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NIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Catching up with the Kansas Relays
The Wave takes a look at four full days of track and field. THE WAVE | INSIDE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2010
Refugees speak at KU event
WWW.KANSAN.COM
LIZARD TALES
Invisible Children visited campus to promote awareness Tuesday. CAMPUS | 6A
A KU research team spent two months tracking down this lizard in the Philippines. A cousin to the Komodo dragon, the newly named Varanus bitatawa is the third known fruit-eating monitor lizard species in the world. The team, led by graduate student Luke Welton, confirmed its identity after conducting tests in Lawrence.
KU graduate discovers new lizard species in Philippines
BY ROBERT ALTMAN
raltman@kansan.com
After two months scouring the jungles of the northern Sierra Madre mountain range on the Philippine island of Luzon, KU graduate student Luke Welton still hadn't caught a glimpse of the elusive.
His researching team was nearly out of food, money and morale. Still, with only two days left in the expedition, Welton, of Lawrence, sensed they were closing in.
"We had seen its claw markings up and down trees and even heard reports from local villages that the lizard we were after had been caught and eaten on three different occasions in only a week at that site," he said.
Then, after a midday snorkel, Welton spotted the six-and-a-half foot fruit-eating cousin of the Komodo dragon. Known to the locals as bitatawa, the lizard was strapped to the back of a hungry tribesman who was heading home for lunch.
With the help of Filipino
translators, Welton and the team of researchers convinced the hunter to part with the animal, and after conducting tests, they confirmed it was the third known species of fruit-eating monitor lizard in the world.
The species, now known as Varanus bitatawa, is more robust than other Varanus lizards, and has unusually vibrant black and golden yellow scale coloration. It is also equipped with unique reproductive organs.
To the local Agta and Ilongot tribes, the bitataw is known as a delicacy for having tastier meat than the more common carnivorous monitor lizards. Welton said this had made them more of a reclusive animal. They seldom stray from the dense forest, often spending most of their days high in trees.
Onceback at the KU Biodiversity Institute, Welton, along with doctoral student Cameron Siler and Rafe Brown, assistant professor and assistant curator of ecology
SEE LIZARD ON PAGE 3A
Contributed Photo
To watch a video about the new lizard species visit kansan.com/videos.
Luke Welton, a graduate student from Lawrence, shows off a new lizard species. Welton and his research team spent nearly two months searching for the lizard on an island in the Philippines.
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 135
LAWRENCE
Spencer Walsh/KANSAN
Spencer Walsh, NANSAW
Mayor Robert Chestnut is congratulated by his son Spencer, a senior at Free State High School; after giving his thoughts about being mayor for the past year to the Commission Council. Chestnut passed on the responsibilities of mayor to the newly selected Amy Axex.
City officials select Amyx as city mayor
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
Twenty-two years since his last time as city mayor, Mike Amyx will once again sit behind the mallet at City Hall. Amyx served as vice mayor of the city before being appointed as mayor for the second time at Tuesday night's city commission meeting.
The appointment came after a State of the City Address from former Mayor Robert Chestnut who will now serve as a city commissioner. Other commissioners expressed nothing but gratitude and appreciation for the leadership Chestnut provided, especially during a tough economic year.
"We were fortunate to have the leadership of someone who
NEW CITY COMMISSION
Mayor Mike Amyx
understands numbers," said Commissioner Mike Dever.
Vice Mayor Aron Cromwell
Commissioner Robert Chestnut
For the third year in a row, Chestnut recognized the city's ability to balance its budget after a significant deficit in 2006. In
Commissioner Michael Dever
Commissioner Lance Johnson
"The city is very sound and the reason it is very sound is because Rob Chestnut lead us through a tough year last year and made our city better." Amyx said.
"We were fortunate to have the leadership of someone who understands numbers."
After some rearranging of
his address to the city, Chestnut commented on strides in everything from aerospace and transit to public safety and maintenance. Improvements in the downtown area and environmental initiatives to invest in sustainability were also noted. In a time when many surrounding cities and communities around the country are experiencing shrinking revenues, layoffs and foregoing new projects, Chestnut praised Lawrence's ability to actually take on new projects and investments.
MIKE DEVER City commissioner
chairs and name plates around the city commission podium, these responsibilities will be passed to Mayor Amyx who said he felt very fortunate to follow in Chestnut's footsteps. The commission also appointed former Commissioner Aron Cromwell as the new vice mayor.
Mayor Amyx admitted in his speech that he had a tough job in front of him and that it was going to be a busy year, but said he looked forward to taking on some of these new projects. A grocery store in North Lawrence and improvements to the public library are two of the projects he hopes to make priorities. The mayor
SEE MAYOR ON PAGE 3A
AWARD
Q&A with recent Pulitzer Prize winner and KU graduate
BY ELLIOT METZ emetz@kansan.com
Colleen McCain Nelson, a 1996 KU graduate and editor of The University Daily Kansan in 1995, won a Pulitzer Prize Monday for her editorial writing at the Dallas Morning News, McCain Nelson and two of her colleagues won the Pulitzer for their editorials on the social and economic disparities between Dallas' northern and southern halves.
Professionally, it's such great validation that what you do matters and that what you do makes a little bit of a difference. It motivates you to do more and to do better. It suggests that we've hit on something good and should keep going. I never anticipated it. It's just been a thrill beyond words. I've had a really tough year personally with my husband being hit by a car and being in the hospital for a long time. I was trying to juggle getting my husband to his doctor appointments and rehabilitation
What does this award mean to you?
along with writing the editorials, so it's amazing to be honored like this.
How did your experience at KU and the Kansas affect your career?
It's the training ground; it's where you learn how to pursue stories. I was the editorial page editor my sophomore year and had a great experience with that. There's no way I'd be where I am right now without training at the Kansan.
Your husband was also a graduate from the University and the William Allen White School of Journalism. How else is KU still involved in your life?
We actually didn't meet at Kansas. He was actually the Kansan editor four years ahead of me. We ended up crossing paths later in life. He's a Jayhawk; our dog is Phog; and we love Lawrence in so many ways. We have season b-ball tickets and fly back for games whenever we can. It's kind of our happy place.
CEF PULITZER ON PAGE 3A
Contributed photo
index
Colleen McCain Nelson, a 1996 KJ graduate, won a Pulitzer for her editorial writings. McCain Collins was a former editor of the Kansan.
Classifieds. 3B Opinion. 5A
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All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
New fund will finance sustainability projects
Student Senate approves $10,000 for the fund. ENVIRONMENT | 2A
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