Gotta get down on Friday
How the mainstream media apply social norms to the LGBT community
ARTS
How are Rebecca Black, pokémon and The Dodos all related? PAGE 5
University of Wisconsin-Madison
THE DIRTY BIRD PAGE 2 l
Complete campus coverage since 1892
l
dailycardinal.com
Union bill ruling moves on to Wis. Supreme Court
Hoop Nightmares
By Samy Moskol The Daily Cardinal
Matt Marheine/the daily cardinal
The UW men’s basketball team fell to Butler University Thursday night in the third round of the NCAA tournament in New Orleans. See Page 8 for the full story.
City council candidates discuss downtown entertainment, budget By Kate Ray The Daily Cardinal
Candidates for the Madison Common Council gathered at the Wisconsin Lutheran Church Thursday to engage in a forum discussing ways to improve the city of Madison. In District 8, which covers much of the UW campus, UW-Madison student and former Daily Cardinal columnist Kyle Szarzynski and UW-Madison alumnus Scott Resnick are competing to replace Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8. UW-Madison student Sam Stevenson challenges incumbent Bridget Maniaci in the race for District 2.
Weekend, March 25-27, 2011
Candidates at the forum discussed ways to improve the downtown area, and candidates agreed the city must balance the needs of both downtown residents and visitors who come to the downtown area for entertainment. Several candidates said the city needs to improve entertainment and nightlife culture for students under the age of 21 in Madison. “I think we need to target students of the young ages that can’t go to the bars,” Stevenson said. “Issuing more licenses for 18-plus shows is a good place to start.” Szarzynski said he believes the issue of underage drinking in Madison needs to be handled with
a realistic approach. “The reality is, practices like bar raids don’t prevent underage drinking, they simply force people of this younger population into a different and more dangerous house party scene,” Szarzynski said. “There obviously needs to be more options for people of this age group.” Concerning the changes in the Wisconsin budget, candidates discussed plans to increase revenues or decrease services in their districts to fill the future monetary gap. “We are getting pushed and pulled from every direction withforum page 3
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals referred Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi’s decision to delay the publishing of the budget repair bill to the Wisconsin Supreme Court Thursday. Last Friday, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed an appeal to Judge Sumi’s ruling that several Republican lawmakers violated state Open Meeting Law when the amended bill was passed in the state senate March 9. “Because this appeal presents significant issues, we believe that the Supreme Court is the proper forum for it,” the Court of Appeals said in a brief. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said it was good the courts were taking the alleged violation of the Open Meetings Law seriously. “Our goal here is transparency and openness in government,”
Barca said in a statement. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk praised the Court of Appeals’ action to uphold Sumi’s decision until “important legal questions are answered.” “These questions stem from a legislative process in which open government rules were blatantly broken and … people’s trust in their democracy was diminished,” Falk said in a statement. Political Science Professor Charles Franklin said the ruling did not favor Republicans or Democrats but rather reveals the lower court’s ambiguity in what is constitutional. However, the Republican Party of Wisconsin showed concern about the case going to the Supreme Court. They said in a statement Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson receives much of her campaign money from unions, which would influence her decision. supreme court page 3
Falk says budget will hamper child support Gov. Scott Walker’s budget will cut $840,000 from county funding which ensures parents are held accountable for supporting their children, according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. Falk says this will compromise the county’s ability to go after parents who are not financially supporting their children with basic needs such as clothing and food. “We’re estimating Governor Walker’s budget will result in nearly $8 million less in child support collected in Dane County each year,” Falk said. “That adds up to around
6,000 Dane County families who will receive nothing in child-support payments for their kids.” Falk attributes the number to the fact that the county’s Child Support division manages to get $7 for every $1 invested in their work. Falk also referred to the fact that 50 percent of Wisconsin children under five who live in a singleparent household live in poverty. “Taking money out of the back pockets of parents trying to support their kids at a time when so many families are struggling is just wrong,” Falk said.
Taste of Japan event teaches students about culture, cooperation, resilience By Corinne Burgermeister The Daily Cardinal
Students and staff gathered Thursday to learn about Japanese culture from UW-Madison Japanese students in an event sponsored by the International Student Services. ISS teamed with Restaurant Muramoto to provide knowledge on Japanese culture, politics, economics and food. ISS members Aoiko Akida and Kai Kanagawa led presentations about different facts of Japanese culture. Akida said Japanese culture stresses cooperation, and Japanese people do not stand alone. The Japanese symbol for one person actually resembles two. “The bigger person is supported by the smaller person,” Akida said. “Even though
it means ‘single person,’ we are not standing alone, we are not living alone, we are living with someone’s support.” Kanagawa said the Japanese economy is the third largest in the world, and is self sufficient to some degree, but in times of crisis Japan looks for help from others. Kanagawa showed pictures of the present-day city of Kobe and pictures from the earthquake in 1995. Kobe was able to revive itself and overcome damages with the help and support of people from outside of Japan. The damage from the current earthquake is more tremendous and severe than those of the past. ISS is collecting money for American japan page 3
Kathryn weenig/the daily cardinal
The International Student Services sponsored an event to explore the culture of Japan Thursday. The event also offered attendees options to send aid to Japan.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”