Monday, June 3, 2019
IDS
Pride month watchlist page 5
Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
Initial not guilty pleas in Posso case By Annie Aguiar aguiara@iu.edu | @annabelaguiar
Editor's note: This story contains details of child neglect and abuse some readers might find disturbing. In the last days of 12-year-old Eduardo Posso's life, he told his 9-year-old sister he just wanted to juggle and be free. Instead, he grew weaker and more emaciated, restrained with chains and made to wear an electric dog shock collar in the bathtub of room 108 at the Economy Inn his father Luis Posso, 32, and stepmother Dayana Medina Flores, 25, were staying in with him and his three siblings, according to a probable cause affidavit. Last Friday, at 2:52 a.m., Posso carried an unconscious Eduardo into the emergency room of IU Health Bloomington Hospital. Thirteen minutes later, he was pronounced dead. A week after Eduardo's death, Posso and Flores appeared in court to enter preliminary pleas of not guilty at an initial hearing at the Charlotte T. Zietlow Justice Center in downtown Bloomington. The pleas will become formal pleas of not guilty within 20 days unless Posso and Flores enter differently. Both are charged with murder in addition to neglect of a dependent, criminal confinement and battery. They are being held without bail and were both assigned public defenders. Posso and Flores worked as promoters for Cirque Italia, travelling state to state handing out fliers for the circus. Posso told Judge Marc Kellams the family lived from paycheck to paycheck. Flores, who only speaks Spanish, was accompanied by interpreter Lisa Hernandez for her initial hearing. Flores sniffled as she walked into the courtroom. Flores told police Eduardo became sick May 23, eventually becoming too weak to feed himself or form coherent sentences. Early in the morning of May 24, Eduardo was cold to the touch, unresponsive and wasn’t breathing. Posso and Flores decided then to send him to the hospital with Posso. At the hospital, Posso was unable to explain what was wrong with Eduardo, only describing him as skinny. At a Tuesday press conference, Monroe County Sheriff ’s Office Lt. Jennifer Allen said Eduardo had 0% body fat. He weighed about 50 pounds. Posso and Flores were sent to the sheriff ’s office for interviews based on the condition of Eduardo’s body. He was severely emaciated and covered in bruises, lacerations and ulcers. A later autopsy revealed signs of starvation, neglect and physical abuse. Posso admitted to spanking Eduardo with a leather belt, a flip flop and his hand in an interview with police at the hospital, but denied withholding food from the child. The family is originally from Florida, and Flores told police they have no permanent address and moved from place to place every couple of weeks for work and lived out of hotel rooms. The family had been living at the Economy Inn for about a week. Police searched Posso’s cell phone, hotel room and car. A text in Spanish sent between Posso and Flores’ cell phones on April 16 was translated to read, “Eduardo was almost out of the chains.” A search of the hotel room discovered metal chains, cordage, restraint cuffs, padlocks, an electric shock dog collar and a wireless surveillance camera. The items were found underneath the box springs of one of the two beds in the hotel room. The camera had been clamped to the towel bar inside the bathroom, acSEE POSSO, PAGE 3
SWIMMING
V CTOR Lilly King, Cody Miller both win in groundbreaking FINA Champions Swim Series in Indianapolis By Matt Cohen mdc1@iu.edu | @Matt_Cohen_
As the overhead lights dimmed, colored lights planted around the IU Natatorium at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis began to flash. Music blasted around the arena as the massive LED stood scoreboard behind the starting blocks. It was a spectacle different from anything Olympic gold medalist and IU professional group swimmer Cody Miller had seen. “Nothing like that has ever been done before,” said Miller, who graduated from IU in 2014. “It was a spectacle, it was a show, and goddamn, it was a lot of fun.” Miller and professional teammate Lilly King, who will graduate IU in December, excelled during the FINA Champions Swim Series in Indianapolis in an event that showcased a potential future of swimming to the viewers.
“We’re going to be racing each other a lot more now, especially that I’m pro.” Lilly King, swimmer
Miller won the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 59.29 seconds. This is Miller’s second event back after injuries kept him out of competition for a year. Miller won the 100 breaststroke with a career-best time of 59.24 in Bloomington at the TYR Pro Series. “For me to put up a time that is very competitive and be top 10 in the world again is a weight lifted off my shoulders in a sense,” Miller said. “I feel good. I went a full year without being competitive. It’s obviously good to be competitive again.”
“In previous years nothing like this existed, and no one ever watched swimming.” Cody Miller, swimmer
The event this weekend marked King's second as a professional, and her second oppotunity to win prize money. "That makes it a little bit better when I win," King said. It also was King's first chance in two years
to race Russian Yulia Efimova. The last time the two faced at the 2017 World Championships, King beat her and set a world record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.13 . They had a rivalry born at the 2016 Olympics stemming from Efimova’s history of steroid use. Whatever tension there appeared to have cooled in 2019. "During the Olympics and World Championships the year after we did not speak," King said. "We've grown up. It was three years ago so lets move on. We're going to be racing each other a lot more now, especially that I'm pro. I think we've both moved on with the middle school girl act of hating each other and not speaking." The Indiana-native gold medalist received the biggest ovation upon entering the pool deck from the Indianapolis crowd. “When Lilly walked out, I thought the place was going to explode,” Miller said. King raced Efimova three times – in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke – over the twoday event and beat her in each race. In both the 50 and 100 breaststroke events, King posted the fastest time in the world this year. Her 29.63 time in the 50 breaststroke beat Efimova by 0.3 seconds. A 1:05.13 time in the 100 breaststroke bested Efimova by 0.38 seconds. In the 200 meter breaststroke, King swam a 2:21.39 time, a lifetime best for the Olympian. Eifmova was second again, and 0.2 seconds behind. King and Efimova did swim on the same team in a mixed 4x100 freestyle relay event. Miller swam in the event as well and finished third while King’s group was last, 10 seconds behind the winners. Both Miller and King said the event itself is good for the future of swimming. The arena was full and had a good atmosphere, Miller said, and the made-for-TV event drew viewers who may not be swimming fans. Features including the lights and production as well as only having four swimmers per race instead of eight make the event more friendly to viewers, they both said. “In previous years nothing like this existed, and no one ever watched swimming,” Miller said. “But I was getting messages from people in Indy and people across the country who are like, ‘Hey the meets on whatever network it is, we’re watching it at the bar.’ That’s really cool, that’s the more exciting thing.” The event also featured increased prize money – first place was $10,000, second
IDS FILE PHOTOS
TOP Lilly King talks to the media after winning the 200-yard breaststroke on the final night of the NCAA Tournament. King is the winningest breaststroke swimmer in NCAA history. BOTTOM Then-junior Cody Miller swims in the 200-yard breaststroke March 3, 2012. Miller is now an Olympic swimmer.
was $8,000, third was $6,000 and fourth was $5,000 – creating stakes for an event that doesn’t have the same cache as the Olympics or World Championships. "Obviously the prize money is a lot better than we have been earning in the past," King said. "We've got a lot of professional swimmers and Olympians who have trouble paying rent because we don't earn enough in our sport which is sad to see.” The 2019 World Championships are set to begin July 12 in Gwangju, South Korea. It will have a strong IU presence, including King, Miller, IU professional group member Zane Grothe and freshman Emily Weiss. IU Head Coach Ray Looze will also be there. PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY MADELYN POWERS | IDS
Climate scientists respond to Trump opposition By Emily Isaacman eisaacma@iu.edu | @emilyisaacman
The fourth National Climate Assessment, released in November 2018, predicted effects of climate change could cut up to 10% of the country’s gross domestic product by 2100. But according to reporting this week by the New York Times, the Trump administration has ordered future projections to stop at 2040, instead of 2100. This would reduce the projected impacts of climate change in a move many see as an effort to stifle work to combat climate change. While the decision has a direct effect on climate scientists within the government, it could also affect broader work to publicize the effects of climate change and prepare for the impacts. “People will start questioning the projections up to 2100 and/or think that action doesn’t need to be taken,” said Gabriel Filippelli, an IU-Purdue University Indianapolis professor and member of IU's Environmental Resilience Institute. Most increases in the drivers of climate change such as temperature are exponential, Filippelli said. This means effects in 2100 are projected to be significantly worse than in 2040. Many scientists suspect the
TY VINSON | IDS
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally Aug. 30, 2018, to show support for Mike Braun when he was running for U.S. Senate. The Trump administration has ordered future projections in climate change assessments to stop at 2040, instead of 2100.
Trump administration is trying to limit the scope of assessments — removing worst-case scenario projections — in an attempt to shield itself from legal consequences and policy implications of showing extreme impacts of climate change, Filippelli said. “I think it’s really short-sighted because it makes it more difficult to see the consequences of our actions and how they play out over
the long run, and it makes it more difficult to plan for the long term,” said Jeffrey Dukes, director of Purdue Climate Change Research Center. Research outside the government will continue projecting until 2100, Dukes said. But the administration has made it more difficult for climate change research than in recent memory, cutting federal funding opportunities
from agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. Filippelli said he has already been affected by these funding cuts. Private foundations are attempting to fill in funding gaps, he said. And some federal agencies not under the executive branch are continuing as usual with fundSEE CLIMATE, PAGE 3