March 26, 2014

CAMPUS & METRO

FOOTBALL

MEN’S GOLF

The FairShare program hopes to add 10 new locations through an MDH grant.

Minnesota will need its wide receivers to step up next year in order to compete.

Jose Mendez tied for first individually with an impressive score of 3-under par.

Como community garden hopes to grow

Jones, Wolitarsky lead group of raw wideouts

u See PAGE 4

Mendez leads Gophers to second place

u See PAGE 7

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 43° LOW 39°

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Debate showcases MSA plans

U OF M

MINNEAPOLIS

ST PAUL

u See PAGE 8

WEDNESDAY

MARCH 26, 2014

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

BUSINESS

Pay hike irks employers

MSA presidential candidates talked tuition and campus safety Tuesday evening.

BY TAYLOR NACHTIGAL tnachtigal@mndaily.com

About 50 students filled the first few rows of Coffman Union’s theater Tuesday evening, roughly split in support for the two teams vying to lead the Minnesota Student Association next year.

Presidential candidates Joelle Stangler and Abdisamed Awed and their vice presidential candidates debated their plans to fur ther engage students with MSA and address college affordability and campus safety.

Awed and his vice presidential candidate, Miguel Morales, both first-year students at the University of Minnesota, hope to boost MSA’s ef fectiveness by u See DEBATE Page 4

LEGISLATURE

Somalis resist task force cut A state task force for autism, which affects Somalis more than most, could be dropped.

BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com

A proposal in the Minnesota Legislature has some Somali families outraged.

The bill would eliminate the Autism Spectrum Disorder Task Force, which has been working since 2011 to develop a plan to spread awareness and provide more services to people with autism. While state legislators and Somali community leaders both want to help families affected by autism, they disagree on how to do so.

“The task force has been dysfunctional and unable to get any work done,” said bill chief author Rep. Kim Norton, DFLRochester, who has a degree in special

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY

Server and former University of Minnesota student Taylor Kuchera prepares malt glasses for customers at Annie’s Parlour on Tuesday.

Some U-area employers are worried that an increase in the minimum wage will hurt their business. to try to reconcile the different versions.

BY NICOLAS HALLETT nhallett@mndaily.com

A

The proposed increase would raise the

s lawmakers nationwide debate the

minimum wage to $9.50, one of the highest

pros and cons of a minimum wage

levels in the nation.

increase, many business owners have

Minnesota currently ranks among the

drawn a firm tally mark on the “con” side

lowest minimum wage rates in the country

— and those in the University of Minnesota

at $5.25 for small employers — those that

area are no exception.

make less than $625,000 per year — and

While advocates for the increase say it’ll

$6.15 for large employers. It’s one of only

spur the economy by putting more money

four states with minimum wage rates lower

in workers’ pockets, opponents say the hike

than the federal minimum of $7.25.

is unnecessary and could hurt businesses.

President Barack Obama announced in

Bills in both the Minnesota House and

Januar y’s State of the Union address his

Senate are gaining traction to increase the

intention to increase the federal minimum

state’s minimum wage by 2015 and are like-

wage dramatically to $10.10, prompting a

ly to pass this session. A House-Senate con-

national call to action.

ference committee met briefly on Tuesday

u See AUTISM Page 12

Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley

u See WAGE Page 4

MEN’S BASKETBALL

TRANSPORTATION

Austin Hollins led Minnesota with a career-high 32 points in his final game at Williams.

off, Mpls. set to legalize Lyft

Gophers off to New York for NIT semis After stand-

A City Council proposal would legalize controversial ridesharing services.

BY JACE FREDERICK jfrederick@mndaily.com

Austin Hollins must really love New York.

That, or he knows that every time he steps out on the floor, he’s playing to extend his college career.

That might explain the herculean effort the senior guard put forth Tuesday night in his final act at Williams Arena.

Hollins scored a career-high 32 points to push the Gophers past Southern Mississippi 81-73 and into a semifinal contest at Madison Square Garden next week.

Hollins was removed from the game with less than five seconds left and received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Not a bad way to go out.

“That was the best way to say good bye to [Williams Arena] tonight,” Hollins said.

Still, Hollins and the rest of the team know there is work to be done.

A few minutes after the win, Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind” blared from the locker room as the Gophers shuffled around the carpeted floor.

That moment of elation was a complete 180 for the Gophers from 10 days ago, when they were left dejected after missing the NCAA tournament.

Though it wasn’t necessarily the tournament the team wanted at the ended of the

BY T YLER GIESEKE tgieseke@mndaily.com

“We’re a resilient team,” junior guard DeAndre Mathieu said. “We just kept fighting.

That’s all we do.”

That fight has been personified through three consecutive postseason wins over quality mid-major programs. Those wins have the players, and the program, moving forward.

It looked like a potential let-down early on

Minneapolis will likely allow ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uberto to operate in the city after weeks of contention over whether company drivers should have to purchase taxi licenses.

L yft, a citizen chauf feur ser vice that connects drivers and riders through a mobile app, launched in Minneapolis last month. The service evaded city sanctions by offering free rides to customers and accepting donations in place of fares. Now, a proposed ordinance would legalize ridesharing under city code.

Ward 3 City Councilman Jacob Frey, who represents neighborhoods around the University of Minnesota, introduced the change earlier this month. The proposal sparked discussions on how to best allow the ser vices and still protect residents’ safety.

The city is concerned that the companies have the proper insurance to protect

u See BASKETBALL Page 7

u See RIDES Page 3

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

Minnesota guard Austin Hollins passes the ball in an National Invitation Tournament game against Southern Mississippi on Tuesday night at Williams Arena.

season, the effort is admirable. There are some teams that miss out of the NCAA tournament and flop early in the NIT, disinterested with the second-tier tournament.

Gophers head coach Richard Pitino wouldn’t let his team go out like that. He pushed his players, not allowing them to fall short of Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple.

His players responded.

VOLUME 115 ISSUE 92

2

Daily Review

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1979 Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign a historic peace agreement, ending three decades of hostilities between Egypt and Israel and establishing diplomatic and commercial ties.

HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH

EAST BANK Vol. 115 Wednesday, March 26, 2014, No. 92

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WORLD BRIEFING

Malaysia Flight 370 victims’ relatives protest in Beijing

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — As frustration was setting in, calmer seas returned Wednesday and the search for the remains of Flight 370 began anew in remote waters of the Indian Ocean off western Australia.

Gale-force winds that forced an all-day delay Tuesday died down, allowing a total of 12 planes and two ships from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to resume the hunt for any pieces of the Malaysia Airlines jet — tangible evidence for the families seeking closure after more than two weeks of anguished uncertainty.

A day earlier, angry relatives shouted “Liars!” in the streets of Beijing about Malaysia’s declaration that the plane went down with all aboard.

Although officials sharply narrowed the search zone based on the last satellite signals received from the Boeing 777, it was still estimated at 1.6 million square kilometers (622,000 square miles),

an area bigger than Texas and Oklahoma combined.

“We’re not searching for a needle in a haystack — we’re still trying to define where the haystack is,” Australia’s deputy defense chief, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, told reporters Tuesday at a military base in the Australian west coast city of Perth as idle planes stood behind him.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which coordinates the search on Malaysia’s behalf, said Wednesday’s search will focus on 80,000 square kilometers (30,900 square miles) of ocean. The search area is about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth.

Malaysia announced Monday that an analysis of satellite data received after Flight 370 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 indicated the plane had gone down in the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people aboard.

The finding did not answer troubling questions about why the plane was so far off-course, and China, home to 153 of the passen-

gers, demanded that Malaysia turn over the satellite data used to determine the plane’s fate.

The airline’s chairman, Mohammed Nor Mohammed Yusof, said it may take time for further answers to become clear.

“The investigation still underway may yet prove to be even longer and more complex than it has been since March 8th,” he said.

The search for the wreckage and the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders could take years because the ocean can extend to up to 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) deep in some parts. It took two years to find the black box from an Air France jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009, and searchers knew within days where the crash site was.

There is a race against the clock to find Flight 370’s black boxes, whose batterypowered “pinger” could stop sending signals within two weeks. The batteries are designed to last at least a month.

David Ferreira, an oceanographer at the University of Reading in Britain, said little is known about the detailed topography of the seabed where Malaysia Flight 370 is believed to have crashed.

“We know much more about the surface of the moon than we do about the ocean floor in that part of the Indian Ocean,” Ferreira said.

Searching for a needle in a haystack would be simple by comparison, he said.

“This haystack is in the dark, two or three miles underwater, hundreds of miles from land, and in a field no one has even seen before, let alone mapped,” Ferreira added.

The satellite information does not provide an exact location — only a rough estimate of where the jet went down.

Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the data is still being analyzed “to attempt to determine the final position of the aircraft” and that an international working group of satellite and aircraft performance experts had been set up.

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Obama: Nuclear Seoul: North Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles security deal makes world safer

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — President Barack Obama declared Tuesday that a security summit took “concrete steps” to prevent nuclear material falling into the hands of terrorists even though Russia and China failed to sign an agreement to beef up inspections.

One of the key results emerging from the two-day summit in The Hague was that 35 countries pledged to turn international guidelines on nuclear security into national laws and open up their procedures for protecting nuclear installations to independent scrutiny. The summit also featured new reduction commitments, with Japan, Italy and Belgium agreeing to cut their stocks of highly enriched uranium and plutonium.

“This was not about vague commitments, it was about taking tangible and concrete steps to secure more of the world’s nuclear material so it never falls into the hands of terrorists and that’s what we’ve done,” Obama said.

The U.S. president initiated a string of summits in 2010 aimed at preventing terrorists getting their hands on weapons-grade nuclear material. He hailed the progress made so far as a “fundamental shift in our approach to nuclear security.” Since 2010, the number of countries that have enough material to build a nuclear weapon has fallen from 39 to 25.

“I’ll close by reminding everyone that one of the achievements of my first summit in 2010 was Ukraine’s decision to remove all of its highly enriched uranium from its nuclear fuel sites,” Obama said. “Had that not happened, those dangerous nuclear materials would still be there now. And the difficult situation we’re dealing with in Ukraine today would involve yet another level of concern.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Wednesday test-fired what appeared to be two mid-range ballistic missiles, South Korea said, hours after Pyongyang rivals South Korea, Japan and the United States met in the Netherlands to discuss the country.

Such a launch would be a violation of U.N. resolutions and a big step up from a series of shorter-range rocket launches the North has staged in recent weeks in apparent protest of ongoing annual military drills by Washington and Seoul that the North claims are invasion preparation.

It also comes on the fourth anniversar y of the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and other nations blame on a North Korean torpedo. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking, which killed 46 sailors.

A South Korean military official said two likely Rodong missiles flew about 650 kilometers (403 miles) off North Korea’s east coast early Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear where the missiles splashed down. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules.

The launch followed a meeting on Tuesday of U.S. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye. It was Park and Abe’s first face-to-face meeting since they both took office more than a year ago. Many in Asia are angry over Japan’s treatment of historical issues related to Tokyo’s 20th centur y colonization of the Korean Peninsula and World War II. Addressing the media before the meeting, the leaders focused on the security threat posed by North Korea.

Since pulling out of six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear program in exchange for financial assistance in 2009, North Korea has conducted long-range rocket and nuclear tests.

EXTENDED WEATHER FORECAST THURSDAY HIGH 45° LOW 19° Snow

FRIDAY HIGH 41° LOW 19° Mostly cloudy

SATURDAY HIGH 45° LOW 43° Partly sunny

SUNDAY HIGH 66° LOW 34° Mostly cloudy

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CORRECTIONS

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

3

After stand-off, Mpls. set to legalize Lyft Rides u from Page 1

riders, because they currently aren’t subject to the same regulations as taxi companies, business licenses manager Grant Wilson said at a committee meeting last week.

“We feel that now is the time to get it addressed so we can have some kind of orderly process in place,” he said.

Because Lyft drivers use private vehicles for commercial purposes, Frey said it’s important the company follows proper codes. Ridesharing companies similar to Lyft already provide an insurance option for drivers, he said, but there are lingering questions about when policies apply.

Frey, who supports ridesharing services, proposed

MNsure enrollment tops 136,000

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s new health care exchange celebrated a milestone Tuesday as officials announced they have exceeded their goal by enrolling over 136,700 Minnesotans in insurance plans with less than a week to go in the inaugural open enrollment period.

The MNsure board of directors set a goal of 135,000 enrollments last October, a more modest expectation than the projections of 164,000 to 270,000 individuals given to lawmakers before they approved the exchange in March last year. The exchange still has a long way to go if it’s going to approach original estimates that 1.3 million Minnesotans would get their coverage there by 2016, including 300,000 who had no health insurance.

“We are thrilled that more than 136,000 Minnesotans have enrolled in quality, affordable coverage through MNsure,” the exchange’s chief, Scott Leitz, said in a statement. “We’re not done yet. There are six days left in open enrollment, and we want to make sure every Minnesotan has the ability to obtain health insurance coverage.”

MNsure has traveled a troubled road since open enrollment began last October. Its website was plagued for months by serious technical problems that made it dif ficult to enroll, though Leitz told reporters Monday that the site is working well now.

The exchange’s first executive director, April ToddMalmlov, resigned abruptly last December after she came under fire for taking a tropical vacation while technological problems and long helpline waits remained unresolved.

In a statement, Gov. Mark Dayton said surpassing the enrollment goal “demonstrates the significant progress MNsure has made since December.”

Dayton added: “This is a major achievement, but more must be done to improve MNsure’s functionality and customer service for Minnesotans.”

More than 36,000 Minnesotans have signed up for private insurance plans through the exchange, while over 100,000 residents have enrolled in the public Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare programs, the announcement said. Enrollments in the public plans, which ser ve lower income Minnesotans, have been significantly higher than MNsure officials anticipated, offsetting the much lower than expected sign-ups for the private plans.

People who fail to enroll by the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline face federal tax penalties of $95 or up to 1 percent of their annual income, whichever is greater. Consumers who can show that they’ve made a good faith ef for t to enroll by the deadline but can’t complete the process due to technical glitches or other problems will get reprieves.

adding “transportation network companies” to the list of operable transportation services in Minneapolis and guidelines that the companies would have to follow — a request that’s pending full City Council approval.

Frey said he thinks most of the other members are on board. Ward 7 City Councilwoman Lisa Goodman said at the meeting that the change could be finalized in the coming month.

Besides updating the city code in terms of insurance, Minneapolis officials also want to be sure ridesharing companies serve all parts of Minneapolis, like taxi companies do, Frey said.

The city wants to encourage residents to move away from using private vehicles, Frey said, and the city could

get closer to that goal by legalizing ridesharing.

Ridesharing would be a good addition to the “cornucopia” of transportation options in Minneapolis, Frey said, and would help students who might otherwise have trouble finding rides.

Chemical engineering senior Christian Jolicoeur agreed and said ridesharing ser vices are more efficient than taxis.

“Lyft’s a good thing,” he said. “I’m glad that Minneapolis is looking at ways to keep it around.”

Jolicoeur said it’s annoying when taxis arrive late, but L yft’s GPS capability allows customers to track drivers, preventing the problem.

Kinesiology freshman Audrey Swantz said she felt

“Lyft’s a good thing. I’m glad that Minneapolis is looking at ways to keep it around.”

CHRISTIAN JOLICOEUR Chemical engineering senior

safer with a “friendly” L yft driver — a retired man who said he was looking to meet people around the city with the job — than riding in a taxi. She doesn’t see any problems with letting the company operate in the city.

She said she also liked how the ridesharing app makes it easy to pay with an account instead of worrying about cash.

LYFT IN THE TWIN CITIES AUG. 2013

Lyft launches in St. Paul.

AUG. 2013– FEB. 2014

Minneapolis representatives meet with St. Paul and Airports Commission officials several times to discuss how Lyft fits into current Minneapolis ordinance.

FEB. 27

Lyft launches in Minneapolis, evading a taxi-license requirement by offering free rides.

MARCH 7

Ward 3 City Councilman Jacob Frey introduces an ordinance that would amend city code to include a section on “transportation networking companies.”

MARCH 18

The Community Development and Regulatory Services Committee discusses the ordinance proposal, telling the public it will legalize transportation networking companies like Lyft in the near future.

APRIL 15

Expected date the committee will receive an update on the issue’s progress.

SOURCES: LYFT, CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, MN DAILY REPORTING

At the committee meeting, Goodman urged city staff to consider the proposal and asked for an update soon.

“This is a really big oppor tunity for our city to do this right,” she said.

4

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Como community garden hopes to grow The FairShare Farm hopes to add 10 locations around the city with the help of a Minneapolis Health Department grant.

BY MEARA CUMMINGS mcummings@mndaily.com

The corner of 22nd Avenue Southeast and Fairmount Avenue Southeast may not look like much now, but come summer, the plot will be full of growth, vegetables and community.

This spring marks the fourth season for the FairShare Farm Community Garden in Southeast Como.

Members collectively tend to the garden, which has no individual plots.

Organizers want to expand the program by 10 locations in southeast Minneapolis with help from a Community-Driven Healthy Living grant of up to $30,000 from the Minneapolis Health Department. FairShare has applied, and the three grant recipients will be announced

in April.

The FairShare garden is unique from many other community gardens because of its communal plot organization, said Stephanie Hankerson, Community Garden Organizer for the Southeast Como Improvement Association.

“Ever yone is there at once, making decisions together, catching up and enjoying each other’s company,” she said.

Hankerson has a personal plot at a large community garden in St. Paul and said she doesn’t feel the same sense of community there.

“Most of the time I go, there’s nobody else there,” she said. “At FairShare, people are there at the same time, growing their carrots together and teaching each other how to thin the carrots, and they’re doing it at the same

time, so they can chat about their new bike. It’s a lot more cooperative and a lot more fun.”

Each season, the garden has 30 members who each agree to tend the garden during one of the three meeting times each week. Throughout the season, members come and go, but the spirit of collaboration always remains.

“You shar e r ecipes; you share how to preserve things,” Hankerson said.

“The learning extends beyond the growth and horticulture.”

Participating gardeners split the harvest and give any surplus to the Little Kitchen Food Shelf or to Southeast Seniors, a group that assists elderly area residents.

Student involvement has been a driving force from the beginning,

Hankerson said, and the communal model helps to welcome students who live in the area to participate in gardening without having to take charge of their own individual plot.

“It’s a fantastic place for U students to learn about how to grow veggies and get to know other neighbors,” she said.

Paul Buchanan, a FairShare member and 2010 University of Minnesota graduate, helped create the program when he was a Student Neighborhood Liaison for the Como neighborhood.

Buchanan said he enjoys the sense of community the garden brings to the area.

“It’s a healthy mix of students, homeowners and people like myself who rent in the area,” he said. “Neighbors that aren’t even part of it stop and chat, and sometimes we get people that just come for a day and help out and we send them home with a little bit of

produce, so it’s always good.”

Amy Maas, a FairShare member and recent University alumna, said the shared plots are good starting places for beginning gardeners.

“It might be a bit daunting to say, ‘OK, here’s my plot; I’m in charge of it,’ when you’re just starting off,” she said. “With FairShare, you can start pretty much with no gardening experience and just learn from the people around you.”

Maas said being involved as a student was a good opportunity for her to continue gardening even while living on campus.

“Inside the city, there’s not always a lot of opportunity [to garden], especially if you’re living in a residence hall like I was,” she said.

Maas said she appreciates the accessibility of the garden, the stress-reducing benefits of tending to a communal plot and bringing home fresh produce.

FAIRSHARE FARM

BY THE NUMBERS

4th SEASON 1,500 SQUARE FEET 30 MEMBERS SOURCE: STEPHANIE HANKERSON, COMMUNITY GARDEN ORGANIZER

Even if FairShare doesn’t receive the grant, Hankerson said, organizers still want to expand in the future in order to offer more opportunity for communal gardening in the Twin Cities.

“We see this garden as a tremendous community and neighborhood-building tool,” she said. “When we get another opportunity, if this one doesn’t happen, then we’ll try that, too.”

Pressure rises as MN wage talks resume

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY

Minnesota Student Association presidential candidate Abdisamed Awed, vice-presidential candidate Miguel Morales, presidential candidate Joelle Stangler and vice-presidential candidate John Reichl answer questions from the audience at the debate in Coffman Theater on Tuesday. The MSA election will take place April 2-4.

Debate u from Page 1

engaging more people, instead of waiting for students to come to MSA. “I was expecting these chairs to be full — not the case,” Awed said, looking out at the debate’s sparse audience.

If elected, he wants to boost awareness by using MSA ambassadors to reach out to dif ferent groups.

Matt Paulbeck, a University student and friend of Amed’s, said the AmedMorales campaign would bring a fresh perspective to student government.

Stangler and vice presidential candidate John Reichl also hope to reach out to more students. Both are current MSA leaders and highlighted the association’s polling initiatives, which allowed them to

bring student concerns — with concrete data to back them — to key University decision makers.

Several MSA members attended Tuesday’s debate in strong suppor t of the Stangler-Reichl campaign.

On the issue of rising tuition costs, Awed and Morales said they hope to better advocate for student concer ns at the state Capitol by creating stronger relationships with other student lobbying organizations, like the Minnesota State College Student Association, that are working toward similar goals.

Awed highlighted his experience working with the Legislature for Normandale Community College before he transferred to the University.

Stangler and Reichl proposed the development of a new tuition philosophy that

would emphasize long-term solutions for lowering costs.

They also want to address the cost of higher education for out-of-state students and graduate students, on top of last spring’s tuition freeze for resident undergraduates.

The pair also touted their past leadership experience, citing their work with the Board of Regents.

Reichl said he and Stangler are well-versed in “engaging in collaborative discussion at a senior University level.”

Both the Awed and Stangler campaigns also plan to address campus safety issues, but in different ways.

Stangler and Reichl said they have a relationship with the Aurora Center that they hope to continue developing. They also want to work with other organizations with area expertise to improve sexual assault

Minimum wage hike worries employers Wage u from Page 1

and chief author of the House’s minimum wage bill, said he hopes it will pass within the next couple of weeks after negotiations with the Senate are ironed out. He said the bill would give 360,000 Minnesotans a pay raise and is long overdue.

The minimum wage was last raised in Minnesota in 2005 and nationally in 2007.

Winkler said businesses have complained about minimum wage since it was first instituted in 1938.

“Each time we raise it, the business community says they can’t afford it,” he said, “but each time, our economy grows … and so there’s really no evidence that raising the minimum wage is harmful to business.”

Marketing sophomore Erika Elliott, a barista at Caribou Coffee on University Avenue Southeast, said she started at $7.75 an hour. She has since

had multiple raises, she said, which has made her life less stressful.

With her uptick in income, Elliott said, she can afford more of her rent and doesn’t have to take out as many student loans.

“I’m not having to worry as much and able to do more fun stuff with my friends,” she said. “Having extra cash is always a plus.”

Elliott said she noticed a major dif ference in her quality of life since the pay raise to a rate of $10.20 per hour — nearly the same amount lawmakers and the president are proposing. She said it’s especially impor tant for college students, who aren’t able to work as many hours with a full-time class schedule.

John Rimarcik, who owns several restaurants in the Twin Cities, including Annie’s Parlour in Dinkytown, said the wage increase is not feasible for restaurant owners. He pays most of his “several hundred” employees the federal minimum wage, he said, and

the proposed surge would cost him more than $200,000 per year.

Rimarcik said implementation of the new law will force restaurants to cut employees, while remaining workers will see their hours trimmed “substantially.” Restaurants will have to take drastic measures to balance the change, he said.

“You have to adjust your hiring standards, your number of people on payroll and the hours that they work,” he said. “It hurts each individual somewhat proportionately.”

Rimarcik said he’d like to see tips factored into the wage scale. When added into an employee’s pay, tips put restaurant workers well above minimum wage, he said.

Unlike numerous other states, Minnesota does not have a lower minimum wage for workers who get tips.

Blarney Pub and Grill owner Mike Mulrooney said he, too, wants state legislators to count tips as income. He

awareness on campus.

For her plan to tackle general campus safety issues, Stangler said the next step is reaching out to neighborhoods.

If elected, Stangler said she will work with campusarea landlords and neighborhood groups to get the student voice represented and make safety a priority.

Awed and Morales plan to address safety through general community outreach and by working with the cur rent MSA safety committee, while strengthening community ties and connecting students. Awed proposed creating a community garden to connect students, which he said would work similarly to the shared piano in Coffman.

Elections for MSA president and vice president, as well as other campus leadership spots, will be open April 2-4.

ST. PAUL — Amid rising labor union pressure, public negotiations resumed Tuesday on efforts to raise Minnesota’s nation-trailing minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade.

A House-Senate conference committee held an 11-minute hearing, its first public session since early March. The six lawmakers on the panel, all Democrats, looked out over a room packed with public employee union members who are part of a “Raise the Wage” coalition demanding a deal get done after last year’s deadlock. The House team made an offer that senators said they needed time to review.

Hours earlier, the union members voiced frustration with their typical Democratic allies for not moving more quickly to resolve the issue when they control the legislative and executive branches. At a boisterous rally, a state chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees booed mention of hesitancy within the state Senate to pass a bill that pushes the wage up to $9.50 per hour and automatically links future bumps to inflation.

“We don’t freeze the price of groceries so why should we freeze the minimum wage,” said Megan Mueller, who coordinates a youth commission for the city of St. Paul.

Minnesota’s minimum wage for all but the smallest of businesses is $6.15 per hour, though many workers automatically receive the higher federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. Some workers such as baby sitters, taxi drivers, nonprofit volunteers and others are exempt from the minimum wage.

The Minnesota wage hasn’t

gone up since 2005.

Of the 45 states with a minimum wage, Minnesota joins only Arkansas, Georgia and Wyoming with a wage lower than the federal rate. All of Minnesota’s neighbors are at $7.25 per hour.

Last year, the Senate approved a bill gradually raising Minnesota’s minimum hourly wage to $7.75. The House-adopted plan lifted it to $9.50 per hour, phased in over time and attached the automatic increasing feature known as indexing.

The session ended without a deal.

Early this session, the Senate budged on its position and offered to push the wage to $9.50 by 2016. But key senators said they were eight to 10 votes shor t of what it would take to pass a bill with the automatic inflator later on.

On Tuesday, Rep. Ryan Winkler came back with a new variation that would reach the $9.50 threshold for businesses with more than $500,000 a year in gross sales, with a lower top-end minimum wage for smaller businesses and for companies training in new hires. Beginning in 2017, the floor wages in all three tiers would climb by an inflationary amount as long as it doesn’t exceed a hard cap.

“By putting $9.50 in and indexing it to the cost of living as it goes up, we make sure the floor for workers’ pay goes up with it,” Winkler said.

Sen. Chris Eaton, DFLBrooklyn Center, promised a response after consulting with the rest of the Senate Democratic majority on Wednesday night. Sen. Jeffrey Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, said even though some of his colleagues have been reluctant to budge so far, he doesn’t believe they’ve locked into opposition.

MINIMUM WAGE LAWS ACROSS THE U.S. STATES WITH MINIMUM WAGE RATES THE SAME AS THE FEDERAL RATE STATES WITH MINIMUM WAGE RATES HIGHER THAN THE FEDERAL RATE STATES WITH MINIMUM WAGE RATES LOWER THAN THE FEDERAL RATE STATES WITH NO MINIMUM WAGE LAW

SOURCE: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

said increasing the minimum wage of restaurant employees will immediately hurt consumers, as restaurants will counter the measure with higher prices.

But Elliott said she doesn’t think financial strain is a valid excuse from employers. Business owners make plenty, she said, and the middle-class workforce is due for a raise.

“I don’t think this increase would make them go out of business,” she said.

“I think it’s more them not wanting to spend the money.”

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

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Editorials & Opinions www.mndaily.com/opinion

Wednesday, March 26, 2014 The Editorials & Opinions department is independent of the newsroom. The editorial board prepares the editorials labeled “EDITORIALS,” which are the opinion of the Minnesota Daily as an institution but not representative of Daily employees’ opinions.

Columnists’ opinions are their own.

LEGISLATURE

EDITORIALS

No more special-interest spirits

Carrying guns won’t make for a safer campus

It’s time to repeal Minnesota’s ban on Sunday liquor sales.

O

n a typical autumn Sunday, I turn on the TV and watch more hours of NFL pr eviews, games and highlights than I care to admit. At some point during the first game, I open my refrigerator to complement my viewing experience with an adult beverage when, to my great dismay, I have none left. Wouldn’t it be great if I could make a quick trip to one of the multiple liquor stores within a mile from my house? Unfortunately, because of Minnesota’s ban on Sunday liquor sales, I have to drive all the way to Wisconsin. And I’ve done it — and more than once.

Efforts to repeal the Minnesota ban seem unlikely to materialize this year, according to Sen. Roger Reiner t, DFL-Duluth, who has spent years advocating for Sunday liquor sales. Although Gov. Mark Dayton has af firmed that he would sign legisla-

DEREK OLSON columnist

tion to repeal the law, Reiner t said last week that he didn’t have enough votes to bring it to Dayton’s desk.

Given that the original religious reasons for antiquated “blue laws” don’t pass the test of constitutionality, what rationale does such a prohibition have, anyway?

The truth is even more absurd than one would expect.

The ban sur vives year after year because of lobbying from liquor stores who enjoy having their shops closed one day a week. It might be easy to empathize with these small-business owners at first, but what they’re doing is immoral.

Repeal of the ban would not force stores to open if they didn’t desire it. These

shops would be well within their right to remain closed on Sundays whether or not the law forced them to, but they fear losing business to other stores who would choose to open on Sundays.

With the ban in place, those shops that would prefer to close on Sundays can force their own will on competitors who wish to be open. It’s a classic case of a narrow special interest using political power to thwart the competition.

It’s quite possible that many of these liquor store owners hold inflated fears about having to open seven days a week. In the ultra-competitive restaurant industr y, numerous restaurants close voluntarily on Mondays, the slowest day of the week. Repealing the Sunday sales ban would provide store owners the flexibility to open on Sundays, a much more profitable day in the retail industry, and let slow Mondays be their day of f. What would be so bad about granting business owners the right to choose on which days they open their businesses?

DEATHS IN IRAQ: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 4,802 — IRAQI CIVILIANS: 122,208- PLUS DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 3,415 — AFGHAN CIVILIANS: UNKNOWN

We highly regulate alcohol because it presents public health and safety issues, but this regulation arguably threatens public safety. It’s per fectly legal to frequent the local bar on a Sunday and inebriate yourself, but the law prohibits purchasing alcohol for consumption at home that day. By relegating drinking activities to locations outside the home, the law may enable bar patrons to drive home after one too many touchdown-celebrating shots.

Lastly, concer n for the consumer seems to be lost on this issue. It’s easy to argue that consumers like me can buy our cold ones in advance, but from time to time, I will forget. On those occasions, the law shouldn’t force the local liquor store to lose my business, the state of Minnesota to lose sales tax revenue and me to lose money on gas on a longer errand — or worse, watch football with Kool-Aid. Derek Olson welcomes comments at dolson@mndaily.com.

DIVERSITY

Census finds greater race accuracy The U.S. Census Bureau should approve a plan to change how it asks about race and ethnicity.

I

Maxwell Smith welcomes comments at msmith@mndaily.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Science needs more federal funding

In Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, it states very clearly that the U.S. Congress shall “promote the progress of science.” As a part of Congress’ constitutional mandate set forth by the founders, it must endeavor to develop the knowledge and application of science for the benefit of all Americans.

This constitutional pursuit is becoming insignificant, and, as time progresses forward, the muddled discourse of the congressional house and its understanding of science in general is becoming carelessly aligned. This does not bode well for scientific discovery or subsequent technological advancements.

In 1958, the U.S. government passed one of the most important acts in American history: the National Aeronautics and Space Act. This piece of legislation led to the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Since then, NASA has been responsible for some of the most important and useful day-to-day applications, such as longdistance communication, solar energy, smoke detectors, cordless tools, water filters and LEDs, just to name a few.

NASA has also been responsible for employing millions of workers. Two million jobs were created in support of Project Mercury alone in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

From this one act of Congress in the late 1950s, NASA was given the financial capability, vision and courage to put Americans into space, which led to putting Americans on the moon by the end of the 1960s and an international space station to work in unity with other nations.

Because of this, the American economy, public and health, in general, have benefited greatly from congressional action and leadership.

Consequently, America was the beacon of human ingenuity and fortitude for decades. Yes, America has accomplished some of the most remarkable achievements in human history. But as we progress into the 21st century, the triumphs of the late 20th century and of American scientific discovery are becoming distant memories.

According to the Guardian, a well-respected British media outlet, NASA is projected to spend just 0.49 percent, or roughly $17 billion of the 2014 annual federal budget of roughly $4 trillion. To put this into perspective, the Republican-controlled House and its 2014 budget plan projected $600 billion for defense and $860 billion for social security, respectively.

To be fair, the Senate Democrats in their 2014 budget proposal are recommending about the same thing, plus or minus a few billion dollars.

Besides a lack of desire to fund space exploration and American audaciousness, Congress has shown a distinct lack of leadership on this matter. Earlier this month, National Geographic reported on a possible American mission to fly by Mars in 2021, but since the mothballing of the American shuttle fleet, the lack of transportation to and from low Earth orbit for American astronauts — aside from paying the Russian government for a lift — and the questionable timetable for President Barack Obama’s Orion program, there does not seem to be any definitive plan of action by Congress.

To add to the confusion,

during the 2012 Republican primaries for the presidential nomination, and in a moment of grandiose speech, Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, suggested that he would be interested in putting a colony on the moon by the end of his second term.

In response, or lack thereof, not one person in the Republican House majority or the Democratic House minority supported Gingrich’s vision of American audacity. Instead, he was ridiculed by his opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and subsequent media outlets.

NASA is just one example of the Constitution’s imperative mission to “promote the progress of science,” although there are other not-so-flashy examples of successful scientific policy in the U.S. Furthermore, it is a fact that many of the Founding Fathers were individuals of the Enlightenment, so the endeavor of science is only a natural progression of that era and thought to today’s modern America and her scientific accomplishments.

But as the Earth continues to orbit around the sun in the middle of our solar system, so do scientific discovery and potential advancements. It is imperative that Congress understands constitutional prudence, especially with respect to scientific endeavor. If they continue on this path of indecisiveness, the promotion of progress clause in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution will become merely a sad reminder of America’s once grand past.

Matt Johnson This column appeared in the Iowa State Daily on Monday.

Please send comments to letters@mndaily.com.

am of European (Spanish) and indigenous American (Mayan) descent, with the latter making up most of my obser vable traits.

When filling out census or other LUIS RUUSKA of ficial forms, I columnist know which boxes to check. Ethnicity: Hispanic/ Latino. Race: Caucasian and Native American.

But when I was growing up, these questions always stumped me. I have always identified as Latino more than Caucasian or Native American. It turns out I wasn’t the only one facing this type of identity crisis.

U.S. Census Bureau data shows that as many as 6.2 percent (19 million) of respondents selected “some other race” in the 2010 census. Hispanics made up a vast majority of these respondents.

However, Hispanics and Latinos are not alone in this census conundrum.

People of Middle Eastern and North African descent also misidentify themselves because the current census form categorizes them as “white,” though many people of those backgrounds don’t identify with this category.

In response to the confusion, the Census Bureau is considering lumping race and ethnicity together on forms in 2020 and on.

The new categories will include a Hispanic/Latino option, which will not be a separate question. Additionally, the Census Bureau will add a box under each categor y where respondents can list their specific countr y or tribe of origin that best matches their race category.

In the Census Bureau’s pilot test of the new form, it found that combining race and ethnicity reduced the selection of “some other race” among respondents to less than 1 percent.

I find the Census Bureau’s commitment to both highly accurate data and appropriate political correctness refreshing.

More importantly, these changes could positively affect these ethnic and racial groups by increasing representative congressional districts and access to crucial federal aid programs.

Hopefully, the Census Bureau will recognize this as well and use the new form.

Luis Ruuska welcomes comments at lruuska@mndaily.com.

Allowing students and faculty to carry guns on campus would create additional safety risks.

A

ll students and faculty members at the University of Minnesota can agree that a safe campus, where people feel free to disagree without the threat of violence, is imperative to maintaining a conducive learning environment.

How exactly the University can achieve and maintain safety is a topic that many have legitimate disagreements about.

In the interest of school safety, members of the Minnesota College Republicans, and several other student groups, have spent time this week advocating for changing the University policy to allow people with a permit to carry weapons on campus, the Star Tribune reported.

Board of Regents policy currently states, “No person, whether a student, employee or visitor, shall possess or carry a weapon while on University property” except in the cases of law enforcement, military training, presidential approval or if the item is properly stored in a vehicle.

We believe this policy remains the best way to ensure that people on campus feel safe and free from violence and intimidation.

Allowing students to carry guns on campus would create unnecessary risks, rather than make campus safer. Crime rates around the University and Minneapolis are at historic lows. The homicide rate at college campuses is very low at about one death per 1 million people, compared to 57 deaths per 1 million in the general population, according to an Arkansas Safe Schools Initiative report.

While crime is a critical issue for campus this academic year, the University has measures to create a safer campus. Students can get involved in creating a safer campus by reporting criminal behavior and assisting others in need.

We trust trained University police officers, not students or faculty members, with protecting us.

To do otherwise would not increase safety but instead expose campus to unnecessary and welldocumented risks.

Don’t fast during finals Students need better access to breakfast options during finals.

F

inals week is an intensely stressful time for students at the University of Minnesota.

Without a healthy start to the day with a solid breakfast, they can experience detrimental effects to their academic performance. Studies show that students lose focus and memory in test-taking scenarios when they skip breakfast.

The Minnesota Student Association is working to extend dining hall hours during finals so students have more opportunities to get breakfast before taking exams. Earlier this month, MSA passed a resolution urging University Dining Services to open all campus restaurants and dining halls as early as 6 a.m. Saturday during finals week.

Dining halls currently aren’t open early enough for students to get breakfast before 8 a.m. Saturday finals. The Minnesota Daily reported that many students, especially freshmen, rely on dining halls for healthy meals and may have limited early-morning food options during finals week.

MSA Representative to the Board of Regents Joelle Stangler said told the Daily that MSA “has received positive feedback from UDS” regarding extended dining hall hours during finals week.

Students should be able to easily eat a full meal before taking exams during finals week. We support MSA’s effort to give students more opportunities to eat a healthy breakfast. UDS could also support additional to-go options to make the change easier for staff and for students’ unusual finals week schedules.

Whether it is extended hours, extra to-go options or a combination of both, it’s important that the University allows students the opportunity to have the best chance at success on test day — which means that available breakfast is a must.

LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS

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Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication. letters@mndaily.com Fax: (612) 435-5865 Phone: (612) 435-1578 Letters and columns to the editor 2221 University Ave. SE Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414

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@mndailyopinions

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TONY WAGNER = EDITORIALS & OPINIONS EDITOR ERIC BEST = SENIOR EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER WILLIAM BORNHOFT = BOARD MEMBER CASSANDRA SUNDARAM

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Sports

7

@MNDAILYSPORTS

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hollins’ 32 points leads Gophers to NYC

Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino reacts to a call in a National Invitation Tournament game against Southern Mississippi Tuesday night at Williams Arena.

Basketball u from Page 1

Tuesday night.

Souther n Miss used scorching-hot shooting en route to a 33-25 lead late in the first half.

That’s when Austin Hollins stepped up. Hollins scored the Gophers’ next 12 points on the strength of three triples to thrust Minnesota into the lead.

“That’s big-time,” Mathieu said. “He’s a senior. He doesn’t want it to end.”

That’s what this run has been all about for Minnesota — not wanting this journey to end for the seniors, while building toward the future for the underclassmen.

Gophers sophomore forward Joey King has represent-

ed the latter. King has made the jump from a so-so contributor to a legitimate scoring threat this postseason. He dumped in 15 points Tuesday, his fourth-consecutive doubledigit scoring performance.

“It’s been a great stretch,” he said. “I just want to keep playing hard, and hopefully we keep winning.”

That’s the plan for the Gophers, who are playing some of their best basketball of the season and heading to the biggest and brightest stage their sport has to offer.

Now Minnesota heads to New York for the NIT Final Four — two wins away from an NIT championship.

Not a bad consolation prize.

“I’ve heard a lot of big things about how cool it is,” King said. “It should be a special and unique experience.”

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

MINNESOTA 81, SOUTHERN MISS 73 Southern Miss Minnesota

40 33 — 73 44 37 — 81

SOUTHERN MISS Player Boardingham Brown Craig Brooks Watson Ifeanyichukwu Eason Carey Chapman Bingaya Armelin Houston Total

Reb FG FT O-T Ast PF M-A M-A 3-5 6-8 3-4 0 5 2-4 3-10 0-0 2 0 1-5 3-5 1-2 6 3 0-2 3-8 0-0 3 0 1-5 5-14 2-2 6 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1-2 2-4 0-0 0 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2-6 3-5 3-8 0 2 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 1-4 1-4 3-4 3 3 26-59 12-20 14-37 20 20

Player Eliason King Hollins, Au. Hollins, An. Mathieu Buggs Walker Shell Smith McNeil Ahanmisi Total

FG FT M-A M-A 2-2 0-0 7-13 0-0 8-14 10-10 1-8 3-4 3-3 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-5 6-7 0-0 0-0 0-2 0-0 0-1 0-0 2-4 0-0 26-52 19-21

Pts 15 8 7 8 16 0 4 0 0 9 0 6 73

MINNESOTA Reb O-T Ast PF 0-2 2 2 0-3 2 1 1-2 4 3 0-4 7 1 0-2 1 3 0-1 0 0 3-9 4 3 0-0 0 0 0-0 1 0 0-0 0 1 0-1 2 0 4-27 23 14

Pts 4 15 32 5 7 0 12 0 0 0 6 81

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

Minnesota guard DeAndre Mathieu dribbles down the court at the National Invitation Tournament game against Southern Mississippi Tuesday night at Williams Arena.

FOOTBALL

Jones, Wolitarsky head group of raw wideouts Minnesota will need its wide receivers to step up next year in order to compete.

BY JACK SATZINGER jsatzinger@mndaily.com

At the star t of the Gophers’ spring practice a few weeks ago, head coach Jerr y Kill said his team’s of fense will be much improved next season.

Mitch Leidner is the guy at quar terback after Philip Nelson’s transfer to Rutgers. David Cobb, fresh off a 1,000-yard rushing season, leads a loaded backfield. Maxx Williams and Drew Goodger return at tight end. And the offensive line boasts years of experience.

That can’t be said for the Gophers’ receivers, who are headed by a duo of talented but fairly inexperienced sophomores. Minnesota offensive coordinator, Matt Limegrover, said he thinks the receiver position needs to produce at a higher level if the program wants to take the next step.

“I think spring practice is a great time to gain experience,” Limegrover said. “And having guys like Drew Wolitarsky and Donovahn Jones being able to go through spring … is a huge thing for kids like that.”

Jones played in 11 games last year as a tr ue fr eshman, flashing his raw talent after moving from quar terback to receiver. He spent some time in the slot and often ser ved as a weapon r unning the ball on jet sweep plays.

“If I was to r un a 40-[yard dash] right now, I’d run a 4.4,” he said.

That speed and quickness manifested itself at times last season, and Jones was fifth on the team with 157 receiving yards.

Still, something was missing in his first season in the maroon and gold — a touchdown.

“I want to get a touchdown this year,” he said.

“That’s really the main goal.”

Wolitarsky also ser ved as a viable weapon late in his first season on campus,

and r ecor ded a touchdown catch in the Texas Bowl.

That might be the reason Jones is so hungr y to put six points on the board himself.

“There’s some conscious competition going on,” Wolitarsky said. “I feel like when one of us is doing well, the other one has to kind of step up.”

While the talented wideouts may not talk openly about competition, they both feel it in practice.

“We work on a lot of routes together,” Jones said. “That’s the way we get better.”

Both players have shown marked improvement from season’s end to now.

Jones goes toe-to-toe with cor nerback Eric Murray — one of the Big Ten’s top cornerbacks — in practice and holds his own.

And Wolitarsky looks like he could be the reliable possession receiver next year now that he has a rapport with Leidner.

“I feel like me and

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

Minnesota wide receiver Donovahn Jones practices at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex on Tuesday afternoon.

Mitch’s connection has gotten a lot better,” Wolitarsky said. “I think it’s helpful having one quarterback, not switching them around.”

Leidner agreed.

“I feel much more comfortable and confident,” he said.

Though Jones and Wolitarsky may focus their competitive fire on each other, a group of young receivers could be hot on their heels. Melvin Hol-

land Jr., Isaiah Gentr y and Connor Krizancic all committed to play for Minnesota next season and will be looking for playing time next season.

That’s a good thing, according to Kill, who said he’s looking for his receivers to mature.

“If you have competition ever y day in practice then, you know, it’s going to carr y over to the field in game day,” he said.

That could translate

to success on the field for both receivers next season.

Wolitarsky said the two have “a good bond” and will need to produce if Minnesota wants to take the next step.

They’re working ever y day to make that a reality.

“The more you lear n, the better you get, just like anything else in l i f e , ” Wo l i t a r s k y s a i d .

“There’s always room for improvement.”

8

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

MEN’S GOLF

Mendez leads Gophers to second place

AMANDA SNYDER, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Minnesota’s Jon Trasamar plays Oct. 6, 2013, at the Edina Country Club. Trasamar finished second on the team at the Duck Invitational with an aggregate score of 4-over par.

Jose Mendez tied for first individually with an impressive score of 3-under par.

BY DANE MIZUTANI dmizutani@mndaily.com

Minnesota’s men’s golf team finished up Tuesday with a team score of 18-over par, good for a second-place finish at the Duck Invitational in Eugene, Ore. The Gophers sat all alone in fourth at the start of the third and final round, but consistent play, coupled with an implosion from Oregon and Loyola Mar ymount, paved the way to a second-place spot on the podium.

Oregon State blew away the rest of the field with a final team score of 9-over par.

“We had confidence coming into this event,” head coach John Carlson said, “and I really think the guys really came through for us.”

Carlson said the thirdround conditions were especially poor because of wind and rain.

“It was probably as difficult a golf course we’ll see in college this year,” Carlson said.

Those conditions didn’t seem to af fect Minnesota freshman Jose Mendez.

Mendez tied for the individual crown with an aggregate score of 3-under par. His previous best

finish before the victor y was a tie for sixth earlier this year.

“I can’t believe I won, because I didn’t expect to win at all during my freshman year,” he said. “I’m just really happy with myself.”

Mendez shot a 1-under par on the final day of play to secure the victory.

“We knew the kind of player we were getting in him when he came to campus,” Carlson said of Mendez. “He is comfortable in the lead … and now with a win under his belt, the sky’s the limit for him.”

Mendez became the first individual winner in Carlson’s four-year tenure, and he gave the Gophers their first individual victory since 2007.

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Minnesota’s Jose Mendez plays at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 8, 2013, at the Windsong Farm Golf Club. Mendez won the Duck Invitational with an aggregate score of 3-under par.

Minnesota senior Jon Trasamar was second on the team and tied for 12th overall with a final score of 4-over par. Sophomore Jon DuToit (8-over par) came after Trasamar and was followed by senior Alex Gaugert (14-over par) and fr eshman Matt Rachey (17-over par).

“I think I was most proud of the fact that ever yone on the team contributed in each of the three rounds,” Carlson said. “It was a total team effort, and now we have our eyes set on bigger and better things.”

Minnesota has been at a slight disadvantage to star t the season compared to teams on the West Coast. While those teams

ATHLETICS

Mariucci hosted hoops, not hockey, 10 times last week The MSHSL paid to use the arena for the girls’ state basketball tourney.

BY NATE GOTLIEB ngotlieb@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota’s premier hockey facility turned into a basketball arena for two days last week.

Mariucci Arena hosted 10 Minnesota State High School League girls’ basketball state tournament games after a hockey tournament and potential Gophers basketball games forced the MSHSL to consider different venues.

“We played as much as we could at Williams Arena,” said Kevin Merkle, an associate director for the MSHSL, “but in order to make it work, we had to also use Mariucci.”

The MSHSL traditionally uses the Target

Center and Williams Arena for its basketball state tournament games.

The league needed another venue this year because the National Collegiate Hockey Conference booked the Target Center for its Frozen Faceof f and the Gophers reser ved Williams Arena for potential NIT games.

The MSHSL used Mariucci Arena for basketball games in 2008. Merkle said those games gave the league confidence the venue would work again this year.

Mariucci/Ridder Arena Facilities Director Craig Flor said the MSHSL paid to rent a basketball cour t from the Xcel Energy Center and said installing the court before and uninstalling it took about 4 ½ hours.

“All the teams loved the atmosphere, and the court was just fine,” he said. “We had a lot of positive comments.”

Flor said the University made money from the

10-game slate but didn’t know the exact amount.

Merkle said the MSHSL is planning on using Mariucci Arena for the girls’ tour nament for the next four seasons.

“I don’t think we’d necessarily want to play our championship games there,” he said, “but for, like, first-round games like we did last week, it seems to work out really quite well.”

Fergus Falls coach Brad Strand said playing at Mariucci Arena was a good experience for his team and its fans. Strand’s team won its quarterfinal game against Kasson-Mantorville on Wednesday.

“I can’t say anything negative about it,” he said about the game being hosted at Mariucci Arena.

“They put [the band] right on the floor, under the basket, tightened it up a little bit, making it feel like a basketball event.”

have the added luxur y of practicing outdoors, the Gophers have spent much of the last three months cooped up inside.

Still, Carlson said he doesn’t let his team use weather as an excuse.

“I don’t think weather has really affected us,” he said. “It goes to show that hard work, perseverance and confidence in our abilities goes a long way in this sport.”

Minnesota will have a slight break when it retur ns to the Twin Cities. And with the weather steadily impr oving, it might get to practice outdoors sometime next week.

Mendez said he’s ready to get outside.

MEN’S GOLF RESULTS

GOLFER Mendez Trasamar DuToit Gaugert Rachey

RD1 69 71 76 81 78

RD2 73 75 73 75 73

RD3 71 74 75 74 82

TOTAL 213 220 224 230 233

TEAM 1 Oregon State 2 Minnesota 3 Oregon 4 Colorado 5 Loyola Marymount

RD1 292 294 292 294 292

RD2 290 294 292 301 293

RD3 291 294 300 297 308

TOTAL 873 882 884 892 893

*out of 16 teams

SOURCE: GOLFSTATRESULTS.COM

“It’s not a big deal practicing indoors,” he said, “but there is nothing like practicing outdoors and watching the ball fly. I’m excited for that.”

BASEBALL

Minnesota postpones first game of the year The Gophers also had to postpone their game against St. John’s last year.

BY BETSY HELFAND bhelfand@mndaily.com

The Gophers baseball team will postpone its first home game of the year because of weather issues, the team announced Monday.

Minnesota was originally scheduled to play St. John’s at Sieber t Field on Wednesday at 3:05 p.m.

The Gophers’ game against St. John’s last season was also postponed.

Minnesota is scheduled to play Michigan State this weekend, but that series, too, might also face postponement.

The Gophers didn’t play last year’s series against Michigan State because of a snowstorm in April.

This is the first post-

ponement of the season for the program. Minnesota had seven games either postponed or canceled last year because of weather conditions.

The Gophers have already experienced some trouble with the weather this year.

Minnesota’s series last week — on the road against Nor thwestern — was moved from Evanston, Ill., to St. Charles, Mo., because of weather conditions.

Gophers head coach John Anderson is familiar with this type of postponement. He said the team needs be flexible in times like this.

“We tr y to prepare and get ready whenever the next oppor tunity is going to be, and you have to be flexible,” Anderson said.

“If you’re not willing to be flexible, this is not a place to play or coach, because it seems like you make plans and all you do is change your plans.”

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Classifieds

9

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EMPLOYMENT U locket Jewelry- Looking for Independent Sales Reps You make 100% commission on all sales.

You can make some very big money immediately. Our jewelry is very sought after.

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EMPLOYMENT

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UPCOMING EVENTS WHAT: Free public lecture and book signing by scholar Robert Fuller WHO: Author of Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday WHERE: Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis PRICE: Free Robert Fuller is an international authority on rankism — abusive behavior toward people who have less power due to their lower rank in a particular hierarchy.

WHAT: Control Your Stress!

WHO: Dr. Patricia Frazier WHEN: 4-5 p.m. Thursday WHERE: 402 Walter Library, 117 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis PRICE: Free This talk will provide an overview of Dr. Frazier’s translational program of research on the role of perceived control in coping with stressful life events — from initial theoretical work to the recent development of an online intervention to increase perceived control.

Much of the talk will focus on the online intervention, which has now been tested with more than 1,000 students and found to be effective in reducing perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

WHAT: FIRST Robotics Regionals WHO: FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) WHEN: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Mariucci Arena, 1901 Fourth St. SE, Minneapolis PRICE: Free The Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional and Minnesota North Star Regional will hold the FIRST Robotics competition. The 2014 game, AERIAL ASSIST, is played by two Alliances of three teams each. Alliances compete by trying to score as many balls in goals as possible during a two-minute and 30-second match. Additional points are earned by robots working together to score goals and by throwing and catching balls over a truss suspended just over 5 feet above the floor as they move the ball down the field.

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10

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

BACKTALK

horoscopes

sudoku

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.

3/26/2014

Yesterday’s solution © 2013 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

Today’s Birthday (3/26): Develop your arts this year to profit, as your grow clear, precise communication skills.

Nurture creative passions for yourself and others. A spring cleaning beautifies your home for social fun.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Written By Linda C. Black

Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 6 — Postpone a financial discussion. Focus on your next gig.

Clarify issues first. It takes extra patience. Now make the changes.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 7 — Get into some fun with water. Be cautious with a new skill or tool. Prepare the garden to flourish.

Bury the compost. Share expenses.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 6 — Someone needs to take responsibility. Grow your own courage and leadership.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 7 — Resist the impulse to be impetuous. Put energy into a team effort. Finances may displease you.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 6 — Concentrate on your studies for the next two days. Refuse to be suppressed. Start planning a vacation. Turn down an expensive invitation.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 7 — Postpone an adventure with friends. You find it easier to concentrate for the next few days.

Finish an old job that requires study.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 6 — New evidence threatens complacency. Make big changes today and tomorrow, but without spending money yet. Set long-term goals.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 7 — Make preparations for the big job. There’s extra money available today and tomorrow.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 7 — Get a physical workout. Your mind’s less on work and more on enlightenment over the next few days.

Share results.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 6 — Keep a lid on distractions ... especially expensive ones. You have extra confidence today and tomorrow. Personal matters demand attention.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 5 — Focus on making money today and tomorrow. Don’t gamble; do more testing.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 7 — Don’t buy toys. Focus on keeping old commitments today and tomorrow. There’s another way to solve a problem.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

from the archive Ten years ago: 4Herbert Hanson Jr. donates $11.4 million to the Carlson School of Management for a building extension.

The extension, Hanson Hall, was completed in 2008.

4Gay rights supporters protest the proposed gay marriage ban outside the Capitol. The bill would define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Minnesota Daily Volume 105, Issue 117 March 26, 2004

crossword

FOR RELEASE MARCH 26, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Cop’s route 5 Tripoli’s land 10 Meet activity 14 “Let __”: Beatles hit 15 Acrylic fiber 16 Sobriquet for Haydn 17 Loafer, e.g.

18 Mandate from the bench 20 Frequency unit 22 Cross-ventilation result 23 Not slacking 25 Jewelry retailer 29 Foot, in zoology 30 Objection 31 Make a dramatic exit?

33 Cos. with Xings 34 “And __ refuse?”

35 Discharge 36 Voice coach’s concern 40 Circle calculation 41 “Get it?”

42 Grads-to-be: Abbr.

43 Letter holder 45 Armada arena 46 Ugly Tolkien beast 49 “Tomorrow” musical 50 John le Carré offering 52 “Memoirs of a __”: Arthur Golden novel 55 High capital 56 Shared shares 60 Oolong and pekoe 61 Trusted underling 62 Structure with high-water marks 63 Yellow-andbrown toon dog 64 Cheery 65 Board for filers 66 Like some memories DOWN 1 Diocese head 2 Hydrocarbon gas 3 Calls off, as a mission 4 Force, metaphorically

3/26/14

By Jacob Stulberg

5 Express’s opp.

6 2004 Will Smith sci-fi film 7 Ad on a DVD case 8 Olden times 9 First chip, often 10 Farming implements 11 Bundle of dough 12 Wild way to go 13 Course number 19 First name in metal 21 Zoo equine 24 In precisely this way 26 Celeb’s ride 27 Malevolence 28 Where the action happens 31 W. Coast airport 32 2004 biopic with the tagline “Let’s talk about sex” 33 Like wheels after servicing 34 Bar supply 36 Cereal material 37 Carriage driver’s tool 38 With 59-Down, L-shaped tool

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

(c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

39 Sedative, casually 40 Org. whose past presidents include two Mayos 44 Veggie with a Ruby Queen variety 45 Bit of orthodontia 46 Cathedral city in northern Spain 47 Hold on to 48 Shut

3/26/14

50 Leave the dock, with “off” 51 Lacking, or what can precede either half of 18-, 36- and 56Across 53 Catalina, e.g.

54 Come (from) 56 Crying __ 57 Driveway blotch 58 Ore. neighbor 59 See 38-Down

dr. date Dr. Date,

My boyfriend of four years wants us to get matching love tattoos for his birthday. I’d be down, but he wants us to get each other’s names tattooed on our shoulders, and I want something way (WAY) more subtle. I love him, but if we ever break up, I don’t want a lifelong reminder of our relationship stamped on my body. I can’t really tell him that, though, so I’m trying to figure out the best way to talk him out of this crazy idea. Thoughts?

—Ink Anxiety

Tattoo Taboo,

Whyyy?!?!?! Why does anybody think this is a good idea? You WILL regret this; I guarantee it. He will, too; he just doesn’t realize it yet. Go on the Internet — it won’t be hard to find dozens of stories detailing bad relationship tattoos.

Even if you went with something subtle and symbolic, rather than the moronic tactic of straight-up naming each other, you would still know what it was intended to mean. So, while that tactic would save you from the public embarrassment of (potentially) having an ex’s name on your shoulder, you would still be very much aware that you share a tat with your ex. That is no good for your mental state.

Do you have any tattoos already?

If you don’t, then it’d be pretty easy to pawn off your reluctance on disliking tattoos in general and not the specific one he wants to get.

I realize why you feel like you can’t tell him the truth, but wouldn’t it be best to just be honest? That doesn’t mean you have to explicitly say why, just that you don’t want to regret anything and you’re really uncomfortable with the prospect. He ought to respect your reservations.

Why does he even want this? It might be worth figuring out his reasoning. If you love him and he loves you, why can’t that be enough?

If you even think about going through with this, I’d highly, highly recommend having a cover-up plan. Make it a tat that could be easily incorporated into something else.

But, don’t. Just don’t. If it’s a dealbreaker for him, then consider the deal broken.

—Dr. Date

Dr. Date,

I recently started seeing this guy, and he’s really fun and sweet, but he’s weirdly obsessed with social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram — everything. He’s on it constantly, and when he’s not, he’s talking about it.

Don’t get me wrong — I also think that stuff is fun — but I don’t get why he likes it SO much. Also, I’m getting pretty tired of talking about how many favorites his last tweet got and trying to get his attention when he’s on his phone. Is this a lost cause, or is there hope for a change here?

—Tech Widow

Phone Love Triangle,

I absolutely would not say that his fascination is weird — maybe just a bit extreme. Social media is an enticing rabbit hole. Before you know it, you’re thinking about a bunch of inane crap that doesn’t have much to do with reality.

In his case, I’d say this is but a symptom of a deeper issue relating to attention and popularity.

And for the record, if your question contains an accurate description of your boy, I fail to see how he could be “fun and sweet.” Kid seems like a tool to me if he can’t recognize that someone caring and interested is standing right before his very eyes.

Verdict: Meh, try to change him if you want. Sorry, I meant, “Try to change him if you want to be miserable and dissatisfied.” It’s a matter of how much you value your own time.

—Dr. Date

Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.

11

12

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

NUTRIENT NETWORK SITES GLOBALLY

OBSERVATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL

SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR

Research network measures grasslands University ecologists say the network will show how fossil fuels and fertilizers are affecting grasslands on a large scale.

BY KRISTOFFER TIGUE ktigue@mndaily.com

Climate change isn’t the only thing ecologists worry about when they consider how humans are impacting the natural world.

Two University of Minnesota professors say nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers and fossil fuels are entering different areas of the ecosystem at such high rates that there needs to be ways to properly monitor the effects.

So they’ve developed the Nutrient Network, a global cooperative of scientists who have set up simple research sites that monitor how human-introduced nutrients are affecting grasslands.

“It’s one of the things that’s changed the world

probably the most that we don’t talk about much,” said University Institute on the Environment Director Jonathan Foley. “We have significant pollution from excess nutrients, specifically things like nitrogen and phosphorous, in the environment.”

He said it’s common to see pollution near agricultural land because fertilizers taint water runoff. But nitrogen pollution also comes from the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned, and nitrogen eventually finds its way into the ground and into new areas, he said.

“We, as ecologists, have told the story of carbon dioxide and the relationship between that and the climate and your car reasonably well,” said associate ecology

professor and Nutrient Network co-founder Elizabeth Borer.

But what ecologists haven’t communicated well, she said, is how nitrogen from burning fossil fuels finds its way into grasslands. Once introduced into the atmosphere, the nitrogen comes back down as rain, she said, and that can find its way into some of those areas that previously weren’t receiving that much nitrogen.

Ecologists are uncertain how exactly this affects the ecosystem, but Borer said the Nutrient Network will help illuminate that.

Network studies published in the renowned journal “Nature” this January and February have shown that excess nutrients increase

plant growth and production, acting as a fertilizer, but at the cost of diversity.

“As you fertilize systems, they get more productive, but also you get fewer species,” said Eric Seabloom, associate ecology professor and network co-founder.

While certain plants do much better because of this, he said, the grasslands are overall less stable and therefore less likely to prosper over time. Displacing natural grazers from the land and overusing livestock also play a major factor in the diversity of grasslands, he said.

For now, the Nutrient Network spans 78 sites in 17 different countries, but Seabloom and Borer said they think it will continue to grow.

They recently added more sites in Germany and Australia, and they hold an annual convention to help spread awareness and increase

Come spring, pests may emerge Even with record-setting winter temps, experts say household pests will return.

BY VANESSA NYARKO vnyarko@mndaily.com

As this season’s record cold breaks, Minnesotans can expect the return of some familiar foes.

Most household pests are able to weather — even thrive — in the toughest of winters.

Insects like boxelder bugs and Asian lady beetles typically enter homes in late fall to escape the oncoming cold, said Jeffrey Hahn, a University of Minnesota Extension

Autism u from Page 1

exterminator, Fricke said no action was taken, and they believe the pest is still in the house.

Buggs said exterminators get fewer calls during the winter because most pests stay dormant and out of sight, hiding in places like buildings’ insulation or foundations.

But as the sun comes out and temperatures rise in late winter and spring, eggs hatch and people take notice.

There are some things that homeowners can do to prevent bugs or mice from entering in the first place, Buggs said, including making

entomology professor.

Once inside homes and apartments, several types of pests lay eggs that can withstand below-freezing temperatures, said Glenn Buggs, owner of Buggs Pest Control.

“Once they’re in the house, that’s where they want to be,” he said.

Kinesiology sophomore Alec Fricke said he and his roommates had a mouse in their home around Thanksgiving break. Despite calling their landlord to ask for an

AUTISM PREVALENCE IN MINNEAPOLIS 7- TO 9-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN 2010

3.08% 2.77%

2.07% 1.60%

OVERALL

HISPANIC

BLACK

WHITE

1.25%

SOMALI

education. “We need to push to implement a plan and broaden the scope of the force.”

Nor ton wants to work with the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Department of Human Services instead of the task force to aid families affected by autism.

Previous task force members have quit and even argued during meetings, Norton said.

But task force member Idil Abdull, who is also cofounder of the Somali American Autism Foundation and a mother of an autistic child, said disagreement is natural for a task force like this.

“Find me two people who agree about autism and I’ll buy you lunch for a year,” she said.

Policymakers underserve and ignore minority communities, Abdull said. Somali communities have a higher rate of autism, according to a 2013 University of Minnesota study.

Abdull said when she first came to the U.S., there was no word for autism in Somali and many Somalis still don’t feel comfortable

SOURCE: INSTITUTE ON COMMUNITY INTEGRATION

repor ting mental health issues.

“A lot of families don’t want to talk because of the social stigma,” she said.

The University study also found that Somali children with autism were more likely to have an intellectual disability — something Norton said needs more attention.

A repor t to the Legislature by the Minnesota Department of Health and the University School of Public Health, published in

Febr uar y, compared the experiences of Somali, Latino and Hmong communities. Shannon Pergament, a researcher for West Side Community Health Services who was part of the research team, said all three groups have a high need for autismrelated services.

Researchers interviewed parents of autistic children and outlined recommendations for the Legislature to implement, such as creating community support groups

sure any cracks in building foundations are sealed off.

For the pests that do get in, most people call an exterminator to get them out even if they don’t pose risks to property or health, Hahn said.

“People have a strong sense of not having any kind of insects in their homes,” he said.

As pests return from their winter slumber, Hahn said, it’s important for residents to identify whether the pest poses an actual risk to health or property damage, or if it’s just a nuisance, before calling an exterminator.

and educating more parents about available resources.

“We want parents to give their input and tell us what they need,” said Mariam Egal, who contributed to the repor t and works for the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota.

While Adbull had never heard the word autism before her son was diagnosed with the disorder, she now “eats, drinks and breathes autism.”

Her son, Abdullahi, wasn’t diagnosed until he was about 2 ½, an age both Abdull and Norton agree is too late. Autism becomes noticeable at about 18 months, but most children aren’t diagnosed until they’re older.

Early diagnoses and better access to autism-related services are major parts of what the task force has tried to accomplish and what still needs to be done in the future, Norton said.

“There’s a lot of stress on families,” she said. “There’s therapy, housing and insurance that needs to be provided. We’re seeing such a gap between what’s provided and what they need.”

Norton worked as a family liaison for autistic children before she became a representative.

“I know the heartbreak,” she said. “That’s why we need to get this moving.”

recruitment.

Senior lecturer Jennifer Firn at Queensland University of Technology in Australia said she joined the Nutrient Network in 2008 because she thought it could help her answer questions about the prevalence of invasive species in grasslands. Joining the network is voluntary, so Firn spent about $500 to set up her three sites, but she said it was well worth it.

The network has not only provided a great source of global data, she said, but it has acted as a forum for support and ideas.

“If you’re working on a paper, you have just a ton of people to help out with the statistics, with the writing, with the conceptual framework,” she said. “Everyone brainstorms. If you were to do that on your own, you would never create the same kind of product.”

Borer said to become a part of the network, researchers only need to learn the framework of their methods and have enough funds to set up their own site. The network received only about $400,000 in federal grant money to set up the entire project, she said.

Foley said that’s one of the main differences between this network and other similarly established networks like the National Ecological Obser vator y Network, which required hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructural development and resides only within the United States.

“What they’ve done here is, with very little funding, been able to get scientists all around the world to coordinate their work and to speak about not just how one site is changing, but how the whole planet is changing,” he said.

Russian rocket launches with American on board

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — Their relationship on Earth may be at its lowest ebb in decades, but the U.S. and Russia haven’t allowed their disagreements over Ukraine get in the way of their joint mission in space.

In the early hours of Wednesday local time, a rocket carr ying a RussianAmerican crew to the International Space Station blasted off successfully from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled at 3:17 a.m. local time Wednesday (2117 GMT Tuesday), lighting up the night skies over the steppe with a giant fier y tail. It entered a designated orbit in about 10 minutes after the launch.

All onboard systems were working flawlessly, and the crew was feeling fine.

The crew — NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev — are set to dock the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft at the station less than six hours after the launch and are scheduled to stay in orbit for six months.

Swanson is a veteran of two U.S. space shuttle missions, and Skvortsov spent six months at the space outpost in 2010. Artemyev is on his first flight to space.

So far, the tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine have been kept at bay. Since the retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft as the only means to ferry crew to the orbiting outpost and back.

The U.S. pays Russia nearly $71 million per seat to fly astronauts to the space lab through 2017. It’s doing that at a time when it has led calls for sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine following a hastily-arranged referendum. So far the sanc-

tions have been limited and haven’t directly targeted the wider Russian economy.

Earlier this month, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden repeatedly said the conflict in Ukraine would have no effect on what’s going on in space between the U.S. and Russia, saying that the “partnership in space remains intact and normal.”

He said there’s a long history of countries cooperating in orbit, while clashing on terra firma, which is why he said some people have nominated the 16-nation International Space Station for the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the same time, Bolden said on his blog Tuesday that while NASA continues to cooperate successfully with Russia, it wants to quickly get its own capacity to launch crews. NASA is tr ying to speed up private American companies’ efforts to launch crew to orbit, but it needs extra funding to do so.

“But even as the ‘space race’ has evolved over the past 50 years from competition to collaboration with Russia, NASA is rightfully focused now more than ever on returning our astronauts to space aboard American rockets — launched from U.S. soil — as soon as possible,” he said.

NASA spokesman David Weaver said “NASA is working aggressively to return human spaceflight launch to American soil, and end our sole reliance on Russia to get into space.” He added that later this year the agency plans to select the American companies that will transport its astronauts to the space station beginning in 2017.

The ar riving trio will be greeted by Japan’s Koichi Wakata, NASA’s Rick Mastracchio and Russia’s Mikhail Tyurin, who have been at the station since November. Wakata is the first Japanese astronaut to lead the station.