Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 39 | Thursday March 12, 2009
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
12 · Classifieds
13 · Crossword
16 · Sports
Tourney time: Men’s and
women’s Pac-10 tournaments are
both underwary. PAGE 16
By Holly Villamagna
Daily Trojan
Legendary physicist Stephen Hawking gave
a lecture about his research on black holes to a
packed Bovard Auditorium on Tuesday night.
Presentations like Hawking’s can help inspire
greater interest in science, said Nick Warner, a
physics professor who studied under Hawking
at the University of Cambridge. Warner invited
Hawking to speak at USC.
“It’s really about bringing on the new genera-tion
of scientists,” Warner said.
Hawking reached a diverse group of students.
Libby Donnell, a junior majoring in neuroscience
and psychology, said she attended the lecture,
though she does not have extensive knowledge of
physics and chemistry, because she thought the
knowledge was important.
“I felt the need to gain a better understanding of
the matter around me,” she said.
Hawking’s lecture focused on black holes, which
have been his primary area of research throughout
his career.
According to Hawking, if space is a sheet of rub-ber,
stars and planets are weights placed on that
sheet of rubber that bend space.
“A black hole is like a bottomless hole in the rub-ber
sheet of space time,” he said.
When too much matter is packed in a confined
space, like a library packed with too many books,
it will eventually collapse into a black hole. Once
a black hole is created, no particles, not even light,
that come too close to it, can avoid being pulled
into the hole, Hawking said.
Students said Hawking’s analogies and humor
helped people of all backgrounds understand what
he was describing.
“I thought he was a good speaker,” said Morgan
Leighton, a sophomore majoring in philosophy. “He
was funny, clear and easy to understand.”
Hawking published “A Brief History of Time” in
1988, a book describing black holes, the big bang
and other topics to the general public, and it be-came
a bestseller.
“[The book’s] staggering success has redefined
the notion of what a popular science book can be,”
Warner said in his introduction.
Hawking, who suffers from Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease,
is almost completely paralyzed. He lost the
ability to speak after an emergency tracheotomy in
1985 and has since communicated through a voice
synthesizer.
Hawking draws huge crowd for black holes lecture
Students who attended the event said they
enjoyed Steven Hawking’s lecture, which
focused on his primary area of research.
| see physics, page 6 |
By Madeline Reddington
Daily Trojan
Officials with the Los Angeles
City Clerk’s office say they have
about 46,000 ballots left to count
from the March 3 election, and so
far the unofficial results suggest
Measure B, a controversial solar en-ergy
plan backed by Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa but opposed by many,
is not likely to pass.
The proposal would create a
program within the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power,
mandating the installation and
maintainence of solar panels across
the city to produce at least 400
megawatts of energy by 2014.
According to the city clerk’s web-site,
50.3 percent of voters have vot-ed
against the measure, with 49.7
voting in favor, and a total of 219,688
votes counted so far.
Bernie Mariscal, a public servic-es
assistant at the city clerk’s office,
said these remaining ballots take a
long time to count because workers
have to go through each ballot and
USC weighs
in on results
of Measure B
Although the result is not yet
final, 50.3 percent of counted
votes were against the measure.
| see measure b, page 6 |
Photo Courtsey of Taylor Foust
Full house · Stephen Hawking gave a lecture on black holes to a packed Bovard Auditorium
Tuesday. A live webcast of the presentation was also streamed online and in two classrooms.
By kate mather
Daily Trojan
A man was shot and killed Wednesday night dur-ing
an officer-involved shooting near the intersection of
Budlong and Adams boulevards, LAPD said. Four other
suspects were apprehended later that night.
Lt. John Romero of LAPD Media Relations said two
officers from the Southwest Division were conduct-ing
an investigation at the intersection when four
male Hispanic suspects inside a car were confronted.
Another male suspect was standing on a nearby curb,
he said.
“During the investigation, the driver threatened of-ficers
with a handgun, and an officer-involved shooting
occurred,” Romero said.
After the driver threatened the officers, Romero said
at least one officer fired a weapon, but no shots were
fired by the suspects.
The four people in the car then drove toward Menlo
Avenue, and struck an LAPD car before striking a USC
tram carrying 10 students, Romero said. No one in the
tram was injured.
Romero said the driver, who had been shot, remained
in the car while three others fled on foot.
Andrew J. Smith, acting commanding officer of LAPD
Operations South Bureau, said one suspect was caught
immediately after the car collided with the tram. The
two other suspects were apprehended by approximately
11:50 p.m. — one was found in a tree by helicopter and
K-9 units, and the other at an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting, where he was posing as a member. The final
Suspect dead in
nearby officer-involved
shooting
No students were injured or involved, but a USC
tram with 10 students aboard was hit in the crime.
| see LAPD, page 3 |
Eric Wolfe | Daily Trojan
Police line · A DPS officer points students away from the blockaded area where an officer-involved shooting ended with
one suspect dead and four others in custody. The perimeter imposed by LAPD was narrowed as the search continued.