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THURSDAY | MARCH 1, 2012
A&E Page 4
NEWS Page 3
SPORTS Page 5
“Yoshi’s Story” takes the spotlight in celebration of its 14th anniversary in this latest Great Video Game entry
Obama and Republican lawmakers find common ground in efforts to create jobs and energy agendas
Baylor men’s basketball junior Pierre Jackson has made a name for himself as a player to be reckoned with
Those were the days
Vol. 113 No. 26
On the same page
Star player in the hot seat
© 2012, Baylor University
In Print >> Bring on the country TV show ‘Troubadour, TX’ goes behind the scenes with several country music artists
Page 4 >> Soccer for the win The U.S. soccer team pulls off a win against Italy for the first time in 78 years Page 5 >> Shipwrecked
Wreck of Concordia coupled with engine disaster spells danger for Costa’s publicity
Page 3
On the Web
Student teachers not fazed by closures By Rob Bradfield Staff Writer
Baylor’s student teachers won’t need to cut back after the Waco ISD completes its planned school closures. Many in the Waco community have voiced concerns since WISD officials announced they were considering closing several area schools earlier this year. The Baylor student teaching program is active in many of the closing schools, but according to
Indianapolis senior Andrew Znachko climbs up the face of the McLane Student Life Center’s rock climbing wall Wednesday.
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Viewpoints “The streams of rust-colored pepper spray shot at Occupy protesters at the University of California, Davis may have obscured their vision, but they also made one thing clear — speech is not always free.” Page 2
Bear Briefs The place to go to know the places to go
Behind the news
The Baylor National Association of Black Journalists will host “A Day in the Life of a Journalist” featuring Danielle Skinner, reporter for News Channel 25, at 6 p.m. Tuesday in 240 Castellaw Communications Building.
Whip into shape
The Spring Fitness Challenge hosted by Campus Recreation and Fitness will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday in the McLane Student Life Center. Cost is $5 and sign-up is at the service desk of the SLC.
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dents to other locations. WISD began considerations earlier this year to close schools in response to deep cuts in state school funding. The district will close five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. The remaining students and faculty will be integrated into the remaining schools. According to WISD, the closing schools were chosen in a way to best utilize existing space. “We are consolidating classes
based on space capacity,” Karen Hassell, WISD director of professional development, said. The Baylor student teacher program also operates in the Midway, Robinson, Connally and La Vega school districts. Even with the WISD closures, Goree said, the number of positions available isn’t expected to change drastically. The Baylor student teaching program operates in specially designated Professional Development Schools. Student teachers
spend several hours a week in area classrooms for six semesters. The only elementary level PDS site that will close in the fall is North Waco Elementary. The Baylor student teachers have been involved at the school for several years, and are regretting having to leave the facilities. “We will miss North Waco [Elementary] as a PDS site. Fortunately there will be more placement options at the existing PDS sites as a result of the consolidations,” Goree said.
N. Korea to halt nuclear testing By Matthew Pennington Associated Press
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Krystal Goree, director of Professional Practice at Baylor’s School of Education, the program doesn’t anticipate having to decrease the number of internships available at Waco schools. “I think it will help us to concentrate our efforts and, in fact, improve our program,” Goree said. The actual number and locations of positions won’t be determined until enrollment numbers are finalized later this year, but positions at some of the closing schools will be moved with stu-
WASHINGTON — In an apparent breakthrough in longstalled negotiations, North Korea has agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment and nuclear and longrange missile tests, the North Koreans and U.S. officials said Wednesday. The United States is to provide food aid in return. The simultaneous announcements in Pyongyang and Washington pointed toward an easing of nuclear tensions under new leader Kim Jong Un and could clear the way for resumption of the multination disarmamentfor-aid talks that the North withdrew from in 2009. The accord also opens the way for international nuclear inspections after years when the North’s program went unmonitored. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the North Korean announcement a “modest first step” but also “a reminder that the world is transforming around us.” Coming just over two months after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il, it seemed to signal a willingness by the reclusive North Korean government to improve ties with the U.S. and win critical assistance. It still falls far short of an agreement to abandon the nuclear weapons program that Pyongyang has seemed to view as key to the government’s survival. In a key concession, North Korea said it had agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors verify and monitor a moratorium on uranium enrichment activities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, a program that the North unveiled to visiting U.S. academics in 2010.
Uranium enrichment could give it a second route to manufacture nuclear weapons, in addition to its existing plutonium-based program. At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear bombs. The North has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006 and has conducted a long-range rocket test, in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. IAEA monitors will also confirm disablement of a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and associated facilities, the U.S. said. Clinton said the United States will meet with North Korea to finalize details for a proposed package of 240,000 metric tons of food aid, referring to it as “nutritional assistance.” She said that intensive monitoring of the aid would be required — a reflection of U.S. concerns that food could be diverted to the North’s powerful military. The U.S. said there was the prospect of additional assistance based on continued need. North Korea suffered famine in the 1990s and appealed for the aid a year ago to alleviate chronic food shortages. The North’s statement on the agreement was issued by its staterun news agency. It was slightly different, but released at the same time as the U.S. announcement. An unidentified spokesman from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry was quoted saying the North agreed to the nuclear moratoriums and the allowance of U.N. inspectors “with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere” for the U.S.-North Korea talks. The U.S. still has nearly 30,000 SEE
KOREA, page 6
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Race for the letters Student pledges of Kappa Omega Tau charge at current members during Spring 2012 initiation Tuesday afternoon on Fifth Street in front of Fountain Mall.
Pledges to unite in flag football Interfraternity Council seeks to start tradition By Meghan Hendrickson Reporter
Pledges have earned their fraternity letters, but Saturday they will band together as brothers in an attempt to earn their championship trophy. The Baylor Interfraternity Council is hosting its first New Member Flag Football Tourna-
ment at Edgefield, located on Bagby Avenue across from the Baylor Sciences Building. New members from eight of the 12 council fraternity chapters will play in the tournament, but any Baylor students can attend. The games will begin at noon, and free food and drinks will be served at 12:30 p.m. “The tournament is a singleelimination set-up,” Houston sophomore Javier Vargas, IFC external vice president, said. “Each game will last roughly 25 minutes.” Each team is made up of 14 members, and seven will play at a
time, he said. The last two teams standing will compete for the championship at 4:30 p.m. Vargas said he and the IFC hope the tournament will become a Baylor tradition, since it is a great way to welcome new fraternity members. “This will be the first thing they do as a new pledge class, so we hope it will help develop a sense of camaraderie as they begin their years as part of the Greek community at Baylor,” Vargas said. Houston junior T.J. Partida, SEE
FRATERNITY, page 6
California deputies patrol site of Chukchansi tribal fight Associated Press
COARSEGOLD, Calif. — Sheriff ’s deputies and security guards from rivaling factions of a California tribe were on patrol Wednesday, one day after a violent skirmish described as “absolute pandemonium” left three people injured. The fight Tuesday was between supporters of the sitting council of the Chukchansi tribe and a group whose leaders claim they were denied their rightful place in tribal government after a disputed December election. The tribe owns the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite National Park. Supporters of the rival group say their candidates would overturn the tribe’s recent decisions to expel dozens of members. The expulsions cut tribal
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Associated Press
Nicolette Griffith agrues with the opposing side after tribe members left the offices peacefully Tuesday in Coarsegold, Calif. A two-day standoff between factions of a California Indian tribe split on leadership and the expulsion of tribal members ended after the sheriff threatened to arrest anyone who did not leave the government compound where one person was wounded in a stabbing and another suffered a head injury Tuesday.
members from a share of casino profits that can amount to $1,000
a month. Critics say the thinning of
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membership ranks is motivated by greed, a charge that tribal officials vehemently denied. Many expulsions have occurred around the country, but they are particularly numerous in California, where many tribes reconstituted over the last several decades then entered the casino business, advocates say. With the tribes claiming sovereign status, experts say these people have little recourse to challenge tribes’ enrollment decisions in courts. But representatives of the sitting council say the disenrollment issue is a red herring. They say the disputed election involves one of the four people elected in December, who was disqualified after he used an invalid tribal badge in the casino, the Fresno Bee reported. The skirmish came after the rival group took over the tribal
office on Monday. About 20 people clashed Tuesday outside the tribe’s government center campus in Coarsegold, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, according to Madera County sheriff ’s officials. A total of about 100 sheriff ’s deputies and other local authorities responded to the scene, which sheriff ’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart described as “absolute pandemonium.” Two people were hospitalized but expected to recover from injuries that included a stab wound. Stuart said two people from the brawl were detained. A day after the fight, deputies patrolled the area as security guards hired by both sides remained on the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians. The rival factions voluntarily SEE
TRIBE, page 6
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