www.msureporter.comMinnesota State University, Mankato H 86L 66TUESDAY H 86

L 66WEDNESDAY H 86L 66THURSDAY

facebook.com/msureporter

@msureporter

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

www.msureporter.comMinnesota State University, Mankato

facebook.com/msureporter

@msureporter

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

INSIDE: MAVERICKS HEAD TO FINAL FIVE - PG. 7ED/OP

4SPORTS

7A&E

10

TUESDAYH: 38 L: 24

Afternoon snow WEDNESDAYH: 36 L: 20

Variable clouds with flurries

THURSDAYH: 46 L: 26

Partial sunshine

“Suicide Punchline” is com-ing to the Centennial Student Union’s Ostrander Auditorium tonight at 7 p.m. for the 2013-2014 Nadine B. Andreas Lec-ture.

The performance is free and open to the public and there will be a reception at 5 p.m. in the CSU’s Heritage Room.

Jen Tuder, an Associate Pro-fessor at St. Cloud State Univer-sity, will be describing the ways she has survived since the sui-cide of her father in 1997.

“It has been a complicated grieving process ever since,” Tuder said.

Tuder has received a lot of advice from others, but she feels

Suicide presentation slated for tonight

St. Cloud State professor to discuss personal, sensitive topic.

ASHLEY GERKENStaff Writer

that most of the advice given only helps deal with the six months to a year after the incident. What advice can people get for after the immediate aftermath?

The autobiographical per-formance focuses on the jour-ney taken by those who have survived the suicide of a loved one. It is like a “map of surviv-al” which provides a lifeline for anyone who has ever wondered if there’s life after a loved one’s death.

“Suicide Punchline” takes the audience from life to death.

Suicide is usually the end of pain and suffering for the victim. For surviving family members it is only the beginning of the pain and sorrow.

Tuder rehearses survival by interrogating the dead, kidding

around at cocktail parties and building dioramas of the after-life. The audience can expect an intense experience with a few jokes in between.

Tuder has three characters; the Questioner, who personifies the unanswered questions that haunt suicide survivors, the Cel-ebrant, who never lets the hard facts of survival bring her down and the Architect, who creates a world where she can find her father and herself.

Through the process, the writer realizes survival will be an ongoing process.

“I want to reflect on how to deal with surviving after a sui-cide for the rest of your life,” Tuder said. Web Photo

Professor and speaker Jen Tuder. LECTURE • Page 2

Spring concert act to be announced today

Minnesota State Univer-sity, Mankato’s student activity programming committee, IM-PACT (Innovative Memorable Programming Achieving Cam-pus Togetherness), will be host-ing an event promoting their Big Spring Concert. The event will take place today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Hearth Lounge. Radio Manka-to will serve as the master of ceremonies, as well as student DJ Ralph Weber. Weber will by mixing the spring concert art-ist’s music along with other fa-vorite hits from today’s Top 40.

The Big Spring Concert will bring a very popular and suc-cessful performer to campus and from that IMPACT hopes to start a tradition of having an annual spring concert. IM-

EMMA DEPPAStaff Writer

PACT plans events and activi-ties for the campus using stu-dent activity fees and seeks to make students more involved on campus. IMPACT’s vision is to “cultivate student engagement through intentional program-ming and activities that promote student learning and retention.” With a campus that is engaged and involved on campus, there is a higher chance that students will stay at MSU and be partici-patory in student life.

The Big Spring Concert will be on April 28th and will be feature hip-hop sensation Mike Posner. Posner, 26, is a rap-singer from Detroit, Mich. He has several hit songs includ-ing “Cooler Than Me”, “Bow Chicka Wow Wow”, “Please Don’t Go,” and his latest hit single with Big Sean “On Top of the World.” He is also well known as a songwriter, creating

the music and lyrics to Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” as well as Snoop Dog and Wiz Khalifa’s “French Inhale,” which he is featured on.

Posner attended Duke Uni-versity, where he had his musi-cal beginnings. He was involved on his campus through his fra-ternity, Sigma Nu and studied sociology, receiving his degree in 2010. Even with his dedica-tion to music, he maintained a high GPA of 3.59.

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Mike Posner, I would suggest catching up on his work before the concert. The talented singer, songwriter and producer makes music that you can both dance to or chill and listen to. With three mixed tapes, seven singles, one album already re-leased and another due out this year, Mike Posner always leaves his fans wanting more.

Web PhotoWell-known musician Mike Posner,

2 • MSU Reporter News Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Applications nowbeing accepted for the

2014-2015 school year for the following positions:

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Application deadline is Friday, March 21st, at noon.

Interviews are Friday, April 4th.

For more information or to pick up an application, stop in theReporter Office (CSU 293)

or call 389-1776.

Reporter – Editor in Chief

COME EXPERIENCE TRUE BUFFET HEAVEN

507-386-7077Right off intersection of Madison Ave. & Victory Dr.

Bringing in a crowd of hungry friends?

Challenge accepted.

COLLEGE NIGHTSUNDAYS|4:30-8PM

$6 BUFFETfor students who present their student i.d.

BUFFET HOURS:Monday-Friday

11am-2pm& 4:40pm-8pm

Saturday& SundayALL DAY!

11am-8pmOPEN 7 DAYS

A WEEK11am-9pm

Nomination Deadline: April 7th, 2014

Now Accepting Nominations for:

and

www.mnsu.edu/mssa/awards or stop by CSU 280.

FACULTYMSSA

Teacher of the Year Award

FACULTY& STAFFMSSA

Student Friendly AwardIf you know a professor orstaff member whodeserves to be recognizedfor his or her serviceto the university submitnomination at:

MSU student selected to study abroad in Germany

“People need to communicate about suicide to help others learn more and reach out to prevent suicide.”

While suicide is not generally seen as a conversational topic, Tuder wants to change that. If the world learned to talk about it, maybe more people would know how to deal with issues surrounding suicide.

“I want to contribute to the effort, I want people to live,” said Tuder.

Jen Tuder had her first run of the show in Stillwater, MN. She has received performance re-quests at universities and other community events. She says she is happy to go on tours to edu-cate.

Tuder is an associate profes-sor in SCSU’s Department of Communication Studies and Department of Theatre and Film Studies. She holds a doctorate in speech communication with an emphasis in performance studies from Southern Illinois University. “Sex Across the Cat-echism” is her newest presented solo show.

“This is a tough conversation, but it is one we should have,” Tuder said. “Talking about sui-cide will only make our society healthier.”

“Suicide Punchline” is spon-sored by the Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Depart-ment of Communication Studies.

LECTURE “It is a tough conversa-tion, but it is one we should have.”continued from 1

Four charged in Mankato synthetic drug investigation MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The

Mankato home of a man and woman charged in an investiga-tion into a synthetic drug that may have killed two people was littered with drug paraphernalia and capsules containing white powder — some within reach of a toddler, according to charges filed Thursday.

The home of Tyler Caputo and his girlfriend, Skylar Jo Reichel-Schneider, also contained small blue baggies with crown designs on them, the criminal complaints said.

Police believe a synthetic form of LSD or cocaine was sold in similar baggies, and that a 22-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl had used the drug shortly before they died. Police haven’t confirmed that the drug caused the deaths, but it is suspected.

Caputo and Reichel-Schnei-der are among four people facing various drug charges. Mankato police Cmdr. Dan Schisel said Thursday the investigation is ongoing and there could be more arrests.

Caputo, 21, and Reichel-Schneider, 19, each face four counts, including selling drugs to someone under 18 and child endangerment. James Inman, 30, faces one count of selling drugs. A 15-year-old boy was also charged.

The adults were appointed public defenders, but individual attorneys hadn’t yet been as-signed Thursday afternoon, said Carrie Leone, who manages

public defenders in Blue Earth County.

Authorities were called to a home March 5 and found Louis Folson, 22, not breathing. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. On Saturday, authori-ties were called to another home where 17-year-old Chloe Moses was having a seizure. She was taken off life support Monday.

Police recovered small blue baggies with crown designs at each scene and believe the bag-gies contained a drug called 2-C, which has caused acciden-tal overdoses elsewhere. In 2011, one teen died and 10 others be-came ill after several people used it at a party in Blaine.

According to the criminal complaint, Moses’ boyfriend told investigators he got the drug from another juvenile, and that both he and Moses used it be-fore she died. A search warrant of that juvenile’s home yielded clear pill-style capsules and the blue baggies.

The complaint said Inman acknowledged he provided the drug to Folson, and that he got it from Caputo around March 1, packaged in clear capsules. Inman told police Caputo also gave him baggies with crown emblems.

Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, of-ficers searched Caputo’s and Reichel-Schneider’s house. The complaint said they found sever-al baggies, suspected marijuana pipes, a pill crusher, snort tubes filled with a powder residue,

a digital scale and many other items.

There was also a suspected mushroom grower in the closet, which Caputo claimed was not his, the complaint said. Drug task force agents found more white powder-filled capsules, a baggie containing 10 grams of brown powder and a baggie con-taining 30 grams of light tan or pink powder in a safe. The safe also held baggies with powder and “2CE” and “2CI” written on them.

Caputo acknowledged he had access to the safe but told po-lice it belonged to a juvenile, the complaint said.

In the kitchen, agents found a

small Mason jar containing mar-ijuana next to baby food.

The complaint said “several of the suspected drug paraphernalia and other related items, includ-ing the capsules of an unknown substance and the psilocybin mushroom grower, were acces-sible to a juvenile toddler, who also resides in the residence.”

The Free Press of Mankato reported that the victims lived about three blocks apart, but it appears they didn’t know each other.

Schisel said police urged anyone who has the potentially deadly substance to turn it in.

“We definitely wanted it off the streets,” he said.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 News MSU Reporter • 3

• Used parts, cars, trucks & repairables!• Purchasing all grades of metal!• 70' scale on-site!• Free Pick Up!• Friendly, Reliable Service• Top Dollar Paid• Online Parts Search

Need to scrap your vehicle?$$ CALL US $$

HOURS:Mon.-Fri., 8-5

507-524-3735(10 miles south on Hwy. 22)

BANDRAUTOTRUCKSALVAGE.COM

Stadium Centre Lofts

For Leasing Information Please Call 507-625-4715

Opening August 2014!• Large bedrooms• Controlled access• Cable and internet included• Washer and dryer per unit• High quality appliances• Ample parking• Professionally managed• "Only a half mile from

campus"

2 Bedroom$575/MO per person3 Bedroom$540/MO per person

NOW LEASING FOR FALL!Lease before April 1st and receivea FREE 55” flat screen television!

MSU student selected to study abroad in Germany

A Minnesota State Univer-sity, Mankato honors student has earned a fellowship to study abroad at one of the premier institutions of learning in the world.

Junior Abrar Zawed was re-cently awarded a RISE (Research Internships in Science and Engi-neering) Fellowship to the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

in Martinsried, Germany.On May 20, Zawed will begin

his 10- week journey in Mar-tinsried, a suburb of Munich, Germany, helping the doctoral research of PhD Student Neysan Donnelly. Zawed’s research will examine the effects of chromo-some abnormalities on human cells.

A native of Chittagong, Ban-gladesh, Zawed is enrolled in MSU’s Honors Program and is a biomedical sciences major. Za-

wed is minoring in Chemistry.He is one of 300 undergradu-

ates to earn the award and was selected from more than 2,200 applicants from Canada, the U.K. and the US.

A stipend from a German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD covers interns’ living expenses. “I would like to thank the Minnesota State Mankato Honors Program and the Office of University Fellowships for their support and encourage-ment,” Zawed told the university.

“This research experience will motivate me to come up with new ideas regarding my ongoing research and help me to achieve my academic goals in the future.”

Zawed has participated in undergraduate research at Min-nesota State, Mankato under the guidance of Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Bio-logical Sciences David Sharlin.

“Abrar has played an integral part in lab’s goal to develop new molecular tools for investigating the role thyroid hormone action in auditory system develop-ment,” Sharlin told the univer-sity.

“His project has provided the opportunity for him to develop modern molecular biology skills that will serve him in his future research career. It is great to know that his hard work was ac-knowledged with being awarded this prestigious fellowship.”

“The skills he will gain while

studying abroad will provide him the tools necessary to suc-ceed in graduate school,” Sharlin said.

According to Sharlin, Zawed has a substantial work ethic.

“Abrar is a highly motivated student with lots of self-disci-pline,” Sharlin said.

“He’s not afraid to put in the amount of time necessary.”

Zawed will present his find-ings numerous times, including

in April at the National Con-ference on Undergraduate Re-search in Lexington, Ky., and the Undergraduate Research Symposium at Minnesota State Mankato.

The RISE fellowship group is sponsored by DAAD, an orga-nization offering undergraduate students opportunities to work with research groups at institu-tions and universities throughout Germany.

SAM WILMESNews Editor

Web PhotoAbrar Zawed.

Four charged in Mankato synthetic drug investigation

STAFFSPRING 2014

POLICIES & INFORMATION

EDITOR IN CHIEF:Reece Hemmesch ......389-5454

NEWS EDITOR:Sam Wilmes .............389-5450

SPORTS EDITOR:Joey Denton .............389-5227

VARIETY EDITOR:James Houtsma ......... 389-5157

ADVERTISING SALES:Natasha Jones .......... 389-1063Mac Boehmer ...........389-5097Parker Riesgraf ......... 389-1079Brandon Poliszuk ......389-5453

BUSINESS MANAGER: Jane Tastad .............. 389-1926

ADV. DESIGN MANAGER: Dana Clark .............. 389-2793

• If you have a complaint, suggestion or would like to point out an error made in the Reporter, call Editor in Chief Reece Hemmesch at 507-389-5454. The Reporter will correct any errors of fact or misspelled names in this space. Formal grievances against the Reporter are handled by the Newspaper Board.

• The Minnesota State University Mankato Reporter is a student-run newspaper published twice a week, coming out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Reporter generates 78 percent of its own income through advertising and receives approximate-ly 22 percent from Student Activities fees. The Reporter is free to all stu-dents and faculty, but to start a sub-scription, please call us at 507-389-1776. Subscriptions for the academic school year are $55.00 and subscrib-ers will receive the paper within three to five days after publishing.

• Letters exceeding 400 words may not be accepted. The Reporter reserves the right to edit letters to fit space or correct punctuation. The Reporter reserves the right to publish, or not publish, at its discretion. Letters must contain year, major or affiliation with the university, or lack thereof. All letters must contain phone numbers for verification purposes.

“What did you do over spring break?”

Compiled byYohanes Ashenafi

CORTEZ HOLLIS, ETHNIC STUDIES

“I took a road trip with 10 people. We stayed at a beach condo with an

ocean view.”

JOHN DORCY, ENGLISH STUDIES

“I went to Florida with my family.”

JASON BENNETT, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

“I visited friends and family back home and at my girlfriend’s house.”

OTHMAN ALMUTAIRI,ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

“My wife and I went to Chicago, spent some days over there.”

KENDRA LIESER, PSYCHOLOGY

“I went home and hung out with friends and family. I also went to

some appointments.”

4 • MSU Reporter Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Email the Editor in Chief:reporter-editor@mnsu.edu

Follow the Reporteron Twitter

@MSU Reporter orLike Us on Facebook.com/

msureporter

Veto of veterans bill a loss for veterans

SAM WILMESNews Editor

Yesterday, people all across America celebrated the beloved holiday of Saint Patrick’s Day. Green was everywhere, along with four leaf clovers and many wearers of “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” apparel. However, much of this holiday is incorrect and has been turned into another com-mercial holiday. In fact, there is little that is actually factual about this holiday as it is cel-ebrated in the United States.

The first fact about Saint Patrick that everyone should know is that he wasn’t Irish. Born in Roman England, Saint Patrick was a native English-man. His first trip to Ireland was not by choice, but by force. He was kidnapped by Irish pi-rates at the age of sixteen, who make him work as a slave for six years. When he finally es-caped, he made it back to Eng-land and began his studies of Christianity. He studied Chris-tian doctrine for several years and then made his return to Ireland working as a mission-ary.

A second myth about Saint Patrick’s work in Ireland is his riddance of snakes from the country. True, there are no snakes in Ireland nowadays, however, evidence suggests

The truth behind an Irish holiday

The truth behind Saint Patrick’s day lies far beneath any beer or shamrock.

EMMA DEPPAStaff Writer

that there never were snakes. In his era, snakes were typical-ly used to symbolize evil and some believe that this legend spurs from the casting out of the Celtic Druids, a Pagan reli-gion that celebrated snakes and were not favored by Christians.

Another and perhaps the most common misconception about Saint Patrick, is that his color was green. Saint Patrick’s main color was blue. The ma-jority of art that portrays Saint Patrick depicts him wearing several shades of blue and there are even specific shades titled “Saint Patrick’s Blue”.

The fourth misrepresenta-tion of Saint Patrick is the use of the four-leaf clover. Saint Patrick did use shamrocks, or three-leaf clovers, as a symbol in his teachers, however. He used the three-leaf clover to depict the Holy Trinity, mak-ing comparisons between the three leaves in one shamrock and three persons in one God. A four-leaf clover, representing luck, defeats the purpose of his comparison.

Lastly, Saint Patrick’s Day began as a religious day of reverence, certainly not one that involved green beer and getting obscenely drunk. As a Christian holiday and one that is during the Lenten sea-son, drinking was originally

frowned upon and forbidden in some parts of Ireland. In fact, up until the late 1960’s many pubs were closed on Saint Pat-rick’s Day due to the extreme Catholicism that prevailed in the country.

So there you have it folks;

Saint Patrick was an English saint who wore blue and de-scribed the Holy Trinity using three-leaf clovers. It appears that almost everything we thought we knew about Saint Patrick’s Day was in fact a farce.

Web Photo

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Ed/Op MSU Reporter • 5

Veto of veterans bill a loss for veterans

Congress’ rejection of the latest bill involving veterans benefits leaves me puzzled and dismayed.

A Department of Veterans Affairs bill that would have ex-panded benefits for veterans and repealed military pension cuts for future troops was rejected after the senate couldn’t garner enough Republican votes.

Much of the Republican reac-tion to the bill was expected.

“We have veterans dying from long waits for basic, nec-essary tests like colonoscopies,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) told the Washington Post on Thurs-day.

“Veterans waiting for their disability claims to be processed know all about frustrations and delays at the VA and adding more individuals to an already broken system doesn’t seem wise.”

If it’s broken then fix it! Don’t reject a bill on these premises

Veto a slap in the face to all veterans.SAM WILMESNews Editor

and not offer a solution. By do-ing so, they are part of the prob-lem.

The bill had numerous other purposes: medical and dental care, educational assistance and caretaker stipends and although these apply to only post 9/11 vet-erans, it still would do a lot of good to those in need and would allow the opening of 27 new VA facilities.

Cost-of–living increases for the pensions of future military retirees would have been re-stored. The bill, the largest of its kind in decades, would have also expanded compensation to family caregivers of disabled veterans, a service that is cur-rently only provided to Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

Only two Republicans in the senate voted for this. Some of the actions of the Republicans in the senate in veterans’ relations, including this pressing matter, have been incomprehensible.

It is unfathomable partially because of the Republican stance on defense spending. We spend

more on this than any country in the world, more than many coun-tries combined.

Why don’t we shift $20 bil-lion of the over $700 billion spent on defense to this? It is less than 10%.

“This bill proposes to spend more than we agreed to spend,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said

before raising the budget point of order. “This bill creates new vet-erans’ programs and it’s not paid for — it’s all borrowed money.

How does Sen. Sessions say this when he doesn’t support cuts in our massive defense budget? That is borrowed money as well.

A Senate bill was introduced earlier this month to streamline

VA claims and reduce backlog. Hopefully this will pass.

More awareness in congress is needed to the state of veterans. It is easy to sit behind a desk and crunch budget numbers to see what you can and can’t afford, but unfortunately sometimes there are lives at stake and that trumps any financial obligations.

Web PhotoNew Mexico Senator Kelly Ayotte and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

6 • MSU Reporter News Tuesday, March 18, 2014

At Highland Hills, our location is everything!

Studio, 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 Bedroom Apartments

• Save time• Save gas• Save parking fees• Sleep in longer

507-388-9351 www.highlandmankato.com

1340 Warren StreetMankato, MN

Limit of 1 Per PersonCode: MSU5 Expires: 5/2/14

Beautiful Outdoor Pool Spacious Apartments

115 Parkway Ave., Mankato, MN 56001Call 507-387-1217 Today!

Office Hours: Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.;Evenings and Weekends by Appointment

Only 1 Mile Away From Campus!

Visit our website: www.mfdc.com/glenwood

• 1 Bedrooms @ $649• 2 Bedrooms @ $799• FREE Parking on Campus• Air-Conditioned Units

• Outdoor Grills• On-Site Laundry• Heat & Water Included• Now Accepting Small Dogs!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malay-sia (AP) — Officials revealed a new timeline Monday suggest-ing the final voice transmission from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian plane may have oc-curred before any of its commu-nications systems were disabled, adding more uncertainty about who aboard might have been to blame.

The search for Flight 370, which vanished early March 8 while flying from Kuala Lum-pur to Beijing with 239 people on board, has now been expand-ed deep into the northern and southern hemispheres. Austra-lian vessels scoured the southern Indian Ocean and China offered 21 of its satellites to help Malay-sia in the unprecedented hunt.

With no wreckage found in one of the most puzzling avia-tion mysteries of all time, pas-sengers’ relatives have been left in an agonizing limbo.

Investigators say the Boeing 777 was deliberately diverted during its overnight flight and flew off-course for hours. They haven’t ruled out hijacking, sabotage, or pilot suicide and are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members — as well as the ground crew — for personal problems, psychological issues or links to terrorists.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said finding the plane was still the main focus and he did not rule out that it might be discovered

intact.“The fact that there was no

distress signal, no ransom notes, no parties claiming responsibil-ity, there is always hope,” His-hammuddin said at a news con-ference.

Malaysian Airlines CEO Ah-mad Jauhari Yahya said an ini-tial investigation indicated that the last words ground control-lers heard from the plane — “All right, good night” — were spo-ken by the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid. A voice other than that of Fariq or the pilot, Zaharie Ah-mad Shah, it would have been clearest indication yet of some-thing amiss in the cockpit before the flight went off-course.

Malaysian officials said ear-lier that those words came after one of the jetliner’s data com-munications systems — the Aircraft Communications Ad-dressing and Reporting System — had been switched off, sug-gesting the voice from the cock-pit may have been trying to de-ceive ground controllers.

However, Ahmad said that while the last data transmission from ACARS — which gives plane performance and main-tenance information — came before that, it was still unclear at what point the system was switched off, making any impli-cations of the timing murkier.

The new information opened the possibility that both ACARS and the plane’s transponders, which make the plane visible to civilian air traffic control-

lers, were turned off at about the same time. It also suggests that the message delivered from the cockpit could have preceded any of the severed communications.

Turning off a transponder is easy and, in rare instances, there may be good reason to do so in flight — for example, if it were reporting incorrect data.

The Malaysian plane does not appear to fit that scenario, said John Gadzinski, a 737 captain.

“There is a raised eyebrow, like Spock on Star Trek — you just sit there and go, ‘Why would anybody do that?’” Gadzinski said of what he is hearing among pilots.

Other pilots in the United States cautioned against read-ing too much into what little is known so far about the actions of the Malaysia Airlines crew.

“You can’t take anything off the table until everything is on the table, and we don’t even have an aircraft,” said Boeing 737 pi-lot Mike Karn, president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots As-sociations.

Authorities have pointed to the shutdown of the transponders and the ACARS as evidence that someone with a detailed knowl-edge of the plane was involved. But Bob Coffman, an airline captain and former 777 pilot, said that kind of information is not hard to find in the digital age.

Authorities confiscated a flight simulator from the pilot’s home Saturday and also visited the home of the co-pilot in what

New uncertainty surrounds missing Malaysian plane

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar initially said were the first police visits to those homes.

But the government, which has come under criticism abroad for missteps and foot-dragging in releasing information, issued

a statement Monday contradict-ing that account, saying police first visited the pilots’ homes as early as March 9, the day after the flight disappeared.

Coffman said the flight simu-lator could signify nothing more than the pilot’s zeal for his job.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 MSU Reporter • 7

Email the Sports Editor:reporter-sports@mnsu.edu

507-389-5227

Follow the Reporteron Twitter

@MSU Reporter orLike Us on Facebook

facebook.com/msureporter

Grand Rapids boundAfter a first-round sweep in the WCHA

playoffs, the Mavericks are off to their second-consecutive WCHA Final Five appearance.

LUCAS RYANStaff Writer

The Minnesota State Universi-ty, Mankato Mavericks have done it again. The Mavs men’s hockey team returns to the WCHA Final Five for a second straight year and the first back-to-back appear-ance in program history. While the Mavs were expected to be at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rap-ids, Mich. next weekend for the tournament, the road there wasn’t an easy one.

The Mavericks had the Mac-Naughton Cup within reach two weekends ago after a Friday night win over Michigan Tech, but af-ter Tech held the Mavs to a 1-1 tie on Saturday, MSU slipped to sec-ond in the WCHA league stand-ings, with Ferris State taking the regular season title and the no. 1 seed for the WCHA playoffs. Still, the Mavs performed well enough to earn the no. 2 seed, and they also earned home ice for the

first round of playoff hockey for the second consecutive season.

The Northern Michigan Uni-versity Wildcats came to town this past weekend hoping to extend their season into the Fi-nal Five, but MSU had different plans. In a best of three game series, the Mavericks got out to a 3-0 lead in Friday night’s game with a goal by junior forward Matt Leitner, and a pair of power play goals coming from the sticks of sophomore Bryce Gervais and freshman Sean Flanagan. NMU answered back and scored two of their own to make Maverick fans a little nervous, but freshman goaltender Cole Huggins was able to protect his team’s lead and hold on for a 3-2 win.

With the first victory of the series, the Mavericks had to win Saturday night to prevent a Sun-day night rubber match that could have ended either team’s season.

Game two of the series on Saturday night saw the Wildcats fight to keep their season going,

and they didn’t give the Maver-icks a lead until the game was over. After NMU took a lead at the midpoint of the first period, the Mavericks had trouble finding the back of the net. That was until Leitner scored a beautiful break-away goal with only .5 seconds remaining in the period. Leitner split the Wildcat defenders, came in all alone on NMU goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom, and lifted a backhand shot over Dahlstrom’s shoulder for a buzzer beating,

game-tying goal.The late goal seemed to carry

some momentum into the second period as the Mavs continued to pepper shots on Dahlstrom, but the Wildcats answered first in the second period with a goal from Ryan Kesti on a shot that

Huggins never saw. But the Mav-ericks, who hold the third best power-play unit in the NCAA, were able to knot the game again when senior captain Johnny Mc-Innis tallied a power play-goal late in the second period.

Again heading to the locker room having tied the game, both teams came out firing in the third. For the Mavericks, the third pe-riod was the Bryce Gervais show. The Wildcats twice scored pow-er-play goals in the third period to take a one goal lead, but each time Gervais answered back to tie the game again. Gervais’ sec-ond goal of the game came on the power play with under five min-utes left in regulation, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, it was a fresh-man who kept the party going for the Mavericks. After a Zach Palmquist blast from the point that got away from Dahlstrom, freshman Zach Stepan collected the loose puck behind the net and jammed it in the net for the game winning goal, extending the Mavericks’ season for at least another week.

Maverick head coach Mike Hastings expressed his excite-ment after the game.

“I learned a lot about my guys tonight,” Hastings said. “That’s as hard fought of a win as we’ve had all season, every time they

made a push we answered the bell.”

Only two wins this weekend

separate the Mavericks from the Broadmoor Trophy as the WCHA Final Five champions. The Mavs play Bowling Green on Friday, who they went 2-2 against this season, including three overtime games. If the Mavericks can take down the Falcons, they advance to the championship game on Sat-urday to face the winner of Fer-ris State or Alaska-Anchorage. Heading into the tournament, the Mavericks feel confident.

“We don’t play down much and when we did we were able to come back,” Stepan said. “We learned tonight that is doesn’t

Arnold Bagamba• MSU ReporterSophomore forward Bryce Gervais (above) had a tremendous weekend for the Mavericks scoring one goal and assist in Friday’s game and scoring two goals with an assist on Saturday.

Arnold Bagamba • MSU ReporterFreshman forward Zach Stepan put the nail in the WCHA first round coffin with a goal in overtime in the Mavericks’ overtime win on Saturday.

HOCKEY • Page 9

Sean Flanagan

Matt Leitner

8 • MSU Reporter Sports Tuesday, March 18, 2014

744 JAMES AVENUE • MANKATO, MN 56001

(507) 387-3771EMAIL: HUNTINGTON@NATIONWIDEHSG.COM

• 4 & 5 BEDROOM TOWNHOMES• 1 BEDROOM APARTMENTS• 2 BEDROOM APARTMENTS• ROOMMATE MATCHING• PET-FRIENDLY

STOP ON IN OR GIVE US A CALLFOR MORE INFORMATION

With Land to Air Express and its connecting partner Jefferson Lines, you can get where you need to go, stress free! Land to Air provides connections to cities throughout Minnesota, in addition to the airport. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.

No bothering family and friends, no parking issues, no fighting traffic, no trouble with the weather! Save time, money and aggravation.

Afternoon schedules. Pickup by the Waves sculpture on MNSU campus by reservation.

MNSU Discount - Promo Code: MSUINTGroup Discounts

Free WiFi Now Available on All BusesNEW!! $35 Saturday Mall of America Trips

MOA Promo Code: MOASAT

Mavericks knocked out of NCAA tourney

Saturday evening, the Min-nesota State University, Mankato men’s basketball squad took care of the Harding Bison with ef-ficiency in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Re-gion Tournament. But it was on Sunday night that the No. 9 Mav-ericks just about played the upset kings in a close second round affair with the Northwest Mis-souri State Bearcats. In a game that went down to the wire, MSU came oh so close but were not able to pull off the come-from-behind win, losing 71-66 to the Bearcats and ending the Maver-icks’ season.

The Mavericks looked good the night before the season-end-ing game, when they handed the Harding Bison a blowout loss Sat-urday evening. And it was an es-pecially emotional experience for the men in purple and gold as the MSU campus played host to the tournament.

The Mavericks, in their 14th consecutive win, stormed over the Bison with a single-game high 17 three-pointers and excel-lent rebounding. MSU came out strong and quickly opened up a margin on the Bison that turned into a 51-24 lead at halftime.

MSU senior guard Tanner Adler led all scorers in the first half with 15 points, while junior guard Zach Monaghan contribut-ed 10 points and five assists. As a team, the Mavericks shot 67.7 percent from the field and went 8-of-13 from beyond the three-point arc.

In the second half, it was all

Mavericks. The home squad maintained at least a 23-point lead over the Bison in the entire 20 minutes and sailed to a 97-56 win.

Adler finished the night lead-ing MSU with 24 points and went 6-of-10 from the three-point line. Monaghan ended the match with 18 points and eight assists, while senior guard Gage Wooten con-tributed 17 points. As a team, MSU shot 60.7 percent from the field and dominated in the re-bound category with 41 to Hard-ing’s 18.

The win over the Bison saw the Mavericks set a new single-season record of 293 shots made from beyond the arc. It also stood as MSU head coach Matt Margenthaler’s 284th win, tying Dan McCarrell for most in MSU history. Unfortunately, Margen-thaler will have to wait until next season to break the MSU wins record.

At approximately 7:40 on Sunday night, the opening tip of the tournament semifinals com-menced. After a sound victory the night before, the Mavericks started the first half against Northwest Missouri State in not too sound a fashion.

The Bearcats controlled the tempo of the game early, jump-ing ahead of the Mavericks and maintaining the lead through most of the first half. NMSU led by as many as 20 at one point be-fore MSU cut the Bearcats’ lead to a score of 39-26 at halftime.

Monaghan led MSU in the half with an impressive 11 points. But as a team, MSU did not fare well in the shooting and rebound categories, posting only a 42.9

shooting percentage from the field and 16 rebounds and failed to capitalize on many a scoring chance in order to keep it close with the Bearcats.

Freshman forward Zach Schneider led NMSU with 13 points while the Bearcats shot 44.4 percent from the field and brought down 18 rebounds in the first half.

In the second half of the in-tense semifinal, the Mavericks attempted to stop the bleeding in the opening minutes. They man-aged to pull their deficit to within 10 points at about the midway point of the second half behind better shooting and rebounding.

The home team found them-selves down 55-45 with 9:36 left to play in the game. It was from there that the Mavericks started to chip away at Northwest Mis-souri State’s lead. With loud and frequent chants of M-S-U, the Mavericks began to feed more and more off of the crowd, which was becoming louder and louder as the closing minutes ticked away, knowing that their team’s season could be decided here and now.

MSU brought the deficit to single-digits in the final five min-utes before drawing to within one point with 36 seconds remaining off of a pair of successful free throws by Monaghan. With the game standing at 67-66 in favor of the Bearcats, NMSU answered with two made free throws of their own to make it 69-66.

At only 15 seconds left in the game, MSU’s Wooten put up a three point shot to tie the game.

LUKE CARLSONStaff Writer

But the shot heartbreakingly missed its mark and the Bearcats brought down the rebound. A finishing basket by NMSU senior guard DeShaun Cooper, who led the Bearcats with 25 points on the

BASKETBALL • Page 9

David Bassey • MSU ReporterEight points and two big three pointers came from junior forward Zach Romashko in the Mavericks’ loss on Sunday.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Sports MSU Reporter • 9

Expires 4/30/14. Expires 4/30/14.

Expires 4/30/14.

"I'm moving off campus. Now what?"www.livekato.com

A great source for tips to help the transition from dorm to off-campus life.

Brought to you by the city of Mankato, MSU Reporter & Pub 500

Minnesota State University, Mankato

INFORMATION ABOUT:• Renting• Being a good neighbor• Alcohol rules• Parties

• Safety (Police & Fire)• Transportation & Parking• Volunteering• City codes & News

© City of Mankato, Minnesota | 10 Civic Center Plaza Mankato, MN 56001 | Call 311 or 507-387-8600 | 311@city.mankato.mn.us

AVAILABLE AUGUST 1, 2014

CONTACT JIM AT 507-345-2049

HOUSES FOR RENT1228 HIGHLAND AVE.

5 bedroom, 2 bath house next to campus.

Garage, off-street parking, washer, dryer,

dishwasher. $1800 + utilities. Gas budget is

app. $105/mo.

428 N. 5TH ST.4 bedroom, 1 bath

house. 2 stall garage, washer, dryer,

dishwasher.$1280 + utilities.Gas budget isapp. $97/mo.

612 S. 4TH ST.3+ bedroom, 1-1/2

bath house. Off-street parking, washer, dryer,

dishwasher. $995 + utilities. Gas budget isapp. $67/mo.

matter if we are down or up, we’ll be able to win the hockey game.”

Coach Hastings also cred-ited the win to the emergence of young players, specifically Gervais.

“Bryce Gervais has just tak-en his game to a new level,” said Hastings.

After a three-goal weekend by Gervais, he now has scored 15 goals this season, and ten in his last 13 games. A natural goal scorer who led the British Co-lumbia Hockey League in goals just two seasons ago, it seems he may be starting to breakout at the college level. As for any change in his game that’s helped him raise his game, he says it’s mental.

“My mental preparation was lacking for a while,” Gervais

said. “Now I’m just more fo-cused.”

The Mavs are going to need that focus to get them to the NCAA tournament, as right now they may not be a shoe-in. MSU sits 12th in the NCAA pairwise rankings, with the top 16 teams making the NCAA tournament. Right now, it looks as if the Mavs will likely make their second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, but there are no gaurentees. If any teams below the top 16 wins their conference tournament, they push out the bottom of the top 16. If the Mavericks are able to win the WCHA Final Five this weekend, they receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and likely a more favorable seed.

“This weekend showed us nothing is going to come easy,” Gervais said. “We’re going to have to work just as hard up at Van Andel.”

Mavericks knocked out of NCAA tourney

But the shot heartbreakingly missed its mark and the Bearcats brought down the rebound. A finishing basket by NMSU senior guard DeShaun Cooper, who led the Bearcats with 25 points on the

night, sealing the deal and punch-ing NMSU’s ticket to the tourna-ment’s championship match.

The Mavericks improved their shooting in the second frame but still only managed 43.4% from the field and 37 rebounds over-all. MSU’s Monaghan ended the match with 16 points, as did junior forward Assem Marei.

Senior forward Connor O’Brien added 12 points and nine re-bounds in the losing effort.

The Mavericks end the season with a 30-5 overall record while Northwest Missouri State will take on Central Missouri in the tournament finals this Tuesday night at 7 p.m. back in the Taylor Center.

David Bassey • MSU Reporter

HOCKEY continued from 7

BASKETBALL continued from 8

Email the A&E Editor:reporter-arts@mnsu.edu

507-389-5157

Follow the Reporteron Twitter

@MSU Reporter orLike Us on Facebook

facebook.com/msureporter

10 • MSU Reporter Tuesday, March 18, 2014

JAMES HOUTSMA’S TAKE

If you wish upon a star, maybe one day you’ll get back Veronica Mars.

For years this has been the most real-istic hope for fans of UPN’s teen mystery series to see their beloved show again in a new light. Along comes an ambitious idea by the series creator and cast to fund a feature film through Kickstarter and after gaining contributions that went above and beyond initial plans, here we stand with the cinematic continuation of Veronica Mars. The faithful have been rewarded.

And really, wish fulfillment is the heart of Veronica Mars (the movie). Not only does the movie strive to give its devotees anything and everything they could want, the character of Veronica must come to terms with what she really wants and needs.

Ten years after the series finale, Ve-ronica Mars (Kristen Bell) has put her past in Neptune behind her and set up shop in New York, aiming for a high profile legal position while going steady with her college friend, Piz (Chris Low-ell). But her old life finds a way back in when Veronica’s former flame Logan Ecchols (Jason Dohring) is accused of murder right ahead of their 10-year high school reunion. Once back, Veronica re-alizes Neptune hasn’t changed that much and maybe she hasn’t either.

Between the onslaught of character returns and inside references, Veronica Mars is easily something fans of the se-ries can sink their teeth into. While it’s harder to say how involved the uniniti-ated will be, it’s not hard to see all au-diences finding enjoyment in the snarky exchanges, intricately layered myster-ies and character-driven storylines that made the original series so appealing.

Bell effortlessly falls back into the character she made her own. Part of the fun is seeing Mars, after trying desper-ately to become a different person, slip back into her old routine as a ‘darker’ person. There’s always been a strong sub-versive vibe to Veronica’s character as she continues to nail the town’s affluent criminals who would otherwise have their way; it’s a trait that we actively root for her to jump back into. Catching up and see-ing how the other characters have grown (or stayed the same) is also a treat as she-nanigans and past rivalries come back into the fold. Veronica’s interactions with her father (Enrico Colantoni) are as priceless as ever and act as the ever-endearing back-bone to the series.

Like other film continuations of be-loved, cancelled series (cough, cough, Se-renity), Veronica Mars’ defining feature is that it provides some measure of satisfying

closure the original series couldn’t. It’s a big thank you to the fans. Why shouldn’t it be? They bankrolled the film. It’s in setting up this idyllic ending that cre-ator Rob Thomas (not the singer) hits the film’s only snags in character moti-vation and continuation. We do, finally, get the resolution we want (in character at least) but some characters take pretty

confounding steps to get there.Hints of a darker, more dangerous

and divided Neptune are planted and briefly reach a head but are never fol-lowed through on. This is where Thom-as and company pass the buck for a po-tential sequel. It may have worked on the show as a subplot that will be expanded upon in the upcoming season, but here it just feels blatantly unresolved.

And yet, it’s not all a bad thing. The whole idea behind this film was for the fans to get something they desperately wanted: more. Veronica Mars has prov-en the soul and appeal of the original show is alive and well, so if a sequel is in the works, we know it’s in capable hands.

ANDREW SIMON’S TAKE

Every season, there are shows that come and go with little fanfare or signifi-cance. On those rare occasions, there’s a series that is cancelled far too soon, but thanks to a ravenous fanbase and high DVD sales, it rises again in feature form

like Serenity, the ‘second season’ to Joss Whedon’s critically acclaimed Firefly.

Ten years ago, Veronica Mars debuted on the UPN network, a smart, sophis-ticated series about the titular teenage detective. 64 episodes and three seasons later, the series was cancelled, ending on a largely unfulfilled note, while its fan-base was never stronger.

After years of clamoring for further adventures of Veronica Mars, exactly a year ago, creator Rob Thomas (not the singer) and actress Kirsten Bell launched a Kickstarter campaign to finally realize a feature film continuation of the charac-ter, with a modest $2 million goal. The fans spoke out immediately. Within ten hours, its initial goal was trumpeted,

ending with an unprecedented $5.7 mil-lion. The film was greenlit by Warner Bros., and last weekend, in select AMC theaters, the snarky detective came to life again.

Ten years after leaving Neptune and living in New York as a law student, Ve-ronica (Bell) is pulled back in when her ex-flame Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) is charged with murder (again). While determined to find out the real murder-er, Veronica reconnects with her friends, Wallace (Percy Daggs III) and Mac (Tina Majorino), and faces even a more daunting problem than finding a serial killer: a 10-year high school reunion.

One thing that must be absolutely said: it’s fantastic to see Veronica and nearly everyone back in this movie, al-most as if the series never left. As a fan-funded project, Veronica Mars pays a lot of fan service, and that’s not entirely a bad thing. There’s Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) with his drinking cup on his belt, Weevil (Francis Capra) putting down his biker jacket to concentrate on family, Madison (Amanda Noret) being her typical annoying self, and Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino) being ratty and mischievous as always. Loaded with surprising and hilarious celebrity cam-eos, this film is blasting off the edges with fun, levity, and callbacks.

But be not afraid, Veronica Mars newbies, the film is relatively accessible for you, and if all else fails, there’s a 2-minute quasi ‘Previously On . . .’ that fills in the blanks before the film starts properly.

The best part of Veronica Mars is the titular character herself. After three seasons of Veronica solving mysteries that were personal and expansive, where does one take the character? You ex-plore her complexities. Where co-writer Thomas takes the character in this film, and the final declarative statement of who Veronica is and what type of ad-diction (in a sense) she has, is perfect, the perfection summation of the charac-ter and her arc. For all the fun in hav-ing these characters back and solving a mystery again a la the Scooby Gang, it’s Veronica herself that is the best and most nuanced aspect of the feature.

For all the praise and excitement that can be directed towards this big screen return, there are a couple of hitches. As writer, Rob Thomas brings back the same quips and cleverness the series boasted time and time again, but as first time feature director, his shots seem very paint-by-numbers, feeling more at home on a CBS sitcom than emulating the style and tone of the original shows visuals. What feels like bad pacing could be just

Web Photo

Double take review: Veronica Mars

VERONICA MARS • Page 11

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 A&E MSU Reporter • 11

5 OR 4 OR 3 OR 2 OR 1 bedroom houses/apartments. Available right now. Some for next year. Many to choose from. Check out our website. www.ottoH.com owner/agent or call 507-625-1010. 6/191633lofts.com LUXURY UNITS within walking distance to campus. 5/1COLLEGETOWNMANKATO.COM private bathroom in every bedroom. 5/1COLLEGESTATIONMANKATO.COM Affordable housing on the bus route. 5/1RENTMSU.COM 3 -10 BEDROOM student houses. 5/1FIND A PLACE TO RENT AT RADRENTER.COM. Mankato’s Rental Listing website. 5/1CEDAR MEADOW APT. 3 bedrooms. Available Aug. 1. $975. Call Brad @ 507-327-2831. www.cedarmeadowapartments. 5/1

SECONDHAND BOOKSTORE & EXCHANGE, South Front St. across from Fillin’ Station Coffee house. All types of leisure reading. Browsers welcome. Once Read. 388-8144 Mon-Sat 10 to 5pm. 3/20

FREE SHOTOKAN KARATE classes offered Monday 6-8pm. Tuesday 7-9pm. Thursday 6-8pm. Room PH 102. Beginners are welcome. Need not to be a MSU student to join. For info call Brad @ 507-388-5301 or lostgonzo@gmail.com or search MSU Shotokan on facebook or yahoo groups. 5/1

FOR RENT MISCELLANEOUS

NOTICES

1506 WARREN STREET • MANKATO • MN(Look for our electronic sign!)

507-345-4511WWW.BEACONWELS.ORG

Mondays • Wednesdays ........................................................ Bible StudyTuesdays ..................................................................... Bible Study 11 amWednesdays ........................................................................Vespers 9 pmThursdays ..................................................................$1 Supper 5:30 pm .................................................................................Bible Study 4:45 pm

Staff: Campus Pastor Wong, Reverend Roger Knepprath, Mark Probst, Vicar Allen Kirschbaum, RA Kody Green

CENTER HOURS: 8am-10pmOFFICE HOURS: Monday-Wednesday, 12-5pm; Thursday 9am-9pm

Call Only507.351.5192

Call or Text952.994.5966

Call or Text Jeremy to schedule an appointment!

a consequence of unimaginative filmmaking, with little momentum to the case or character work being accomplished or felt. And perhaps because it’s been so long since they were these characters, but perfor-mances by Bell and Dohring felt, at times, off.

The fact that this movie exists, that Veronica Mars is back in the cultural landscape of conversation, that these characters got to live and breathe once again for 108 minutes is a sheer miracle, and prob-ably one of the biggest pleasures 2014 will offer all year. A couple of minor quibbles by no means make this film any less enjoyable or exciting. Veronica Mars is back, almost as if she never left.

VERONICA MARS “The best part of Veronica Mars is the titular char-acter herself. After three seasons of Veronica solving mysteries that were personal and expansive, where does one take the character? You explore her complexities.”continued from 10

Web Photo

12 • MSU Reporter Advertisement Tuesday, March 18, 2014