Huskers topple Illinois, 80-57 DANCE ‘TIL YOU DROP Men use monster 43-7 run to end four-game losing streak Saturday at the Devaney Center page 10
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Annual Dance Marathon raises more than $48,000 for Children’s Hopsital PAGE 5
monday, february 20, 2012
volume 111, issue 105
DAILY NEBRASKAN dailynebraskan.com
McGill seeks to alter human trafficking laws jacy marmaduke daily nebraskan
Sen. Amanda McGill used to think prostitutes sold their bodies because they wanted to. She changed her mind at a hearing last March that exposed many Omaha massage parlors as cover-ups for prostitution rings and shone light on the issue of human sex trafficking, or
the forceful exploitation of women. “I guess I was a little naive,” McGill said. Nearly a year later, the issue appears to be picking up steam as McGill pushes landmark legislation that would alter laws related to human trafficking penalties and provisions (LB1145) and grant $20,000 in funding to the Nebraska Prostitution Intervention and
Treatment Act (LB1146). The Judiciary Committee held a hearing for LB1145 Thursday afternoon, and the bill was unopposed in testimony. “Now, we have total support from everybody,” said Sriyani Tidball, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertising lecturer who founded Nebraska University Students Against Modern-Day Slavery and Slave Free
Nebraska. “They’re finally accepting that the girl next door is not safe. This is not some refugee that crossed the border. This is a marketplace for young girls.” McGill was out of town for Thursday’s hearing, so her legislative aide Amy Williams introduced the bill. LB1145 addresses six elements of human trafficking, including sensitivity training for law enforcement
officers, the public posting of the human trafficking hotline in areas like truck stops and the development of a process to remove prostitution charges from criminal records. “I’m trying to go at the problem holistically and would love in the future to see a more particular (system) … of getting charges wiped from your record — so that a woman can choose
to go through rehabilitation and get her life back on track,” McGill said. Nebraska’s human trafficking legislation came under fire last year, when Shared Hope International gave the state a failing grade for the quality of its sex trafficking laws.
bill: see page 3
lauren vuchetich | daily nebraskan
(Left to right) Terrance Lewis, Megan Betchtolt, Jayleesha Cooper, Corren Chastain and Andra Williams compete in the “Mixed Ball Challenge” at the robotics expo at the Strategic Air and Space Museum on Saturday. Participants in this event challenged other teams for the most points by getting the highest number of balls through the obstacle course and into goal points with remote-controlled robots.
i, robot
Robotics showcase provides learning experiences for students of all ages story by jacy marmaduke photos by nickolai hammar
T
he anticipation was palpable. “Forward!” “Go backward, go backward! No!” Three teammates urged on the boy holding the controller. The goal of the CEENBoT™ Robotics Showcase Ball Course was to use the robot to push six balls into different-sized holes on a silver platform in five minutes. But with 10 seconds to go, the robot was stuck on a partition. “Three … two … one … zero.” Their faces fell. On to the next team. Winners and losers abounded at Saturday’s Nebraska Robotics Expo at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland. But Gov. Dave Heineman, who opened the day’s events, said the expo wasn’t just about blue ribbons, bragging rights and the ultimate
croghan page 4
prize — a trip to St. Louis for a world robotics festival. Rather, Heineman said, the event aimed to teach science, technology, engineering and math skills to young students. “The challenge we face today is to prepare these children for jobs that can’t yet exist and equip our children to deal with problems that we aren’t even aware of yet,” Heineman said. About 800 elementary, middle and high school students from across the state participated in the expo’s three divisions, two of which involved Lego robots and one that employed the CEENBoT™, a robotics platform designed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Computer Electronics Engineering. Robot obstacle courses, food-safety-centered and timed challenges and makeshift robot foosball
Hudson McCoy (right) reacts and Jameson Kordik looks on as Ella Hennigsen (left) controls a remote-operated robot through an obstacle course. About 800 elementary, middle and high school students participated in the day-long event.
fields filled a colossal airplane hangar. The students had worked as teams for weeks and even months to configure programming systems to make the robots turn figure eights, squares and circles, build plows and extensions for the robots and master the controls to prepare for each potential challenge. Their parents and teachers said they like
artist page 5
the projects because they promote values of teamwork, dedication and responsibility. The children like working with the robots for other reasons. “It’s just like our video games,” said Michael Prucha, of the Oakdale Elementary School “Schmitz”
robotics: see page 2
Unpaid intern numbers on the rise in US julia peterson daily nebraskan
Internships form the middle ground between college life and the professional world. But in a struggling American economy, these positions have taken a new form — the unpaid kind. Students are working for the right to place names on their resumes, not for money. This breed of internship stirs up mixed feelings for students and faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “It almost doesn’t matter whether it’s the good thing or the bad thing, or the right thing or the wrong thing,” said Joe Starita, associate professor of journalism in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “… It’s the reality of the market.” It’s a reality that has developed more during the past three years, Starita said. The power has changed hands, from the students to the employers. It once was that a student could refuse an unpaid internship and find a similar opportunity elsewhere that offered wages, Starita said. But because of the state of the economy, employers cannot afford to pay interns the way they used to. So more students are having to choose between unpaid positions or no experience at all. Devoting time and effort without pay can wear on a worker. Senior family science major Libby Moderow discovered this during the summer of 2011 while interning in Kansas City. Two or three days per week, she worked
wrestling page 10
internships: see page 2
Weather | rainy
Shedding ‘squeaky clean’
Country side of life
Reaching a milestone
child celebrities need chance to grow, make mistakes
artist incorporates nature into work, lifestyle
Heavyweight lane grabs career-win 100; Huskers top UNI
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for The Family Conservancy, which hires individuals to work in the community as counselors. Moderow was able to bunk with family who lived in Overland Park, Kan., just west of Kansas City. In exchange for rent, she would watch her cousins during her days off, and any extra spending money was money she had saved up during the school year. She juggled a three-credit-hour course as well for the internship. “There were definitely times I was super overwhelmed,” Moderow said. But she said she still counts this experience as a positive one. “I’m better prepared for my future because of it,” she said. For others, money was less of a concern. For recent broadcasting graduate Wade Hilligoss, the experience was more valuable than wages. He held five unpaid internships while studying at UNL. During his first few positions, Hilligoss held an extra job at the Olive Garden. When he stopped working there, he used scholarship money to secure his finances. “I basically broke even after everything,” Hilligoss said. But while working in Round Rock, Texas, as an unpaid intern during the summer of 2011, Hilligoss faced obstacles. He admitted there were times he wanted to stay home, just so he didn’t have to pay for gas.
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