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4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2009
WAL-MART (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Burgen said the pay was decent and the store was always hiring new employees.
Jay Benedict, Roseland senior, has been looking for a part-time job in Lawrence since Jan. 24. He said he wanted a job so he could pay the bills and have some spending money.
Benedict said he had tried finding a job using several resources such as jobsku.edu and Craigslist. He said that he hadn't heard of Wal-Mart hiring, but that he would prefer not to work at Wal-Mart because he had read that the store had poor working conditions.
"If I can avoid it, I want to," Benedict said. "If it's a final option, I'll look into it."
— Edited by Brandy Entsminger
Students still seeking employment can apply to Wal-Mart Monday through Friday at the Lawrence Workforce Center, 2540 Iowa St.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Barack Obama, right, and Vice President Joe Biden tour the roof of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Blake Jones, left, CEO and president of Namaste Solar, to view the solar panel installation in Denver on Tuesday, before the signing of a $787 billion economic stimulus bill.
ECONOMY
Obama signs stimulus package
BY LIZ SIDOTI AND
LIZ SIDOTI AND TOM RAUM Associated Press
DENVER — Racing to reverse the country's economic spiral, President Barack Obama signed the mammoth stimulus package into law Tuesday and readied a new $50 billion foreclosure rescue for legions of Americans who are in danger of losing their homes.
There was no recovery yet for beleaguered automakers, who were back in Washington for more bailout billions. General Motors Corp. said it was closing plants, Chrysler LLC said it was cutting vehicle models and both said they were getting rid of thousands more jobs as they made their restructuring cases for $5 billion more for Chrysler and as much as $16.6 billion more for GM. The United Auto Workers union said it had agreed to tentative concessions that could help Detroit's struggling Big Three.
Anything but reassured, Wall Street dove even lower. The Dow Jones industrials fell 297.81 points, closing less than a point above their lowest level in five and a half years.
Obama focused on the $787 billion stimulus plan, an ambitious package of federal spending and tax cuts designed to revive the economy and save millions of jobs. Most wage-earners will soon see the first paycheck evidence of tax breaks that will total $400 for individuals and $800 for couples.
The stimulus package was a huge victory for Obama less than
one month into his presidency. But he struck a sober tone and lowered expectations for an immediate turnaround in the severe recession that is well into its second year.
"None of this will be easy," he said. "The road to recovery will not be straight. We will make progress, and there may be some slippage along the way."
Still, he declared, "We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time."
Underscoring energy-related investments in the new law, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden flew separately to Denver where the president signed it at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science before roughly 250 people, including alternative energy
business leaders. Earlier, the pair examined solar panels on the museum's roof.
On Wednesday, Obama will outline another big piece of his recovery effort — a $50 billion plan to help stem foreclosures — in Arizona, one of the states hardest hit by the mortgage defaults that are at the center of the nation's economic woes.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner mentioned the housing program last week as he rolled out a wide-ranging financial-sector rescue plan that could send $2 trillion coursing through the financial system. Obama is expected to detail how the administration plans to prod the mortgage industry to do more in modifying the terms of home loans so borrowers have lower monthly payments.
LIFETIME (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
said. "I've always been interested in art, and that's why I decided to go that route after a long time of just not being really sure."
After his best friend committed suicide, Dellasega stopped going to his classes and went to work in the graphic design industry. He realized that he wanted to finish his degree and did so, putting himself through school while still working as an entry-level graphics manager. He graduated from PSU in May 2007 with a bachelor's degree in graphic design but soon realized that his passion was weightlifting and figuring out how the body works. He began contemplating the idea of seeking a second bachelor's degree.
"It's always interested me, and I decided since KU had an exercise science degree, and since I'm not married and I don't have any kids,
I should do it," Dellasega said. "It is my passion and its what I live for — everything about exercise physiology and sports performance training."
Dellasega said that about a year before he completed his graphic design degree, he knew that something wasn't quite right.
"It's kind of searching yourself and realizing what it is that you really, really are passionate about," Dellasega said. "You can have so many interests and want to be as knowledgeable as possible in all of them. You really need to find that out. The quicker you find out what it is you want to do, it will lead to everything else."
Even if that means taking the long way around.
"it's not what you do but how you do it that defines you," Dellasea
said.
Dellasega, who entered the University in July 2007, said he hoped to complete his degree by December 2011.
Edison said that he would always miss Hashinger Hall, where he lived for five years, and that he still visited campus. Edison works as an AmeriCorps VISTA and at Van Go Mobile Arts in Lawrence. Although he has no plans to return to the University, he does want to further his education.
"I won't ever be back to KU," Edison said. "I plan on pursuing my MFA from another university in the future. I need something new — new faculty, new campus, new demographic, new city."
Edited by Realle Roth and Carly Halvorson
VITAMIN (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
torade and Powerade, do not necesarily make an athlete test positive.
In a recent statement, the NCAA clarified its position that an average-sized man would have to drink 10 20 oz. bottles of Vitaminwater Energy or Rescue flavors before a competition to reach the level that could create a positive urine test.
The NCAA statement also said that eight flavors, including one the Athletic Department pulled, contained no impermissible or banned contents. "Banned" means athletes are not able to use them at all. "im-permissible" ingredients are fine for athletes to use, but universities cannot provide them.
Randy Bird, the University's sports nutritionist, said six Vitaminwater varieties had impermissible or banned contents.
Bird said the two products with banned ingredients were Energy tropical citrus and Rescue green tea, because they have added caffeine, which is on the banned substance list.
"Caffeine is conditionally ban ned, meaning athletes can take products like coffee and tea that have caffeine in it, but if they get too much and have too much caffeine excreted in their urine for a drug test, they can test positive," Bird said.
According to Bird, caffeine is banned by the NCAA because of the possibility that it could enhance an athlete's performance both physically and mentally.
“Getting an energy drink, you honestly don't know how much caffeine is in there, and usually there's a lot,” Bird said. “Companies can add to it and really spike the caffeine content. That's when athletes run the risk of testing positive, getting too much.”
The reason for concern with the caffeine in Vitaminwater is that the amount of caffeine is not described on the bottle, whereas a bottle of pop identifies how much caffeine it contains.
Four other flavors — Power-C dragonfruit, B-relaxed jackfruit-guava, Vital-T lemon tea-teoibos and Balance cran-grapefruit — contain impermissible substances such as taurine, Lthelanine, rooibos tea extract and glucosamine Vital-T was not mentioned in the NCAA statement as one of the flavors to watch out for, but the University has removed it from the athletics department anyway. A spokesperson for Glaceau Vitaminwater said Vital-T flavor was still on the market but only in select retail areas, including at the University.
Bird said he thought the reports circling around the banned-substance rule had been negative for Coca-Cola and the Vitaminwater products.
"It is hurting Vitaminwater's business and reputation because of all this bad press about Vitaminwater and potential for having banned and impermissible substances," Bird said. "You think about everything going' on with A-Rod and baseball, people immediately jump to steroids and think that Vitaminwater is going to make people test positive for anabolic substances and that's not the case."
Bird said he sent an informational e-mail on Feb. 11 to all KU head coaches and administrators alerting them about the decision to pull the flavors from athletics department shelves.
Bird couldn't recall a time at the University when any athletes had tested positive for high caffeine levels in their urine. Although no cases have occurred, Bird said he would like to see more control over the supplement industry.
"It's really ballooned out of control," Bird said, "especially within the collegiate population."
— Edited by Chris Horn