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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2015)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE BATT THE BATTALION I THEBATT.COM ^case you fys 1 o O" OIL PRICES FUEL EMPLOYMENT CONCERNS T6TCO Shelby Knowles —THE BATTALION By Nikita Redkar HBBH he winter holidays brought a surprise pres ent for many Americans, as a dependent oil market drove the national aver age of gasoline prices down to lev els not seen since 2008 and 2009. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the price of all grades in conventional areas is down to $2.23 per gallon and the EIA is reporting costs ofless than $50 per barrel. Oil prices slumped late No vember after OPEC announced it would not cut production levels after a steady price decrease since June. The resulting oil saturated in ternational markets and led to two different financial realities — an unexpected windfall for American consumers and a difficult budget gap for nations and companies that assumed prices would stay high. Detlef Hallermann, clinical asso ciate professor and director of the Reliant Energy Securities & Com modities Trading Center, said the imbalance between the oversupply of crude oil — the main commod ity used to create gasoline — and a low overall .demand ary causing gas prices to plummet. “Refineries are able to produce at a cheaper cost and are therefore charging less for gasoline,” Elaller- mann said. “At the same time, the demand for oil has slacked off due to slowdown in the economy.” Hallermann said current gas prices greatly benefit states that rely on oil as an input to manufacture products. But for Texas, the larg est oil-producing state in the na tion, these prices lead to slower job GAS PRICES ON PG. 5 + Gas prices have continued to drop to levels below $2. TRADITION FILE Reveille VIII has served as mascot since 2008 and will retire at the end of the 2014-2015 academic year. Search for mascot narrows Committee sends out list of Reveille candidate qualifications By Gracie Mock ^ The search for Reveille IX has been r narrowed to 10 applicants. Alexandra Gonzalez, Traditions Coun cil Chairman and search committee mem ber, said it is her job to help keep the long standing tradition of a great Texas A&M mascot strong for the years to come. “Our viewpoint and representation is obviously just to preserve and promote the great tradition of Reveille and how she has evolved over the years and just truly has become iconic for Texas A&M,” Gonzalez said. “We take great pride in this tradition and her being the [5 diamond] member, the highest ranking member of the Corps of Cadets. From the Traditions Council standpoint, I really like to represent the history of Reveille and how we’re looking to maintain this tradition as we move REVEILLE ON PG. 6 EDITOR'S NOTE GOVERNMENT Abbott to assume the governor’s office Ross Volunteers, Aggie Band to take part in Start of Abbott's term has Texans Tuesday's inauguration ceremony at the Capitol wondering on possible Medicaid changes By Lindsey Gawlik As Aggie Governor Rick Perry’s ^ time in office comes to a close, units from the Corps of Cadets will help usher in his successor. The Ross Volunteers, Parson’s Mounted Cavalry and the Aggie Band will take part in the gubernato rial inauguration ceremony Tuesday. The RoSs Volunteers will provide a saber arch at the Oath of Office cer emony, followed by a pa rade in which the Aggie Band will march. Agricultural economics senior and Ross Volunteers Commander Preston Sturdivant said the inauguration is an important ceremony because it wel comes the first new governor in 14 year's, “It’s a celebration of someone who is going to lead our great state of Texas, and that’s certainly a big job, that’s a big undertaking for anybody,” Sturdi vant said. “It’s certainly a time for the state of Texas to celebrate the leader ship that it has had and to encourage the new leadership as it comes into of fice, I think.” In a university press release, Brig. Gen. Joe E. Ramirez Jr., commandant of the Corps, said the Corps of Cadets is honored to take part in such a mo mentous occasion. “Our university and our Corps have always been proud to support our Governor’s inaugural celebration, and are excited to participate again Greg Abbott in this year’s event,” Ramirez said. “Governor-elect Greg Abbott can rest assured that the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets are honored to participate in his Inauguration and look forward to rep resenting Texas A&M at all of the inaugural events on the 20th.” The Ross Volunteers are the official Honor Guard , of the Texas gov ernor, and Sturdivant said the Ross Volunteers are glad to serve in this way, particularly because of the role Texas A&M plays within the state. “We, as an institution of higher learning as a state college, are certainly very important to what goes on in Austin for sure,” Sturdivant said. “We certainly don’t try to make any thing a huge deal. It’s our pleasure to serve.” Daylon Koster, agricultural eco nomics senior and Ross Volunteer pla toon leader, said he considers himself lucky to play a role in the ceremony because it’s not something all Ross Volunteers get to do. “The way if s set up is all the juniors are drilling, so they actually participate in the parade, and then there’s the Ross Volunteer leadership, which is com prised of seniors,” Koster said. “Obvi ously they don’t have an inauguration every single year for the governor, so it’s not every single year the Ross Vol- unteers are able to participate, so we’re just excited that we’re here currently while there is a new governor inau guration that we get to participate in.” By Lindsey Gawlik For the first time in 14 years, a new official will sit in the Texas governor’s seat. Greg Abbott will be sworn in Tuesday as the 48th governor of Texas, ending Rick Perry’s stint. Questions remain on how close or far Abbott will venture from Perry’s policies, and recent comments at a meeting of state lawmakers has focused attention on how Abbott may approach Texas Medic aid expansion. Speculation on whether Abbott will be more in fa vor for Medicaid expansion than Gov. Rick Perry began after the Houston Chronicle reported Abbott inquired about Utah’s form of Med icaid expansion at a meeting in, December. At a press conference Fri day, however, Abbott said he is not in favor of Med icaid expansion but is inter ested in Medicaid dollars in the form of block grants. Michael Morrisey, health police and management professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, said “block grant” is a catch- phrase often used with alter native Medicaid expansion plans. “The idea is that the fed eral government would give the state a block of money that they could use with a fair amount of discretion to restructure its Medicaid program,” Morrisey said. “I think the federal govern ment is anxious to see states expand their Medicaid pro gram and they are willing to negotiate.” Jawad Dar, public service and administration graduate student at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and co-author of “The Takeaway,” a paper that argues government as sistance programs like Med icaid, food stamps and home heating aid are poorly tar geted, said Abbott has made his stance very clear. “Abbott indicated earlier in October last year that he 1 was not in favor of expand ing Medicaid in Texas,” Dar said. “Abbott’s spokes person, Amelia Chasse, has reiterated that Abbott will not be expanding Medicaid, despite hopes from Obam- acare supporters after Abbott asked about Republican- governed Utah’s variation of the program.” Dar said the choice to not expand Medicaid in its cur rent form could result in the MEDICAID ON PG. 5 'The Batt' is back for the semester One down, sixty-nine more to go Mark Dore @Mark~Dore Since we last saw each other, Kyle Field came down, another crop of Aggies graduated and moved on and the football team won a bowl game. News didn’t stop, and neither did we. We’re back, now, resuming our print schedule and continuing our online presence. None of us knows what the semester has in store. But whatever it is, The Battalion and its editors, reporters and photographers will do their level best in reporting it. We have 70 issues to fill with the stories of Texas A&M. As always, we’re looking for strong, sharp, hardworking Aggies to staff the newspaper. If you’re a writer, photogra pher, graphic artist, videographer or page designer — or you want to leam how to be any of those things — bring in an ap- plication. We welcome applications from any major, any age and any experience level. We’re funny, sometimes, and we work hard. More importantly, we’re hoping you’ll read us. We’re here to tell your stories, so bring them to us. If a friend of yours does something remarkable, let us know. Help us do our jobs better. When we publish, tell us what you think. Keep us account able. Interact with us on social media, email me at editor@thebatt.com or drop in to the newsroom (MSC L400). See you around, Aggies.
