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Vendor: Pookieâs Cupcakes prepares to hit the streets of Ames. BUSINESS.p6 >>
January 10, 2011 | Volume 206 | Number 76 | 40 cents | An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890. â˘
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Politics
Budget
Legislature to tackle gay marriage
Republicans seek cuts to universities
By Tyler.Kingkade iowastatedaily.com The economy dominated votersâ minds in the 2010 elections. However, in Iowa, after a controversial retention election put gay marriage at the forefront, the state legislature will likely deal with the issue in the 2011 session. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency is reported to be handling about 650 bill requests from current and soon-to-be members of the Legislature It took until Jan. 14 for LSA drafters to hit 650 bill requests two years ago.
By Tyler.Kingkade iowastatedaily.com DES MOINES â Republicans promised during the 2010 elections to make cuts in spending, and in the ďŹrst bill they intend to vote on, Iowa State will be targeted. Iowa House of Representatives Republicans â now holding a 60 to 40 seat advantage to the Democrats â laid out their proposals Monday with cuts in general funding to the three Board of
Regents universities, to libraries and information technology acquisitions and canceling all sabbaticals â sometimes called professional or career development assignments â for 18 months. Gov.-elect Terry Branstad, Republican, applauded the House GOP for âseriously looking at changing the way we do business.â âThis is going to be a different budget â we have to change our lifestyle,â Branstad said at a budget brieďŹng Jan. 3. âWe have to make
some tough decisions, and itâs not going to be easy.â Iowa House Republicans released their proposals in what they called the âTaxpayers First Act,â which they intend to be the ďŹrst bill voted on in the 2011 session. The bulk of the bill includes cuts to various state programs, including a sizable portion regarding education. Cuts the FY 2011 appropriations for Regents universities (University of Iowa, Iowa State
University and University of Northern Iowa). Cuts library acquisitions and Information Technology purchases at the Regents universities by 50 percent. Reduces acquisitions for the state library by 50 percent. Freezes and cancels all Regents sabbaticals through the end of FY 2012. Directs the Education
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Referendum
Gay Marriage Much of that can likely be attributed to Republicans riding high from the midterm elections, which included the controversial retention election ousting three Iowa Supreme Court justices over the courtâs ruling on samesex marriage. GOP lawmakers will seek a proposed constitutional amendment to deďŹne marriage as only between one man and one woman. If it passes in 2011, it likely will not be law until at least 2013. Thatâs because it would likely depend upon
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Population
Census could reduce Iowaâs national clout By Kaleb.Warnock iowastatedaily.com Iowa will be losing a seat in the House of Representatives as a result of the 2010 Census. Although the population of Iowa is slowly increasing, it makes up a signiďŹcantly smaller percentage of the total population of the United States than it did in 2000. âIt has long been anticipated that Iowa would lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but itâs still unfortunate to see the people of Iowaâs representation in Washington diminished in number,â said Iowa congressman Tom Latham (R) in an e-mail. As of the 2010 Census, Iowaâs population is estimated at 3,007,856 people, making up slightly less than one percent of the population of the United States. Accordingly, the state will receive four delegates in the House after the 2012 primary election. Iowaâs current representatives are Steve King (R), Leonard Boswell (D), David Loebsack (D), Tom Latham (R) and Bruce Braley (D), all of whom are relatively new to the House - the longest, Latham, has been in the House since 1995 and the newest, Braley and Loebsack,
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Community
Ames Police encourage resource use
Sudanese refugees gathered at Saint Richardâs Rectory on Sunday in Omaha, Neb., one of eight polling locations available to refugees in the U.S. Initially lacking organization, polling staff and police worked to create a single ďŹle line and explain the voting process. Photo: Matt Wettengel/Iowa State Daily
Sudanese vote from U.S. Refugees cast their ballots for Sudanese secession By Katharine.Marcheski iowastatedaily.com After casting his ballot, Maurice Aduto still had numb feet and hands after enduring the frigid temperatures and snow fall for eight hours while waiting outside in the crowd of fellow Sudanese refugees. â[I feel] wonderful, really wonderful,â said Aduto, senior in animal ecology. âI did it, ďŹnally, I did it, I can say to myself. Weâre hoping for
History in the making: Check out the reaction from Sudanese voters online at iowastatedaily.com independence, but it is just exciting that we ďŹnally voted.â The voting center was hosted at St. Richardâs Rectory in Omaha, Neb. This venue only had sufficient space to hold the polling staff and a limited amount of voters indoors at a time, which meant that a constantly increasing group of people was left to stand outside in the unfavorable weather conditions. Sunday was a day that will be marked in his-
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Ames
Structures to be built as gateway at city entrance
By Torey.Robinson iowastatedaily.com ISU students can expect to see new faces in the neighborhood this semester â and theyâre not the new neighbors. The Ames Police Department launched a Safe Neighborhood Team to increase community communication and increase safety. Ames Police originally developed a Party Response Team to monitor house parties and gatherings in the Campustown area before they got out of hand, Ames Police Chief Chuck Cychosz said. Officers focused on early interactions with ISU students living in apartment complexes to establish an understanding of local ordinances and property regulations. âIt was pretty successful,â Cychosz said. âI think students were pretty responsive to those early contacts. If a party did get out of hand, students were quick to call themselves â which prevented a citation for them, generally.â The Safe Neighborhood Team, put into effect Jan. 1, hopes to execute similar techniques used by the Party Response Team, but on a larger scale. Cychosz said the team will base its priori-
tory for Sudanese citizens worldwide; it was the day that they were allowed to have a voice for their country, freedom and dignity. For the last 50 years South and North Sudan have been in civil war and in 2005 a Comprehensive Peace Act was enacted which called for a vote in Jan. 2011 to allow citizens to decide whether they wanted to unite or separate and become two countries. âToday is very important day. This is the only opportunity in our lifetime to change what has been mistreated for millions in Sudan,â said Joseph Lomoti, junior in biochemistry. âIf there
14-column project set to line highway By John.Lonsdale iowastatedaily.com
Plans for the structures to be built in North Ames, near Highway 30âs interchange and Dayton Avenue, are shown here. Construction is set to begin in the fall. Courtesy photo: City of Ames Public Works
Construction on the 40-foottall âGatewayâ structures located between the off-ramp of Highway 30 and Dayton Avenue may possibly begin in the fall and should be ďŹnished in the spring of 2012. Planner for the City of Ames Planning and Housing Department Jeff Benson said Friday that decisions made in March by the city of Ames and Department of Transportation will lead to the bidding by the DOT, which controls the process. A design team effort by lighting
designers, landscape architects and others at RDG Planning and Design, an architectural design ďŹrm, started the project years ago and is now in the next phase of planning. Starting out as a collaborative process with engineers at Snyder and Associates, the city of Ames DOT and the South Ames Business Neighborhood, David Dahlquist, lighting designer at RDG Dahlquist Art Studio, said the intent for the project is to visually mark the entrance to the city of Ames in a dynamic way. âIf you could see it from the interstate so that it created a gateway, so to speak, that was the idea,â said Dahlquist. âIt was to heighten the awareness and a sense of a special
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