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THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
PAGE 2A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY & ANSAN
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NEWS MANAGEMENT Editor-in-chief Brian Hillix
Managing editor Paige Lytle
vigil editor
Stephanie Bickel
Production editor Madison Schultz
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
Advertising director
Sharlene Xu
Digital media manager Kristen Hays
NEWS SECTION EDITORS
News editor
Miranda Davis
Sales manager Jordan Mentze
Associate news editor Kate Miller
Opinion editor
Cecilia Cho
Arts & features editor Lyndsey Havens
Sports editor Blair Sheade
Associate sports editor Shane Jackson
Art director
Cole Anneberg
Web editor Christian Hardy
Design Chiefs
Hallie Wilson
Jake Kaufman
Multimedia editor Ben Lipowitz
Designers Frankie Baker Robert Crone
Special sections editor Amie Just
Special projects editor Emma LeGault
Copy chiefs Casey Hutchins Sarah Kramer
MONDAY
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ADVISERS Media director and content strategist Brett Akagi
Sales and marketing adviser Jon Schlitt
The University Daily Kansas is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of The Kansan are 50 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 2015A1 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045.
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4967) is published daily during the school year except Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams and weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Annual subscriptions by mail are $250 plus tax. Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan, 2051A Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue.
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FRIDAY
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Partly cloudy with a 0 percent chance of rain.Wind SE at 7 mph.
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SATURDAY
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LO:29
SUNDAY
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LO: 13
Rainy and snowy with a 70 percent chance of precipitation. Wind SSW at 10 mph.
Cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain. Wind N at 17 mph.
NICHOLAS CLAYTON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chairman John Rubin, right, a Shawnee Republican, asks a question during a Kansas House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee hearing on legislation reducing penalties for first- and second-time marijuana possession,
Capitol weighs reduced penalty for pot possession
NICHOLAS CLAYTON Associated Press
TOPEKA - Penalties for marijuana possession could be softened in Kansas as legislators seek to lower prison populations and reduce costs.
State officials testified Wednesday in favor of a bill that would drop first- and secondtime marijuana possession offenses below the felony level. The hearing before the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee comes on the heels of discussions last week in a Senate committee on a bill that would legalize marijuana for medical use.
While a second marijuana conviction can currently land a person in jail for 10
Republican Rep. Tom Moxley of Council Grove said after the hearing that it was time for the state to re-examine the way it punishes marijuana offenses.
"The issue of proportionality has been brought up by a number of legislators because we incarcerate an extraordinary number of people for pretty light crimes, nonviolent crimes, particularly in the drug arena." Moxley said.
Schultz said it would result in about 46 fewer prisoners per year, saving the state about $800,000 annually. Jennifer Roth, a public defender, testified that the move would save the state even more in the courtroom and probation administration expenses.
appeared to testify during the hearing, and committee members acknowledged that the state's budget woes made the cost-saving potential of the bill more attractive.
"We recognize a need for frugality in this state. We want bang for the buck, and right now we're just locking people up at great cost, and we need to think that through." Moxley said. "If ever there was a time, this is the time."
to 42 months, the legislation would remove the risk of prison time for offenders with no prior convictions until their third offense, said Scott Schultz, executive director of the Kansas Sentencing Commission, which proposed the bill.
Election reform bill passes in Senate
ALANA FLINN
@alana_finn
No opponents of the bill
Several new rules passed through full Senate Wednesday night and will be added to the Elections Code for the upcoming Student Senate elections this spring. The bill authored by Government Relations Director Will Admuseen and Chief of Staff Mitchell Cota, among others, and was introduced when Miranda Wagner, student body vice president, opened the floor for discussion. The bill did not go through any committees last week.
The goal of this reform is to create a fairer campaigning season, Wagner said. The most crucial change in the bill is that there will no longer be button deals.
In past elections, coalitions could give out buttons with their logos on them. Students could wear these buttons to receive discounts at local businesses.
The new rules also include limitations on distributing materials. Coalitions will purchase no more than one T-shirt per slated candidate and no candidate or coalition's poster will cover the readability of an opponents poster.
"These were created just to address lots of holes within the election code last year and to be able to make a more efficient and fair election for both the elections commission and coalitions," Cota said.
Cota said stricter election rules are now needed to help keep organization throughout election season.
these new rules, Wagner said the reason for many of the new rules are to prevent coalitions making profits off of something like a t-shirt.
"People should never be making a profit off of our elections at the student senate level." Wagner said.
During discussions about
A major debate which resulted in several positive and negative speeches was the decision on whether coalitions could spend their entire campaigning budget on T-shirts or not.
Some speeches argued that a competition to put a T-shirt on well-recognized people such as Bill Self or the chancellor would create an unfair advantage, while others argued spending $1,000 on T-shirts for coalitions would be absurd.
Senate tabled the discussion on T-shirt purchases after a lengthy debate. Once the discussion was brought back up, it passed.
Another bill that passed through Senate authored by the finance committee will fund a documentary about human trafficking within the US. The bill will allocate $130 to the KU Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking.
One bill includes medical amnesty for underage students who seek medical attention after drinking. This bill would ensure an underage student would not be reprimanded by law for receiving treatment
Admussen also discussed three other bills Student Senate members will propose at Higher Education Day on Feb. 10.
SEE REFORM PAGE 3A
Bill proposed in Kansas legislature would increase statewide minimum wage to $10.25 in 2018
A bill in the Kansas House proposes to raise the statewide minimum wage by $3 over the next three years.
Rep. Jim Ward (D-Wichita) sponsored the Kansas Working Families Pay Raise Act, or House Bill 2012. The bill states that minimum wages will be no less than $8.25 per hour after Jan. 1, 2016, a dollar more than the current statewide rate. It would then increase again by $1 each year, topping out at $10.25 in 2018.
The last time Kansas raised its minimum wage was back in 2009, according to the United States Department of Labor.
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This bill may affect workers and small businesses differently depending on their situations.
Brandi Bradfield, an employee at Java Break and Lawrence resident, said even though it might mean more money for employees, she said she believes the result
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
If you or someone you know needs disability accommodations, you can contact the KU Student Access Services at disability.ku.edu or at (785) 864-4064.
"For me, it won't mean much because I'm a server and a bartender," Miller said.
KANSAN.COM
Ariel Miller, a bartender and employee of Paisano's restaurant, said she doesn't believe this bill would have a large effect on her and others working in similar jobs. Her current minimum wage rate is $2.13 per hour as a server and $5 per hour bartending.
would be more money spent from customers' pockets.
— Lane Cofas
Edited by Laura Kubicki
If passed, HB 2012 would also affect servers and bartenders whose hourly rates are much lower than what you would expect to find when working at a grocery store or in other minimum wage positions, according to the Kansas legislature. After Jan. 1, 2018, the hourly rate for servers would be no less than $3.08.
Miller said that even though her minimum wage rate would increase, it would ultimately have little impact on her.
"I feel like it would make prices raise," she said. "It's not like we get money from anywhere else."
2000 Dole Human Development Center
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, Kan. 68045
According to Wismer, accommodating disabilities starts with understanding them.
"People don't fully understand what it means to accommodate, or they don't understand how actions they may not think of might be discriminating, even though there's no intent for that whatsoever. It just kind of happens, unintentionally," Wismer said. "I think a lot of the problem is that there needs to be more education and awareness."
DISABILITY FROM PAGE 1A
"We need to make sure that we're being mindful of inclusiveness on campus," she said.
"There already is someone with a disability in every student organization on campus, just based on the numbers," said Marcinkowski, a senior from Jefferson City, Mo. "Statistically, it's impossible for there not to be at least one person with a disability. Now,
whether or not that person has identified openly with having a disability and whether or not those organizations are aware, there's still somebody who has a disability."
To make organizations more accessible, Marcinkowski said organizations need to offer more accessible options.
to step forward and ask for accommodations, said Jennifer Marcinkowski, president of AbleHawks and Allies and accommodation specialist for the Office of Accessibility and ADA Education.
"Who should pay for this? The oil and gas companies," Spease said.
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to repair. Since they cannot cover the cost themselves, Spease said he believes the ones who did the fracking, which involved the disposing, should be held responsible.
FRACK FROM PAGE 1A
Cracked foundations aren't the only concern of Spease's. He finds the Wolf Creek nuclear plant in Burlington to be an extreme danger to different parts of Kansas.
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"We know the cause, and yet fracking continues. It doesn't make sense," Spease said. "The oil and gas industries are the only ones benefitting."
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"There are faults within a reasonable distance of the plant, and earthquakes have
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"There needs to be more research done," said Mike Taylor, associate KU professor of geology. "But, I would say that we need to decrease the volume and rate at which these fluids
To prevent earthquakes and situations like this, Spease, along with the rest of the Sierra Club, is calling for a standstill on the fracking until scientists can find injection wells that won't cause earthquakes.
Edited by Laura Kubicki
occurred there," Spease added. "If the concrete cylinders full of nuclear waste were to topple and crack, a radioactive cloud would be released, blowing toward Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City."
Steeples said despite the lack of progress toward a solution, the connection between the disposal and quakes has been known for quite a long time, dating back to the 1960s.
are injected. Maybe if they're done over long time periods with lower volumes, it won't be such a shock to these fractures."
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