Entries from October 2013 ↓

Due to construction taking place on Morningside campus, classes in room 111 of the Library have been forced to move to the ICN room in Roadman Hall. The transition, so far, has been fairly smooth, with little to no complaints. “It’s an issue, but it’s not a huge issue.”

I managed to speak with Dave Madsen, the department chair of Morningside’s Mass Communications program. He helped share some information about the construction. “… [It’s the] Academic Building, that is for nursing and education and advising center and our new program that’s going to be coming on campus next fall…”

But that’s not the major reason why students are changing classrooms, “… In addition to the work on that new building, they’re working on the façade of the library on the west side of the building, which is where our offices are… And our classroom is for the Mass Comm department…” Madsen explains how this move is for the students’ and faculty’s own safety, “The potential is, that, you know, a big piece of steel could come crashing through the window. They don’t want us sitting here when that happens. Same thing on the classroom side: they don’t want students here when they’re working in there.”

Fortunately, this ‘minor inconvenience’ is not going to last for too long. “So when we come back after Christmas break, we should be able to come back into our space again.” Though, construction will return during the summer. “In May, during the summer, they don’t want us in there again. Because, I think, that’s probably doing the final work on the project.”

The project is due to be finished by October of 2014. According to Marc Curl, the General Foreman of the project, that’s when the college wants construction finished. “… a year from now. There’s a lot of steps to get to that point.” The construction crew is doing anything everything to ensure that they finish the project on time. Lately, the crew has been working 10 hour days, “Just to get ahead of winter, you know? Usually, if it’s an 8 hour day, we do what we need to do in 8 hours. But when winter comes, we usually turn on the hours because it’s going to get cold…” This is including weekends. “… same deal: just trying to beat the weather.” Needless to say, the crew is hoping for a late winter, “Yeah, like none at all.”

Fortunately, there haven’t been any hiccups down the road yet. “So far, smooth sailing… No mistakes there. Everything’s happenin’ so fast that they ain’t keepin’ up with us. We’re waitin’ on red iron. Particular pieces, ‘cause you can’t build without ‘em.” Despite the heavy load up ahead, Curl and his team are optimistic about this project. “So, we got a lot of work here… It’s an awesome project to be part of.”

All in all, any inconvenience will be proven worthy once the project is complete. For all of us here  on 92.9 KMSC News, I’m Ben Catus.

Due to current health conditions and the fact that I cough up a lung if I speak too long, I will put together the broadcast version of this when my voice is ready*. In the mean time, I have the sound files with all of the information.

As seen from the Mass Comm Dept.

Interview with Dave Madsen    Interview with Marc Curl

*I know, I should have gotten to that before I got sick. But I’m a procrastinator, not a psychic. Sincerest apologies.

A woman was shot by her husband, Saturday, at 5 p.m.  The couple had just been married 3 hours earlier. A neighbor had called the police. “I heard the sound of a shot, at least I think I did.” By the time the police arrived, the groom had fled.

This came as a shock to the neighbors. “I’d never seen him violent, never heard them yelling. It blows me away.”  The shooting took place after the wife had thrown a plate of macaroni salad at him. The wife was shot in the abdomen and is in “satisfactory condition”, according to the hospital she was checked into.

A statement by one of the neighbors

Believe it or not, it is not possible to make up for lost hours of sleep. The adverse affects of sleep loss cannot be undone by putting in extra hours over the weekend. Alexandros N. Vgontzas ([insert phonetic spelling here]) discovered this during a 13-day study at the Penn State University College of Medicine.

The study involved a group of 30 individuals. The volunteers slept for 8 hours for the first 4 nights. During the next 6 nights, the volunteerss would be woken up 2 hours earlier. The volunteers were then allowed to sleep for 10 hours in the final 3 nights.

At 3 points during the study, the researchers tested the subjects on the physiological (FIZZ-eeh-oh-LODGE-ick-al) and psychological (SY-co-LODGE-ick-al) effects the study had. The results showed that even though certain hormone levels had re-balanced, their attention span did not improve after the final 3 day period. This means that certain adverse health effects were not improved from recovery sleep.

Due to inability to settle on an agreement over a bill, Congress shut down the government as of October 1st, meaning that many government agencies, namely congress, will be sending their employees home. Agencies that are deemed essential will continue their workload.

This has been the 40^th attempt by Republicans to defund Obamacare, allegedly the bill in dispute. Nick Brincks, a politically involved Morningside Student, says that the Republicans are “acting like babies.”

So far, the shutdown mostly just affects Washington D.C., but if the shutdown continues for a couple weeks, it could begin to affect more.

“I’m not worried about it right now,” says Michael Lewis, another Morningside Student, “but if it goes on, to the point where they stop funding financial, I might start worrying a little.” If the shutdown lasts for more than a week, it could severely curtail the cash flow to federal financial aid.

Brincks had stated that the Republicans are “putting the economy on the line” by using the shutdown as a means to defund Obamacare. He suggests that everyone gives Obamacare a chance.

Brincks also states, “Because they keep trying to repeal it… The republicans are looking like brats.” When asked about his political views, he said that he leans more toward the Democratic side.