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dailynebraskan.com
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 volume 113, issue 139
Inside Coverage
Rapper gets ‘Honest’
Winning big
Junior rakes in Future’s latest thousands at offering shows poker tournament more range
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Nebraska employee had bright, ‘can-do attitude’ staff report DN At the University of Nebraska Foundation, Bettina Burklund was a positive force of energy. Burklund’s coworkers remember her as a professional who always had a positive attitude. She worked at the foundation for about seven years as a projects manager and helped remodel the foundation’s website. Lincoln police found the 41-yearold dead in her south Lincoln home Monday. Her husband was arrested Monday on suspicion of second-degree murder. Dorothy Endacott, who works in marketing and communications at the NU Foundation, said Burklund’s death is a great loss to the University of Nebraska community. “It didn’t matter what she had to do, she always had a positive attitude for all of the projects that she worked on,” Endacott said. Bettina managed multiple projects at a time and was a crucial leader, Endacott said. “She was a very hard worker,” she said. “She was always the one to come in early and stay late.” Her leadership skills helped advance the NU Foundation. “She had a can-do attitude and a mind for details,” she said. In her free time, Burklund enjoyed working with flowers and was an amateur floral arranger, according to a 2009 post on floral design blog uBloom. In addition to her work ethic, she had a giving spirit. “She was always positive and optimistic,” Endacott said. “She was a beloved co-worker.” Burklund was a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University and Lincoln High School. news@ dailynebraskan.com
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Senior adopts silent psyche
meet &eat
Most track and field athletes have pre-race rituals. Nebraska senior Shawnice Williams’ is to call her dad before every race to remind herself not to overthink. file photo by andrew barry
Stars of ‘Neighbors’ visit Nebraska Union for Runza-eating contest
Andrew Barry | DN
A crowd of people gather in the Nebraska Union for a Runza-eating contest with celebrity guest judges from the upcoming film “Neighbors.” There was a free advanced screening of the movie at The Ross.
TYLER MEYER | DN
University of Nebraska-Lincoln students at a Tuesday forum got to hear about sustainability from people who can directly bring about change. The forum, called “Policy for the Plains: A Discussion about Sustainability with Nebraska Government Officials,” included Sens. Ken Haar and Rick Kolowski of the Nebraska Legislature; Tim McCoy, Nebraska Game and Parks deputy director; Graham Christensen, campaign manager for U.S. Senate candidate Dave Domina; and Milo Mumgaard, senior policy aide for sustainability at the Lincoln Mayor’s office. The event, sponsored by the Environmental Leadership Program as the final Earthstock event, attracted more than 70 people to listen to panel members discuss issues such as climate change, waste concerns and the role of government and students in sustainability. The first question asked by moderator Sara Cooper, academic adviser and instructor in the School of Natural Resources at UNL, was: when did you first encounter sustainability? “Many people don’t understand the concept, and I think it’s human beings who tend to look at what’s happening tomorrow instead of 30 years or 50 years from now,” Haar said. “I’m in this because of you, because I
Amber Baesler | DN
Actors Christopher Mintz-Plasse (left) – best known for his role as McLovin in “Superbad” – and Jerrod CarContestants of Tuesday’s Runza-eating contest take a michael hype up the sizable crowd gathered in the Nebraska Union Crib to watch and judge a Runza-eating selfie with the celebrity judges Franco, Mintz-Plasse contest. Mintz-Plasse, Carmichael and actor Dave Franco, brother of James Franco, came to Lincoln to attend and Carmichael from “Neighbors.” an advanced screening of “Neighbors” at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center on campus.
Full story on page 5
Earth Day forum covers Nebraska sustainability Diego de los Reyes DN
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want people of your age to have the same kind of opportunities, the same kind of planet, the same kind of wildlife that I enjoy.” McCoy agreed with Haar and said the most difficult aspect of sustainability discussion is that it deals with one issue at a time despite the interconnective nature of environmental issues. “Climate change is sort of bringing a lot of that together,” McCoy said. “I think it’s going to force us to think more that way and to look at how we manage, how we adapt, how we mitigate, because it’s a bigger issue that any of us can take on their own.” Christensen said he finds renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power fascinating and that projects such as Burt County Wind – a collaborative wind farm project that he presides over – are part of the answer. “Our state is a leader in all this potential, and we have the ability to actually make money by implementing this on top of it and have a great economy with loads of jobs,” he said. Answering a question about the government’s role in sustainability, Haar brought up the difference between Texas and Nebraska water management. In Texas, landowners also own the water under their land, while the Nebraska waters belong to the state. That difference has caused a
Amber Baesler | DN
Freshman journalism major Katelyn Rowan (left) and her roommate Maddi Klasi, a freshman political science major, pick out a planter at the Earthstock block party in front of the Nebraska Union Tuesday. Rowan and Klasi are new to gardening and are growing a jalapeno plant in their room. scarcity of water in Texas. “Looking at our water as a state resource that affects us all makes all the difference between sustainability (in Nebraska), having enough water for the future and in Texas where they’re running out of water,” he said. Christensen said citizens should have a say in the government’s role.
“Each and every one of us makes up the democracy,” he said. “So we make up the future of what the role will be, and there has never been a more important time than right now to be getting involved and becoming more educated and doing your little part.” Mumgaard said local govern-
ment has a key role in sustainability, involving everything from road infrastructure to water and waste management. “That’s the expectation people have about the government, is to set those rules,” he said. “And the way in which we do things, that’s when you look at sustainability from the perspective of, ‘What kind of rules can we achieve?’” On the note of water scarcity as an issue, McCoy said the state park system has reduced water usage. The agriculture industry is a large water user in Nebraska, McCoy said. “As a people, we use a lot of water making our grass look pretty,” he said, adding that when there’s a problem such as scarcity, people tend to hope someone else will fix it. In response to the statistic that the recycling rate in Lincoln is 18 percent, which is half the national average, the panelists suggested a variety of solutions: encouraging citizens to use the city’s recycling services at a higher rate, looking for ways to set up zerowaste systems and exploring urban agriculture. Mumgaard said he’s had a positive experience working with students on sustainability issues and cited the Pinnacle Bank Arena as one example of where the city is looking to have zero waste. He also men-
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earth day: see page 3
Court date set for NU murder case suspect staff report dn The husband of a University of Nebraska Foundation employee will appear in court Wednesday on charges that he murdered her. Lincoln police believe an Easter Sunday argument may have led to homicide. Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong said police were called to the home of Bettina and Kent Burklund on the 8100 block of Meredeth Street on Monday after 12 p.m. because of phone calls from co-workers and family members asking them to check on Bettina.
homicide: see page 3