Monday News Rundown (12-1-14)

By Emily Parma
Assistant Web Content Manager

With the deadline for funding the government quickly approaching on Dec. 11,  John Boehner and other Republican leaders feel engaging in a spending confrontation is the wrong way to counter the White House. According to The New York Times, President Obama’s executive action over immigration has left the Republicans furious. Boehner says he promises to fight the president “tooth and nail” and that they need to set a strategy in order to go against  the president.

On Saturday the Texas State Bobcats defeated the Georgia State Panthers 54-31 in the season finale. The Bobcats finished the season at 7-5 and now wait to see if they will go to a bowl game for the first time in school history. The bowls that Texas State could be invited to are the New Orleans Bowl, the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery and the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile. The Bobcats could be invited to a bowl anytime from now until Sunday.

Today is National AIDS Day and there will be a booth set up in The Quad at Texas State to promote safe sex from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Healthy Cats peer educators, along with the Texas State Student Health Center, are hosting the booth.

The “Hand’s Up Don’t Shoot” gesture that protesters in Ferguson have been using for weeks drew criticism once the players of the St. Louis Rams raised their hands before Sunday’s game in alliance with protesters upset at the Michael Brown shooting. The St. Louis Police Officers Association called for the Rams and the NFL to apologize and discipline the players involved. The associations’ business manager, Jeff Roorda, wrote that it is unthinkable that homegrown athletes would publicly perpetrate a narrative that has been disproven many times.

In the mid-term elections, 80% of Texans voted for Proposition 1, which will add to the state highway fund without raising taxes by using a portion of tax revenue generated from the oil industry. The first installment of this revenue is likely to be added to the highway fund this month and is an estimated $1.7 billion. Although the City of Austin rejected a proposal to enlarge their light-rail system, they will likely use their Prop. 1 funds in order to improve Interstate 35.

San Marcos will soon be welcoming a new director of communications and intergovernmental relations, Kristi Wyatt. Wyatt studied mass communication and journalism at McNeese State University and has spent her last seven years serving League City, helping their staff win state awards for websites, social media and marketing campaigns. Wyatt will begin the position on Jan. 12.

Beginning Monday, Dec. 15, University Drive will be closed due to pavement repairs. The road will open again on Monday, Jan. 5. The repairs will be done on alternating lanes in both directions.

A new feature is coming to The Wittliff Collections at Alkek Library.   At 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 7, namesake and author Bill Wittliff, of the book “The Devil’s Backbone,” and illustrator Jack Unruh will present a book reading/discussion, Q&A and book signing. The event is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP online.