Tuesday October 30, 2012 year: 132 No. 124
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thelantern Thousands in Franklin County lose power
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kristen mitchell Campus editor mitchell.935@osu.edu
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Meyer’s endorsesment
OSU coach Urban Meyer said he believed quarterback Braxton Miller should be a Heisman Trophy candidate.
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Thousands of people in Franklin County lost power Monday evening as Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey. At 7:44 p.m. the Ohio State Service2Facilities Twitter account @OSU_S2F tweeted that Lane Avenue Residence Hall had lost power, which was confirmed by Dave Isaacs, a Student Life spokesman. Isaacs said Lane Avenue Residence Hall was the only building on campus he knew had lost power at 8:30 p.m. Monday, and that he hadn’t heard of any planned evacuation. Emergency generators immediately turned on when the power shut off, and a representative from the Columbus Division of Police said no officers had been dispatched to the area. Other students in the University District found themselves without power Monday evening as well, and according to the AEP Ohio website, about 1,200 customers were without power in Franklin Country at 11:15 p.m. The number had peaked earlier in the evening with more than 6,600 recorded outages. Justine Pardi, a fourth-year in medical laboratory science who lives at Norwich and Waldeck avenues, said her power went out at about 7:15 p.m. Monday. “We didn’t know when it was gonna come back on, so we called AEP and they just had an automated message saying they were aware power was out across Ohio and they’re trying to get it fixed as soon as possible,” Pardi said. Because of the outage, she decided to relocate to a friend’s house near the Short North. “We had to study and the candle light wasn’t enough,” she said. Alyssa Taylor, a fourth-year in city and regional planning and communication, said after losing power at her Indianola and Norwich avenues residence at about 8 p.m. Monday, she and her roommates went to Panera Bread on Lane Avenue to charge their electronics and work on homework. She said she also lost power for several days in July during a large wind storm.
Courtesy of MCT
People make their way through a flooded street in Sayville, N.Y., on Long Island’s south shore, Monday afternoon as Hurricane Sandy gains strength. Rain and high winds are expected in Columbus Tuesday. Taylor said she hadn’t gotten any estimation from AEP about when she could expect her power to return, and hadn’t seen any workers in the area. While an inconvenience, Taylor said her friends are trying to stay positive. “We’re trying to make light of the situation — no pun intended,” she said. Some students were reporting that power was starting to return to parts of the off-campus area around 10:45 p.m. Monday. Rain clouds hovered over Columbus most of the day Sunday and Monday as Hurricane Sandy approached the Atlantic coastline, but the Central Ohio rain was minimal compared to the kind of weather the East Coast has seen this week. Hurricane Sandy, which passed through the Caribbean killing about 70 people in its path, arrived on the East Coast Monday, bringing high winds and heavy rain with it. According to the Chicago Tribune, the storm had been blamed for at least 10 deaths Monday evening. Sustained winds of 90 mph were reported along with 15-foot waves and water levels nearing record-
Social media gains presidential prominence in 2012 election
Watercolor wonderland
Political
#following
The ‘Watercolor Ohio 2012’ exhibition is scheduled to run Thursday through Jan. 13 at Riffe Gallery.
campus
10.3 million tweets were sent between 9:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. during the first presidential debate. At 9:53 p.m. during the first debate, the amount of tweets per minute peaked to more than 158,000, making it ‘the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics,’ according to Twitter. The most-tweeted moment from the final debate was when President Barack Obama said, ‘We also have fewer horses and bayonets’ with 105,767 tweets per minute.
high water marks on the coastline. Even the Great Lakes have been affected by the hurricane, with reports of 12-foot waves on Lake Erie Monday. Several states across the Eastern Seaboard declared a state of emergency as the storm approached, and anticipation of the hurricane led to canceled classes for students across the East Coast. The hurricane was downgraded to a superstorm just before reaching land Monday night, according to the Weather Channel. Jay Hobgood, OSU associate professor of geography, said the storm was getting so much attention because of its size and unusual timing. “It’s very unusual to have a hurricane this strong near the U.S. this late in the year,” he said. Superstorm Sandy is the most powerful storm to hit the East Coast since Hurricane Irene in 2011, which resulted in more than 50 deaths. While Columbus has seen rainfall and high winds,
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Social media plays role in election michael burwell Lantern reporter burwell.37@osu.edu This is the first time social media has had a significant role in a presidential election, but some social media experts say most of its influence won’t be evident until after the votes are tallied. As President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney put the finishing touches on their campaigns before the Nov. 6 election, social media’s usage has been important and useful for both of them. Unlike in the 2008 presidential election campaign season, social media has had a “key role” in this election’s campaign, said J. Roselyn Lee, assistant professor in the Ohio State School of Communication. “We have yet to see how social media will shape the actual outcomes of this year’s election, but at least it is obvious that both candidates and citizens are actively engaging in use of social media in this election, even to a greater extent than what we witnessed during the 2008 election,” said Lee in an email. Social media’s impact is important because it “provides the campaigns an opportunity to humanize the candidates,” said Brian Weeks, a fifth-year graduate student in political communication. Weeks also said the “relatively new phenomenon” of using social media during campaigns is important for candidates because it directly targets the voters with information and is a good organizing tool. As of Monday evening, Obama had more then 21 million Twitter followers
2A Basketball tickets scarfed up in 5 minutes Photo courtesy of MCT source: reporting SARAH MONTELL / Lantern designer
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Brains and brawn
OSU student-athletes are graduating at a higher rate than normal students.
weather high 40 low 39 rain/snow/wind
W 43/39 TH 47/36 F 48/34 SA 47/35
showers cloudy cloudy partly cloudy www.weather.com
allison slonaker Lantern reporter slonaker.15@osu.edu
The Ohio State men’s basketball tickets sold out in less than five minutes, leaving 105 students with hopes of still getting tickets on a wait list. The student ticket packages went on sale October 18 at 6 p.m., and all 2,400 were sold out in about five minutes, according to a university spokesperson. The Schottenstein Center has a capacity of roughly 19,000 when set up for basketball games. The package cost $123 and includes nine home games throughout the year including games against No. 5 Michigan on Jan. 13 and No. 1 Indiana on Feb. 10. Brett Scarbrough, assistant athletic director, said that the tickets sold quicker this year than last year due to the new online process. In 2011, the student tickets sold out in less than an hour. “The tickets sold out more quickly this year than last year, much due to the fact that the new process this year of selling the packages on Ticketmaster’s website allows for more transactions to be handled efficiently than the previous system,” Scarbrough said in an email. However, some students think the system still isn’t the best.
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Lantern file photo
The Nuthouse shows their support in the 85-63 OSU victory against Minnesota on Jan. 31, 2010. Men’s baskball student ticket packages sold out within 5 minutes of going on sale for the 2012-2013 season.
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