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Defense dominates Memphis
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t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s pa p e r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s to n s i n c e 1 9 3 4
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Issue 050, Volume 76
Monday ®
November 1, 2010
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ELECTIONS
newsline Find more news items at newsline.thedailycougar.com
FACULTY
Q&A with professor provides resources for LGBT students A UH news release provided valuable information for LGBT Cougars through answers from Thomas Schanding, an assistant professor in the department of educational psychology. Schandling is conducting research on the impact a student’s sexual orientation, gender expression and identity has on their academic achievement and psycho-social functioning. The Q&A is available in the UH News Archives in both video and transcribed formats. Visiti http://www. uh.edu/news-events/stories/2010articles/Oct2010/102 610BullyingExpertSchanding.php for the full story.
Propositions up for vote Voters to decide on drainage funding, council item, fate of red light cameras Paulina Lam and Jourdan Vian
THE DAILY COUGAR Houstonians will be given the choice to vote for or against three local referendums in order to improve the city on Tuesday’s ballot. ”I think one (will) fail, two probably (will) pass because no one is opposing it and … I think Houston voters will uphold and keep (the red light cameras),” political science Professor Richard Murray said.
Proposition 1, also known as Renew Houston, will be among the ballot proposals for the city. If passed, this referendum will help improve the street and drainage problems of Houston with a pay-as-yougo system. The city of Houston currently does not have enough funds for the maintenance and improvements of its streets and infrastructure. Through an added fee to property owners, the proposition seeks to raise about $8 billion to fix Houston’s flooding problems. “In the pay-as-you-go plan, we are not spending a huge amount of money at one time. We are basically prioritizing the important problems of our city,” Chinese
studies and English junior Connie Tu said. “Proposition 1 will be a good outlet to spend money on.” Proposition 2 is the government’s way of keeping their part of a deal they made 30 years ago as part of a court case involving the city-wide elections for city council, Murray said. At the time, the entire city voted for each council position, rather than having the city divided up into districts and district residents voting for their own representatives. After the city lost the court case, the city was divided into districts and agreed PROPOSITIONS continues on page 3
CAMPUS EVENT
STUDENTS
Series brings expert on bacteria for lecture tonight
Onuchic will lecture on “How Bacteria Decide Their Fate in Adverse Times,” starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Conrad Hilton Hotel’s Shamrock Ballroom.
UH in top five most-spirited campuses
The series is sponsored by UH’s history and physics departments and the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Tenneco Inc. Contact Margaret Cheung at mscheung@uh.edu for more information.
Mobile check-in app’s ongoing campaign will name winner at end of football season
Got an item for Newsline? Let us know! E-mail newsline@thedailycougar.com
Charne Graham and Ashley Anderson
Jose’ Onuchic, co-director of the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at the University of California, San Diego, will present tonight in the latest Tenneco Distinguished Lecturer Series event for 2010.
today
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AROUND TOWN Die Antwoord and Rye Rye Die Antwoord is a hip-hop duo consisting of rappers Ninja and YoLandi Vi$$er from Cape Town, South Africa. They will be joined by rapper Rye Rye from Baltimore. Come see them at Stereo Live located at 6400 Richmond Ave. at 9 p.m. Boodah’s Open Mic Dean’s Credit Clothing located at 316 Main St. will host an open mic night at 9 p.m. The stage will be open to puppet shows, comedies, poetry readings and anything else artists want to express. The show will be free! Find more campus and local events or add your own at thedailycougar.com/calendar
CORRECTIONS J
Report errors to editor@thedailycougar.com. Corrections will appear in this space as needed.
Rallying for sanity
T
he Rally to Restore Sanity and its counterpart, the March to Keep Fear Alive, drew over 250,000 participants on Saturday afternoon in Washington D.C.
U
H student and Daily Cougar reporter Jourdan Vian made the trek to the capital. Read her report on page 3. | Jourdan Vian/The Daily Cougar
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Football season is in full effect and UH fans are showing their pride for the team with a new web application. Gowalla check-in is a mobile and web location app game that allows students and fans to click and check in at hot spots within their schools to show their school pride. The more students that check in at UH, the more prizes Gowalla awards. Katie Gaviola, UH Pride Patrol vice president, has the app installed on both her phone and her iPad. “Everywhere I go, I make sure I check in,” Gaviola, an economics and political science senior said. “I love Gowalla because it allows me to keep track of places me and my friends go. (We) sometimes use it as a GPS device to find each other, and it’s great when you are playing treasure hunt.” The four designated spots for Gowalla check-in on the UH campus are the University Center, Robertson Stadium, the baseball field, and the statue at the UC. Gowalla adds up the number of check-ins at colleges across the country, and the school with the most check-ins is the school with the most spirit. The school with the most people checking in wins a $10,000 scholarship. “I think Gowalla is another great opportunity for Coogs to be competitive and win,” Corbin Lewis, biochemistry junior, said. Each time a student checks in for their school, they also have a chance of winning different prizes such as a Macbook Air, iPod or iTunes gift cards. The top 25 schools are ranked on the Gowalla SPIRIT continues on page 3