We still have a dream Considering the past and future of civil rights NEWS, 3A
The Daily Illini
Monday January 21, 2013
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Vol. 142 Issue 83
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Fitzgerald joins board of trustees »
BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is the newest member of the University board of trustees, appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday. “I am very excited to join the board and be part of trying to help serve a great institution,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m hoping that I can come in with lots of questions and try to learn what’s going on as quickly as I can.” Fitzgerald is replacing trustee Lawrence Oliver II, whose term expired Jan. 14. Previously having served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for more than 10 years, Fitzgerald led the investigations that resulted in corruption charges against former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. He
OZONE FUMIGATION
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to read more on former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the newest member of the board of trustees.
resigned from the position in June and currently works as a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm FITZGERALD in Chicago. “Fitzgerald is a friend of mine, and I think a friend of anyone who is looking for education in Illinois that’s open to everyone, that gives the opportunity to make our society better,” Quinn said at an event honoring Mar-
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‘I see Mr. King’s dream come alive’ BY ATOOSA SAYEH STAFF WRITER
Although its been more than 50 years since the Jim Crow laws of the south were abolished, Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, spoke to community members Friday afternoon about how discrimination and segregation are still present in today’s society. Green was the keynote speaker for Champaign County’s 12th annual celebration honoring the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Green discussed some of his experiences as one of nine teenagers who were the first black students to attend
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Little Rock Central High School in 1957. “We’re hoping that by bringing Mr. Green in we are doing our part, and we hope folks will be encouraged to overcome that mountain which is discrimination, lack of equality and lack of diversity which a lot of us are still seeing today,” said Otis Noble III, one of the committee chairs planning the event. At Friday’s event, Green shared one of his favorite memories of King: the “I Have a Dream” speech the day of the March on Washington.
MOST OZONE TOLERANT
= LEAST OZONE TOLERANT
THE
CONCLUSION GRAPHIC BY BRYAN LORENZ THE DAILY ILLINI
SOURCES: WWW.IGB.ILLINOIS.EDU/SOYFACE AND LISA AINSWORTH, INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY PROFESSOR
A team of University professors received a $5.7 million grant from The National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research project to expose variations of corn to ozone. The goal of the project is to cross the most ozone tolerant variation of corn with the least to create a tolerant strain that will increase yields for farmers. Based on existing research from the project Soy FACE, Ainsworth expects to see a lot of genetic variation among the plants exposed to the ozone pollution.
PROTECTING
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CORN
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BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
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hree University professors received a $5.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation on Jan. 1 to research the effects of ground-level ozone on corn. Lisa Ainsworth, associate professor in integrative biology and principal investigator on the grant, said the goal of this five-year project is to develop an ozonetolerant variety of corn. Ainsworth said ozone, a pollutant, enters a plant through small pores in its leaves and damages it in multiple ways. “Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since preindustrial times,” Ainsworth said.
HASAN KHALID THE DAILY ILLINI
Ernest Green delivers his keynote speech at Champaign County’s 12th annual celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. held at the Hilton Garden Inn on Friday.
“Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since preindustrial times.”
“This is a relatively new pollutant that plants are facing, and it’s something that is decreasing yields.” Ainsworth will be working with two other professors — Andrew Leakey, assistant professor in plant biology, and Patrick Brown, assistant professor in crop sciences. Brown, geneticist for the project, said they will look for differences in the phenotypes, or physical characteristics, of the ozone-treated and untreated corn. “We’re going to calculate values for every trait because we’re interested
LISA AINSWORTH, associate professor of integrative biology
See AGRICULTURE, Page 3A
Community discusses best way to use UC2B funds “There’s always something you can do to help the community, and that’s what Martin Luther King expressed.” ZERNIAL BOGAN, reverend at Salem Baptist Church
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BY JANELLE O’DEA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Community members began discussing how to use the community benefit portion of UC2B project funds at a meeting Saturday at Salem Baptist Church. The UC2B project aims to bring high-speed fiber-optic Internet to areas in Urbana, Champaign and Savoy that have been chronically underserved by existing Internet infrastructure.
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The policy board for the project agreed to dedicate a portion of its revenue to a fund that would “be dedicated to overcoming the digital divide,” according to the board’s resolution. The board plans to allocate between 2 and 5 percent of the annual revenue to the fund. Community members must now decide how they want to use the money to meet that goal. Saturday morning’s meeting
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was “the first of many meetings” to decide what to do with the money, said Abdul Alkalimat, professor of African American Studies and UC2B policy board member. The Rev. Zernial Bogan of the Salem Baptist Church said the meeting was fit for the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Crossword
JONATHAN DAVIS THE DAILY ILLINI
Abdul Alkalimat, professor of African American Studies, references a See UC2B, Page 3A handout during the UC2B Community Benefit Fund meeting Saturday.
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