North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 20, 2009 Page: 1 of 12
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News
Sports
SCENE
SCENE
SGA passes bill for
Men's basketball team
Christian group tranforms
Food Snobs: Keiichi
veteran students
extends winning streak
Delta Lodge
overwhelms with price
Page 2
Page 3
SCENE Insert
SCENE Insert
Thursday, February 20, 2009
Volume 93 Issue 19
Sunny
70° / 47°
N o th Texa s I) ally
News 1,2
Sports 3
SCENE Insert
Classifieds 4
Games 4
Ontdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
NT astronomers find meteorites
By Courtney Vickery
Contributing Writer
Two astronomers from NT's
faculty have confirmed that
the pieces of meteorite they
found were part of a meteor that
burned up over the Texas sky on
Feb. 15.
The meteor was visible from
Austin to East Texas, but the
scientists found the fragments
outside of the town of West,
which is 15 miles north of Waco
and 106 miles west of Denton.
Preston Starr, manager of
NT's observatory, along with
Ron Diluilo, director of the NT
planetarium, decided to imme-
diately hunt for debris left over
from the object that was esti-
mated to originally be the size of
a pickup truck before it exploded.
They set up a 100-mile radius to
cover, and the search began.
After having already searched
for several hours, the pair got
their first clue at 4:30 a.m. on
Wednesday from a customer at
the Czech Stop a few miles south-
east of West. The customer told
them he heard an ear-splittingly
loud explosion and saw curly
cues of smoke billowing near
his home on.
Soon after, Starr and Dilulio
met some sheriff deputies in
West at a coffee shop. Right away
the deputies divulged eyewitness
accounts from the townspeople.
One deputy sheriff told them he
" When you hear about
something big like this at
NT it's amazing"
—Zahra Ratnani
accounting junior
had seen the meteorite hurl past
his home and that they needed
to come look at his land.
The scientists rushed over,
and within 15 minutes of their
search they found their first
meteorite piece in a pasture near
the deputy sheriff's land. They
found the second piece about 10
minutes later. The pieces, which
are charcoal-colored and the size
of a large pecan, are at NT where
a study is underway to determine
the age of the samples, among
other factors.
"It takes me back into adven-
ture movies I saw as a kid,"
accounting junior Zahra Ratnani
said. "They jazz science up when
you're a kid, and when you hear
about something big like this at
NT it's amazing."
~
V
Photo by Richelle Antipolo/Photographer
Texas Accademy of Mathematics Science junior Wen Chyan is a top 40 finalist for Intel's Science Talent Search.
' AMS student chosen as finalist
or ntel Sciencer álent Search
By Emily McMeans
Contributing Writer
Wen Chyan is beginning to
leave a legacy within the realm of
the Texas Academy of Math and
Sciences. Chyan, the son of Oliver
Chyan of the chemistry faculty, is
currently one of 40 finalists who
has been chosen to compete in
the Intel Science Talent Search
held in Washington D.C. during
the beginning of March.
As a second-year student of the
academy Chyan has observed
family members suffer from
various infections while being
housed in hospitals. Inspired by
this, the premise of his chem-
istry research is working with
polymerized hydrogels that can
be used to coat inserted medical
devices, such as breathing tubes
and catheters, to prevent infec-
tion. The different devices that
penetrate the skin for medicinal
purposes can continue to stay in
the body for weeks on end.
Only 40 finalists, out of thou-
sands of applicants around the
country are chosen to represent
their state in the Intel Science
Talent Search. Chyan was one
of two finalists selected from
Texas.
When asked what he is doing
to prepare for the upcoming
competition, a calm and
collected Chyan said, "I am
really just getting everything
wrapped up and making sure
that I have all of the backup work
reviewed. I also am making sure
that I have the literature down
smoothly."
Chyan has been conducting
his studies in a lab at the
University of Texas at Arlington
with Richard Timmons, of the
UTA chemistry faculty. When
asked what type of professional
relationship the two of them
have, Timmons describes it as
one he would have with one of
his graduate students.
"Chyan is intelligent, deeply
seeded in science, a hard worker,
well organized and is someone
who gets things done," he said.
Ben Nye, a communications
senior, is Chyan's resident assis-
tant at McConnell Hall. "Wen is
always focused and purposeful
in everything he does," he said.
"He has an air of intelligence that
is accessible for everyone - he is
very down-to-earth."
Chyan plans on attending
Harvard University or the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology after graduation
from the Texas Academy of
Math and Science. Not only is
Chyan motivated in the field of
science, he has also considered
pursuing a career in music, as
well as engineering. "Music is
still a hobby that I enjoy doing,
as well as composing music,"
he said. "I also find engineering
very interesting."
State bill offers journalists, sources protection
By Mary Pharris
Senior Staff Writer
Houstonfreelancejournalist
Vanessa Leggett sat in jail for
168 days for refusing to disclose
source information in 2001, one of
the longest sentences imposed on
a reporter. Eight years later, Texas
journalists and their confidential
sources maybe able to breathe a
sigh of relief.
The Texas Legislature will
again consider a bill regarding
qualified privilege for journal-
ists during its 2009 session. If
passed, the bill, officially called
the Free Flow of Information Act,
will grant some protections to
journalists and their sources, said
Paul Watler, an attorney with
Jackson Walker LLP.
"We believe we need one
because on occasion we need
to do stories with confidential
sources," said Fred Hartman,
chairman of the Texas Press
States without Free Flow of Information Acts
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
South Dakota
Texas
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Vermont
Virginia
Association and Texas Daily
Newspaper AssociationAdvisory
Legislative Committee. "We need
to protect sources' identities, and
right now in Texas, there is abso-
lutely no protection."
The law aims to protect
so-called whistleblowers -
people who report some type
of corruption - from retribu-
tion, and benefits the general
public more so than journalists
by exposing government corrup-
tion and threats to public safety,
saidHartman, who is also anews-
paper publisher. Incidents such
as the Texas Youth Commission's
2007 sexual abuse scandal could
have been prevented or stopped
much earlier if a shield law had
been in place, assuring confi-
dential sources their protection,
he said.
Under the act, journalists
would not have to reveal confi-
dential sources, outtakes from
film, notes or any other research
unless the person seeking the
information can show a legiti-
mate need for the information,
it's not available from any other
source and it's essential to the
case in question, Watler said.
Because Texas does not have
a statute regarding journalists'
protection, case law currently
guides the courts when dealing
with these types of cases, and
the use of the law is widely diver-
gent between criminal and civil
courts, Watler said. This bill will
help create a clear, legal standard
forjudges in evaluating journal-
ists' privilege, he said.
"It's a good thing for both jour-
nalists, lawyers and courts so
people can understand exactly
what the guidelines are," he
said.
However, some prosecutors
believe journalists should be
treated like any other citizen
See LAW on page 2
Photo by Matt Fagan/Photographer
Traffic coming from Interstate Highway 35 and the construction on Loop 288
cause cars to be bottlenecked into two lanes, which makes it difficult for
other drivers to merge on to this busy street.
Loop 288 work to
finish in September
By Courtney Roberts
Senior Staff Writer
For three and a half years,
commuters traveling on Loop
288 have sat in bumper-to-
bumper traffic because of the
area's construction project that
began in April 2006.
"Right now, the construc-
tion is about 75 percent
complete," said Gary Neil, the
Denton County area engineer
for the Texas Department of
Transportation.
Although the $39 million
project is expected to be
complete in September, Neilisn't
sure about howfixed that sched-
uled deadline is. "Sometimes, it
will take an extra month just to
get the area cleaned up and the
plants growing again," he said.
"We're still, however, right on
schedule from when we started
back in 2006. The original bid
amount of $39 million hasn't
changed, as well."
Standstill traffic on Loop
288, with construction running
from Interstate Llighway 35 to
University Drive, has been a
regular sight since the depart-
ment shut down lanes to widen
the loop to six lanes.
"Currently, we're working
on finishing up the driveways
and medians, installing traffic
signals and smoothing out the
pavement in the intersections,"
Neil said. "We haven't had to
shut down the construction
work for the whole time that I've
been working on the project."
The only problems they expe-
rienced involved utilities, such
as water main and pipe breaks,
he said.
NT students are eager for the
completion of the construction.
"I would like it to be finished
soon," said English freshman
Nathan Wilson. "I have to take
it two to three times a week for
hockey practice. I always avoid
going through there around 4
to 6 p.m. That's when the rush
hour hits and it gets really
bad."
Wilson said he hates dodging
the oncoming traffic around
there because of the poorly
marked signs.
"I usuallyjust take the U-turn
off the 288 exit and then go
behind the [Golden Triangle]
mall," he said.
Sinclair Watkins, a drawing
and painting sophomore, said
she hasn't experienced bad
traffic on the loop recently.
"Since the construction has
been dwindling, I haven't really
run into very many problems
with traffic," she said. "I'm glad
that they've recently finished
two lanes on each side now.
It makes going to Target a lot
easier."
Basketball team wins again
Photo by Holly Dutton/Staff Photographer
Junior forward Eric Tramiel fights for a rebound against University of
Louisiana at Monroe forward Malcolm Thomas during Thursday night's
game against ULM. NT went on to win 95-80.
o
Turn to Page 3 for the full men's basketball Story
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 20, 2009, newspaper, February 20, 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145663/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.