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SPORTS PAGE 6
LIFE & ARTS PAGE 8
Keep track of Lance in the Tour de France
It’s smooth sailing with a paddleboard in tow
OPINION PAGE 4
Making the case for a leisurely summer
THE DAILY TEXAN Monday, July 5, 2010
THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY Keep strumming along Local musician David Garza plays a free show at the Cactus Cafe at 8:30 p.m.
Candidates party hardy Bill White debates the Libertarian Party candidate in front of the League of Women Voters in Kerrville at 7 p.m.
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TOMORROW’S WEATHER
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Loan changes save students, taxpayers money By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff Major changes this month to federal student loans are expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars and to lower interest rates for student loans processed at UT and at colleges across the country. Among the changes that took effect July 1, every federal loan will now come directly from the U.S. Education Department as part of
the Direct Loan Program, and private banks will no longer process or collect interest from federal student loans. Interest rates will be reduced from 8.5 percent to 7.9 percent for the federal Parent PLUS loan and from 5.6 percent to 4.5 percent for need-based Stafford loans, according to The Institute for College Access & Success. While the effects of these changes may not be noticeable in the
short term, the interest rates graduates will pay on their loans may be capped at a fixed amount — meaning students will be paying less over the years they repay their students loans. The Income-Based Repayment program now establishes a “reasonable” percentage of incomes and caps the amount of repayment after 25 years. Any loan established under the Direct Loan
Program’s predecessor, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, will be eligible for the income-based repayment cap. Maximum Pell grants, or federal needbased grants, are now $5,500 — up from $5,300 last year. Edie Irons, spokeswoman for the The Institute for College Access & Success, said the move to distribute loans directly and exclusively from the Education De-
Independence Day jamboree
‘Wherever I’m with you’ Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros play a sold-out show with We Are Each Other at La Zona Rosa at 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY Gotta get that funky rhythm Dance to the musical stylings of funk band Soul Track Mind at TC’s Lounge in East Austin at 10 p.m. every Wednesday.
THURSDAY Head to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at the Ritz for a “Goonies” Quote-Along at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10.
Diamonds are a boy’s best friend The Round Rock Express takes on the Oklahoma City RedHawks at 7:05 p.m. at the Dell Diamond. Tickets cost $8.
FRIDAY ‘K’vetch, k’vetch, k’vetch’ See Sally Field in her first Oscarwinning role in the 1979 film “Norma Rae.” Show starts at 9:35 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets cost $9 at the box office.
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Quote to note “I fell in love with it the first time I did it. I was like, ‘This is something I’m going to want to do all the time.’”
— Lisa Cowger UT alumna and member of the Texas Rowing Center LIFE&ARTS PAGE 8
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‘Goonies never say die’
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Peyton McGee | Daily Texan Staff
Above, from left to right, Gerry Grant, Seaward Grant and Bungy Nhedley dance and sing to music on the Double Tree Ranch float in the Round Top Fourth of July parade Sunday. Nhedley drove 1,452 miles from San Pedro, Calif., to be part of the parade. Below, Gov. Rick Perry recites the Pledge of Allegiance among supporters in the Round Top town square Sunday.
Perry speaks at parade of liberty, budget cuts Perry spent Sunday mornBy Nolan Hicks ing in Round Top, about 60 Daily Texan Staff ROUND TOP — Universities miles east of Austin, to particsuch as UT will have to work to ipate in the town’s Fourth of reduce costs in a bid to slow the July parade, which organizers rate of tuition increases as their claim is the longest continualbudgets are slashed as part of a ly running Independence Day deficit-reduction measure, Gov. parade west of the MississipRick Perry told The Daily Texan pi River. “I love doing parades after a Fourth of July pa— t h e re ’ s n o t h i n g rade Sunday. more Americana Perry said unithan a parade on versities should INSIDE: the Fourth of look to cut operSee how the city of July,” Perry said. ating expenses Austin celebrated “As much as we such as salaries, the Fourth of July quibble about administrative this or that or discosts and building on page 10 agree on policy, a maintenance. parade on the Fourth “All these costs of July is the quintessenhave increased substantially faster than the rate of in- tial American experience.” In an Independence Day flation and faster than other areas of government,” Perry said. speech delivered to a crowd of “I don’t know that for a fact, but about 300, who were clustered in that’s going to be the place I’d Round Top’s town square, Perry suggest for the Board of Regents, hit on many of the same themes and the administrators are going of his address to the Texas Republican Convention in June, into have to take a hard look.”
cluding his appeal to populism and individualistic elements in Texas politics. “When you talk about the independence that’s inherent in Texans, most people respond in a positive way,” Perry said. He said the appeal of populism and individualism in Texas is rooted in the state’s history, citing popular knowledge of events like the Battle of the Alamo and Texas’ initial status as an independent nation. “We’re as independent-minded a people in Texas as anywhere in the nation. Part of that is due to our history,” Perry said. “People
who have only been here a year call themselves Texans and they’re proud of it. They know our history better than most people know their own state’s history.” Earlier Sunday morning, Perry stood on a small platform beneath a shaded gazebo and spoke to the crowd, delivering a traditional Fourth of July speech that mixed a recitation of the history of American independence with attacks meant for the modern political era. “People do their best when
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partment will save taxpayers $60 billion over 10 years. “Cutting out the middleman — private banks and lenders who’ve been making federal loans — the government is going to make those same exact loans to students and put some of the profits back into the U.S. Treasury,” Irons said. “They’ll also save on subsidies
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Foundation distributes social work scholarships By Hannah Jones Daily Texan Staff The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is honoring its 70th anniversary by giving 10 students in Texas graduate social work programs $50,000 in scholarship awards. The foundation is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University. In 1940, Ima Hogg, a d a u g h t e r o f f o r m e r G o v. James S. Hogg, co-founded the foundation and was dedicated to improving mental health in the state. UT-Austin graduate student Heather Teel received the $5,000 scholarship along with nine other students, each from a different university in Texas, including UT-Pan American, UT-Arlington and UTSan Antonio. Teel previously worked in an inner-city school in Houston as a teacher and fundraiser, where she said she found her passion for helping teens and families. “I would like to see a true mental health curriculum as part of the school culture or norm, where the whole school is working together with positive mental health and it is not only [available] for those who can afford it,” Teel said. In August, she plans to work at the UT Mental Health Center in a yearlong internship to train under psychiatrists and licensed professional counselors. “I really, for the first time in my life, know exactly what I need to be doing,” Teel said. “It’s a huge honor, and I’m thankful for the support that I’m on the right path.” Ima Hogg created the scholarship program in 1956 to encourage more students to pursue mental health professions, foundation spokeswoman Merrell Foote said. Normally, the foundation grants scholarships to five recipients each year, but the number of recipients was doubled for the anniversary. “We want to commemorate Ms. Ima Hogg and her legacy. She did a lot for mental health in Texas. We just thought it was appropriate, since the scholarship is named after her, to double the number of scholarships and double the impact of scholarships in Texas for this year,” Foote said. “Twice as many students will be going into the mental health field than normally would have been the case. That can have an impact down the road.”
Hall resentencing doubles punishment By Michael Sherfield Daily Texan Staff After nearly six hours of deliberation, a Travis County jury sentenced Laura Ashley Hall to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine for tampering with evidence in the 2005 murder of Jennifer Cave on Friday. Hall also received one year and a $4,000 fine for hindering apprehension. The one-year sentence will be served concurrently. The decision was met with muffled celebrations from Cave’s family, closing what they hope to be the final chapter of Cave’s gruesome murder and mutilation in a West
Campus apartment five years ago. “I hate the word ‘closure,’” said Sharon Sedwick, Cave’s mother, after the trial. “How can you be satisfied when your child is dead? There is no satisfaction. But do I feel like justice was done? Yes.” Hall’s family stormed out of the courtroom shortly after the verdict was announced, while Hall broke into tears when the judge asked her if she had anything to say. Hall was convicted and sentenced to five years in 2007 for tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension of Colton Pitonyak, who was convicted of mur-
dering Cave, but an appellate court overturned her conviction after it determined the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense. Hall saw her punishment double after prosecutors found new witnesses to confirm Hall’s involvement in severing Cave’s head and hands. “This was a terrible crime. This sentence is appropriate,” chief prosecutor Allison Wetzel said. “She is someone who is dangerous and should be confined. The evidence is certainly there.”
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Danielle Villasana | Daily Texan Staff
Laura Hall enters the courtroom Friday, the last day of her resentencing trial for tampering with evidence in the murder of Jennifer Cave.