TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
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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.