NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 3A
ON CAMPUS
Gargoyle Humor
Magazine to hold
mass meeting
The Gargoyle Humor Magazine
will be having its Critical-Mass Meet-
ing today at 7 p.m. in the Student
Publication building located at 420
Maynard St. Anyone who is interested
is encouraged to stop in and visit.
Visiting artist will
display sculpture
made of bread
Lloyd Hall Scholars Program's visit-
ing artist, Beili Liu, has created a deli-
cious addition to the art world. The
artist has made a site-specific sculpture,
"Breadth" in the DineArts gallery locat-
ed in the Dining Room of Alice Lloyd
Residence Hall. Beili's work is com-
posed of individual slices of bread from
500 loaves. The artist will be present-
ing her work to the general public today
from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Alice Lloyd din-
ing room.
Society of Physics
Students to hold
meeting today
The Society of Physics Students will be
holding its first meeting of the year today
at West Hall, room 337, at 6:15 p.m. for
prospective physics students and incoming
students that are new to the organization.
At 7 p.m., the meeting will continue with
all returning members. Various items will
be discussed, including theme semester
happenings, the upcoming breakfast with
Jocelyn Bell Burnell and department-
sponsored tutoring sessions for introduc-
tory physics courses.
CRIME
NOTES
Parking pass
stolen, suspect
not yet charged
On Tuesday, a University, paflging
pass was stolen from a vehicle in a
parking lot at 1100 block of the West
Medical Center. A Department of Pub-
lic Safety officer found a stolen park-
ing permit in someone else's car, which
wtasfound at 12:20 p.m., nearly an hour
after the crime was committed. The
owner of the car with the stolen park-
ing permit was interviewed. Until the
Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office
sees grounds for a warrant of arrest, the
owner won't be charged with larceny,
S according to DPS.
Laptop stolen
from Hatcher
Graduate Library,
no suspects
On Tuesday, a laptop was stolen
in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate
Library at 9:56 p.m. The incident
took place in the third-floor stacks.
The Sony laptop was left unattend-
Unemployment
rate lowest since
spring of 2004
LANSING (AP) - Michigan's unem-
ployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent in
August, the state announced yesterday.
The seasonally adjusted rate was the
lowest since April 2004, but still likely
among the nation's highest.
Michigan's July jobless rate was 7
percent, highest among the 50 states.
A state-by-state breakdown was not
yet available for August, but the
national unemployment rate was 4.9
percent, according to the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
"Michigan's labor market in
August displayed some positive
movement," Rick Waclawek, direc-
tor of the state's Bureau of Labor
Market Information and Strategic
Initiatives, said in a statement.
The jobless rate was helped last
month in part because temporarily laid-
off employees in the auto industry were
called back to work. The state added
5,000 manufacturing payroll jobs in
August, according to a monthly survey
of employers.
That is a rarity in Michigan, which
has lost 32,000 manufacturing jobs in
the past year.
Government also added 5,000 jobs,
partly because of higher employment in
public schools. Employment in the gov-
ernment sector is down by 7,000 jobs
compared to a year ago, however.
Because of those summer employ-
ment trends in Michigan, economists
cautioned against reading too much into
yesterday's report.
"I was not one of those dismayed by
the numbers last month, nor will I be one
of those celebrating the numbers this
month," University of Michigan econo-
mist George Fulton said. "Michigan has
been sitting around 7 percent (unem-
ployment) for a long time. We're going
to sit around there for a while yet."
About 3,000 jobs were lost in retail
trade in August. About 2,000 jobs were
lost in education and health services.
Most other employment sectors stayed
about the same. Professional and busi-
ness jobs slipped by 1,000 in August,
making the year-to-year decline about
8,000 jobs. Some economists say that is
a particularly troubling trend for Michi-
gan because it shows job loss is broader
than manufacturing.
The total number of non-farm payroll
jobs, according to the monthly survey,
was up by 8,000 in August to 4.35 mil-
lion. But the payroll jobs total was down
by 49,000 compared to a year ago.
Sheriffs: county jail
system oul
LANSING (AP) - Michigan's 17,878-
bed county jail system is running out of
space, and sheriffs say it would help if
judges and state lawmakers found alterna-
tives for handling drug users and the men-
tally ill who crowd their cells.
In metropolitan Detroit, the state's three
largest counties all have released prisoners
early in the past two months.
Wayne County releases hundreds each
month, Oakland County released 179
prisoners in August and is facing another
release and Macomb County released 200
in July and about 100 in August.
Yesterday was the 14th day of a crowd-
ing emergency at the Macomb County
jail, meaning that some nonviolent offend-
ers must be released early until the jail's
population falls below 1,413.
"We're using all other options available
to us for incarceration (but) it's not look-
ing pretty," Sheriff Mark Hackel told The
Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. "The
situation just keeps repeating itself."
In the northeastern Lower Peninsula,
the 63-bed Iosco County Jail faced crowd-
ing recently, said Sheriff Michael Fischer.
"I had to house out 10 prisoners this
L of space
week to other jails," Fischer told The
Detroit News for a story yesterday.
"We've been packed for quite a while.
There's talk of adding 60 beds, and we
could use them."
Most of the beds in Michigan's 83
county jails system are occupied by people
awaiting trial or sentencing, or convicted
of lesser crimes that come with a year or
less of jail time.
About 80 percent of county jails are at
or above capacity and about 40 percent
have declared crowding emergencies or
are near doing so, said Terrence L. Jungel,
executive director of the Michigan Sher-
iffs' Association.
"There's no room at the inn," Jun-
gel said.
Sheriffs say many county prisoners
are drug or alcohol abusers or mentally
ill and belong in programs other than
jail. Some sheriffs have asked judges to
consider alternative sentences for non
violent misdemeanors.
That could clear space for those with
mandatory jail sentences for drunken
driving, spouse abuse and nonpayment
of child support.
Lawsuit filed against law barring
selling and renting of violent games
LANSING (AP) - As expected, the
video game industry says it will file a
lawsuit challenging Michigan's new
law that bars retailers from selling or
renting violent games to those 17 and
younger.
The Entertainment Software Asso-
ciation, a trade group representing U.S.
computer and video game publishers,
announced its intent to sue yesterday.
The suit is expected to be filed soon.
ESA President Douglas Lowenstein
said the law, which takes effect Dec. 1,
is unconstitutionally vague and limits
residents' First Amendment rights.
"How can you treat a video game
based on James Bond any different
than a book or movie based on the
same subject matter?" he said.
The announcement came after Dem-
ocratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed
two more bills aimed at keeping adult-
rated games with sexually explicit or
violent material away from children
yesterday. The governor had signed
two other video game bills Monday.
"This is a commonsense law that
provides parents with the tools they
need to protect their children from
the effects of violence and graphic
adult content," Granholm said.
In July, the industry filed suit
to block a similar video game ban
approved in Illinois. Federal courts,
have struck down video game bans
approved by Washington state, Indi-
anapolis and St. Louis County 'in
Missouri, saying they encroached on
the First Amendment.
The video game bills received
broad bipartisan support in the
Michigan Legislature. They were
sponsored by Senators Alan Crop-
sey (R-DeWitt) and Gerald Van,
Woerkom (R-Norton Shores) and
Representatives Phil Pavlov (R-
St.Clair Township) and Tom Pearce
(R-Rockford.)
ed. There are no
time according to
of Public Safety.
suspects at this
the Department
*THIS DAY
In Daily History
Students gather
and hold vigil for
world peace
Sept. 14, 1983 - On Monday, 14 mem-
bers of the Progressive Student Network
began a 24-hour peace vigil that did not
conclude until Tuesday at noon.
The group initiated the vigil to protest
the deployment of nuclear weapons in
Europe during the Cold War, as well as
the research the University is conducting
to assist in the creation of these weapons.
Until late Monday evening, more than
25 students gathered around a red can-
dle and sang songs by Neil Young, Arlo
Guthrie and Bob Dylan while gathered
by a red candle.
m