www.dailytrojan.com
Funding
shortage
prevents
contests
Trojan Dance Force cannot compete in their usual slate of competitions because of lack of money.
By STEPHANIE HAWKINS
Staff Writer
A lack of funding has prevented the Trojan Dance Force team from participating in several national competitions that they have usually competed in years past.
“Unfortunately, we did not make enough this year, for reasons I am not going into detail about,” said Jennifer Noriega, assistant athletic director.
I.ast year, the team participated in three competitions.
"Our fund-raising dollars were not as big this past season," Noriega said.
In 2004, the dance team won the United Spirit Association's National Championship title, placed second at the National Dance Alliance Nationals and took the runner-up spot at the Chick-fil-A Dance Collegiate Championship.
The team usually gets most of its funding from the athletic department and fund raising at basketball games, but it “ran a little short this year," Noriega said. They receive no funding from any other organization, she said.
In the past, the team has held clinics as additional fund-raising events. This past year they sold posters, Noriega said.
Because of various budget reasons that Noriega would not elaborate on, the team's funding was cut I see Dance, page 12 I
INDEX
USC baseball gets two out of three wins up North against California. 20
The new pope has a chance to reach out 4
News Digest—2 Lifestyle.....-.....7
Upcoming______2 Classifieds____16
Opinions_________4 Sports..............20
WEATHER
Today: Mostly sunny. High of 68, low of 51 Tomorrow: Pardy cloudy. High of 70, low of 51
SUV sought in crosswalk death
IAPD is looking for a 1997 or 1998 Infiniti QX4 that was involved in Feb. 10 incident.
By KRISTIN MAYER
Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Police Department is working its way through a list of more than 100,000 owners of a vehicle model that police have identified as being the type that killed a USC graduate student early this semester.
The westbound sport utility vehicle struck and killed international student Gustavo De Mello Feb. 10 as he crossed Adams Boulevard at the Portland Street crosswalk, heading
south toward campus.
Investigators found fragments of the broken taillight at the scene, said LAPD Det. Greg Davis of the South Traffic Division, who is in charge of the investigation. They used the part number from the pieces to determine the make and model of the vehicle.
Police are looking for a 1997 or 1998 Infiniti QX4.
Witnesses described the vehicle as a dark SUV, but did not provide a license plate number.
They have sent out contact letters to the thousands of Los Angeles County vehicle owners whose SUVs appeared on the Department of Motor Vehicles' list for matching the description, said LAPD Detective Donna Wheeler in the
Southwest Traffic Division.
LAPD investigates further those who do not return the letter's request to call the police. They hope to narrow down the search through a process of elimination, Davis said.
They ask a series of general questions, such as vehicle color, to start deleting names from the list.
This type of investigation is not rare, police said.
“We investigate felony hit-and-runs every day,” Wheeler said. "It's the type of investigation we do all the time."
Southwest Division officers passed out crime alert fliers around the USC campus as well.
“We're hoping to have some sort
of response" from students who have more information on the incident or vehicle type. Wheeler said.
And police and community activists are looking to make the intersection safer in the near future because of De Mello's death.
“It does need something,” LAPD Officer Gary Cantu said of the intersection.
He spoke of an active crosswalk, an idea proposed at a recent community meeting, in which amber lights glued to the asphalt light up when a pedestrian pushes a button on a pole.
LAPD officers also performed a pedestrian sting operation on April 7 at the corner of Portland Street and
I see CroMwalk page 3
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
April 25, 2005
Vol. CXL VI. No. 64
Helping out. Students walk around McCarthy Quad Saturday to help raise donations for Relay for Life, a fund-raising event aimed at gathering money for funding cancer research and offering cancer patient services.
Relay for Life raises $38,000
USC’s first year in cancer society event surpassed UCLA's 2002 effort.
By LESLIE ANNE JONES
Contributing Writer
USC’s first Relay for Life event raised more than $38,000 for the American Cancer Society. The event consisted of 28 fund-raising teams who had at least one team member walk the perimeter of McCarthy Quad over a 24-hour period beginning Saturday morning.
Colleges Against Cancer, a national organization founded by ACS, hosted
the Relay for Life event. Other colleges and community organizations across the nation have held Relay for Life events.
Relay for Life has developed into the biggest charitable event in the world. This year it is estimated that nationwide $305 million will be raised by Relay for Life events, with $27 million raised in California alone, said Dr. Raymond Melrose in his opening remarks.
Raymond Melrose, a USC professor emeritus and member of the ACS California board of directors, also said the funds USC raised at the school's first Relay For Life would quadruple what UCLA raised in its first Relay for
Life three years ago.
There are more than 4.000 Relay for Life events nationwide. This year, there are 45 relays in the Los Angeles area alone, according to an ACS press release.
To kick off the 24-hour march Saturday morning, four cancer survivors, including two USC students and one dog, began the walk. Participants applauded and then joined the walk.
The money raised from Relay for Life mostly stays where it was raised locally, with a small percentage going to the ACS’s national office.
Money raised by Relay for Life also goes to fund research.
I see Relay. page 12 I
Research
unlocks
ovarian
cancer
Discovery by USC scientists can allow earlier detection, increase survival chances.
By MAE TING TING NG
Contributing Writer
A new finding by USC researchers has uncovered the main cause of ovarian cancer, which provides insight into how to detect ovarian cancer earlier and increase the chance of survival.
Ovarian cancer is the fourth-most common cancer among women. About 30,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are reported in the United States every year, said Louis Dubeau, professor of pathology who led the research.
Ovarian cancer is usually detected in its late stages because ovaries are not essential organs, meaning when one of the ovaries is afflicted, the body might still function normally. Dubeau said.
Late detection lowers the chance of recovery.
The research is a step forward to how ovarian cancer can be detected early because the research gives a clearer picture of how a gene called BRCA 1. The BRCA 1 gene controls ovulation and the menstrual cycle.
The mutation of BRCA 1 indirectly causes ovarian cancer as well as breast cancer. The mutation of the BRCA 1 genes in the granulosa cells interacts with other cells and eventually causes ovarian cancer.
“The research showed that the interaction (between the granulosa cells and other cells) is the dominant factor for ovarian cancer." Dubeau said.
The next step is to find out the nature of the interaction.
“If we know what substances are being released to the blood during the interaction, we can measure the risk of getting ovarian cancer
I see Ovarian page 3 I
INSIDE
Meet the USC students who work at Disneyland 7