March 16, 2017

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THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2017

Early bird gets the fine as Surdyk’s opens five months too early Minnesota’s approved Sunday liquor sales causes confusion with vendor.

COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer Does the early bird get the worm every time? Maybe not on this go around.

The 156-year ban on selling alcohol on Sundays was lifted early this month, prompting the family owned Surdyk’s Liquor and Deli to open last Sunday.

The Sunday Sales Law goes into effect July 2, which forced a swift reaction from local law enforcement to the tune of a $2,000 civil penalty along with a 30-day liquor license suspension when the law does take effect on July 2.

“The governor signed the bill, everyone wants the bill, they voted for it, why not be in business,” said Surdyk, owner and president of the company to the Star Tribune.

“Why send our tax money to Wisconsin when we can do

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press the business ourselves.”

Owner Jim Surdyk opened his doors from 11

“The opening did bring people from as far as Forest Lake to be at the first store open on a Sunday for the historic, although illegal, event.”

a.m. to 6 p.m. last Sunday and announced that he was opening his doors via Facebook. He was contacted soon after opening by licensing manager Grant Wilson, who ordered him to close immediately. Wilson then went to the store to ask the sales team, and when they did not cease, he documented the violation.

He continued to make sales and later received a fine and

punishment.

While Surdyk claimed the early open was to “get ahead of the curve,” as told to WCCO, he was also opposed to the bill to legalize Sunday liquor sales. Going beyond face value would insinuate a case of civil disobedience to make a point.

“When I first heard of it, I thought it was a marketing strategy. I thought that this guy is violating the law

to get recognized,” said MNSU’s Director of Law Enforcement Studies, Tamara Wilkins, when she shared her thoughts on the incident. “I thought he was trying to get press by trying to stir up business, and to do so in a radical way that is a form of civil disobedience. This was a violation of the law, and he knew it was a violation of the law. But at first, I thought he wanted the publicity and went with it.”

If the goal was press then Surdyk got all the free advertising he could have wanted as he made both the big papers in the Twin Cities and the major news stations, which may be enough to stifle the hefty fine and license suspension.

The opening did bring people from as far as Forest Lake to be at the first store open on a Sunday for the historic, although illegal, event.

“We just decided to open up,” said Surdyk to the Star Tribune. “We’re here, we’re busy, it’s great. People are happy to be here.”

In the growing digital era, malls are trying to keep up COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer What do your local mall and the NSA have in common? The answer may be more than you think.

Malls and retailers have started using more sophisticated ways of tracking shopper trends, using the data to customize their mobile advertisements to match what customers will be most likely to buy. They’ve also begun to use these

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data gathering methods to change how they organize their outlet layouts and to determine where they should position specific stores in order to avoid foot-traffic dead zones. This is all made possible through mall Wi-Fi in conjunction with security cameras.

When you access a mall’s Wi-Fi, retailers can plot shoppers’ whereabouts and match their ads against customers’ social media and email to customize

which advertisements are displayed to each consumer.

The business’ privacy policy is disclosed when you agree to their terms and conditions by signing onto the network.

The mall can also use their Wi-Fi to send ads to devices on their network to alert costumers to deals and discounts.

Some stores are using an even more aggressive approach. The Wall Street Journal reported that in South Town, Utah, businesses

have deployed a beacon that can send ad alerts to smart phones and tablets in its vicinity.

Malls are increasingly turning to digital media and advertisement to reach potential customers while they are still in the mall. A 2016 survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal found that among the 5,000 polled, 51 percent of their purchases were made online—a big bump from the 47 percent recorded in 2014. This is also

Does the fear of math keep us from learning?

Bluebird Cakery to open shop in Mankato

Mavericks dominate Florida with 10-0 record

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evidenced by the massive closing of stores scheduled to occur. According to Dallas News, JCPenney is set to close 130 stores this year, while CNN reports as well that Macy’s is looking to close 100 of its locations. Businesses like J.Crew and Gap have also been struggling against

MALL page 8

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

St. Patrick’s Day: It’s more than shamrocks and leprechauns Ireland’s day of celebration rooted in hundreds of years of tradition.

Opinion STEPHANIE VOGEL Staff Writer Coming up on March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, a day for those of Irish descent to show their national pride.

When thinking of St. Patrick’s Day, one normally imagines leprechauns and pots of gold, or finding a four-leaf clover for good luck. But for this article I’ll be focusing on St. Patrick, the man himself, around whom truth and myth have woven together to create the story of this saint who made his mark on Irish history.

To find out who St. Patrick really was, I searched the MNSU Library Catalog online, at lib.mnsu.edu. I came across a short film that I could access online called St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland.

I clicked the link to Kanopy, which is a site where MNSU students can watch movies and documentaries for free with their StarID information.

To find Kanopy from the lib. mnsu.edu website, click on “Article Databases A–Z” along the left hand side, click on the letter “K.” Kanopy Streaming Video should be the first option.

From watching the film, I learned that the only

(CC BY-SA 2.0) by DrPhotoMoto remaining documents written by St. Patrick are the “Confession” and the “Letter to Coroticus,” which are the sources from which scholars have gathered information about his life. Patrick was born during the fall of the Roman Empire in what is now Britain. When he was about 16 years old, he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland, which was populated by the Druids, who worshipped many gods. Patrick was baptized a Christian but paid little attention to Christianity until his time as a slave, during

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which he turned toward religion in his search for the meaning of life.

After six years, Patrick was able to flee from captivity and return to his home country.

Although he intended never to leave home again, he felt called back to Ireland to evangelize to the Druids.

As a bishop, this missionary activity met with criticism due to the expectation that he would stay within the diocese. He wrote the “Confession” in response to show the people that it was divine providence that he leave for Ireland. He worked

to convert the Irish people without use of violence or bloodshed.

The Druids would light a bonfire on one of their feast days using cattle bones. The Christian feast of Easter was celebrated around the same time, so before the Druids could start their bonfire, Patrick lit an Easter fire on a hill. It was then that Christianity, the new religion, met Druidry, the old religion, which had survived for nearly 2,000 years. Many awesome legends abound surrounding this encounter: one of these is that the Druids summoned

snow down upon the plains, and Patrick was able make the snow disappear when the Druid leader could not (or vice versa, depending on who the storyteller sided with).

Another legend says that Patrick walked up a mountain whose summit only the Druids could reach, and while he walked, demons came to him in the form of black birds, which represented the demons of life within himself that he struggled with. He banished the birds to a cave.

On the top of the mountain he met Pride, the mother of the devil, in the form of a serpent. He wrestled with the serpent, wounded it, and banished it to a lake, but he could not kill it.

According to the documentary, “He must have realized [after conquering Pride] that he was a servant of the mystery, not a master of the future.” Pilgrims have been climbing this mountain for hundreds of thousands of years, at first to complete pagan pilgrimages, but most recently to honor St. Patrick and to swallow their own pride.

St. Patrick died on March 17, allegedly at the age of 120.

MSSA CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE MEETING THURSDAY, MARCH 16TH AT 1:00 P.M. Taking place in the Senate Conference Room

Thursday, March 16, 2017

MSU Reporter • 3

News

Ultra-liberal Portland moves to rein in protests PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — In Oregon’s ultra-liberal city of Portland, where protest is a way of life, the new mayor is taking on the sacrosanct.

Mayor Ted Wheeler and the City Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance Wednesday that would allow city leaders to eject disruptive protesters from meetings and ban them from council chambers for up to 60 days in some cases.

As they voted, commissioners said months of protests by a small group of people have shut down meetings, disrupted government business, caused stress to city staff, undermined projects and prevented other residents from appearing before the council.

“I don’t know why you’ve decided that your voices are more important than anyone else who comes to this chamber to give testimony,” said Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who was elected to the Council last fall and called the interruptions “toxic.”

“The fact that I can’t singlehandedly and immediately satisfy your demands does not mean that we are not listening to you.”

The American Civil Liberties Union immediately condemned the ordinance as unconstitutional and protesters tried to prevent the vote by shouting down commissioners as they were

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press polled.

People in the chamber held up posters with an image of Wheeler’s head that read “Gas the Peaceful, Let the Poor Freeze.”

The poster is a dual reference to Portland’s vast numbers of homeless and anger over how the Portland Police Bureau handled almost daily protests after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

In papers filed with the City Council, ACLU-Oregon’s legal director Mat dos Santos said city officials have the right to throw out disruptive individuals on a case-by-case basis, but banning a person from future meetings based on their current behavior is unconstitutional.

“People have the right to express unpopular, even offensive ideas,” he wrote.

“The government cannot bar communicative acts ... based on the mere fear of disruption in reaction to those acts.”

The vote came after nearly four hours of a city agenda that was largely made up of members of the public taking the floor to criticize Wheeler. Several commenters preceded their remarks by calling the day “Unconstitutional Wednesday.”

“Locally, we’re going to have the war on protesters, backed up now by a City Council ordinance,” said Charles BridgeCrane Johnson, a local activist.

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“Shame on all of you. I know you can see our attempts to communicate with you and you ignore them.”

Before the vote, Wheeler said the provision allowing people to be banned from the council chambers won’t be used until a federal court rules on its constitutionality.

“There is a difference of opinion among informed attorneys as to whether this is constitutional or not. It may not be constitutional,” Wheeler said, adding that passing it would allow the court evaluation to start.

A federal judge in 2015 ruled that the city acted unconstitutionally when it threw out a protester and banned him for 60 days.

But the judge left open a window for the city to revise its ordinance and bring it back for review, said Michael Cox, a spokesman for the mayor.

The revised ordinance contains an appeals process and specifies the types of behavior that can get a person banned, he said.

Weekly or even daily protests are nothing new in Portland, but in recent months even this city has had more than its share — and Wheeler has seemed more willing than previous mayors to push back.

That approach, plus a constellation of highly charged events, has created an atmosphere of anger and distrust for some.

Police shot and killed a 17-year-old black teenager on Feb. 9 and the ALCU and others have strongly criticized police for crowd control tactics during recent antiTrump protests that included the use of pepper spray and rubber bullets.

The city has also been panned for its response to its homeless crisis during an especially harsh winter.

Four people have died of exposure and a stillborn infant was found with his homeless mother at a street side bus stop earlier this year.

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Thursday, March 16, 2017 EMAIL THE EMAIL THE EDITOR CHIEF: EDITOR IN IN CHIEF:

Does the fear of math keep us from truly learning?

Opinion

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MARJAN HUSSEIN Staff Writer Are you good at math?

This question makes the majority of people flinch just thinking about it as an expression of dread lingers in their eyes. The fear of having to do geometry or algebra or remember a ton of equations often places people between a rock and a hard place.

The real question is—why do people feel intimidated by mathematics in the first place? Is this just a normal trait, or could the education system be to blame?

According to the Huffington Post, some people are just born good at math.

Melissa Libertus, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, clarifies that while “number sense” is universal, the ability to do math is thought to be highly dependent on culture and language.

The article continues, explaining that number sense is a primitive and inborn faculty that allows one to judge quantities in real world situations. For example, a display of good number sense would be accurately estimating the number of people at a concert. The

(CC BY 2.0) by Sean MacEntee Huffington Post goes on to state that the relationship between one’s number sense and their ability to do math is only a trend, however.

In my opinion, the question of whether one is good or bad at math brings about a strong sense of uncertainty.

There are so many factors that influence how interested an individual might be in a certain subject, such as their personal background, lifestyle, tradition, experience, etc., and the main factor that determines one’s interest in math, from my perspective, is the circumstances that one is brought up in.

For example, if one lives in a city where they are forced to calculate various prices of groceries or train rides, they will better adapt to a school environment by applying the same knowledge from real-life experiences. On the other hand, if one comes

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from a different setting where they hardly had to do any calculation, then they would have no choice but to work harder in school to learn math. This is where the Huffington Post might point more strongly toward nature than nurture, however.

The New York Times approaches it from a different angle, stating that young people today rely especially on technology to avoid developing the math skills necessary to help them grow. It goes on to state that a huge percentage of current high school graduates have no interest in pursuing degrees involving science, technology, engineering, or math, arguing that the biggest reason for this is that they have been largely turned off to these subjects as they have moved through various levels of education.

This is very true, as many

students already seem to be of the mindset that they will be done with math for the rest of their lives after high school, which is not necessarily the case.

Overall, the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields play a vital role in society. Countless jobs come from these subjects, and society still needs scientists, engineers, IT specialists, and mathematicians to prosper.

Developing a positive mentality for approaching anything is key if one wishes to succeed in that area.

Math is not as tough as it is stereotyped to be—one plus one is two. If one adds gradually to this concept, approaching it as they would any other project, the road to achieving great things indeed becomes a clear path.

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

MSU Reporter • 5

News

Federal judge in Hawaii puts Trump travel ban on hold HONOLULU (AP) — Hours before it was to take effect, President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban was put on hold Wednesday by a federal judge in Hawaii who questioned the government’s argument that the measure was motivated by national security concerns.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson also said Hawaii would suffer financially if the executive order blocks the flow of students and tourists to the state and concluded that Hawaii is likely to succeed on a claim that the ban violates First Amendment protections against religious discrimination.

Watson issued his 43-page ruling less than two hours after hearing Hawaii’s request for a temporary restraining order to stop the ban from being put into practice.

The ruling came as opponents renewed their legal challenges across the country, asking judges in three states to block the executive order that targets people from six predominantly Muslim countries.

More than half a dozen states are trying to stop the ban. Federal courts in Maryland, Washington state and Hawaii heard arguments about whether it should be allowed to take effect early Thursday.

Watson was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2012 and is currently the only Native Hawaiian judge serving on the federal bench and the fourth in U.S. history.

He received his law degree from Harvard in 1991.

In Maryland, attorneys told a federal judge that the measure still discriminates against Muslims.

Government attorneys argued that the ban was revised substantially to address legal concerns, including the removal of an exemption for religious minorities from the affected countries.

“It doesn’t say anything about religion. It doesn’t draw any religious distinctions,” said Jeffrey Wall, who argued for the Justice Department.

Attorneys for the ACLU and other groups said that Trump’s statements on the campaign trail and statements from his advisers since he took office make clear that the intent of the ban is to ban Muslims. Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller has said the revised order was designed to have “the same basic policy outcome” as the first.

The new version of

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press the ban details more of a national security rationale. It is narrower and eases some concerns about violating the due-process rights of travelers.

It applies only to new visas from Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program. It does not apply to travelers who already have visas.

“Generally, courts defer on national security to the government,” said U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang. “Do I need to conclude that the national security purpose is a sham and false?”

In response, ACLU attorney Omar Jadwat pointed to Miller’s statement and said the government had put out misleading and contradictory information about whether banning travel from six specific countries would make the nation safer.

The Maryland lawsuit also argues that it’s against

federal law for the Trump administration to reduce the number of refugees allowed into the United States this year by more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000. Attorneys argued that if that aspect of the ban takes effect, 60,000 people would be stranded in war-torn countries with nowhere else to go.

In the Hawaii case, the federal government said there was no need to issue an emergency restraining order because Hawaii officials offered only “generalized allegations” of harm.

Jeffrey Wall of the Office of the Solicitor General challenged Hawaii’s claim that the order violates dueprocess rights of Ismail Elshikh as a U.S. citizen who wants his mother-inlaw to visit his family from Syria. He says courts have not extended due-process rights outside of a spousal relationship.

Neal Katyal, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing

Hawaii, called the story of Elshiskh, an Egyptian immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen, “the story of America.”

Wall told the judge that if he is inclined to issue an injunction, it should be tailored specifically to Hawaii and not nationwide.

In Washington state, U.S. District Judge James Robart — who halted the original ban last month — heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which is making arguments similar to the ACLU’s in the Maryland case.

Robart said he is most interested in two questions presented by the group’s challenge to the ban: whether the ban violates federal immigration law, and whether

the affected immigrants would be “irreparably harmed” should the ban go into effect.

He spent much of Wednesday afternoon’s hearing grilling the lawyers about two seeming conflicting federal laws on immigration — one which gives the president the authority to keep “any class of aliens” out of the country, and another that forbids the government from discriminating on the basis of nationality when it comes to issuing immigrant visas.

Robart said he would issue a written order, but he did not say when. He is also overseeing the challenge brought by Washington state.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson argues that the new order harms residents, universities and businesses, especially tech companies such as Washington statebased Microsoft and Amazon, which rely on foreign workers. California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon have joined the claim.

Washington and Hawaii say the order also violates the First Amendment, which bars the government from favoring or disfavoring any religion. On that point, they say, the new ban is no different than the old. The states’ First Amendment claim has not been resolved.

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

Trump announces challenge to Obama-era fuel standards YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the administration will re-examine federal requirements governing the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, moving forcefully agains t O bama - er a environmental regulations that Trump says are stifling economic growth.

Trump revealed his plans during a speech at an automotive testing center near Detroit, where he also met with auto company executives and workers.

“This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation,” Trump said at a round-table meeting at the American Center for Mobility.

The EPA under Obama had promulgated a rule for cars and trucks requiring a fleet-wide average of 36 mpg in real-world driving by 2025.

emission standards in what he called “an unconscionable gift to polluters.”

Brown and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced their states are intervening in a lawsuit challenging the EPA rule. New York is among more than a dozen, mostly Northeastern states that have adopted California standards.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — which represents a dozen major car manufacturers including General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota — praised Trump’s action.

It said he was creating an opportunity for federal and state officials to “reach a thoughtful and coordinated outcome predicated on the best and most current data.”

Environmental groups said Trump and his team appeared

“This is going to be a new era for American jobs and job creation...”

Trump’s decision, while having no immediate effect, requires the Environmental Protection Agency to determine no later than April 2018 whether the 20222025 standards established are appropriate. If the EPA determines they are not appropriate, the agency will submit a new proposal next year.

“My administration will work tirelessly to eliminate the industry-killing regulations, to lower the jobcrushing taxes and to ensure a level playing field for all American companies and workers,” Trump said at the center, which produced B-24 bombers during World War II and is being converted into an automotive testing and product development facility.

Trump’s announcement is expected to set the stage for weaker fuel efficiency standards as well as drawnout legal battles with environmental groups and states such as California that adopted their own tough tailpipe standards for drivers.

“These standards are costly for automakers and the American people,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

He promised a “thorough review” that will “help ensure this national program is good for consumers and good for the environment California Gov. Jerry Brown accused Trump and Pruitt of trying to weaken auto-

intent on easing gas-mileage requirements set by Obama.

“If they succeed we’ll pay more at the pump, depend more on oil from bad countries, drive up the trade deficit and pollute our kids’ atmosphere,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign.

As a practical matter, Trump’s announcement will target the Obama administration’s January decision to lock in strict gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks, ending a review process before the Democrat left office.

Back in 2012, the Obama administration set fueleconomy regulations for model years 2017-2025 and agreed to complete a midterm evaluation by 2018. But seven days before Obama left office, the EPA decided to keep the stringent requirements it had set in place for model years 2022 to 2025. The industry balked at the decision, insisting it was rushed through to beat the change in administrations.

Trump said he’s putting that midterm review back on track, so officials can spend another year studying the issue before setting new standards in 2018.

Trump delivered a campaign-style speech in which he railed against big trade agreements, specifically NAFTA and the recent TransPacific Partnership, laying out in stark terms his view of how the pacts had hurt the U.S. auto industry and its workers.

Trump said he had kept his promise to withdraw the U.S. from the TPP, an agreement that former President Barack Obama pursued with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. Trump also wants to renegotiate NAFTA, which includes

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Canada and Mexico, but he did not mention those plans in Wednesday’s remarks.

“The assault on the American auto industry is over,” he declared.

While the administration has not said explicitly it wants to weaken the standards, a senior White House official said the Obama-era EPA had ignored reams of data cited by the automotive industry.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity at a White House briefing in order to outline the action, despite the president’s criticism of the use of unnamed sources.

The auto alliance last month urged Pruitt to relax the standards, saying they will drive up car costs, price customers out of the market and depress the industry.

Obama’s EPA had argued the costs to consumers were mitigated by gas savings and that the rules would decrease greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Trump told the auto executives that while he’s attuned to concerns about the environment, he doesn’t want to stifle jobs.

“We want you to make great cars. And if it takes an extra thimble full of fuel, we don’t want that to stop making it,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a tiny amount of fuel. It’s a very small thing we’re talking about.”

Trump campaigned on eliminating “job killing”

regulations, and the administration is expected to take additional steps in the coming days to roll back environmental regulations.

Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the change “makes no sense.”

“Mileage standards save consumers money at the gas pump, make Americans less dependent on oil, reduce carbon pollution and advance innovation,” she said.

After the speech, Trump flew to Nashville, Tennessee, where he laid a wreath at Andrew Jackson’s tomb to mark the 250th anniversary of the former president’s birth. Trump was holding a campaign rally in the city afterward.

Trump also toured the Hermitage, Jackson’s home.

The seventh U.S. president has enjoyed something of a resurgence thanks to Trump.

During the campaign, some of Trump’s aides began comparing him to the former president — a fellow populist outsider who took on a member of the Washington establishment and ran a campaign railing against corrupt elites.

In brief remarks outside the Hermitage, Trump drew comparisons between himself and Jackson. He said Jackson opposed the “arrogant elite” and asked the audience: “Does that sound familiar to you?”

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

MSU Reporter • 7

News

GOP health overhaul puts pressure on state governments CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — The Republican health care plan means less money for states and gives them a tough choice: Find a pot of cash to make up the difference or let coverage lapse for millions of lower-income Americans.

Governors and state lawmakers analyzing the Republican plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act fear a return to the past, when those without health coverage used emergency rooms for their medical needs. That uncompensated care was written off by hospitals or billed to the state.

The ax would fall especially hard on Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care to the poor and lower-income workers.

In Washington, for example, state officials say they would have to come up with $1.5 billion a year starting in 2020 to keep coverage in place for about 600,000 residents who gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion that was a key part of Obama’s health care law.

“It would actually leave our nation worse off than before the ACA was implemented,” Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said in a written statement.

Most states don’t yet have firm cost estimates on the consequences of the proposal by Republicans in the U.S. House. A Congressional Budget Office analysis released Monday said the GOP plan would lead to 24 million Americans losing health care coverage over the next decade but did not provide a state-by-state breakdown.

In addition to Medicaid, states are concerned about the Republican plan to replace federal premium subsidies for people who buy private insurance with tax credits that would be adjusted based on age, with older people paying more. If the cost of health insurance is too great under the GOP plan, people might drop coverage and rely instead on emergency rooms.

Connecticut estimates that 34,000 people who buy policies in the insurance marketplace would drop their coverage under the GOP plan. Overall, it would add about $1 billion in annual costs for the state, equivalent to 5 percent of its budget.

It is the GOP’s proposed changes to Medicaid, which has become the largest

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press source of federal revenue for states, that have drawn the most reaction since the CBO report was released.

Under the Affordable Care Act, 31 states and the District of Columbia expanded their Medicaid programs, providing coverage to about 11 million Americans.

That included a number of Republican-led states, including Indiana under Vice President Mike Pence when he was governor there.

Among those benefiting from Indiana’s expansion is Michael Boone, a 55-year-old cook from Gary.

Boone said it was the first time he has had health coverage as an adult, and it allowed him to get treatment for medical problems he didn’t know he had. They

included high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a hernia.

His coverage could be a casualty if the Medicaid cuts take effect and Indiana cannot find a way to pay for a larger share.

“I really don’t have a full grasp of the situation yet,” Boone said. “But right now, I’m scared to death.”

The federal government paid the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion for three years under Obama’s law and was to continue paying 90 percent of the cost starting in 2020.

The Republican plan, which is supported by President Donald Trump, calls for getting rid of the higher match in 2020 for new enrollees who are

eligible under the expanded standards.

A second Medicaid change would limit the federal aid per enrollee for everyone on Medicaid, with the caps varying by state.

Under the caps, states would be locked into the choices they will make now for the structure of their Medicaid programs, reducing their flexibility in the future, said Barbara Lyons, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan group that studies health policy.

New Jersey state Sen. Joe Vitale, a Democrat who chairs a legislative health committee, said the costs of the proposed federal cuts to Medicaid could be dramatic for his state.

“It’s not sustainable for New Jersey,” he said. “How would we also make our pension payment and pay for everything else?”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, is among a group of governors calling for more flexibility on caps in federal Medicaid funding to allow for changes in the number of people being covered or costs for expensive new drugs.

Several other Republican governors are calling on Congress to rethink the House approach.

“This certainly signals that there’s more work to be done,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an interview Tuesday on CNN. “And there needs to be some adjustments to relieve some of that cost shift to the states and to make sure that we don’t go back to where we were before — which was we just had our emergency room filled with those who didn’t have any coverage.”

Dennis Daugaard, the Republican governor of South Dakota, a state that opted against the Medicaid expansion, doesn’t like that costs would shift to the states but sees a benefit in restraining federal spending.

“I don’t like the aspect of the more risk,” he said, “but I think from a more nation-centric viewpoint, it’s probably necessary.”

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8 • MSU Reporter

News

Thursday, March 16, 2017

MALL

Continued from page 1 leave their Wi-Fi on when entering a mall. Although without even connecting to the offered network, the mall can “ping” your phone off of its Wi-Fi hotspots and coordinate that information with the building’s cameras to determine which stores are most popular in order to distribute their retailers for maximum efficiency.

With such stif f competition coming from the online market, physical stores—and malls especially—are now deciding that any type of advertisement and customer data gathering is on the table.

stores like H&M that offer new trends and cheaper styles.

With so many stores clearing out of malls, the question of how to address aggressive advertising has been on the minds of many landlords.

“The digital, mobile, and social networking world is a fast-evolving space and we are going to be learning as we go along to figure out how it works best for our consumers and our retailers,” said Mikael Thygesen, chief marketing officer for Simon Property Group, to the Investor Real Estate.

Xchanging Technology did a study of five shopping malls in the U.S., finding that 62 percent of mallgoers

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Minnesota State University, Mankato

A&E

MSU Reporter • 9 Have a story idea or a comment?

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Bluebird Cakery to open shop in downtown Mankato Faribault business started out as a Kickstarter campaign.

DIANA ROJO-GARCIA Staff Writer Gourmet cookies, cakes, and cupcakes are coming to Mankato – best drop that summer bod diet now.

Bluebird Cakery is making their entrance to Mankato with a bang, making Front Street downtown sweeter, one cupcake at a time. They began their journey in Faribault, MN in the summer of 2014. However, Kelsy Wittmeier, owner and butter cream artist/people energizer, has been decorating and baking cakes since high school.

“I’ve been baking and decorating cakes since I was sixteen. And I started with just doing it at a home economics class in my high school,” said Wittmeier. “The instructor came in and asked for a volunteer to do a flower…I went up there and pumped out a flower, and she was like ‘oh my gosh, that took me like three years to learn.’ So I just knew I had a knack for it.”

Wittmeier had the opportunity to continue to practice her skill working at Rainbow the summer before college where she learned how to ef-

Kelsy Wittmeier (left) and Stephanie Charlton (right). ficiently decorate a mass of cakes. She continued to decorate cakes in college as well.

Wittmeier studied business management and human resources and also studied abroad in Australia where she worked at cafes. This is where a lot of the inspiration of locally sourced products and from-scratch passion came

for Bluebird Cakery.

“As a small business owner, I want to support the people who work in this community and live in this community and thrive in this community,” said Wittmeier.

“So why wouldn’t we try to be more local with our products? We’re always striving to find more sources for local

Photo by Diana Rojo-Garcia things.”

After college, Wittmeier held jobs in HR both in La Crosse, WI and Cedar Rapids, IA. Although she had a lot of learning opportunities and experiences, Wittmeier went through some soul searching.

She took some time off to really figure things out.

“I just thought ‘I don’t want

what’s next, so now what?’ I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Wittmeier. “I just opened the farmer’s market stand and grew from there.

Every week, I’d come back and people would suggest things or want things or want cakes. Then I got to the point that I was taking on so much that I couldn’t do it from my house.”

This is when Wittmeier contacted a local business in Faribault. They were able to set up times in order for Wittmeier to come in to bake and decorate cakes in a commercial kitchen. Interest grew in Bluebird Cakery in Faribault which then led to the next logical step—opening a store front.

“We started with a Kickstarter. That has been really fun, in Faribault especially,” says Wittmeier.

Wittmeier believed that a lot of locals were scared of a “young entrepreneur trying to stick their neck out there” because they’ve seen a lot of successful “mom and pop”

BLUEBIRD

page 10

Album review: The Shins’ psychadelic Heartworms Indie rock band’s new album is a trip down memory lane.

KRISTINA BUSCH Staff Writer The Shins, an indie rock band from Albuquerque, New Mexico, formed in 1996.

Since then, they’ve released five full-length albums, have toured the U.S. and Europe, and have played at festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella.

The recent albums by The Shins have had a more futuristic theme about them, but their newest album, Heartworms, takes a walk down nostalgia lane while also adding some new sounds into the mix. Heartworms was released March 10 and includes the opening track “Name for You.” The song has a familiar sound and a happy beat with lyrics like, “They’ve got a name for you / Some stupid

The Shins at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in 2013. name / they’ve got a name for you girls / What’s in a name?”

The song “Painting a Hole” stands out in the album, rem-

iniscent of recent work of the band Animal Collective. The trippy song has a lot going on instrumentally, which I

(CC BY-NC 2.0) by nooccar like. The lyrics also add to the song with interesting lyrics like “So many germs to avoid / Thinking about it just

nurtures them / Baby, return to your toys / A little mental hideaway.”

Midway through the album is “Mildenhall,” which provides calming relief with a softer acoustic sound. This flashes back to their old music. In a more folksy style, the song has lyrics like “I started the morning with my dad’s guitar / He taught me some chords just to start me off / Whittling away on all of those rainy days / And that’s how we get to where we are now.”

“So Now What” has a breezy, familiar sound to it.

After listening to it, I was like, “Hey! I’ve heard this somewhere!” And I was right, it

THE SHINS

page 11

10 • MSU Reporter

A&E

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Switch into a new kind of gaming experience What’s all the hype behind Nintendo’s newest home gaming console?

GABE HEWITT A&E Editor I’ve never gone to a midnight release of a gaming console, let alone bought one at launch, but Nintendo’s Switch had my hype levels through the roof.

The gimmick of the Japanese gaming company’s latest console is that it’s both a home and handheld console and Nintendo may have hit a homerun with this idea.

Impressions In the two weeks that I’ve had the Switch, I’ve put countless hours into it, primarily playing its biggest launch title: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In doing so, I’ve made a number of observations about the console.

The first thing I noticed was the weight of the Switch.

It’s by far Nintendo’s lightest console and compares in weight to the 3DS XL. This makes playing the console in its mobile mode easier, even with the added weight of the joy-con controllers. I’ve split time equally playing in mobile mode and TV mode with the console hooked up to a TV screen. It’s a different kind

The Switch has multiple gaming modes. of experience to play a game on the big screen in your living room and then take it with you to play in your bed just before you fall asleep.

The joy-cons are surprisingly very comfortable to hold. Upon first glance, they look child-sized compared to an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller. Besides their size, what separates the joy-cons from other controllers on the market is their flexibility. Standard controllers force you to keep your hands together, but the joy-cons split that controller in two and allow you to move your arms freely while playing a game that requires both of them. Playing

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press

Zelda with my body sprawled out, arms and all, was such a relaxing experience. What adds to the Switch’s flexibility is that there’s a joy-con controller dock included that combines the joy-cons to be a more traditional controller.

The console has a number of small quirks that make it great. On the left joy-con is a “capture” button that screenshots gameplay. The capture is nearly instant and the button makes sharing your gameplay convenient.

The sleep mode function is also very quick. I went without playing Zelda for a day while it was in sleep mode and I was able to jump right

with delectable options, including some customer favorites such as sugar cookie dough, chai tea latte, or chocolate maple bacon, to name a few.

Classic flavors such as chocolate and vanilla cake are available too. Vegan, gluten free, dairy-free, and soy-free options are also available, so that everyone can enjoy the best thing in life—cupcakes.

Suggestions for crazy combos are definitely welcome as well.

In part of having incredibly delicious goodies, Bluebird Cakery oozes in positive vibes and happiness. Just walking into the store, you can smell the sweetness, almost tasting the sugar in the air.

The windows let in natural light that forces you to also light up a bit on the inside.

Wittmeier is a strong advocate of doing what you love to do and the store shows that. Her staff are

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BLUEBIRD Continued from page 9 shops fail.

“If they couldn’t do it, then why would I be able to?” Wittmeier said.

“I went to Kickstarter,” continues Wittmeier, “and that gave me an affirmation that there was support from the community. We raised just shy of $30,000 in 60 days, which is awesome. Our goal was $25,000. I was just over the moon.…We opened the store, and we celebrated our one-year anniversary last November.”

Since then, Bluebird Cakery has been welcomed with open arms.

They wanted to extend their talent and business to Mankato after having to turn away some brides because of the overwhelming volume of orders. The second location in Mankato will allow a bigger capacity to fulfil the demand of orders.

Their menu is massive

back into it without having to boot up the system and load the game.

The future There’s still a few things I’m worried about going forward.

The Switch’s games available at launch were abysmal.

Zelda is a must-have for any Switch owner, but beyond that, there isn’t any groundbreaking content available as of now. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launches at the end of April and that could have easily been a launch title.

We know Nintendo is going to release quality, first-party content for the Switch in its lifetime, but will third-party developers also

be a part of that? Third-party software on Nintendo’s recent consoles has been lackluster when compared to Microsoft’s and Sony’s. Developers should get behind the unique functionalities of the Switch to create imaginative and immersive content.

Failure to do that could result in another flopped third-party host like the Wii U. Overall, the Switch is a unique take on the traditional home gaming console. Its portability, size, flexibility and software are going to set it apart from its competitors for years to come. Its potential to be great is what’s so attractive about it.

Nintendo has always been about making home gaming consoles a true gaming console since the early days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The company hasn’t gotten too attached to the modern idea of creating an entertainment console with an abundance of apps and features.

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to get the Switch right now, just wait. Come this fall, there will be a larger market of games and apps available for the system.

a strong reflection of that, too, handpicking who best exemplifies that, including her store team leader for Mankato’s location, Stephanie Charlton.

They will be opening their doors March 31 for a soft opening. Tickets are available for purchase at $50 per person. This will include one admission, all you can drink coffee and espresso, hosted beer and wine, an all-you-can-eat dessert feast, and some Bluebird Cakery “swag.”

Check out their Instagram and Facebook for an opportunity to purchase a ticket (they are limited to 75) at Bluebird Cakery KATO. Or just follow them for seductive photographs of cakes covered in buttercream, dripping with chocolate. Bluebird Cakery is located on 607 Front Street.

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MSU Reporter • 11

A&E

Maddow: People disappointed by Trump story expected too much MSNBC host faces criticism following segment on president’s 2005 tax return.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rachel Maddow says that if people felt let down by her story about President Donald Trump’s 2005 tax document it’s more because of the weight of expectation than anything she did.

The MSNBC host found herself in the odd position Wednesday of defending herself from criticism following one of the biggest-ever scoops for her show. Maddow’s show revealed, through reporter David Cay Johnston, two pages of tax return information that showed Trump earned $150 million in 2005 and paid $38 million in income taxes that year. Trump has steadfastly refused to release his tax returns.

Maddow’s tweet less than 90 minutes before her show that “we’ve got Trump’s tax returns” set off a social media frenzy. Although a subsequent tweet specified it was only two pages from one year’s returns, expectations were sky high.

Maddow told the AP that she never misrepresented what she had.

“Because I have information about the president doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a scandal,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did.”

Her story was derided as “a big nothingburger” by Fox News Channel’s Steve Doocy on Wednesday. There were unflattering comparisons to Geraldo Rivera’s opening of Al Capone’s vault, television shorthand for an anticipated event that doesn’t meet expectations. The White House’s pre-emptive step

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press of issuing a statement with Trump’s income and estimated taxes for that year before Maddow’s show started also took air out of the story.

Maddow’s nearly 20-minute explanation of why seeing the president’s tax returns is important and all of the things they could reveal — before telling what the 2005 documents actually showed — may have felt familiar to her regular viewers but a long tease for those enticed by the advanced advertising.

Tweeted ESPN’s Bob Ley during the show: “If you have news, Rachel, please tell us.

Soon. I’m not young.”

“My priority is to get the story right and put it into proper context, and explain the weight of it and why it is important,” Maddow said.

While she didn’t reveal the income figures immediately, she did tell viewers at the top of the show the exact documents that were obtained

and how they came to light, she said.

The fact that the material was leaked — and the Trump administration contended that it was illegal for Maddow to publicize it — is as important as what it revealed, Maddow said. If it happened once, it’s likely to happen again, she said.

“This is a super interesting first window into his finances, and the question of his finances is a legitimate scandal,” she said.

While Trump called NBC News “fake news” in a tweet Wednesday, he didn’t mention Maddow specifically. His son, Donald Trump Jr., did that in a tweet: “Thank you Rachel Maddow for proving to your Trump hating followers how successful #realDonaldTrump is and that he paid $40mm in taxes.”

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday that he’d have to

didn’t know what the hell was going on…back then you just got told to shut up.

It faded into this depression that lasted a while, and I haven’t had that for a long while. Sometimes anxieties come in, just from knowing that I have kids and I have to be there. It comes at weird moments in life, too. Like we went for this big meal the other night because The Shins are releasing a new record, and then I realized that it’s just me in The Shins so all those people were there for me.”

“The Fear” hits the nail on the head for anyone who

Congratulations on a Great Season Mavericks! from

THE SHINS Continued from page 9 appeared in the 2014 Zach Braff film Wish I Was Here.

Keeping this in mind, I might be more inclined to name this song as one of my favorites, but it does have a slower, hazy sound to it, which contrasts nicely from the other songs in the album.

Ending the album is “The Fear,” which I’ll say is my number one favorite of the album. Lead singer James Mercer has openly discussed his battle with anxiety and depression. He told NME, “When I was a kid, I would have waves of it that lasted months and I

follow up with the president’s lawyer when asked if any legal action is being contemplated against NBC. He denied that Trump himself was behind the leak to Maddow and said that it was offensive even to be asked the question. Maddow and Johnston speculated on Tuesday’s show about whether Trump had something to do with the document turning up in Johnston’s mail.

“It’s despicable and reprehensible and they should be ashamed of themselves as to how they conducted themselves regarding this entire episode,” Spicer said.

Johnston noted in a tweet Wednesday that the White House had confirmed what Trump had called “fake news.” And he said that Trump fans had harassed his wife and one of his children by phone. “Sad!” he tweeted. “Let’s have open debate, not threats.”

Maddow said she didn’t feel that the White House had undercut her story by releasing the tax information early, noting that it was important to get confirmation that the story was right.

Some Trump supporters found the revelations a positive, given that critics of his failure to release taxes had suggested the president wasn’t as rich as he let on, or that he paid little in taxes.

Maddow even faced some criticism within the family: a commentary by Jay Yarow on sister station CNBC’s web site that was headlined, “Donald Trump just got a nice victory, thanks, of all people, to Rachel Maddow.”

“I don’t really care,” Maddow said. “It is funny to me that a president would spend this much energy and political capital to keep secret his finances and his taxes specifically and simultaneously would want to brag about how much money he made.

If that’s really what he wants the story to be, he can release all of his taxes and we can all glory in his immense wealth.”

knows what it’s like to struggle with anxiety, with lyrics like “The fear / I feel fear / Of all the stupid things / A man could feel / what am I, blind?”

What I love about Heartworms is that it blends sounds of folk, psychedelic, and synth-pop, all in one nice package. Plus, when one of your favorite bands of all time releases a new album for the first time in five years, it’s kind of hard not to love it.

Reporter Rating

5 5

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12 • MSU Reporter

A&E

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Amal Clooney: Don’t let Islamic State get away with genocide Human rights lawyer urges Iraq prime minister to send letter to United Nations.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged Iraq and the world’s nations on Thursday not to let the Islamic State extremist group “get away with genocide.”

The wife of actor George Clooney, who represents victims of IS rapes and kidnappings, told a U.N. meeting that what’s “shocking” is not just the group’s brutality but the “passive” response by the world’s nations to the campaign to investigate its crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.

She urged Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send a letter to the U.N. Security Council so it can vote to set up an investigation into crimes by the group in Iraq where IS once controlled about 40 percent of the country’s territory but is now being routed by government and coalition forces.

“Justice is what the victims want...” Clooney said, “but justice will be forever out of reach if we allow the evidence to disappear, if mass graves are not protected, if medical

Photo courtesy of The Associated Press evidence is lost, if witnesses can no longer be traced.”

Clooney expressed frustration that nothing has happened since she came to the U.N. six months ago seeking accountability for victims of the Islamic State group, also known by the acronym ISIS and the Arab name Daesh.

“Killing ISIS on the battle-

field is not enough. We must kill the idea behind ISIS by exposing the brutality and bringing individual criminals to justice,” she said.

Clooney represents Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman captured by IS in Iraq in 2014, who has spoken out about since her release about being raped, sold as a sex slave,

and praying for death while in captivity.

Murad, now a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, told the meeting that victims have patiently waited for over a year for the investigation of IS to start “to be able to at least

bury our dead.”

“Why it is taking so long?

I cannot understand why you are letting ISIS get away with it, or what more you need to hear before you will act,” Murad said, her voice breaking with emotion. “So today, I ask the Iraqi government and the U.N. to establish an investigation and give all the victims of ISIS the justice they deserve.”

Clooney addressed prime minister al-Abadi saying it was initially Iraq’s idea to involve the U.N. and sending a letter “would silence those who doubt your commitment to bring Daesh to justice.”

If no letter is forthcoming, she said the Security Council could act without Iraq’s consent, or it could refer the extremist group to the International Criminal Court, or the General Assembly could establish “an accountability mechanism” as it did for crimes in Syria in December.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could also launch an investigation, she said.

MSU Reporter • 13

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Have a story idea or a comment?

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Sports Editor Tommy Wiita

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Mavericks dominate Florida with 10-0 record CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer The Minnesota State softball team returns from The Spring Games 10-0 in the tournament to improve to 17-3 on the season.

Minnesota State started the weekend with a 15-0 win over Urbana on March 4.

Pitcher Libby Bemis picked up her fourth win of 2017 after going 3.2 innings allowing only three hits, while striking out seven of the Blue Knights.

Jess Meidl and Amber Kral started the scoring early with two home runs in the first inning. The Mavericks quickly increased the lead to 8-0 in the second after Kral hit a three-run homerun to center field. Kral eventually helped advance the Mavs to a 12-0 lead in the fourth, hitting her third homerun of the game.

Kral is the first member of the softball team to hit three home runs in a game since 2003. The team went on to earn another three runs in the fifth.

Game two of the day, the Mavericks ended up beating Southern Indiana 2-1 with senior Coley Ries picking up her fifth win of the season.

Ries went all seven innings with 14 strikeouts in the contest. The Mavericks got started early, putting up two runs in the first inning after Dana Mogren was walked, bringing McKenzie Paap home.

Both teams went scoreless the next six innings when the Screaming Eagles hit a single up the middle to score in the seventh inning. The Mavericks put up a total of seven hits in the game.

The Mavericks finished game three with a 5-2 win over the Lewis Flyers. Ries picked up yet another win, posting a season-high 19 strikeouts after going all seven-innings allowing only three hits. Minnesota State got off to a quick start putting up three runs in the first inning after Kral hit her fourth homerun of the weekend to make it her fifth of the season.

The Flyers ended up cutting the Mavericks’ lead down to 3-2 in the fourth inning after a two-run RBI hit. Minnesota State quickly answered with Kral hitting an RBI single to second, bringing home Meidl in the fifth. The team went on to earn an additional run

Reporter Archives in the sixth inning. Meidl finished the game putting up two runs on three hits, with one RBI in her four at-bats.

After putting up a 2-0 lead in the first inning, courtesy of runs from Paap and Meidl, the Mavericks finished their game against Mercyhurt 8-1.

Bemis picked up another win after throwing nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work. Minnesota State improved to 5-0 after Kral hit an RBI double to left, bringing home Ashley Thell. The Lakers eventually

Libby Bemis

earned a run in the fourth inning to ruin the shutout.

In a five-inning game, Bemis earned her sixth win, tossing six strikeouts allowing only three hits. Kral put up another homerun during the Spring Games, giving the Mavericks a 2-0 lead in the first and went on to hit her sixth of the trip and eighth of the season. Samantha Buhmann added a two-run homerun to center, her first of the season to increase the lead to 9-0. The Lions earned all their four runs in the fifth inning to decrease the Mavericks’ lead.

Ries earned her seventh win of the season, shutting out Wilmington 9-0. Ries threw 17 strikeouts and allowed only four hits in the contest. The Mavericks got the scoring started, putting up two runs in the third inning. Paap notched two runs on two hits while Esselman put up two runs on three hits during the game. Rickels added two runs on two hits and two RBI to help the team secure the victory.

In another shortened game, Minnesota State won over Saint Anselm 9-0. Bemis added another shutout win, going all five-innings allowing only two hits. Again, the Mavericks struck early, putting up a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a two out, bases-loaded RBI single from Mogren before Buhmann smashed a three-run triple to right. Thell added an RBI double in the second to improve the lead to 9-0. Paap put up two runs on two hits, while Thell notched one run on two hits and two RBI. In their fourth shutout win of the trip, the Mavericks won over Holy Family 6-0 with Ries being credited with the win. Ries threw five shutout innings while freshman pitcher Bria Majeski allowed only one hit in relief. The team posted runs in each of the first four innings, with Meidl getting the scoring started as she doubled to bring in Paap.

Meidl put up two hits and two RBI while Cori Kennedy notched one run on one hit and one RBI. Minnesota State topped the Northwood Timberwolves 7-1 during the last day of the Spring Games. Ries

added another win, tossing six scoreless innings while striking out 12. The Mavericks were the first to reach the scoreboard, scoring off a triple from Samantha Buhmann in the third. Kennedy added a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.

Kennedy totaled one run on one hit and three RBI’s, while Thell contributed one run on two hits and two RBI’s.

The Mavericks closed out the Spring Games with a 9-1 win over Hillside. Bemis

two hits and two RBI in her three at-bats. Bemis picked up another win, going three innings without allowing a hit.

“Any time you can go 10-0 on a spring trip you have to be pleased as a coach and a team. I thought we had very solid performances from our offense, as we outscored our opponents 83 to 10. We had 100 hits in 10 games, and 70 RBIs. We had solid pitching from both Coley and Libby as both threw very well and went 5-0 and only allowed 1 earned run,” Head Coach Lori Meyer said.

Meyer still believes the team has room to improve, however.

“Defensively, we need to improve and reduce our errors as we are a better defensive team than what we are showing. This weekend we head to St Joe, MO and play six important regional games,” Meyer said. “We can’t be satisfied with how we are playing. We need to continue to improve each day, as we finish up region play this weekend and start conference play. We need to continue to push ourselves and perform under pressure

Reporter Archives earned another win, extending her streak to six. For the tenth time of the trip, the Mavericks were the first on the board putting up four runs in the second inning.

Paap totaled two runs on two hits and three RBI while Mogren added two runs on

daily.”

The Mavericks head to Missouri to play six games in the Missouri Western Tournament starting Friday and will start NSIC conference play in Mankato March 28 against the Concordia - St. Paul Golden Bears.

14 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Track and Field finish up indoor season on high note

COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer

The track team went indoors for their trip to Birmingham, Alabama to tackle the 2017 D-II Indoor Track and Field Championships.

But before they headed to Alabama, they had members of the squad receive recognition for their performances.

Minnesota State Head Coach Jim Dilling and assistant coach Chris Parno received Head Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year honors respectively from the United States Track and Field Cross Country Association.

The team had plenty more to do in Alabama, as there was more flash to add for

the team with two athletes in particular who performed exceptionally well over the weekend.

“Nene and Mike stole the show. Mike was ranked No. 1 heading into the weekend so we knew it was his to lose,” said MSU assistant coach Parno. “He had a great two first jumps that cemented the championship for him.

Nene was ranked fourth going into the competition after finishing as the runner-up last year. She had a great reaction to the gun and got out in front right away! She ended up inching it out by a thousandth of a second to be the first 60m hurdle champion the school has ever had!”

Michael Sandle was also

named D-II Region Central Indoor Athlete of the Year for his 16.42m mark on the

were Adam Cooling at 174, Corey Abernathy at 184, and Matthew Blome at 197.

Cooling finished the weekend third in the Nation and became All-American for the second time in his career after making his way through the consolation bracket. In his first match of the day he took on UNCP’s Blaze Shade.

Shade won the match by a 2-1 decision.

Cooling was able to bounce back in his next match against UCMO’s Cody Carson. Cooling dominated, as he picked up a 3-0 decision to advance to the thirdplace match. The third-place match pitted Cooling against CBU’s Nolan Kistler. Cooling

earned a victory over Kistler after getting the definitive takedown. Cooling finishes his year 36-3 and career record of 108-24.

Abernathy and Blome both wrestled to eighth-place finishes in their outings. Abernathy dropped his first match against MU’s Zeb Wahle , 4-2.

Abernathy went on to drop his final match against Zach Stodden from UNK. Stodden won the match by a 13-11 decision. Abernathy finished the year 24-9.

Blome got his eighthplace finish in his first ever appearance in the championships. Blome opened against LC’s Matthew Rudy, but Rudy got the win by a 4-2 decision.

John Schuster season. He followed it up by grabbing the triple jump na-

tional title in Alabama with a 52’10.25” bound to grab him the championship.

Others grabbed some bigger achievements, as Mitchell Valli soared for a 16’6.75” pole vault to snag All-American honors. Isaiah Pitchfork, John Schuster, Tanner Ogren and Morris Dennis also performed admirably, taking fifth in the men’s 4x400 relay while setting a school record.

“Other highlights were the other six First-Team All-Americans. Mitch Valli finished 7th in the pole vault, Khadiya Hollingsworth finished tied for third in the high jump and the Men’s 4x400m finished 5th with a new school record of 3:12.68,” said Parno.

“Outdoor season will be a

great time! We open up already this weekend in Emporia, Kansas with about 40 of our athletes. It’s supposed to be 60-70 degrees so its always a great place to open up and get some good marks.

We add back some national athletes this outdoor season that were out of eligibility indoors like Faryn Wirkus, Jovonte Suber and Brooke Foreman. It will be fun to get them back in the mix and get the season started on a good note!”

Parno and the team are ready to head outdoors as the weather warms up for the spring season.

Blome then failed to complete a comeback win against UNI’s Joe Gomez, losing 6-4.

Blome finished his year with

a 28-11 record and the first time he’s earned All-American honors.

Wrestling ends season with three All-American’s

COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The MSU Mavericks wrestling team wrapped up their regular season this past weekend in the NCAA Division-II National Championships. Among the highlights were three Mavs earning All-American accolades. The team finished in a tie for 14th place with 28 points.

MSU’s three All-Americans

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MSU Reporter • 15

Sports

Sleepers to keep an eye on this NCAA tournament Staff writer Ryan Sjoberg gives his thoughts on the three teams that could bust brackets.

RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer Every year before the NCAA men’s basketball tournament begins, we always hear about a few lower seeded teams that could potentially make a deep run in March.

These Cinderella stories seem to happen every year so picking the right sleeper is crucial for your bracket and its success. Here are a few teams worth keeping an eye on when play starts Thursday morning.

SMU MUSTANGS Coming into the tournament as many expert’s bracket-buster, Southern Method-

ist University is in the middle of its best season in school history. Arriving at the big dance with an RPI of 15, SMU got hosed with a six seed.

Sporting a 16 game win streak and having won 26 of their last 27, the Mustangs have not lost a game since January 12th when they lost to then #11 Cincinnati. SMU is very tough to guard at every position as all five starters average double figures for points led by star forward Semi Ojeleye. The Mustangs have used the unique skillset and size of Ojeleye perfectly. At 6’7, Ojeleye plays a small ball type power forward position for the Mustangs. Averaging

19 points and 7 rebounds per game while shooting 43% from 3, Semi Ojeleye presents a matchup nightmare for opponents as he is too quick for forwards trying to defend him around the perimeter and is too big for guards to handle him down in the post.

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH Coming into the tournament winning eight of their last ten, Notre Dame is playing just as good as anyone in the field. With an RPI of 23 and receiving a 5 seed, this team is poised to do some damage this March once again after going to the Elite 8 the past couple years. The

guy to keep an eye on for the Irish is power forward Bonzie Colson. Colson is a very unconventional Division I power forward because he is only 6’5. Teams nowadays love size when it comes to their forwards so it is a bit rare to get a guy doing the type of damage Colson is doing at the Division I level. Averaging a double-double (18 points/10 rebounds), Colson has been one of the ACC’s most feared players for good reason.

OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS Every year we seem to have one double-digit seed get to the Sweet 16. This year that

potential team is Oklahoma State. The Cowboys come in sporting one of the deepest rosters in college basketball playing nine guys 15 minutes or more per game. As they say, guard play wins in March, and if this year is no different watch out for #1 Jawun Evans. Possibly the best point guard in the country, Evans has been compared to Chris Paul because of his passing ability and his success in pickn-roll type situations. Evans has averaged 19 points and 6 assists per game making him a feared scorer as well as assist man.

NCAA tournament play starts Thursday at 11 A.M.

The favorites of March Madness will have their hands full

COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer It’s tournament time, and the bracket is set: Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas and North Carolina sit in the four No. 1 seeds in the tournament.

Duke, Arizona, Kentucky and Louisville are in the No. 2 seeds. Since the start of the tournament in 1939, only 11 times has a team seeded lower than the No. 3 seed made it to the title game, according to boydbets.com and only four times since 1979 has a seed lower than that actually won. In 2014 it occurred when Kentucky, an eight seed, and Connecticut, a seven seed, met in the championship game.

Baylor, FSU, Oregon and UCLA round out the No. 3 seeds and while the odds don’t look fondly on the lower seeds, Vegas does looks kindly on those among the top 12 seeded teams in the tournament. According to vegasinsider.com, the North Carolina Tar Heels have the best odds at winning the tournament at 11/2. Behind them is their ACC rival, the Duke Blue Devils at 7/1 and the Kansas Jayhawks at 7/1.

Duke has the best odds out of any two seed to win the NCAA title, according to Vegas.

The Villanova Wildcats are 8/1 odds, while Gonzaga, the last No. 1 seed, has 17/2 odds. Only three times since 1979 has a No. 1 seed not made the Final Four, so expect to see at least one.

North Carolina has probably one of the easier routes to the Final Four out of any No. 1 seed.

Unless upset, their only real test will probably come in the Elite Eight when they will more than likely face either the UCLA Bruins or the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats have some of the next best odds to win the tourney at 11/1 and the Bruins sit at 12/1. Look for one of the three teams to represent the South and potentially win the whole tournament.

Other No. 1 seeds like Kansas, Villanova and Gonzaga will more than likely be facing tougher opponents

earlier on in the tournament.

A No. 1 seed has won the tournament 19 of the last 34 years, so odds are one of the four teams will win it again.

Gonzaga hasn’t faced a lot of high-end competition this season, but when they have, they’ve won. The Zags boast the best record in college basketball going 32-1; the only knock on them is the competition they’ve faced throughout the year.

They’ll have to potentially get past teams like Notre Dame, Arizona or Florida State in the later rounds of the Western bracket assuming they win their first game against South Dakota State.

Gonzaga did beat Arizona earlier in the year, but it was without the team’s leading scorer in Allonzo Trier.

In the Eastern portion of the bracket, the No. 1 seed Villanova has a tough route to the Final Four. They’ll more than likely have to face Wisconsin early on and potentially face Florida and Duke in the later rounds making their path to the title rather difficult. In the Midwest, Kan-

sas shouldn’t have too much trouble making it to the Final Four, unless they get upset by a team like Michigan State or Iowa State in the round of 32 or 16. The real challenge will come when they meet Louisville or Oregon potentially in the Elite Eight.

Cinderellas will show themselves and upset and bust millions of brackets. So prepare yourself for a titillating 10 days of college hoops.

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16 • MSU Reporter

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