\t The Daily Collegian Published independently by students at Penn State Meagan Kanagy/Collegian Katie O'Connell (freshman-premedicine) plunges from the high dive at the McCoy Natatorium’s out door pool Monday afternoon. The temperature was recorded as the hottest d'ay so far this summer. Heat hits By Spencer Malloy FOR THE COLLEGIAN As an uncharacteristically cool summer soared into the 80s yesterday. Kevin Fanning sought refuge at the outdoor pool at the McCoy Natatorium. “It’s mad amazing hot outside,” Fanning (freshman-engineering) said. Other visitors to the pool agreed that they were there to get out of the sudden heat as thermometers marked the hottest day of the summer. “We’re here because it's hot as hell outside,” Man’s death a suicide By Kevin Cirilli COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Authorities say the State College man found dead in a downtown alley Sunday afternoon committed suicide. Witnesses saw Martin J. Swisher, 32, enter the top of the Pugh Street Parking Garage shortly after noon Sunday, pacing around before jumping off the edge, Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers said. No second party was involved in Swisher’s death, Sayers said. Swisher was not chased and was by himself, Sayers said. Police relied on a witness across the street at the Arnold Addison Court Apartments, 120 E. Beaver Ave., Centre County Deputy Coroner Scott Rawson said. Seth Koegler (junior-integrative arts) found Swisher’s body at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday in an alley next to the parking garage. Swisher pleaded guilty in 2004 to five felony counts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana delivery and one misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking, according td court documents. Sayers said no drugs were found on Swisher’s body. Toxicology test results are pend ing, and the results are expected back in four to six weeks, he said. To e-mail reporter: kncso63@psu.edu Illegal oil Drug cartels have stolen oil from Mexico and sold it to U.S. refineries NEWS, Page 3. Nathan A. Smith/Collegian Tony's Big Easy and LuLu's Nightspot, 129 1/2 S. Pugh St., are empty early this summer. Students When Brian Reitz looked up the dlctionary.com Word of the Day to pick a team name, he didn’t realize his class assignment would be ranked as one of the best in the world. Reitz (junior-information sci ences and technology) and the fellow group members of Team Epoch were one of three Penn State teams who placed in the top 15 of the Google Online Marketing Challenge, competing against 2,184 other student teams re number of air strike casuatties in Afghanistai has dropped | Page 3 . campus Mark Frank (sophomore-energy, business and finance) said. The combination of high humidity and high temperatures left many uncomfortable and unprepared for the heat, said Michael Kozar (junior-meteorology), Vice President of Newspaper Operations at the Campus Weather Service at Penn State. Kozar said that the heat index for Monday was more than 96 degrees, with the dew point at 73 degrees. A dew point above 70 degrees is considered “oppressive.” The National Weather Service issued a heat See HEAT, Page 2. By Chris Bickel COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Making progress place in marketing contest from 57 countries in a global mar keting contest. “This is a real accomplish ment,” Reitz said. “It was quite a shock.” Each team, organized through the IST 402 (Emerging Issues and Technologies) course, was granted a $2OO budget for the competition to use and formulate an advertising campaign for its clients using Google AdWords and other tools. Jim Jansen, an associate pro fessor in the College of Information Sciences and Technologies, taught the spring PHEAA sticks PSU with bill PSU to pay S2SM in grants By Evan Trowbridge FOR THE COLLEGIAN While the state budget hangs in limbo, Penn State is stuck paying a $25 million bill left by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) while it waits for state fund ing for student scholarships. About 18,000 students at Penn State are anticipated to receive grants from PHEAA to help with tuition, Director of Student Aid Programs Melissa Kunes said. But until the budget pass es and PHEAA delivers the grants, Penn State is supporting the students with it's own money. The money for covering the grants was compiled by shifting overall fund ing, Kunes said. While there are no “gaping holes'" in the Penn State budg et, there aren't any surpluses either, she said. And the university is going to have to take more drastic measures if the budget is not approved by the latter end of the fall semester. Kunes said Penn State cannot continue funding in place of PHEAA and may have to cut off grants in the spring if the impasse continues much longer. Meanwhile, students’ budgets and Penn State's budget are going to suf fer, she said. The University of Pittsburgh and Temple University are taking similar measures. In Harrisburg, local legisla tors think it's about time state govern ment found a solution. “I think it’s terrible that once again, another group of people are being held hostage,” said Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, referencing the recent hold on state employees’ salaries. Gov. Ed Rendell recently signed legislation that would pay state workers their wages while the budget is hammered out. Benninghoff said Rendell and Democrats in the state legislature are trying to attach too much policy to the budget, specifically in gambling. Tor Michaels, chief of staff for Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre, said there has been enough .shouting by politi cians on both sides of the aisle. He is looking for leadership, he added. Big Easy bars face lawyers for license By Kevin Cirilli COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Three downtown bars that lost their liquor license will face off against state lawyers at an Aug. 18 hearing before a commonwealth judge. Robert Hoffman and Karen Muir are representing Sammark Inc. owner of Tony’s Big Easy, Lulu's Nightspot and Candy Bar and Lounge, all of 129 1/2 S. Pugh St. and are asking Common wealth Court Judge Johnny J. Butler to reopen the year-old case, which could grant the bars a temporary liquor license. Sammark hopes to continue appealing the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s (PLCB) 2008 decision not to renew the company’s liquor license, according to court documents. course and said this was the sec ond time Penn State has partici pated. Last year, a Penn State team placed first in the Americas region. The odds of placing in the top 15, Jansen said, were about .63 percent. “To have three teams from Penn State was just wonderful,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with them.” A total of 10 Penn State teams participated this year, teaming up with businesses from around the country. Team 2xTheClick part- See CONTEST, Page 2. "Abm f JLft, « -, •'*, .{■,-• ■-- •i'PMS.- ; t • h ■■■■':■ A new field hockey rule '- • ;'-• will speed up games SPORTS. Page 6. t jj| .km mm ;4 B s'^ji “We need to find a resolution for this yesterday,” he said. As of today, Pennsylvania will have been without a complete state budget for nearly a month and a half. In previ ous years the legislature hasn’t passed a budget on time since 2002 wrangling has lasted well into July. Last year, PHEAA received $407.3 million in the state budget, PHEAA spokesman Keith New said. Some fear that the student aid agency might not receive as much funding as last year, something New said is veiy rare. The average amount of a PHEAA grant last year was $2,738 and the max imum amount was $4,120, New said. PHEAA projects that 172,000 students will receive a state grant for the 2009- 2010 academic year. Penn State students receiving PHEAA grants will see how much the university is covering on their tuition bill statement, Kunes said. However, because the budget has not been approved, PHEAA is unable to inform students of the official amount of their grants. Once the budget is passed, students will be informed almost completely by e-mail and will then be able to go to PHEAA’s Web site to find out their actual grant amount, New said. The bars lost their temporary liquor license earlier this summer after Sammark’s former attorney did not file a legal response regarding the appeal. Hoffman said it’s anyone’s guess what the judge will decide following the Aug. 18 hearing. “If the Commonwealth Court doesn’t reinstate the appeal, it’s going to be hard for the licensee to prevail,” he said. “I don’t have a clear sense of how this will play itself out.” The PLCB filed a response on Aug. 6 and asked the judge not to reopen the case. PLCB spokeswoman Francesca Chapman did not comment on the specifics of the situation and said both parties were following legal procedure. But even if the judge reopens the case, See BARS, Page 2. psucollegian.com SlaietNH^ Pennsylvania hasn’t passed a com plete budget before the June 30 deadline since 2002. Below are the dates previous general appropria tion budgets were signed. 2002- June 29 2003- March 20 & Dec. 23 2004- July 4 2005- July 7 2006- July 2 2007- July 17 2008- July 4 Source: The Pennsylvania General Assembly PSU teams Team 2xTlteCllck: Mandy Mazzeo, Paul Rinaldi, Jenna Drew, Nichole Kavala and Kelly Miller Team Epoch: Brian Reitz, Danielle Cope, Marco Dharmajaya, Lauren Solomon and Tiantian Tang Team Ocho: BroOke Randel, Dongjun Juang, Richard Kachman, Mitch Rukat and Dennis Siller
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers