Technician
monday september
28 2009
Raleigh, North Carolina
Soft drink tax considered
Senate prepares to hear proposals for excise tax on soda to fund health care Story By NICK TRAN | PHOTO ILLUSTRATION By BRENT KITCHEN
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omorrow the Senate Finance Committee will begin hearing suggestions from experts on methods for funding President Barack Obama’s $1.2 trillion health care plan. Among the suggestions for sources of revenue will be a tax on “sugar-sweetened drinks.”
The legislation would impose a tax on all sugary beverages, including soda, tea, juice, sports drinks and flavored milk. The tax is estimated to cover $12 billion of Obama’s health care plan over four years. More than half of states have soda taxes in place, charging consumers on average 5.2 percent on soda purchases. The new tax being proposed will be applied on a national scale and is slated to charge one to three cents per ounce. The proposed tax has already received support from health officials who see it as a win-win, deterring poor dietary habits and funding universal health-care. The Food and Drug Administration has reported soda as one of the leading causes of obesity in America and
General Assembly removes funding from $2,000 need-based program Chase Benson Correspondent
while health officials have attempted to push through a soda tax before for this reason, the need to pay for Obama’s looming health care bill has garnered the tax more support than before. Students like Daniel Bluestein, a freshman in chemical engineering, disagree with health officials pushing for the tax. “There are better ways to pay for health care than taxing sugared drinks,” Bluestein said, suggesting more taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. “People don’t get fat from juice boxes and teas. In fact, a lot of kids get their vitamins from juice,” Bluestein said. “As for soda, the tax is going to make people angry, but they’ll still drink the same amount so obesity won’t really go down.” As the tax will also cover sports and energy drinks, Bluestein said it would actually impede his ability to stay fit and active. Garrett Jordan, a freshman in
mechanical engineering, said he felt the tax would go a long way in reducing the rates of obesity by making people less willing to buy soda and other high sugar content drinks. “[The tax] makes sense, the same way taxes on cigarettes do. The average American household will be forced to buy healthier alternatives,” Jordan said. “If the legislation goes through, we should see a change in obesity rates over a few years time.” Jordan also said higher income families who could still afford the drinks would be contributing to
the health care plan, echoing the sentiments of health experts. Students like Billy Barrino, a freshman in the transition program, were in support of the tax despite knowing they would have to pay much more for many drinks on the market. Barrino said people will benefit a lot from the healthcare plan the tax is funding. “The $12 billion is a significant contribution to the plan,” Barrino said. “Every bit counts.” As for keeping people healthy, Barrino said it would force him and others to drink fewer highsugar drinks and more water if the price will increase significantly, which he said was a good thing.
Crafts Center renovations bring new opportunities for creativity Newly renovated Crafts Center offers chances to experience arts Alanna Howard
What’s new in the crafts center: The new Center has a jewelry studio, glass studio featuring stained glass classes, fused glass and glass bead making classes, a lapidary studio which is one of the only one of its kind in the area, a fiber arts area, pottery and woodworking wings and a paper arts room.
Staff Writer
Located below Thompson Hall, the Crafts Center, which reopened in August, features a variety of classes, new equipment and a better use of space, according to Assistant Director Jo Ellen Westmoreland. Pottery and woodworking are “We offer introductory classes and the most popular medias, pottery intermediate classes to further skills receiving a 25 percent space increase but also incorporate new classes to alone with the renovation. In the new pottery studio there are overhead appeal to the ever changing student cameras connected to TVs on the body. Each semester the student body wall so students can zoom in on the changes and we want to accommodate instructor’s work from their seat and them,” Westmoreland said. see inside the item, technology that Student fees and private donations has become very popular with the funded the center’s $16.8 million renusers. ovation. Students, who get discounted rates for classes, are encouraged to For photographers and video artists there is a green screen room and take advantage of the facility their spacious dark room. The wood-shop money contributed to. is sound proof and offers power tools, “Students at the University get a an assembly shop, is most spacious deep discount since their money goes and has a separate attendant for directly to keeping the Center runsafety and assistance. The studios ning,” Westmoreland said. are named for patrons who donated Classes vary in price according to money to the Center. the studio fee, which for students Source: Jo Ellen Westmoreland ranges from $39 to $45. For individual classes there is a materials fee paid to the instructor. Payment of a studio fee grants students unlimited fill up are brought back and the direcaccess to that studio for the semester, tors welcome new ideas. “We keep our finger on the pulse of allowing them to come in and work on current art trends to their own outside of add new classes to instructional time. our offering,” WestClasses are offered moreland said. in pottery, photograThe majority of phy, glass, painting, the instructors have woodworking and been with the Center fiber. This includes for years. They are m a k i ng je wel r y, Assistant Director Jo Ellen stained glass, weav- Westmoreland on Crafts Center evaluated at the end of each course and ing, dy ing cloth, class prices work for the Center working with a green on a contract basis. screen, photography projects and different medias in paint- New instructors include artists from ing. The variety of classes changes the area or students who are passioneach semester, classes that consistently ate about their craft.
“Students at the University get a deep discount,”
On October 5th
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N.C. EARN scholarship loses funding
The N.C. EA R N Scholarship awarded need-based students $2,000 a semester, but according to the General Assembly’s 2010-11 budget, the program will lose its funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Students who received the scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year won’t receive their funds this spring. According to Julie Mallette, director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, the department will seek to assist students who lost the scholarship. “We will make every effort to offer students additional aid to replace the EARN Scholarship funding they will lose for spring 2010,” Mallete said. “But we cannot promise that every student will receive grant or scholarship funds to replace the lost EARN funding.” Mallete said the timing of the decision leaves students without many alternatives. “With the large increase in applications for aid for the 2009-10 year, and the lateness of the General Assembly’s decision to rescind the 2010 spring portion of the EARN Scholarship, there are not sufficient scholarship or grant funds available at this time for every student who will lose EARN Scholarship funding for spring,“ Mallette said. Mallette said the OSFA will compensate as best as it can with funding through scholarships, grants, Federal Work-Study programs and loans. “It is unfortunate the state budget situation required that funding for EARN be rescinded,” she said. “It is even more unfortunate that this decision was made after scholarship awards had already been committed to students for the full 2009-10 academic year.” Mallette said this means students will accumulate more debt while going to school, but said the OSFA is committed to meeting full need of Pack Promise scholars and will continue to do so even with the loss of EARN Scholarship support from the state. The Federal Pell Grant amount for 2009-2010 is $5,350, $619 more than the maximum for 2008-2009. According to Malette, $500 of the increase is from the Federal Stimulus package, which may change come 2010-11.
insidetechnician
Christin Hardy/Technician file photo
Yasmine Sadia, alumna from the CHASS department, works her clay in the Crafts Center’s beginner level pottery class. The Crafts Center is located in the newly renovated Thompson Hall and has classes available for students and community members. Some of the classes are photography, weaving, stained-glass making and carpentry. “When I was young I loved playing with Play-Do, so this is really fun for me as an adult,” Sadia said.
Instructors also include students, such as Rachel Loosemore, alumna and former Crafts Center wood-shop attendant who teaches a stained glass class. The renovations allowed her to
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teach a stained glass class because of the new space for stained glass equipment.
CRAFTS continued page 3
Not your generic multiplex See page 7.
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