Daily Toreador The
FRIDAY, OCT. 4, 2013 VOLUME 88 ■ ISSUE 29
Police shoot, kill driver after Capitol Hill chase WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman with a 1-year-old girl led Secret Service and police on a harrowing car chase from the White House past the Capitol Thursday, attempting to penetrate the security barriers at both national landmarks before she was shot to death, police said. The child was unhurt. “I’m pretty confident this was not an accident,” said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Still, Capitol Police said there appeared to be no terrorist link. The woman apparently was unarmed. Tourists, congressional staff and even some senators watched as a caravan of law enforcement vehicles chased a black Infiniti with Connecticut license plates down Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol. House and Senate lawmakers, inside debating how to end a government shutdown, briefly shuttered their chambers as Capitol Police shut down the building. The woman’s car at one point had been surrounded by police cars and she managed to escape, careening around a traffic circle and past the north side of the Capitol. Video shot by a TV camerman showed police pointing firearms at her car before she rammed a Secret Service vehicle and continued driving. Lanier said police shot and killed her a block northeast of the historic building. One Secret Service member and a 23-year veteran of the Capitol Police were injured. Officials said they are in good condition and expected to recover. “This appears to be an isolated, singular matter, with, at this point, no nexus to terrorism,” said Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine. Law-enforcement authorities identified the woman as Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn. The authorities spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information publicly.
OPINIONS, Pg. 4
Student shares Capitol lockdown experience By CARSON WILSON Staff Writer
Ashley Brannan’s routine day at the office took an unexpected turn when sirens rang out and doors bolted shut. Brannan, a junior political science and global studies major from Houston, is participating in Texas Tech’s Washington, D.C., Congressional Internship. She works for Congressman Randy Neugebauer at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill. She said she was just returning from her lunch break when she noticed things were not quite right. “People were running past me, and all
Senators pass resolutions for Library changes
I thought was somebody’s congressman forgot their speech or something like that,” Brannan said. “When I got back to the office the emergency system was blaring, the volume was so loud that I didn’t know what it said, my scheduler was trying to figure out what was going on. I was completely confused.” While Brannan was at the office, a woman tried to ram through a White House barricade with her car, with a child inside, then led a police chase toward the Capitol, where police shot and killed her, according to an article in The Associated Press. Although news stations covered the scene, Brannan and her associates didn’t
know exactly what was going on. “They were saying we were in a lockdown because shots have been fired on the Hill,” she said. “I registered the sirens outside the window, and it just hit me. I didn’t know exactly what happened, but I knew something bad had happened.” Employees were told to “shelter in place,” which means to lock the doors and stay away from windows, Brannan said. With sirens becoming background noise, she and eight other people barricaded themselves in a back office. To try to make sense of the situation, the group listened to news updates. “Everyone was very calm, nervous and afraid just because there is a shoot-
ing happening and we don’t know the details,” she said. “We were watching the news and listening to the emergency broadcast system and doing what they instructed.” Heather Vaughan, spokeswoman for Congressman Neugebauer, described the day as “crazy.” “Luckily the Capitol police are really A-plus at their job,” Vaughan said. “The congressman and most of his staff was in the office. We made sure everyone was safe, and we locked the doors until the Capitol police told us it was OK to come out.” CAPITOL HILL continued on Page 2 ➤➤
App Aspirations
By CHELSEA GRUNDEN Staff Writer
Texas Tech’s Student Government Association aims to make an effect on students as senators voted to pass resolutions benefiting students in the Library. Holton Westbrook, a sophomore agricultural and applied economics major from Stephenville, said the most important part of the meeting was the legislation they passed to help students. “It’s our opportunity to change the campus in general and make a difference on campus and make a difference in the students’ lives,” he said. Resolution 49.16 aims to expand wireless capability in the Library. According to the resolution, the lack of Internet capacity in the Library during Spring 2013 semester finals hindered many students’ ability to study. The resolution also states the wireless connectivity in the Library still warrants connectivity and speed issues. SGA continued on Page 2 ➤➤
Davis announces governor pursuit By CARSON WILSON
PHOTO BY DANIELLE ZARAGOZA/The Daily Toreador
KATHRYN MORRIS, A junior electronic media and communications major from Glastonbury, Conn., and Derrick Franco, a senior computer science major from El Paso, show off the interface of the app they created together Wednesday outside the Student Union Building. The app is designed to make using smartphones easier.
Tech students create app at AngelHack Hackathon
Staff Writer
Sigler: Politicians should stop childishness, work for people
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From a trailer park to Harvard Law School, Wendy Davis has come a long way. However, she took one more step and announced her candidacy for governor in her hometown of Haltom City on Thursday. While addressing a large crowd of supporters, the democrat Fort Worth state senator criticized current leaders in the Capitol for creating a partisan atmosphere and appealing to the far right of the Republican Party, according to a The Associated Press article. DAVIS continued on Page 2 ➤➤
By ASHLYN TUBBS Staff Writer
On a train ride at 4 a.m. last June, Katy Morris and Derrick Franco were restless. They were headed to the AngelHack Hackathon in New York, to compete against 75 other teams. “It is a 24-hour event that combines programmers, designers and entrepreneurs and allows them to create original applications from scratch,” Morris said, “and you compete to see who has the best one.” Morris, a junior electronic media and communications major from Torrington, Conn., and Franco, a senior computer science major from Torrington, Conn., brainstormed ideas for the com-
petition for the previous three days, dissatisfied with their results. “We were thinking of ideas that we could do in 24 hours,” Franco said, “because it seems like a lot, but it’s really not.” This all changed while Morris was customizing her phone during the train ride and developed an idea. “I was thinking we should make something that makes everyone be able to use a smartphone,” she said, “so it evolved from there.” Morris and Franco scrambled for materials to document and elaborate upon the idea, jotting down their plans, designs and functions of the app on spare napkins. By the time they reached the competition, they were still not confident their app would excel in the competition. APP continued on Page 5 ➤➤
Texas Tech Teaching Academy welcomes 10 new members to program By TYLER DORNER Staff Writer
Ski, snowboard club trains for competition—LA VIDA, Page 6
INDEX Crossword.....................7 Classifieds................7 L a Vi d a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Opinions.....................4 Sports.......................7 Sudoku.......................2 EDITORIAL: 806-742-3393
The Texas Tech Teaching Academy welcomed 10 new members Thursday in the Library. Extra chairs were brought in for the packed room of faculty and staff who welcomed new members as well as those receiving awards. “It almost makes me speechless really,” said Mitzi Lauderdale, an associate professor in Personal Financial Planning and associate dean for students in the College of Human Sciences. “I have a hard time putting it into words how special it is.” Lauderdale not only was inducted into the Teaching Academy, but also received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, which only ADVERTISING: 806-742-3384
one teacher in each college receives. The Teaching Academy comes from the Horn Outstanding Research Faculty award, which rewards a select few on campus for their work in research, said Gary Elbow, an Honors College and geosciences professor and an associate vice provost. John Burns, a former provost, wanted something like the research award, but for teachers, he said. The Teaching Academy formally was inaugurated in 1997, said chairwoman and member of the executive council Jennifer Bard, who gave the opening talk and inducted the new members. “Our mission is to demonstrate support, promote and recognize teaching at Texas Tech,” she said in her speech to the crowd.
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All full-time faculty who have taught for three years are eligible for the award, Bard said. Being nominated for the award is a selective process. A fellow teacher or someone in the department must nominate the teacher, Elbow said. Following the first nomination, a teacher must have a secondary letter of support and must be chosen for the award from the council of the academy. The criteria for selection are: evidence for teaching excellence at Tech and evidence of promoting teaching improvement at Tech, Bard said. For Lauderdale, receiving this award was something she strived for since her time as a student at Tech, she said. The teachers she valued the most and respected all wore the pin a teacher receives by becoming a member of the Teaching Academy.
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“To be in a group of faculty members that I’ve always seen as mentors, I’m honored,” she said. Along with the pin comes the biggest benefit, which is being publically recognized, Elbow said. Lawrence Schovanec, the interim provost and senior vice president, said the university wants to make strides for both research and teaching in his speech to the crowd. “We want Texas Tech to be known for not only research excellence, but for superior teaching, and it is,” he said. The award, Lauderdale said, was meaningful to her because of the emphasis she places on teaching. “It means the world to me because teaching is of the upmost importance of mine,” she said. ➤➤tdorner@dailytoreador.com
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