April 26, 2022

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CELEBRATE WITH COLOR Ethnic Studies showcases different cultures by throwing various colors.

By HAFSA PEERZADA

By ALEXANDRA TOSTRUD

Staff Writer

Staff Writer

The Ethnic Studies Student Organization (ESSO) hosted the “Festival of Colors” to celebrate the diversity of students at Minnesota State Mankato on Saturday. The event took place on the Performing Arts Lawn from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and featured free henna, a DJ and colored powder.

Sanjaya Balami is the president of ESSO. “There’s a lot of international students and a lot of diversity on campus.

We came up with the idea of a Holi. A Holi is an event where we say goodbye to winter and hello to spring. This is mainly celebrated in Southeast Asia,” Balami said. The celebration typically takes place earlier in the year, but for those living in Minnesota, the winter season lasts far longer. To celebrate Holi, participants cover themselves and others with colored powder. The celebration is typically associated with Hindu religions.

ESSO used the event not only to celebrate the shifting of seasons but to highlight the diversity at MSU as well, with the colorful nature of the event representing connection that crosses cultural boundaries.

“It’s for the diversity, and to support friendship of any colors. There is no racism, no

AJAY KASAUDHAN • The Reporter

Held at the Performing Arts Lawn, the Ethnic Studies Student Organization celebrated Holi with colors and fun games a part of “Festival of Colors”.

difference between international students and students from here. We are making a bridge, with no boundaries,” Balami added. Samriddhi Khatiwoda is the event coordinator for the ESSO. “We are promoting our culture and tradition. There’s a lot of homesickness in the second semester for international students. If I play with people who are just like me, and if we enjoy it, we should promote it here or at other universities,” said Khatiwoda.

Khatiwoda is also a firstyear nursing student and admitted that the added stress of her role at ESSO can be challenging at times, but rewarding.

“Everyone is happy here, that’s all that matters to me.

Everyone is telling me ‘thank god they are organizing this event and promoting our culture here in America’. If Americans are accepting our culture and tradition, I am more than happy. Nepal is very small, and we are celebrating here in this

huge country,” said Khatiwoda.

The event attracted about 100 students over the three hours, all of whom left with a rainbow of color on their clothes, skin and hair. While the wind added an extra challenge to hosting the event.

Reke Evuleche, a graduate student, was covered in hues of blue by the time she left the event. “I came to have fun and de-stress. I’ve never done this kind of thing before.” said Evuleche.

Staff Writer

The Owatonna RAD (Reptile Amphibian Discovery) Zoo came to Minnesota State University, Mankato last Thursday to showcase three shows of their reptiles. Different kinds of snakes, lizards and various reptiles were the stars of the show.

At the Centennial Student Union the audience of all ages including the students, staff and kids enjoyed the show thoroughly. There were about six to seven different kinds of exotic reptiles that the zoo keeper and director of RAD zoo Jamey Pastica displayed. Pastica has been working as a zookeeper for almost 20 years now and worked in several other zoos taking care of animals.

The largest reptile he brought in the show was Lois Alberkon; a snake that is similar species to python which is about 8 feet long. “If it opens up its mouth for eating, it can gulp something sized like a basketball and eat up to 110 to 114 pounds at a time,” Pastica stated.

It is an incredibly strong animal but one of the most gentle animals as well. Pastica also showcased a few of their corn snakes and a snake neck turtle. “Very few zoos exhibit the snake neck turtle as well as the king snakes. Not lots of places have those so they are rare.

Corn snakes and the bearded dragon are more common pets,” Pastica said.

Some of these animals are rescued when people are unable to take care of them by

AJAY KASAUDHAN • The Reporter

Reptile show allows MSU students to de-stress

By DEBDUTI BHATTACHARJEE

Julia Battern talks climate change while in Antarctica

The zookeeper allowed students to pet some of the rare reptiles.

giving them to the zoo. The alligator was one of them as the 4 year old reptile and is fed boiled chicken as her food. She was one of the most favored of the show.

Ryan Leisto, the special chair for the Student Events Team, worked with his peers to plan this event. “We were looking for something that would REPTILES on page 3 

Last Tuesday Minnesota State University, Mankato hosted the Educators on Ice event with Julia Battern, a local high school teacher, who was invited to speak about her recent trip to Antarctica and share her experiences with the audience. The event was a part of Earth Week on campus. Attendees gathered in the Centennial Student Union to partake in conversations centered around climate change and to discuss its inherent impacts.

Onward Energy, an energy company investing in solar, wind, and natural gas energy, sponsored Battern’s entire trip. On March 17, Battern ventured on a 12-day expedition with the 2041 Foundation to Antarctica and was accompanied by 150 individuals from all over the globe.

“Before going I realized I hadn’t taken any time to think about Antarctica and so I didn’t know much about this place, I didn’t even know its shape,” added Battern.

“After a more refined search I started learning and that’s where it all began. I learned a lot about this place in the last few months and I’m excited to share my story with you.”

This was Battern’s first trip to the Antarctic peninsula.

The primary goal of the trip was for visitors to get a better understanding of why the protection and preservation of Antarctica matters through their visit and to take that understanding and insight back with them to enlighten others and spread the word.

Every day Battern alongside the other team members visited multiple locations within Antarctica and explored the landscape and the wildlife. During the event, Battern also documented her trip and showed footage of endless landscapes draped in ice sheets.

“One of the first things I remember seeing in Antarctica were the very dramatic landscapes. This is because 70% of the Earth’s freshwater is actually stored in the form of ice on Antarctica,” added Battern when describing the landscape.

Battern also showed pictures of the wildlife she had ANTARCTICA on page 5 

2 • MSU Reporter

News

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Musk reaches agreement, buys Twitter for $44B

By TOM KRISHER and MATT O’BRIEN Associated Press

Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion on Monday, promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the social media platform where he — the world’s richest person — promotes his interests, attacks critics and opines on a wide range of issues to more than 83 million followers.

The outspoken Tesla CEO has said he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.

Musk said in a joint statement with Twitter that he wants to make the service “better than ever” with new features, such as getting rid of automated “spam’’ accounts and making its algorithms open to the public to increase trust.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” the 50-year-old Musk said, adding hearts, stars and rocket emojis in a tweet that highlighted the statement.

The more hands-off approach to content moderation that Musk envisions has many

HANNIBAL HANSCHKE • Pool Photo via AP

esla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter.

users concerned that the platform will become more of a haven for disinformation, hate speech and bullying, something it has worked hard in recent years to mitigate. Wall Street analysts said if he goes too far, it could also alienate advertisers.

The deal was cemented

roughly two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a 9% stake in the platform. Musk said last week that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company’s board to negotiate a deal.

Twitter said the transaction was unanimously approved by

its board of directors and is expected to close in 2022, pending regulatory sign-off and the approval of shareholders.

Shares of Twitter Inc. rose more than 5% Monday to $51.70 per share. On April 14, Musk announced an offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per

share. While the stock is up sharply since Musk made his offer, it is well below the high of $77 per share it reached in February 2021.

Musk has described himself as a “free-speech absolutist” but is also known for blocking or disparaging other Twitter users who question or disagree with him.

In recent weeks, he has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, from relaxing its content restrictions — such as the rules that suspended former President Donald Trump’s account — to ridding the platform of fake and automated accounts, and shifting away from its advertising-based revenue model. Musk believes he can increase revenue through subscriptions that give paying customers a better experience, perhaps even an ad-free version of Twitter.

As Twitter’s main customers, advertisers have also been a voice in pushing for stronger content rules that Musk has criticized. Asked during a recent TED talk if there are any limits to his notion of “free speech,” Musk said Twitter or any forum is “obviously bound by the laws of the country that it operates in.

So obviously there are some limitations on free speech in the US, and, of course, Twitter would have to abide by those rules.”

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022

News

College bribery case parents appeal

MSU Reporter • 3

Presentation puts focus on diversity in environmentalism

EMILY LANSMAN • The Reporter

The students who attended the event sat on stage while learning more about the Intersectional Environmentalists’ presentation regarding feminism and LGBT rights within the environmental movement.

CHARLES KRUPA • Associated Press

John Wilson, left, arrives at federal court, April 3, 2019, with his wife Leslie to face charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal in Boston.

By COLLIN BINKLEY A Massachusetts business executive who was sentenced to 15 months in prison in the sprawling college admissions cheating scandal appealed his conviction on Monday, arguing that he believed he was making legitimate donations to get his three children into elite universities.

John Wilson, 62, was convicted on a range of fraud and bribery charges after a jury trial last year. He was given the longest sentence in the case so far after prosecutors said he paid $1.2 million in bribes to cheat the college admission system.

In a brief filed Monday, Wilson’s lawyers argue that he’s different from the dozens of other parents charged in the scheme.

Wilson’s children were all qualified to get into the colleges they sought entry to, according to the filing, and Wilson never knew any single person would benefit from the payments.

“All concede that Wilson’s donations were intended for the universities, not any individual,” the filing says. “The universities cannot be both the victim and the beneficiary of the ‘bribes.’”

The appeal asks for an acquittal of all charges or a new trial.

Wilson, a former Staples

Inc. executive who is now CEO of a private equity firm, was accused of paying $220,000 to have his son admitted to the University of Southern California as a water polo recruit.

Prosecutors said he later paid another $1 million to get his twin daughters into Harvard and Stanford, and then filed part of it as a tax write-off.

The payments were made through admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer, the scheme’s alleged mastermind, who Wilson first hired to help his son in 2013. Singer has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the investigation.

According to the appeal, Singer “repeatedly described his donation strategy as legitimate” and led Wilson to believe the funding was going directly to colleges.

In reality, Singer pocketed half of a $200,000 payment to USC, the brief says.

Wilson’s lawyers argue that the judge overseeing the trial wrongly blocked evidence showing that Singer described his donation plan as legitimate and legal.

They also fault prosecutors for “manufacturing an association” between Wilson and other parents in the case, even though he was unaware of any scheme or the other parents.

“Wilson was forced to convince the jury not only of his own good faith, but also

that he was an outlier. That imposed an additional, if not insurmountable, burden,” his lawyers wrote.

At the trial in October, prosecutors argued that Wilson was well aware the payments were designed to get his children into college as athletic recruits with embellished credentials.

They pointed to a water polo profile that Singer sent to Wilson for his son, with fabricated swim times and awards.

Wilson’s lawyers said he never reviewed the email with the athletic profile, and they counter that his son was an accomplished water polo player who started on his high school’s team and was chosen as an allstar in his conference.

His son practiced and trained with the USC team throughout his freshman year, according to the appeal, and left only because he suffered a serious concussion. Teammates said he was just “like the rest of us,” the brief said.

Wilson also denies any wrongdoing in his daughters’ college applications. The twins had “perfect and near-perfect ACT scores,” the filing said, and they weren’t portrayed as athletes. Instead, Wilson aimed to get them nonplayer roles on sailing and crew teams at Harvard and Stanford.

He said one daughter was actually a sailor, and the sports “fit their interests.”

REPTILES from page 1 be interesting, educational, and also fun. We were looking for zoos that we want to bring on campus and found a reptile zoo at Owatonna, and thought that would be a great fit,” Leisto said.

Hasan Niwaz majoring in management information systems found the show amazing.

He got really excited to see different amphibians, though he

was a bit scared of reptiles.

Another student Tiaraniet Feld who studies electrical engineering stated, “Though I’m a bit late due to exam, I couldn’t see the bearded dragon but really enjoyed the other part of the show.”

As finals are knocking at the door, students were very busy. One of the students from the audience shared, “It was a huge stress cutter in these hard

days.”

A lot of kids came to enjoy the show and asked lots of questions to the zookeeper.

In the last part of each show, Pastica gave the chance to have a close-up experience to touch and see them close up.

It was a successful show as a whole and everyone was so excited to have such kind of show again on campus.

Associated Press



By JEREMY REDLIEN

Staff Writer

Last Wednesday representatives from Intersectional Environmentalists (IE) gave a presentation in Ostrander Auditorium, and via Zoom, on the value of promoting intersectional issues, such as feminism, anti-racism and LGBTQ rights within the environmental movement.

The presentation was given by the executive director of IE, Diandra Marizet and the eco-communications editor of IE, Amira Dhanoa.

Intersectionality in the environmental justice movement is about ensuring that everyone is given fair treatment and equally involved within the creation and enforcement of environmental policies and laws.

“We want to make sure everybody on the planet, all humans and all living beings, get to enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and everybody gets equal access to the decision making processes,” said Marizet.

“We do not in any way own the language intersectional environmentalism, but we really wanted to create a space where people could explore a new form of environmentalism that did harness intersectionality,” said Marizet explaining the purpose of IE. The differences and overlap between cultural ecofeminism and radical ecofeminism were discussed and how radical ecofeminism wanted to be more inclusive of groups left  ENVIRONMENT from page 4

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4 • MSU Reporter

News

Judge finds Trump in contempt

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Hormone therapy education event held at LGBT Center

By JEREMY REDLIEN Staff Writer

JOE MAIORANA • Associated Press

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, Saturday, April 23, 2022, in Delaware, Ohio, to endorse Republican candidates ahead of the Ohio primary on May 3.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER A New York judge found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court and set in motion $10,000 daily fines Monday for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings.

Judge Arthur Engoron said a contempt finding was appropriate because Trump and his lawyers hadn’t shown they had conducted a proper search for records sought by the subpoena.

“Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously,” Engoron said in a Manhattan courtroom that was packed with reporters, but absent of Trump. “I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you $10,000 a day” until the terms of the subpoena are met.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he failed to produce any documents to satisfy a March 31 court-imposed deadline to meet the terms of the subpoena.

Trump, a Republican, has been fighting James in court over her investigation, which he has called a politically motivated “witch hunt.” During oral arguments Monday, Trump attorney Alina Habba said that “Donald Trump does not believe he is above the law.”

Habba said in a statement that the ruling will be appealed.

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision. All documents responsive to the subpoena were produced to the attorney general months ago,” she said.

James has been conducting a lengthy investigation into the Trump Organization, the former president’s family company, centering around what

she has claimed is a pattern of misleading banks and tax authorities about the value of his properties.

“Today, justice prevailed,” James said in a release after Engoron’s ruling. “For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company’s financial dealings. Today’s ruling makes clear: No one is above the law.”

The contempt finding by the judge came despite a spirited argument by Habba, who insisted repeatedly that she went to great lengths to comply with the subpoena, even traveling to Florida to ask Trump specifically whether he had in his possession any documents that would be responsive to the demand.

The judge, though, criticized the lack of detailed explanation in the Trump team’s formal response to the subpoena, telling Habba: “You can’t just stand here and say I searched this and that.”

ENVIRONMENT from page 3 out of traditional western environmental frameworks.

“Cultural ecofeminism supported the fact that women had a direct connection to nature based off of gender roles, like being home carers and nurturers,” said Dhanoa.

“Radical ecofeminists argued that cultural ecofeminism supported the gender binary by equating women to the environment just based off of their gender roles and their biology,” said Dhanoa.

“So they wanted to encourage the inclusion of the LGBTQ community and women in the global south who are often left out of western frameworks of environmentalism.”

During the presentation, the problems with fast fashion and economic exploitation of garment workers in Los Angeles,

the work of Native American water protectors at the Dakota pipeline demonstrations and the work of women of color in the environmental movement were all discussed in depth.

The exploitation and oppression of women was a frequent topic as was as the role women have played in environmentalism.

“Historically women have been denied free movement and agency and the ability to acquire land for themselves and are more likely to become income insecure and experience gender based violence and systemic violence,” said Dhanoa.

A small number of students attended in person with others joining on Zoom.

The small number of attendees resulted in the presenters having everybody sit on the stage in the front during the

presentation. Afterwards, everyone retired to Ostrander room 245 for refreshments and to allow for a more intimate discussion of the issues brought up during the presentation.

“It’s important to realize that it’s not our individual responsibility to address these problems but it is our responsibility to learn about them and support unionizing or support empowerment of communities that are acutely affected by these [environmental] issues,” said Dhanoa.

“Humans are inherently good, we are inherently good people but often times we are put in systems that have horrendous implications,” said Marizet.

“That’s why we need people in every topic, every passion area, every hobby, finding ways to advocate for better systems that people can thrive in.”

Associated Press



The Jim Chalgren LGBT Center hosted an information session on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) last Wednesday with representatives from Planned Parenthood.

Hormone replacement therapy is used by both transgender and cisgender indiduals as part of a gender affirmation process and to treat gender dysphoria.

Planned Parenthood provided promotional items and students were able to ask questions regarding HRT in a casual environment.

Jessica Voss is the LGBTQ care coordinater for Planned Parenthood and opened up the session with information on how Planned Parenthood uses informed consent to prescribe hormones to patients.

“There are no requirements at the time, no recommendation from a therapist, no doctors note, or anything,” said Voss.

“We are not interested in gatekeeping.”

“We just want to make sure you have good information that you need. That’s the informed part. This is what hormone therapy is. This is what it does. These are the effects.

Here’s how you take it. Then you give your consent,” said Voss.

Many topics were discussed, including name changes while transitioning ones gender, the potentially permanent impacts of hormone replacement therapy, and different options with regards to hormone therapy.

“Testosterone has a lot of per-

manent changes. I know some trans people who did testosterone for 5 years, got the thing they wanted and then they were done, they got their voice, they got their body hair, and they were like I’m good now,” said Tl Jordan, a youth coordinator for Planned Parenthood.

One topic that was brought up was how to maintain confidentiality. They described how it would work if a student was receiving hormone therapy while still on their parents insurance. “In theory, your healthcare privacy is your healthcare privacy but there are no guarantees,” said Voss.

“Your parents could get a bill that you will have to explain.”

Voss then went on to explain how a student could avoid their parents getting such a bill or statement, such as talking to their insurance company and signing up for paperless billing. Those present at the session shared personal stories regarding their experiences using hormone therapies and other aspects of gender transitioning.

Different metaphors to describe how they had been impacted by HRT including having paint chipped off to reveal ones true character to expanding the number of colors in a crayon box from the standard 8 to the 64 crayon box. “Transitioning and HRT is such a broad beautiful spectrum and I want to celebrate all the ways HRT can show up in our bodies that isn’t just in that binary box of here’s how a woman should be and that’s how you should feel because that’s not always the case,” said Jordan.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022

News

Stocks rally, erase early loss ahead of big earnings week

MSU Reporter • 5

Parents sue after death of teen

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Associated Press

JOHN MINCHILLO • Assocaited Press

A pedestrian walks past the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in New York.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE Associated Press

Stocks tumbled on Wall Street Friday, leaving the S&P 500 with its biggest one-day loss in almost seven weeks, as worries deepen about a surge in interest rates and the U.S. central bank’s efforts to fight inflation.

Several disappointing profit reports from companies also shook what’s been the market’s main pillar of support.

The S&P 500 sank 2.8% and marked its third losing week in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 2.8%, its biggest drop in 18 months, after briefly skidding more than 1,000 points. The Nasdaq also had its worst day in nearly seven weeks, closing 2.6% lower. A day earlier, Wall Street seemed set for healthy gains for the week after American Airlines, Tesla and other big companies reported strong profits or better forecasts for future earnings than analysts expected. Such corporate optimism has helped stocks remain relatively resilient, even as worries swirl about the highest inflation in decades, the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus.

But markets buckled as the chair of the Federal Reserve indicated the central bank may indeed hike short-term interest rates by double the usual amount at upcoming meetings, starting in two weeks.

The Fed has already raised its key overnight rate once, the first such increase since 2018, as it aggressively removes the tremendous aid thrown at the economy through the pandemic. It’s also preparing other moves to put upward pressure on longer-term rates.

By making it more expensive for businesses and households to borrow, the higher rates are meant to slow the economy, which should hopefully halt the worst inflation in generations. But they can also trigger a recession, all while putting downward pressure on most kinds of investments.

“After years of being very accommodative, the Fed has made it clear that policy is going to be tighter for the fore-

seeable future,” said Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network. “Their hawkish stance is giving investors pause as many are left to evaluate the impact on profit margins and (stock) multiples moving forward.”

The S&P 500 fell 121.88 points to 4,271.78. The Dow dropped 981.36 points to 33,811.40. The Nasdaq lost 335.36 points, closing at 12,839.29. The Dow and Nasdaq also posted losses for the week.

Smaller company stocks also fell sharply. The Russell 2000 slid 50.80 points, or 2.6%, to 1,940.66.

A preliminary report on Friday indicated the U.S. services industry’s growth is slowing, hurt in particular by surging costs for fuel, wages and other expenses. Treasury yields have soared as investors prepare for a more aggressive Fed, and stocks have often moved in the opposite direction of them.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.90% from 2.91% late Thursday, but remains close to its highest level since 2018. It began the year at 1.51%.

The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for Fed action on short-term rates, has zoomed even more. It was at 2.69% late Friday after more than tripling from 0.73% at the start of the year.

Markets around the world are feeling similar pressure on rates and inflation, particularly in Europe as the war in Ukraine pushes up oil, gas and food costs.

On Wall Street, most stocks fell, including more than 95% of the companies in the S&P 500. Technology and health care companies were among the biggest weights. Apple fell 2.8% and Microsoft dropped 2.4%.

HCA Healthcare slumped 21.8% for the biggest decline in the S&P 500 after reporting weaker earnings per share for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The hospital operator also cut its forecasted ranges for revenue and earnings this year.

The parents of a 14-yearold boy who fell to his death from a 430-foot (131-meter) drop-tower ride in central Florida’s tourist district sued its owner, manufacturer and landlord on Monday, claiming they were negligent and failed to provide a safe amusement ride.

The parents of Tyre Sampson said in the lawsuit filed in state court in Orlando that the defendants failed to warn their 6-foot-2-inch (188-centimeter), 380-pound (172-kilogram) son about the risks of someone of his size going on the ride and didn’t provide an appropriate restraint system on the ride.

While most free-fall rides have a shoulder harness and a seatbelt, the Orlando Free Fall ride had only an over-the-shoulder harness. Adding seatbelts to the ride’s 30 seats would have cost $660, the lawsuit said. At the time of the accident last month,

ANTARCTICA from page 1 encountered during her time there. The pictures included shots of penguins and seals swimming in the cold waters.

“Twice a day we would get on these zodiac cruises, which was my favorite part of the trip, and yes we could see wildlife from the ship but to be there and see the land really up close and be right next to some of the animals was really cool,” recounted Battern.

While on the topic of landscapes and wildlife, Battern also spoke about how climate change is impacting these areas 

STEPHAN M. DOWELL • The Reporter

Family members and friends of Tyre Sampson leave items during a vigil in front of the Orlando Free Fall drop tower in ICON Park in Orlando on Monday, March 28, 2022.

Sampson was on spring break, visiting from the St. Louis area.

“The defendants in Tyre’s case showed negligence in a multitude of ways,” said attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Sampson’s family.

“From the ride and seat manufacturers and the installer to the operators, the defendants had more than enough chances to enact safeguards, such as seatbelts, that could have prevented Tyre’s death.”

and the consequences it will have on the future of life here in Antarctica.

“There is a steep decrease in sea ice extent and thickness that’s been studied really carefully from 1980 to 2021. In terms of warming, certain parts of Antarctica are being affected differently,” said Battern.

Battern also explained the importance of ice in maintaining ecosystems in Antarctica.

“A key take away here is that life in Antarctica is adapted to the cold and the ice that’s there and there’s a dependency between the cold and the life

there too”. Lastly, Battern concluded the event by sharing a few actions that everyone can take on their part and contribute towards the preservation of Antarctica.

“When we think about what we can do in Minnesota to help preserve Antarctica we can do things to reduce our emissions to slow the warming and keep those cold places cold,” said Battern. “Those animals are adapted to the cold there so if we can slow the rate at which life is changing for them is the goal to ensure their long-term survival.”

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6 • MSU Reporter

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Editorial

Perspectives

Editorials represent the opinions of The Reporter editorial board.

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the college, university or student body.

Maxwell Mayleben Editor In Chief

Julia Barton News Director

Mansoor Ahmad Media Director

Kole Buelow Sports Editor

Emma Johnson Variety Editor

Jenna Peterson Copy Editor

Lets talk: being tall is tough

Diversity in the news room is important A newsroom needs to remain objective and deliver news as it happens, without bias or misinformation.

The Reporter is a newspaper run by the students, for the students, all of them. It helps that the Minnesota State University, Mankato campus is home to over 1,500 international students, and that number has been steadily rising according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report. In addition, MSU’s LGBT Center, which was the second center of its kind on a campus, has been around for 44 years helps provide more depth to the student life here. It only makes sense for the student newspaper to tell the stories and the happenings of such a diverse and lively campus, and do so accurately.

One of the ways The Reporter has taken this into account is by making sure we are making an effort to train editors, writers and photographers to be respectful to others and their perspectives.

Mankato has become a melting pot of people with a variety of different identities and backgrounds, and the first step to accurate reporting is to acknowledge that. A newspaper exists to serve its community.

Not being aware of the diversity among the student body is akin to walking on a rope between two mountains with a blindfold on.

The Reporter has made a constant effort the previous couple of years to make sure our news coverage is comprehensive to not only include, but fairly represent those people and organizations that our paper talks to.

It is important to take into account that as essential as it is to cover stories regarding people from diverse backgrounds, it is just as important to give them an opportunity to be a part of our team. This not only helps provide a much more accurate tone of certain topics, but also gives people from different backgrounds a platform to work and add their perspectives to our coverage.

Furthermore, a great byproduct of working with people from backgrounds not similar to yours is the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas, methodologies and practices that many members of our team would have no idea existed. People from different cultures approach challenges with different mindsets, and it is helpful to learn and apply them to our individual lives.

To tie it back to the community, students from diverse backgrounds should feel encouraged to interact with, and work for, their newspaper and express their concerns and comments in letters to the editor.

It is near impossible to completely represent a population withEDITORIAL on page 7 

Flickr photo

People who are born tall are faced with several unique issues that are simply overlooked. Perhaps they are overlooked due to shorter people not being able to see them from their incredibly low perspective.

By MAX MAYLEBEN Editor in Chief

“Could you get something off the top shelf?”

“Do you play basketball?”

“How’s the weather up there?”

For anyone else over six feet tall, they know the struggle of height. The unbearable weight and responsibility of advanced personal altitude can force those afflicted knees to buckle.

Too long have our voices gone unheard. Today, I am delving into the struggles faced by those whose vertical length extends above and beyond the national average.

Before I do so, I should address the elephant in the room. Are these problems actually significant in the grand scheme of things? Probably

not. That being said, complaining profusely in a public setting is more or less my job, so whatever, I am writing what I want.

The first, and biggest (pun intended) pain that comes with above-average height is simply literally not fitting.

Whether it is super short blankets that don’t pass our legs, or the showerheads that spray only shoulders and below, being too big for your surroundings feels like a direct attack from architects and interior designers. In addition to that, hitting your head on various signs and light fixtures is a danger that simply is not faced by the average and below community. The safety of us tall folk is rarely considered when pondering proper placement of pendulous property. And then, the entitlement that

comes from the short community. Do they understand the inconvenience that comes with being forced to get everything off the top shelf?

Suddenly, I have to drop everything I’m doing, walk to where they are, stretch up high (usually untucking my shirt in the process) just to grab the Lucky Charms off the fridge.

Get. A. Stool.

We are more than just our height, and we refuse to be used with no reciprocation. If the tall are to continue grabbing from the top shelf, then the short should be forced to grab from the bottom shelf.

But just remember to consider the feelings of us tall people, and don’t blame us if we ask: “Can you get something off the bottom shelf?”

“What is your favorite Coldplay song?”

Compiled by Maddie Behrens

CLAIRE BRUNEAU, FRESHMAN

JACOB WAXTON, JUNIOR

ABBIE HALFMAN, FRESHMAN

JESSE ZELAYA, SENIOR

EMILY RHONDA, SENIOR

NADIA THURMES, FRESHMAN

“Paradise.”

“Viva La Vida.”

“Something Just Like This.”

“I don’t listen to Coldplay.”

“Who the heck is Coldplay?”

“I don’t have one.”

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

News

MSU Reporter • 7

Bird flu drives hens indoors

CHARLIE NEIBERGALL • Associated Press

In this Oct. 21, 2015, file photo, cage-free chickens walk in a fenced pasture at an organic farm near Waukon, Iowa.

By DAVID PITT Is it OK for free-range chickens to not range freely?

That’s a question free-range egg producers have been pondering lately as they try to be open about their product while also protecting chickens from a highly infectious bird flu that has resulted in the death of roughly 28 million poultry birds across the country.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that chickens be moved indoors to protect against the disease, but while some are keeping their hens inside, not everyone agrees.

John Brunnquell, the CEO of Indiana-based Egg Innovations, which contracts with more than 50 farms in five states to produce free-range and pasture-raised eggs, said any of his chickens in states with bird flu cases will stay in “confinement mode” until the risk passes. “We will keep them confined at least until early June,” Brunnquell said. “If we go four weeks with no more commercial breakouts then we’ll look to get the girls back out.”

Bird flu cases have been identified in commercial chicken and turkey farms or in backyard flocks in 29 states, according to the USDA. Spread of the disease is largely blamed on the droppings of infected migrating wild birds. The farms Brunnquell contracts with are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of which have had at least once case of bird flu. But some, like Mike Badger, the executive director of the American Pastured Poul-

try Producers Association, are taking a different approach.

Badger, whose Pennsylvania-based nonprofit group has about 1,000 members across the country, believes birds kept outdoors are at less risk of infection than chickens and turkeys raised amid thousands of others in large, enclosed barns.

“We put them outside and they get in touch with the environment so I think they have a better immune system to be able to fight off threats as they happen,” Badger said.

Research has not clearly proven significant immune system differences in chickens housed outdoors versus indoors.

And Badger speculates that lower density of animals, air movement and less sharing of equipment and staff in pasture-raised operations may contribute to a lack of virus infections. He said the decision whether to bring hens inside to wait out the annual migration of wild waterfowl is a farm-tofarm decision “based on the comfort level with the risk acceptance.”

Commercial outdoor flocks make up only a small percentage of U.S. egg production.

About 6 million hens, or 2% of national flock, are free-range and about 4.2 million hens, or 1.3% of U.S. egg production, are from pasture-raised chickens. Chickens are categorized as free-range or pasture-raised primarily by the amount of time they spend outdoors and space they are provided.

Free-range chickens typically must have at least 21.8 square feet (2 square meters) of roaming space outdoors and remain out until temperatures

drop below around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 1 Celsius), according to the American Humane Association, which certifies egg operations. Pasture-raised chickens typically must have 108 square feet (10 square meters) outdoors each and remain outside most of the year except during inclement weather.

The certifying organizations have protocols for high-risk situations and allow for temporary housing indoors — a time period not specifically defined — once a farm documents an outbreak near an outdoor flock. Certification agencies monitor farms to ensure they don’t use bird flu as an excuse to keep birds inside too long.

Brunnquell said none of his farms had infections during the last big outbreak in 2015, and he hasn’t had any cases this year. Farmers in Europe have been dealing with the bird virus longer than those in the U.S., with cases reported as early as last December.

The United Kingdom has ordered free-range hens to be housed inside to protect them from the avian flu, and that has forced changes to how those eggs are labeled in stores.

Free-range packaging is still used but must be marked with an added label of “barn eggs,” according to a communications representative for the British Free Range Egg Producers Association. Each egg also is stamped with a No. 2 that denotes “barn” rather than No. 1 for “free-range.” For U.S. consumers, it means the freerange eggs they buy at a premium price could come from a chicken being temporarily kept inside.

EDITORIAL from page 6 in a newsroom without having representation inside the newsroom. Through the diversity of people comes the diversity

of ideas, and a wide spread of ideas is at the heart of any great news organization. As the Reporter continues to develop and move into the future, it is vital

to the overall health of the organization and the campus as a whole to adequately and fairly represent the student population.

Associated Press



Letter to the editor: MSU must remove autistic conversion therapy from its curriculum In 1961, UCLA psychologist Dr. Ole Ivar Lovaas invented Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to “fix” autistic children. Using “aversive stimuli” ranging from withholding affection to electrocution, Lovaas and his autistiphobic colleagues attempted to coerce their neurodivergent victims to act like their neurotypical peers. Years later, in the 1970s, Lovaas and his team applied the same techniques to “treat” gay children in a homophobic endeavor called the Feminine Boy Project.

When the Gay Liberation movement pressured the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the government ceased funding the Feminine Boy Project. But that didn’t stop religious right-wingers from leveraging Lovaas’ work to justify developing what we now call gay conversion therapy, which was banned in the state of Minnesota last summer under executive order from Governor Tim Walz.

ABA, on the other hand, has not been banned in Minnesota or any state in America, largely because autism is still considered a mental disorder in our society, a position I and other members of the Neurodiversity Movement fundamentally oppose, in part because it justifies the systemic abuse levied by the ABA industry

DRIVERS • • • • •

&

onto the autistic community.

Indeed, when the autistic community discusses ABA, we call it “autistic conversion therapy” because, contrary to what modern ABA abusers claim, so-called “non-aversive” forms of ABA are still inhumane attempts to turn autistic people into non-autistic people, which is just as physically impossible and traumatizing a task as turning gay people into straight people.

In short, if you’re against gay conversion therapy, you should also be against autistic conversion therapy; for the latter inspired the former. That is why I, an autistic graduate student, am so appalled by the fact that autistic conversion therapy is taught as part of the curriculum in the Department of Psychology at MSU. Not to mention all the other academic programs on campus that teach ABA, and thus train the next generation of professionals to be autistiphobic. (On that note, it isn’t “professional” to be an autistiphobe.)

Predictably, when MSU students graduate from these prejudiced programs, they proceed to work for local autistic conversion clinics like Caravel autism Health. This conveyor belt of autistiphobia, which I call the MSU-ABA Pipeline, is a manifestation of what Anne McGuire termed the “autism industrial complex,” or AIC, which, in essence profits from LETTER on page 8 

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8 • MSU Reporter

News

Jurors reject array of defenses at Jan. 6 Capitol riot trials

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Buffett to auction off one last private lunch for charity

NATI HARNIK • Assocaited Press

In this May 7, 2018 file photo, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett speaks during an interview in Omaha, Neb.

By JOSH FUNK

Associated Press

Metropolitan Police Department via AP

This still frame from Metropolitan Police Department body worn camera video shows Thomas Webster, in red jacket, at a barricade line at on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Jurors have heard — and rejected — an array of excuses and arguments from the first rioters to be tried for storming the U.S. Capitol. The next jury to get a Capitol riot case could hear another novel defense this week at the trial of a retired New York City police officer.

Thomas Webster, a 20year veteran of the NYPD, has claimed he was acting in self-defense when he tackled a police officer who was trying to protect the Capitol from a mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Webster’s lawyer also has argued that he was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights when he shouted profanities at police that day. Jury selection began on Monday and is expected to last most of the day.

Webster, 56, is the fourth Capitol riot defendant to get a jury trial. Each has presented a distinct line of defense.

An Ohio man who stole a coat rack from a Capitol office testified he was “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump. An off-duty police officer from Virginia claimed he only entered the Capitol to retrieve a fellow officer. A lawyer for a Texas man who confronted Capitol police accused prosecutors of rushing to judg-

ment against somebody prone to exaggerating.

Those defenses didn’t sway the juries at their respective trials. Collectively, a total of 36 jurors unanimously convicted the three rioters of all 17 counts in their indictments.

Webster faces the same fate if a federal judge’s blistering words are any guide. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who will preside over Webster’s trial, has described his videotaped conduct as “among the most indefensible and reprehensible” that the judge has seen among Jan. 6 cases, with “no real defense for it.”

“You were a police officer and you should have known better,” Mehta told Webster during a bond hearing last June, according to a transcript.

But a dozen jurors, not the judge, will decide the case against Webster, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who retired from the NYPD in 2011.

A wealth of video evidence and self-incriminating behavior by riot defendants has given prosecutors the upper hand in many cases.

Mary McCord, a Georgetown University Law Center professor and former Justice Department official, said jurors often won’t have to rely on witness testimony or circumstantial evidence because videos captured much of the violence

and destruction on Jan. 6.

“When I was a prosecutor trying cases, I would have loved to have had cases where the entire crime was on video. That just doesn’t happen that often.

But for jurors, it can be very powerful,” she said.

Webster’s trial is the sixth overall. In a pair of bench trials, a different federal judge heard testimony without a jury before acquitting one defendant and partially acquitting another.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who acquitted Matthew Martin of all charges, said it was reasonable for the New Mexico man to believe that police allowed him to enter the Capitol. In the first bench trial, McFadden convicted New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct.

Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington Law School professor and former Justice Department official, said it may be difficult for prosecutors to secure convictions against defendants who merely entered the Capitol and didn’t exhibit any violent or destructive behavior.

“I think the people with the best chances are those who say, ‘I was just there and I got swept up with everybody else,” Saltzburg said.

LETTER from page 7 waging the “War on Autism.”

To dismantle the AIC in my community, I recently wrote a letter to state senator Nick Frentz to advocate banning Autistic conversion therapy in Minnesota. He and I will meet to discuss the issue soon.

Regardless of how my meeting with Frentz goes, one day,

autistic conversion therapy, like gay conversion therapy, will be banned in Minnesota and, with effort, the rest of the U.S. and human society. When that day comes, MSU will be on one of two sides of history: those who stayed ahead of the curve and banned ABA “before it was cool,” and those who conveniently opposed the War on

Autism after it ended.

The higher-level administrators of MSU still have time to do right by the Autistic community and stop the MSU-ABA Pipeline now, before it’s too late to save their legacies. But their window is closing.

I suggest they move swiftly.

Associated Press



Bruce Wenzel

The world’s most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.

Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO, held the lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years, but Glide said Monday — a few days before thousands of shareholders are expected to gather at this week’s Berkshire annual meeting — that the event will be revived this year. Every winning bid since 2008 has topped $1

million, and Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years.

Many of the past winners have been investors who revere Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalues companies and stocks to buy for his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. But in the last auction, a cryptocurrency pioneer paid $4,567,888 in 2019 for the chance to dine with Buffett.

Buffett’s first wife, Susie, introduced him to Glide after she volunteered there. She died in 2004, but the connection endured. Buffett has said he supports Glide because they help people in difficult situations find hope again in life. Glide provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022

SPORTS

MSU Reporter • 9

Softball piles up 12-game win streak

By KOLE BUELOW • Sports Editor The No. 18 Minnesota State University, Mankato softball team extended their win streak to twelve this past weekend with wins over Sioux Falls, Northern State, and MSU Moorhead. The Mavericks faced each one of the schools in doubleheaders, helping the team collect six more wins in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference just two weeks ahead of the NSIC tournament.

The Mavs first traveled to Sioux Falls this past Thursday for two games against the Cougars. Minnesota State scored first in both games which helped propel them to score runs inning after inning with no response from Sioux Falls.

Senior Mackenzie Ward and sophomore McKayla Armbruster collected wins on the mound in their respective contests, and sophomore Madi Newman notched an RBI in both games to help the Mavericks collect two wins before returning home.

Saturday’s game against the Northern State Wolves got out of hand quickly, with the Mavs pouring on seven runs in the first two innings to the Wolves’ none.

Freshman Cheyenne Behrends got MSU on the board first, cracking an RBI double off her bat which was followed by two RBI singles to put the Mavs up 3-0 in the opening inning.

The Mavericks tallied six more runs before the fifth, and only one run by the Wolves helped end the contest by run rule to give Minnesota State a 9-1 win in game one. Ward and NSU’s Meghan Anderson went back and forth on the mound, as the second game of the doubleheader remained scoreless through the fourth inning.

MSU’s sophomore catcher and infielder Sydney Nielsen helped break the scoreless tie in the fifth after hitting a drive into left field which resulted in an inside the park homerun. Ward retired six straight Wolves to claim her 23rd win of the year

MADDIE BHERENS • The Reporter

Sophomore utility player Madi Newman is one of eight Minnesota State batters to average over .300 at the plate this season with a batting average of .344. Newman has batted in 22 RBIs this season on 48 hits, doing so in 151 at bats.

and help improve Minnesota State’s season record to 36-10.

The Mavericks returned the next day to face off against MSU Moorhead in their final doubleheader of the weekend, claiming two more wins.

The Mavs started off game one with a run in the first inning, while claiming

four more in the second and third innings. Moorhead got things rolling in the fourth with a run off an infield error by the Mavericks, but the Mavs were able to return to offense unscathed otherwise.

Minnesota State turned it on in the fourth, pouring on 13 runs to claim an 18-1 lead heading into the fifth. With the

run rule in effect, the Mavs shut down three straight Dragon batters to claim the first win of the doubleheader.

Despite Moorhead finding the first run in game two, a combination of Ambruster and sophomores Kacy Nickerson and Katie Bracken allowed only two hits SOFTBALL on page 11 

No. 19 Mavs eye Sioux Falls to stay atop NSIC standings

By KARSON BUELOW • Staff Writer After a well-deserved week-long break, the No. 19 Minnesota State University, Mankato baseball team is set to return to action this Wednesday for an afternoon doubleheader against Sioux Falls. The Mavericks head into Wednesday’s games with a 27-5 overall record and 20-3 record in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play.

MSU tops USF in the all-time record between the two programs at 25-1, with the Mavs’ only loss coming in 2012. The Mavs beat the Cougars 10-6 in their last meeting which took place on May 14, 2021. Sophomore Infielder Adam Schneider picked up six RBIs during the game including a three-run homerun blast to right center field.

The Mavericks’ hitting this season is led by junior infielder and pitcher Nick Altermatt, who posts a team-leading .405 batting average. Altermatt also leads the team with 47 hits this season and 10 homeruns coming in 116 at-bats.

Altermatt has also made a name for himself on the mound this season with a perfect 7-0 record. The Wanda, Minn. native owns a 2.19 earned run average and leads the team with 51 strikeouts on the season.

MSU head coach Matt Magers spoke briefly about the importance of Altermatt for the Mavericks this season. “To bat in the middle of our lineup and be one of our top-two pitchers, one of those is tough enough as it is,” Magers said.

“He’s a huge part of our success and he’s proven that since the day he stepped on campus as a freshman.”

Senior pitcher Brendan Knoll is also having a successful season on the mound with a 6-1 record. Knoll possesses the lowest earned run average in the NSIC at 1.23 and has 40 strikeouts through 44 innings-pitched.

Minnesota State’s pitching crew has been dominant this season with a team earned run average of 2.70, which ranks third in NCAA Division II baseball.

BASEBALL on page 10 

DYLAN ENGEL • The Reporter

The Mavericks currently top the NSIC standings with Augustana and St. Cloud State following closely behind. MSU rides a 7-game win streak into Sioux Falls this Wednesday.

10 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Towns, T-wolves rebound to even series with Grizzlies at 2

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Kulikov scores in OT, Wild win 5th straight, 5-4 over Predators

By JIM DIAMOND Associated Press

CRAIG LASSIG • Associated Press

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns reacts after scoring against the Memphis Grizzlies early in the first half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series.

By DAVE CAMPBELL Associated Press

Angry after two rough games, Karl-Anthony Towns had to channel his emotions in a productive way — a skill he’s still trying to master.

Towns found his peace at the free-throw line. Seventeen tries gave him plenty of time to stay calm.

He roared back with a career playoff-best 33 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Timberwolves recover from their Game 3 collapse and pull out a 119-118 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night to even the firstround series at 2-2.

“Just taking a chill pill, calming down and understanding the next game, there’s another chance,” said Towns, who hit 14 of his foul shots — including a pair of makes with 4.4 seconds left.

Anthony Edwards scored 24 points and backup Jordan McLaughlin, who didn’t play in Game 3, went 4 for 4 from 3-point range for 16 points.

The Timberwolves relentlessly attacked the basket and were rewarded with 40 free throws, 31 of which they made. Memphis was called for 33 fouls.

“I have never seen a more inconsistent and arrogant officiated game,” said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. “I’ll take whatever hit’s coming my way.”

Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant offered to cover their BASEBALL from page 9 On the other side of the field, the Cougars own a 2419 overall record and 16-12 in NSIC action this season. USF comes into Wednesday’s games having won four straight, including wins against Upper Iowa and Wayne State.

Sioux Falls’ hitting this season is led by redshirt-freshman Noah Christenson, who owns a consistent .358 batting average. The Buffalo, Minn. native leads the team with 36 RBIs on the season and 57 hits. 

coach’s inevitable fine. The Memphis starting five had a whopping 25 fouls compared to Minnesota’s 23 total fouls.

“Terrible,” said Morant, who had four fouls. “I don’t even foul like that.”

Desmond Bane, who hit his eighth 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with 34 points, kept the Grizzlies going early.

Brooks, with 24 points, helped keep them in it late. It was another quiet night for Morant, the star point guard who had 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting with 15 assists and eight rebounds.

“I’m not Ja right now,” said Morant, who indicated he’s not at full strength. “I’m not playing above the rim.”

The series shifts back to Memphis for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

“Even after everything, you still only win the game by one.

It just shows you the margin of error in this game and then the playoffs, especially when you’re playing a team like this,” said Towns, who took four shots and had just eight points in Game 3.

Patrick Beverley missed two free throws with 43 seconds left. With the Wolves leading 115-110, Morant answered with a layup and Edwards missed a pull-up 3. But Tyus Jones had his 3-pointer fall short with 10.5 seconds to go, and Edwards grabbed the rebound. He sank both free throws as the crowd chanted, “Wolves in six! Wolves in six!”

On the mound, senior Caleb Ditmarson has been the most consistent for the Cougars with a 4-2 record on the season.

Ditmarson owns a 4.05 earned run average and has allowed 45 hits through 46.2 innings pitched this season.

Minnesota State will be looking to gain separation in the NSIC standings on #2-ranked Augustana as they travel to take on Sioux Falls on April 27. Start times for the games are set for 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

Dmitry Kulikov scored with 1.3 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.

Joel Eriksson Ek had two power-play goals and an assist, Nick Bjugstad and Kevin Fiala also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Minnesota. The Wild have won five straight as they battle with the St. Louis Blues for second place in the Central Division and home ice for the teams’ firstround playoff series.

“It’s just a real good allaround game,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We did so many really good things in that hockey game that allowed us to have that opportunity to win.”

Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists, and Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen and Dante Fabbro also scored for Nashville. David Rittich made 42 saves and Mikael Granlund had three assists for the Predators, who have lost three of four but remain in the top wildcard position in the Western Conference. Nashville moved one point ahead of Dallas in the standings.

“I thought our guys really battled hard tonight,” Predators coach John Hynes said.

“We earned a point. We’d like to get two points, but we’ve got to take some things out of it and get ready for Calgary.”

With time winding down in the extra period, Kulikov took

MARK ZALESKI • Associated Press

Minnesota Wild defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (7) celebrates after scoring the winning goal against the Nashville Predators in overtime of an NHL hockey game Sunday, April 24, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn.

a pass from Eriksson Ek, drove down the left side and beat Rittich with a wrist shot.

“I don’t get many of them, so I’ve got to make sure when I get them,” Kulikov said.

Bjugstad scored the game’s first goal at 11:05 of the opening period, but Forsberg answered with 2 seconds remaining in the first. Mikael Granlund threw a cross-ice saucer pass to Dante Fabbro on the right side. The puck hit Fabbro, then the goal post, and was sitting in the crease where Forsberg poked it in for his 40th goal of the season.

Eriksson Ek made it 2-1 at 6:36 of the second. Nashville challenged the play, alleging goaltender interference because Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton was in the crease when the goal was scored. Officials

allowed the goal to stand after a video review, determining that Middleton had been pushed by a Nashville player.

“I think we’ve shown all year everybody can score, everybody can help any way they are asked to,” Eriksson Ek said.

“It’s good for our team to have that depth.”

Duchene and Johansen scored power-play goals 2:58 apart in the second to give Nashville a 3-2 lead. Eriksson Ek scored his second power-play goal of the game at 18:27 and Fiala followed with 22.8 seconds left in the period to send the Wild into the second intermission up 4-3.

“I felt in the start we had the momentum,” Fiala said.

“You can see the shots. I think we pretty much dominated the whole game.”

CORRECTION: Apologies The Reporter regrets having the wrong expiration date on the Mav Ave ad on page 32 of the 2021-2022 Gold Mine coupon book. The correct expiration date is June 30, 2022.

The coupon is still valid, and will be accepted.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Sports

Buxton’s 2nd HR, 469-foot shot, lifts Twins over White Sox 6-4

MSU Reporter • 11

Biden avoids politics in honoring hockey champion Lightning

RYAN REMIORZ • Associated Press

President Biden poses for a photo after speaking during an event to celebrate Tampa Bay’s 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup championships.

By DAVE CAMPBELL Associated Press

JIM MONE • Associated Press

Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton, center left, celebrates his three-run, winning home run off Chicago White Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks (not shown) in the ninth inning of a baseball game.

By MIKE COOK Byron Buxton hit his second homer of the game, a 469-foot, three-run drive that overcame a 10th-inning deficit and lifted the Minnesota Twins over Chicago 6-4 on Sunday and sent the White Sox to their seventh straight loss.

Buxton hit a two-run, opposite-field homer to right in the seventh against Aaron Bummer that tied the score 3-3.

After Yasmani Grandal’s RBI single in the 10th off Joe Smith (1-0), Liam Hendriks (0-2) walked José Godoy with one out in the bottom half after automatic runner Nick Gordon began the inning on second.

Hendriks fell behind 3-1 in the count, and Buxton drove a fastball into the leftfield second deck for the longest game-ending home run since MLB Statcast started tracking in 2015. It was Buxton’s third walk-off hit, his first since Sept. 5, 2020.

“Before that at-bat (my teammates) were like, ‘Buck,

you’re going to win it. Buck, you’re going to win it,’” Buxton said. “Things like that you hear, you don’t know within yourself you’re about to do it, but once I got in the batter’s box, that confidence took over and got the job done.”

Buxton did not see the ball land.

“I was watching the dugout,” he said. “That’s how hyped I was. Once I hit it, I knew I had it. The excitement to enjoy it with your teammates took over.”

Buxton is batting .351 with six homers and 11 RBIs. “I think he’s absolutely the best player in the world when he’s out there running around doing his thing,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re talking about a guy that’s just demolishing the baseball every day and is absolutely one of the top handful of defenders in the world, as well.”

Tim Anderson and Danny Mendick homered for Chicago, which led 3-1 in the seventh.

The White Sox are on their

longest losing streak since Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, 2019, and have scored just 15 runs in the seven defeats.

“Just got to keep grinding it out. Nothing’s really going our way and nobody’s going to really give us anything,” Anderson said. “It’s still early.”

Chicago had not homered in its previous six games, but Anderson hit Chris Archer’s first pitch of the game into the bullpen for his 14th career leadoff home run. Andrew Vaughn added a two-out, RBI single with the bases loaded in the third for a 2-0 lead.

Activated from the injured list, White Sox starter Lucas Giolito struck out nine in four innings, including Buxton three times. The right-hander, who pitched four scoreless innings on opening day before straining his left abdomen, threw 48 of 76 pitches for strikes.

With two runners in scoring position, Giolito struck out Trevor Larnach and Gordon, both for the second time, to end the third inning.

SOFTBALL from page 9 in 22 at bats to help MSU extend their win streak to 12 with an 8-2 win.

Six wins this past weekend was not enough to surpass Winona State in the NSIC standings, but a two-game series against the Warriors is set for this Tuesday at the Maverick All-Sports Dome in Mankato. Because of reschedules and cancellations due to weather, the NSIC standings are ranked by percentage instead of record.

Therefore Minnesota State’s 20-4 NSIC record is .017% behind Winona’s 17-3 conference record to split the teams into second and third in the confer-

ence only behind Augustana.

However, the two will have a very important doubleheader this weekend to settle the near tie at second. The Warriors find a lot of their success from behind the plate, with two batters hitting over .400 this season.

Sophomores Abbie Hlas and Sam Keller find themselves on the list, hitting .466 and .421 respectively. Winona State also has solid pitching on the mound in the form of senior pitcher Liz Pautz. Pautz has a 20-4 record in 23 games started and only allows a miniscule .199 batting average to opposing batters.

The Mavericks have solid batting, however, and should

be able to break through Pautz’s solid defense with a top to bottom lineup of batters hitting over .300. Sophomore Ellie Tallman leads the way for the Mav bats, hitting .404 to go along with 13 RBIs. The Mavs continue to have batters who hit over .300 down their roster, with seven more players surpassing the mark.

Ward continues to be the defensive backbone for the Mavericks, who allows a miniscule .73 ERA and .149 batting average to opposing batters.

Ward has struck out 255 batters this season in 172.1 innings pitched.

Associated Press



Joe Biden joked that Steven Stamkos was getting old after playing in the National Hockey League for 14 seasons, praised the Tampa Bay Lightning’s vaccine efforts and otherwise avoided politics while honoring the team for winning the Stanley Cup in each of the past two seasons. In a rare sports break amid his administration’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the president on Monday referenced first lady Jill Biden’s attendance at a vaccination event at the Lightning’s home arena last year and congratulated the Lightning for winning two pandemic ‘ships: one in an empty building in a quarantined bubble and another in a packed house at home in Tampa.

“I’m not saying that the first lady being there at your arena during the playoffs is why you won,” Biden said with a smile. “But just saying that she was there during the election season, as well. She seems to show up when people win. Just something to think about.”

Biden made little mention of players other than Stamkos while talking about the Lighting’s back-to-back title runs, which relied heavily on Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, forward Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Vasilevskiy was the playoff MVP last year, and Kucherov was the top scorer in each postseason.

All three players attended the event, and Sergachev shared photos of them around the White House on social media. There were no noticeable

absences, and a handful of players from the Lightning’s 2020 championship team who had departed or retired even made appearances.

Just for this occasion, the team made a third trip to the nation’s capital in eight months after already visiting the Washington Capitals twice this season. The Lightning flew Sunday night after playing at the Panthers and were set to return home before facing the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in one of their final games of the regular season before the playoffs begin next week.

“Pretty much everybody was on board, and everybody that could make it — former players and stuff — they all tried to make it here,” alternate captain Ryan McDonagh said. “It’s just a great tradition that we have: You become part of a championship team, you get to go to the White House and meet the president.”

Despite the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup three times — in 2004, 2020 and 2021 — it was the organization’s first time visiting a sitting president at the White House.

The 2004-05 NHL lockout prevented that year’s team from going, and the pandemic delayed this opportunity until nine months after the second of these back-to-back championships.

“It was a long time in the making,” Stamkos said. “We weren’t sure if we were going to get this opportunity, but it was certainly worth the wait.”

Stamkos, who is Canadian, deferred to McDonagh, a Minnesota native, to speak on behalf of the team at the ceremony.

12 • MSU Reporter

Sports

Pelicans defying playoff odds, while Heat look to advance

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Grizzlies coach Jenkins fined $15K for criticizing refs

CRAIG LASSIG • Associated Press

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins shouts from the sidelines during their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4.

By TERESA WALKER Associated Press

MATTHEW HINTON • Associated Press

New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas (17) is congratulated by fans after the Pelicans 118-103 victory against the Phoenix Suns in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series.

By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press

New Orleans is defying all the odds.

The Pelicans are the first team in 46 years to finish a season 10 or more games under .500, then go on to win at least two playoff games — and that doesn’t even count the two play-in game victories just to officially reach the postseason.

The last team to pull off such a trick was the Detroit Pistons, who were 36-46 when they won four playoff games over two different series in the 1976 playoffs.

But New Orleans has changed that, and made it look easy at times.

The Pelicans went 36-46 and finished 28 games behind the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the standings this season. That doesn’t matter now, not with their first-round playoff series tied 2-2 heading into the pivotal Game 5 at Phoenix on Tuesday night.

“I feel it’s our time,” New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram said.

“We worked so hard throughout the year to become a better team.”

The Pelicans-Suns game is one of three on Tuesday’s schedule: Top-seeded Miami looks to close out eighth-seeded Atlanta in Game 5 of that series, and second-seeded Memphis plays host to seventh-seeded Minnesota in Game 5 of that knotted-up matchup.

Phoenix led 53-34 at halftime of Game 1 against New Orleans. The Pelicans have outscored the Suns in nine of the 14 quarters played in the series since.And in the 2 1/2 games since Phoenix lost Devin Booker to a hamstring injury, the Pelicans have outscored the

Suns 277-257.

In Game 4, New Orleans rattled the top seed down the stretch. Suns guard Chris Paul had three types of fouls — personal, flagrant and technical — in a 99-second span in the fourth quarter, as the Pelicans were pulling away to a series-tying win.

“I’ll be better in Game 5,” Paul said. “Gotta be.”

If not, the Suns could face an elimination game on the road in Game 6.

Trae Young is already facing one in Game 5.

Atlanta’s leading scorer has more turnovers (24) than field goals (20) through four games.

He took 11 shots in the Hawks’ Game 4 home loss on Sunday, and 10 of them were from 3-point range.

“I’ll figure it out,” Young said.

Memphis and Minnesota are now playing a best-of-three series, both having gone 1-1 on the other’s home floor. Game 5 winners in a 2-2 series have a huge statistical advantage, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant — who has been dealing with a thigh issue — says he’s not as explosive as he wants to be.

“I can be honest right now.

I’m not Ja right now,” Morant said.

Tuesday’s games: HAWKS AT HEAT Miami leads 3-1. Game 5, 7 p.m. EDT, NBA TV. — NEED TO KNOW: The Hawks already have won two elimination games, thanks to the play-in tournament. But neither has come against a team like Miami, which has Jimmy Butler (30.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 5.3 apg, 2.8 spg) playing at a very high level.

— KEEP AN EYE ON:

Young. He’s been held to single-digit scoring in two of the four games, and he almost certainly will come out far more aggressive in Game 5.

— INJURY WATCH: Heat PG Kyle Lowry (hamstring) will miss his second consecutive game. Young tweaked an ankle in Game 4, but Hawks coach Nate McMillan said he was fine Monday.

— PRESSURE IS ON: Miami. A team with injuries (Lowry) and nagging aches and pains (just about everybody else) would obviously benefit from time off before Round 2.

The last thing the Heat need is to go back to Atlanta and give the Hawks hope.

TIMBERWOLVES AT GRIZZLIES Series tied 2-2. Game 5, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT — NEED TO KNOW: Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns is coming off the highest-scoring playoff game of his career with 33 points, 13 of those coming in the fourth of Game 4. If that version of Towns shows up for Game 5, advantage Minnesota.

— KEEP AN EYE ON: Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Grizzlies. Morant is shooting 9 of 31 over the past two games, and Jackson has totaled 13 points in those contests.

— INJURY WATCH: Morant said he was “almost there” when asked if he was healthy after Game 4. And even though he’s not shooting well of late, his rebound and assist numbers are making huge impacts as well.

— PRESSURE IS ON: There’s plenty to go around.

Minnesota has a chance to grab control and get a closeout game at home. Memphis can’t expect to lose twice at home and advance.

Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins insists he’s paying his own $15,000 fine for publicly criticizing the officiating in Game 4 of the Grizzlies’ series against the Minnesota Timberwolves despite the offer from a couple of players to cover it.

“I appreciate it, but not a chance,” Jenkins said with a smile Monday.

The NBA fined Jenkins on Monday for his comments to the media following the Grizzlies’ 119-118 loss Saturday night in Minneapolis.

“I’ve never seen a more inconsistent, arrogant officiated game,” Jenkins said then. “It’s embarrassing. I’m at a loss for words.”

The Timberwolves relentlessly attacked the basket and

went 31 for 40 from the foul line. Jaren Jackson Jr. fouled out with seven points, and 25 of the Grizzlies’ 33 fouls were called on their starters.

Karl-Anthony Towns, who took four shots and had just eight points in Game 3, hit 14 of 17 free throws and was the catalyst down the stretch, with 13 points in the fourth quarter for MN. Jenkins made it clear Monday his Grizzlies have to play better as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, tied with Minnesota at two games apiece going into Tuesday night’s Game 5. He said they watched film Monday and can help themselves by being more disciplined in a tight series.

“We’re committing stuff that we can correct, so if we can do that, hopefully we have a chance to get stops, get on a run,” Jenkins said.

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KITCHEN STAFF Applications can either be picked up at the Mankato Golf Club or on our website, www.mankatogolfclub.com.

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MANKATO GOLF CLUB 100 Augusta Drive • Mankato, MN www.mankatogolfclub.com

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

VARIETY

Mavs get a second chance prom

MSU Reporter • 13

African American Affairs hosts silent disco night

By SYD BERGGREN Staff Writer

Photos by AJAY KASAUDHAN • The Reporter

Asian American Affairs gave students a second chance for prom this past Saturday. With an enchanted garden theme, students who lost the opportunity to attend prom due to COVID-19 finally had the chance to dress up and dance the night away with other students.

By LILLY SCHMIDT Staff Writer

Asian American Affairs gave the class of 2020 something that had almost seemed forgotten: a second chance at prom.

Cenying Yang helped plan the prom which was themed as an enchanted garden. Yang explained the thought behind the dance.

“We wanted to give everybody the opportunity, especially with COVID and everything, to have that second chance at prom,” said Yang. “A lot of us didn’t get to experience that and we thought it was important that we include everybody.”

Minnesota State University, Mankato student Mikayla Wascul was one of those unlucky few who were unable to have a senior prom. She said her second chance at prom was a really nice event to experience.

“I missed my senior prom

in high school. It’s kind of my chance to have that experience that I missed out on,” said Wascul.

Although prom is often a busy day, MSU sophomore Hannah Penttili said that this prom was less stress.

“I know that my high school proms were a very, very big deal, so this is more of a like casual fun,” shared Penttili.

Wascul echoed this sentiment. Even thought the event was last minute, Wascul was prepared.

“I had this dress in my closet for two years, so that was easy.

It was just getting the shoes and getting the makeup down,” said Wascul.

In order to plan this enchanting night, Yang explained that Asian American Affairs split into four committees.

“We had the Entertainment Committee and they’re focusing more on the activities and

DJ. And then we had decorating committee,” said Yang. “We [also] had an outreach and a marketing committee and that worked out pretty well.”

Opposed to a traditional prom queen and king, the second chance at prom gave out best dressed awards to students

who attended.

“We’re gonna be doing best dressed since this campus is so large and not everybody knows each other’s names,” shared Yang.

MSU Junior Anna Symmens pointed this out as one of the PROM on page 15 

Undergraduates’ art show DYLAN ENGEL • The Reporter

By EMMA JOHNSON

MSU undergraduate’s art is currently displayed in the CSU gallery.

Variety Editor

Minnesota State University, Mankato is ending the gallery year strong with a creative works exhibition that highlights the work of said undergraduate students by giving them a chance to express themselves through the raw materials and intuitive design.

Senior Harry Ritchie is one of the artist’s who has work

featured in the gallery. Ritchie’s love of art began in high school when he would draw and sketch in notebooks with colored pencils and has since grown as an artist.

“In the fall of 2018, I started doing more art after I took a semester off and I started posting more on Instagram,” said Ritchie.

“I started identifying more as an artist ever since then and I’ve ARTWORK on page 14 

Minnesota State University, Mankato’s African American Affairs held the Silent Party Turn Up, a silent disco hosted by local disk jockey, DJ Ones April 21.

Silent discos have become more and more prevalent in recent years with events utilizing them to minimize disturbances and create a space where attendees can control what they are listening to and how loud it is.

For this event, African American Affairs Director Kenneth Reid explained how the organization partnered with a headphone vendor to create the best experience they could.

“You aren’t in the know without the headphones,” said Reid. “They allow you to appreciate three different varieties of music.”

For AAA, the Silent Party Turn Up was all about having people enjoy music they may not have heard much of before such as R&B, Raggaetone and afro-beats.

“We want to showcase the richness that is African and Pan-African arts and music,” shared Reid.

“We want to show what our Pan-African folks have contributed to the world of music.”

African American Affairs Graduate Student Daniel Audi had never heard of a silent disco before and was shocked. However, Audi quickly came to enjoy the idea.

“The first time I had heard of the concept, I was really surprised. I thought, ‘why would someone want to do that,’” said Audi.

“Because the headphones are color coded, you can get together with different kinds of people and experience different kinds of music [at the same time.]”

While two of the channels on the headphones played curated playlists, DJ Ones held the third, creating mixes and keeping the crowd entertained.

Well known throughout Minnesota and much of the country, DJ Ones has performed for a number of celebrities and was able to create an upbeat and enjoyable time for students.

DISCO on page 14 

14 • MSU Reporter

Variety

Johnny Depp’s wild testimony, Amber Heard cross-examination

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

DISCO from page 13 “This is a repeat of an event we hosted in 2019 which was an amazing time,” noted Reid.

“DJ Ones mixed it up.”

The event hosted a crowd of over 40 people, with many large groups in attendance.

African American Affairs also gave away snacks, t-shirts and bracelets.

A bunch of students had never been to a silent disco, but had a great time.

“I wanted to come to have fun with my friends and hang out,” said MSU student Shannon Roman, who came with a group of friends.

“I’d never been to one of these, but I’ve seen lots of vid-

eos and they seemed fun,” said attendee Abby Dittbenner.

Roommate pair Mariana Jordan and Chaleiah Henderson greatly enjoyed the event.

While it was Jordan’s first time, Henderson had attended in the past and was intrigued to come again. Henderson encourages students to attend in the future.

“I was interested in coming tonight because my roommate told me about it, and when I came last year it was a lot of fun,” said Henderson.

“I wanted to come because I’ve been to two other silent parties and they were super fun, and it’s just a way to get involved and dance.”

ARTWORK from page 13 been moving to different art forms.”

While he doesn’t use colored pencils anymore, Ritchie uses oil paint and acrylic ink.

Ritchie’s piece in the exhibit is called “Coalescent,” a large red painting with undertones of blue that Ritchie created intuitively.

“I started with some blue brush strokes and then I decided to cover it up with some red which is interesting because you can see the blue [undertones] and it gives it a weird vibration,” said Ritchie. “[When I create art,] there’s a lot of things that happen that I don’t particularly like and I keep going until I get to a place where I like it. I think that contrast works well and it feels finished.”

After Ritchie graduates this spring, he plans to attend grad school to get an MFA with hopes of teaching at the collegiate level after the impact of his art professors here at MSU. “[My] goal is to keep making, creating and exploring new things. I’ve gained a lot of respect for my college professors,” said Ritchie. “I would consider some of my professors friends and I really enjoy that relationship.”

Junior Wynter Prudhomme is another artist who has art in the exhibition. Prudhomme has been creating art since kindergarten where she found her love

through arts and crafts.

“I wouldn’t want to be done with [my projects,]” shared Prudhomme. “I used to get in trouble because I wouldn’t stop creating stuff or have temper tantrums if I couldn’t keep making art. I always had inclination towards it.”

Prudhomme gets inspiration for her art from artist Kristen Liu-Wong who focuses on femininity, sexuality and sensuality in her art.

Prudhomme’s piece, titled “The Beauty of Fat” is a huge flower portrait with a plus-size body in the middle. Prudhomme creates art that focuses on underrepresented bodies and persons.

“I thought it would be interesting to put a bold plus size figure on a very large scale that you kind of have to look at because flowers are so beautiful and they just draw you in,” shared Prudhomme.

“I wanted to show some representation because representation leads to acceptance in society.”

While Prudhomme isn’t graduating this year, art has still made an impact on her life.

Prudhomme explained how she couldn’t live without art and how therapeutic it is for her.

“I can’t imagine not being able to pick up a paintbrush ever again because it fills me with just a peacefulness. It’s one thing where I can get in the ARTWORK on page 15 





EVELYN HOCKSTEIN • Associated Press

Actor Johnny Depp demonstrates what he claims was an alleged attack by his ex-wife Amber Heard, as he testifies during the trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va. , Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

By R.J. RICO

Associated Press

For three days, Johnny Depp has been testifying in a libel trial that, at least in theory, is about whether Amber Heard defamed him in a 2018 newspaper op-ed.

The trial has turned into a spectacle in which Depp has testified about everything from taking pills as a child to a near mental breakdown in which the actor said he used his severed finger to write on the walls in his own blood to recount his ex-wife’s alleged lies.

WHY IS DEPP DOING THIS? Heard’s lawyers had warned that the trial would be a mudslinging soap opera that would expose the “real Johnny Depp.”

Depp denies ever abusing Heard and, despite the public attention brought to his drug use and his violent text messages, he said he’s obsessed with revealing the truth and doesn’t want to disappoint those who’d looked up to him.

“My goal is the truth because it killed me that all these people I had met over the years ... that these people would think that I was a fraud,” Depp testified Tuesday.

The actor has said that his movie career suffered after Heard wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post in which she referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Heard never mentioned Depp by name, but Depp’s lawyers said it was a clear reference to accusations Heard made when she sought a 2016 restraining order against him.

Depp said the accusations and the article made him a Hollywood outcast and cost him his role in the lucrative “Pi-

rates of the Caribbean” movie franchise.

Heard’s lawyers have argued that Heard’s opinion piece was accurate and didn’t defame him. They’ve said Depp’s ruined reputation was due to his own bad behavior and have argued that The Walt Disney Co. had already decided to ax Depp from “Pirates of the Caribbean” months before the article’s publication.

WHAT ARE HEARD’S ALLEGATIONS? Heard has accused Depp of physically and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions before and during their brief marriage, often in situations where she said he drank so much he later blacked out.

Depp said Heard’s allegations of his substance abuse have been “grossly embellished” and that he was never out of control during that time period.

The two met in 2009, got married in 2015 and Heard filed for divorce a year later.

Heard’s attorneys have highlighted many text messages Depp sent to friends recounting the copious amount of alcohol and drugs he had taken at a time in which he claims he wasn’t a problematic drinker.

Depp filed a similar lawsuit in England against a newspaper there and lost. The judge there found that Depp assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life multiple times.

Heard is expected to testify later in the trial.

HOW DID DEPP AND HEARD MEET? Depp and Heard met through the filming of “The Rum Diary,” a 2011 Depp-produced movie based upon an initially unpublished novel by the late Hunter S. Thompson that

Depp discovered while going through the gonzo journalist’s papers with Thompson, his friend.

Depp said Heard was the perfect embodiment of the book’s femme fatale character named Chenault. “That’s the Chenault that Hunter wants,” Depp recalled. “Yep, she could definitely kill me.”

They started dating a few years later, with Depp portraying the early part of their relationship as a classic Hollywood romance. Depp would call Heard “Slim,” while she called him “Steve,” nicknames used by the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall characters in the 1944 film “To Have and Have Not.” Depp, 58, said he was also cognizant of the age difference between himself and Heard, 36, and compared it to the 25year gap between Bogart and Bacall.

“I acknowledge the fact I was the old, craggy fogey and she was this beautiful creature,” he said.

HOW DID THEIR MARRIAGE FALL APART? Depp said things began to change in his marriage when he felt that he “was suddenly just wrong about everything” in Heard’s eyes.

Depp said Heard made little digs at him, demeaned and berated him. The insults escalated into full-fledged circular arguments from which there was “no way in or out,” Depp said.

“It was sort of a rapid-fire, sort of endless parade of insults,” Depp said.

Soon after, Heard began physically attacking him, Depp said. He said she once threw two bottles of vodka at him, the second of which exploded and severed his finger to the point where bone was exposed.

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Variety

Kris Jenner says Blac Chyna tried to murder her son in 2016

MSU Reporter • 15

Video shows Mike Tyson punching airline passenger

STEPHEN FLOOD • Associated Press

Authorities are investigating after cellphone video appears to show Mike Tyson hitting another passenger on a plane at San Francisco International Airport. The former boxer was on a Jet Blue plane bound for Florida.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

EVAN AGOSTINI • Associated Press

Kris Jenner (left) testified in court on Friday about how former daughter-in-law Blac Chyna attempted to murder her son, Rob Kardashian. Daughters Kylie Jenner (center) and Khloe Kardashian were also present in court.

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Kris Jenner became emotional while recalling a volatile 2016 argument she heard about between her son Rob Kardashian and his then-girlfriend Blac Chyna that traumatized him.

Jenner testified for the second day from the witness stand in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday that she believed Chyna attempted to murder her son.

At the time, she said she was told that Chyna pointed a gun at Kardashian’s head, tried to strangle him with a phone cord and hit him with a metal pole while intoxicated.

“It was complete chaos. It was scary,” said Jenner, the 66-year-old “Keeping Up with

the Kardashians” matriarch.

She’s the first of four defendants, a group that also includes her daughters Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner to testify in Blac Chyna’s $100 million lawsuit alleging the women conspired to have her reality show “Rob & Chyna” canceled and damage her celebrity status.

Earlier this week, much of Chyna’s testimony dealt with the fight, and the celebration of the show’s renewal the night before.

Chyna testified that she was joking with her fiance when she wrapped a phone cord around his neck and grabbed his unloaded gun off a nightstand.

But Kris Jenner said putting a gun to her son’s head was “not a joke.”

“He was a mess,” she recalled while talking to her son after the incident on Dec. 15, 2016. “I could only imagine how he felt. … This was a horrible situation. I was heartbroken.”

Kris Jenner began to shed tears while remembering the Rob Kardashian-Chyna spat, which happened months after Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris. She said knowing that both her children had a gun pointed at them within the same year was traumatizing for her.

“While Rob’s situation was going on, Kim had just been dealing with Paris,” she said.

“He had a gun put at his head, and she was held at gunpoint and thrown into a bathtub.”

PROM from page 13 major differences between her second chance at prom and what her high school prom looked like.

Although this second chance surrounded students with their new college peers, Symmens explained that the event was great for meeting new people.

“There’s a lot of people you don’t know here. They’re not from your high school. You get

to meet a lot of people at these kinds of events,” said Symmens. “You just get to hang out with your friends and let go. This is a good time to have it - right before finals, and everybody needs to relax.”

In addition to this friendly atmosphere, Penttili had a great time dressing up and dancing, something Penttili encouraged to students who should attend next year.

“You get the opportunity to dress up and be excited about that, and then just go and dance and hang out with people, which is pretty much what people are excited about when it comes to prom,” shared Penttili. “I feel like there’s so few opportunities to dance as you get older aside from wedding stuff, so it’s just fun to get to go and dance and hang out with people.”

Associated Press



ARTWORK from page 14 zone, shut my brain off and be at peace,” said Prudhomme.

“It’s such a meditative and therapeutic thing for me.”

Ritchie’s advice to future art majors is to talk with other art majors and to put their work out there as much as they can.

“When a lot of students start out, [art students] have group critiques where we talk about other people’s work and in the beginning, everyone is 

usually shy and they don’t like speaking up for fear of hurting someone’s feelings if they say something about someone’s art, but communication is big,” shared Ritchie.

“Art doesn’t have to look pretty or realistic. It can be whatever you want.”

Prudhomme’s advice to those who are hesitant to display their art is that while it may be initially scary, the rewards are great.

“The mantra I’ve been going by in life is ‘you never know unless you do it.’ The amount of pain you could receive from doing something and failing is nothing compared to the regret you could feel from not even trying to put yourself out there,” shared Prudhomme.

Both Ritchie’s and Prudhomme’s pieces will be displayed in the CSU Gallery until the end of the semester.

Authorities on Thursday were investigating an incident in which former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport.

The video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat repeatedly striking the unidentified man in the head, drawing blood.

The footage was first shared

by TMZ, which said it was recorded on a Jet Blue plane bound for Florida.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” representatives for Tyson said in an email to The Associated Press.

Prior to the physical altercation, the man is seen on the video standing over Tyson’s seat, waving his arms and talking animatedly while the former boxer sits quietly.

San Francisco police responded Wednesday night around 10 p.m. to a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal, of-

ficials said.

“Officers arrived and detained two subjects that were believed to be involved in the incident. One subject was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation,” police said in a statement Thursday.

Both were released pending further investigation, the statement said.

San Francisco police said the video has been shared with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the airport.

Sheriff’s officials said “we are not releasing information on the incident because it is an active investigation.”

JetBlue didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking additional details.

Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1987 at age 20. During his career he had 50 wins, 44 of them by knockout.

In the 1990s Tyson served three years in prison after being convicted of rape. He has maintained his innocence in that case.

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Two Plates & Two Drinks from Lunch Menu

Two Plates & Two Drinks from Dinner Menu

*Cannot be combined with any other special offers.

*Cannot be combined with any other special offers.

2041 Blazing Star Dr. Mankato

507-517-7269 losdosamigosmankato.com

16 • MSU Reporter

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Tuesday, April 26, 2022