8A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008
CANDY
Students taste the new rainbow
BY KATIE BLANKENAU
kblankenau@kansan.com
Chocolate Mix Skittles have just hit the market this year. The mix includes five flavors: smores, vanilla, chocolate caramel, chocolate pudding and brownie batter.
Photo illustration by Mindy Ricketts
The familiar rainbow still soars across the package, but there isn't a bright assortment of colors in the latest variety of Skittles. Instead, Mars Inc.'s newest twist on its popular candy confines itself to suave shades of brown. Chocolate Mix Skittles hit the market in 2008, greeted by excitement, curiosity and a little trepidation.
"A great trend in candy right now is flavor infused products," Bowling said.
Ryan Bowling, representative of Mars Inc., said Chocolate Mix Skittles are a limited edition to test the market.
He said the new Skittles are a response to the flavor craze and sparked by fans writing in requesting the flavor.
Chocolate Mix Skittles come in five flavors: S'mores, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Caramel, Vanilla and Brownie Batter.
Skittles fans have mixed responses to the results.
"They taste exactly like what the claim to be," Doug Brady, Topeka freshman said. "But, they're still
nasty."
Annie Frizzel, Prairie Village sophomore, had a more positive reaction.
"They're a nice change of pace from normal Skittles." Frizel said.
sugar, M&M's are real chocolate."
Of course, MRMs are the real competition for the new Skittles. Shawnee freshman Tyler Busch said there was no comparison. He said Chocolate Mix Skittles are "just like
Colin Davidson, Bucyrus freshman, said that chocolate was chocolate, Skittles were Skittles and never the twain shall meet: "You don't buy a bag of Skittles expecting chocolate — you want sweet fruitiness," Davidson said.
Edited by Sasha Roe
》 STATE
Coal plant debate continues
BY JOHN HANNA ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA —Legislators and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' administration appear to be closer to a deal involving two proposed coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas.
They provided no details Friday. But they've said for weeks that they've been having discussions about plans by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build the plants outside Holcomb.
The $3.6 billion project has been blocked by Sebelius' administration over concerns about the plants' potential carbon dioxide emissions.
Sunflower spokesman Steve Miller would not comment about the substance of the discussions but added, "I believe there's just an air of cooperation going on."
But Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson, cochairman of an energy policy council, said Friday: "We are hopeful we can reach an agreement."
Many legislators want to overturn a decision in October by Rod Bremby, state secretary of health
and environment, to deny an air-quality permit for Sunflower's project. Bremby said the state couldn't ignore the dangers posed by global warming, which many scientists link to CO2 emissions.
Sunflower wants to build two, 700-megawatt plants next to an existing coal-fired plant it operates.
Republican legislators have criticized Bremby's decision, but so have some of Sebelius' fellow Democrats. Many lawmakers view the Sunflower project as vital economic development and crucial to making sure Kansans have reliable power as their demand for electricity grows.
The Hays-based utility, owned by six small, rural electric cooperatives, has about 400,000 customers. The 1,400 megawatts of capacity would be enough to meet the peak demands of 700,000 households, according to one state estimate.
Most of the new power would flow outside Kansas, Sunflower's partners are Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. of Westminster, Colo., and Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, in
Amarillo, Texas.
"If we have the strategies in place to protect the environment, we should export electricity," said House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, a Greensburg Democrat. "It's a value-added product that brings a lot of money back to the state and generates a lot of jobs."
But like Sebelius, Parkinson questioned whether Kansas should commit to meeting other states' need for generating around-the-clock "baseload" which is the normal continuing flow of power.
Parkinson also reiterated the administration's position that Kansas needs to increase its use of wind power and aggressively promote energy conservation.
"Kansas has been a coal state for the last 100 years," Parkinson said. "We are fundamentally changing that model, and when you do that, it creates some reverberations. We're slowly doing it, and we're making progress."
STUDENT HOUSING
Residence hall redos down the road
BY CALEB SOMMERVILLE
csommerville@kansan.com
Hashinger Hall's shiny new exterior and stylish industrial interior were part of the renovations that closed the residence hall down during the 2005-2006 school year. Hashinger is the fourth residence hall to be renovated at the University and more will follow — eventually.
Hashinger Hall closed for a $12 million renovation during the 2005-2006 school year
"Planned is a relative term at this point". Grosshans said.
As for what is planned for Oliver Hall, McColum Hall, GSP-Corbin Hall and Jayhawker Towers, Kip Grosshans, student housing associate director for administration, said nothing was set in stone.
It all started in 1959 when Templin Hall opened. Templin was the first residence hall on Daisy Hill. Planning for renovations began in 1995.
The building was out of service from 1996 to 1997.
Kansan File Photo
Lewis Hall was next in line. It opened in 1960 and renovations began in August 1997, right after Templin was completed.
Lewis presented a new problem, however. Mrs. E's is attached to Lewis and needed to remain open during the renovations.
Lewis took about two years to complete because of the complications of separating utilities and other issues, and it reopened in 1999.
Both Lewis and Templin held 430 rooms originally but now hold 275 because the traditional rooms were made into suite-style rooms.
Ellsworth Hall had some different problems. Grosshans said plans to renovate Ellsworth began many years ago, but because of delays Lewis and Templin were redone instead.
Hashinger Hall was closed in 2005-2006 and reopened with some
The entire Ellsworth building was closed in 2002-2003.
The original building held 650 students, but it now holds 560.
Ellsworth reopened with a mix of suite-style rooms that the new Lewis and Templin halls featured, standard double rooms and some studio-style rooms on the lower floors.
"Every time we do a renovation, that informs our decisions for the next time," Grosshans said.
Grosshans said a survey was given out after every renovation.
Diana Robertson, director of student housing, said student feedback influenced the changes at Edsworth. Some students liked the privacy of the suite-style rooms, but others enjoyed the sense of community brought about by having the traditional double rooms.
very unique features. Along with decreasing the number of residents from 470 to 375, the new Hashinger also features a dining facility called the Studio, a small theater, practice studios for music students and other amenities.
Robertson said students were really enjoying the new "Hash", and the Studio and Pulse coffee shop were big successes.
Grosshans said although some
Cost of Renovations
The reason for all the renovations, Robertson said, was that the halls just needed to be renovated. Along with deteriorating interiors and normal maintenance that needed to be done, residence halls cost less to heat and cool now then they did back in the 60s.
Templin: 4.5 million Lewis: 5.25 million Ellsworth: 12.5 million Hashinger: 12 million
projects for GSP and the Jayhawker Towers have been turned in to the Board of Regents, nothing is set.
"We've been plenty busy with two new scholarship halls and renovating Stouffer Place number 28," Grosshans said.
Robertson said that GSP would most likely be the next hall to be renovated, possibly during the 2010-2011 academic year.
The Jayhawker Towers will probably be next, according to Grosshans, and then Oliver and McCollum halls will follow.
Oliver and McColllum are actually the newest halls at the University
Robertson said Corbin would be more of a restoration as opposed to a renovation because of the historic and quaint nature of its construction.
Corbin was the first residence hall built at the University.
Robertson said the plan was to redo the last four halls within the next 10 to 12 years.
Edited by Katherine Loesch
POLITICS
Obama discusses landslide victory, Clinton legacy
BY CHARLES BABINGTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday that his landslide win in South Carolina's presidential primary marks a turn in political history, showing that a black candidate can appeal to voters of all colors and in all regions.
The Illinois senator told a raucous crowd of more than 9,000 here that his big victory Saturday disproved the old notion "that if you get black votes, you can't get white votes," and vice versa.
"We're going to write a new chapter in the South, we're going to write a new chapter in American history," he said during his 64-minute speech to a capacity crowd at the University of Alabama at Birmingham basketball arena. The crowd was roughly two-thirds black and one-third white.
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-III., right, worships at the Harvest Cathedral Chapel with Debbie Sawyer, left, wife of Pastor Steve Sawyer (not shown) in Macon, Ga., yesterday.
Earlier Sunday he made a similar argument, responding to comments by former President Clinton that some interpreted as an effort to diminish Obama's win Saturday over Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bill
Clinton noted that Jesse Jackson won the South Carolina primary in 1984 and 1988. Jackson never became the party's presidential nominee.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama, speaking during a television interview, said "there's no doubt that Jackson set a precedent for blacks seeking the presidency. But he noted that was two decades ago.
"I think that what we saw in this election was a shift in South Carolina," he said, with implications "all across the country. I think people want change. I think they want to get beyond some of the racial politics that, you know, has been so dominant in the past."
Obama resisted being drawn into a spat with the Clinton's, even though he suggested they are part of a political past the country is ready to leave behind.
"I think that Bill Clinton did important work back in the 1990s," he said. "The question is, now we're in 2008, and how do we move it forward to the next phase?"
"I think that in the '90s, we got caught up in a slash-and-burn-police
"Now, that is not the Clinton's fault," he said on ABC's "This Week." "It is all of our faults, in the sense
tics that the American people are weary of" Obama said.
that we've gotten into these bad habits and we can't seem to have disagreements without being disagreeable."
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