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LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4
NCAA football players talk video game counterparts
Thirsty Thursday’s alcoholic sweet tooth
SPORTS PAGE 6
Sizing up the Big 12 with Iowa State and Baylor
THE DAILY TEXAN Thursday, August 5, 2010
TODAY Calendar ‘I smell sex and candy’
Marcy Playground plays Red Eyed Fly. Tickets cost $12.99 and doors open at 8:30 p.m.
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
TOMORROW’S WEATHER High
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Student struggles as undocumented immigrant and she has never had a paying job. Despite being one of the top students in her high school graduating class, only a few By Destinee Hodge universities would accept her. Nora is one Daily Texan Staff of more than 9,000 undocumented students Nora is a 23-year-old UT graduate stu- who attempt to earn advanced degrees dent. She has never had a driver’s license, throughout the state of Texas, according to Editor’s note: The student’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.
an overview report of House Bill 1403 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Her parents came to the U.S. when she was a child, and they lived in Houston along with her two American-born siblings, both born after her arrival. Despite all the experience Nora has gained
at college, she will most likely not be able to work because of her lack of identification. “[The worst part is] just being limited in my career. Every time an opportunity comes up, it’s like I can’t [do it],� she said.
Prop. 8 declared unconstitutional
The Paramount Theatre hosts Beatles cover band 1964 the Tribute at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $32. See page 4
‘Everyone is at the mercy’
Sam Baker plays the Cactus Cafe at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10.
Campus watch Can you hear me now?
Photos by Ryan Smith | Daily Texan Staff
Above, Irene Andrews chants with the crowd at the Proposition 8 rally held in front of City Hall. Andrews is the precinct chairperson of the Democratic Party in Bell County and was a guest speaker for the event. Below, Erin Boyle stands in protest at the rally on Wednesday.
Judge rules Rally celebrates California reversal law violates Today in history equal rights, In 1962 due process Nelson Mandela is jailed. He remains imprisoned until 1990.
Inside In Opinion: Schools vie for spots on Princeton Review lists page 3
In Life&Arts:
Humane Society program lets students foster pets page 4
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Quote to note “When [EA Sports’ ‘NCAA Football’] first comes out, we all talk about and hate on each other about speed. We get in arguments all the time. We all think we’re the fastest.� — Kheeston Randall Texas defensive tackle SPORTS PAGE 6
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‘Can’t buy me love’
Chemical Petroleum Engineering Building, 200 E. Dean Keeton UT police officers responded to an emergency activation and discovered a non-UT subject using the callbox. The subject informed the officers that he had run out of prepaid minutes and wanted to call his wife and tell her about his day. The subject was escorted from the area. Occurred on Tuesday at 7:14 p.m.
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By Nolan Hicks Daily Texan Staff A federal district judge in San Francisco on Wednesday struck down Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, setting off gay-rights rallies across the country. Judge Vaughn Walker, a 21-year veteran of the court who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, ruled that the California proposition violated both the due process and equal rights clauses of the 14th Amendment. Walker suspended the enforcement of his ruling, leaving
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By David Colby Daily Texan Staff With chants of “No more hate! We dumped Prop. 8!� gay-rights activists gathered at City Hall on Wednesday to celebrate a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative that passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the popular vote, overruled a California Supreme Court decision that said same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. The proposition amended the state’s constitution, adding a section that reads “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.� Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling strikes down that amendment, potentially legalizing same-sex marriage in the state again.
to appeal Walker’s decision if he ruled against them. GLBT activists across the country expressed their joy with the district court’s decision. “I think it’s about time that
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INSIDE: Celebrate the striking down of Proposition 8 on page 3
White allegedly played larger role in energy contract By Jay Root The Associated Press Former Houston Mayor Bill White got involved in a billing dispute between an area agency and a company he recommended to help the region recover from Hurricane Rita. White allegedly played a greater role than previously acknowledged in the transaction that gave BTEC Turbines LP, a supplier of power generators, an emergency contract to provide electricity to hurricane-stricken areas of Houston, according to documents and interviews with those involved in the decisionmaking process. The dispute was eventually set-
“This is a landmark day in American jurisprudence,� said Anne Wynne, board member for Equality Texas. However, the court battle is far from over. Even before Walker released his ruling, both sides had acknowledged that they planned
tled out of court in April 2006, with BTEC getting $264,000 of the more than $424,000 it sought. Five months later, White was invited to invest $1 million in the company, and tax returns show he has reported more than $500,000 in earnings on the investment. BTEC said White owns about 1 percent of the company. Gov. Rick Perry released a statement in which he called on White to drop out of the governor’s race over the latest revelations. When asked if such a statement was hyperbolic, Perry campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said it wasn’t.
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UT professor aids Kenyans in drafting constitution By Ashley Meleen Daily Texan Staff Constitutional drafters in Kenya asked a UT professor and a team of scholars to review the nation’s proposed constitution, which citizens voted on in a referendum Wednesday. Assistant government professor Zachary Elkins worked with University of Chicago law professor Tom Ginsburg to assemble a team to review the proposed draft. “It’s pretty common for constitutional drafters to ask a few political scientists and law professors to review their work and provide some feedback,� Elkins said. “Sometimes they have technical questions, but mostly they’re interested in having people with a Zachary Elkins more comp a r a t i v e Assistant government professor and historical perspective provide some sense of what alternatives might be available to them. That was our role.� Ginsburg said he and Elkins were contacted by the International Development Law Organization to “provide some background to the drafting commission.� Both professors collect and study constitutional data through the Comparative Constitutions Project, which they co-direct. Kenya’s new constitution targets a more decentralized government and aims to reduce the power of national leaders, addressing what many feel is too much presidential power given by the current constitution. “You want a constitution by which the government officials are selected by the people at regular elections,� UT law professor Lino Graglia said. “I think that is essential to have a government with some guarantee against tyranny.� The new draft also addresses sensitive issues such as land
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Paid parking hours may be extended By Leah Wise Daily Texan Staff UT students often count down the minutes until 5:30 p.m., when they can finally park for free at parking meters surrounding the downtown and campus areas. But because of a recent development with the Austin Transportation Department and downtown businesses, this may no longer be possible. Stakeholders have been corresponding with the department regarding the lack of parking downtown for customers, and they are proposing that the city extend parking-meter hours and eliminate free parking on Saturdays, department Danielle Villasana | Daily Texan Staff spokeswoman Leah Fillion said. Claudine Kuykendall, left, and Julie Vaughan, right, pay to park in a lot “If you extend parking-medowntown before visiting the Austin Children’s Museum on Wednesday. ter hours, you increase the turnover,� said Steve Grassfield, parking enterprise manager of the department. t EPXOUPXO TUBLFIPMEFST XFSF TVSWFZFE Grassfield said that if more peot QFSDFOU PG NFUFSFE TQPUT EPXOUPXO BSF PDDVQJFE PO B 8FEOFTEBZ OJHIU ple have to go to their car after 5:30 t QFSDFOU BSF PDDVQJFE PO 4BUVSEBZ OJHIUT p.m. — when their maximum time t QFSDFOU PG EPXOUPXO FNQMPZFST CFMJFWF UIFSF JT OPU FOPVHI QBSLJOH GPS
The numbers
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employees and customers.
Source: Austin Transportation Department