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The Howl: Nov. 1, 2014 episode

November 2

The Howl is a weekly online newscast produced by the Daily Lobo. On this week's show: President Frank bestows awards; A new development is planned for South Campus; Election Day is on Tuesday; Jasper's killer is still on the loose; UNM Green Fund starts accepting applications; Micaela Eldridge-Lane tells UNM's ghost stories; Brianna Gallegos looks into campus security; UNM cross country sweeps the Mountain West; UNM football heads to Las Vegas; UNM basketball returns

New Mexico guard Arthur Edwards goes up for a dunk during the Lobo Howl on Oct. 17. UNM plays its first exhibition game at The Pit this Saturday against Western New Mexico.

Sports

Lobos look forward to exhibition test

Kyle Tomasi | October 31

In an offseason full of Lobos getting drafted to play professionally, coaching staff changes and nine new recruits, the New Mexico men’s basketball programs gets to showcase the new talent Saturday night at The Pit. The Lobos host Western New Mexico in the first exhibition game of the 2014-15 season, and second-year head coach Craig Neal said the team is coming together well and is finally finding their rhythm, even with the nine new faces on the roster.

News

Ending homeless cycle begins with aid

Jonathan Baca and Matthew Reisen | October 31

Jason Westman has been homeless in Albuquerque for nearly 20 years. He has been diagnosed with PTSD and has a history of alcohol abuse, and though he’s tried to get treatment, he never stays on it for long. During the warm months he sleeps on the streets, begging for change and occasionally staying at a shelter. But every winter, Westman said he usually commits a low-level crime like breaking a window so he can go to county jail, get out of the cold and get three meals a day for a few months.

News

Network studies brain shifts

Lauren Topper | October 31

After the successful completion of the human genome project in 2003, scientists turned their attention to the wiring of the human brain, considered the next unmapped frontier. At UNM’s MIND research network, the lab of Dr. Vince Calhoun is making headway on a project investigating the “chronnectome” of the brain — an in-depth look at how regions of the brain change in connection with one another, and how that may relate to different diseases, particularly mental illness. The brain can be divided into many different regions, each having their own unique functions.

Soobak Korean Seoul Food employee Ann Atkinson, far right, hands food to UNM sophomore Jolynn Alarid, far left, and UNM senior Jabez Ledres during the Food for Thought Drive at Cornell Mall on Thursday afternoon. GPSA and UNM Foods sponsored the food drive to fund the Graduate Summer Scholarship.

News

Food trucks benefit GPSA scholarship program

David Lynch | October 31

UNM’s Graduate and Professional Student Association utilized something all college students would gladly spend money on in order to fund a new scholarship – food. On Thursday four food trucks from local businesses settled in Cornell Mall for GPSA’s Food for Thought fundraiser. The event was sponsored by GPSA and UNM Food.

News

Marsupial's murder remains a mystery

Ryan Lotz | October 30

Local businesses and private citizens are pitching in with the city to try to find the person or people who killed a rare animal at the city zoo.In addition to a large cash reward, local restaurant Pizza 9 has announced that they are offering free pizza for up to a year to the person who can lead police to those responsible for killing “Jasper,” one of ABQ BioPark’s Tasmanian devils.

News

Business brings smiles (and food) to kids

Marielle Dent | October 29

A local sandwich shop has teamed up with an Albuquerque charity to give a slice of happiness to homeless children. Which Wich Superior Sandwiches has been donating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the CLNkids since May in participation with the chain’s national initiative Project PB&J.The project was created by Which Wich founder, Jeff Sinelli in Dallas. For every peanut butter and jelly sandwich sold, the franchise donates two of them to people in need.

Kathryn Frietze, post doctoral fellow in molecular genetics microbiology, pipettes vaccine candidates in a laboratory on Tuesday. Researchers at UNM have developed a new strategy for the creation of vaccines that use virus-like particles, which can be attached to molecules that the body wouldn’t normally identify as a threat.

News

Researchers find alternative to vaccine creation

Lauren Topper | October 29

A team of researchers at UNM has developed a new strategy for the creation of vaccines with near limitless applications, from malaria and cancer to high cholesterol. The project is spearheaded by Health Sciences Center professor Dr. David Peabody and assistant professor Dr. Bryce Chackerian.Typically, vaccinations involve injecting someone with a harmless version of the virus, teaching their body to recognize and quickly destroy that virus. Instead, this new strategy employs proteins that simply look like a virus, termed virus-like particles, which can be attached to molecules that the body wouldn’t normally identify as a threat.

News

Grant allows Cancer Center to reach rural patients

Sayyed Shah | October 29

The UNM Cancer Center has received a $7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute’s National Community Oncology Research Program to expand the clinical trials network in New Mexico. As the parent institution for the NCORP grant, UNM Cancer Center will work closely with the New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance, the statewide health care partnership for cancer clinical trials, according to a press release issued by UNM Cancer Center.“We serve all New Mexicans and this NCORP grant will help us reach more of our rural and underserved population,” said Cheryl L. Willman, director and CEO of the cancer center.

2014 election ballot features three General Obligation Bond questions.

News

If passed, state bonds to bring new jobs

Tomas Lujan | October 28

Voters will have choose whether or not to approve more than $50 million in funding to improve and renovate UNM Main and branch campuses.On the ballot in November are General Obligation Bonds B and C, which if approved, would grant UNM the funding to expand University libraries at all campuses as well as renovate and develop campus facilities like the Farris Engineering Building and Health Sciences Center, respectively.

News

President recognizes doctor, governor with award

Daniel Montaño | October 28

UNM President Bob Frank announced Sunday that he will be awarding his 2014 Presidential Awards of Distinction to Neurosurgery Department chair Dr. Howard Yonas and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

News

Professor honored for early research

October 28

A UNM professor has been awarded a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association for her early career accomplishments in research.

News

Young Alumni Association brings Halloween cheer to kids

Lauren Marvin | October 27

The Young Alumni Association will donate Halloween costumes to a group of children who are often forgotten and rarely get the opportunity to celebrate the holiday. The association is partnering with CLN Kids, a preschool that assists homeless children and their families, to provide about 100 costumes just in time for trick-or-treating.This is the fifth year of the drive, and in previous years the highest number of donations was 80 costumes, said Matthew Maez, chair of Community Service Committee for Young Alumni Association.

News

UNM to pay $350,000 in wrongful termination suit

Daniel Montaño | October 27

A jury has ordered UNM to pay more than $350,000 to a former employee who was fired for leaving work after an anxiety-fueled situation. Janet Alroy, a human resources employee, was fired in 2009 after having an intense panic attack, leaving her office and not returning for two days, according to court records.Tim White of Valdez and White Law Firm, who represented Alroy in her wrongful termination lawsuit, said the case has been ongoing for nearly five years and was originally ruled in favor of UNM. But White appealed the decision and won the case earlier this month.

The Memorial Wall at Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless lists the names of homeless persons that have died since 2003. The tiles were created collectively by artists in ArtStreet, an open art studio implemented by AHCH and available Thursdays and Fridays every week for everyone in the community.

News

Health care for the homeless is essential

Matthew Reisen | October 24

Healthcare for the Homeless, in collaboration with other organizations, is working to end homelessness in the UNMarea and throughout Albuquerque.Serving at least 7,000 people since its doors opened, the organization provides an integrated and comprehensive care to those experiencing homelessness, transcending the definition of simple healthcare, said Anita Cordova, director of development, planning and evaluation.Cordova said HCH tries to address the health-related concerns of homelessness while working to eradicate homelessness altogether.The organization offers dental help, major medical concerns, behavioral health and social services among others, she said.

Books dealing with various topics on sex lay on a table during a UNM Sex Week event.

News

ASUNM resolution supports future Sex Weeks

Lauren Marvin and Moriah Carty | October 24

After six hours of negotiations, the ASUNM Senate passed a resolution stating the group’s it support of Sex Week.ASUNM Sen. James Walker, co-author of Resolution 5F, said he wrote the resolution because he felt there was a need for sexual education on campus.

News

West African trips halted

Tomas Lujan | October 24

UNM has postponed all study trips to West African countries as part of ita precautionary measures to minimize the threat of Ebola.Cancelled trips included those for humanitarian programs like Project Helping Hands, an organization that provides medical care and health education for people in developing nations.

A shelf of corsets and other materials in Lokey’s sewing room.

Culture

Material culture

Moriah Carty | October 23

Sharon Lokey needed a way to cope when her husband was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. After spending some time looking, she found her escape in a familiar place: her sewing machine.Lokey, a caretaker and professional seamstress, started to release her anxiety by creating intricate costumes and stylized corsets. She sold them to family, friends and whoever else wanted them.In 2013 her husband Todd was diagnosed with liver failure. He has a rare congenital disease called hemochromatosis, which causes the body to absorb too much iron, overworking the liver and causing cirrhosis, or liver failure.

News

Space-time continuing thanks to grant

Raleigh Silversmith | October 23

The General Medical Sciences portion of the National Institutes of Health has given UNM’s Spatiotemporal Modeling Center more space and time for its research. Spatiotemporal research, also known as spatial-temporal, is the study of time and space as a whole. The STMC uses this method for cellular biology and aims to find better treatments for fighting ailments such as colon and pancreatic cancers. The Center’s $12 million grant has been renewed for another five years, raising the STMC’s hopes for recruiting up-and-coming researchers.“Our research emphasizes the development of new single-cell and single-molecule technologies to generate improved quantitative data for modeling,” the STMC website states.

News

Professor hopes for clinical trials on local disorder

Lauren Topper | October 23

It might have been any group of settlers that brought the genetic mutation, unaware that it would pass from generation to generation. Now, hundreds of years later, many in New Mexico are still living with this incurable “family curse.”Dr. Sarah Youssof, a physician in the UNM Department of Neurology, is laying the groundwork for human clinical trials for this rare genetic disease known as oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD).