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VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
VOLUME 115, ISSUE 13 Film review: ‘A Star Is Born’ 5 Football vs NDSU 8
UNI hosts First District Debate CALEB STEKL Staff Writer
If the stormy weather outside Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center (GBPAC) was to be an indication of the events unfolding inside, it did not disappoint. At 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 in GBPAC, Representatives Abby Finkenauer and Rod Blum took part in the first debate for Iowa’s first congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Finkenauer, 29, currently represents her hometown of Dubuque in the Iowa Legislature. She recently received her law degree from Drake University and is widely considered to be a progressive Democrat. Blum, 63, has served the in the House since 2014. He is a member of the House Tea Party and Freedom Caucuses. Also a native of Dubuque, Blum attended Loras College and owns several businesses. The opening statements from the two candidates came to define each of their approaches to the debate. “I’m running for Congress because this is personal,”
Finkenauer proclaimed confidently. “At the end of the day I grew up in a state where we were promised if you work hard, you can make it.” Whereas Finkenauer focused on working-class struggles, Blum’s focus was distinctly different. “The reasons I ran, two reasons: first of all, love of country, and I also ran because of the American dream,” Blum proclaimed. There were points of agreement for the pair of candidates, specifically on immigration policy. “It’s something Democrats and Republicans haven’t gotten right,” Finkenauer said. “Yes, we’ve got to have border security, and we’ve got to have an earned pathway to citizenship.” Finkenauer’s Republican challenger did not disagree. “My heart goes out to people who are trying to immigrate to this country,” Blum remarked. “That being said, I’m kind of old fashioned… I am one-thousand percent for legal immigration, but you have to do it the right way.” The pair also agreed that the nation’s healthcare sys-
JOEL WAUTERS/Northern Iowan
On Friday, Oct. 5, GBPAC housed the first congressional district debate between current representative Rod Blum and challenger Abby Finkenauer.
tem is broken, but their proposals were radically different. “We need to add a public option to the Affordable Care Act and fix it,” Finkenauer argued. “Allow Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower insurance premiums.” In true Tea Party form,
Blum argued for less government regulation and more free markets. “The miracle of the free market will drive prices down,” Blum said. “Unleash the private sector to do their thing… we overregulate it to death today.” Questions of ethics and tax cuts produced the most
heated exchanges of the debate. Blum was quick to debate the idea that tax cuts hurt government revenues. “This is a myth that cutting taxes is costing the government anything,” Blum argued. “If you want to grow government, cut taxes.” See DEBATE, page 2
UNI professors show their roots ALLISON MAZZARELLA Staff Writer
David May has put down roots here at UNI — quite literally. A professor in the department of geography, May works in his office canopied by an eight-foot Norfolk
Island Pine tree that grows on his desk. The branches graze both walls in his office in the Innovative Teaching and Technology Center. He continually has to trim the top, which reaches the ceiling. May’s late wife loved trees, and they had a house full
GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan
Professor Dave May poses with his eight-foot Norfolk Island Pine tree in his office.
of plants. The tree in May’s office was given to his son when he was born. May had another tree that his wife gave him before they were married, but it became too root-bound in a small pot and eventually died. Because his son has since moved away, May gave the pine a home in his office. He said it can be hard to find someone to water it when he’s out of town. He once tried an automatic watering machine that pumped water from a bottler through tubes at intervals, but it didn’t work. Now, he relies on his co-workers. “My colleagues are kind of protective of it also,” said May. “They like it; they know it’s part of the office.” While repotting the tree last summer, he dropped it on his leg, badly bruising it to the point where he needed a cane. “I went limping to class the
GABRIELLE LEITNER/Northern Iowan
Professor Michael Fleming shows off his vines growing on the ceiling of his office.
first day,” May laughed. May isn’t the only professor with a plant in his office. Michael Fleming, associate professor of family studies, has a vine growing on his ceiling in his office in Latham Hall. A few years ago, while Fleming was attempting to
transplant the vine, the contents of the pot spilled everywhere. “I had dirt all over everything,” Fleming recalled. “It’s like it was fighting me. I just put it back there and added more dirt.” See OFFICES, page 5