Year: 2013

It was a bittersweet moment for Baylor fans as they watched the winningest senior class defeat Kansas State 90-68 in its last regular season game in front of a crowd of 10,600 Monday at the Ferrell Center.

It was only fitting that senior center Brittney Griner scored a career-high 50 points, which also happened to be a new Big 12 record for the most points scored in a game as the crowd cheered her name.

“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Griner said. “I’m glad I got to do it right here in front of our fans.”

The Baylor Bears lost to the Texas Longhorns 79-70 in Austin on Monday. It was a loss that carried a lot of weight in determining Baylor’s hopes of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. With only one regular season game remaining on Saturday against Kansas, the Bears will likely have to have a stellar performance in the Big 12 tournament to earn an NCAA bid.

There is a rhyme passed down by Latin students that goes: Latin is a language, dead as dead can be. First it killed the Romans, now it’s killing me.

On Friday, 200 Texas high-school students from 10 high schools arrived at Baylor to prove that Latin is still very much alive.

Often Christians find themselves trying to navigate difficult cultural and political issues they disagree with while still relying on biblical principles. In a speech given Monday, Dr. Marvin Olasky advised listeners on how to navigate these issues in “Rafting the Political Rapids.”

Olasky, the Editor-in-Chief of World News Group, came as a guest speaker in Baylor. In his speech, Olasky discussed the intersection between religion, politics and culture, and how he thinks Christians should navigate this intersection.

There were few empty seats in the audience of Jones Concert Hall Monday night as Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney read a compilation of his poetry including an exerpt from Beowulf. Heaney’s poetry reading was part of the 19th annual Beall Poetry Festival.

“It is my great honor to be at Baylor University, where there is such great respect and sponsorship for poetry,” Heaney said.

Tonight, the Baylor Symphony Orchestra concert will feature classic works as well as a newer work by Dr. Scott McAllister, professor of composition at Baylor.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

The program will begin with the second suite from Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The seven-movement suite was extracted from the ballet score, that Prokofiev composed in 1934.

Thanks for your timely and balanced coverage of current gun law debates. I’m writing in response to your survey results on Sen. Birdwell’s proposed concealed carry bill that would allow licensed carriers to bring firearms onto college campuses. It is often the case with “opt-in” surveys that those who respond are often those who have the strongest feelings, one way or another.

Thank you for your viewpoint on concealed weapons for our campus that was expressed in Friday’s Lariat, in the article “Professor’s perspective”

My objection to your comments concerns your statement “The issue boils down to the probabilities”. To use your words, you are also engaging “in emotionalism” since the facts – or probabilities as you refer to – really do not back you up. A joint U.S. Department of Education/Secret Service report estimates the odds that someone dies in a school shooting is 1 in 1 million.

I am writing in response to a few issues raised in The Lariat’s excellent coverage of the controversy over the petition my colleague Dr. Blake Burleson and I wrote opposing Sen. Brian Birdwell’s Campus Personal Protection Act.

It is stated in the article “Students’ take” from the February 26 issue of the Lariat, that “Baylor professors expressed concern for their safety in a classroom that permitted concealed carry.” My personal safety is not the issue. As a professor and the father of two Baylor students, I am concerned first and foremost for the safety of my students.

We’ve all seen them. We all hate them: the countless bloggers, tweeters and commenters who incessantly force their consciousness into the Internet under the faceless mask of anonymity. And let’s face it: We do it, too.

Thanks to constantly developing technology, this is inescapable and pervasive. However, a recent bill proposed by an Illinois senator suggests these commenters should be ripped free of their masks and that anonymous Internet posts should be done away with completely.

In just over a week, thousands of conservatives will gather at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center at National Harbor in Maryland, just outside Washington. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) moved this year to the new location to accommodate more guests after record-breaking attendance last year.

The conference will feature most of the forerunners of the conservative movement, providing an opportunity for potential presidential nominees to test the waters.

The Baylor Lariat printed an article titled “Professors unite against concealed carry” on Feb. 21, detailing the Baylor professors that have signed and filed a letter in opposition to Sen. Bill 182.

The bill was filed by Texas Sen. Brian Birdwell on Jan. 17 and would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

Greg and Daniel discuss the near-hopeless state of Baylor’s basketball season, Brittney Griner’s transcendental talent and final performance at the Ferrell Center, and the inevitable exciting finish to the NBA season. Follow the show on Twitter @DFTBPodcast. For more hard-hitting sports analysis, follow @GregDeVries3000 and @D_Hill80.

They came, they took an oath of secrecy, and they agreed to send a message to the previous pope, whose resignation has thrown the church into turmoil and unleashed a new wave of scandals.

The cardinals meeting to choose the next pope started work Monday on planning their conclave. Benedict XVI remained holed up at the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, his temporary retirement home while cardinals pick his successor.

The red-hot men’s tennis team beat Laredo Community College and Abilene Christian Saturday with 7-0 victories in both matches.

The 26th-ranked Bears (9-1) have extended their win streak to seven with these two wins.

“It felt great,” head coach Matt Knoll said. “14-0, wonderful day to be a Baylor Bear.”

The No. 20 Lady Bear softball team passed its first real challenge on Sunday as it defeated No. 3 Arizona State 6-2 in the final game of the Wilson DeMarini invitational. Baylor handed the Sun Devils their first loss of the season, as Baylor faced its first ranked opponent of the season.

Automatic government spending cuts could see military operations across Texas lose at least $1.7 billion before the end of the fiscal year, the U.S. Defense Department said late Friday.

In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry obtained by The Associated Press, the department said that no deal in Congress to stave off $85 billion in federal budget reductions means $41 billion will evaporate from the Defense Department budget by Sept. 30.

The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned.

The newly disclosed figures, cited in internal budget documents reviewed by the AP, are significantly higher than the “few hundred” illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process.

Little Rock may not be a likely terrorism target or a gang crime hotspot, but the Arkansas capital has decided to follow the example of high-security cities by expanding electronic surveillance of its streets.

A police car with a device that photographs license plates moves through the city and scans the traffic on the streets, relaying the data it collects to a computer for sifting. Police say the surveillance helps identify stolen cars and drivers with outstanding arrest warrants.

With one second left in the game and the score tied 61-61, Kansas State senior guard Rodney McGruder buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to sink Baylor 64-61 in regulation.

It was a heart-breaking loss for the Bears considering they played toe-to-toe with the No. 13 team in the country for 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

The No. 20 Baylor Lady Bears softball team’s 14-game winning streak was snapped on Friday after a 3-0 loss to North Carolina. However, Baylor responded by winning the second game of the double-header 20-4 against North Dakota. Baylor is now 16-3 for the season and will play in another double-header on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

After almost three years in custody, the Army private accused in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history said he did it because he wanted the public to know how the American military was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with little regard for human life.

Bradley Manning, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday at a military hearing at Fort Meade, Md., to 10 charges that could carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors plan to pursue 12 more charges against him at court-martial, including a charge of aiding the enemy that carries a potential life sentence.

Margaret Fiester is no shrinking violet, but she says working for her former boss was a nightmare.

“One day I didn’t do something right and she actually laid her hands on me and got up in my face and started yelling, ‘Why did you do that?'” said Fiester, who worked as a legal assistant for an attorney.

A commercial craft carrying a ton of supplies for the International Space Station ran into thruster trouble shortly after liftoff Friday, and flight controllers scrambled to fix the problem.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said three of the four sets of thrusters on the company’s unmanned Dragon capsule did not immediately kick in, delaying the release of twin solar panels for two hours.

Campus Rec is offering a CPR certification course from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday in 314 McLane Student Life…

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to strap on your stilettos because a stampede is coming to town.

Registration for the Stiletto Stampede begins today.

The event will take place on April 27 at Heritage Square to help educate and raise awareness about breast cancer.