INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 24
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018
n
12 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Going Green
MassEducation
Shootout
Sunny
The new Sustainable Landscapes Trail features environmentally friendly projects across campus. | Page 3
St. Vincent’s latest album cements her as one of music’s most multifaceted artists, writes Ashley Davila ’19. | Page 7
Sprint football scored its most game points since 2015 on the way to besting Chestnut Hill. | Page 12
HIGH: 51˚ LOW: 42˚
Ithaca-to-NYC Bus Crash Kills Alumna By SARAH SKINNER Sun Assistant News Editor
A Sunday night commute from Ithaca to New York City turned deadly when a charter bus veered off a Pennsylvania highway just after 9 p.m. and crashed into several trees, killing a recent Cornell alumna and injuring 11 other passengers. Rebecca Blanco M.B.A. ’17, of Vacaville, Calif., was killed in the crash, authorities confirmed. Blanco, 33, had been working as a senior communications manager at Snowe, a household goods company based in New York City, since August.
COURTESY OF FACEBOOK
Bus tragedy | Rebecca Blanco M.B.A. ’17 was killed in the
“Becca was a vibrant and talented young woman we feel proud and fortunate to have had on our team,” Andres Modak, co-founder of Snowe, said in an email to The Sun. “She brought deep thoughtfulness and dedication to all that she did. She shared her contagious enthusiasm, creativity and warmth with all of us.” The private charter bus was heading south on Interstate 380 when it “left the roadway and proceeded off the interstate into a wooded area” in Covington Township in Lackawanna County, said Trooper Robert M. Urban, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania State Police. One passenger was airlifted and several others were taken to local hospitals, Urban said. He said later on Monday that only one passenger remained hospitalized and was listed in stable condition. Blanco died from “multiple traumatic injuries” sustained in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene, Timothy Rowland, the Lackawanna County coroner, told The Sun. Rowland said he believed that all 11 passengers and the driver received at least minor injuries from the crash. Amanda Bosworth grad told The Sun that her roommate, also a Cornell graduate student, had been on the bus and suffered a broken neck. “Since so many of us have relied on these bus companies … it kind of hits home to a lot of people,” Bosworth said. She said she did not want to identify her roommate, and Rowland declined to describe specific injuries or say whether other passengers were believed to be Cornell students. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The male driver has not been identified, but Urban said the driver had been driven to a hospital to take a blood test, which federal regulations require after fatalities.
crash on Sunday night, and others were injured.
See CRASH page 4
Libertarian Candidate Criticizes Cuomo at Event Sharpe discusses individual liberties, marijuana By LUCAS REYES and PENELOPE CAMPOS Sun Contributor and Sun Staff Writer
New York State Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe emphasized individual rights and advocated for the legalization of marijuana during a town hall hosted by the Cornell Libertarians on Sunday evening.
“When the SAFE Act passed, I couldn’t help but feel my rights were violated.” Andrew Hollister Sharpe, a 2016 candidate in the running for the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential nomination, spoke to a crowd of about 30 Cornellians and local residents in Goldwin Smith Hall. Andrew Hollister, the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor who ran for Rochester City Council in 2017, opened up the town hall with a personal
anecdote about his personal decision to get politically active after starting a small business. Sharpe addressed the claims that he could not win by describing the current political climate as anti-establishment. Sharpe said that New York was ready for him in the aftermath of upset wins by President Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 2018 Democratic primaries. He pointed to Democratic control of the New York State government as a reason for his candidacy, claiming that “if they had done their job, I wouldn’t be here.” Sharpe denounced Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D-N.Y.) failure to respond to the needs of residents, later specifically criticizing Cuomo’s lack of response to rising suicide rates within the farming industry. He said that small farms should face the same regulations as small businesses on the types of products they offer and stated that consumers “should decide,” not himself. In line with his emphasis on the importance of decentralization and
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Supreme speech | Cornell will råecord and post a video of Justice Sotomayor’s Thursday event.
Cornell Will Record Sotomayor Speech By SHRUTI JUNEJA Sun News Editor
Cornell will record Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s sold-out discussion at Bailey Hall on Thursday and post a video of the event online later in the day, University officials said Monday, reversing a previous statement that the event would not be recorded. A Bailey Hall official also said Monday that attendees would have their tickets voided and given away if they did not arrive by 11:45 for the noon event. Voided tickets will be given away at the door. People who want to get on the waitlist for voided tickets must sign up at Bailey Hall beginning at 11 on Thursday morning, said Bailey Hall’s audience services manager, George Holets. Between 11:45 and noon, waitlist names will be called in order until the voided tickets are given away. Holets said there is no guarantee that anyone on the waitlist will be able to get in and that there is no way to predict how many seats will be filled through the waitlist.
“... They should livestream it so that Cornell students have the option to be a part of it.” Samantha Zemser ’19
transparency, Sharpe declared that “as long as you’re transparent,” consumers and producers should be able to buy and sell as they please. “What I’m focused on is getting you happy so that you stay,” Sharpe said, emphasizing his goal to incentivize New York residents to remain in the state. When asked a question about gun control, Sharpe said he is “the only candidate that supports all your rights all the time.” Both Sharpe and Hollister criticized the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2013 as part of commentary on Cuomo’s policies. The SAFE act was
Tickets to Sotomayor’s “fireside chat” with Cornell Law School Dean Eduardo Peñalver ’94 ran out minutes after they became available earlier this month, leaving many students empty-handed. Cornell gave 425 tickets to students and other Cornellians who waited in line at Willard Straight Hall earlier this month. Another 600 tickets were given to people affiliated with the law school, and 175 were reserved for alumni and invited guests. When Cornell announced the event, it said Sotomayor’s discussion would not be recorded, and a Cornell spokesperson said that it would not be livestreamed at the request of the Supreme Court. But a spokesperson for the court, Kathleen L. Arberg, said on Monday that Cornell would be permitted to record the event and post the recording to its website. She did not say whether the court has a policy banning live-streaming of justices’ speeches. Bailey Hall has the necessary equipment and
See SHARPE page 4
See SOTOMAYOR page 4
SHARPE