The Daily Texan 2013-04-19

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Friday, April 19, 2013

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RISING FROM THE ASHES Explosion zone declared disaster area

By Jordan Rudner & Joshua Fechter When marketing senior Hannah Hutyra got a call from her mom, who said there had been an explosion, Hutyra said she didn’t understand why her mom sounded upset.

“Nothing ever happens in a tiny town like West,” Hutyra said. “It’s not like it’s a big city.”

Hutyra, who grew up in West, a town about 20 miles north of Waco, drove back Thursday to be with family and friends after a fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday night.

“I’m in shock, still, I think,” Hutyra said. “I know it’s going to hit when I get home.

The things I’ve been hearing — it sounds like a war zone.”

At a press conference Thursday, Gov. Rick Perry declared McLennan County a disaster area and said he will seek a federal emergency

declaration from President Barack Obama after a fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday night.

“It’s been a tragic, difficult 16 hours for all of us, all of our friends and all of our loved ones,” Perry said at a press conference Thursday. “Last night was truly a nightmare

scenario for that community.”

The current death toll is around five to 15, and some reports are narrowing the toll to eight to 10.

Hutyra said her uncle and his brother, Doug and Robert Snokhous, are among the

PLANT continues on page 2

Residents of West band together for survival

By Bobby Blanchard WEST — Outside her house Thursday afternoon, Carolanne Kocain struggled to describe the explosion that happened at the fertilizer plant close to her home in the town of West on Wednesday evening. She described the event with improvised sound effects, broad hand gestures and an aching, shrieking voice.

She remembered the balls of fire leaping into the air, she remembered the force that threw her and held her against a wall and she remembered pulling a glass shard out of her 1-and-ahalf-year-old grandson’s leg.

As she described the explosion, Kocain looked around her front yard — now filled with discarded furniture and members of the media — before remembering her horses were missing.

“We weren’t prepared for this,” Kocain said multiple times. “No one told us nothing.”

“No one came. No sirens.

No nothing.”

Kocain is one of many West residents who were completely blindsided and shocked by the explosion at the fertilizer plant and the devastation it is wreaking on the small town. West is located about 20 miles north of Waco and has a population of less than 3,000 — about the same as the number of students who live in the Jester dorms.

At approximately 6 p.m.

Wednesday night, a small fire started at the West fertilizer plant. Less than two hours later, the plant exploded with such force that cities as far as 45 miles away felt the ground tremble.

The explosion resulted in fatalities, injuries to more than 200 people, property damage and evacuations.

CAMPUS

Photos by Pu Ying Huang | Daily Texan Staff West Texas resident Carolanne Kocain begins to choke up as she retells her story about surviving the plant explosion to a reporter on the phone.

Hospitals in Waco treated more than 160 people. It is still unclear how many have died, as officials and

WEST continues on page 2

See a slideshow of images taken by Daily Texan staffers in West and more dailytexanonline.com

Plant disaster raises fears of fertilizer instability

By Megan Strickland Fertilizer that fueled a blast at a plant in West that left eight to 10 dead and more than 100 injured, is usually safe and difficult to ignite unless proper safety measures are ignored or deliberate steps are taken to turn the substances into an explosive, chemical experts said Thursday.

The carnage at West is worse than any incident Kathleen Mathers, spokeswoman for the industry’s national lobbying and advocacy group The Fertilizer Institute, could recall.

“Having an accident this horrific in an industry with our safety record — it’s bad,” Mathers said. “As far as accidents that would actually be reported, it’s just something we’ve never had to deal with.

It’s really disturbing to us because we’ve never had this before. In terms of safety, this accident — I’ve been with this organization for 23 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never heard of anything like this. This is really out of the ordinary.”

On Thursday afternoon DPS officials at a press conference said ammonium nitrate found at the scene made recovery

SAFETY continues on page 2

CAMPUS

Powers presses students UT fashion group hosts successful show to pursue own research

By Alexandra Dubinsky

By Zach Lozano In conjunction with Undergraduate Research Week, the Senate of College Councils sponsored a talk led by UT President William Powers Jr. and a panel of professors on Thursday.

The panelists have conducted research in fields including social work, philosophy, chemistry and communication science disorders. Each panel member discussed his or her experiences with research, both as undergraduates and in his or her current positions.

“What attracts us to being a researcher is you get to work with the best people,” chemistry professor Brent Iverson said. “And it’s great to achieve something that hasn’t been achieved before.”

The panelists advised students on how to succeed if they decide to participate in undergraduate research.

“Be persistent,” Iverson said. “Get to know the TAs and convince them you will make their life easier.”

In Powers’ speech after the panel, he praised the status of undergraduate research on campus.

“It is a great development and bits of progress for the University,” Powers said.

“This is a tremendous advance and we cannot rest on our laurels.”

Powers said the purpose of undergraduate education is to learn how to solve problems and the only way to do that is to jump into it.

“If students get into situations where they have to

POWERS continues on page 5

After months of preparation and years of dreaming, the University Fashion Group joined 24 textile and apparel seniors in showcasing their work at a culminating event of the year for UT fashion.

Sponsored by Lexus of Austin, the annual UT Fashion Show, held at the Frank Erwin Center on Thursday night, featured over 120 designs in active wear, evening wear and bridal gowns. Designers used various textures and techniques including leather, faux fur and handcrafted chain mail.

In addition to the fashion show, the group displayed “Immersed in Cotton Room,” an exhibition of jeans and Tshirts solely made of cotton.

The designer of the best jean and T-shirt will receive a free trip to tour the Cotton Incorporated headquarters with a

Gabriella Belzer | Daily Texan Staff Models walk the runway at the UT Fashion Show held at the Frank Erwin Center on Thursday night.

The annual show featured the works of 23 textile and apparel seniors.

chance to make connections in the fashion industry.

“I feel like tonight is my graduation,” said University Fashion Group President Angeli Aguilera. “[Since the]

first meeting of my freshman year this was the moment I wanted.“ Natalie Poche, textiles and apparel senior and model coordinator for the group

Austin Reggae Festival !"#$%&'()*'&+&!,-$./#$,0&12/#34 523&67$%3#48&97:;3&<3#=4.#/:>8& 523&!>>#/%$.348&523&9$/:4&?&@/#3 AAAB7,4.$:#3>>73C34.B;/0 =3:3D..$:>&.23&E7"$.7%&!#37&F//-&G7:H

proposed this year’s theme of “transcend,” to go above and beyond. According to Aguilera, the purpose of a theme

SHOW continues on page 5

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News

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Volume 113, Issue 145

CONTACT US Main Telephone: (512) 471-4591 Editor: Susannah Jacob (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Managing Editor: Trey Scott (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com News Office: (512) 232-2207 news@dailytexanonline.com Multimedia Office: (512) 471-7835 dailytexanmultimedia@ gmail.com Sports Office: (512) 232-2210 sports@dailytexanonline.com Life & Arts Office: (512) 232-2209 dtlifeandarts@gmail.com Retail Advertising: (512) 471-1865 joanw@mail.utexas.edu

SAFETY

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The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.

If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com.

COPYRIGHT Copyright 2013 Texas Student Media. All articles, photographs and graphics, both in the print and online editions, are the property of Texas Student Media and may not be reproduced or republished in part or in whole without written permission.

TOMORROW’S WEATHER Low

High

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48 He was hopping!

volunteer firefighters still missing.

“The men in our town volunteer in their free time,” Hutyra said. “That’s what you do in a small community.

And you just feel safe.”

The blast occurred at around 8 p.m. Wednesday, injuring over 100 people and damaging at least 75 homes, a school and a nursing home.

Teams are still going through the remains of the plant in search of survivors.

At the press conference, Perry and other state officials spoke to the scope of the incident. Perry said President Obama called him from Air Force One en route to Boston and promised a quick turnaround on declaring a federal emergency.

Perry said multiple state agencies are responding to the situation in West: the Texas Department of Public Safety is supplying law enforcement personnel, Texas Task Forces 1 and 2 are conducting search and rescue operations, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is conducting air

operations more difficult. The chemical is usually neither explosive nor flammable, said UT associate chemistry professor David Vanden Bout.

“It’s not really particularly flammable by itself,” Vanden Bout said. “It is extraordinarily dangerous when mixed with other things. If mixed with another fuel it is incredibly explosive. This is a terrible scheme of how people make bombs and things.”

Pure fertilizer that is stored properly should not ignite

WEST

continues from page 1 authorities will not give specifics. Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Jason Reyes said he could only confirm there had been deaths.

B.J. Walters, a 23-year-old West resident, said the explosion felt like an earthquake.

Walters and his grandmother, Joyce Rucker, were told

This issue of The Daily Texan is valued at $1.25 Permanent Staff

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Susannah Jacob Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drew Finke, Pete Stroud, Edgar Walters Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trey Scott Associate Managing Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kristine Reyna, Matt Stottlemyre Digital Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hayley Fick News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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Pu Ying Huang, Omar Longoria, Jack Mitts, Stefanie Schultz Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Zachary Strain Associate Photo Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pu Ying Huang, Marisa Vasquez Senior Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maggie Arrellaga, Jorge Corona, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pearce Murphy, Chelsea Purgahn, Shelby Tauber Multimedia Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jorge Corona Associate Multimedia Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrea Macias-Jimenez Senior Videographers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Demi Adejuyigbe, Shila Farahani, Lawrence Peart, Alec Wyman Life&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelsey McKinney Associate Life&Arts Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aleksander Chan, Sarah-Grace Sweeney Senior Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stuart Railey, Jourden Sander, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hannah Smothers, Alex Williams, Laura Wright Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christian Corona Senior Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Garrett Callahan, Nick Cremona, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sara Beth Purdy, Rachel Thompson, Matt Warden Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Massingill Associate Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Vanicek Web Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Reinhart Associate Web Editor, Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Sanchez Associate Web Editors, Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omar Longoria Senior Web Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Helen Fernandez, Hannah Peacock Administrative Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Breanna Williams Editorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Doug Warren

Issue Staff

Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barak Bullock, Mark Carrion, Alexandra Dubinsky, Zach Lozano, Amanda O’Donnell Multimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Arrellaga, Taylor Barron, Gabriella Belzer, Brenda Szwejbka, Amy Zhang Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Evan Berkowitz Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Katie Paschall Columnists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Laura Wright Page Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hirrah Barlas Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brett Donohoe, Tara Frels, Adam Humphrey, Lan Le Comic Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anik Bhattacharya, Grace Biggs, Albert Lee, Nohemy Herrera, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colin Zelinski, Stephanie Vanicek Web Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amyna Dosani

Business and Advertising

(512) 471-1865 | advertise@texasstudentmedia.com Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jalah Goette Business Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lori Hamilton Business Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Heine Advertising Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CJ Salgado Broadcast & Events Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carter Goss Campus & National Sales Associate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bowerman Event Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lindsey Hollingsworth Student Advertising Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trevor Nelson Student Assistant Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Zach Congdon Student Acct. Execs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fredis Benitez, Evan Breeland, Christian Dufner, Jake Dworkis, Rohan Needel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Paola Reyes, Ted Sniderman, Emil Zawatskil Student Lead Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabby Garza, Jennifer Howton Student Office Assistant/Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nick Cremona Senior Graphic Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Felimon Hernandez Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jacqui Bontke, Daniel Hublein, Sara Gonzalez Special Editions/Production Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abby Johnston

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ing environments, to cool those other things to keep them from cooking off or exploding,” Kidd said. “I don’t think we should be second-guessing right now the actions of the first responders and whether they were applying water at the appropriate place at the appropriate time.”

Perry said he was not prepared to say what the economic impact on the community would be and did not know how significant of a

presence the plant had as an employer in the town.

“West is a really small community and just a few thousand people … They know that this tragedy has most likely hit every family,” Perry said. “It’s touched practically everyone in that town.”

Megan Leinfelder, an advertising junior from Waco, waited for more than an hour and a half in order to donate blood to support the West

community. The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas sent more than 220 units of blood to the Carter Blood Care satellite site in Waco, and had already replenished their stores through donations by Thursday afternoon.

“If you live in Waco, it’s not uncommon at all to know people from West, or have friends with family in West,” Leinfelder said. “I knew I would want to help as soon as I heard.”

under normal conditions, Vanden Bout said, although a number of circumstances such as contamination by impurities could lead to it being highly explosive.

Ammonium nitrate was used to make explosives that destroyed an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and killed 186 people. A French ship carrying 2,300 tons of the chemical was also the cause of the United States’ most deadly industrial disaster, killing 581 people in Texas City in 1947.

Fires caused by ammonium nitrate are also difficult to extinguish, Vanden Bout said.

“Ammonium nitrate

makes its own oxygen,” Vanden Bout said. “As it burns and decomposes it will generate more oxygen, which is why when it is combined with a fuel it is so dangerous and if you ever do manage to ignite it, it’s almost impossible to put the fire out.”

Although the fertilizer has been involved in devastating incidents in the past, they don’t occur often and haven’t led to national legislation to regulate many aspects of the industry, Mathers said. There generally are few rules regulating whether or not plants can be placed in residential neighborhoods, Mathers said. Rules about whether or not fertilizer

plants can be placed in close proximity to residential areas like those that were affected in West are usually determined locally, Mathers said.

“Typically, there is a fairly open process in which that happens,” Mathers said.

“There will be a hearing and the local municipalities will decide whether or not to allow that company to build.”

A California fertilizer plant that is currently under construction is expected to have a safer, less explosive alternative to ammonium nitrate in production later this year. The plant, Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology, has managed to

chemically fuse ammonium nitrate with ammonium sulfate to make a fertilizer that is nutritious to plants, but much less explosive, spokesman Peter Dalpe said.

“It’s less likely to detonate,” Dalpe said. “It’s safer to handle. The end farmer still gets the nitrates they need, but it’s so much safer this way.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives have recognized the product as much safer than ammonium nitrate.

Dalpe said his company believes it is the first to market a less explosive version of a nitrate-based fertilizer.

to evacuate. They managed to bring their 6-year-old dog Pepe with them, but they had to leave everything else behind them at their home.

Walters said he is not sure if their house is still standing as part of their attic was caving in when he was leaving.

Walters and his grandmother evacuated to First Baptist Church of Gholson, where they tried to sleep on an air mattresses on the floor.

Gholson is a smaller town than West, located slightly southwest of the city with a population of just over 1,000.

Walters said he did not think something of this magnitude would ever happen in West. Like Kocain, he was in disbelief and shock.

“Nothing bad ever happens in West,” Walters said.

“The worst thing that ever happens in West is somebody gets too drunk.”

Walters said he was grateful to First Baptist Church and West’s surrounding towns for all the help they gave. Not all evacuees from the area stayed at shelters, however. Early Thursday

PRESENTS

continues from page 1

CIT

quality tests and the Texas Department of Transportation is directing traffic.

Officials addressed concerns about the cause of the explosion and the history of West Fertilizer Co., which operated the plant.

Zak Covar, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said West Fertilizer Co. had not been inspected since 2006, when a complaint was filed about an “ammonia odor” emanating from the plant. Covar said generally plants are only inspected when a complaint is filed.

Nim Kidd, chief of emergency management at the Texas Department of Safety, said the department still needs to conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the explosion.

“It’s really too soon to speculate on what the cause of this was and what products were involved,” Kidd said.

Kidd addressed concerns that firefighters used water to put out the fire when ammonium nitrate was present, possibly creating a reaction.

“I’ll tell you, a lot of firefighters will use their No. 1 tool, which is water, in a hazardous materials, chemical situation like that to cool the surround-

&

PLANT

Friday, April 19, 2013

Tony Gutierrez | Associated Press This aerial photo shows the remains of an emergency response vehicle and a fertilizer plant destroyed by an explosion in West on Thursday.

Bullseye Glass employees board up a damaged storefront that had all its windows shattered from the West Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

Pu Ying Huang Daily Texan Staff

morning, Gholson ISD Superintendent Pam Brown noted she did not have any evacuees take shelter in her school, which could take up to 20 evacuees. Brown said she was not surprised.

“It is such a tight-knit community that the people who are evacuating, I am sure most of them have relatives or friends they’re staying with,” Brown said.

Concerns about air quality forced anyone living near the fertilizer plant to move.

Dark clouds and thunder-

storms kept the morning and early afternoon grim on Thursday, and the same mood could be felt throughout the town. The explosion shattered the windows of many shops and restaurants in West. While store owners and their employees sifted through the rubble and cleaned up, few businesses were open.

Nors Sausage and Burger House was closed Thursday.

Lori Nors, who owns the restaurant with her husband, said the restaurant is staying

closed despite the minimal damage the building took from the explosion.

“It’s too chaotic … too heartbreaking,” Nors said.

Meanwhile, workers boarded broken windows and empty frames. Stores that were vulnerable to theft and the weather in the morning were safe by the afternoon.

Nors said she is confident West’s unity will help the city move past the tragedy.

“We’ll bond together,” Nors said. “We’re all intertwined. We’re one big family.”

Nors’s son-in-law and grandson were in their home one-and-a-half miles away from the fertilizer plant when it exploded. The ceiling collapsed on them, but Nors said they made it out all right.

“They only got scratches and cuts,” Nors said, tearing up. “Thank God.” At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state would provide the community with any resources it needed to move past this event.

But that does not keep Kocain from feeling hopeless. Kocain’s house is on the outskirts of West. It is not a part of the city and it is not a part of a neighborhood. Her husband died several years ago, leaving her to raise her children. Like her house, she feels very much alone.

“I don’t have insurance,” Kocain said. “I’m on Social Security, I don’t have no money to fix this. This destroyed my home. There’s nothing left of it.”

W&N 3

Friday, April 19, 2013

World & Nation 3

Riley Brands and Shabab Siddiqui, Wire Editors

NEWS BRIEFLY

FBI releases photos of marathon suspects

Iraq suicide bombing kills more than 25 BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Baghdad cafe crowded with young people late Thursday, killing at least 26 and wounding dozens ahead of provincial elections scheduled for the weekend.

The rare evening attack, which came at the start of the local weekend, brought to 30 the number of people killed across the country Thursday.

The cafe bomber struck about 9:30 p.m. Police said that two children and a woman who were passing by at the time of the blast were among the dead. More than 50 people were wounded.

The packed cafe is in a building in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Amiriyah. Police said the cafe was packed with young people enjoying water pipes and playing pool.

7.0 earthquake strikes off northern Japan TOKYO — A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck in seas off far northern Japan and far eastern Russia on Friday, but no damage was expected.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said sea changes were possible. No tsunami warnings have been issued.

The tremor struck around midday in the Pacific Ocean at a relatively shallow depth of 6.2 miles. The U.S. Geological Survey measured a stronger 7.2 magnitude.

Japan and Russia both claim some of the sparsely populated islands in the remote region.

Abortion-trial witness saw babies breathe PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia prosecutors have rested after five weeks of evidence against an abortion provider charged with killing a patient and seven babies.

The move comes after a whistleblower said she saw more than 10 babies breathe before they were killed at Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s clinic.

Witness Kareema Cross also said she saw three babies move limbs and a fourth make a sound.

But in defense questioning, she said she saw babies move after their necks had been cut.

Prosecutors say Gosnell and his staff killed babies that way after they were born alive.

The defense argues that any movement seen was a post-mortem reflex.

Gosnell’s lawyer will ask the judge Monday to dismiss the eight murder counts for lack of evidence.

—Compiled from Associated Press reports

By Adam Geller & Denise Lavoie Associated Press

Julio Cortez | Associated Press Officers wearing tactical gear arrive at the Watertown neighborhood of Boston on Friday. Police reported explosives being detonated and told reporters to turn off their cell phones. Dozens of officers and National Guard members are in Watertown.

Watertown shoot-out

By Meghan Barr Associated Press

WATERTOWN, Mass. — A tense night of police activity just days after the Boston Marathon bombings has caused police to converge on a neighborhood outside Boston where they say there were explosives.

The chaos in Watertown, about 10 miles west of Boston, occurred just hours after a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police

officer was shot and killed on campus. It was unclear if the outbursts of violence were related. No arrests had been made in the officer’s fatal shooting, and a manhunt was on for the shooter.

Early Friday morning, the Boston Globe reported that one suspect of the Boston Marathon bombings was in custody while the other was still at large in Watertown.

The officer had been responding to report of a disturbance Thursday night when he was shot multiple

times, according to a statement from the Middlesex district attorney’s office and Cambridge police. It said there were no other victims.

Meanwhile, in Watertown, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots and explosions at about 1 a.m. Friday. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents were in the neighborhood and a helicopter circled overhead.

State police spokesman David Procopio said, “The incident in Watertown did involve what we believe to

be explosive devices possibly, potentially, being used against the police officers.”

MIT said right after the 10:30 p.m. shooting that police were sweeping the campus in Cambridge and urged people to remain indoors.

They urged people urged to stay away from the Stata Building, a mixed-use building with faculty offices, classrooms and a common area.

Hours later, MIT said the campus was clear but the shooter was still on the loose.

BOSTON — The FBI released photos and video Thursday of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and asked for the public’s help in identifying them, zeroing in on the two men on surveillance-camera footage less than three days after the deadly attack.

FBI agent Richard DesLauriers said the photos of the two men came from surveillance cameras near the explosion sites. One man is seen wearing a light-colored baseball cap, the other a dark cap. The man in the dark cap set down a backpack at the site of one of the blasts, DesLauriers said.

Within moments of the announcement, the FBI website crashed, perhaps because of a crush of visitors.

The images were released hours after President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral in Boston to remember the three people killed and more than 180 wounded in the twin blasts Monday at the Boston marathon finish line.

Sender of ricin letters Israel may aid Syrian rebels enters no plea in court

By Josef Federman

By Adrain Sainz & Holbrook Mohr Associated Press

OXFORD, Miss. — A Mississippi man charged with mailing ricin-tainted letters to national leaders wrote in online postings that he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market, and on Thursday his attorney said he was surprised by his arrest and maintains he is innocent.

Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, wore shackles and a Johnny Cash T-shirt Thursday in a federal courtroom. His handcuffs were taken off for the brief hearing, and he said little. He faces two charges on accusations of threatening President Barack Obama and others. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.

He did not enter a plea on the two charges. The judge said a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing are scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday.

Attorney Christi R. McCoy said Curtis “maintains 100 percent that he did not do this.”

“I know Kevin, I know his family,” she said. “This is a huge shock.”

McCoy said she has not yet decided whether to seek a hearing to determine whether Curtis is mentally competent to stand trial.

Curtis, who was arrested Wednesday at his home in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line, was being held in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford, Miss.

An FBI affidavit says Curtis sent three letters with ricin to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge. The letters read: “No one wanted to listen to me before. There are still ‘Missing Pieces.’ Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die. This must stop. To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance. I am KC and I approve this message.”

Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister declined to rule out the possibility of providing arms to Syrian rebel groups, saying in a television interview broadcast Thursday that the decision of whether to intervene in the neighboring civil war is a “complicated question.”

Although Benjamin Netanyahu made no clear commitments, his comments indicated that he is at least considering a shift away from two years of neutrality in the Syrian civil war that pits rebels against President Bashar Assad’s regime. Key Israeli allies, including the U.S. and Jordan, already have begun assisting secular and moderate factions inside Syria despite fears that Islamic extremists are gaining influence among the rebels.

Netanyahu was discussing the deteriorating security situation in Syria on BBC

Sebastian Scheiner | Associated Press In this March 10, 2013 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office.

World News when the interviewer asked whether Israel is arming any of the rebel groups. Netanyahu said he could not confirm such speculation but did not deny it.

“We are very careful,” he said. “I have said that the arming of rebels presents the question of which rebels and which arms, and it is a very complicated question for every country, including my country Israel.”

Israel has been warily watching the fighting in Syria

since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011. Although Assad is a bitter enemy, Israel has been careful not to take sides, in part because the Assad family has kept the border with Israel quiet for the past 40 years.

Israeli officials are especially concerned that Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons and other advanced arms could reach the hands of Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon or other hostile groups in the region.

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4A Opinion

Opinion 4

Friday, April 19, 2013

Editor-in-Chief Susannah Jacob

We Asked: tragedies IN A 24/7 AGE THE QUESTION: Early news reports about the deadly explosions in Boston and West, Texas were characterized by misinformation. Did you follow news about the tragedies? If so, how did the dissemination of conflicting information through news networks and on social media affect the way you read about the tragedies online?

Well, not very much, because I don’t really take online news very seriously. I always kind of take it with a grain of salt and figure it’s better to wait for a couple of days for people to figure things out, because initial reactions are always a little more dramatic. I primarily read news on the Internet, but not necessarily through social media. Usually, even though those are getting cited more and more in The New York Times and stuff, I still kind of like more of a filter on my news.

—Henry Widener History senior from Austin I actually heard about them from secondhand sources such as other students, and I’m in a government class, so my professor always does current events during the beginning of our class. People were talking about that — how, especially on Twitter, there was a lot of disconnect between accurate information and, I’m guessing, rumors that were started, or some kind of discrepancy between what was really going on and what people were hearing about. And so for them I know it was creating a lot of anger, especially if there’s things such as racial profiling or jumping to the conclusion that whoever was behind it was from another country, or just having those conclusions as to who did it is bringing up a lot of tensions.

For me, personally, I’m kind of just wanting to wait to hear until more has come up, because I know with things like this there’s a lot of, you know, discrepancies like we’ve been hearing. So for right now I’m just trying to stay neutral until everyone’s like, “Okay, this is what we found out,

we have sufficient evidence to conclude that this was the motive, this was who was behind it, etc.”

—Valeria Silva English freshman from Edinburgh Honestly, I heard a lot about this online, like on Facebook. I didn’t really know about it until I saw the [Facebook] news feed. I didn’t even hear it from the news; I heard it from Facebook. I was hearing all of this racist stuff and all this bad talk. I haven’t heard any of that misinformation. I haven’t really been following it exactly, but I feel like people are basing it off of things that they think, and they don’t really have evidence behind it, which is not good.

I don’t really know a lot about this, but I agree that there’s a lot of misinformation and that they should know exactly what’s going on before blaming someone on the news.

I would rather wait and have the right information than blaming this guy who is a victim in it and he’s being blamed all over the news. I’d rather them wait and know for certain, rather than false information quickly.

—Rebecca Ladoe Undeclared freshman from Spring I did follow both the explosion in West, Texas and the bombings in Boston, and I primarily used CNN and the BBC news networks. I did notice that there were conflicting reports, and things changed from time to time. And the thing I always just kept in mind was, these things just happened, people are panicking, nobody really knows what’s

going on. I just read them with the perspective that a lot of this probably isn’t right, that people are just sort of reacting in the moment, and if you wait a little while, more things are going to come out. I mean, it’s just kind of human nature to jump to conclusions that early. You’re trying to figure out what’s going on, trying to gain footing and orient yourself with events like that, which are shocking, so it happens even more so. You just kind of have to keep up with things, but you shouldn’t take anything the news media writes as gospel anyway.

—Joseph Zukis Undeclared freshman from The Woodlands So, the way I got informed of what happened was through Facebook. I just saw that there were some explosions in Boston and West, Texas. People were overexaggerating what happened in Boston. Personally, I think it’s something very serious and should be taken seriously. However, people were just, I guess, overexaggerating what happened, and they thought it had a connection with North Korea, and they started doing those crazy connections. It’s okay to be aware of what’s going on, but I feel like people should just calm down.

To the regard of what happened, I haven’t come across misinformation, but if there is, I think people are really overexaggerating what’s going on. It is very sad that we’re getting bombed, first of all, or that Boston got bombed, but people should just calm down.

—Alan Medina Biology freshman from El Paso

VIEWPOINT

GALLERY

How we can help West, Texas

Build with care Laura Wright Daily Texan Columnist

Last Wednesday, Michael O’Donnell, associate vice chancellor of the UT System, testified before the Senate Higher Education Committee on SB 496, a bill by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. SB 496 would take the power of final approval for “capital projects” (large construction projects) from the hands of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and put it in the hands of the UT System Board of Regents. Yesterday, that bill passed the Texas Senate.

If SB 496, passes the House and becomes law, then the Board of Regents will have the authority to approve capital building projects across the UT System. On the surface, this shift of power is not dramatic. “Authorizing” a project is not the same as funding it, a task which will still fall to the Legislature, and, indirectly, to individual universities’ development teams, which must raise supplemental funds from donors. The bill won’t empower individual institutions to propose new building projects, as the regents already vet each institution’s list of proposed capital projects before they reach the THECB and Legislature. That is an arguably important step for the board to take, given the number of institutions in the UT System vying for funds.

Mostly, SB 496 is a bill that eliminates the bureaucratic redundancy of having to get building projects approved by the Board of Regents and then again by the THECB. But it just might empower the Board of Regents to make more deliberate choices about the way the UT System’s 16 campuses grow.

Also yesterday, the students of UT professor Larry Speck’s Architecture and Society class — this columnist included — took a test, which included an essay question asking students to discuss the ways a residential environment the student had lived in shaped their college experience.

The question was a way for students to demonstrate that they had done the reading and connected the principles they encountered to their everyday lives. But their answers may also be collected for research on the way students interact with their environment — provided they signed the release passed out at the beginning of class.

LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article or cartoonist.

They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

Richie Gill, a Plan II senior, used responses to this test question from past semesters to identify how “socially successful” students were in a particular dorm. He also examined the effect of particular residential environments on student GPA. What did his holistic review of 12 of the 14 dorms on campus find?

The best dorm for a freshman student is — drum roll, please — the humble Moore-Hill, completed in 1956. Its rooms, at 190 sq. feet, are less than half the size of those in UT’s newest dormitory, Duren Hall, which was built in 2007. The less-thanluxurious quarters of Moore-Hill prompt students to leave their rooms and meet other Longhorns, while the wealth of amenities in Duren kept people from moving — literally and figuratively — out of their comfort zones, which Gill’s findings suggest affected not only their social lives but their GPAs as well. When Gill compared a student’s predicted GPA (based on a number of factors, including the student’s high school GPA and his or her parents’ level of education) with the GPA they actually achieved at UT, students in more social dorms had the most positive difference between their predicted and actual GPA. Of course, Gill’s project is just a senior thesis, not a fullyformed scientific study, and interpreting essay question answers is an inherently subjective process. But the results of the project, which are by no means conclusive, do suggest that we should be more thoughtful about the buildings on our campus, as the designs of those buildings might affect student success. All of us — students, regents and UT administrators — care about the success of students on this campus. In the past decade, we’ve seen the expansion of the UT campus give us buildings like Duren, which is neither the most affordable nor the most effective dorm for bettering the student experience. Meanwhile the best dormitory for students on campus was completed in the mid-1950s.

So, since the regents may soon have more control over the type of buildings built on UT System campuses, they should demand buildings that make a difference in students’ lives.

The University isn’t about to stop growing. We should make sure it grows in a direction beneficial to students.

Wright is a Plan II junior from San Antonio.

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Letters should be more than 100 and fewer than 300 words. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability. The Texan does not run all submissions.

Just a handful of UT students grew up in West, but hundreds drive through the town on weekend trips home and excursions north. The tiny town clings to several miles of I-35’s eastern edge, just north of Waco. Dallas-bound students know West for its iconic Czech Stop, a store that has a wood-paneled facade and yellow sign, visible from the Interstate, and that sells kolache pastries. After the devastating fertilizer plant explosion on Wednesday night, the Czech Stop still stands, but a significant portion of the town — its school, its people, its homes — does not.

As late as Thursday afternoon, estimates for the number dead ranged from 5-15 people, with more than 150 injured. Vigorous cleanup efforts have begun, but broken glass from shattered windows is everywhere, and the part of downtown West surrounding the plant has been completely blocked off. West residents, in a state of shock, are using Twitter and Facebook to ask about the health and safety of friends and family members.

Melany Jean, a UT anthropology and art history sophomore who grew up in West, shared a Twitter exchange representative of the town’s response, equal parts chaotic and heroic.

(Jean’s parents and three siblings, who live on the outskirts of downtown West, are safe.) A West High School senior tweeted, “@AndyWard needs to tell me I’m okay before I break in half.” The Andy Ward in question, also a West high school student, worked in the now-collapsed nursing home. A string of concerned replies, asking whether anyone had “heard from him yet,” followed. And then: “Actually, he’s better than okay.

He’s a hero.” Ward, according to Jean, had been unable to reply to his friend’s concerned tweet not because he was injured, but rather because he was busy helping transport injured nursing home residents to safety.

Jean believes West’s small-town familiarity will help the community of 2,849 rebuild itself in future weeks and months.

She says it “has a distinct spirit where everyone is familiar with everyone that can sometimes be suffocating but beyond that is a deep-rooted loyalty to anyone associated with the town.”

Although West geographically and physically resembles other Central Texas towns of its size, its Czech heritage makes it special. In the 19th century, Czech immigrants moved to West and Czech last names still fill classroom roll call lists.

The Czech immigrants, responsible for the town’s tie to kolaches, “clung to [their heritage] and kept it alive in an adaptive way, Texas rural culture mixed in with Czech culture,” Jean said. She describes an annual West Fest and a high school junior historians club, which holds polka dances.

Authorities say there is no reason to suspect the fire that triggered the explosion was anything but an accident, but that does not diminish the sadness caused by the explosion.

At press time, we know few details about the decision to build the plant close to homes and a school or the safety precautions that were or weren’t taken to prevent the explosion. What we know for sure is that in the coming weeks and months, national news cameras, reporters and attention will leave the town of West to face the daunting, sad task of picking up the pieces and rebuilding. But UT students, young, energetic and approaching summer vacation, are in a prime position to help with that effort.

For now, West does not want or need material donations, though students can donate blood to a number of on campus blood drives and money to the Salvation Army and Red Cross. But in the near future, West will need volunteers to rebuild infrastructure and lives. UT students should take the initiative to offer that kind of support. Talking about people at home, Jean describes families concerned with the coming days more than the future months. “A lot of people are staying with family outside of West, posting on Facebook family members’ clothing sizes, checking on other people. Not a lot of people have moved further than shock, I don’t know that anyone knows what they’re going to do,” she says.

RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan. Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burntorange newsstand where you found it.

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NEWS 5

News

Friday, April 19, 2013

5

CITY

UNIVERSITY

Co-op boot sales continue to fund student scholarship

By Christine Ayala

ress

Maria Arrellaga | Daily Texan Staff Runners Amardeep Kahlon and Ron Mora converse in a group on the trail at Lady Bird Lake on Thursday evening, where a vigil run was organized in support of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Austin runners remember Boston

By Barak Bullock Austin runners came together in support of the victims of this week’s Boston bombings in a vigil Thursday night.

Gilbert’s Gazelles, an Austin-based running group that was in Boston this week, organized a run on the three-mile Ann and Roy Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake.

Amy Stewman, a runner who ran in the Boston Marathon, said although she is still working through the trauma, she is thankful to be OK. “I think for my husband and I, I think we’re still processing it,” Stewman said.

“I think we’re extremely grateful for the gift of life and not wanting to take it for granted.”

Like Stewman, many participating in the vigil

POWERS

were runners at the Boston Marathon hoping to comfort their running mates and turn the page on their experiences.

“For us it was good, because we haven’t talked to each other since then and we’re running partners, so for us it was good to come together during this time and compare stories and talk and see how we’re doing,” Stewman said.

Students and faculty at UT also reacted to the Boston bombings.

Barry Brummett, professor and communication studies department chair, whose daughters were at the Boston Marathon but were uninjured in the explosion, said the Boston bombings represent another step in the United States’ fight against terror.

“The attacks will certainly make the marathon a

The attacks will certainly make the marathon a symbol of our long, ongoing ’war on terror,’ like the Twin Towers were. As for long term effects, I think we have to wait and see who the perpetrators are.

—Barry Brummett, professor and communication studies department chair symbol of our long, ongoing ’war on terror,’ like the Twin Towers were,” Brummett said. “As for long term effects, I think we have to wait and see who the perpetrators are.”

UT students said they were shocked by the news.

“Like most people, [I was] shocked at first,” said Zachary Reeves, international relations and global studies senior, “and then [I felt] just general despair as the

participated in the Longhorn Research Bazaar on Wednesday, said participating in such an event as a freshman is motivation to continue to explore research topics and look for ways to change the world.

Orange and white cowboy boots sold at the University Co-op have provided Student Government with $30,000 in scholarship funds for current students.

The boots that fund the Rebecca Carreon Boot Scholarship endowment fund range in price from $270 to $400, and all of the proceeds from the particular boot go toward the fund.

“Giving out the scholarship is an incredible opportunity for Student Government to live up to our goal of giving back to students,” said Kornel Rady, Student Governments’s external financial director.

SHOW

continues from page 1

is to provide inspiration for the designers.

“I feel like all the designers take the word and make it their own,” Aguilera said. “Its not a unified thing. It’s whatever it means to them, and it’s a chance to show the world what [the designers have] been thinking and dreaming about for so many years.”

Karen Bravo, a lecturer in the department of textiles and apparel and one of three directors of the fashion show, said she sees how emotional the event is for all 24 students.

“It’s sort of like the students’ soul,” Bravo said. “You’re actu-

ally seeing all these years that they’re putting into school and learning and challenges they’ve faced.”

Cameron Silver, named one of the 25 most influential people in fashion by Time Magazine, presented awards at the end of the show. The Lexus of Austin Design Challenge was awarded to Christine Lew and the best overall design went to Mehgan McKinney.

Textile and apparel senior Nicki Garcia said she felt relieved that the show was over.

“I’m excited for what’s to come,” Garcia said. “It feels good to get my stuff out there after all the hard work.”

check out

ONLINE

stories videos photo galleries

dailytexanonline.com

A panel of award-winning professors offers insight to students on how to participate in undergraduate research Thursday evening.

ATTENTION ALL INCOMING 6TH-, 7TH, & 8TH-GRADERS

Gabriella Belzer Daily Texan Staff

The University of Texas at Austin

continues from page 1

solve problems, you will do better in your field, your classes and beyond,” Powers said. “You learn how to use mental tools ... by being a part of research.”

Music freshman Kristina Doan, who

number of the injured kept piling up.”

“I was just shocked and really sad,” psychology sophomore Mason Hunt said.

“I was sad, it was shocking,” said statistics graduate student Hakan Goren. “After that I was thoughtful that it might be another terrorist attack, and all the Muslim people would be blamed for that, because I come from Turkey.”

Student Government and the Co-op have granted students more than $168,000 since 2008 in funds coming from the boot sales. Rady said Student Government hopes to increase funds for next year’s fund.

The scholarship application opens Friday and will be available to all current UT students outside of Student Government, and granted on the basis of need and merit. Applications must be completed by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 2013 and delivered to the Student Government office. Winners will be announced in mid-May. The scholarship application can be found in the Student Government Office SAC 2.102 and online at www.utsg.org.

“To do a research project as a freshman is a great boost to myself,” Doan said. “Now I’m anxious to look for ways to solve the problem I chose to research and make my dream a reality.”

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6 SPTS

Sports 6

Friday, April 19, 2013

Christian Corona, Sports Editor

BASEBALL

Weiss seeks to end slump

SIDELINE MLB RANGERS

By Sara Beth Purdy CUBS

Erich Weiss is just going to take it one at-bat at a time.

The junior, heralded as one of the best hitters on the slumping Longhorns’ roster, has been slumping himself recently but plans to focus on giving 110 percent and improving during the Longhorns’ do-or-die series against West Virginia this weekend.

“We all realize our situation, we’ve dug ourselves into a big hole,” Weiss said. “It is kind of like a fear of losing.

We used to feel that we need to win and we have to win.

Every time we make a mistake they seem to be able to capitalize on it and we can’t come back.”

Weiss is hitting .323 at the plate, second on the team behind junior Mark Payton, who is hitting .397 this year. Over the past few games, Weiss has been frustrated at the plate. This past week against UT-Pan American, Weiss went 0-for-5 against a struggling Broncs pitching staff. Weiss has gone a staggering 7-for33 this month and has seen his average drop from .360, where it was at the beginning of April.

“It’s very frustrating,” Weiss said of his struggles. “I just need to keep it up at the plate. Don’t swing at pitches

CARDINALS

PHILLIES

RAYS

ORIOLES

SPORTS BRIEFLY Shelby Tauber | Daily Texan Staff Third baseman Erich Weiss has been one of the premier Texas hitters since he joined the team two years ago. Despite seeing his average drop 38 points since the start of April, Weiss is focused on ending his slump against Oklahoma.

outside of the strike zone, don’t help a pitcher and take what you can get.”

Despite his recent mishaps, Weiss has the full support of the coaching staff and of the team. Texas head coach Augie Garrido still refers to Weiss as his star at the plate and a “monster hitter.” With the increase in errors and the decrease in

production at the plate, Garrido said that the frustration builds and leads to more mistakes and less success.

“The demon gets bigger and bigger,” Garrido said.

“Whatever you fear, you make happen, and we are afraid. We’re kind of paralyzed at the plate.”

In what will likely be his final season at Texas, with

there being a good chance will make himself eligible for the MLB draft this summer, he is still optimistic about the Longhorns’ chances and is itching to get into the postseason. As he proved in practice this week, Weiss can still drop uncatchable balls deep into the outfield better than almost anybody else on the roster.

“We play just as good as any team. We’re doing the wrong thing at the right time,” Weiss said. “The coaches have talked to us individually and, as a team, I think we’re pretty excited to get into this series this weekend to show that we can play.”

The Longhorns will host

WEISS continues on page 7

Errors becoming a problem for Horns

By Matt Warden Daily Texan Columnist

The Longhorns have dropped the ball in series after series this season, dealing a big blow to their chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament. But in the last four games, the Longhorns have literally dropped the ball too often.

Although Texas earned an important 6-1 win over UTPan American on Tuesday night, the effects of its series

loss to Kansas over the weekend still linger. Texas scored 12 runs in three games against the Jayhawks, but its nine errors were the most glaring concern to come out of the series.

Texas looked poised in last Friday’s series opener against Kansas after jumping out to a 4-2 lead early in the game, but a few errors and runs later, the Jayhawks were able to take command with a three-run fifth inning. The game went 12 innings before a winner was declared, but the Longhorns’

SOFTBALL

WVU @ Texas

Friday, 7 p.m.

Saturday, 2 p.m.

Sunday, 12 p.m. five errors and 10 strikeouts said all that needed to be said about the loss.

In Game Two, the Longhorns pulled out a 2-1 victory behind a complete-game gem from Dillon Peters, but

ERROR continues on page 7

Marshall Nolan | Daily Texan Staff Junior Jacob Felts committed three of the Longhorns’ eight errors in their series loss to Kansas last weekend.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Longhorns sign slew of guards

By Christian Corona

Guillermo Hernandez | Daily Texan Staff Freshman Stephanie Ceo is surpassing all expectations this season, hitting .414 while replacing Lexy Bennett at second base.

Ceo filling big hole for dominant Texas lineup

By Evan Berkowitz With Lexy Bennett’s graduation, there was a glaring hole at second base.

Someone had to follow the all-time Texas leader in batting average, runs scored, RBIs, on-base percentage, and hits. But no one expected the replacement to match Bennett’s numbers.

With 42 games under her belt, freshman Stephanie Ceo is starting to make a name for herself.

Ceo is hitting a staggering .414 this year. And while most players pad their numbers

Oklahoma @ Texas

Friday, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, 5 p.m.

Sunday, 3 p.m. while beating up on weaker opponents, Ceo is actually better against better competition.

In conference play, she is batting .474 — a team best.

Ceo, though, is still no Bennett, who was arguably the best to ever step up to the plate in a Texas uniform. But

CEO continues on page 7

Guards Demarcus Croaker, Isaiah Taylor and Kendal Yancy signed letters of intent on Thursday to play at Texas next season. Yancy and Croaker are four-star prospects, according to rivals.com, with Taylor checking in as a threestar prospect.

For the second straight year, the Longhorns failed to sign a big-time, blue-chip prospect like Myck Kabongo in 2011, Tristan Thompson in 2010 and Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton in 2009. The Longhorns were one of four finalists for Plano product and five-star prospect Julius Randle but he committed to Kentucky.

Croaker, who decommitted from Murray State in Feburary, was a Class 4A Player of the Year finalist after averaging 23.9 points per game for Jones (Orlando, Fla.) High School.

“Demarcus is a player who possesses the rare combination of high-level athleticism, ball skills and shooting touch,” Barnes said. “Like most freshmen, the challenge for Demarcus will be adapting to the rigors of our level.”

Taylor was the first to verbally commit to Texas when he pledged to play for the

Longhorns in January. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Houston product averaged 17.6 points, 10.0 assists and 6.0 steals per game while shooting 62.2 percent from the floor as a senior last year.

“Isaiah is a true point guard with excellent court vision and the ability to make other players around him better,” head coach Rick Barnes said.

“He has terrific speed and quickness to go with exceptional ball-handling ability.

Once he learns our system, he will bring tremendous value to our backcourt.”

Yancy was released from his letter of intent from USC in February and verbally committed to Texas last month, turning down offers from Baylor, Gonzaga, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Virginia, among more than a dozen others. He earned 5A all-state honors after averaging 12.2 points, 7.8 assists and 6.6 rebounds per game last season, when he led Berkner High School in Richardson to the state semifinals.

“Kendal is a tough, physical guard who has excellent ball skills and a good basketball IQ,” Barnes said. “He has the versatility to play all three guard positions, and

GUARDS

continues on page 7

Demarcus Croaker Guard

Isaiah Taylor Point Guard

No. 1 pick Griner discusses sexuality Brittney Griner, who was recently drafted No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury, acknowledged in an interview on Wednesday that she is gay.

Griner recently finished her four year career at Baylor University, a career which saw her finish second in NCAA women’s history in scoring with 3,283 points and first all-time in men’s or women’s college basketball with 748 career blocks. The stat that 6-foot-8 Griner is probably most known for is her 18 career dunks, including 11 this past season.

While she acknowledges that it was tough to come out given the circumstances around her all her life to come out, she hopes to use her fame as a platform to help others just like her however she can.

“Just being bigger, my sexuality, everything,” she told the AP. “I overcame it and got over it.

Definitely something that I am very passionate about. I want to work with kids and bring recognition to the problem, especially with the LGBT community.”

OJ Mayo will opt out of Mavs deal OJ Mayo, the shooting guard for the Dallas Mavericks said on Thursday that he would decline the option to return to Dallas for a second season, making him a free agent for the second straight post-season.

Mayo says instead that he hopes to work out a long-term deal with the team.

“Getting something long term, locking something in is what I think is best for me,” Mayo said Thursday after his exit interview with coach Rick Carlisle and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson.

Mayo averaged 15.3 points, 4.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds while playing a team-high 35.5 minutes per game for the Mavericks this season. However, his numbers too a significant dip after the All-Star Break as Dirk Nowitzki’s production increased after returning from knee surgery.

—Matt Warden

LONGHORNS IN THE MLB Kendal Yancy Guard

Drew Stubbs - 0/2 - 1 BB - 1 RBI

SPTS/CLASS 7

sports

Friday, April 19, 2013

SOFTBALL

Red River series likely key to the Big 12 for UT

By Garrett Callahan Daily Texan Columnist

This weekend will be a test for Texas. Matched up against their school rival and with first place in the Big 12 on the line, the Longhorns will be put up to their biggest challenge of the year.

Texas, who currently sits atop the conference standings, will host No. 1 Oklahoma in a three-game series this weekend that will determine who will claim first place in the Big 12 with three weeks remaining in the regular season.

In order for Texas to win this series it has to forget one thing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who it is playing.

The Longhorns are entering this Red River Shootout with a 15-game winning streak, their last loss coming against No. 2 Arizona State more than a month ago. They are currently 8-0 in Big 12 play, the secondbest start against conference foes in school history, behind only the 2011 squad, which started 12-0.

WEISS

continues from page 6 West Virginia in a threegame series this weekend starting with Game one on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Games two and three will follow on Saturday and Sunday. In their inaugural Big 12 season, the Mountaineers have been struggling, going 21-17 on the season and 4-5 in Big 12 play. This is the first time that the two teams will meet. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is definitely a needed series to win, especially because it would be our only Big 12 series to win,â&#x20AC;? junior pitcher Corey Knebel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We definitely need the momentum and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s do or die.â&#x20AC;?

E! E R F ad s

d wor

only

ERROR

done,â&#x20AC;? senior outfielder Torie Schmidt said.

While this weekend will most likely decide who wins the Big 12 regular season title, it undeniably does not decide their postseason fates. With seven games left after this series, the Longhorns know that the weekend will not be a definition of their work this year.

The Longhorns have all the components of a winning team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; pitching, batting, defense, coaching and great team chemistry. This

weekend will show how they use those advantages when needed the most. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do really try to focus on what we are doing and not get so consumed with who is in the other dugout,â&#x20AC;? head coach Connie Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We talk about that day in and day out, but the fine line of reality is it is OU.â&#x20AC;?

While obviously fired up, this should just be a normal weekend series in Austin, which is where the team does its best work.

continues from page 6

still managed to leave seven runners on base while committing one error in the field.

Three more errors were committed by Texas in the rubber match of the series, with the Longhorns falling short, 4-3. In that series finale, Texas recorded 10 hits but left 12 runners on base while the defense allowed two unearned runs during Nathan Thornhillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s otherwise solid eight innings on the mound.

Despite scoring a solid 12 runs in the three-game series with the Jayhawks, the sweet part of the Longhorns lineup continued to leave runners on base. Erich Weiss went a combined

4-for-12 at the plate while Ty Marlow went 4-for-13 and single-handedly left eight runners on base.

The Longhornsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; everyday catcher, Jacob Felts, who has flown under the radar this season and is normally a defensive asset, recorded three of Texasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; eight errors from behind the plate in the series. For a team that feeds off consistent pitching and defense, such a lack of focus cannot happen against Big 12 competition.

Weiss, who is currently second on the team with a .323 batting average, continued his rough patch at the plate by going 0-for-5 with five runners left on base in Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s win against UTPA.

The Longhornsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; third baseman is clearly one of the cornerstones of the lineup, but his 29 strikeouts lead a team that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford to miss opportunities to score.

When it comes to records, West Virginia is in the same boat as the Longhorns this season. The Mountaineers score a lot of runs but their 3.90 team ERA should provide the Longhorns their best chance at claiming their first Big 12 series win this season.

This weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s series will bring one of three things for the Longhorns: errors and missed opportunities, or wins. West Virginia gives Texas its best chance so far to get the latter.

CEO

continues from page 6 Ceo is doing an outstanding job of filling the hole Bennett left.

The numbers are pretty close. Ceoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s average is only 0.008 lower than Bennettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s was her senior year. Her fielding percentage is just 0.025 off. And Ceo is on pace for more stolen bases.

Still, this is Ceoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freshman year. The only big difference in the two comes in the power game and in leadership.

But No. 6 Texas doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need Ceo to hit for power.

They need her to get on base and set up the power hitters like on-base guru Taylor Hoagland.

And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exactly what she is doing.

Just look at her first conference game, a nine-inning affair against Baylor. It was Ceoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s single that started the ninth. And it was Ceoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run that proved to be the gamewinner. Head coach Connie Clark has taken notice. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I actually felt like the table-setting in the ninth was amazing,â&#x20AC;? Clark said after the Baylor game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was tremendous to see Ceo lead off that inning with a hit.â&#x20AC;?

Now, with top ranked Oklahoma (37-2) coming to town this weekend, Clark is really going to need Ceo to set the table and help Texas extend their 15 game-win streak.

While the Longhorns have one of the most dominant pitcher-hitter duos in Blaire Luna and Taylor Hoagland, Oklahoma may even have a better one in Keilani Ricketts

GUARDS continues from page 6

he brings a winning mentality to our program.â&#x20AC;?

The Longhorns lost three players from the 16-18 team that fell in the first round of the CBI last month. Sophomores

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Charlie Pearce | Daily Texan Staff Blaire Luna, 21-1 this season, will be looked upon to shut down No. 1 Oklahoma in Game One of Texasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; series this weekend.

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The top-ranked Sooners will be by far the toughest match this team has faced all season. Oklahoma is 37-2 and 6-0 in Big 12 play, losing only to Nebraska and Louisville, who are both in second place in their respective conferences.

The Longhorns donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a pretty past against No. 1-ranked foes as they are 3-11 all-time against topranked opponents. However, none of those have been against Big 12 opponents.

The last time Texas won a game against a top-ranked opponent was in a 1-0 victory against Arizona in 2006.

This team of mixed veterans and youngsters needs to go into the weekend with a mindset of playing their own game. They have already proved that they can play with some of the best in the league; they now just need to go out there and do it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We understand it is important. We will have big crowds, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big rivalry. But at the same time, we know it is just another three-game series where we have to get our work

7

You saw it in the

Texan

and Laura Chamberlain.

Ricketts is fresh off a season that saw her national player of the year honors and is near the top of most statistical categories, including an NCAA-best 14 shutouts. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big reason why the Sooners boast a 1.07 team ERA, the lowest in the nation. Chamberlain is putting up absolutely ridiculous numbers at the plate, leading the nation in home runs with 21 while hitting .472, the best in the Big 12 among those with at least 10 at-bats this year.

Texasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1.47 team ERA is the fourth best in the country while it boasts a .342 batting average, the ninth-best in the nation. Oklahoma is hitting .333 as a team this season, the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 16th-best mark. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We match up tremendously with them,â&#x20AC;? Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It will be two great teams with two great pitchers going at it. We are similar in many ways. I am glad that we are on our field for this match-up.â&#x20AC;?

Both teams are currently undefeated in conference play, meaning that whoever takes this three-game series has the fast track in the race for the Big 12 regular season championship.

The players canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mask their excitement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I cannot wait for the game against Oklahoma,â&#x20AC;?

Taylor Thom said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are a great ball club. This week cannot go by fast enough.â&#x20AC;?

If there is ever a time to come out to Red and Charline McCombs field, it is this weekend. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no way that they can just go through the motions,â&#x20AC;? Clark said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They will be hungry and fired up with some great intensity.â&#x20AC;?

Sheldon McClellan and Jaylen Bond both elected to transfer while sophomore point guard Myck Kabongo announced his decision to declare for the NBA draft last Friday. Fellow sophomore Julien Lewis, who teammates have said isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t working out with the team full-time, has yet to decide whether he will transfer.

ADVERTISING TERMS There are no refunds or credits. In the event of errors made in advertisement, notice must be given by 10 am the fi rst day of publication, as the publishers are responsible for only ONE incorrect insertion. In consideration of The Daily Texanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acceptance of advertising copy for publication, the agency and the advertiser will indemnify and save harmless, Texas Student Media and its officers, employees and agents against all loss, liability, damage and expense of whatsoever nature arising out of the copying, printing or publishing of its advertisement including without limitation reasonable attorneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fees resulting from claims of suits for libel, violation of right of privacy, plagiarism and copyright and trademark infringement.

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8 COMICS

Comics

8

Friday, April 19, 2013

The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Friday, April 19, 2013

SUDOKUFORYOU t

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9 6 3 7 2 5 1 8 4

Edited by Will Shortz

S U D O K U F O R Y O OUR SAVINGS U ARE Refreshing.

Across

Today’s solution will appear here tomorrow

6 3 9 4 7 8 2 5 1

Crossword

26 What a biblical

black horseman symbolizes 27 Opposed to 8 Fair way to be 28 Matadors’ red judged capes 15 Doris Day film 29 People might with the song leave them in “Ten Cents a tears Dance” 30 Often-toasted 17 Peoria seed resident’s representation 31 Year “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” 18 They often was published pass through 32 Like many needles sluggish drains 19 Place for a 33 Govt. issuance butler 35 Life 20 Spanish body 36 Spheres of water 37 Cobble, e.g.

21 ___ corde (piano pedaling 38 Small grouse direction) 39 Things in lava lamps 22 Rounded-up numbers?

40 Honey badger 23 Driver’s 41 Hostile invitation 43 Amino acid in 24 Flashes proteins 1 One looking out for #1

44 Tried to reach

higher 46 Secretly plots to harm 47 More mad 48 “Jazz” artist

Down

1 Pliable protein 2 1991 entrant for the Democratic presidential nomination 3 Unduly high appraisals 4 Lead-in to flops 5 Springsteen’s “___ Rocker” 6 Divisions 7 How David Bowie’s character fell, in a 1976 sci-fi film 8 “Miami Vice” Emmy winner 9 Aye’s opposite, in verse ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 10 Scratch S L A P S H Y S P A M 11 It’s not a good sign P I L L S L O E U R G E A B B E C A P N M I R A 12 Rundowns C R E A T I V I T Y M E T 13 What prosaic minds lack E A R T H S L A U R E L D S T E S S O R H O D O 14 Exchange for a Hamilton D R O W S E A S T A I S T H E R E S I D U E O F 16 Politician Paul and others N E R O S P I N A L K N I T S T E S T E C U 22 Big exporter of S O C I A L T E S L A S mangoes P R O W A S T E D T I M E 23 Comets’ head O I L S S A R I A J A R 25 “… ___ the T T O P S H U N B A R I bush” S A R A O L E S H O D 26 Blue states

1

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No. 0315 9

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puzzle by joe krozel

28 ___ Gerais

34 Big name in

30 Some brick

36 What a Pullman 42 “First name” in

(Brazilian state) buildings

31 Crescent-

shaped bodies

32 “Does

the name Quasimodo ring a bell?,” e.g.

frozen pizza

kitchen is built into

37 Work after the

first?

39 Act to retain

one’s property at auction

40 Convened anew

the Louvre

43 Zaxxon maker 45 ’60s service

site

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L&A 9

Life & Arts

Friday, April 19, 2013

9 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

MOVIE REVIEW | ‘OBLIVION’ Jack (Tom Cruise) is grilled

by Beech (Morgan Freeman) in “Oblivion,” an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of “TRON: Legacy”and producers of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Stellar visuals belie empty plotline

By Alex Williams Joseph Kosinski’s debut feature, “Tron: Legacy,” was a visual marvel with a script that failed to connect on any sort of logical or emotional level, rendering the film an empty exercise in image and sound.

His follow-up, “Oblivion,” is a marked improvement, another feast of images with a slightly more coherent story.

Unfortunately, the film is a pastiche of sci-fi tropes and imagery, making for a film that tries to blend about half a dozen different stories into a murky final product.

On a post-apocalyptic Earth, Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are in charge of drone repair for a space station where the rest of humanity has found sanctuary. With only a few weeks to go until they get to rejoin their people in space, Jack’s reckless streak grows more and more pronounced, and the arrival of an unfamiliar spacecraft inconveniently coincides with Jack’s discovery of an underground human colony hellbent on overthrowing the government.

“Oblivion”’s mish-mash of post-apocalyptic wastelands and dystopian government coups only gets more

RUGBY

convoluted as the film goes on, and to name too many more of the sci-fi classics with their fingerprints on “Oblivion” would only serve to spoil the few surprises up the film’s sleeve. Kosinski dips in and out of several stories brimming with potential, only to discard them almost immediately, leaving numerous narrative avenues unexplored. Even Kosinski’s imagery shamelessly lifts from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the film’s climax borrows liberally from the “Portal” series, especially in its design of the villainous drones, disposable antagonists that give Kosinski the opportunity to blow lots of stuff up without having to build characters in the process.

Even though “Oblivion” is little more than a mixtape for sci-fi fans, Kosinski still delivers an impressively controlled aesthetic, and every frame of the film is striking and gorgeous. Kosinski revels in showing us the destroyed ruins of Earth, but he also finds several lush, beautiful untouched miracles in the overgrown wasteland he’s created. The highly anticipated score from M83 is effective, but evokes Daft Punk’s memorable work from “Tron: Legacy” too

readily and gets a bit overzealous at times, scoring even quiet, intimate moments between Jack and Victoria with a booming full orchestra.

Tom Cruise has headlined plenty of big films like this, but rarely has he worked with as small an ensemble as he does here. Thankfully, Cruise OBLIVION anchors “Oblivion” with a performance filled with confidence and charm, even if it Director: Joseph Kosinski lacks complexity. The film is Genre: Science fiction a pure star vehicle for Cruise, Runtime: 126 minutes filled with big action beats and sweeping moments of heroism, but Cruise’s most effec- for Jack’s slow realization that tive moments come when Jack all is not what it seems to be. visits the small oasis he’s built Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman for himself off the grid. Jack brings nothing but a baritone has nostalgia for a life he never and silly sunglasses to his stock lived, a desire to be a normal wise old-man role, and fails human, and Cruise instills to produce a single moment those scenes with a real sense worth remembering with his of longing, bringing genuine nondescript performance.

“Oblivion” is a lushly realhumanity to a character with ized parade of beautiful sights little idea of what that means.

Andrea Riseborough’s un- and sounds, but the film’s narderstated, emotive perfor- rative deficiencies once again mance is pivotal to making overpower Kosinski’s impresmuch of the first stretch of the sive visual efforts. Still, not film work, and as Victoria’s many directors can produce reality collapses around her, two letdowns and still have me Riseborough does a great job interested in what’s next, and of selling her character’s be- as soon as Kosinski can write trayal and anger. Melissa Leo is a script as lavishly gorgeous quietly malicious in her small as his imagery, we’re going to role, and Olga Kurylenko is en- have something really special gaging and fiery as the catalyst on our hands.

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team will be invited to attend training camps.

But for now, the women of the team are simply enjoying playing the game, tackles included. In fact, the rough nature of the sport attracted many of the new recruits to rugby.

“I had grown up playing soccer in high school, and I loved that. And then, when I found rugby, I was like, ‘Oh, well this is perfect, because now I can actually hit

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on that pizza you forgot to order.

For when you want to watch something gratuitously violent — “Bad Boys II” (2003, 147 minutes) — The violence isn’t the only gratuitous thing in Michael Bay’s epic cop thriller. Besides the ridiculous runtime, “Bad Boys II” features excessive profanity, crassness and moments of highbrow comedy like Martin Lawrence getting shot in the ass. Besides, what’s better than Bay-sized carnage to shake viewers from a glazed-over stupor into a glazed-over glee at watching things explode?

For when you want to have no idea what’s going on (and love it) — “Holy Motors” (2012, 115 minutes) — Leos Carax’s meditation on the nature of filmmaking and performance is a lovely little gem of a film, and its shifting perceptions of reality and identity are

people, and not just pretend to hit people,’” said Christina Ruiz, a freshman and a new member of the team.

According to Jenkins, the women learn how to tackle correctly in early practices, which reduces the risk of injury. Though the team has two to three injuries a year, none of the women seem overly concerned about getting hurt.

“Whenever I’m injured and I can’t play, I just itch to get back out there,” said

Meyers, who has sat out two consecutive spring seasons because of injuries.

“I mean, frankly, I find women’s rugby to be a little bit safer then men’s rugby.

We don’t tackle with the head like in football; there’s not the same sort of concussion risk.

We tackle lower and more controlled,” Meyers said.

Even so, Meyers knows she will eventually stop playing rugby. Her father played for more than 30 years, and she

said seeing him undergo surgery on both knees made her confront the impossibility of playing rugby forever. So she gave herself some limits.

“I’ve made cutoffs for myself,” Meyers said. “Whichever comes first: three concussions (I’ve had one), a major surgery or, like, 30 or getting married or wanting to have kids, [and] I’ll stop playing. But until any of those things happen, I’m playing rugby.”

perfect mind-benders for anyone already expanding their consciousness. Denis Lavant gives a powerhouse performance, playing nearly a dozen different characters, and the segment where he plays a repulsive garden troll who kidnaps Eva Mendes should cause plentiful giggle fits.

“V/H/S” packs half a dozen short shockers into a single film, making for a variety pack of terrors. Anyone prone to paranoia should probably steer clear, but “V/H/S” manages to make its scares into crowd-pleasing moments of triumph and builds to a climax that sends chills down your spine in all the right ways.

marijuana enterprise may be just what you need to finally wake up that budding social activist inside you. Plus, it’s an informative, entertaining documentary about a relevant subject, and who’s to say that you can’t learn something from Netflix too?

For when you want to have no idea what’s going on (and hate it) — “Enter the Void” (2009, 161 minutes) — Gaspar Noe’s aggressively edited acid trip through a murdered drug dealer’s afterlife is one of the most disorienting films available on Netflix. Thankfully, the film’s neon-coated color palette, trippy drug use sequences and sexually charged finale might provoke some interesting discussions — or maybe just a hasty retreat into the hazy reality Noe’s characters are constantly chasing.

For when you want to spend two hours in a fetal position — “V/H/S” (2012, 116 minutes) — A horror anthology masterminded by director Adam Wingard,

For when puppets are hilarious — “Team America: World Police” (2004, 98 minutes) — What’s not to love about puppets shouting obscenities, blowing each other up and having anatomically questionable sex? The satire from “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone is a comedic gold mine, full of hilarious moments that are equally brazenly offensive and sidesplittingly funny. Besides, let’s just admit it, puppets are hilarious.

For when you want to be filled with self-righteous indignation — “The Union: The Business Behind Getting High” (2007, 104 minutes) — Brett Harvey’s exploration of Canada’s illegal

For when you want to be a cliche — Cheech and Chong’s “Up in Smoke” (1978, 86 minutes) — Come on, you’re more original than this, right? But if you must, “Up in Smoke” is easily the best of Cheech and Chong’s films, chronicling a cross-country road trip in a van made of marijuana.

Yes, seriously.

Who’s got time to watch a whole movie, anyway?

— “Archer” (2009-2012, 30 minutes) — Netflix has more movies than you can watch in a lifetime, so why not just stick to “Archer”’s 30-minute chunks of sublime comedy? Gloriously vulgar, occasionally violent and always hilarious, “Archer” is your best bet once you’ve painstakingly rejected every single film on Netflix.

Iceland app designed to reduce incest risk

By Stuart Railey For the 320,000 inhabitants of Iceland, accidentally hooking up with a close relative is a legitimate concern for the party-going crowd. But thanks to the “IslendingaApp,” singles will no longer have to privately consult Iceland’s ancestry database. App users can simply bump phones to determine if they have any close genealogical roots. If two people happen to share a few branches on the family tree, the app will send out an “incest alert” which comes in two varieties: a ringing sound and a text message.

Three university students at Sad Engineer Studios created the application, which is now available for download on the Google Store.

Twitter launches new music app Teaming up with Spotify and Rdio, Twitter services will now extend into the music business with a new application for iPhone and Android operating systems. Twitter’s new service, which the company debuted Thursday, will function in a similar manner to Spotify in that mobile users can see the music that others are listening to. The program also recommends new artists based on trends in popularity and each user’s listening history. Full songs are available to listen to and because the application is linked with the iTunes store people can download songs directly. Later this year, Twitter expects to begin allowing TV clips to air on its feed along with new advertisements in an attempt to expand its services into new media realms.

Google Fiber in Utah Provo, Utah, will become the third city in the United States to undergo construction

NAZER

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“Last year, there was about 200 or so people that entered,” Nazer said. “There’s a preliminary round, semifinals, then a final round judged by industry people from Comedy Central, NBC, CBS and others.”

“Local Live” is not Nazer’s first experience performing a live, produced show. Last February, shortly before being named Funniest Person in Austin, Nazer made an appearance on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” where he performed a brief stand-up set on national television.

Nazer also recently released an album in 2012, which was recorded live in one take at a performance he gave at Cap City Comedy Club. The album will be available for purchase at Sunday’s show.

“Live performance is always more rewarding ‘cause you get to connect more directly with an audience,” Nazer said. “That’s all any living being really wants, anyways, is to be acknowledged, feel connected, be of worth.”

Ivan Brave, executive producer of “Local Live,” was put into contact with Nazer through Katherine Swope, editor-in-chief of

of a new fiber network. Google Fiber is a service that provides high-speed Internet access to customers who can manage the $70 monthly fee. Unlike the two other cities planned to receive Google Fiber, Austin and Kansas City, Provo already has a partially built fiber optic network in place called “iProvo.” Due to unforeseen budget constraints, the city of Provo was unable to finish the network and instead opted to sell the construction contract to Google.

“Iron Man 3” in 4-D For those who have grown tired of the cliche 3-D cinema experience, the new “Iron Man 3” movie will be a smelly change from previous shows.

In Nagoya, Japan, the movie will be released in 2-D, 3-D, and 4-DX formats. A typical 4-DX experience consists not only of sights and sounds, but also of smells, seat motion and wind effects. While these particular movie effects are not yet available in the United States, they are already available in other countries including Mexico, Thailand, Russia and Japan. The 4-DX “Iron Man 3” will premiere in Japan on April 26, later opening in the United States on May 3.

Leap Motion will be bundled with new HP computers Leap Motion is an incredibly accurate motion tracker.

With a precision of up to 1/100 of a millimeter, the program tracks even the slightest nuances in a person’s movements. Hewlett-Packard announced that it will bundle a new line of computers with Leap Motion Sensors starting this summer, although other details have not yet been released. The sensor will be available for purchase separately on May 13 for approximately $80. the Texas Travesty. Swope said she showed Brave some YouTube videos of local comedians to help him schedule the three openers and was responsible for confirming the four acts for Sunday’s show.

The Travesty will be tabling at the event, where they will provide copies of the publication and sell copies of Ramin’s album “You Were Good Too.” According to Swope, this isn’t the first collaborative effort between the Travesty and KVRX. “We put on [a] Travesty/ KVRX show a few years ago called ‘Lights Out,’ where we had a music and comedy show,” Swope said. “The Travesty is completely interested in doing more comedy shows in the future.”

The last “Local Live” for the spring semester seems like a fitting end to Nazer’s yearlong reign as Funniest Person in Austin. He said he will be hosting the final round for the 2013 award this May. In the meantime, Nazer’s notoriety continues to grow around the city. Despite his increasing success, he said stand-up comedy is only one of his primary jobs at the moment.

“I believe that in order to grow and be happy as a person, it’s really important to have a lot of interests and stay sharp,” Nazer said. “Most of life should be spent playing, not working.”

Photo courtesy of Local Live Ramin Nazer’s flourishing career as a comedian will be showcased at Sunday’s recording of “Local Live.”

10 L&A

Life & Arts 10

Friday, April 19, 2013

Kelsey McKinney, Life & Arts Editor

SPORTS

Team faces rougher field than usual

By Laura Wright In a back corner of the University of Texas intramural fields, a group of women jogged back and forth between tiny colored cones to the rhythm of a loud beep last Monday. The beep sounded with increasing frequency, and the women, all members of the UT rugby team, picked up their speed until only Sierra Jenkins, the team captain and an Olympic hopeful, remained. Jenkins ran back and forth between the cones, each time increasing her speed, until finally she too came to a stop.

The women, smiling and chatting among themselves on the sidelines, called out the number of laps they had run to head coach Traci Schmidtke, who hurriedly wrote them down. The team doesn’t usually run this drill, or practice this late in the spring, but in less than two months, they will compete in the National Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia.

They have a long way to go to be prepared.

As the women of the team will tell you, it is a short distance compared with how far they’ve come since 2011, when team captain Stephanie Flores died from a head injury sustained during a game.

Even in the rough sport of rugby, fatal injuries are rare.

The unexpectedness of the accident and the tragedy of losing a close friend hit the team hard. But it also gave them purpose.

“After it happened, we lost

Marshall Nolan | Daily Texan Staff Two players on the UT rugby team practice for the National Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia. The team has faced unexpected challenges after its captain, Stephanie Flores, died from a head injury suffered during a game last year.

a few people who decided that they would rather not keep playing. And we respected their decisions, but it wasn’t an overwhelming number,” said Marie Meyers, an anthropology senior who has played with the team for three years.

The memory of Flores, Meyers said, is part of what

keeps her playing.

“It affected more of the tone that the rest of the team took the next year. It brought us together as a team. There was already us playing for the team and playing for the school, but then there’s the added factor of having, you know, stuff to play for,” Meyers said.

LOCAL LIVE | RAMIN NAZER

In recent years, the team has certainly played like it has purpose. Last year, it took home first in their division. In December, it took home fourth place in the National Collegiate Sevens Final Four Finish.

“I think the resilience of overcoming tragedy on our team has corresponded with

the improvement of our club from a team that didn’t win as many games to a team that won it’s division last year, to the national championship,” said Jen Moreno, who has worked as an assistant coach for the team since 2010.

In late May, two members of the UT rugby team, including Jenkins, will join

Although “Local Live”’s schedule is typically made up of local musicians and bands, the KVRX special program is not just for music acts. This Sunday the show is taking a break from its weekly dosage of indie acts to allow a comedian on set for the first time in “Local Live” history.

Local comedian Ramin Nazer will end his reign as Funniest Person in Austin at this Sunday’s “Local Live,”

which is the last in-studio show for this semester. Opening for Nazer are local comedians Maggie Maye, Chris Tellez and Danny Palumbo.

Nazer was not necessarily the stereotypical classclown figure while growing up in Canada, but he said he always knew he wanted to do comedy.

“I wasn’t always the loudest or most outgoing; it really depended on my surroundings,” Nazer said. “Some classes, I never said a word.

Others I got sent out in the

hall every day. It’s more a way of looking at things more than anything.”

After moving to Austin 11 years ago, Nazer has become a leading name on the growing local comedy circuit. He won the title of Funniest Person in Austin in 2012 in the annual contest hosted by Cap City Comedy Club, which is something similar to winning Miss America, just at a local level and the winner is chosen based on sense of humor and

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4/20

Calli Conti, theatre and dance and marketing senior, plays Danica Rani, the incumbent chess president in “Agon,” a production by the Madrigal Theatre Committee.

Amy Zhang Daily Texan Staff

Madrigal Theatre Committee puts on student-produced play

By Katie Paschall

Illustration by John Massingill | Daily Texan Staff

Netflix movies to stare at on 4/20

By Alex Williams It’s half past four on a smoky Saturday afternoon.

You could get off your couch, but why muster all that energy when you’ve got Cheetos, enough cash to tip the pizza guy and a

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COMEDY

Music show changes its tune

By Hannah Smothers

other Olympic hopefuls at a Team USA training camp.

There, recruiters will get to know potential members of the 2016 USA women’s rugby team. In the three years before the USA team heads to the Olympics, Jenkins hopes more members of the UT

Netflix account? The real challenge is deciding what to watch in that vast library of streaming titles. Even the choice between old-school Cartoon Network and the edgier Adult Swim is a real head-scratcher.

We at The Daily Texan know all about those lazy

afternoons spent trying to figure out what Netflix title is most appealing, and we’ve put together a list of films for couch-surfing sessions of every kind so you can focus on the important stuff — like what you want to get

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A post-apocalyptic United States is separated into squares, resembling a chessboard. Washington D.C., known as Square 48, is occupied by Agon High School, where students seek political change and compete for justice through the game of chess. At least this is the world in the Madrigal Theatre Committee’s show “Agon.”

This weekend, the Madrigal Theatre Committee will take the SAC Auditorium stage to showcase the new student-written musical “Agon.” The committee allows students who aren’t theatre and dance majors to participate in productions to showcase their talents.

Rebecca Walach, a directing sophomore and co-director of “Agon,” commented on her appreciation for the committee.

“We have this whole realm of people who aren’t theatre people, which is really cool,” Walach said. “It’s a really great thing to be with people who share the same passions.”

The playwright, Matt

Hill, a theater and dance and radio-television-film junior, began conceptualizing the musical more than a year ago. He described the plot revolving around a disenfranchised student at Agon High School, who, with the help of his friends, challenges the status quo and runs for class president, resulting in a heated political campaign.

Though some things have changed from conceptualization to opening night, Hill said his initial vision for “Agon” has remained the same, including the title. “‘Agon’ is one of the Greek terms for ‘play,’” Hill said.

“Specifically, agon means competition, rather, the type of game in which people in a contest can win. Something like a board game such as chess is agon. In the play, agon is the battle between two people both competing for class president.”

Shannon Price, a journalism sophomore and music director for “Agon,” composed more than 20 pieces for the show. She said her original pieces alter everyday to meet the talents of

AGON When: April 19-20 at 7 p.m.; April 21 at 2:30 p.m.

Where: SAC Auditorium Cost: Free the cast.

“It’s a really collaborative piece,” Price said. “I tell the musicians my vision for the songs and they have the talent to come up with exactly what I want.”

Calli Conti, a theatre and dance and marketing senior and actress in “Agon,” was impressed with the show from the very first table-read.

“It’s a huge musical, not some little project. The directors have put their blood, sweat and tears into this show. I’m so excited to be a part of this,” Conti said.

The directors, cast and crew are ready to showcase their hard work and tell the story they’ve been rehearsing for months.

“This is my life,” Hill said.

“We all have high hopes for this show and want it to be the best. We hope to share this story with as many people as we can.”