A project of the UTC Communication Department
Update from Chuck Cantrell, University Relations
From Chuck Cantrell, University Relations
The EMCS Building is currently evacuated. A small fire has been extinguished by Chattanooga Fire Department. The building is being ventilated to remove smoke and will reopen soon. Text and email messages will be sent when the building reopens.
Chattanooga, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) — A UTC student apparently vandalized several apartments at the Walker Apartments. The student was injured during the spree and taken to a local hospital. Here is the information released by Chuck Cantrell with University Relations.
The University Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Walker Apartment complex at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Upon arrival, officers encountered an individual who had entered and vandalized several apartments. The subject had become injured during the vandalism and was taken into custody shortly thereafter and transported to the hospital for treatment. The subject has been identified as a UTC student.
Due to presence of bodily fluids in several rooms and to allow police to conduct the investigation, several floors were closed for cleanup and decontamination. The residence hall is expected to be fully reopened this evening.
A follow-up email will be sent when the residence hall is fully open.
By Christina Stafford
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - One UTC teacher’s passion for protecting Tennessee mountains and valleys has helped keep the issue in front of the public.
Jeannie Hacker-Cerulean has been an advocate to help stop the removal of mountain tops for coal mining since 2004. “I care about the water and I want to protect the clean water cycle,” she said. “When I heard the about mountain top removal and how it pollutes the water with heavy metals, I decided to become a mountain justice worker,” the UTC faculty member said.
Cerulean and others who work for an end to mountain top removal have been to Nashville to lobby the State Senate. “I am personal correspondents with some of the senators,” Cerulean said. She said she makes mailing labels to give out to people to write the senators to express what they think about the issue. She said she also puts posters up with the labels on them all around the Chattanooga area to raise awareness.
“Mrs. Cerulean brought a student advocate from MTSU to talk about the mining to my advocacy and debate class she teaches.” Alyssah Martin, Soddy Daisy junior, said. “The whole class could tell this is something she is truly passionate about.”
College students can get involved in the cause to end mountain top removal. “Universities in Tennessee, including UTC’s EDGE (Ecological Decisions for a Global Environment) group, are getting involved and contribute greatly to the cause,” Cerulean said.
Students have protested by sitting in trees to stop them from being cut down and cleaning tree sitting as well as helping to clean up the communities that are affected by coal mining. Students are also involved by talking about the issue in their schools and hometowns, Cerulean said.
Some students believe it is a worthy cause. “It’s good to know there are opportunities out there for college students to take action on something so important,” Tiffany Reed, Cookeville sophomore, said.
If passed, the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection bill will end mountain top removal of ridges over 2000 feet in Tennessee, Cerulean said. She said she thinks state senators are listening about the issue.
More than 1,000 mountains have been destroyed since the 1970s in Appalachian Mountains states. These mountains are being targeted for coal mining that results in more job opportunities in small communities “Though the new jobs in the communities are a great thing, people’s health and the environment are at risk,” Cerulean said.
The stream buffer zone rule was set in 1983. This rule says that coal-mining companies cannot operate within 100 feet of streams. “Mining companies still dump the waste in streams,” Cerulean said.
In 2009, a new buffer zone rule was set in motion requiring mining companies to not dump the waste in the valleys, Cerulean said.
By Gloria DeWeese
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - As students watch the wacky weather waver from day to day, UTC has a department watching for the newest weather developments and alerts.
K. Tim Pridemore, C.F.P.S., Emergency Management Specialist in Safety and Risk Management Department at UTC, said “We have about ten different ways to get the word out.” In addition to the new alert beacons being installed in every classroom, we are in process of framing maps to show the safest tornado shelters on the campus, Pridemore said. He also said, about 10 or 20 different threat factors are monitored consistently.
“Once the heat index goes above 95 degrees, we start watching it. When it goes above 100 degrees, at that point we will typically, in that area, we will start sending out messages to the campus,” Pridemore said.
“Probably the oddest thing of all the threat factors that we watch, the oddest one right here at spaceweather.com,” Pridemore said. “We actually watch for solar flares, and the reason we do that is because the campuses communications system are so heavily dependent on continuity. The radios are wireless.”
Aside from the storms with our unusually high temperatures, pollen is, ironically, not a concern by the department, Pridemore said. “Hay fever is not contagious. We watch more for different strands of the flu or other diseases,” he said.
Although pollen count is not an issue the department monitors, students affected by seasonal allergies say :
“The worst effect from the temperatures is my sinuses,” Jameese Cox said, Cleveland, junior.
“My allergies are the biggest issue with the weather from pollen,” Ben Cocilo said, Los Angeles, Calif., senior.
“My allergies are killing me,” Caleb Powell said, Chattanooga, sophomore.
“My eyes start watering, my nose starts running. It’s very aggravating when running outside. I just want my legs to run, not my nose,” Jaya Todai said, Houston, TX, freshman.
Pridemore said, “Pollen count poses no significant threat. They (Sinuses) are uncomfortable. They are something to cry about and they, definitely, are something to sneeze at.”
Whether storms, solar flares, or snotty noses, the wacky weather has many effects on students’ campus life. Pridemore and the Department of Safety and Risk Management watch for what weather wonders or threats April brings.
By Erin Matthews
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Echo ) -
Police responded to a miscellaneous complaint at Stacy Town Center on 8th Street.
Upon police arrival, the student stated to police that while she was driving on Georgia Avenue and Market Street, she had a run-in with some people driving a grey Chevy equinox vehicle.
The student stated she called police to advise them of the vehicle following her.
Police told the student they would have a patrol vehicle ride through the area.
The student stated to police that the grey equinox vehicle had pulled behind her in lot 47-2 after seeing her go in that lot from MLK Blvd.
The student stated a black male with a white shirt on and a hat on his head got out of the car and shouted at her that she better not hit his car.
The student stated the suspect got back into his car and drove off.
The vehicle had a temporary tag on the back of it and the student could not remember anything else of the suspect.
The student said she wanted a report done for any further incidents.
Read more of the Campus Crime log.
By Erin Matthews
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Echo) -
Police responded to a drug/narcotic offense at 742 Oak St.
Police smelled what appeared to be burning marijuana coming from the Lockmiller Apartment.
Police spoke with the males present in the apartment who advised they had smoked some marijuana in the apartment earlier.
Police found the resident of the apartment who also advised he had smoked marijuana.
The resident advised police he had a small amount of marijuana, at which point police seized a glass jar containing 1.1 grams of suspect marijuana.
Police advised both parties that they would be cited to UTC student affairs in lieu of physical arrest.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Elvis Presley Enterprises has announced a vacation package to Hawaii in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of his concert on the island in 1973.
The getaway Jan. 10-15 will feature concerts, panel discussions and tours of Elvis-related locations in Hawaii.
The concert, “Aloha From Hawaii,” was broadcast live via satellite around the world. During his movie career, scenes from “Blue Hawaii,” ”Girls! Girls! Girls!” and “Paradise, Hawaiian Style” were filmed in Hawaii. Elvis also did several concerts and visited the island many times to relax.
According to Elvis Presley Enterprises, Jan Shepard, the singer’s co-star in “King Creole” and “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” is to participate in a panel discussion during the event. There also will be an enhanced movie screening of the 1973 concert.
Details are at http://www.elvis.com/aloha .
DOUG FEINBERG,AP Basketball Writer
DENVER (AP) — Brittney Griner’s place in women’s basketball history is secure.
Blocking layups, snagging rebounds, hitting shots over two and three helpless defenders, she towered over the competition all season long to earn player of the year and outstanding player of the NCAA tournament honors.
She was simply dominant in adding national champion to her resume on Tuesday night.
Griner had 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead Baylor to an 80-61 victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA women’s basketball championship, capping an unparalleled 40-0 season for the Lady Bears.
“Brittney Griner, whether she won today or not, will go down in the history of the women’s game as, if not the greatest post player, one of the greatest,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “I’m so glad she has that ring now.”
When the buzzer sounded, Griner finally celebrated, hamming it up as she helped take down the nets and dancing with Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.
Then she lifted coach Kim Mulkey up on her shoulders briefly, just the way she has done for the Lady Bears during this long season.
“It meant everything for us to get it for coach,” said Griner, referring to Mulkey’s struggle with Bell’s palsy during the tournament. “She felt like she wasn’t there for us, but we told her every second that we could hear her loud and clear, everything she was saying.”
Baylor became the seventh women’s team to run through a season unbeaten and the first in NCAA history to win 40 games. It was the second national championship for Baylor, which also won a title in 2005.
“Looking back when we get older, I’m always going to remember this moment, always going to remember confetti falling and being here with my team,” Griner said.
Baylor did it in a nearly wire-to-wire victory, finishing with a flourish when anything less than bringing a title back to Waco would have been a huge disappointment.
The 6-foot-8 Griner was right at the center of the action as the Lady Bears took control. Every time Notre Dame made a run in the second half to cut into the deficit, Griner had an answer. She showed a wide array of post moves, hitting turnaround jumpers and hooks that the Irish had no way to stop — even when they collapsed around her.
“Brittney Griner comes to work every day,” Mulkey said. “A lot of great players think they’re all that and they half go through drills and they come to practice and they dog it. That child comes to work and brings her work pail every day.”
Notre Dame fell short in the title game for the second straight season, having lost to Texas A&M by six points last year.
Coach Muffet McGraw’s senior-heavy crew did finish the season with a decided edge over rival Connecticut — the Irish won the Big East regular-season title and defeated the Huskies in three of four meetings, including the national semifinal.
But like every other team this year, Notre Dame couldn’t solve Baylor and its superstar.
“I think she’s one of a kind,” McGraw said. “There’s so many things she can do. There have been some guards that have had some skill like that. But as a post player, she’s the best I’ve seen.”
Griner, selected The Associated Press player of the year, also was named most outstanding player of the tournament.
“We wouldn’t be here without my team,” the junior said. “All the awards — none of that means anything. If I don’t have my team here, we can’t get this.”
All-American point guard Skylar Diggins did all she could to keep the Irish (36-4) in the game, scoring 20 points. But senior Natalie Novosel had just five points, going 0 for 11 from the field. Devereaux Peters, also playing in her final game, was saddled with foul trouble because of Griner. She scored seven points.
Diggins “played a great game,” McGraw said. “She’s just a big-time player and she didn’t get a lot of help today.”
Like Griner, Diggins has pledged to return for her senior year — both could join the WNBA draft — for a third run at the title.
Notre Dame had an early 9-8 lead before Baylor took over with a 12-2 spurt. The Irish were down by 14 in the first half before cutting their deficit to 34-28 at the break. They got as close as 42-39 and had the ball, but Griner asserted herself, scoring nine of the next 19 points for Baylor to seal the victory.
“They went on a run there,” Diggins said. “I just remember we cut it down to three and they went on a run. I saw 10, 12, 14, 16, 19. We couldn’t get rebounds when they missed shots.”
Odyssey Sims added 19 points and Destiny Williams had 12 for the Lady Bears, who outrebounded Notre Dame 46-27 and now have the third unbeaten season in women’s basketball in the last four years. UConn, which has gone undefeated four times, did it in 2009 and 2010. Texas and Tennessee also have unbeaten seasons.
Baylor’s victory also gave President Barack Obama some bragging rights. He correctly picked Baylor to beat Notre Dame in the title game.
With 1:04 left and the game well in hand, Mulkey took out Griner and the two shared a long hug. The fiery coach then went down the bench and hugged each of her players while holding back tears.
“I’m just so happy,” Mulkey said. “That old saying, ‘you’re so happy you cry.’ I can’t quit crying.’”
Mulkey, who did her net cutting with daughter Mackenzie — a freshman on the team — and son Kramer, has now won a title as a player (at Louisiana Tech), an Olympic gold medal (in 1984) and two titles as a coach. Only five women’s coaches have more than one championship at the top level of NCAA competition.
Mulkey has downplayed the 40 wins, noting that her former coach and mentor at Louisiana Tech Leon Barmore won 40 games in 1980. That was before women’s basketball was governed by the NCAA, which didn’t begin keeping records until the 1982 season.
It was the second meeting between the teams this season. Baylor also won the first one, by 13 in Waco on Nov. 17. That win gave the Lady Bears the preseason WNIT title.
As usual, Griner put on a show in warm-ups, thrilling the crowd with a series of impressive dunks — including a one-handed throw down, a double-pump slam and another in which she hung on rim. She dunked twice in the tournament, matching Candace Parker for most dunks by a woman in NCAA tournament play and during a college career (seven).
She couldn’t catch one against the Irish.
The Lady Bears had a strong cheering section that included Griffin — dancing in his seat at the end of the game — and country music star Trace Adkins. He was a freshman walk-on football player at Louisiana Tech in the early 1980s when Mulkey was a senior there.
Notre Dame had its own star fan in former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who earned a graduate degree at the school. The Irish were wearing their green uniforms for the first time since last season’s title loss.
It didn’t help. On this night, nothing could stop Griner.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Mitt Romney is turning away from his primary opponents and toward Democratic President Barack Obama after sweeping three more Republican contests.
The likely GOP nominee was set Wednesday to take the same Washington stage that the president had used a day earlier to criticize Romney in a speech to newspaper editors in Washington. The former Massachusetts governor planned to address an audience of the Newspaper Association of America and the American Society of News Editors, a day after Obama spoke to the annual meeting of The Associated Press.
“There is a basic choice before us,” Romney said Tuesday night as he spoke to cheering supporters in Milwaukee. “Our different visions for America are the product of our values and our life experiences.”
Romney’s victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia widened his delegate lead and all but handed him the title of presumptive Republican nominee. Despite pressure to leave the race, rival Rick Santorum vowed to fight on, urging voters in the next-up Pennsylvania primary to vote for “someone whose views are forged in steel, not on an Etch A Sketch.”
Romney didn’t mention Santorum on Tuesday night. Instead, Romney sought to cast Obama as an “out of touch” liberal whose personal background is hostile to a free economy.
His remarks came just hours after Obama delivered a combative campaign speech in Washington, where he attacked House Republicans’ budget plan as “thinly veiled social Darwinism” that “is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everybody who’s willing to work for it.”
Obama called it “a prescription for decline.”
After his speech Wednesday, Romney planned to head to a campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs. He was to campaign in the state Thursday as well. Obama planned to attend an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House.
For Romney, the end of the contested primary campaign could hardly come soon enough.
“I want to have our nominee start raising money, start organizing a national campaign and focus on President Obama and his agenda because this is time for us to start focusing on him rather than standing and focusing on one another in these primary contests,” he told radio host Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “I think we’ve had, as of tonight, we will have had almost 35 or more state or territorial contests for the nomination. Maybe it’s time to get going.”
Obama has gained in the polls in recent months, particularly among women, as Republicans vie among themselves for support from a conservative party electorate. Santorum has devoted more time to social concerns — including birth control — than Romney, who has generally stayed focused on economic issues.
Surveys indicate Americans are growing more optimistic about the overall state of the economy. Unemployment has fallen in recent months, but it is still at a relatively high 8.3 percent of the work force.
Already, the early outlines of a general election ad war are visible. Obama’s re-election campaign is airing commercials in a half-dozen battleground states that accuse Romney of siding with Big Oil “for their tax breaks, attacking higher mileage standards and renewables.”
The ads are a rapid response to $3 million in commercials aired by an outside group, American Energy Alliance, blaming the president for rising gasoline prices.
In his campaign for the Republican nomination, Romney has collected endorsements from former President George H.W. Bush; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a tea party favorite; and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, author of a conservative budget that Republicans pushed through the House last week.
Romney won at least 83 delegates in the three races Tuesday, with 6 yet to be allocated.
That pushed his total to 655 of the 1,144 needed to clinch the nomination. Santorum has 278 delegates, Newt Gingrich 135 and Ron Paul 51.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
By Cole Mokry
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn (UTC/The Loop) - Some South Campus apartments will be converted to allow two students in what were previously one-person rooms.
“A portion of the rooms [in South Campus] will now house two students as part of the university’s master plan,” Ryan Hall, area coordinator for Housing, said.
The change is because of the large size of the incoming freshman class, the requirement that all freshmen must live on campus and the growing number of upperclassmen who want to live on campus past their first year.
Several students cited the university’s apartment-style housing as one of the reasons they attend UTC. Some said they worry the number of applicants to the school will decrease when fewer rooms are available.
Several students said they think there should be a decrease in tuition if they are not able to live on campus. “It only makes sense that if the rooms in which we live become smaller, so should the checks we’re writing to the school,” Lauren Ruth, Kingsport freshman, said.
“If I’m paying the same price to share a room as I was to have my own, why would I come back?” Devon Carter, Memphis sophomore, said.
But Hall said apartment-style living remains a readily available option to students and the university wants to employ “a variety of choices” for housing.
Other students have suggested making on-campus residence an option for freshmen, citing the dozens of nearby apartment complexes, which many upperclassmen currently live in, as credible alternatives. This would create less of a demand for on-campus housing and ease the pressure on the school to create more space for the growing student body, some said.
The South Campus double-bunking situation is just one option the administration is implementing for the school. Other options currently being discussed include renovating current residence halls as is being done in Stagmaier, or building new ones on recently acquired property near the campus.
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