Daily Egyptian TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
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Budget stalemate brings accreditation concerns for Illinois state schools ANNA SPOERRE | @AnnaSpoerre
State leaders were asked last week to consider how Illinois’ longest budget impasse is affecting the future of its public higher education system. Barbara Gellman–Danley, president of the Higher Learning Commission — an accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education — sent letters Thursday to state government heads and Illinois public college and university officials concerning the state of public education in light of the budget stalemate between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s Democratic leaders. The letter to government officials warns of the potential loss of accreditation that can result from a continued failure to pass a state budget. “A criterion for accreditation is demonstration of the ability of financial, physical and human resources necessary to provide quality higher education,” the letter read. University spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith said accreditation is crucial because students at unaccredited institutions are ineligible for federal financial aid. “Is it financially problematic? Absolutely,” Goldsmith said of the budget impasse. “But we’re committed to being here.” She said SIU, which has been accredited since 1913, is not currently at risk of losing
File Photo | Daily Egyptian Pullium Hall
accreditation or closing, like some state institutions, such as Chicago State University. The notice also addresses the possibility of some students transferring or dropping out if their university closes. Goldsmith said the university is not one of
the state institutions required to submit closing procedures. “The university is going to continue its operations,” said John Charles, SIU’s executive director for governmental and public affairs. “But we are obviously affected by the fact that we have not received our state appropriations. We need our budget.” Gellman–Danley’s letter addressed to SIUC interim Chancellor Brad Colwell explicitly states the university is not at fault for the budget crisis, and educational institutions have done all they can to avoid the situation. As a result, university officials have been asked to provide a report to the Higher Learning Commission by Feb. 18 regarding the availability of resources necessary to maintain and support their institutions. SIU officials must outline some information, including financial challenges, cuts to faculty or staff and enrollment numbers. The letter also requires any institution under the threat of closure to submit emergency plans on how its administration will accommodate students in the event that the institution closes. In September, Goldsmith said SIU planned to cut $13.5 million, a total of 6.4 percent, in state funding from the university’s budget. Charles said more than 6,500 students rely on Monetary Award Program funding, which the university has been providing funding for in place of the state since fall. SIU President Randy Dunn, along with other higher education officials, will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Stone Center to discuss the financial crisis. “This is going to be an effort by folks to come together to remind our lawmakers, our legislatures and governor that we need a budget,” Charles said. “We’re waiting for the governor’s budget address on [Feb. 17], and we’re hopeful he has good things to say about higher education.” Anna Spoerre can be reached at aspoerre@dailyegyptian.com or 618536-3325.
SINCE 1916
VOL. 100 ISSUE 45
A procession of nations’ colors
Jacob Wiegand | @JacobWiegand_DE Hussain Soltani, a master’s student in civil engineering from Afghanistan, carries his nation’s flag during the Parade of Flags event that kicked off this year’s International Festival. Soltani is a Fulbright Scholar and arrived in Carbondale last August. He said had some problems in the beginning, but now he is happy to be in Carbondale. “I have found a lot of new friends,” Soltani said. He said this is his first time taking part in the Parade of Flags event and he really enjoys engaging with the international students. International Festival continues with a variety of events scheduled throughout the week.
Left: Hamood AlShoaibi, a Ph.D. candidate in education administration and higher education with a dissertation in economics of education from Muscat, Oman, carries the flag of Oman across campus Monday during the Parade of Flags event that kicked off this year’s International Festival. “It’s very nice to see all of those international students carrying out their flags celebrating the International Festival,” AlShoaibi said. “I’m proud to participate for the first time in this event.” Jacob Wiegand @JacobWiegand_DE
Obama confronts a failure of his presidency in Illinois capital MIKE DORNING AND ELIZABETH CAMPBELL | Bloomberg News
Presidents in the final year of their terms love to highlight their legacies. When Barack Obama journeys to the Illinois state capital this week, he’ll instead point up one of his presidency’s greatest failures. National political divisions and partisan rancor have grown worse, not better, under Obama, a development he has acknowledged as one of the biggest regrets of his administration. And Springfield has become a funhouse mirror of Washington’s dysfunction: a Republican governor locked in a standoff with a Democratic
legislature, producing a financial crisis that has left the state without a budget for 222 days and forced cuts in services to the disabled, homeless and the elderly. Obama on Wednesday will address the stalemated Illinois legislature nine years to the day after he announced his presidential campaign a few blocks away. At the time, he held up the state’s government as proof that Washington politicians could overcome partisan differences to solve problems. As the Obama era nears its end, the two capitals are more alike, though not as candidate Obama would have hoped.
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“I know he’s been frustrated by the gridlock in Washington and he’s talked about the importance of bipartisan compromise,” Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner told reporters last week. “We need that here.” Since Obama was elected, Republicans and Democrats in Washington have clashed so fiercely that the government partially shut down for 16 days in 2013. Congress has flirted with a default on the nation’s debt three times in Obama’s presidency. Divisive rhetoric is driving the campaign to succeed him.
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
Missouri, Illinois March primaries could be crucial CHUCK RAASCH | ST. LOUIS POSTDISPATCH
March is the decisive month in the 2016 presidential primaries, and Missouri and Illinois are smack in the middle of it. With New Hampshire's Tuesday primary looming and South Carolina and Nevada showdowns coming later this month, February is mainly about sorting presidential contenders from pretenders, and building and losing momentum. The bulk of delegates necessary to win the Democrats and Republicans will be chosen next month, beginning March 1 with an 11-state "Super Tuesday" concentrated mostly in the South. Then on March 15, Illinois and Missouri join plum general election swing states North Carolina, Florida and Ohio. That day will feature the first winner-take-all state primaries. Half the delegates in both parties will have been chosen by March 15. On the Republican side, for instance, Ohio and Florida have a combined 165 delegates, about 13
percent of the 1,237 necessary to win the nomination. Missouri's and Illinois’ 52 and 69 Republican delegates, respectively, will be apportioned on a hybrid basis by congressional district, although if a single candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in either state, that candidate takes all the delegates. The large Republican field has divided up the endorsements in Missouri. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Cape Girardeau, endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Missouri House Speaker Todd Richardson is among multiple state legislators who are also behind the Florida senator. Among Democrats, more than 60 leading Missouri Democrats, led by Gov. Jay Nixon, endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sen. Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign is sending two organizers to Missouri this weekend, and his campaign strategists hope to tap as grass-roots activists about 1,000 Missourians who, the campaign says, are using
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a cellphone app developed by the Sanders volunteers. Called "Field the Bern," the phone app has allowed those Missourians to contact and build data profiles of people in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primary states on Sanders' behalf. Mo Elleithee, a top spokesman to Clinton's 2008 national campaign who now runs Georgetown University's new Institute of Politics and Public service, said the importance of the March 15 primaries in Missouri and the four other states is heavily dependent on what happens in both parties on March 1. If that day "comes out a wash," with multiple candidates winning and splitting up the results and the delegates two weeks later, he said, March 15 could be decisive but not conclusive. But if a single candidate runs the table, or comes close to it, on March 1, the primaries in Missouri, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina on March 15 could shape up as potential clinchers. The greater diversity of voting
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populations in the March primaries should favor Clinton, Elleithee said, because polls show her decisively beating Sanders among black and Latino Democrats. But if Sanders can win decisively in New Hampshire and run competitively against a favored Clinton in Nevada on Feb. 20 and South Carolina on Feb. 27, Sanders' insurgent campaign could be poised for a competitive March. On March 1, in both political parties, "a huge portion of the delegates will be allocated there, and they are big states, they are diverse states, and this is where organization is going to matter," Elleithee said. But this year's primary electorate is unique in the anger and angst that is being tapped on both sides, a condition that could result in more protracted fights for the nominations than leaders in either party expected when they set up primary and caucus calendars. McCaskill said she is helping to organize Clinton surrogates in Missouri. She said that Clinton
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believes "the government does have a role, but not the kind of out-sized role that Bernie Sanders envisions for our country.” But Elleithee said no one should underestimate the power of Sanders' anti-Wall Street message on the Democratic side, and the antiestablishment messages of Donald Trump and Cruz on the GOP side. He said they are offshoots of the Tea Party movement among Republicans, and of the Occupy Wall Street movement on the Democratic side. "We don't live in a left vs. right paradigm any more, we live up vs. down," he said. "People feel like they are just getting screwed, that people at the top are getting all the breaks and people at the bottom are getting all the handouts," Elleithee continued. "The Tea Party was railing against government being the problem, the Occupy movement was railing at Wall Street as the problem. But they were identifying the same problem: 'Nobody is looking out for me.'"
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Republican Donald Trump soared to the top of national polls unabashedly stoking fears of undocumented immigrants and Muslims. Trump’s nearest GOP rival, Ted Cruz, has stirred evangelical resentment with talk of a “war on faith” and has demanded that Obama declare “radical Islam” to be a U.S. enemy. Democrat Bernie Sanders has built his campaign on frustration toward Wall Street and corporate America. The country’s bitter politics will be an important theme of Obama’s address this week in Springfield, aides said, returning to a central premise of his announcement speech nine years earlier. “The central message beginning in 2004 and throughout the 2008 campaign was: We are not as divided as our politics in Washington would suggest,” former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who helped write the Springfield announcement, said in an interview. “And Obama wanted to use
his time in Springfield as an example of how people of different views and parties could come together and make progress.” Obama described Springfield then as a place where he and his former colleagues in the state legislature “learned to disagree without being disagreeable — that it’s possible to compromise.” He returns to an Illinois mired in a partisan stalemate that has led to the longest fiscal impasse in state history. Rauner has pushed for structural changes such as limits on unions’ collective bargaining power; Democrats want tax increases for the wealthy. Because of the political crisis, Illinois had unpaid bills totaling $6.9 billion as of last week, spurring credit agencies to downgrade its bond rating, already the lowest among U.S. states. To read more, please see www. dailyegyptian.com
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
Opinion
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Iowa’s caucus mess becoming a trend CHICAGO TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD
It was an election marred by missing votes, questionable tallies, tricky tactics, late reporting, disputed outcomes and demands for recounts. Is this Chicago? No, it's Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are supposed to be a quaint but inspiring example of American democracy at work. In the first contest of the presidential campaign, people gather with their neighbors in schools, churches and restaurants to debate, ponder and finally vote. But this year's version, while not devoid of inspiration, left many voters and candidates feeling shafted. On the Democratic side, the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was agonizingly close, making every caucus important. But some of those in charge didn't keep records of the votes and some of them didn't call in the results on time. In a few caucuses, a tie vote was broken by – we are not making this up – a coin flip. When the chair of the Monday night meeting in one Des Moines precinct realized Tuesday that its votes had not been transmitted and might decide the outcome, reported The Des Moines Register, he had to go home to retrieve his notes – only to discover that "he didn't know who was logging the tallies. The party's caucus hotline was no longer working. The party headquarters was locked." Campaign aides for Sanders, the runner-up by a razor-thin margin, demanded paper records to determine whether the results were tabulated correctly. That request prompted Clinton's state director to accuse the Sanders
team of having the chutzpah to "disparage results that don't come out in their favor." But an editorial in The Register said, "What we can't stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error," and it demanded "a complete audit of results." Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said, "Asking for raw vote totals demonstrates a misunderstanding of our process. As does asking for a recount." Plenty of old-time Chicago ward bosses would have smiled at that assertion. Republicans had their own mini-scandal. After CNN reported on caucus day that Ben Carson would proceed to Florida instead of New Hampshire, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a supporter of Ted Cruz, tweeted, "Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote." King's claim likely allowed Cruz to capture some votes that would have gone to Carson — who explained that his Florida swing was to get fresh clothes before heading north to campaign. So after finishing a disappointing second, Donald Trump said, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it." Trump demanded that the vote be redone or the results nullified. Cruz laughed off Trump's complaint but apologized to Carson, whose campaign issued a statement saying, "These 'dirty tricks' political tactics are part of the reason Dr. Carson got into this race and reflect the 'Washington values' of win at all costs – regardless of the damage to the country – which he is trying to change." Trump supporter
New Hampshire Primary
Tribune News
Sarah Palin said her candidate had "opened so many eyes to the lies, corruption and total lack of accountability that come so naturally to the permanent political class." This is not the first time things have gone awry in the Hawkeye State. In the 2012 Republican caucuses, the initial count gave the win to Mitt Romney. A couple of weeks later, though, the state GOP announced that the actual
winner was Rick Santorum — who by then had lost the chance to capitalize on his victory. All these snafus have to be embarrassing to the people of Iowa, who treasure their special role in the election of presidents. The good news for them is that their job is done. The next round of voting is Tuesday, in New Hampshire. And by the time it's over, no one will be talking about Iowa.
Richard W. Rodriguez Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times
Dennis Van Tine | Albaca Press
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Zuma Press
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Pulse
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
‘Hail, Caesar!’ is flashy, confusing and hilarious JACOB PIERCE @JacobPierce1_DE
Like any good Coen Brothers movie, you may have to watch “Hail, Caesar!” a couple times to understand it. “Hail, Caesar!,” directed by Ethan and Joel Coen and starring Josh Brolin and George Clooney, may leave audiences asking a lot of questions, yet gives them some satisfying answers. Eddie Mannix, played by Brolin, is a Hollywood fixer for Capital Pictures, one of the biggest movie studios in the 1950s. His job is to make sure every studio controlled film runs smoothly and actor does their job. This line of work has a lot of shady elements to it and causes Mannix to be on call 24/7. All this, and a cushy job offer from an airline, causes the fixer to question his line of work. But soon Hollywood star Baird Whitlock, played by Clooney, is kidnapped and Mannix must continue to work with all the headaches of the job while considering a switch. The Coen Brothers really have not made a terrible film. Even when they miss — for example “The Ladykillers” — the duo does it with enough style that it makes up for any missteps. This unique storytelling is a key selling point to “Hail, Caesar!” To say this movie is style over substance is only a half-truth. The film touches on thought-provoking and interesting themes and ideas throughout, such as Hollywood communism, early age-cinema and
Alison Cohen | Universal Pictures
Scarlett Johansson in “Hail, Caesar!”
political correctness. Unfortunately, because a lot of topics are thrown in the mix, many do not get the time they deserve. While this is a problem, it can be mostly looked over because the Coen’s style is so catchy and fascinating. Whether it is the snappy and witty dialogue or the idiosyncratic characters, “Hail, Caesar!” will have you laughing and captivated almost all the way through. The ensemble cast pushes the film even further toward greatness. Johansson, Ralph Fiennes and Brolin; “Hail,Caesar!” may have one of the best casts of 2016. While the
Coen Brothers script and direction does a lot, the film wouldn’t be anything without these professionals performing. A key example of this is a scene between Fiennes and Alden Ehrenreich. This exchange between the two comes off as a great and hilarious portrayal of Hollywood. Fiennes plays a seasoned director and Ehrenreich plays a one-trick pony, up-and-coming actor. Watching the two go back-and-forth with the brothers’ dialogue is beautiful and hysterical — a great way to describe this film. As said above, various themes
brought are sparsely touched upon, and certain scenes are hard to get through. I will tell you I may have to go back on this criticism later. Coen Brothers films are like whiskey, they get better with age. “The Big Lebowski,” one of their most beloved movies, was initially a bomb. Now, it is a cult classic, considered the best comedy film by many people. With all this knowledge, it does not change how I feel about aspects of this film. There are points where the movie is a chore, like the Johansson side plot. And there are also points where the
film should have gone further with an idea or just dropped it, again, the Johansson side plot.If they had added a couple more scenes to them, the themes would have come off as welldeveloped. This causes the film to miss the cohesive qualities Coen Brothers tend to have by making the narrative feel thrown together. This does not stop it though from being entertaining and thoughtprovoking. Jacob Pierce can be reached at jpierce@dailyegyptian.com or 618-536-3325
Zoolander returns, 15 years later, to a very different world RAFER GUZMAN | Newsday
Barely three weeks after the attacks of 9/11, Ben Stiller’s comedy “Zoolander” arrived in theaters. At the time, light entertainment seemed so inappropriate that Hollywood was postponing the release of movies like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action-flick “Collateral Damage.” It was hard to say what, if anything, moviegoers wanted to see, but Stiller’s spoof of the vapid fashion industry didn’t necessarily seem a safe bet. “There have been articles lately asking why the United States is so hated in some parts of the world. As this week’s Exhibit A from Hollywood, I offer ‘Zoolander,’” Roger Ebert wrote in his scathing, one-star review.
He called the movie “offensive” and “tasteless.” Ebert was in the minority on that one. The story of Derek Zoolander, a brainless model-turned-assassin played by Stiller with peacock hair and a glam-rock pucker, “Zoolander” pleased most critics and earned $60 million at the box-office at a time when most movies were tanking badly. Thanks to home video and cable, the movie went on to become a modern classic. Fifteen years later, “Zoolander 2” arrives on screens on Feb. 12 facing high expectations and a much-changed cultural climate. “Zoolander” was in some ways a response to the decade that preceded it, the zeitgeist-less 1990s. It was an economically optimistic period, driven partly by gee-whiz
Paramount Pictures Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller and Penelope Cruz in “Zoolander 2.”
changes in technology (reflected in “Zoolander” by Derek’s absurdly tiny cellphone), but the ‘90s were also culturally superficial, marked by the rise of cable entertainment channels, supermodel celebrities like Claudia Schiffer and noncelebrities like Paris Hilton (who makes a cameo in the film). It’s no accident that “Zoolander” began life as two short spoofs for the VH1 Fashion Awards in the mid1990s. Those skits, in 1996 and 1997, contained the kernels of the Zoolander character, an amiable airhead whose only assets are high cheekbones and a toned physique. Much of the humor comes from Derek’s difficulty to perform simple tasks — walking, turning — and the fact that his various facial expressions (nicknamed Ferrari and Blue Steel) are actually indistinguishable. Given that Stiller mocked male models as unable to form complete sentences, he went over like gangbusters with the fashion industry itself. The second short featured a cameo from Dutch model Mark Vanderloo, reportedly an inspiration for the Zoolander name. That’s a testament to Stiller’s ability to mix merciless satire with a sweetness of spirit, which came through even stronger in the film. (Stiller directed and co-wrote
with Drake Sather, who helped create the VH1 skits, and John Hamburg, whose credits include Stiller’s “Meet the Parents.”) The film’s premise actually hits the fashion industry quite hard: When the prime minister of Malaysia promises to end child labor, a cabal of designers, led by an unseen “Giorgio,” plots to have him killed. Otherwise, wails one, “We’ll all go bankrupt within a year!” Nevertheless, fashion heavyweights like Tom Ford and Tommy Hilfiger agreed to appear as themselves in the film. And as time went on, the industry seemed to embrace characters like the blathering Zen model Hansel (Owen Wilson) and the evil designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell), whose homeless-inspired fashion line Derelicte was based on a very real line by John Galliano. “I was thrilled to say yes to Ben,” designer Marc Jacobs told Vanity Fair about playing himself in the upcoming sequel. “I thought the first one was hilarious.” What’s important about the Zoolander character is that he’s never truly nasty, just overly pampered and blithely elitist. The film even portrays him as a Billy Elliot type, an outcast born into a coal-mining family (played by Jon Voight, Judah Friedlander and an unspeaking, uncredited Vince
Vaughn) who are deeply ashamed of his natural beauty. We also see Zoolander repeatedly struggle with an existential question: “Did you ever think that maybe there’s more to life,” he asks his roommates, “than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?” All of this resonated with audiences after 9/11 and beyond, making “Zoolander” an oft-quoted comedy along the lines of “Office Space,” “The Big Lebowski” and “Anchorman.” Some of the things that worked in the first film, however, may not work in the sequel. Another cameo by Donald Trump, for instance, now a highly divisive presidential candidate, probably wouldn’t get the same laughs. And a new character named All, a transgender model played by Benedict Cumberbatch, has already raised objections from the LGBT community. At any rate, it’s hard to blame Stiller for wanting to follow up one of his most beloved films. Eventually, the movie even won over Roger Ebert. “To his credit, I ran into him like five or six years later,” Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013. “He said, ‘Hey, I just want to apologize to you. I wrote that about “Zoolander,” and I think it’s really funny.’”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
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Sablotny back on the mound for one more season Sablotny spent the summer working two jobs and putting in work on the mound when he had the chance. “I would have been in the real world had I not been able to play,” said Sablotny, who had planned to spend the summer as a firearm sales associate at Gander Mountain in Marion. “So I was preparing for that and for baseball, as well.” The Salukis have only two other senior pitchers this spring. Sablotny led the 2015 pitching staff with 70.2 innings pitched and his 3.95 ERA was second among SIU starters. Sophomore Chad Whitmer’s 48.0 innings last spring are second among returning pitchers. His history as a leader is not lost on the coaching staff. “[Sablotny] doesn’t beat himself,” coach Ken Henderson said. “He does a lot of things right. We’re so young to begin with, having someone with his experience is huge.” The Salukis open their season with a three-game series at McNeese State Feb. 19 to Feb. 21.
THOMAS DONLEY | @tdonleyDE
SIU graduate pitcher Bryce Sablotny thought his baseball career was over after the 2015 season. He was a senior who had two major injuries as a Saluki and wasn’t sure the NCAA would allow him to play as a graduate student. After six weeks of appeals by his coaches and the university compliance department, the tall right-hander is back for one more season. Sablotny said he found out five days before the start of the fall semester that he would be able to play again. “I really didn’t expect it,” he said. “I knew there was a slight chance that the NCAA was going to let me play, but we did everything we could.” He transferred from Lincoln Land Community College, then Sablotny’s 2013 junior season was cut short just four weeks into his Saluki career when he tore a ligament in his right elbow. He missed the remainder of the season and the entirety of 2014 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Sablotny came back as a redshirt senior in 2015, making
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A BBEY L A T OUR | @AbbeyLaTourDE
15 appearances and 10 starts. He became the Salukis’ No. 2 starter, posting a 2-4 record and a 3.95 ERA. That could have been Sablotny’s final season as a Saluki, but his abbreviated junior season left a sliver of hope that he could return
for another year. The NCAA denied SIU’s initial request for another year for Sablotny, beginning a month and a half of appeals. “It was a lot of work,” pitching coach P.J. Finigan said. “We had
to document everything that we went through with him coming back from his injury and how he just wasn’t ready to perform [in 2014]. He was still recovering quite a bit throughout the course of that year.”
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Returning infielders from last year’s team combined for a .246 batting average. The team hit .254, which ranked No. 9 in the MVC. “As a whole on offense, I feel like we’re a lot more confident,” Harre said. “We have speed, we got people who can get on base, we have more power and we got a lot of people who have stepped up from last year and are hitting the ball really well.” SIU took perhaps it’s biggest loss in the outfield with last year’s MVC batting champ Kalyn Harker (.466) graduation. But there was a quick fix waiting in the wings. Junior Merri Anne Patterson, who finished 11th in MVC batting at .384, will move from left field to center field this season and is the most experienced outfielder on the team. Because of her experience, Patterson has already improved an outfield that has two freshmen in a four-woman unit. “She’s been such a great leader and has helped us new girls out a lot,” freshman Eyrika Bradenburg said. “No matter how good or bad you are at the moment, she’ll help you get through it.” Bradenburg is expected to start in left field and sophomore Jessica Heese will play right field, replacing graduated senior Meredith Wilson, to begin the season. Blaylock said freshman Hanna Porter will also rotate in. This season’s roster carries just 12 position players to fill eight spots as opposed to 14
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The Salukis will hit the field for the first time at 11 a.m. Friday to take on Tennessee-Martin in Hammond, La., as part of the Lion Classic.
“Fall ball, for Savanna, got her at a level where she’s throwing with such confidence that she feels like last spring didn’t happen,” she said. Dover allowed 90 walks while striking out 42 batters last season but averaged about a walk-anda-half per game during the fall scrimmages. She said that is the ideal range, as throwing too many strikes makes a pitcher become predictable. The Canton, Ga., native threw 64.2 innings last season, which was second on the team. Her 5.09 ERA was also second on the team, and she compiled a 1-5 record. Dover appeared in 20 games, including eight starts. Both were third on the team. With Dover’s confidence boost and the added freshmen depth, Blaylock said this year’s staff could have a different rotation every weekend. “It could be a match-up thing; it could be who is on and who is feeling it that weekend,” she said. “We could throw all three of them every weekend.” Last season, former pitcher Katie Bertelsen threw 62 percent, or 196.2, of the team’s 314.1 innings. In a typical three-game weekend series last season, Bertelsen would pitch the first and third game with Dover or junior Shaye Harre taking the middle game. Blaylock said she believes all three of her pitchers could be No. 1 on other teams. The Salukis start the season at 11 a.m. Friday against University of Tennessee at Martin at the Lion Classic in Hammond, La.
Sean Carley can be reached at scar@ dailyegyptian.com or at 618-536-3307.
Brent Meske can be reached at bmeske@ dailyegyptian.com or at 536-3333.
R EAGAN G AVIN | Daily Egyptian
last year, so every player is expected to see time. Even with the smaller roster, Blaylock feels the team is ready to go. “[The freshmen] all come from good summer ball programs,” she said. “The pitchers are really good and the pitchers are ready to step up.”
Thomas Donley can be reached at Tdonley@Dailyegyptian.com or at 618-536-3307.
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Today’s Birthday (02/09/16). Together, you’re unstoppable this year. A money gush (after 3/8) opens new avenues (after 9/16). Embark upon a two-year educational journey (after 9/9). New income, insurance benefits or an inheritance (after 9/1)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
sparks a financial turning point. Save for your family’s future. To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Aries (March 21-April 19) -Today is a 5 -- Private productivity suits your mood today and tomorrow. Settle into your nest. Savor peace and quiet. Be thoughtful and sensitive. Clarify your direction. Review plans and budgets. Dreams could seem intense. Scribble in your journal. Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Friends are especially helpful over the next two days. Talk about future goals. Be patient with a silly request. A crazy scheme could work. Check public opinion before launching. Make an outrageous request. Gemini (May 21-June 20) -Today is a 9 -- Work takes priority today and tomorrow. Assume more responsibility. Expect a test. Don’t
overspend. Advancement may require bold action against high odds. Imagine the result achieved, and then look to see how you got there. Cancer (June 21-July 22) -Today is an 8 -- Your wanderlust is getting worse today and tomorrow. Travel and studies quell your jones for exploration. Pursue a dream. Look outside the box. Close the books on an old deal. Chart your long-term course. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Handle financial matters with your partner today and tomorrow. A lack of funds would threaten your plans. Take inventory of your valuable talents, and put them down on paper. List dreams and desires, too. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -Today is an 8 -- Work together to go further today and tomorrow. Prioritize common goals and delegate tasks. Family matters
vie with work for your attention. Consult a good strategist. Improve your process and increase your yield. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Begin a busy few days. Take advantage of a rise in demand. Write down the wildest fantasies. Don’t believe everything you hear. Fulfill your promises. The rules seem to change mid-game. Adapt gracefully. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is a 7 -- Relax and play over the next two days. Enjoy the game, without expensive gambles. Diversions include art, beauty and romance. Practice what you love. Get out in nature and move. Take the roundabout route. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is a 7 -- Focus on domestic changes over the next few days. Choose what you want, after researching options. Get into interior decoration. Play with color. Create an inviting place for family to come
together. Provide home-cooked treats. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -Today is an 8 -- Concentration comes easier today and tomorrow. Study, research and write your discoveries. Revise the budget to suit on-theground realities. Collect what’s due, pay bills and settle accounts. Talk things over. Communication provides simple resolution. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -Today is a 9 -- There’s money coming in today and tomorrow, and you’re on a mission. Tap an available source of revenue. It could get quite profitable. Stick to your budget. Write down your dreams, including implausible ones. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is a 9 -- Personal matters demand attention today and tomorrow. Gain strength and options. Keep your faith and sensitivity. Ditch the cynicism. Take charge for desired changes. Consider consequences, and don’t let them stop you. Assertiveness works.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
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<< Answers for Monday’s Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk
ACROSS 1 Campaign display 7 Tuber made into poi 11 Actor Beatty 14 Give in 15 Out for the night 16 Australian bird 17 *Oft-minced bulb 19 Came in first 20 Woman in a Beethoven piano title 21 Oscar night rides 22 Classic sports cars 23 Absorbed 24 *Laura Hillenbrand bestseller about a racehorse 26 Honest prez 28 Math comparison 29 Sally Ride, e.g. 35 Diarist Frank 37 Island wreath 38 Recipe direction ... and a literal hint to what you can do to the starts of the answers to starred clues 41 “Dig in!” 42 Celebrity 44 Statues, often 46 “Now you __ ... “ 49 Fist-up call 50 *Dry-climate landscape option 54 Palms-down call 58 Photo lab abbr. 59 Dubai bigwig 60 “MASH” setting 61 __ juice: milk 62 *Olympic sport with a hollow ball 64 Company abbr. 65 Sheep’s cry 66 Candy heart message 67 Shatner’s “__War” 68 Backwoods possessive 69 Rains ice pellets DOWN 1 Cell alternative 2 Florida horsebreeding city 3 Doc’s order to a pharmacist
By Kurt Krauss
4 Early communications satellite 5 Falco of “The Sopranos” 6 TiVo button 7 Actress Shire 8 Manhattan Project creation 9 “Au __”: “Bye, Pierre” 10 Texas or Ukraine city 11 World’s second largest island 12 Showing strong feelings 13 Kirsten of “Spider-Man” 18 The Browns, on sports tickers 24 Pop in the mail 25 Windy City commuter org. 27 __ constrictor 29 Landon who ran against FDR 30 Opening set of TV series episodes 31 Hourly worker’s device 32 Fleet VIP 33 Put into operation 34 Scottish cap
02/09/16 2/9/16 Monday’s Answers Monday’s Puzzle Solved
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36 Sci-fi staples 39 Diving lake bird 40 Capote nickname 43 It’s a scream 45 Picking-up-thetab words 47 Song words before “with a little help from my friends” 48 Husk-wrapped Mexican food 50 Pay
02/09/16 2/9/16
51 Concretereinforcing rod 52 Shoulder muscles, briefly 53 Before, before 55 Golfer with an “army” 56 Deceptive move 57 Makes more bearable 60 Capsize, with “over” 63 Superstation initials
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Sports
PAGE 8
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
SIU men’s basketball limits assists on both sides
J ACOB W IEGAND | @jacobwiegand_DE Junior guard Mike Rodriguez runs with the ball during SIU’s 73-59 loss to Loyola on Saturday at SIU Arena. Rodriguez scored five points in the game.
SEAN CARLEY | @SCarleyDE
In the midst of a four-game losing streak, Saluki men’s basketball is having some issues helping each other score highpercentage buckets. This year’s squad gets an assist on 44.7 percent of all field goals made, which is the lowest rate in the Missouri Valley Conference. And the assist totals can be a big indication of if the Salukis will win or not. In the games SIU has won, it has 239 assists to 228 turnovers. In the games they’ve lost, the Dawgs have 55 assists to 102 turnovers. After Saturday’s 14-point loss
to Loyola, senior guard Anthony Beane said the ball is “sticking to our hands” and that ball movement must improve. Junior guard Leo Vincent said there are multiple ways this could be done. “We have to stay aggressive,” he said. “Get the ball in the paint, playing inside out, having guys on the perimeter always staying ready, those will all get the assist numbers up.” Coach Barry Hinson said the ball movement Vincent discussed has been lacking. “The emphasis for the guards more so than anything is when the ball is in your hands, can
you get a guy a great shot?” he said. “Not a good shot, but a great shot.” While the 44.7 percent assist rate is low, it is an increase from last year’s rate of 40.9 percent, which was 347th out of 351 Division I teams. Junior guard Mike Rodriguez, whose 3.3 assists per game lead the team and is seventh in the MVC, is the main reason for the increase. If he finishes with that number or higher, he will be the first player since Kevin Dillard in the 200910 season (5.0) to average more than three assists per game. The rest of the team is also doing better. Apart from junior
Saluki softball position players mix of youth and experience SEAN CARLEY | @SCarleyDE
This year’s Saluki softball team will have some new names on the field, but its leaders are back to battle. Six of the probable starters in the field return from last season, but just four of them will play the same position as last year. SIU will only start one senior this season, making it one of the youngest teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, which coach Kerri Blaylock said is a positive. “We’re so young and so unknown, and I love it,” she said. “I love that people don’t know what we’re about and they can’t scout us.” The Dawgs were picked sixth out of 10 in the MVC preseason poll, but the women are confident they can do better. The Dawgs finished fifth last year after being pegged as the fourth-best team in the preseason poll. “The underdogs are going to take over,” junior first baseman Shaye Harre said. Every Saluki starting infielder played in at least half of last season’s games. Team captain junior Jessa Thomas
forward Sean O’Brien and senior center Deng Leek, every returning Saluki has already surpassed their assist total from last year. O’Brien is on pace to pass his by season’s end. “[Rodriguez] is a great guy to get his teammates involved,” Vincent said. “The guys are unselfish and trust each other.” Even though the players claim to be unselfish, Hinson said the team has played selfish ball recently. “We played selfish at Northern Iowa,” he said. “There’s a difference between playing selfish and being selfish. Sometimes when you decide you want to hit home runs ... to me that’s playing selfish.” However, on the other side of the ball, the Salukis are not allowing opponents to create easy buckets. SIU’s 48.7 defensive assist rate is No. 3 in the MVC. O’Brien said limiting penetration
will catch for SIU, while fellow team captain Harre will be at first, sophomores Savannah Fisher at second and Sydney Jones at third. Gonzalez, the final team captain, will be anchor the infield at shortstop. Harre, Gonzalez and Fisher started a combined 125 games at their positions last year. “Since we have a young outfield, we’re trying to take control on the infield and help them out with calling plays,” Gonzalez said. “It helps [when] you know how each other plays, like who can get to which ball, if this happens then what is she going to do?” Saluki infielders combined for 35 errors last season, but they are confident that number will decrease. Nine of those 35 came from Brook Womack who transferred to Chattanooga. The middle infield of Gonzalez and Fisher had 16 but feel they’ve gotten better together with time. “We got last season under our belts, so we’re just a lot more comfortable playing around each other,” Gonzalez said. Please see INFIELD | 5
has been key to limiting opponents’ assist opportunities. “When they get penetration, they can kick it out to open shooters so our emphasis is to stop that from happening,” he said. With SIU being second in the MVC foul count (544), O’Brien believes the team’s aggressive defense can lead to more fouls but is not a direct correlation. “I feel like if you do a good job keeping the ball out of the paint, then you’re not going to foul as much,” he said. “We just have to work on that.” O’Brien and the team will need to work on the assists numbers, too, if they want to snap their four-game losing streak. Thomas Donley contributed to this story. Sean Carley can be reached at scar@ dailyegyptian.com or at 618-537-3304.
A BBEY L A T OUR | @AbbeyLaTourDE
Young SIU softball pitchers ready to begin season BRENT MESKE | @brentmeskeDE
When the Saluki softball team starts its season Friday, it will do so with the Missouri Valley Conference’s youngest pitching rotation. Two freshmen, Brianna Jones and Nicole Doyle, join sophomore Savanna Dover in a staff that coach Kerri Blaylock said is an improvement from last season’s rotation. “We have three to four kids that can really throw the ball, and that’s what we’re banking on,” she said. Evansville and Loyola also have two freshmen pitchers on the roster, but the Purple Aces also have a junior and senior while the Ramblers have a sophomore and senior. Blaylock said the new pitchers have an advantage because no one has seen them play. Jones, a graduate of Coffee County High School in Manchester, Tenn., finished top five in the state with her team twice and finished third in the nation with 372 strikeouts in the 2014 season.
She said playing in the fall helped ease the transition to her first collegiate season. “It was different, people are going to hit me, and I have to realize that,” Jones said. “It also helped Kerri figure out who I am as a player.” Jones said nerves don’t affect her when she’s on the mind, but her fellow freshman isn’t so calm. Doyle said nerves will factor in when she pitches because she is rehabbing a torn ACL. “I’m pretty strong, I’ve been doing rehab since I’ve been down here,” Doyle said. “It’s a comfort thing. It’s more mental than physical right now.” Doyle said travel summer softball helped prepare her for college more than high school did. She was three-time AllConference and two-time conference most valuable player at Aurora High School in Ohio. As for the sophomore, Blaylock said Dover has grown since last season and has had “night and day” changes in her pitching. Please see PITCHERS | 5