THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY JANUARY 23 2009
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2009
NEWS
SYMPHONY
Lied to feature pianist
BY JENNIFER TORLINE
itorline@kansan.com
SYMPHONY DETAILS
It has been nearly four years since pianist Kuok-Wai Lio last visited the University of Kansas.
Who: The Kansas City Symphony conducted by Music Director Michael Stern and joined by piano soloist Kuok-Wai Lio What: The symphony's first time as part of the Lied Center's performance series in nearly 10 years. Where:The Lied Center When: 7:30 p.m.Sunday Why: To expose college students to professional orchestral music
This time, at only 19 years old, he is making his American professional orchestra debut as a piano soloist with the Kansas City Symphony, which will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lied Center.
Cost: $21 KU students and children; $42 adults
"I love Lawrence and I cannot wait to see my friends and nice people there," Lio, who is from Macau, China, said.
Lio and the symphony are performing because Frank Byrne, symphony executive director, said he wanted to introduce college students to professional orchestral music.
"That's part of the long-term
goal — just as every college experience includes major works of literature, it should include exposure to great works of music," Byrne said.
Bvrne said
"He is very devoted to what he does. He's very detail-oriented and to earth."
the symphony had appeared at other colleges in the region, including Kansas State University and the University of Central Missouri.
Lio began playing the piano at age 5 when his older brother, who attended Juillard School, taught him how to play. Lio now attends the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which accepts only
160 students each year, according to the school's Web site.
JACK WINEROCK
Professor of piano
In the summer of 2004, Lio spent four weeks at the University's International Institute for Young Musicians and studied music with piano students from around the world. He spent part of the time working with Jack Winerock, professor of piano.
"He is very devoted to what he does," Winerock said. "He's very detail-oriented and down-to-earth."
Lio won first prize and audience favorite prize in the Institute's piano competition. He returned to Lawrence in 2005 for a rea result of the Almy Legacy Fund, which was started by KU alumnus Robert Kipp. The fund allows young musicians from the Curtis Institute to make professional debuts with the symphony, which chose Lio as this year's guest artist.
Arts Center.
"Those were wonderful memories in Lawrence." Lio said. "They are the nicest people I ever met. It's where I first realized what a 'standing ovation' is."
Some of Lio's other musical accomplishments include playing for Chinese president Hu Jintao in 2004.
Byrne said Lio's appearance was
"We're really pleased to have him perform with us," Byrne said.
Although the symphony performed last year for a Lawrence public school benefit, this is its first time as part of the Lied Center's performance series in nearly 10 years. Byrne said. The symphony will be conducted by music director Michael Stern, and the performance is his first appearance in Lawrence.
Tim Van Leer, executive director of the Lied Center, said the center was bringing the symphony to Lawrence because of the artistic vision of the symphony under Stern's direction and because of Libo's connections with Lawrence.
Van Leer said the symphony would take people on a journey through the music and give them the opportunity to hear the vibrant young pianist.
Edited by Sam Speer
POLITICS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama: Shut down Guantanamo
BY BEN FOX AND MIKE MELIA
Associated Press
President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be emptied of its approximately 250 suspected terrorist detainees within one year. Tries for the prisoners will be held elsewhere after Obama finishes reviewing Bush administration policies
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Military defense attorneys said they were eager for a new chapter as President Barack Obama ordered the closure of the offshore prison on Thursday.
Military judges already suspended trials at Guantanamo for four months while the Obama administration reviews the system former President George W. Bush set up in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Since Obama wants Guantanamo's prison emptied of its roughly 250 inmates within a year, any trials would have to be held elsewhere. The military has cases pending against 21 detainees, and had planned to charge dozens more.
In one of his executive orders on Thursday, Obama indicated a preference for moving the cases to traditional U.S. federal courts or military courts-martial, but he also left open the possibility of continuing the current military commissions, perhaps with revisions.
"There isn't going to be justice for anyone at Guantanamo, for the victims' families or the accused," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, who defended a man accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks.
Guantanamo's critics argued the commission system fell short of American justice. Detainees at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba were denied many constitutional protections, such as being advised of their rights before interrogations.
"I guess it's our last trip here," said Stacy Sullivan of New York-based Human Rights Watch as a
group of lawyers, journalists and human rights observers waited for a flight out of Guantanamo after pretrial hearings were suspended. "Let's hope that if we return, this will be a museum memorializing a really shameful chapter in American history."
Legal experts say Obama must decide what to do with three groups of people nowheld at Guantanamo. Some aren't considered threats and can be released, under certain terms. Others — like admitted al-Qaida members who said they hope to carry out other attacks — would be put on trial.
lacking or won't hold up and can't be transferred to other countries. On Thursday Obama appointed a task force to recommend how to deal with this population.
But there's also a sizable group, potentially dangerous, who cannot be tried because evidence might be
Some involved in America's attempt to put them on trial say the cases can easily be transferred to federal courts. Others predict cases built on hearsay evidence or confessions obtained through harsh interrogations could never be brought to trial.
TECHNOLOGY
There is no single best option, said Anthony Barkow, a criminal law specialist at the New York University School of Law. All the Obama administration can do is evaluate detainees case-by-case, he said.
Pricier smart phones are replacing land lines
According to a J.D. Power and Associates study, 25.2 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use a cell phone instead of a land line. As land lines continue to bring telephone companies less revenue, smart phone technologies are costing students, such as Dan Persons, more money than in the past.
BY KAYLA REGAN
kregan@kansan.com
Persons, Towanda freshman,
said he paid $50 more for his current phone than he had for any of his other cell phones. Persons can send unlimited text messages, record videos and make to-do lists on his calendar all on his cell phone. Now, all the tools on his cell phone make the idea of using a land line seem silly, he said.
With the growing percentage of people ditching land lines for cell phones, telecommunication
"I like to have a cell phone that's always on me, so I don't need a land line at all." Persons said.
companies have had to adjust to make up for lost revenue. Andrew Parise, Sunflower Broadband account executive, said land line telephone providers might not know the full long-term effects of this trend.
"We hardly ever sell land lines ¬ it's very rare," Parise said. "Students usually won't ever buy it."
The study, released in 2007, found that people spent an average of about $1,600 on their cell phones and about $1,100 on land lines. Despite the lackluster sales, telephone service providers are still finding ways to stay afloat. Parise said that by bundling cable television, Internet connection and telephone services, Sunflower Broadband hadn't been severely affected by the declining sales of land lines.
"I would say out of every 100 customers, you might sell two packages including phone service." Parise said. "But now it's just an extra benefit we offer."
While the Internet is one tool that's helping keep telecommunication companies alive, Taylor Hoover, sales representative at Wireless Stores, 520 W. 23rd St., said that as the Internet became more available on cell phones, land lines could become just another unnecessary cost.
Smart phones with Web browsing capability, though expensive, are especially popular among college students. Hoover said. Though J.D. Power and Associates found that people spent an average of $80 more for smart phone features, the same study also found that customer satisfaction increased as more features were added. Hoover said that even though it was more costly, he understood why people would be willing to pay more for
"I think people are spending so much money on their cell phone bill that they don't have enough money for a land line." Hoover said.
WHO'S ABANDONINGLANDLINESFORCELL PHONES?
54 percent of unrelated adults with no children went without a land line compared with 10.5 percent of adults with children.
Renters (26.4 percent) were more likely than homeowners (5.8 percent) to use wireless.12.8 percent of households did not own a land line.
browsing;" Hoover said. "But what's the point in getting a phone if you're not going to use the full capability of it?"
Source: Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Edited by Sam Speer
cell phones with additional features rather than getting a basic land line for less.
"I think people just go overboard on things so you see higher demands for options like Web
STATE
Tonganoxie sixth-grade takes explosive to school
TONGANOXIE — The discovery of a homemade explosive device prompted the evacuation of part of Tonganoxie Middle School.
The Lawrence Journal-World reported on its Web site that a sixth-grader at Tonganoxie Middle School was showing off the device Thursday when a student alerted administrators.
It was detonated without causing injuries.
After the device was confiscated, the administrative offices were evacuated, and the entire school was locked down.
Police said the device was equivalent to one-third of a stick of dynamite.
Authorities and school officials say the student had no intentions of causing harm.
The boy was taken into custody. He also was suspended from school for 10 days, pending a hearing that will determine whether he will be expelled for a full calendar year.
Associated Press