Daily Toreador The
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013 VOLUME 87 ■ ISSUE 140
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Personal emails, texts win privacy in House vote AUSTIN (AP) — Texas employers could not compel workers to reveal personal text messages or hand over email passwords under a bill given preliminary approval Thursday in a divided House vote. Democratic state Rep. Helen Giddings said her measure gives Texas workers the same social media protections provided in several other states. The bill prohibits employers from asking job applicants or employees for passwords to access their Facebook, Twitter or other personal accounts. Yet the case to strengthen personal privacy in the office was not enough to win over every lawmaker. State Rep. Jason Villalba led the opposition to the bill, which the Dallas Republican said would provide “safe harbor” for employees to steal proprietary information at the workplace through their personal accounts.
Officials: No breakthrough in West, Texas explosion WEST (AP) — Investigators working to figure out what caused a massive, deadly fertilizer plant explosion in Texas have talked to more than 370 people and received more than 200 tips as they continue to search for a breakthrough. Two weeks after the April 17 blast that killed at least 14 people, agents compare their work to solving a puzzle or completing an archaeological dig. “We’re trying to find the critical piece,” said Chris Connealy, the state fire marshal, on Thursday. Their work is complex for several reasons: the magnitude of the blast at West Fertilizer, which knocked out windows and rooftops all over the tiny town of West and registered as a small earthquake; the deaths of 10 first responders and two others who volunteered to help; and the spread of debris as far as two miles away. Agents are using digital mapping of the plant, rakes, shovels and front-end loaders to sift through dirt and rubble over an approximately 15-acre site. Possible bits of evidence are being cataloged and tested.
OPINIONS, Pg. 4
Sigler: Texas legislature bill, gun rights too shallow
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Light tower near football stadium causes concern A light tower near Jones AT&T Stadium was moving strongly in the wind Thursday, causing concern for the safety of those in nearby buildings. Blayne Beal, associate athletic director for Texas Tech Athletic Communications, said after employees in the football training facility noticed the light pole was moving, the Tech Police Department and Tech Physical Plant employees were notified. He said after the area was evaluated and deemed unsafe, employees of nearby buildings also were evacuated. “They immediately cornered off the area around it,” Beal said. “Due to the winds and the continued evaluation of the structure, they made the decision to go ahead and evacuate the entire south end zone building, the entire football training facility and the entire athletic training facility.” Beal said more than 200 employees were sent home for the rest of the day, and police will continue to monitor the situation throughout the night. Employees of the Physical Plant also will maintain the
Rep. Neugebauer visits Lubbock to announce bill
gas lines and electrical areas that could be affected if the structure collapsed. While strong winds prevented the safe removal of the light pole Thursday, he said officials plan to take it down today. “Safety is our top priority,” Beal said, “and if the standard stays up in the night, our goal is to have a crane in the morning and try to get that pulled down as quickly as possible.” According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts reached up to 45 mph during the time of evacuation. Because of the high wind speeds, crews could not assess the damage Thursday, but the tower was expected to be more stable by this morning, said Chris Cook, managing director of the Office of Communications and Marketing. By 8 a.m., Beal said a crane should go up to secure the light fixtures and the pole and once that happens, Tech employees will be able to return to the south end zone building, football training facility and athletic training facility. ➤➤lpape@dailytoreador.com
PHOTO BY LAUREN PAPE/The Daily Toreador
A LIGHT POLE near Jones AT&T Stadium was in danger of falling from the wind Thursday. University police, Lubbock police and employees of the physical plant are monitoring the situation.
Literary Lubbock
By MATT DOTRAY STAFF WRITER
U.S Rep. Randy Neugebauer visited Texas Tech’s National Wind Institute on Thursday to announce a bill he introduced last week. House Resolution 1786, or the NEUGEBAUER National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2013, sets to reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act of 2004. The act states the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, with the help of different levels of government, will aim to improve the understanding of windstorms and encourage costeffective measures to reduce the impacts. By funding institutions, such as Tech, it will support research to better understand the effect on buildings and structures by windstorms. Neugebauer, a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said the act has three major functions. “It’s a three-prong approach,” he said, “Making sure we use the taxpayers’ money appropriately, secondly, we hope to save lives, and one, making sure we have research going on that will help us do better.” The ability for the government to protect people’s lives, Neugebauer said, as well as their property, is a big part of the act. He said the work Tech puts into its wind research is another example of Tech’s commitment to being one of the premier research institutions in the nation. BILL continued on Page 2 ➤➤
PHOTO BY ISAAC VILLALOBOS/The Daily Toreador
THE 11TH ANNUAL Literary Lubbock benefitted the Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest, a book series published by the Texas Tech University press that was hosted Thursday inside of the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center.
University Press hosts reception to benefit book collection By MIKAEL GONZALES STAFF WRITER
The Texas Tech University Press hosted the 11th annual Literary Lubbock Benefit Dinner at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center to honor authors it has published in the past year. Robert Mandel, Director of the University Press and coordinator of the event, said every year they choose seven books they consider to be the best the University Press has published.
He said the books the University Press publishes connect with readers. “We try to come up with a mix of books that are both regional, and we also publish a lot books with international appeal,” Mandel said. The authors selected to be honored at the event comprised of Jay Neugeboren, Mike Cox, Kay Goldman, Bonnie Reynolds McKinney, Peter R. Rose, Robert V. Smith, Dean Smith, and Estelle Glasen Laughlin. The group included an Olympic champion and a Holocaust survivor.
Mandel said the event is hosted to support a foundation started by Grover E. Murray, the eighth president of Tech, who had great interest in the Southwest. “This event is done every year to support a series of books that we do, which is the Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest,” he said. “And often the books that we publish about the Southwest have a lot of color and are expensive to produce.” BOOK continued on Page 2 ➤➤
Man killed after firing shot at Bush International Airport PartyTime Mike shares party stories -- LA VIDA, Page 3
INDEX Classifieds................5 Crossword......................6 Opinions.....................4 L a Vi d a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sports.........................6 Sudoku.........................2 EDITORIAL: 806-742-3393
HOUSTON (AP) — A man who had fired a gun inside a ticketing area at Houston’s largest airport was killed after being confronted by a law enforcement official during an incident that sent people in the terminal scrambling and screaming, police said Thursday. It’s unclear if the man fatally shot himself or was killed by a Homeland Security agent who had confronted him, said Houston police spokesman Kese Smith. The man’s name was not released by police, but they said he was about 30-years-old. Police say the man walked into the ticketing area in Terminal B at Bush Intercontinental Airport around 1:35 p.m. and fired at least one ADVERTISING: 806-742-3384
shot into the air. The agent, who was in his office, came out and confronted the man, telling him to drop his weapon, but the man refused, police said. “The suspect then turned toward the special agent. The special agent, fearing for his safety and all the passengers in the terminal, discharged his weapon at the same time it appears the suspect may have shot himself,” Smith said. The man died at the scene. An autopsy will be conducted Friday. Police would not say what kind of weapon the man had. The terminal was closed immediately after the shooting. But later Thursday, parts of the terminal
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were reopened to passengers. The rest of the airport remained open after the shooting. Darian Ward, a spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said some passengers who were scheduled to leave from Terminal B were rerouted to other terminals. Dale Howard, of Tomball, was at the baggage handling area of the airport waiting for his sister to arrive on an incoming flight when he heard two shots fired from the floor above. A few seconds later, he said he heard three more shots. “People were screaming. I knew exactly what it was — gunfire,” Howard said. Police from an adjacent station rushed in, and
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Howard said he directed them to the floor above. Greg Newburn, who was in the terminal waiting for a flight to Oklahoma City, said he was sitting in a cafe area when he heard two gunshots and after a pause, several more. “It seemed like quite a few shots. Everyone was scrambling, running left and running right, turning tables up and hiding behind tables. Nobody knew what was happening. I couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from,” he said. Newburn, from Gainesville, Fla., said it took him a few seconds to realize that the shots had come from the ticketing area, near the security checkpoint.
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