IN THIS ISSUE:
PAGE
4
Voter turnout dismal among millennials
PAGE
6
Margaret Davis praises Pa. for medicinal marijuana progress
PAGE
8
Max Kamisky steps up as leader for Point Park golf
Issue 10
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
USG ‘blindsided’ by unseen budget problems By Iain Oldman Co-News Editor
Point Park University’s United Student Government (USG) is currently managing its budget closely after it was discovered that a large portion of its budget had already been unexpectedly spent. The governing body reviewed their budget and discovered they were left
with only approximately $2,200 for the rest of the fiscal year. This figure does not account for USG’s officer stipends. “We don’t want to say [the funds] are missing because we know where they are and where they went to,” said USG president Blaine King Thursday in the library. “We thought when we payed for certain things that they were already taken care of and paid for when we told them to be paid for,
but how funding rolls throughout the university, it takes a while for something to actually go through...That’s where it kind of blindsided us, because we didn’t realize we’d gotten hit [with the charges] until around now.” The charges in question were the bills that USG has to pay for OrgSync, the university’s bike program and purchasing the playhouse tickets for university students. King said USG
believed that they had allocated funds to pay for these charges last summer, at the end of the last fiscal year. Those bills were not paid for over last summer and instead were charged throughout this fiscal year. USG had allocated funds specifically for the charges to be paid during that time. “We knew that we would be able
By Iain Oldman
Press Club of Pittsburgh. Andrew Conte, director of the Point Park News Service, hosted the event and interviewed Guyette on stage for the first portion of the evening. Guyette, a University of Pittsburgh graduate, spoke of the path that led him to his current role with ACLU Michigan, explaining how his termination with a “traditional” media outlet came to be a blessing in surprise. After the city of Detroit was taken over by an emergency manager, Guyette was assigned by ACLU to investigate if any civil liberties were being taken advantage of. It was through these channels that he was
ACLU reporter speaks on Flint water crisis Co-News Editor
photo by Alexander Popichak
Onlookers inspect the charter of the city of Pittsburgh Friday, March 18, 2016, which marked the bicentennial of the city’s incorporation.
City celebrates birthday By Alexander Popichak Editor-Elect
Pittsburgh’s past, present and future collided in a space designed for cooperation between city and county governments. The Pittsburgh City-County Building on Grant Street was packed with nearly 500 people on Mar. 18, 2016 for the celebration of the bicentennial of the city’s incorporation. “Today we celebrate Pittsburgh’s past, and you can go through the booths and tour this wonderful building and feel the rich history that we have,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto during his address Friday in the City-County Building. “Tonight, we celebrate the culture of Pittsburgh with an open ceremony in the cultural district with all of the galleries open to all the people. Our history and our culture is what makes Pittsburgh Pittsburgh.” Incorporation Day festivities included performances by the Pittsburgh 200 Celebration Choir and Pittsburgh CAPA Jazz Vocal Ensemble. Speakers during the celebration included Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai, Urban League of
Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Esther Bush and President and CEO of Riverlife Pittsburgh Vivien Li, who was instrumental in the revitalization of Boston’s waterfront and has moved to Pittsburgh to assist the redevelopment of Pittsburgh’s riverfront. The City-County building was open to the public for tours of the Mayor’s office, council chambers, hall of mayors and the vault in which the city keeps its council minutes and records. Community organizations, schools and museums represented themselves in booths on the main floor in a grouping affectionately called by organizers as “Pop Up Pittsburgh.” While the Oakland Community table advertised upcoming events at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Point Park University did not have a booth. “It’s great to bring people down to the City-County building, to see all the rich history in the city of Pittsburgh,” said Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O’Connor, who represents District 5, which includes areas such as Greenfield, Hazelwood, Regent Square, and Squirrel Hill. “If you do
BISON-TENNIAL page 2
BUDGET page 3
When Curt Guyette took a job as an investigative reporter with Michigan’s ACLU branch, there was no way he could have known he would reveal one of the largest social and environmental crises in recent history. Guyette, the investigative reporter who exposed the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich. last year, spoke Tuesday, March 15 at Point Park University’s GRW Auditorium at University Center. The event was put on by Point Park’s News Service and was co-sponsored by the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation and the Women’s
WATER page 2
Club appeals funding USG By Sabrina Bodon USG Beat Reporter
Following last week’s budget meeting, Point Park’s student government’s Finance Committee took to reallocating additional funds to four clubs and organizations requesting appeals. The Feminist Collective, which encountered problems with its budget last meeting, saw its budget for the costs for a speaker continue to lack support. Earlier in the semester, USG promised support for a speaker event. However, this monetary support was not upheld during the final budget period announced last week. “As of right now, the speaker event is still in committee because there was no total agreed upon in committee,” Amber Mole, treasurer of USG, said. During the first round of budget distributions, funding for conferences
was slashed due to a lack of funds allocated. This affected three clubs and organizations. After each budget allocation session, dissatisfied clubs are urged to request additional funds by requesting appeals, said Mole. AdFed/PRSSA was the only club to take USG up on the offer of an appeal and received an additional $487 for half the registration and one hotel room of the PRSSA Regional Conference: Caffeinate Your Career. Last month, USG’s pro tempore Shayna Mendez distributed a survey to students regarding if they prefer a shuttle destination of Trader Joe’s/ Whole Foods or the Waterfront. “For the Trader Joe’s shuttle service, I got a response back from Brad [Kovalcik, the director of Student Activities]...they’ve send me a tentative guide as to how they plan on doing everything,” Mendez said. “They’ll have a trial run starting in April.” The trial run will happen during the first three Sundays in April, rather than the Waterfront shuttle, which
USG page 3
U-View awarded honorable mention designation for broadcast association’s ‘Signature Station’ By Sabrina Bodon USG Beat Reporter
Recognition of one’s passion is no easy feat. But with a dedicated team, the journey can lead just about anywhere. U-View, Point Park’s student-run broadcast production station, earned an honorable mention from the Broadcast Education Association’s Student Media Advisors interest division in the Signature Station Competition. The Signature Station Competition’s mission is to award outstanding stations of student-run college radio and television for not only its pro-
gramming, but superiority in production aspects including “philosophical engagement, community involvement, programming arrangement, branding/logo development, student management, volunteer recruitment and broadcast equipment,” according to the competition’s website. The process for the team over at U-View began months ago, according to U-View’s station manager, senior Brittany Lauffer. “Dr. Robin Cecala [U-View’s faculty advisor] sent us an email in late October saying, ‘We need to do this,’” said Lauffer, a broadcast reporting and broadcast production and pro-
gramming double major, during a phone interview Thursday. The application process included the creation of a video press kit highlighting the numerous features of the station, including a glimpse of clips from shows just a few years ago, said junior Trevor Sheets, co-producer of U-View’s morning program “Daybreak”. “I think one thing [BEA] saw was how things have progressed here,” Sheets said. “Not to say the old video was bad, but you can see some of the stuff we’ve learned to make the product better, we’re not just continuing to regurgitate what others did, but
taking it and improving upon it.” Furthermore, the team submitted several other pieces in of the application showcasing other features U-View. “In addition to the video, we also had to submit some written documents incorporating different aspects of U-View, including what we do, our mission, what different shows we offer, what our different outreach to the school is and what we do with the community as well,” Lauffer said. Specifically, Lauffer points out Daybreak’s participation within the university by interviewing different clubs and organizations and the inner
Weather Forecast Today: Mostly Cloudy H 64, L 50
Thursday: PM Thunderstorms, H 67, L 45 Friday: AM Showers, H 46, L 33 Saturday: Sunny, H 56, L 36
Sunday: Partly Cloudy, H 67, L 45 Monday: Showers, H 50, L 33 Tuesday: Partly Cloudy, H 54, L 34
AWARD page 2