ANSAN
4. 2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2009
NEWS
5A
many talking
important people to out the stress of sender which similar strugracialies and struggles in nature
erstand we can take this live," he
Johnson
ers
ATED PRESS helicop more than e current
oed Maresident
erged child on
d to be unlikeers they
secured to assist a new execution, presenting救edib The moment
p-
District
in.
strate
nced an
ng her
e re-
ner her
Illustration by Sarah Taqoart/KANSAN
LAWRENCE
held
d face
if
Nightlife attracts freshmen and transfer students to University
iated Press
BY KAYLA REGAN
kregan@kansan.com
For nearly half of Americans, home is not where the heart is.
A survey released by the Pew Research Center on Jan. 29 found 46 percent of the public would rather live in a different community from where they live now. Kansas City was the fifth least popular city on the survey, but with record enrollment for the University, more students than ever are making Lawrence their home.
The University's Web site ranks Lawrence as third on its list of "10 great things to know about KU." Kolby Lanning, Jindependence, Kan., senior, said the downtown shopping, nightlife and general atmosphere of Lawrence made the city a great college town. Last fall, 1,512 undergraduate transfer students enrolled at the University, the most recorded since 1998.
Before living in Lawrence,
Lanning attended Baker University in Baldwin City. He said he thought Baldwin was too small for him, and said he frequently made trips to Lawrence to visit friends or go shopping. By sophomore year, Lanning said, he was ready to move.
"Baldwin had one stop light," Lanning said. "As a college student, I think living in Lawrence and still being able to stay in Kansas is great. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
The Pew survey found people between 18 and 29 were the least likely age group to enjoy the community they lived in. Alex Maycher, a Wichita freshman at the University of Nebraska, said he was considering transferring to Kansas largely because he preferred Lawrence to Lincoln. He said he wouldn't move just because he liked the city, though. Nebraska is cheaper for him and he said he didn't think the University would accept all of his credit hours. Still,
he said, if everything were taken care of, he would definitely make the move.
"At Nebraska, you have to be either in a fit or know someone really well to go out, so I don't do as much on the weekends," Maycher
said, in lawrence.
I feel like there's more to do, and it's closer to home. Plus there is more of a local scene."
"Lawrence was awesome freshman year, and then I guess the coolness of it wore off, and I was ready to get out by senior year," St. John said.
Although the college town atmosphere attracts incoming freshman and
"I think living in Lawrence and still being able to stay in Kansas is great. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
was exactly where he wanted to be
likely to enjoy them. community. Now living in Leneax, St. John said he liked living in a smaller town close to a big city. Although the Pew survey found only 18 percent of people in Kansas City and the surrounding area enjoyed living there. St. John said he
transfer students to Lawrence, it also plays into why others leave the city.
The lively Lawrence atmosphere helped 2008 graduate John St. John enjoy college life, but he said it didn't take long for the party scene to get old for him.
The Pew survey found that college graduates were the people most
anywhere where he wanted to. "I have my friends, family and job in Lenexa. I don't want to live in a busy area so it's perfect." St. John said. "If I wouldn't have liked anything I would have moved."
— Edited by Melissa Johnson
KOLBY LANNING Transfer student
POLITICS
Dems' spending bill causes controversy
Measure will raise government spending
BY DAVID ESPO Associated Press
a month with Publication
WASHINGTON — House Democrats unveiled a $410 billion spending bill Monday to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year, setting up the second political struggle over federal funds in less than
republicans. The measure includes thousands of earmarks, the pet projects favored by lawmakers but often criticized by the public in opinion polls. There was
The bill totals $410 billion, including at least $3.8 billion in earmarks,and is meant to keep the government running for the fiscal year.
In a letter to top Democratic leaders, the GOP leadership called for a spending freeze, a step they said would point toward a "new standard of fiscal discipline."
Republicans countered that the spending in the bill far outpaced inflation, and amounted to much higher increases when combined with spending in the stimulus legislation President Barack Obama signed last week.
no official total of the bill's earmarks, which accounted for at least $3.8 billion.
Apart from spending, the legislation provides Democrats in Congress and Obama an opportunity to reverse Bush-era policy
Either way, the bill advanced less than one week after Obama signed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill that all Republicans in Congress opposed except for three moderate GOP senators.
The legislation, which includes an increase of roughly 8 percent over spending in the last fiscal year, is expected to clear the House later in the week.
Democrats defended the spending increases, saying they were needed to make up for cuts enacted in recent years or proposed a year ago by then-President George W. Bush in health, education, energy and other programs.
on selected issues.
It loosens restrictions on travel to Cuba, as well as the sale of food and medicine to the communist island-nation.
In another change, the legislation bans Mexican-licensed trucks
from operating outside commercial zones along the border with the United States. The Teamsters Union, which supported Obama's election last year, hailed the move.
The Bush administration backed a pilot program to permit up to 500 trucks from 100 Mexican motor carriers access to U.S. roads.
The legislation covers programs for numerous Cabinetlevel and other agencies, and takes the place of regular annual spending bills that did not pass last year as a result of a deadlock between the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Congressional expenses are included. The bill provides $500,000 for what is described as a Senate "pilot program" that will defray the cost of mail postcards to households notifying them of a nearby town meeting to be attended by any senator.
INTERNATIONAL
Gitmo releases first prisoner since Obama's inauguration
Associated Press
BY PAISLEY DODDS
LONDON — The first Guantanamo detainee released since President Barack Obama took office returned to Britain on Monday, saying his seven years of captivity and torture at an alleged CIA covert site in Morocco went beyond his "darkest nightmares."
Binyam Mohamed's allegations — including repeated beatings and having his genitals sliced by a scalpel — have sparked lawsuits that could ensnare the American and British governments in protracted court battles.
Attorney General Eric Holder, who traveled Monday to Guantanamo Bay as the Obama administration weighs what is needed to shut the facility, thanked Britain for its cooperation in the case.
"The friendship and assistance of the international community is vitally important as we work to close Guantanamo, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of the British government to work with us on the transfer of Binyam Mohamed," he said.
Lawyers for Mohamed are seeking secret U.S. intelligence and legal documents they say will prove the Bush administration sent Mohamed to Morocco, where it knew he would be tortured. They claim the documents also prove Britain was complicit in the abuse.
But the case is also a test for Obama. While he has promised Guantanamo's closure and an end to torture, he has not yet publicly explained how his government will change the process of extraordinary renditions, which involve sending terror suspects to foreign countries * be interrogated.
Unlike in the U.S., Britain's leaders don't have a past government to blame — Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party has been in power for more than a decade.
Binyam Mohamed, top, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay, steps from a plane at Northolt military base in west London on Monday. Mohamed is the first Guantanamo prisoner released since President Barack Obama took office.
ASSOCIATED PRESS