Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1997)
SPORTS Team leader Nebraska All-American outside hitter Lisa Reitsma leads the Huskers on the court, but don’t expect to see her celebrating. PAGE 7 A&E Leave it to Wally The ever-irreverent Wally Pleasant returns tonight, performing for the masses at Yiayia’s Pizza, Beer & Wine. PAGE 9 September 16, 1997 Drip, Drop Chance of rain, high 86. Clear tonight, low 57. NO. 16 Lincoln hospitals to merge ■ After years of debate, Bryan Memorial will buy its competitor, Lincoln General, for $4.2 million. By Chad Lorenz Senior Editor Lincoln City Council members waited four years to cast the vote to agree unanimously to sell Lincoln General Hospital to its competitor, Bryan Memorial Hospital, for $4.2 million; Monday. Before voting, council members described how they had been tom between following the concerns of their constituents and acting for the good of the city. this issue has been very political, Councilman Jerry Shoecraft said. “It has polarized this community.” Shoecraft said he had been skeptical of the plan during most of the negotiations. He had heard a lot from his constituents, who opposed the sale. But he thought about it with a fair, open and objective mind, he said. “I’m going to take a lot of heat for this,’’ Shoecraft said. “But we all know I can handle heat.” When the deal was shaping up, Shoecraft said he was worried most about the fate of employee’s jobs at Lincoln General. He also wanted assurance that the quality of health care wouldn’t suffer, and that Lincoln General’s dedication to charity and indigenous care would remain. If he could see those assurances in writing, he would be satisfied, and promised to support the sale. “A promise made is a promise kept,” he said before casting his vote. Please see HOSPITALS on 6 Informing „ FromMcPaper to 3* • serious news USAToda 15 years pages for the first time Monday - 15 years after USA Today set the trend that made Grace on the front page color commonplace on America’s front ^ pages. And the proud uncle? In 1981, Dick Thien, now an instructor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, was the editor of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., when he was recruited to work on a secret project in Washington. A1 Neuharth, the CEO of Gannett Co., had sold an ambitious idea to the Gannett board to start a national newspaper. It was a big gamble. The publishers of the Wall Street Journal had tried, and failed, to start a national newspaper. They pulled the National Observer off the stands after years of losing money. Thien and four other editors assembled in Washington, and set about making a newspa per that would be read in airports, aimed at 30- to 50-year-olds with incomes above $50,000. The Sept. 15, 1982 edition would be slick, colorful and quick for people on the move. The office was alive, Thien said Monday, and the editors were high on adrenaline. They knew if they pulled it off, Gannett, one of the nation’s largest newspaper chains, would have a “big league,” a major national publication, he said. With that, Gannett could keep some of the reporters it would have lost to New York, Washington or Los Angeles. Each of the five editors was given a sec tion to set up, and Thien got the sports section. A career news editor, Thien said he got the job partly because he complained about how bad sports pages. “You wind up with a sports section for jocks and coaches, not readers,” he said. “Sports is news.” With a national publication, Thien said he had the benefit of not having to worry about the local team. With the nation as fiis commu nity, he got to pick from the best stories. National coverage was much of what USA Today was about, Thien said. It was for people on the move, packed with news-you-can-use Please see USA on 3 NU Technology Park warms up to businesses By Erin Gibson Senior Reporter Most new companies will fail in the first year. But Bure Maruflu, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln management graduate student and business owner since April, said he’s determined to beat those grim odds. So at the end of this month, Maruflu will move his high-tech sign business, named Xodiac Inc., into the university’s new Technology Development Center - a 23,00 square-feet business incubator open ing Wednesday in the NU Technology Park. An incubator offers young busi nesses office space, on-site assis tance with business planning, and help with research grant acquisition to ensure their success. In the incubator, 4701 Innovation Drive in northwest Lincoln, Maruflu’s business will join at least six other like-minded start-up com panies. Chuck Henderson, technology park president, said the incubator’s goal is to nurture new businesses that will promote Nebraska’s economic development, employ NU graduates and develop technology research partnerships with faculty. N “In tech incubators, by in large, the researchers know their technolo gy very well,” Henderson said. “But they have little understanding or practical experience in business man agement and marketing.” That advice helped about 60 per cent of companies that started in incubators at University of Colorado and in the Detroit area survive for more than eight years, Henderson said. Henderson worked for incubators in both locations, and watched both balloon into large and successful pro grams that combine university Please see PARK on 2 Aaron Steckelberg/DN Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:! / www.unl.edu IDailyNeb
