Daily News Recap (4-10-15)

Compiled by Holly Henrichsen
Assistant Web Content Manager

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton plans to announce her expected 2016 presidential campaign this Sunday. According to Fox News, two democratic sources who work closely with Clinton say she will announce her decision via social media. The intent of the message will be to send a signal out to Democrats that she intends to aggressively fight for the party’s presidential nomination. Once out, Clinton will then head to key states like Iowa and New Hampshire next week to campaign. Clinton will become the first Democratic candidate to confirm a run for the White House and potentially become the first female U.S president. Clinton will join the race with Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
-Marques Mingo

The state legislature in Oklahoma has passed a bill, which is currently waiting for the governor’s signature to become law, that would make Oklahoma the first state in the U.S. to use nitrogen gas as a method of execution. According to ABC News, due to a nationwide shortage in lethal injection drugs, many states have began to consider alternative execution methods. Some critics are concerned because this method is untested and some states even ban the use of nitrogen to put animals to sleep. There are currently no reports of nitrogen gas being used to execute humans, and all executions in Oklahoma are on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court determines its constitutionality.
-Chelsea Seifert

Today, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, George P. Bush and Mayor of San Antonio, Ivy Taylor, announced the city of San Antonio will be teaming up with state officials to create a master plan for a makeover of the Alamo and its surrounding plaza. The master plan process will include re-advertising the request for qualifications issued by the City of San Antonio to include an amended scope of work for a comprehensive master plan for both the Alamo plaza and complex. The City of San Antonio will contribute 1 million dollars to the cost of the master plan process utilizing the funds previously dedicated through the 2012-2017 Bond program. Officials expect the master plan will take up to 12 months, with the expectation of the plan to begin as early as 2016.
-Marques Mingo

Today, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo took part in a live chat session with the Austin community through the Austin American Statesman website. Someone during the chat posed the chief a question about open carry laws, whether or not they will make University campuses more dangerous, to which he responded “Guns on campus doesn’t pass the common sense and good judgment clause of life. There is a reason why students, administrators and law enforcement are solidly opposed. Sadly, the ones we purport to want to protect have very little interest in this and are vehemently opposed, and our legislative leaders are ignoring them.” Police Chief Acevedo also defended police in general, saying that a vast majority of police spend their entire careers without having to use deadly force and cause harm. Adding that the police have millions of interactions with citizens and only 1 percent of those result in force and those incidents are always documented by the media.
-Matthew Hamill