After posting a strong fourth-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament last weekend,the UC Davis women’s lacrosse team closed out its2009season with a17-11loss at the hands of Louisville on Saturday at Aggie Stadium. ItwasSenior Day for attacker Patrice Clark and midfielder Eri Ichikawa.The two served as team leaders,setting the example for a young UC Davis roster.

University of California President Mark Yudof announced his recommendation of Linda Katehi from the University of Illinois to be UC Davis‘ sixth chancellor on Friday. Pending approval by the UC Board of Regents later this week,Katehi will take over for Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef on Aug.17.Vanderhoef announced his retirement in June2008after serving15years as chancellor preceded by another10as executive vice chancellor and provost.

Fellow Aggies,I have experienced a personal triumph.No,I didn‘t master sleeping with my eyes open in class,nor did I finally figure out the mystery that is traffic.My victory was in vocabulary,and occurred in tiny boxes separated by black spaces.I finished the crossword puzzle.

Fears about swine flu in Davis were alleviated yesterday after laboratory testing confirmed that two suspected local cases of the disease were in fact regular human influenza.Holmes Junior High School was prepared to shut down for two weeks after school officials were told on Friday that a student there had a “probable” case of the H1N1virus – more commonly known as swine flu.

ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at6:10p.m.Times listed are according to the clock at theApr.30meeting location,the Memorial Union’s Mee Room. Meeting was called to order at6:10p.m. Joe Chatham,ASUCD president,present Chris Dietrich,ASUCD vice president,present Joemar Clemente,ASUCD senator,present Danny Garrett,ASUCD senator,present Justin Gold,ASUCD senator,present Erin Lebe,ASUCD senator,present Kevin Massoudi,ASUCD senator,present Justin Patrizio,ASUCD senator,present Laura Pulido,ASUCD senator,present Shawdee Rouhafza,ASUCD senator,present Trevor Taylor,ASUCD senator,present Mo Torres,ASUCD senator,present Previn Witana,ASUCD senator,present Jack Zwald,ASUCD president pro-tempore,present

The UC Davis women’s track and field team dropped its third straightduel with Sacramento State on Friday,but the Hornets weren’t the only thing the Aggies were up against. Confronted by heavy rain,blistering wind and worries of weather-induced injuries,the Aggies pulled some athletes from competition and even cancelled the pole vault altogether in their103.5-81.5loss at the Causeway ClassicTrack and Field Duel in Sacramento.

Of all six propositions on the May 19 special election ballot, Proposition 1A in particular has been the focus of much media attention due to a growing opposition. Prop 1A would create a larger “rainy day” fund for the state budget that would be used in times of economic crisis and to help relieve the current budget crisis.

If enacted,Prop1D would provide over$600million to protect health and human services programs for children by temporarily redirecting existing tobacco tax money from First5California,a government-funded early childhood program created in1998.Funding would go toward services for at-risk families,children with disabilities and foster children. The proposition would also help balance the state budget,amounting to a projected state General Fund savings of up to$608million in2009-2010and$268million annually from2010-2011through2013-2014.

The UC Davis McNair Scholars Program is designed toalleviate thegraduate schoolapplication process for18to20students who come from underprivileged backgrounds. The McNair Scholars Program is a two-year scholarly program funded by the U.S.Department of Education and TRIO.Henry Covarrubias,the director of the UC Davis McNair Scholars Program,described the different benefits of participating in the program.

Mark Cuban may have come up with a business model to save newspapers,but it’s doubtful anyone will listen.In anApr.26blog post (blogmaverick.com),Cuban lays out an idea that newspapers could use to save themselves,but I’m pretty sure newspaper CEO’s don’t read blogs (judging by their general “La lala I can’t hear you” attitude for the past several years).Anyway,his idea is essentially that newspapers should become mini-Amazon.coms for their respective cities.

The ceremonial ground breaking for a hotel expected to open January2010on the southern edge of campus took placeonThursday,with representatives from the University Hospitality Group,Hyatt,the city of Davis and UC Davis officials including Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. The majority of funding for the75-room Hyatt Place boutique hotelcomes from the University Hospitality Group,which is acting as the developer of the project and willstaff andmanage the hotel upon its completion.

Next up on the schedule for the UC Davis baseball team:the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. All right,not exactly.You get the idea,though. Coach Rex Peters couldn’t have drawn up a tougher schedule for his club had he tried,especially in the past six series. Over that span,the Aggies have squared off with defending champ Fresno State and three top-25teams (No.6Cal State Fullerton,No.15Cal Poly and No.21San Diego State).