11 The Daily i oll^cnpiTi 1 1 I \ M psucollegian.com Published independently by students at Penn State @dailyCOllegian Onorato to visit PSU U, JM Plan By Casey McDermott The RTD Embedded Fetterman said. “It ties in with his v§SßtS£ jjfJk* collegian staff writer Technologies specializes in economic plan as far as kind of designing and manufacturing putting an emphasis on high-tech Pennsylvania Democratic high-tech equipment for industri- jobs and training for those jobs.” m ™ gubernatorial candidate and al, military, transportation and Onorato took a similar high- aw kJ^^^^kJ Penn State alumnus Dan Onorato aerospace fields, according to its tech approach to economic recov will make a stop on campus today website. ’ ery as Allegheny County to discuss his ideas for propelling Onorato campaign spokesman Executive, focusing on technolo- H J _ the state's economic develop- Chris Fetterman said the compa- gy, research and development-ori- "■ ment. ny was an ideal location for entedjob creation during his time I 111 I I Onorato will hold a press con- Onorato to present his plan for in office, according to the kJ-M.-M. ference at 11:15 a.m. at RTD spurring job growth. Allegheny County website. I >\ BL Pi Embedded Technologies, a tech nology company located at 103 Innovation Blvd. A student does a flip off the diving board at the McCoy Natatorium during a pool party sponsored by LEAP on Sunday. LEAP students make a splash By Zach Geiger COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Freshmen who braved the waters of summer session at Penn State took another plunge Sunday afternoon at the Learning Edge Academic Program pool party at McCoy Natatorium. With summer session coming to a close, the pool party is a tradi tional send-off for the program, Patrick Ritsko (sophomore-mete orology). “It’s the final big celebration fiW f , Peter Tesoriero/Coltegian Conklin gives an interview. Conklin launches proposal By Zach Geiger COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER State Rep. Scott Conklin pro posed a new bill Friday designed to increase emergency response procedures in the Pennsylvania oil and natural gas industry. Conklin, D-Centre, cited two recent events the June blowout in Clearfield County and the death of two workers in an Indiana Township oil and natu ral gas well explosion in July as the “warning flares” that called for the legislation. The proposed legislation would allow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to devel op certain regulations and pro cedures at oil and natural gas wells and also provide standards for on-site emergency response tei ms, Conklin said. l anding for the emergency See CONKLIN, Page 2. “We were looking for a manu facturing plant he could go to with local jobs produced in the U.5.A.,” where they can enjoy themselves before finals and move-out day,” said Ritsko, a Learning Edge Academic Program (LEAP) men tor. The LEAP pool party which started at 6 p.m. and lasted until 8 p.m. was open free of charge to all summer session LEAP fresh men with their Penn State ID, Ritsko said. Dan Friscia (freshman-busi ness administration) said that he enjoyed meeting people ahead of the fall semester through LEAP Big Ten to talk By Casey McDermott COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Penn State students will team up with other leaders from the Big Ten Conference to try to get their voices heard by federal legislators in Washington, D.C. next spring. The plan for a multi-school lob bying trip was one of several col laborative initia tives proposed at last weekend’s Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) conference. Student works for bike share independently By Brendan McNally COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER One Penn State student is plan ning to bring a bike share pro gram to State College without the student government’s help. Lienard Chang (sophomore engineering) said he still wants a bike sharing program at Penn State even if his plan does not get the funding it would have under the University Park Undergraduate Association’s jurisdiction. The original bike share plan called project rideßLUE —would have allocated $15,000 of the UPUA budget to purchase ten bikes that could be checked out by Penn State students at no charge. That plan was vetoed in the State College Collegian file photo President Rob Onorato visited Penn State last See ONORATO. Page 2. spring. To 'enn Democrats The free food and hanging out with Mends at the LEAP events were a few of the reasons to go to the pool party on Sunday, Friscia said. Before the festivities started Sunday night, over 250 freshmen confirmed their attendance on the LEAP pool party Eacebook event, Ritsko said. Even though all 250 were not in attendance, LEAP is able to quickly reach more stu dents through the group’s Facebook page that was created this summer, he said. At the biannual event, University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) officials met with student government officials from other Big Ten schools to share progress on projects at their individual schools and to brainstorm ways to use their status as representa tives of more than 300,000 stu dents to influence higher educa tion issues. The meeting was held at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. UPUA President Christian Ragland said the idea for the Washington, D.C. trip was some thing several ABTS schools spring by UPUA President Christian Ragland. Ragland said he liked the idea of project rideBLUE but vetoed the plan because there were too many unanswered questions. “We want to be very careful and financially responsible,” Ragland said. “I’m going to make sure we are held accountable for every thing we do financially and that we do all the research before we spend money in vain.” Chang, who is also an on-cam pus representative in UPUA, said he wants to move forward with the plan independent of the stu dent government because the plan’s size and scope has become larger than what UPUA could fund with its budget. Because Chang wants to bring “It’s a quick twenty-second solution to get the word out there,” Ritsko said. "As a LEAP student from last year. I've per sonally noticed a big turnaround in participation from last year." Even though the Facebook event was popular with the LEAP students, the pool remained rela tively empty during the event. Numerous students took turns diving off of the high dive, but the majority of the crowd in atten dance was catching some sun, See POOL PARTY. Page 2. tuition came into the conference want ing to pursue. "A lot of us do "Capitol Day' stuff on our own, but w'e feel we can take a lead as a conference and as the Big Ten to show [leg islators] we're trying to make a movement," Ragland (senior political science) said. Ragland said representatives from the newest ABTS member school the University of Nebraska participated in a similar event organized by stu dents from the Big 12 Conference and are offering their expertise as the Big Ten schools begin to plan their trip. See ABTS. Page 2. the bike share program into the borough as well as on-campus, he said his new plan will require more bikes and more money. Though he said nothing has been set in stone, Chang said he would like to have 100 bikes in the program that could be checked out for free from both on-campus and off-campus locations. State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham said Chang’s concept for a bike share program would be environmentally Mendly. “We made a commitment to reducing our greenhouse gas footprint by 20 percent [in State College],” Goreham said. “This is good for the planet, it’s good exer cise and it’s another thread that binds the community together. Though Chang said the plan is Ragland to lobby council By Paul Osolnick COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Student Body President Christian Ragland will propose the addition of a non-voting stu dent member to the State College Borough Council at tonight's council meeting —an effort designed to improve town and-gown relations. Ragland, president of the University Park Undergraduate Association