LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 21, 2002 - 3A
Playing it cool
Environmentalists: Fuel
Damaged door
frame evidence of
possible break-in
A woman in the Frieze Building
reported Tuesday morning that she
believed someone attempted to break into
a room in the building's basement some-
time over the weekend. According to
Department of Public Safety reports, the
wood around the door's lock had been
chiseled and the door's frame was bent.
Wayward cart
injures student
A cart resting in a cooler in Bursley
Residence Hall rolled out of the room
to strike a student Tuesday. The colli-
sion caused the victim's legs to bruise
and swell, DPS reports state.
Mechanic's work
causes burst pipe
A man in Northwood Family Hous-
ing complained that after mechanics
came to his house to fix a pipe Tues-
day, the pipe blew up, spewing dirt and
debris all over his apartment. Accord-
ing to DPS reports, the man said the
broken pipe caused a lot of damage to
his apartment and that it would take a
lot of money to clean it up.
Backpack stolen
from bathroom
DPS officers recovered a black
satchel bag stolen Tuesday from a Cen-
tral Campus Recreation Building men's
locker room in a parking lot later that
day. The victim had stated that he left the
bad unattended in the locker room
because it did not contain anything of
value. Upon recovering the bag, officers
discovered it held a pair of Gap jeans, an
MCard, a CD, prescription glasses and a
Texas Instruments TI-86 calculator, for a
total value of over $235.
The victim said he saw another col-
lege-aged male of unknown race stuff-
ing things into a bag while in the locker
room and now believes it was his bag the
other male was using. It was unclear
whether the items in the bag belonged to
the victim or the suspect.
Jacket reported
stolen later found
in lost and found
A person in Angell Hall reported his
jacket had been stolen from the fish-
bowl computing site yesterday. He then
stated he recovered his jacket in the
area's lost and found.
Equipment stolen
from med campus
An estimated $1,094 worth of com-
puter equipment was reported stolen
Monday from the Towsley Center on
the University's Medical Campus. The
equipment included computer mice,
batteries and CD/DVD ROM modules.
Suspect cleared
of attempting to
steal bicycle
A caller stated that another person
attempted to steal his bicycle from the
Diag Monday. The caller confronted
the suspect, who was released to his
grandmother after police officers
determined that he had not been trying
to steal the bicycle.
Patient uses IV
pole as weapon
A patient at University Hospital broke
the IV pole off his gurney Tuesday
morning and attempted to use it as a
weapon, DPS reports state. The patient
put the makeshift weapon down when
asked to do so, and the pole was taken to
the maintenance shop for repairs.
Spraying water
causes panic in
Northwood IV
A resident of Northwood IV on
North Campus reported Sunday morn-
ing that a pipe underneath their kitchen
sink was spraying water and flooding
the room. The caller reported that the
pipe's shut-off valve was not working,
and the call was turned over to the Uni-
versity's on-duty maintenance crew.
Resident sets off
fire alarm by
burning popcorn
A resident of East Quad Residence
Hall admitted Sunday afternoon that he
accidentally burned his popcorn, thus
setting off the residence hall's fire alarm.
. PatiAnt banmes
1
1
1
efficiency plan in,
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal jobs," she said.
proposal to make sport utility vehi- A final standard must be issued by
cles and other light trucks more fuel April 1, after public comment, to
efficient would not significantly give automakers time to make design
reduce U.S. dependence on foreign changes for the 2005 model year.
oil or clean the air, environmentalists Automakers say the increase
said yesterday. would be a challenge and would
Each automaker's fleet of light depend a lot on consumer demand.
trucks - a class that includes SUVs, The idea, however, is much less
pickups and minivans - would have aggressive than the 35 mpg standard
to get 22.2 miles per gallon by the by 2015 offered by Sen. John Kerry
2007 model year, compared with the (D-Mass.) and rejected by the Senate
current requirement of 20.7 mpg, over the summer.
Bush administration officials said. Automakers said such a proposal
The 1.5 mpg increase would be would have forced them to close
phased in by half-gallon steps begin- plants where larger vehicles are
ning in 2005. made and build smaller cars that
The White House budget office increase the safety risk for occupants
and two federal agencies are in an accident.
reviewing the proposal. Officials Environmentalists say automakers
have yet to decide on a standard, could reach 40 mpg by 2012 for cars
White House spokeswoman Claire and light trucks by using existing
Buchan said. technology.
"Any decision that is made will be "The minimal thing that they are
made consistent with administration considering is an indication of how
policy, which is that fuel economy trivial they think this issue is," said
should be improved in a way that Dan Becker of the Sierra Club. "It
protects lives, promotes passenger isn't going to make a meaningful dif-
safety and also protects American ference in fuel economy."
adequate
The proposal developed by the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration was based on infor-
mation provided by automakers
about their ability to increase fuel
economy. The standard is called
corporate average fuel economy -
or CAFE - because it does not
apply to every vehicle, but the aver-
age of all the vehicles that each
automaker sells.
The rate for cars is 27.5 mpg. The
last rate increases for trucks were
between 1993 and 1996, when the
government raised standards by from
20.4 miles per gallon to 20.7 miles
per gallon. Congress blocked the
Clinton administration from making
raising the standard.
"We're reconciled to higher CAFE
standards, and these higher fuel
economy standards are going to be a
real challenge," said Gloria
Bergquist, spokeswoman for the
Alliance of Automobile Manufactur-
ers. "Meeting federal fuel economy
standards depends on what con-
sumers buy, not what manufacturers
offer for sale."
JASON COOPER/Daily
LSA junior Jack Conroy shoots some pool in the billiards room
at the Michigan Union yesterday.
LSA BUILDING "This whole place
. Ln..n D in A
PARTIES
Continued from Page 1A
Michigan Democratic Party, said while answering ques-
tions yesterday in front of students in University General
Counsel Marvin Krislov's class titled "Law and Public
Policy."
Rusty Hills, the chairman of the Michigan Republican
State Committee, said Republican candidates rode President
Bush's coattails partly because his war proposals enjoy
tremendous support among voters.
"Bush is very popular, and he spent a lot of time recruit-
ing candidates that fit the Bush mold," Hills said.
Along with regaining control of the state House of
Representatives, Brewer said his party's goal for the
2004 election is carrying the state for the democratic
presidential candidate. Although Bush's approval rating
is astronomical, Brewer said Democrats will focus on
health care reform, the availability of prescription drugs
and the state of the economy if Republicans do not
address these issues.
"Two years is a very, very long time in politics," Brewer
said. "If there's a war, and the war goes badly, there'll be a
lot of debate."
Hills said Bush's approval rating will remain strong
through 2004. He added the presidential race in Michigan
will be intense because no senator will be up for re-election
and no major state races will divert attention from it. He
said Democrats feel their presidential candidate must win
Michigan to defeat Bush.
In addition to discussing preparations for the 2004 elec-
tion, the two chairmen also explained the results of several
races in Michigan.
While many political pundits and voters were critical of
the undertone of Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Dick
Posthumus' campaign, which were often labeled negative
and divisive, Hills defended Posthumus' ads, saying they
attacked Granholm's opinions, and not her personality.
"We wanted to hold Jennifer accountable," he said. "She'd
take stands and positions on issues that we thought were
outside of the mainstream."
Although Granholm successfully fended off the attacks,
Melvin Butch Hollowell, the Democratic candidate for sec-
retary of state, lost to Republican opponent Terri Land by a
double-digit margin, despite garnering numerous newspaper
endorsements. Brewer attributed the loss partly to the fact
that Land could afford many more television ads.
"(Hollowell) was outspent about two to one by Land,
who was individually and family-wise very wealthy,"
Brewer said.
The chairmen also discussed the recent campaign finance
reform legislation passed by Congress and the quality of
political coverage on television.
Brewer said the McCain-Feingold bill, which increases
regulations on campaign finance, will have a huge effect on
political campaigns.
Hills countered by pointing out that campaign funds will
merely be siphoned off to special interest groups, which he
called "far less accountable.
"The money's not going to go away," he said. "People
have the illusion that something's changed, and what's
changed is we're going to hire more lawyers and account-
ants to grapple with this."
Hills proposed greater campaign finance transparency to
let voters see where candidates receive their funds, but
Brewer said disclosure "is necessary but not enough."
In addition to campaign finance reform, television cover-
age of elections must improve, Hills said.
"Television coverage is just awful," he said. "There's a
culture in television. They just don't like political coverage.
They think it's boring."
Brewer said free television time for candidates would
increase their exposure to voters and reduce the need to
raise money for ads.
Continued from Page 1A
room that is "long and skinny ... it's
not conducive to discussion at all."
Plans for renovations of the 54-
year-old building are still in the pre-
liminary stages, and architects are
working on the schematic design. It is
not yet known which departments will
permanently relocate. Brown said she
expects more solid plans to be
released after the first of the year. She
said only a couple of floors will have
new layouts, including the fifth floor
penthouse, which will be changed to
make room for the new cooling tower
and chillers.
The construction will start with
completely gutting the inside of the
building so that new wiring can be
installed and fire safety measures
installed.
Brown said this will begin when the
occupants of the LSA Building move
into other campus buildings, including
the newly renovated Haven Hall and
Mason Hall, which is still under con-
struction.
She said the LSA building project
was a priority of the College of Litera-
ture, Sciences and Arts.
"It fit in because they were able to
get the Mason and Haven projects
done," said Brown.
Brown said the project should take
about 18 months after demolition
seems run down ...
If you go to any
engineering
building, they are
so much nicer."
- Suchi Sethi
LSA freshman
inside the building ends.
"The preliminary plan is to have the
building empty probably around June
of 2003," she said.
This means the project will run
through next school year and finish
early in 2005.
The Board of Regents approved the
project in 1999. It will cost about $25
million, with the state of Michigan
funding $16.5 million and the Univer-
sity paying the rest.
Simpson Gumpertz and Heger Inc.
is the architectural firm in charge of
the project.
Brown said she did not know how
the construction would affect parking.
She said there would be minimal
impact on State Street, but the parking
lot behind the LSA Building might be
used as a lay down area by the con-
struction team.
Work hard, play hard...
In the same place.
Photographer
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