Utah Statesman The
Utah State University • Logan, Utah
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Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014
World
In brief Cease-fire between Isreal and Hammas An open-ended cease fire has been agreed to by Israel and Gaza on Tuesday. The deal was mediated by Egypt and brings an end to the nearly two month flare of violence. 2,104 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, while another 11,000 were injured. The United Nations said that 17,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged and there are 475,000 people displaced within the region. 64 Israeli soldiers and seven civilians were killed on the Israeli side. Both Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, and Israel claim victory from the cease-fire.
Update on Ukraine Pro-Russian rebels advanced to the Ukrainian port of Novoazovsk on Wednesday, however Ukrainian forces still say that they maintain total control of the area. Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said that he received intelligence that units of the Russian army were operating inside the Ukraine. Russia denied that it was supporting the rebels on the ground. The UN reported that since midApril at least 2,119 people have been killed in Ukraine and another 5,043 have been injured. Ukranian authorities in Kiev claimed that Russia was bringing troops in to the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed earlier this year.
Nigerian school closings In an attempt to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus Nigeria has closed all of it’s schools until Oct. 13. Schools were supposed to begin on monday. Five people have died in Nigeria from Ebola while 1,400 have died in West Africa. The current outbreak is the largest ever as it has affected 2,615 people in West Africa alone.
On Wednesday Time Warner Cable experienced an internet blackout that reached 11.4 million residential customers. The amount of people affected totaled 80 percent of the companies residential subscribers. The issue happened during a routine morning network maintenance procedure. TWC said that the issue was “mostly fixed.” TWC is in the process of merging with Comcast in a deal worth $45 billion.
4Compiled
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The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find in error, please contact the editor at 797-1742, statesman@aggiemail.usu.edu or come in to TSC 311.
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Court’s decision looming 4By Jeffrey Dahdah news editor
On October sixth the United States Supreme Court will vote on whether or not they hear, Herbert vs Kitchen, a same-sex marriage suit from Utah. In November of 2004 citizens in Utah voted in Constitutional Amendment 3, which defines marriage as a union between strictly a man and a woman, into the state constitution. Almost 10 years later on March 25, 2013 six plaintiffs –Derek Kitchen, Moudi Sbeity, Laurie Wood, Kody Partridge, Karen Archer and Kate Call– sued the state for not allowing them to marry their respective partners. “I think there are many people that would have stepped up if they could have, but they didn’t have that luxury,” Partridge said. “We felt very fortunate that we could join the suit on amendment three and we are pleased with where we are today.” On Dec. 20 judge Robert Shelby ruled amendment three was in violation of the United State’s guarantee of equal protection in the US District Court for Utah. For 17 days, until Gov. Gary Herbert and the state appealed the decision, same-sex marriage was legal in Utah. “We had several students that were able to get married during the time that it was legal in Utah,” said Brooke Lambert, Utah State’s programing coordinator for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied, or LGBTQA, students. “It’s been awesome other than them trying to figure out things like taxes and other things because initially Utah was trying to say that they still weren’t married and there were a lot of issues there.” The case then went to the 10th District Court of Appeals in Denver, where the decision
Jeffrey Dahdah photo MOUDI SBEITY AND DEREK KITCHEN are two of the plantiffs in Utah’s samesex marriage case. The two got married in Dec. of 2013.
was upheld on June 25. “I am disappointed with the decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in regards to same-sex marriage,” Herbert said. “I believe states have the right to determine their
laws regarding marriage. I am grateful the Court issued a stay to allow time to analyze the decision and our options. But as I have always said, all Utahns deserve clarity and finality regarding same-sex marriage
and that will only come from the Supreme Court.” The Supreme Court will now get to choose between three different same-sex marriage suits, including Herbert vs. Kitchen, to hear when they
resume. “We just hope that the Supreme Court will take the case that it sees fit,” Sbeity said. “We don’t know if it’s going to be our case or not, but we trust that they will choose the best case.” It was a sentiment Wood echoed. “We really want the Supreme Court to do something and take a case and we really want it to be the best case,” she said. “I have no imagination to think about what that even would be like.” However, the plaintiffs are not bitter towards the state for fighting the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. “I think that it’s easy to assume that we might be resentful of the state for arguing and appealing the decision to the supreme court, we actually have a different perspective,” Kitchen said. “For us we are somewhat grateful that they are willing to push the conversation forward.” The plaintiffs are just happy they can be married in their home state. “We love Utah, it’s ourhome, we didn’t want to be married anywhere else,” Wood said. “We’re so happy that we were married in our state andour state is at some point going to recognize marriage.” The main argument against same-sex marriage is the argument for individual state’s rights. In 2004 all but two counties, Summit and Grand, voted for amendment three, including 75 percent of Cache County. “I think it’s ironic honestly, just because of the conservativeness of the state,” Lambert said. “Obviously we’re a very Republican state and I believe I read a study the other day that said 60 percent of Republicans still don’t support marriage equality.”
jSee MARRIAGE, Page 9
CAPS operating in the red 4By Manda Perkins assistant news editor
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For the first time since opening its doors, Counseling and Psychological Services is experiencing financial difficulty. “The cost to maintain the office has become increasingly overbearing,” said CAPS Director David Bush. “Several factors come into play; providing insurance benefits to all employees as mandated by the Affordable Care Act, the cost of accreditation and a change in phone service are several of the reasons the office has found it increasingly hard to balance the books.” According to the office’s financial summary, CAPS operated with a $769,073.05 budget last fiscal year, which was used to pay the salaries of eight licensed psychologists and support staff, fund scholarships for graduate students and provide free services and several other functions. “That’s just inadequate funding for the number of
people who work here to try to do all the programs we do for students,” Bush said. Bush said CAPS is usually able to break even, but the financial stress of hosting two accreditation professionals last year was enough to put them in the red. Bush said without the additional help of tier two funding, he will have to consider losing a graduate student position. “Not only is the job really relevant to their career, it allows them to serve other students,” he said. “Our graduate students are with us 20 hours a week so if we lost one of them, it would be a real blow to our program.” But he won’t be letting go of the doctoral associateship position without a fight; it’s too valuable to the CAPS office and to the students of the university. “That’s one of my goals this year as director, is to have a way to pay for the additional cost of insurance and not lose our training slots because we love having students here and we want to take advantage of these training opportunities,” he
said. Bush doesn’t blame the university for the financial struggle; other offices on campus are also experiencing the stress of funds stretched too thin. He said James Morales, vice president of Student Services, has been very supportive in helping produce more funding. “There’s no question that the services, programs and support CAPS provides for students are critically important, so we do make every effort to ensure it is funded as best as we can,” Morales said. “We’re looking at multiple ways to do that.” “We need to sit down with our financial liaison and come up with a more realistic budget,” Bush said. “It’s just a matter of trying to find a funding source.” A possible source could be through RegionalCampuses and Distance Education. Bush said a plan is in the works to make CAPS services more acces
jSee CAPS, Page 2
Meghann Nixon photo CAPS SERVICES STILL VALUED by students as it has a high approval rate.