Men’s basketball signs Larry Wise, 1st commit of 2018 class SPORTS: PAGE 7
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2018
VOL. 112 No. 14
NTDAILY.COM
Cruz challenger O’Rourke draws hundreds at UNT By Lizzy Spangler @LizzySpangler Hundreds of people attended a town hall with Beto O’Rourke, Texas’ Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator. The town hall took place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Gateway Center at UNT. If he wins, O’Rourke, who is running against incumbent Ted Cruz, will be the first Texas Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate since 1988. O’Rourke dove into his speech by first talking about immigration. “Though we are comprised of asylum-seekers and refugees, the very foundation Beto O’Rourke of our strength, our success and yes, our security, is that we are the destination of choice for people, in no state more so than the state of Texas, the most diverse state in the most diverse country on the planet,” O’Rourke said. Overflow rooms were provided to seat more people. Organizers live streamed the town hall for those attendees. The event was slated for 11 a.m., with UNT Democrats President Jordan Villarreal introducing Democratic candidates who attended the event, such as Linsey Fagan and Mat Pruneda, among others. O’Rourke took the stage at around 11:30 a.m. and received a standing ovation from the audience. “I am so privileged and lucky to be part of something that is giving me so much hope at a time that, I gotta tell you, I desperately needed it, where I began to question just where this country was going and what we were capable, still, of doing,” O’Rourke said, after thanking organizers and attendees. He touched on the current state of health care in Texas. “This bold, courageous, strong, bighearted state is the least insured state of
SEE O’ROURKE ON PAGE 3 Top: Mother Tongues performs at Dan’s Silver Leaf on Friday as part of Thin Line Festival’s music lineup. Thin Line Festival brings artists from around the world to Denton to showcase their photography, music and film work. Will Baldwin Above: Festival goers dance at Dan’s Silver Leaf. Will Baldwin Left: Cory Coleman plays a guitar over Claire Morales during a performance of the Mountain portion of Elk River Sessions. Elk River Sessions played at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton on April 19 as part of Thin Line Festival’s music lineup. Jake King/DRC Read more Thin Line Festival coverage on page 5
Entering a struggling sports program is never an easy thing to do, and for sophomore outfielder Hanna Rebar, it took time to adjust. After playing 51 games in 2017 during her freshman campaign, Rebar finished with the third lowest batting average on the team (.213) while collecting five home runs and 20 RBIs. This season, though, she completely flipped the switch. After an off-season consisting of countless early mornings and late nights, Rebar’s game has
exploded for the Mean Green. “Coming into this year, she’s put in the extra work and has done other things she didn’t do last season,” head coach Tracey Kee said. “She’s really fixed trying to stay ahead of her swing. When students put in extra work, they’re going to be great hitters.” As a result, Rebar is currently third on the team in batting average (.306), second in RBIs (28) and has doubled her home runs with a team-high 10 long balls this season. Rebar knows she owes all her success to her hitting coach, Natalia Kozlowski. “I have to give a lot of that to
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 7
North Texas sophomore Hanna Rebar runs to third base in a game against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on March 10 at Lovelace Stadium. Sara Carpenter
Located at the Music Annex, UNT’s instrument repair shop is a place where students and faculty can come for quick and convenient repairs. Most minor repairs are free of cost for UNT students, but major repairs may cost a fee. Because of the sheer amount of music majors, technicians are also specialized according to the type of instrument, from woodwind and brass instruments to pianos. “The main reason is because we have so many music majors and not [one] full-time music store in this area,” woodwinds repair
SEE REPAIR ON PAGE 4
SEE PETITION ON PAGE 2
A student picks up equipment in the instrument repair shop on campus. The shop operates out of the music annex and works with all kinds of instruments. Paige Bruneman
UNT instrument repair shop quickly fixes musicians’ prized possessions By Amy Roh @rohmyboat Technicians who repair instruments at UNT are rarely surprised — or bored. Horns that have been run over, bells that have been squished “like a taco” and instruments stuffed with questionable objects often come through their doors. “I’ve pulled out live ammunition out of an instrument before,” brass repair technician Justin Cooper said. “I didn’t know it was live at the time.”
IN THIS ISSUE
By Devin Rardin @DevinRardin Nearly 500 people have signed a petition to designate Open Air Outreach, a group that demonstrated on UNT’s campus in late March, a hate group. Communications junior Seth Knievel created the petition and plans to send a report with the petition as supporting evidence to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that monitors hate groups throughout the United States. “It’s not my intention to quell speech or stop it from being heard,” Knievel said. “Instead I think recognizing speech is the goal of the petition.” The Open Air Outreach group came to Arlington in March for a National Street Preachers Conference. The group demonstrated on March 29 and 30 in the Library Mall as part of the conference itinerary The small group of demonstrators held signs that said, “BLM are racist thugs,” “Every real Muslim is a Jihadist” and “Got Aids Yet?” The street preachers sparked a large student protest, including spontaneous dancing, music and signs. Once the petition plateaus, Knievel said he will send it to the SPLC. It is tracking 1,600 extremist groups and identifies 954 groups in the U.S. as hate groups. SPLC defines a hate group as an organization with “beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” Knievel said the group aligns with other organizations designated as hate groups by SPLC. He said the demonstrators recognized the white Christian male as an ingroup, which he says is similar to many fascist organizations.
Humor and home runs, Rebar flourishes for Kee By Luis Diosdado @luis_diosdado9
Petition asks Open Air Outreach to be named hate group
NEWS
ARTS & LIFE
SPORTS
OPINION
Students protest, petition for UNT’s EarthFest to become fully vegan pg 3 The group Mean Greens For Animals protested the Earth Day celebration, asking the university to make the menu vegan.
Voices of ‘Bob’s Burgers’ serve up laughs to UNT pg 4 H. Jon Benjamin and Eugene Mirman visited UNT’s Coliseum this week as part of the Mary Jo and V. Lane Rawlins Fine Art Series.
Amber Walker continues to grow in confidence as season winds down pg 6 Looking to break records in high jump, Walker enters the home stretch engaged and prepared to break onto the scene of C-USA.
This & That: Cats vs. dogs pg 8 They say that dogs are a man’s best friend, but what about all those ancient hieroglyphics portraying royal cats in robes? You can decide which pet is better in this week’s This & That.