Board of Supervisors: Group votes today on UNO’s NCAA division switch, p. 3
Football: Coaching vacancy, QBs highlight Miles’ first spring press conference, p. 5
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Baseball: Tigers take on Princeton tonight, p. 6 Friday, March 4, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 102
CRIME
Students charged with laptop thefts Xerxes A. Wilson Staff Writer
accredited programs in Louisiana. But medical emergency training is just one aspect of FETI. “We are a focal point for all fire training in the state,” said FETI Director Jeffrey Gleason. “It’s our mission to train and educate fire and emergency services personnel.”
It’s not often crime comes to the police station. But it happened twice earlier this week, leading to two arrests tied to laptop thefts on campus. A University student was at the LSU Police Department Office on Tuesday reporting the theft of her $2,000 laptop from Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex when she received an unexpected call, said Det. Kevin Scott, LSUPD spokesman. On the other line was Dustin Williams, a 19-year-old student at Southeastern Louisiana University. Williams, of 19262 Antenor St., Mandeville, 70471, told the victim he had bought the laptop on Craigslist and needed her password, Scott said. The student informed Williams the laptop was stolen, but Williams refused to cooperate and instead said she would have to buy the laptop back, Scott said. At this point, an LSUPD detective posed as the student’s boyfriend
FETI, see page 4
THEFT, see page 4
MORGAN SEARLES / The Daily Reveille
Firefighters-in-training work to control flames Thursday at the Fire and Emergency Training Institute. See more pictures of FETI’s training session at lsureveille.com.
Ways of the Blaze
LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute gains national accreditation
Sydni Dunn Staff Writer
A thick, billowing cloud of black smoke climbed to the sky Thursday as a group of firefightersin-training worked to control a towering inferno. The scene may sound like a blockbuster action movie, but for the
LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute, it’s just an average day. FETI, located off Nicholson Drive about 6 miles from campus, is a leader in the state for its fire and rescue training courses and has recently become accredited for its Emergency Medical Services Program. The national accreditation was awarded by the Commission on
Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs on Jan. 14. “The accreditation means the program follows national standards and guidelines for similar educational programs,” said FETI EMS Manager Eddie Pyle. Pyle said he worked diligently for three years to gain the accreditation, which makes FETI one of four
POLITICS
Experts: Redistricting process ripe with potential abuse Louisiana will redraw districts later this month Matthew Albright Chief Staff Writer
Before legislators begin the battle to fill the state’s $1.6 billion budget deficit, they will convene a special session to redraw district lines — a process that is fraught with potential abuse, many experts say. “Instead of voters choosing their elected officials, it’s the elected officials choosing their voters,” said Bob Mann, political communication professor. “It’s an obvious conflict of interest.” Every 10 years, the U.S. Census reveals population shifts between and inside
states. Because seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the state Legislature are determined by population, those shifts mean some states and districts will lose representation. The Legislature will redistrict the state’s congressional delegation, which is losing one House seat, its own districts and numerous boards and judgeships. Redistricting is the process of redrawing the boundaries for those districts. While those boundaries are nominally changed to reflect population shifts, they are sometimes changed to benefit legislators — a political tactic called gerrymandering. Louisiana has a history of gerrymandering, according to Public Affairs Research Council reports. The process takes three basic forms: racial gerrymandering, in which district lines split minority-heavy areas,
disenfranchising members of that race; partisan gerrymandering, in which district lines split areas with heavy party affiliations, disenfranchising members of that party; and incumbent gerrymandering, in which current legislators draw districts to solidify political power or lock out challengers. Partisan and incumbent gerrymandering aren’t technically illegal, but racial gerrymandering was banned by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Any redistricting plans a state submits must first go to the Department of Justice, which checks the maps to make sure they meet the act’s requirements. Sixty-eight percent of redistricting plans proposed by state legislatures fail DOJ scrutiny, according to PARC. Two of Louisiana’s proposed REDISTRICTING, see page 4
graphic by CAITLYN CONDON / The Daily Reveille