friday the raid was executed on behalf of the L.A. division for the FBI but involved agents from the Detroit division. “I can confirm that special agents with the Detroit field office executed a search warrant in Mount Pleasant, Michigan,” Dekofsky said. “The search warrants are under seal, so I am prohibited from commenting further.” Dekofsky and FBI Detroit Division Media Coordinator Simon Shaykhet said the warrant was sealed, leaving all other information not open for public record until the investigation is complete. “Search warrants are used to gather information, and since it is still an ongoing investigation, we are limited in what we can
release,” Dekofsky said. It is still unknown why a search was conducted in the apartment, if any arrests were made or why the order came from Los Angeles. As previously reported by Central Michigan Life, around 9 a.m., several witnesses heard loud knocking on the door of apartment 4E at Franklin Village, 1333 Gaylord St., before noticing FBI vans outside of the apartment building. “There were FBI officers down in the parking lot using their walkie-talkies,” Nicole Spencer said. “They kept knocking, and I heard one of them say, ‘We don’t have time for this. Open up,’ so I guess there must have been some kind of exchange, because they got into the apartment.” The Farmington senior lives next door to the raided apartment but said she did not know the man who lived there and had only seen him on moving day. “He had a grill on his porch, A FBI| 2
Fashion goes to movies Students mix film with designs at Threads
Student media board names four candidates for director position Public interviews scheduled for April 23-24 By Kyle Kaminski Senior Reporter
The Central Michigan University Media Board has named four candidates as finalists in the search to fill Neil Hopp’s position as Director of Student Media and Publications upon his retirement in May. All finalists will have a halfhour public interview in the Central Michigan Life conference room, 436 Moore Hall. Robert Naylor, a 20-plus year employee of Associated Press who has held journalism positions at both the professional and academic levels, will be the first candidate to be interviewed. Naylor was laid off from his director of career development and news position at the Associated Press last year after the
paper eliminated his position. Naylor’s interview will take place from 11:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, April 23. James Knight, who received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from CMU in 1984 and has held several jobs in the field, is the second candidate to be interviewed. Knight has held editor-level positions at the Huron Daily Tribune, Annapolis Capital, the Jackson Citizen Patriot and the Ann Arbor News, most recently sports editor at AnnArbor.com, before moving to his current position as Manager of Human Resources Communications at the University of Michigan. He is married to Sherry Knight, CMU’s associate vice president for university communications. Knight’s interview will take place from noon to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23. Dave Clark, editor-in-chief of The Big Rapids Pioneer, was announced as the third candidate for the position. A STUDENT MEDIA| 2
By Charnae Sanders Senior Reporter
Students traveled through time amongst a collection of classic and modern films at the Threads Fashion Show.
PHOTOS BY KAITLIN THORESEN/ CHARLOTTE BODAK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS
MAIN: Troy junior Jeremy Plante models Jason Gagnon’s designs inspired by “Memoirs of a Geisha” during the 2013 Threads Fashion Show Saturday evening in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium. TOP: Almont sophomore Lexi Sheehan applies the finishing touches to her makeup before walking out on the runway. BOTTOM: Farmington Hills freshman Candace Silvers, left, and Mount Pleasant resident Liz McBryde, right, model designs by Alexis Blodgett that were inspired by “Rock of Ages.”
A full house eagerly awaited the 15th annual Threads Fashion show in Plachta Auditorium in Warriner Hall Saturday to bring interpretations of movies to life. “We just want everyone to see the talent all of our student designers have,” said Morgan Bregitzer, co-producer of the show. “This major is full of amazing, talented people, and being able to put it in a show and being one of the people to produce it ... it’s such a great honor to be able to showcase all of it.” The Sturgis senior said this year’s fashion show was like no other,
because she and Warren senior Lindsey Peters, the other co-producer, worked off the same vibe and wanted to make this event something bigger than just another fashion show. “We wanted it to be something that really captivated the audience, which is why we had the screen and the crazy theme of movies,” Bregitzer said. “And we just wanted to see designers run with it. And I think we ultimately made this thing an experience rather than just a show.” A SHOW| 2
Obama’s 2014 budget invests in Dept. of Education By Wyatt Bush Staff Reporter
RICHARD MESSINA/HARTFORD COURANT/MCT
President Barack Obama spoke at University of Hartford on Monday, April 8, 2013, in West Hartford, Connecticut. On the eve of the gun control debate in Washington, Obama pledged that the country would not forget the shooting in Newtown.
President Barack Obama’s $3.78 trillion 2014 budget proposal features new investments in education and some notable changes to entitlement programs such as Social Security. Obama’s budget, among other things, allocates $71.2 billion to the U.S. Department of Education for the 2014 fiscal year, which translates to an increase of 4.5 percent for the department. A few higher education reforms include $1 billion toward the Race to the Top competition
to further college affordability and $8 billion for partnerships between businesses and community colleges to better align education with workforce needs. The budget would support the funding of Pell Grants for more than 9 million students, a 50-percent increase from 2008 levels. Students who receive Pell Grants will experience an increase in their maximum value from $5,645 to $5,785. Central Michigan University Economics department chairman Paul Natke said there is a reason for the federal government’s furthered involvement in education spending.
“Apparently, there is concern that local school districts have seen decreases in local funding,” Natke said. “The federal government might be stepping in to further supplement local spending.” Economics professor Jason Taylor said it is important to consider federal education spending is relatively small when compared to state and local sources. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, federal spending accounted for approximately 9.6 percent of total K-12 revenue in the 2009 fiscal year.
Other notable features of Obama’s budget include investing $12.5 billion to hire and prevent the release of teachers, $659 million for school turnaround grants, and a Preschool for All program that would invest $75 billion over a 10-year span toward providing universal preschool education. Aside from increased education funding, one of Obama’s more notable and controversial proposals involves the implementation of a chained Consumer Price Index to more accurately reflect cost of living A BUDGET| 2