Dateline Rice for June 9, 2015

FEATURED ITEM

Illegal immigration lowest since 1972, DHS chief Jeh Johnson says
Illegal immigration across the southwestern border is on pace for the lowest year since 1972, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said during an appearance Monday at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Washington Times
http://bit.ly/1e0hjMX
DHS chief predicts victory in legal fight over immigration
Washington Post (This article also appeared in the Federal Eye and the Reading Eagle.)
http://wapo.st/1JGKEaT
DHS secretary defends Obama immigration policies
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This article appeared on the front of the City & State section.)
http://bit.ly/1S1v2BK
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson discusses border patrol in Houston
KPRC-TV
http://bit.ly/1B1tZNB
US Secretary Johnson visits Houston
West University Examiner
http://bit.ly/1QIBD1f
DHS secretary talks immigration; tries to straighten out ‘demagoguery, suspicion, exaggeration’
Twitchy.com
http://bit.ly/1HmIVHA
Secretary of Homeland Security in Houston
CW39.com
http://bit.ly/1FONvJ6
KTRH-AM
http://tinyurl.com/oqnzqer
KRIS-TV (Corpus Christi, Texas)
http://tinyurl.com/ocrzgp4

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

A flexible circuit has been injected into living brains
Implanted via injection, a grid of wires only a few millimeters across can insinuate itself with living neurons and eavesdrop on their chatter, offering a way for electronics to interface with brain activity. Jacob Robinson, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is quoted.
Smithsonian Magazine
http://bit.ly/1MESkKv

HOUSTON/TEXAS

Houston to Galveston, without a car
Raj Mankad, editor of the Rice Design Alliance’s Cite Magazine, authored this article about navigating Houston without owning a car.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This article appeared in the Houston Chronicle’s “Gray Matters” online magazine.)
http://bit.ly/1cIToA2

Mexico’s midterm election weakens traditional parties’ power
Mexico’s traditional political parties were dealt a major blow in Sunday’s midterm elections, sending the 2018 presidential race into a tailspin of uncertainty and complicating President Enrique Peña Nieto’s efforts to implement his agenda highlighted by energy reform, an issue closely watched by Texas investors, analysts say. Tony Payan, the Baker Institute’s Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the institute’s Mexico Center, is quoted.
Dallas Morning News
http://bit.ly/1cIOR0J

Student leaders urge Abbott not to sign campus carry
Student leaders from 13 Texas universities, including Rice University, Houston Community College and the University of Houston, are asking Gov. Greg Abbott not to sign legislation that would allow licensed gun owners to bring weapons on state campuses. Sid Richardson College junior and Student Association President Jazz Silva is quoted.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This article also appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.)
http://bit.ly/1IBKZwE
Student leaders urge Abbott not to sign campus carry legislation
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1B07BEG
KLBK-TV (Lubbock, Texas)
http://tinyurl.com/qdfw7yx
KAMC-TV (Lubbock, Texas)
http://tinyurl.com/pnullsa

The strangers who saved us
Journalist Sukhada Tatke describes how kind strangers rescued her family during the Memorial Day weekend flooding in Houston. She mentions that her husband works at Rice.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This article appeared in the Houston Chronicle’s “Gray Matters” online magazine.)
http://bit.ly/1FOwQFE

Texas’ best obscure writer subject of biography
William Goyen ’37 is the subject of Clark Davis’ “It Starts With Trouble: William Goyen and the Life of Writing.”
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/1ICeDSI

Session brings some gains, partisan procedural changes, little drama
Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor and chair of political science and fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, comments on the Texas legislative session.
Times Record News
http://bit.ly/1KQARxv

Major oil field discovered — This forgotten day in Houston
On June 8, 1894, a water well contractor who was searching for a viable water supply for the city of Corsicana accidently discovered Texas’ first major oil field. The blog post mentions that William Fondren, a founder of Humble Oil, made considerable donations to Rice and other Houston institutions.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/1F5sauf

Art lover’s walking tour of Houston
Rice is included in a list of places to view art in Houston.
CBS Houston
http://cbsloc.al/1Qlux84

WEBCAST/BROADCAST

KUT-FM (Austin, Texas)
Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, discusses what could possibly happen with oil prices in the coming months.
http://tinyurl.com/oknvfrz

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Hyperbaric therapy offers hope for fibromyalgia sufferers
A proof-of-concept trial led by researchers at Rice University and institutes in Israel finds hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help patients with fibromyalgia. The late Eshel Ben-Jacob, an adjunct professor of biosciences at Rice and a senior investigator at Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, is quoted.
Fibromyalgia News Today
http://bit.ly/1JGzJxS
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves fibromyalgia pain
Pain Medicine News
http://bit.ly/1B3vJpN
Hyperbaric hope for fibromyalgia sufferers
The Record
http://bit.ly/1S1wP9R
Fibromyalgia treatment with hyperbaric chamber shows promise
Empowher.com
http://bit.ly/1dtwFJb

Ancient algae discovered in tropical mountain ice cap
Rice, Nebraska and Ohio State researchers looking for carbon in equatorial ice cores found diatoms, a type of algae. Their presence is evidence of what the landscape around the Andes in Peru might have been like more than a millennium ago. Ed Billups, professor of chemistry, and alumnus Bruce Brinson ’04 are quoted.
Live Science
http://bit.ly/1IzglEb

The rise of Red Hat and the open organization
Alumnus Jim Whitehurst ’89, CEO of Red Hat Inc., is profiled.
OpenSource.com
http://red.ht/1QkPTCq

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Who’s News: Jan. 9, 2015
Ethan Jahan has been awarded the James L. Knak Engineering Memorial Scholarship and plans to attend Rice.
Oneonta Daily Star
http://bit.ly/1B060P9

SPORTS

Berkman takes reins at Second Baptist
Lance Berkman ’98 is the new head baseball coach at Second Baptist. He will guide a program that won a 2014 TAPPS state championship and reached the state quarterfinals this year.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/1T9oq5E

Shortstops dominate Day 1 of draft
Only four universities in MLB draft history have produced three top 25 selections in the same year. In 2004, Rice standouts Phil Humber, Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend were all drafted in the top 25.
ESPN (This article also appeared on WABC-TV, ABC13-TV, ESPN UK, WLS-TV and KGO-AM.)
http://es.pn/1KZnb6t

Will Voetsch of Delbarton is State Boys Golfer of the Year, 2015
Will Voetsch plans to join the Rice Owls golf team.
NJ.com (This also appeared on Today’s Sunbeam.)
http://bit.ly/1FOFxQ6

A glance at the Phillies’ last 20 MLB drafts
Former Rice baseball standout Joe Savery is mentioned.
CSNPhilly.com
http://bit.ly/1S1AaG0

Cajuns’ Dylan Moore lands more freshman All-America honors
University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns defeated the Rice Owls 5-2 in the final game of the NCAA tournament’s Houston regional June 1.
The Advocate
http://bit.ly/1S1Bcl6

NEWS RELEASE

Baker Institute expert weighs in on Mexican telecommunications reform
Mexico’s budding telecommunications reform may have opened the door for increased competition, but it has done little in regard to content, copyright holders or television audiences, according to a telecommunications expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
http://bit.ly/1B3ySpt