DAILY LOBO new mexico
A losing battle
monday
March 22, 2010
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
GPSA seats open to graduate students
March Sadness
by Jenny Gignac Daily Lobo
Joey Trisolini / Daily Lobo Dairese Gary leaves the floor at the HP Pavilion following the Lobos’ loss to the Washington Huskies in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday. Gary will return to the Lobo lineup next year as a senior.
The Graduate and Professional Student elections for president and council chair are open to graduate students. A candidate to fill GPSA President Lissa Knudsen’s shoes is yet to be decided, as no applicants applied for the position. Danny Hernandez, GPSA Council Chair, is running for re-election and is unopposed. “The deadline for candidates to file will be this coming Wednesday,” Hernandez said. The term for both elected offices is one academic school year. This year will be a challenge for any elected position — especially with tuition increases, Hernandez said. Any graduate student is eligible to run for either council chair or president. Hernandez said that Knudsen will run for re-election, but
see GPSA page 5
Clean energy Q&A with senate staff Missing UNM student turns up near Socorro by Hunter Riley Daily Lobo
Bard College is helping college students and their state senators talk directly about issues concerning climate change and clean energy. Eban Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, organized the nationwide 2010 Campus to Congress: Let’s Talk. The UNM Sustainability Program hosted a conference call Friday with Jonathan Black from Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s staff, and Andrew Wallace of Sen. Tom Udall’s office to answer questions submitted by UNM students.
Udall
Bingaman
Both Democratic senators are up for re-election in November. Daily Lobo: What is Senator Bingaman’s biggest hesitation to implementing alternative energy in New Mexico? What is one of his biggest concerns?
Jonathan Black: There are obviously technical concerns about making sure there are transmissions lines and ways to get that electricity to areas that are using it. I think we’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to find ways in which to deploy these technologies and create incentives for energy efficiency and for renewable (efficiency) and to get access to them. DL: As a state that boasts more than 300 days of sunshine, why has New Mexico not invested more in solar energy? Could there be subsidies available to promote the switch
see Democratic page 5
Mayor amps up bike safety campaign by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
Mayor Richard Berry recently got on board with a new bike safety campaign that aims to help drivers see the road from a bicyclist’s point of view. The campaign, called “Easy to Miss,” includes a Web site, a billboard and displays at malls and the airport — all to raise drivers’ awareness of bikers. The site includes the top ten things that drivers should know about bicyclists. According to the site, over 100 people are killed each year in Albuquerque from accidents. Chris Ramirez, City of Albuquerque communications director, said he hopes the campaign will decrease bike accidents and increase motorists’ awareness of bikers. “We know that bicyclists can be easy to miss, as we’ve seen from tragic results when motorists miss a bicyclist on
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 118
the street,” he said. The campaign began after Heather Reu – avid cyclist and mother – died after being hit by a car last June, said Bart Cleveland, creative director of McKee Wallwork Cleveland, a local marketing company. A friend of Reu, who works at the company, first came up with the idea for the campaign, Cleveland said. “It was just a very sad story,” he said. “She was a mother of four young children, very involved with her community and church. It was a tragedy.” Cleveland said that his company has recently partnered with the mayor to decrease future tragic bike accidents. The billboard can be seen by drivers going south on I-25 by the west I-40 exit. Cleveland said the billboard has a picture of a biker on it and is designed to show how easily
see Bicyclist page 5
by Tricia Remark Daily Lobo
A missing UNM student is now safe and sound after taking a road trip across five different states. Student Sheena Jain drove through New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas by herself, said Hector Terrazas, UNM Police Department officer. Jain went missing on March 6 and was last seen at her family’s home in Las Cruces, said Dan Trujillo, Las Cruces Police Department spokesman. Jain’s mother reported her as missing to Las Cruces Police that day, he said. Jain was found on March 15 near Socorro by New Mexico State Police, he said. She did not have contact with her family during the time she was gone, he said. “Her family hadn’t heard from her,” Trujillo said. “We had reason to believe she may have left the state voluntarily.” Terrazas said Jain left the state due to frustration with her family. She will voluntarily seek counseling services, he said. Terrazas said UNMPD aided in the search for Jain by locating her current residence near campus. He said that contrary to what other media outlets are reporting, her apartment was not searched
Party lines converge
This day in history
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by UNMPD officers. He said that after failing to locate Jain’s car in the apartment complex parking lot, officers asked the landlord to open Jain’s apartment and make sure that nothing looked out of the ordinary, while UNMPD officers stood outside. “We told the landlord that if she saw anything to leave the apartment and lock it up for investigation by (Albuquerque Police Department),” he said. Jain’s credit card statements were inspected after nothing was found in the apartment, Terrazas said. Jain used the card in the five states she traveled to mostly for food and gas, he said. But he said that before Jain returned to New Mexico UNMPD did not know who was using her credit card. Trujillo said that after the state trooper located Jain, she was removed from the missing persons’ list. “She is an adult,” Trujillo said. “She didn’t do anything illegal so there was no reason for her to be taken into custody.” Terrazas said UNM, Las Cruces, State, and Albuquerque Police departments combined efforts to locate Jain. “We were very worried,” he said. “But we were all working together to find her.”
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