The Daily Texan 7-1-10

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LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4

Wine bars don’t leave much to whine about

SPORTS PAGE 6

NBA free agency explained NEWS PAGE 2

Capital Metro Red Line ridership lower than projected

THE DAILY TEXAN Thursday, July 1, 2010

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

Calendar First Thursday

Come celebrate the start of July with First Thursday on South Congress Avenue. Peyton McGee | Daily Texan Staff

“Team America: World Police” quote- and sing-along at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at the Ritz at 10:10 p.m. Tickets cost $12.

www.dailytexanonline.com

Laura Hall sits in the courtroom for her resentencing trial at the Blackwell/Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Wednesday, which marked the second day of testimony.

By Michael Sherfield Daily Texan Staff Prosecutors turned former UT student Laura Hall’s own words and DNA against her as Day Two of her resentencing trial began Wednesday. The state attorneys relied upon the expert testimony of Cassie Carradine, Austin Police Department DNA specialist, and the recollections of Hall’s fellow prisoners in making the case that Hall, 27, played a part in tampering with evidence in the 2005 murder of Jennifer Cave by former UT student Colton Pitonyak. Hall has been found guilty of tampering with evi-

dence and hindering apprehension in a 2007 trial, but an appeals court threw out her five-year conviction, leading to a new resentencing trial and repeat of testimony and evidence for a new jury. Carradine established a DNA connection between Hall and the Smith & Wesson .38-caliber pistol authorities say Pitonyak used to murder Cave on August 17, 2005, in his West Campus apartment. “Laura Hall and Colton Pitonyak cannot be excluded as contributors,” Carradine said, referring to a

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Lowering the flag

SG pushes for changes in budgetary relationship

The Greek myth of Eros and Psyche goes modern with original music by Austin band Mother Falcon at the Blue Theatre at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $10.

By Destinee Hodge Daily Texan Staff Student Government will be taking strides in the 2010-2011 academic school year to change the dynamic of the relationship between the Student Services Budget Committee and the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee. As part of their campaign promise to “increase transparency in the budgeting process,” SG President Scott Parks and Vice President Muneezeh Kabir will attempt to have the relationship between the committees change to follow the preflat-rate tuition policies that allowed the SSBC to submit a proposal for the amount of money it needed to fund programs, as opposed to TPAC deciding how much tuition money is given to the committee. If the relationship is changed, it will allow the student representatives on the SSBC to have all the funds they need to provide money to selected programs on

‘I got the blues’

Gary Clark Jr. plays a happyhour show at Lamberts Downtown Barbecue at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Today in history In 1979 Sony releases the Walkman, inspired by Sony co-chairman Akio Morita, who wanted to listen to operas on plane trips.

In Opinion:

Editor advocates passage of DREAM Act page 3

In Life&Arts:

Vintage men’s store expands page 4

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Quote to note “The art of games is in the game play. Games that ... allow you to move in some kind of world in a way that feels pleasurable, interesting and aesthetically pleasing, tense, scary or exciting. The real art of the video game is how it feels to interact with the world while you’re holding this controller.” — Tom Bissell Author of “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4

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‘Re: Psyche’

Inside

Low

High

Hall’s DNA, prison remarks at forefront of evidence trial

TODAY

‘Freedom costs a buck o’ five’

TOMORROW’S WEATHER

Peyton McGee | Daily Texan Staff

BUDGET continues on page 2

Leonard Benford, a custodian at Gonzalo Garza Independence High School, retrieves the school’s American flag before heavy rains Wednesday.

EPA takes control of permit-issuing for Texas plants quality in Texas. But it also said the By Nolan Hicks decision didn’t go far enough and Daily Texan Staff The Texas Commission on Envi- the EPA should use the Clean Air ronmental Quality’s flexible per- Act to stop development of coalmit program does not meet fed- fired power plants in Texas. “We think the EPA must do more eral pollution standards, the Environmental Protection Agency an- to help the TCEQ follow the Clean Air Act,” said Jennifer Powis, the nounced Wednesday. The EPA issued what it called its senior regional representative for “final disapproval” of the TCEQ’s the Sierra Club. The Texas Oil & Gas Association flexible permitting process. The move allows the EPA to mandate released a statement expressing that Texas plants attempting to dismay over the EPA’s decision. “We were hopequalify for polluful the EPA would tion permits meet closely review stricter federal the TCEQ’s prostandards instead We think the EPA posed changes to of the current Texas requirements. must do more to help the flexible permit ro gram b e fo re “Today’s acthe TCEQ follow the punilaterally disaption improves Clean Air Act.” proving the proour ability to program,” said Debvide the citizens — Jennifer Powis bie Hastings, vice of Texas with the senior regional president of ensame healthy-air protections that representative for the vironmental affairs for the assoare provided for Sierra Club ciation. “The EPA citizens in all othhas disapproved a er states under the program that has Clean Air Act,” EPA regional administrator Al Ar- dramatically improved Texas air quality. It’s a shame.” mendariz said in a statement. The EPA takeover of the TCEQ’s The flexible permit program specifies overall pollution output lev- flexible permit program has become els for each plant, leaving it to the a central issue in the governor’s plant operators to decide how to race. Both campaigns released statemeet those targets. The federal stan- ments blaming each other for the dards assign specific levels of pollu- federal government’s action today. Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign tion output per smokestack at the plant, allowing for greater account- released a statement entitled, “Obama Administration Grants Bill ability, the EPA said. The Lone Star Chapter of the Sier- White’s Wish To Kill Texas Jobs.” ra Club applauded the decision and PERMITS continues on page 2 said it was necessary to improve air

Law promotes fair textbook prices By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff A federal law requiring college textbook publishers to provide details to faculty about textbook and textbook-bundle prices and descriptions of content changes takes effect today. A provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, the law was originally proposed as the College Textbook Affordability Act on March 20, 2007, by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., as a way to help college students manage the rising cost of textbooks. It requires textbook publishers “to include the price of textbooks and supplemental material when providing information to faculty, as well as a history of revisions,” according to Durbin’s originally proposed law. Publishers are also required to of-

fer bundled versions of textbooks in an unbundled form. Nsé Ufot, the government relations officer with the American Association of University Professors’ research department, said the major provisions of the law impose limitations on publishers and doubts whether it will lower the cost of textbooks. “The AAUP is all for reducing the cost [of college], and with tuition going up, the last thing that students need is to pay higher prices for textbooks,” Ufot said. Ufot, however, said she does not believe the unbundled texts will be cheaper for students because each text will be bought individually at separate prices, which offsets any initial savings. According to a 2005 U.S. Government Accountability Office report to

Congress, the price of college textbooks increased by 6 percent each year from 1986 to 2004, and prices nearly tripled over those years. The prices increased 240 percent while inflation rose 72 percent. Students spent $6 billion for new and used textbooks in 2004 nationwide. At four-year public universities, fulltime students spent $898 on textbooks on average during the combined fall and spring semesters. The report partially attributed the rise of prices to the bundling of textbooks with supplemental materials. According to the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics, the average amount that students spent on textbooks and supplies at UT was $800 in 2006-2007; $800 in

LAW continues on page 2

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Photo illustration by Patrick Lu | Daily Texan Staff

A federal law that mandates the disclosure of textbook information, including pricing and content changes, takes effect today. The law was enacted with the intention of reducing textbook prices.


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