The Student Government Association (SGA) was meeting around 5 p.m. PST to hear from appeals from the three groups that had insufficient allocations.

The issue became larger on Twitter as a number of WMUC supporters mentioned the group’s possible cut and the threat of the other groups receiving allocations instead.

An unconfirmed tweet around 5:50 p.m. PST suggests the radio station may have had more money allocated Wednesday night and will be able to survive in some form.

UPDATES:

The Diamondback tweeted the following Thursday morning at 2:21 a.m. EDT: “The SGA meeting is still in session, eight hours later. They are debating the allocation of funds to the student groups who appealed.”

The issue continues into day three. The SGA executive is currently (Friday, April 22) in an emergency meeting to try to support the radio station after more funding was cut. Radio station supporters started another hashtag today: #supportSGAexecs.

Link(s):

- Diamondback (Campus newspaper at University of Maryland) coverage of the background.

- Twitter chatter (#saveWMUC)

Emerald Copy Chief Kenny Ocker contributed to this report.

Quote from the Diamondback article after the jump.

Although some groups’ fate ultimately lies in legislators’ hands, (WMUC General Manager Mario) Pareja-Lecaros said WMUC has already begun brainstorming creative ways to fundraise if the station isn’t granted more money, and Simmons noted the Group Help Fund as an alternative that would allow the Help Center to scrape by. (SGA Vice President of Financial Affairs Rob) Mutschler said these kinds of actions will likely be carried out by many groups.

“I think we’re well past the days where the SGA can be the sole source of funds for all student groups,” he said. “We can’t fund as much as we could anymore, so student groups are going have to look elsewhere.”

The University of Oregon World Cup will take place on Saturday and Sunday at the turf fields next to the Student Recreation Center. Activities begin at 8 a.m. both days and last until 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

In its sixth year of operation, the UO World Cup is building a reputation as a quality soccer event.

“It was well run,” said Kristina Lekas, a junior political science and sociology major and the coordinator of Oregon women’s club soccer. “I liked the T-shirts they gave out to everyone and the whole thing went smoothly from my perspective. It was organized.”

Lekas has primarily played on co-ed teams in the World Cup’s recreational division. A collegiate club division also exists, with five schools competing – Oregon, Portland State, Northwest Christian, Southern Oregon and Central Oregon Community College.

Proceeds from the event will be donated to the scholarship fund of Eugene Metro Futbol Club (EMFC), Eugene’s local soccer organization.

Matches will be serious, but the members of the Warsaw Sports Business Club that host the event have attempted to make it seriously fun.

“Playing competitively is fun, but playing competitively and being able to laugh and goof around is really enjoyable,” Lekas said.

Tournament organizers have reached out to the Portland Timbers, and the Timbers responded by becoming official partners. (The tournament’s title sponsor is adidas, also the jersey sponsor for Major League Soccer.) Among the Timbers’ contributions is a soccer ball autographed by the team, to be raffled off this weekend.

Soccer may be a fall sport at the collegiate level, but the impact on campus life is monumental in the spring.

“Recreational soccer is big here,” Lekas said. “There are so many people at the turf fields at 6 p.m. everyday that there have to be two packed games going on just to include everyone. Still, there is a mob of people attempting to play soccer in such a small space. There are always people playing soccer and intramurals soccer is really popular as well.”

But the two parties are in disagreement about why there is a conflict at all.

House Speaker John Boehner and the Republicans are arguing that the Democrats aren’t  serious enough about cutting spending.

“While nothing will be decided until everything is decided, the largest issue is still spending cuts. The American people want to cut spending to help the private sector create jobs – and the Democrats that run Washington don’t,” Boehner spokesperson Michael Steel said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats are contending that the entire point of the argument for the Republicans is not about spending, but to prevent reproductive rights.

“This all deals with women’s health,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this morning. “Everything has been resolved, everything… that is the only issue that was left undone when we left the White House last night.”

“We agreed on spending cuts, and they still are not happy,” he added.

Ezra Klein, a Washington Post blogger and Newsweek columnist, argued in a tweet sent out at 8:14 a.m. Friday morning, “I don’t know if the shutdown is really hung up on Planned Parenthood. But if public perceives it is, GOP is toast.”

Pending tonight’s decision, if there is a total government shutdown this weekend, expect a full-length news story about it in the Monday or Tuesday edition of the Emerald next week.

Links

• Easy-to-read list of the agencies that would face changes if a shutdown occurs
• CBS News story about the potential government shutdown
• Huffington Post’s take on waiting until the last minute and Obama’s involvement

After more than two years of hosting his controversial Fox News show, Glenn Beck and his employers announced they would be separating.

While Fox News president and chair Roger Ailes was unclear as to the reason they would be parting ways, many suggest that it’s based on advertisers leaving Beck’s time slot.

quotes after the jump

“More than 300 advertisers fled the Beck show, but he still delivered a huge lead-in audience for Bret Baier and others who followed him on the Fox lineup,” Howard Kurtz wrote in the Daily Beast.

Roger Ailes, the former Republican political consultant who chairs Fox News, said:  “Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards.  I look forward to continuing to work for him.”

Con Court said today in 32 C.C. that because ASUO President Amelie Rousseau’s ACFC budget veto was upheld in 30 C.C., while 31 C.C. indicated a responsibility of Senate to submit a new budget that Rousseau could sign by Thursday at midnight. Since there was no new ACFC budget, the ruling states that Senate did not follow their responsibility to finish the budget and under article 5 § 9 of the ASUO Constitution, the ASUO president then can obtain consent from the Constitution Court to write a new budget.

Update coming when the final budget information is made known.

Basically, per a ruling from CC Justice Nick Schultz, Senate has to either vote to override or vote on an ACFC budget that Amelie will sign before midnight tonight.

A meeting has not yet been scheduled.

Jay-R Strowbridge (Alex McDougall/Oregon Daily Emerald)

The Oregon men’s basketball team made its free throws, and moved on to play another basketball game.

“We made them when it counted,” junior forward E.J. Singler said.

Twenty-three of them, to be exact, out of 26 attempts. The Ducks were particularly proficient in the second half, making 19 of 21 attempts in defeating Weber State, 68-59, in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at Matthew Knight Arena Wednesday night.

Oregon (17-17) will face Duquesne of the Atlantic-10 Conference in the second round after the Dukes beat Montana on the Road. The Wildcats finish their season with an 18-14 record.

Joevan Catron extended his Oregon career with a masterful performance, scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Catron pounded away in the paint en route to 18 second-half points … and 12-of-13 free throws.

“If you can make free throws, you always in the game,” Catron said.

The Ducks were hard-pressed to play their way out of the game, but all momentum was with Weber State at halftime. Guard Lindsey Hughey beat the buzzer with a three-pointer to give the Wildcats a 29-28 lead at intermission. Oregon was shooting just 33.3 percent from the field but had missed all 11 three-point attempts.

“We just couldn’t get any of those shots to fall. Threes give tremendous energy and we just couldn’t get anything going,” Ducks head coach Dana Altman said. “The crowd had a lot of energy and wanted us to hit those shots but we just couldn’t.”

Weber State was having trouble gaining separation as the second half progressed. Of the Wildcats’ 59 field goal attempts, 31 were from beyond the arc (12 made). Weber State shot 35.6 percent from the field for the game, compared to Oregon’s 41.2 percent mark.

In response to their shooting woes, the Ducks made a simple adjustment.

“We got the ball into Joe (in the post),” Singler said. “He made good plays.

Including the ones that helped put Oregon ahead for good. Catron was fouled on a tough layup by Hughey and sank the free throw to give the Ducks a 42-38 lead with 11:16 remaining, a play that energized the crowd of 4,375. Five minutes later, he converted another tough layup to put Oregon ahead by five.

“The energy and passion shows how important he is to our team,” Altman said. “He did a lot of good things tonight.”

Catron helped keep Weber State an arms’ length away when the threat of the three-pointer was palpable. Wildcats guard Scott Bamforth and forward Kyle Bullinger hit five apiece, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively. During a two-minute stretch in the second half, Bullinger had all seven of the points Weber State had scored.

“Every time I thought we’d put him away, he’d move out a little farther and hit another three,” Altman said.

Singler filled up the Oregon stat sheet with 16 points (7-7 FTA), four rebounds, three assists, two blocks, two steals and no turnovers. He was the only other Duck in double figures.

Oregon limited turnovers (nine, to Weber State’s 13) and fouls (14, to 22) to compensate for a lack of outside shooting. The Ducks ended up besting the taller Wildcats in the paint, with 30 points to Weber State’s 16.

On to Monday night, where Duquesne will appear in Matthew Knight Arena for a second postseason game. Catron, upon sitting down at the media table, looked at the CBI background banner and the assembled press. His grin flashed as brightly as his fluorescent green Nikes.

The senior leaned over to the junior Singler and whispered, “We got a little taste of the NCAA tourney, right here.”

Catron has no interest in seeing his college basketball career end. He’s still hungry.

The votes happened. Check them out for yourself. Those who changed their votes from opposing the group to opposing the override did so because they saw options to be explored in LTD renegotiation that they didn’t see before.

Moving forward, it’s all about a meeting with Andy Vobora of LTD to try to work out a lower per-student rate than the one most groups pay. Sen. Ian Fielding has had a problem with this idea from the beginning of the process based on the context of this contract; what happened last year* has caused many in the ASUO to favor giving them the full group rate.

*During last year’s negotiations, which stretched into the summer, former ASUO President Emma Kallaway and the previous ACFC worked out a situation with the bus service where the student government could give it a discounted rate for the 2010-11 school year on the agreement that the ASUO would pay it the normal rate thereafter.

Fielding talked about the limited time before a budget has to be decided on.

“At this point, given that it’s Dead Week — finals week and spring break are coming up — now it’s in Amelie’s hands, so we just have to put a lot of trust into what she’s going to do for students,” Fielding said after the meeting Tuesday night.

Though Sen. Kaitlyn Lange suggested ACFC members resign if an override didn’t pass, Fielding said Tuesday night he would continue to work with Rousseau and others on the committee to try to figure out a possible lower rate. Being the tag* for LTD, Fielding has spent more time than anyone this term looking at the contract and talking to its representatives to work out their allocation.

*Each committee has each of its members be a “tag” for a contract or program, which just means they spend more time talking to the group and help the rest of the committee work through the hearing process with the individual groups they focus on.

Rousseau, Fielding and the ACFC will work these next three weeks to get a lower rate with LTD and give those funds to OSPIRG. They have until March 31 to cut a deal.