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Bearcats vs. Huskies
Bearcats face off against UConn Saturday
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Joey Bada$$
Bogart’s welcomes Brooklyn rapper
THE NEWS RECORD / UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI THURSDAY, OCT. 22, 2015
UC debates marijuana legalization leading up to Issue 3 vote CAROLINE CORY & JUSTIN REUTTER | STAFF REPORTERS
University of Cincinnati students and community members assessed the benefits and risks concerning Issue 3 Tuesday during the ResponsibleOhio Community Forum and panel discussion, sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). The forum, hosted by SSDP President Zefron Vesel, began with the animated video “War on Drugo,”which focused upon a fictitious dragon named Drugo and the people of a kingdom society. In the video community members often wanted to hang out with Drugo, sometimes for long periods of time. The king began to criminalize Drugo and started charging people to spend time with the dragon, which caused death, poverty and destruction. Dungeons became crowded with people who illegally spent time with Drugo and the people were then jailed for nonviolent crimes. Realizing the dragon’s innocence, the kingdom decided to give Drugo a second chance 200 years later by living and working with Drugo in their society.
Vesel believed the theme in the video reflected the goals and objectives of SSDP. “This video is everything that SSDP stands for,”Vesel said. Supporters of Issue 3 made their claims of how passing the issue would be timely, while supporters of Issue 2 shared their opinions on how Issue 3 would monopolize the legalization of marijuana. Proposed by the group ResponsibleOhio, Issue 3 will legalize medical and recreational marijuana by creating
10 growing sites if the amendment is passed. It also allows the state to authorize more growing sites or revoke licenses if the existing sites do not meet consumer demand. In response to Issue 3, state lawmakers proposed Issue 2. If passed, the amendment will prohibit groups from using a ballot initiative in order to allow a monopoly, oligopoly or exclusive tax benefit under the Ohio Constitution. Amy Wolfinbarger, Hamilton County captain of the Ohio Rights Group, said Issue 3 seemed biased at first, but the lives saved by medical marijuana would be worth the unfairness. “Initially when ResponsibleOhio came out, I was not for the amendment,” Wolfinbarger said. “I felt it was very biased.” However, Wolfinbarger said elected officials are failing those they represent. “Lives could be saved by medical marijuana,” she said. According to Chris Stock, lawyer at Markovitz, Stock and DeMarco and author of ResponsibleOhio, the SEE MARIJUANA PG 2
Law students LOUISVILLE CARDINALS SCANDAL work to free wrongfully convicted ALLEGATIONS OF PROSTITUTES BEING USED FOR RECRUITING
RENEE GOOCH | MANAGING EDITOR
In coincidence with the second annual International Wrongful Conviction Day, the University of Cincinnati’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday presented a collaborative effort between UC’s College of Law and the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP). The international day of recognition Oct. 2 acknowledged the lives of those who have been adversely impacted by wrongful conviction and educates the public on those issues. Founded out of UC’s College of Law and a branch of the national Innocence Network, the OIP has freed over 23 Ohioans wrongly sentenced for crimes. OIP-u was launched as the primary component of UC law schools’ Rosenthal Institute for Justice OIP-u was created by Richard Rosenthal, UC chairman and co-founder of the Rosenthal Institute for Justice, to give undergraduate and graduate students in the state a way to become involved and free the wrongfully incarcerated people of Ohio. “You have a jewel here,” Rosenthal said. “In organizing, planning, supporting and the superlative work, I have no words.” Innocence project initiatives have become worldwide and the U.S. has freed over 250 inmates to date, said Mark Godsey, UC professor of law and OIP cofounder. Godsey said the program sustains SEE BOARD OF TRUSTEES PG 2
DAN SULLIVAN | PHOTO EDITOR
Dean Gillispie emphasizes the importance of the Ohio Innocence Project Wednesday morning during the UC Board of Trustees meeting.
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino late in the second half of a 74-69 loss to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament.
CHARLES BERTRAM/LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER/MCT
BASKETBALL COACH DENIES INVOLVEMENT dancers to have sex with recruits. A former player confirmed this allegation, saying Outside the Lines, an ESPN TV show that examines McGee gave him money to tip the dancers and paid one issues in sports, accused the University of Louisville’s of them to have sex with him. basketball program of using strippers to help sway Prostitution deals did not happen between McGee and recruits to come to their university. Powell until the second party. When In a report published Tuesday, given the opportunity, some dancers five anonymous former Louisville were up to get the extra money. To avoid potential damage basketball players and recruits Powell allowed two of her reported going to parties from 2010 set forth by the NCAA, the daughters to be paid to have sex through 2014 where strippers were with former Louisville stars Russ University of Louisville present. Smith and Montrezl Harrell. Both of could choose self-imposed Louisville’s former graduate the daughters told Outside the Lines assistant coach Andre McGee sanctions to limit the they were paid around $100. is reported to have paid for the When questioned by the Houston fallout from the scandal. strippers. Chronicle, Harrell denied knowing One recruit who ended up not about the parties. Smith declined to SAM DRAUT attending Louisville told Outside the comment. Lines it was as if he were in a strip Louisville’s head basketball coach club. Rick Pitino also said he did not know about the parties. This report comes after Katina Powell’s novel “I don’t know if any of this is true or not,” Pitino told “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort ESPN’s Dana O’Neil and Yahoo! Sports in a conference Queen,” which was published earlier in October. The call Tuesday. “There’s only one person who knows the book details various stripping and sex parties that took truth and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his place inside of Billy Minardi Hall, Louisville’s onteammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans campus athletic dormitory. and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right Powell said McGee arranged the parties and paid her $10,000 for supplying dancers during a four-year period. SEE SCANDAL PG 3 She added McGee supplied cash for side deals for DAVID WYSONG | SPORTS EDITOR
Opinion: In falling market, Playboy puts clothes on RUSSELL HAUSFELD | ARTS EDITOR
After years of declining readership, Playboy announced in September it would be eliminating nude photographs from its pages in an attempt to expand its dwindling audience, acknowledging that soft-core pornography is hardly difficult to come by these days. But is eliminating pornography enough to make Playboy relevant again? In 2015, Playboy circulated 800,000 copies. In November of 1972, that number was seven million. Playboy Chief Executive Scott Flanders made a solid point when he told The New York Times they are pushing no boundaries with nude models, since people are only a click away from sexual content.
Rather than a decision to tone the magazine down, the publication simply does not see soft-core pornography as an asset to gaining readers that are overwhelmed by the porn industry. It is possible the decision could allow for more advertising opportunities and a chance to rebrand as a less pornographycentered publication. While the magazine is known worldwide for its centerfolds and Playboy Bunnies, it has also published fiction from incredible literary icons such as Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates and Tim O’Brien. Playboy was even responsible for serializing Ray Bradbury’s monumental “Fahrenheit 451” in 1954. The magazine could also focus on past
levels of in-depth reporting, big-name interviews and risqué material, possibly putting it in the market to compete with media outlets like Vice, which has dominated the 18 to 40-year-old demographics Playboy is aiming for. Currently, Playboy is dabbling in things like Buzzfeed-style lists, gaming, liquor, drugs and of course, sex. Although Playboy has taken stabs at outlets like Vice – Flanders told The New York Times that unlike Vice, his publication is targeted at young men with jobs – it has a long way to go before competing with Vice’s 1.2 million readership of 2013 and huge online presence. SEE PLAYBOY PG 5
THE STUDENT VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
(FRANCIS SPECKER/LANDOV/MCT)
Hugh Hefner arrives at the Playboy Super Bowl Party, February 2, 2008.
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