Campus — The UCSD Athletics Department announced that a majority of its men’s basketball games will be broadcast live by ESPN Radio 1700 AM. 18 preseason and regular season games will air, beginning with an exhibition game at San Diego State on Monday, Nov. 5. Craig Elsten, voice of Triton basketball’s online broadcasts for its past three seasons, will serve as the play-by-play announcer, with color commentary — expert analysis and background information — by other individuals, including former UCSD players. In addition, for the second year in a row, UCSD Men’s Basketball Head Coach Chris Carlson will join host John Kentera every Tuesday night for a weekly segment on XX Sports 1090’s “Coach” Kentera Show.
“We’re extremely happy to be partnering once again with ESPN Radio,” Carlson said.
UC System — UCLA announced it will go tobacco-free beginning April 22, which is also Earth Day. UCLA will be the first University of California campus to completely ban all forms of smoking and tobacco, including electronic cigarettes. The move follows UC president Mark G. Yudof’s request that all 10 campuses be tobacco-free by 2014. UCLA professor Linda Sarna hopes the policy will help students to quit smoking.
“We know the combination of both using some medicine and social support is the gold standard,” Sarna told NBC Los Angeles. San Diego — Three men wearing skeleton masks attacked and pepper-sprayed a group of five trick-or-treaters on Halloween night in Mira Mesa. One suffered a knife wound to the arm. The victims, all teenagers, were trick-or-treating on Zapata Avenue shortly after 8 p.m. when the men started to pursue them. One of the group members told the men to stop, and a chase and fight ensued. Police say the incident may be gang-related.
San Diego — Dozens of El Cajon residents called the police after seeing strange lights floating in the sky above their neighborhood. People congregated in parking lots, staring at the non-moving lights thousands of feet in the air. Police later discovered that the lights belonged to a neighbor who had spent $300 on balloons, helium, and lights and had attached them to a fishing line that he launched 4,000 feet into the air. UC System —UC Berkeley fraternity Theta Delta Chi has been strongly criticized after hanging a gray-headed fake body from a noose outside its chapter’s house on Durant Avenue. The body was part of the fraternity’s haunted house decorations and was quickly taken down after a picture of the decorations sparked accusations of racism on Facebook. Many critics on campus likened the decoration to racially charged public hangings. The haunted house is one of the fraternity’s biggest charity events, with proceeds going to Autism Speaks and Green Stampede. Theta Delta Chi’s philanthropy chair Devin Shoop apologized for the mix up soon afterward.
