LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 29, 2000 - 3 HIGHER ED t Deer hunter U.S. 23 closed after fatal crash Ohio State riots to cost taxpayers at least $80,000 Riots on the campus of Ohio State University last week after the school's football team lost to Michigan will cost Columbus tax- payers at least $80,000, police said. Columbus police are still assess- ing the cost of controlling the riots, which resulted in dozens of arrests. Firefighters extinguished 129 fires across campus, although many were contained to trash bins. Damage to police squad cars and overtime pay for officers will make up a large portion of the total cost of the Nov. 18-19 riots. Several hundred additional offi- cers were brought on duty as postgame parties spilled out onto the streets after 2 a.m. Michigan defeated Ohio State, 38-26, marking the 10th time-in 13 seasons that the Wolverines have defeated the Buckeyes. Indiana University student jumps out window of highrise An Indiana University sopho- more died last week after falling from the eighth floor of a universi- ty building. University police and the county coroner deemed Jason Schwab's death as suicide. Police said Schwab used a chair to break a window in the stairwell of Ballantine Hall last Tuesday. He then climbed out the window and fell 80 to 90 feet. Schwab died of multiple head injuries and blunt force trauma to the left side of his body shortly before he was found, olice said. Police also found a suicide note on the computer screen in his resi- dence hall. Schwab was supposed to leave later Tuesday to fly home to New York for Thanksgiving break. Schwab's father was waiting for him Tuesday night at the airport. UC hopes to add .ore graduates The University of California Board of Regents recently announced a plan to increase the nine-school system's number of graduate stu- dents by 11,000 in the next decade. The plan includes supplying more funding for research and teaching. A special commission will examine ways to provide more inancial support for the enrollment Ijump. Graduate students make up 1.7 percent of total student enrollment, compared to 35 percent in 1965. The UC graduate student popula- tion has not grown in the past 30 years. C. Judson King, UC provost and vice president, said the univer- sity needs more graduate syudents to replace current teachers, teach undergraduate students and to make *ure the state has a competitive workforce in the future. Columbia U. beds invaded by pests Bed bugs have infected the sheets of many students at Colum- bia University's Woodbridge Hall. An exterminator was called in to id the students of the four- to five- millimeter long bloodsuckers. The university reimbursed all Wood- bridge Hall residents for the laun- dry done that day. Students also could send their clothes and bed materials to a laun- dry service. Some students at a sep- arate university building, the International House, claimed bed bugs were infecting the facility. One Woodbridge Hall resident aid the insects originated from a bed frame another student brought from home. - Compiled fiom U-Wire reports by Daily Staff Reporter Robert Gold. Semi rear-ends van stopped in traffic, killing two Brighton residents By Caitlin Nish Daily Staff Reporter PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP - Two Brighton residents were killed yesterday afternoon in a chain-reac- tion crash on U.S. 23 that shut down the highway for nearly seven hours. Francis and Lillian Debruyne of Brighton died instantly in the 12:50 p.m. crash after their van was rear- ended by a semi tractor-trailer on northbound U.S. 23 near Interstate 94. The vehicles struck four other passenger cars and another semi, Michigan State Police Trooper Eric Byerly said. Byerly said traffic was backed up in the northbound lanes of the high- way for several miles due to an ear- lier accident near Geddes Avenue. "It was raining and foggy and everyone was stopped for the earlier accident," Byerly said. "A semi coming northbound on 23 plowed into the back end of the cars that were stopped." The half-mile stretch of highway reopened at about 7:45 p.m., Byerly said. Two other people, whose names the trooper would not release, were taken to the University Hospitals and St. Joseph's Hospital with non- life-threatening injuries. "They were conscious and walk- ing around at the scene," Byerly said. - The Associated Press contributed to this report. Top state officials ask for pay raises: John Robinette of Grand Rapids sits in his tree stand yesterday demonstrating how he positioned himself last month as he shot a five-point buck with his bow and arrow. Two of the six hunters who have been shot to death during the state's 16-day firearm deer season were killed by self-inflicted gunshot wounds while climbing or atop elevated platforms. Report: State lags behind in Children's heal LANSING (AP) - Michigan lags behind several national goals set in 1990 to improve children's well-being because the state has failed to significantly improve pre- ventive and prenatal health care, according to a study released today. Michigan met five of the 23 childhood well-being initia- tives developed in 1990 by national health experts for the Healthy People 2000 project, said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, director of Kids Count in Michigan for the Michigan League for Human Services. The Kids Count report included a focus on childhood asthma, considered one of the most preventable reasons for hospitalization of children in Michigan, to measure access to preventive health care. The hospitalization rate for children with asthma in Michigan remained about 33 children of every 10,000 throughout the 1990s; it was 53 of every 10,000 for infants with asthma between ages I and 4. A lengthy hospital stay could take an economic and emo- tion toll on a low-income family because of missed school and work, Zehnder-Merrell said. While black children between ages 5 and 9 with asthma had a hospitalization rate of 126 per 10,000, their white th care goals counterparts had a rate of 37. The hospitalization rate drops to 46 for black children ages 10-14, but continues to tower over the II of every 10,000 for white children who are hos- pitalized because of asthma in the same age group. "African-American kids are more highly dependent on the public Medicaid system, and showing they're ending up in the hospital suggests that they are not getting access to preventable care,"she said. But Geralyn Lasher, spokeswoman for the Department of Community Health, said the state's health care system is accessible to low-income residents. "We know we have bet- ter access to health care than ever before," Lasher said, adding that the state has $500,000 to spend on a study by childhood asthma experts to prevent hospital stays. There were 16 percent of children in Michigan without insurance between 1996 and 1998, which was below the national average of 25 percent, according to the national Kids Count report. While Michigan achieved national goals of reducing teen-age pregnancy, infant mortality and violence among teen-agers, the state made little or no progress in increasing the number of mothers receiving prenatal care or lower the percent of low birth-weight babies. LANSING (AP) - The state's top judges, executives and lawmakers told a state panel yesterday that they want a pay raise. Chief Justice Elizabeth Weaver, House Speaker Chuck Perricone and Senate Republicans and Democrats laid out their case for higher salaries before a the State Officers We wa Compensation Com- mission. rec it The commission eople plans to decide by its Dec. 7 meeting Legislal whether to recom- mend-raises and how - State Ser much they should be. The recommenda- tions would go into effect next year unless- two-thirds of the House and Senate reject them by Feb. 1. On Monday, Republican Gov. John Engler said he wouldn't reject a pay raise and added, "nor should anyone else." Engler now makes $151,245, third highest among governors nation- ally. He hinted that he'd like to make as much as the state's mayors, includ- ing Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, who earns $176,000 a year. The commission said little abodt whether it intended to raise salaries fqt the governor, lieutenant governor, judges and lawmakers. But severat sympathized with legislative leaders who said term int to the best to the n. John Schwarz R-Battle Creek limits and a $56,981 annual salary are making it hard to recruit House and Senate candidates. We want to recruit the best peon pie to the Legisla ture' said state Sent John Schwarz (R1 Battle Creek), "Because of ternt limits and inade- quate pay, it's very difficult to do now." Term limits, which allow Houso members to serve no more than six' years and senators to serve no more than eight, were supposed to draw fresh new faces to the Legislature. Instead, they've made it almost impossible to convince anyone in their 30s through mid-50s to trade a regular job for a legislative one, Senate Major- ity Leader Dan DeGrow said. State releases annual store scanner report ~1 DETROIT (AP) - The state attor- ney general's annual investigation into the accuracy of retail UPC scanners shows that precision across the board has remained nearly unchanged. But unlike last year, when state Attorney General Jennifer Granholm took retail giant J.C. Penney to task and nearly took it to court over frequent consumer overcharging, the state's probe didn't find any retailers with exaggerated inaccuracy. Scanners overcharged or under- charged investigators on 52 of 308 pur- chases -16.9 percent. "The consumers need to be checking their lists twice, but also need to be checking their receipts twice," Granholm said yesterday. Investigators shopped at 20 stores, representing seven national chains. None had a 100 percent accuracy rate. They shopped at Hudson's, J.C. Pen- ney, Kmart, Kohl's, Mervyn's, Sears and Target stores in Novi, Dearborn, Sterling Heights, Shelby Township, Wyoming, Grandvilleand Kentwood. Scanners at the J.C. Penney store at Dearborn's Fairlane Mall were the most precise, with a 5.6 percent mistake rate; scanners at Hudson's in the same mall were the least precise, with a 42.9 per- cent rate. In a statement, Hudson's said only one of the six errors at the Fairlane store was an overcharge, and the remaining five were undercharges. But the survey's results did not meet Hudson's goal, the statement said. "We regularly audit our systems and in-store signing to ensure prices are correct," it said. "We strive to be 100 percent accurate." Granholm said mistakes are the result of human error. In many cases, sale signs are left at racks after sales have ended. Sometimes, a clerk fails to enter a discount at the register or enters an incorrect discount. Sometimes, scan- ners are programmed with incorrect prices. Last year's mistake rate was 16.9 per- cent. The previous year's was 15.2. The Michigan Retailers Association hopes to work with Granholm to improve price accuracy, said Larry Meyer, CEO of the trade group for the state's general retailers. "We've got to be ever-vigilant," Meyer said. "Can we put enough peo- ple on the floor to make sure this never . happens? No. And it is probably impos- sible to be perfect." Meyer said he thinks 96 percent accuracy is a reasonable goal. He favors a change in retail practices that would dispense with most per-item price tags in favor of bin or shelf pricing. Relabel- ing each item as prices change opens the door to error, he said. wO I d 0 , ::, , > , _ .; :. J i MutantBoy.com"'' Win a NEW HONDA Civic and PHAT CA$H!* Sign up to get your FREE email address and WIN! Choose from over 350 Addresses like- THE CALENDAR What's happening in Ann Arbor today : Twisted Brain.com * eeyah.com - Big erBadder.com - Skitreme.com . RaveTime.com - FearlessFemale.com " Too-Smart.com - Feisty-Girl.com - ArtOrbie.com - WassupWitbat.com EVENTS "Their Own Worst Enemies: Intrana- tional Conflict on National Issues in Central Europe," Sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European Studies, Kevin Krause will speak, noon, 1636 SSWB, Ave., 994-3496 U FoodAddicts in Recovery Anony- mous, 7:00 p.m., First Baptist Church. 512 E. Huron. 913-9614 U Hildegard Schmidt Lindstrom Discus- sion and signing, 7:00 p.m., Arbor- land Borders, 3527 Washtenaw, 677-6948 Ann..Arhnr .nnnnr( Gnun CF Qfl bers,A3909 Michigan Union, 615- SM SA Community Service Commission Meeting, 6:30 p.m., MSA Cham- bers, 3909 Michigan Union, 615- 5MSA SE RVICES \ and you can kick those other uny schools around with your FRE... 11 I I M i