By: Jared Christensen

No. 15 Minnesota will return to the Twin Cities this weekend, taking on Illinois in its first home series of the season.

The Gophers opened Big Ten play last week with two wins over No. 18 Nebraska, extending their winning streak to eight games. They lost in the third game of the series to snap that winning streak.

Still, Minnesota improved to 24-4 on the season and has won seven of its last eight games.

Gophers first-team All-Big Ten infielder Kaitlyn Richardson said finally playing at home gives the team an chance to re-

energize amid a long season.

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By: Jace Frederick

The Gophers men’s tennis team lost 11 consecutive matches at the No. 5 singles spot to start the season.

Even for a team that doesn’t measure its success with results, that’s hard not to notice.

“We know we’ve been struggling at the bottom of the lineup,” senior Juan Pablo Ramirez said.

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By: Blair Emerson

The Student Services Fees Committee released its final recommendations Monday, marking one of the final points before next year’s funding for student groups and administrative units is finalized.

Most of the final recommendations were consistent with the initial ones released last month, and groups are responding in different ways.

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By: Allison Kronberg

Marshall Dalziel stripped down to his boxers, took a pull of Captain Morgan, pretended to swim through a snow bank and crossed a finish line, where his friend tossed him a beer.

The University of Minnesota history junior turned to the camera filming him and challenged three of his most competitive friends to top his feat, and he posted the video on Facebook.

Dalziel was playing the drinking game “NekNominate,” which has gained popularity on social media in recent months, particularly among young men.

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By: Roy Aker

Legislation that would authorize the University of Minnesota to perform agricultural or academic research on hemp is moving through the state Capitol this session, gaining support from some faculty members.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, is sponsoring a bill that would authorize higher education institutions to perform industrial hemp research by allowing the Commissioner of Agriculture to administer the growth and cultivation of the crop through a pilot program.

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By: Mitchell Yurkowitz

Legislators are mulling proposals this session that aim to reduce gender segregation in the workplace by promoting nontraditional occupations and alleviating payment disparities between men and women.

Sen. Melisa Franzen, DFL-Edina, is sponsoring a bill that appropriates $500,000 for job development programs in industries where women make up less than a quarter of the workforce and $250,000 to promote nontraditional apprenticeships.

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By: Meghan Holden

Faculty and staff are asking University of Minnesota leaders to help diversify their departments.

Nearly 60 faculty and staff members met in Coffman Union on Wednesday, when Vice President for Equity and Diversity Katrice Albert addressed the University’s lack of faculty diversity while outlining her long-term plan to create a more inclusive workplace.

“Some people may feel isolated in this very big place,” she said.

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By: Nicolas Hallett

Prospect Park is welcoming major redevelopment and could look dramatically different in the coming years.

With the Green Line light rail cutting directly through the district open this June and property values on the rise, the neighborhood near the University of Minnesota is hoping to cash in and add density in the process.

The property that housed Habitat for Humanity was recently snatched up, with more likely to follow.

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By: Kristoffer Tigue

University of Minnesota researchers say they’re producing more data in a day than computers could hold less than a decade ago, and they’ll soon have extra support analyzing it.

In hopes of accelerating research, the University is establishing a new institute to help analyze the large amount of data coming from faculty labs and research centers. The University of Minnesota Informatics Institute will specialize in big data analysis, which officials said is needed more than ever as computers generate more data than researchers can analyze.

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By: Breanna Ten Eyck, University student

The debate on whether amnesty should be given to all current undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is one that needs to be settled sooner rather than later.

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 75 percent of Americans agree that immigration reform would benefit the American economy. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that immigration reform would result in a $197 billion decrease in the federal deficit. Not only would reform result in a decrease in the deficit, but state and federal tax contributions would increase as well.

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