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April 16, 2012 Issue 104, Volume 77
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Tribune talks energy
Editor-in-chief calls Houston community to discuss, think about environment Tristan Tippet
THE DAILY COUGAR
Evan Smith is the CEO and editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune. Prior to August 2009, Smith was president and editor-in-chief of Texas Monthly | Hendrick Rosemond/The Daily Cougar
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Carnival to celebrate Earth Day with weather balloon UH will host a carnival to celebrate Earth Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in Butler Plaza. The event will feature a boat race pool, cake, tea samples from Honest Tea, talks by Houston Officials and a weather balloon launch by students from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science. Several campus organizations will also be showcasing their sustainability practices, and the Division of Administration and Finance will hold a fundraiser for March for Babies from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. “The purpose of this event is to celebrate our accomplishments and recognize all the organizations who have had a major impact in making our campus more sustainable,” said Auxiliary Services Marketing Coordinator Billy Garner in a news release. “Our goal is to make this year’s Earth Day Carnival fun and exciting as well as educational for all of the students.” — Cougar News Staff
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The Texas Tribune, in conjunction with the University of Houston, presented a one-day symposium discussing energy and the environment Friday in UH’s Wortham Theatre. Many viewpoints on the issue were considered in hourly discussion panels and even included a complimentary lunch where UH faculty and members led roundtable discussions on energy topics. Evan Smith, the CEO and editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune, said it was fitting that UH host a symposium consisting of energy discussions. “The University is obviously important in the constellation of
high-right institutions so it’s no surprise that we’ve come here as opposed to somewhere else ... There’s a big energy presence on the campus and so I think there was a lot that made sense in it.” Smith said. “But President (Renu) Khator actually came to an event that we did back in September in Austin and said, ‘This is the kind of conversation that should take place on our campus. We think that our students and our community members would love it, and so if you’re going to do something like this you have to at least think about doing it here.’” Smith and Khator spoke about the state of the University and its being one of the strongest advocates of protecting the environment. “I think we’ve engaged a whole lot of people who otherwise
wouldn’t be thinking about these issues,” Smith said. “The fact is everybody in the community here, everybody outside of the community all over Texas needs to be thinking about the economic and environmental impacts of the use of natural gas.” Smith said the goal was to fulfill the need for discussing energy topics within the greater community. “We need to be thinking about what the policies of the state should be with regard to energy and I think that having this conversation gives people an opportunity to think about those things,” Smith said. The Texas Tribune is an nonprofit, online publication that focuses primarily on Texas government and policy. news@thedailycougar.com
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Bethany Redd
Symposium seeks to teach budget-keeping
University students learn about finances
Center to research Mexican and US law THE DAILY COUGAR UH has established the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law as the nation’s first independent research center dedicated to the study of Mexican law and U.S. Mexico legal relations. “The goal of the center is to improve our understanding in the United States of Mexican law and legal institutions. People who are not acquainted with law might think of law as just a bunch of rules, but those rules are attached to the culture of a society,” said Stephen Zamora, a UH law professor. “You can’t understand how the laws of a country work without understanding the culture. For the United States, Mexico is an important ally. We don’t have as thorough of an understanding of Mexico’s legal culture as we should.” Zamora will serve as the
Miriam Villalta
THE DAILY COUGAR
do is help us better understand our neighbor, in order to make suggestions and consider possible ways to improve the legal relations between our nations.” Mexico has become an even more important economic partner of the U.S. due to the formation of NAFTA in 1994. Houston boasts strong Mexican investment on a corporate and individual level coupled with proximity, making it a perfect location for the new center. “UH has a reputation as a law school that has excellent ties with
Bauer College held a financial symposium aimed at financial literacy — targeting money management, credit reports, paying for college financial aspects in career choices and embedding financial education in classrooms K-12. It was held Saturday in conjunction with Houston Money Week. “If you have better control over your life, if you can plan, if you can budget, if you weigh your options, that’s the single most important factor that reduces the amount of stress,” said Bauer Dean Latha Ramchard. Statistics show that 23 percent of young students acknowledge spending more money than is available to them, said Donald
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The University of Houston Law Center was established in 1947. It now hosts the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law. | Emily Chambers/The Daily Cougar center’s director and attorney Ignacio Pinto-León will serve as assistant director. Pinto-Leon is uniquely qualified for the position because he is licensed to practice law in both the U.S. and Mexico, Zamora said. The center was created to institutionalize some current projects and create a place within the Law Center for permanent study of Mexican law. “In addition to elements of economic integration, there are social elements and interconnections between citizens of Mexico and the U.S,” Zamora said. “Part of what the center must