Celebrating 100 years of excellence in journalism VOL. 109 No.2
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017
NTDAILY.COM
Texas legislature to debate number of issues A look into 10 issues the state will be debating
By Keoni Holoman The Texas legislature convened in Austin for the 85th legislative session on Jan. 10, and will continue to meet for the next 140 consecutive days. Bill proposals from Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other legislators are being discussed, ranging from transportation regulations to more controversial issues like LGBT and gun rights. Some of these bill proposals have been long debated by Texans and with the current change in federal administration, the concern is increasing. UNT students, in particular, may feel the direct effects if some of these bills are enacted depending on their personal lives and future career fields. Here are 10 issues to pay attention to this session: Education Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick proposed his “School Choice” bill that will allow the property tax funds that would be allocated to a child’s public school education to now be managed by the parents so they can decide to spend it towards home or private schooling. Four thousand people rallied at the state capitol in Austin on Tuesday in support of the decision, but this also causes concern among current and future public school teachers in need of access to those funds. Another controversial issue being tackled throughout this legislative session is regulations to decrease the rise of improper relations between teachers and students. The legislature will also discuss how state assessment tests hold school districts accountable. LGBT Rights Legislation in both the Texas House and Senate have submitted a total of 21 proposals regarding the LGBT community, 17 pro-LGBT and four anti-LGBT. While there are far more proposals in favor of maintaining and expanding LGBT rights, the four in opposition have caused concern and further debate. The anti-LGBT bills include the repeal of city ordinances that protect LGBT members from employment and housing discrimination, banning transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with, and allowing businesses,
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IN THIS ISSUE
MARCH ON DENTON
Denton residents gather to protest the inaguration of President Donald Trump
By James Norman Millions of people gathered on Saturday at women’s marches in cities across the country to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Denton was no exception. Hundreds of people gathered on the Square to show support and solidarity for the country-wide women’s demonstration. “Everyone is here for a different reason,” said Brooke Scoggins, one of the planners for the
ARTS & LIFE Band Together Dention festival pg 5 A range of local bands performed at the Band Together festival this past weekend and at various house venues.
SPORTS
Denton event. “But we all share the same values and that’s what brings us together.” The march began at noon in front of the Courthouse on the Square. By 12:30 p.m., the demonstrators formed a circle around the courthouse, and shortly after began marching around the building, chanting a variety of slogans: “not a wall, build a bridge,” “they go low, we go high,” and “sí, se puede. Yes we can.” Overwhelmingly, people said
Driving past some of her 2,000 acres of land, Robin Young dons a black t-shirt that reads “It is well” with a thick brush and gloves nestled on the floor. As Garth Brooks plays in the background, Young cannot help but talk about her favorite topic — bees. “It’s just like snakes or guns or anything that could kill people,” Young said. “You don’t have to be afraid of them, you just need to understand it and respect what it is.” She’s skeptical, however, that her bees will make an appearance today. It is a chilly 57 degrees, too cold for them to come out. “They have two muscles, one pulls one way, one pulls the other,” Young said. “It makes them vibrate and that’s
how they fly. So just like a runner, when it’s really cold, their muscles don’t work right.” After five years of beekeeping, she can easily tell. Young and her husband, Jack, operate Soul Honey, a small business that sells big at the Denton County Community Market. Along with their honey, the business produces beeswax-based products like lotion bars, lip balms and various salves. Her fascination with bees began when Jack gifted her with a two-day beekeeping class for her birthday. “I came home with two hives and never looked back,” Young said. Now, she boasts seven apiaries, or collections of beehives, scattered north of the North Texas High Speedway all the way up to
with the march in Washington,” said Curtis Kimberlin, a UNT student and a member of the LGBT community. “I felt like this election was very saddening and heartbreaking for many Americans.” As the march went on, there was non-protest activity around it. Several booths were set up with the purpose of helping people become more
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By Bianca Mujica
Robin checks the bee hives, trying to find a good one to harvest a honey sample. Ruben Paquian North Sanger. She and her husband own over 2,000 acres of land dedicated to livestock and their bees. In all her years of beekeeping, Young has made it a point not use pesticides. It’s a conscious choice and a challenge she thoroughly enjoys. “It’s just fascinating,” Young said. “I’m a religious
person of faith and it’s just amazing to me how God’s design works. When you try to understand his design, it’s much easier than trying to do it your own way with those pesticides.” Last year at the Texas Beekeepers Association
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High-flying Ryan Woolridge settling in with the Mean Green By Clay Massey The number zero flies underneath the basket at the Super Pit, pirouetting through the air. His acrobatic finishes have left fans mesmerized several times this season. The 6’3, 175-pound point guard seems to slow down
time, dancing his way through defenders on his way to the hoop. Hanging above the hardwood floor below, he lays the basketball up and in for two points. The nifty finishes have started to become a signature move for freshman Ryan
Candice Adams pg 7 After overcoming lingering knee injuries, senior basketball player Candice Adams is playing her last season at North Texas.
OPINION Flag burning pg 9 Columnist Morgan Sullivan dives into why flag burning should remain legal under the Trump Administration.
the march’s intention was to show solidarity with the other marches around the country, namely the march in Washington, D.C., which attracted over 500,000 people. But at about 1 p.m. the sound of a gong exploded across the Square and the crowd fell silent. The crowd put up peace signs in the air and observed a moment of silence. Once over, the crowd jeered and chanted, many speaking with each other. “I wanted to stand in solidarity
Soul Honey “bee-lieves” in the power of bees First generation By Amy Roh students share experiences
NEWS Ceremony for new building pg 2 The College of Visual Arts and Design symbolically commemorated their new building at their groundbreaking ceremony.
Protesters gather at the Square in Denton, TX to protest the recent inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Jake King
North Texas freshman guard Ryan Woolridge transferred from San Diego to be closer to home. Colin Mitchell
Woolridge. It’s something head coach Tony Benford was not only looking for, but desperately needed. With two of his guards graduating after this season, Benford needed a young guard to fill the backcourt. So when a homesick Woolridge — then at San Diego University — wanted to transfer, Benford knew he had to make his move. “I just wanted to get back closer to home,” Woolridge said. “I missed it.” After finding a passion for basketball from shooting hoops in his backyard of an upscale Arlington neighborhood with his father, he decided it was something he wanted to pursue. With his father’s aide, Woolridge developed an athleticism some defenders cannot match.
“He pushed me to play all sports,” Woolridge said. “But in high school, I decided I just wanted to focus on basketball.” Woolridge spent half a semester at San Diego before wanting to come home to Texas. He was highly recruited out of high school and ended up in California after a successful career at Lake Ridge High School in Mansfield. In his senior season, he averaged 17.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game as Lake Ridge posted a 24-8 record. Woolridge was a two-star recruit out of high school, and after an impressive performance in the famous
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Fernanda Ramos was the first and only person in her small north Houston town of Conroe to go to college. She remembers getting a call from her mom at the end of her first day that her dad was in her room, on her bed, crying. He already missed her that much. Ai Van Nguyen and her family came to live with her uncle in the United States when she was six years old. Her parents spoke only Vietnamese then, and still do now. She, however, was thrown into a Texas school in first grade and was fluent in English by second grade. Sam DeLeon did not think college was possible for most of his life. It wasn’t until sophomore year of high school that his best friend pushed him to treat academics seriously so he could use education to improve his and his family’s life. These are only a few of the many firstgeneration college students at UNT and across the country. According to a study conducted by the Department of Education, an estimated 50 percent of the country’s university population are first generation college students. Only 24 percent of those students, however, tend to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Although these three have been academically successful, they still face hardships that their peers did not. Their parents could not prepare them for the challenges they would face, their family’s income makes paying for tuition difficult and they have often felt alone. DeLeon said it would have made a tremendous difference in his life to have someone that understood his situation and was willing to walk through things with him as he learned. “It would have helped so much to have someone sit down with me for just 30 minutes instead of me having to play catchup,” DeLeon said. “It’s easier to start high than work back up from being low.” DeLeon is currently an integrative studies senior, with concentrations in business, public relations and sociology. His current and future family is his main
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