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Show I" If A MUCH-NEEDED REST: The bye week comes at a good time for the injury-riddled Utes » 6 Tuesday, sMStemb TAH CHROI^JC www.dailyutahcn [©2009. of Utah's Independent Student Voice Since 1 8 ^ Ordinance to restrict noise on Greek Row Trent Lowe ASST. NEWS EDITOR The Salt Lake City Council is looking to silence the greeks. The council voted unanimouslylast week to place harsher restrictions on parties and social gatherings in Salt Lake City that are too noisy or create problems for neighbors. Chris Burbank, chief of the Salt Professor receives research award Lake City Police Department, proposed the change to the existing city noise ordinance in response to an increasing number of complaints from neighbors throughout the city. The changes will include the police being able to levy fines to residences on the first visit, as opposed to the written warning that was the standard procedure before. Police will also be able to take civil and criminal action against repeat offenders. "We had a lot of discussion about this," said J.T. Martin, vice chair of the city council and representative from District 6. "We listened to a lot of people. We think that what we passed is very reasonable." The change comes at a cost to the U's greek system, which is already under heat from neighbors and the U for noise complaints. Fraternities have historically been notorious for parties and noise, but have, in recent months, cracked down on noise in an attempt to appease everyone involved. "We haven't had any problems since August, but that certainly doesn't make me feel any better about the situation," said Cameron Beech, president of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. "We are making See NOISE Page 4 Bus stop to get makeover Ugraduate student's website took in international suggestions Andreas Rivera STAFF WRITER The construction by the Business Loop is to install utility pipes, but it might also result in a special new bus stop. NextStopDesigThcom has received 260 design ideas for a new bus stop that the Utah Transit Authority is planning to build after the construction is complete. More than 11,000 votes from the public were cast on the submitted designs. The website received ideas ranging from simple and modern to artistic and bizarre, including a bus stop shaped like an enormous Deborah Rafferty STAFF WRITER The National Institutes of Health have awarded a U scientist for researching a potentially new effective treatment for heart disease. Ivor Benjamin, a U professor of internal medicine and biochemistry, received one of the more prestigious awards the NIH offers: the 2009 Pioneer Award. Benjamin and his team of researchers will receive $500,000 during five years, which will total $2.5 million. After a highly competitive review process, Benjamin was selected as one of 18 researchers to receive the award. Part of a larger grant program, the Pioneer Award funds innovative medical research that recognizes medical professionals who want to pursue research that opposes accepted theories, which NIH wouldn't normally fund. Benjamin's research into how a different type of stress might be causing heart diseasefitthe bill. It's scientific dogma that the body produces what Benjamin refers to as "free radicals" in response to oxygen intake. Once inside the body, the free radicals move and create chemical reactions, damaging organs and other tissues. The body produces antioxidants to help protect it from the free radicals. "We believe there is much attention paid to oxidative stress, which may cause free radicals," Benjamin said. "Our work points to the opposite condition, reductive stress. It challenges the current dogma that oxidation stress is the main pathway to give rise to types of heart failure." Although Benjamin's work is not disputing that oxidation stress is an important cause of heart failure, he is pointing out a new kind of research that had previously not been explored. In 2007, Benjamin presented findings suggesting that antioxidants, which are molecules researchers believe help protect the heart, might be the cause of heart disease and diseases of other organs. This is because of a gene mutation that can cause the body to overproduce these molecules, harming the body instead of helping it. This process of overproduction is known as reductive stress. In mouse models, the mice with increased levels of antioxidants damaged their hearts, and those with normal levels did not. About 500,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed every year, and about 3 million people suffer from it, Benjamin said. If he is successful in his research, it could result in new therapy for a disease where therapy has proven to be ineffective. "I'm clearly thrilled about the substantial funds that enable us to continue research and to be considered among the elite groups of researchers," Benjamin said, d.rafferty@ chronicle,utah.edu guest lists now to keep uninvited people out of our parties, thus keeping the risk down." The SLCPD increased its patrol of Greek Row at the beginning of September and has been more aggressive in issuing special security assignments, which is a warning issued to residences that stipulates that if the \&^£fy\:'.?^^?V^!*:Hy$:C:',?-(• '•"'••• ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY DAREN BRABHAM There were 260 designs submitted for the new Business Loop bus stop. UTA will review the top designs and make the final decision on the bus stop's design. mushroom. There were designs submitted from countries all over the world such as Greece, India and Great Britain. The website closed voting at the end of September to determine the top three submissions. The firstplace submission was sent by a person who registered under the username "tourist" from Greece. The website has yet to release tourist's real name. Daren Brabham, a U graduate teaching fellow in communication, launched NextStopDesign.com in June as a social project. Crowdsourcing, he explained, is the process of allowing an online community to solve a problem, Brabham sought to reinforce his theory that crowdsourcing can solve government and nonprofit-related problems. Although it might seem like something that has been around for awhile, Brabham said that it creates much more of an impact. "The Internet accelerates that process and brings in far more diverse ideas," he said. The Federal Transit Authority funded the project with a $115,000 grant. Brabham and Tom Sanchez, the chairman of the metropolitan and city planning department, used the grant to fund the transit project, which Brabham said would be the ideal subject for his research. UTA will review the winning designs. It has not committed to using the designs for the bus stop but is fully supportive and positive about the project, Brabham said. The website will continue on with another contest for a different bus stop somewhere in Salt Lake City, said Annie Maxfield, spokeswoman for NextStopDesign.com. a.rivera@ chronicle.utah.edu U in the process of replacing missing letters Katie Valentine F~ ? •^ i a i ^ V v;^Vr- ' ' ^ ^ * ^ ^ ^ ^ : i ^ S S 2 a S ^ : ^ STAFF WRITER Letters that were stolen from the U's front marquee on University Street are one step closer to being replaced. Some of the original letters from the marquee were stolen Aug. 6 during the night. The thieves still have not been caught and left the sign reading "Ivy of Utah, ounded in 1850." The rest of the letters were taken down shortly after the theft. All new letters had to be ordered because no one knew what font the original letters were. The new letters are on their way and will be delivered to the U in two to three weeks, about two weeks later than Steve Davis, a facilities coordinator, estimated they would arrive. This week, a facility crew will remove the anchors from the old letters to prepare for the new letters. The graduating class of 1958 paid for the original letters, said John See SIGN Page 4 LENNIE MAHLER/fft( Daily Utah Outxldt Letters were stolen Aug. 6 from the university's marquee sign on University Street at Presidents Circle. The U will install replacement letters that will be more securely attached. |