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GOP unveils replacement plan for Obamacare By Danielle.Gehr @iowastatedaily.com House Republicans announced their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, with the American Health Care Act. ACA is only hurting people, according to the House of Representatives Republican website, which states that premiums

increased by an average of 25 percent per year and that 35 percent fewer health care providers accept Obamacare than private insurers. The American Health Care Act would move away from many aspects of the ACA but would maintain coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and allow children to stay on their parents’ insurance until they turn 26. The plan would include establishing a pa-

tient and state stability fund that would give states $100 billion to create health care plans that would benefit their citizens’ needs. This plan would give citizens a monthly tax credit that would be about $2,000 to $14,000 a year for low- and middle-income families and individuals who don’t receive insurance from work or a government program. This system would replace Obamacare subsidies. The reasoning given is that,

according to the House Republicans, the subsidies leave millions of families and individuals in the middle class without help to pay for health care. This act is backed by both President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump took to Twitter to show support for the bill, ending with, “Time to end this nightmare.”

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Courtesy of Iowa State

Mehari Tekeste, left, and Mark Hanna, right, at the experimental site.

Dakota Access, ISU collaborate on research By Emily.Hammer @iowastatedaily.com

TWO DECADES OF

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily

Former Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg cuts down the nets at the Sprint Center with his children after the Cyclones’ win in the 2015 Big 12 Championship game.

A look back at Iowa State’s 3 conference tournament crowns By Luke.Manderfeld @iowastatedaily.com The Big 12 Championship will kick off its 21st tournament Wednesday night when TCU takes on Oklahoma at 6 p.m. at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Throughout 20 tournaments, there have been five different winners: Kansas (10), Oklahoma (3), Iowa State (3), Oklahoma State (2) and Missouri (2). Here’s a look back at the three crowns for Iowa State. 2000: The turnaround The 1999-2000 season has gone down as one of the best in Iowa State basketball history.

The Cyclones went 32-5 that season and barreled through to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament, taking the Big 12 Championship as a prize along the way. But the expectations didn’t start out with so much glamor. Iowa State was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 during the preseason that year and sat unranked. The big reason was because of uncertainty. Larry Eustachy was in his second season coaching the Cyclones, and they had gone a measly 15-15 in the previous year, failing to make the NCAA Tournament. Jamaal Tinsley had just transferred from Mt. San Jacinto College in Cali-

fornia, and the Cyclones had lost a wealth of players in the offseason. It was just hard to get a gauge on how Iowa State would mesh. “I don’t think people knew what to make of us. And I don’t know if I knew what to make of things,” said Paul Shirley, who played for the Cyclones from 1996-2001. “I don’t think we had a particular chip on our shoulder. But we assumed that we’d be pretty good because we had [Marcus] Fizer on our team. That was usually conducive to winning.” Conducive to winning is right. After losing to Drake and No. 1 Cincinnati in the non-conference season,

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Faculty Senate raises transfer GPA to 2.25 By Robert.Roberson @iowastatedaily.com Faculty Senate voted on a raise in the transfer GPA and eliminating the “summer option” during its meeting Tuesday. The GPA requirement excludes students who have attained an associate degree and will raise the minimum transfer GPA from 2.0 to 2.25. The increase cited one-year student retention rates and six-year graduation rates. This change will take place in the fall of 2019. The summer option allowed students who had a Regent Admission Index (RAI) below the required 245 to take classes the summer before their first fall semester. The bill stated that roughly 50 students take part in the sum-

mer option and said that only half of them were successful. The bill also referred to 60 percent two-year retention rates for these students. This change will take place in the summer of 2018. Sturm made note of three bills in the state legislature: the tenure bill, the political party among faculty bill and the concealed carry bill. “Three bills were introduced over this legislative session that had they passed unaltered may well have threatened the freedom to teach and learn upon, which higher education and our own teaching futures depend,” Sturm said. Sturm went on to defend tenure as “not job security, but it is idea security.” He attacked the political party bill, calling it a danger when Iowa State works hard to increase the sense of welcome.

$200 it Depos D per BE

Alex Kelly/Iowa State Daily

Various topics were discussed during the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday including the election of Athletic Council Representatives.

Finally, Sturm discussed the concealed carry bill, mentioning that it had been amended to exclude regent universities. “It is my view that weaponizing the people of the campus likely diminishes the freedom faculty may feel to pass knowl-

edge forward in the unrestricted manor that academic freedom allows,” Sturm said. Sturm went on to mention President Donald Trump’s new travel ban, saying it undermines

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Iowa State announced Tuesday that Dakota Access, the company overseeing the construction of the Dakota Access, or Bakken, pipeline, will help fund research by the university into the effects of construction on farmland. Over a period of five years, researchers hope to gain a better understanding about the impact of construction utilities equipment, field traffic and deep tillage on crop yield and soil compaction, according to to a press release by the university. “We get phone calls anytime someone goes through and uses public right-of-way to do some construction in farm fields,” Mark Hanna, a scientist in agricultural and biosystems engineering, said. “People are interested in ‘Well, they’re going to be in my field, they’re going to disturb some land and some soil. How much damage is it going to do?’” Hanna said that this project should help answer some of those questions. There is always some remediation effort when farmland is affected by construction, Hanna said, adding that conducting further research into the impact of development on fertile farmland is in everyone’s best interest. The Dakota Access pipeline will cross about 18 acres of university-owned farmland. Researchers will be working to quantify impact of the construction on crop yield and soil compaction. The company will give $600,000 to Iowa State to fund the project, Hanna said. In the release, project leader Mehari Tekeste described the installation as “an opportunity for field-based research” to determine the impacts of the construction, especially in the long term. The study began this past fall, with researchers collecting initial data from two acres of university-owned farmland that will be impacted by the pipeline’s construction. Research farm staff will continue normal practices during the growing season, with a cornsoybean rotation. Hanna said the team will continue to follow up on the area to determine the effects of the construction not only on the soil but also on crops. In Iowa, the Dakota Access pipeline will cross about 5,740 acres of farmland, according to Dakota Access. The total cost of the pipeline is approximately $3.8 billion.

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