NEWS The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 3 ON CAMPUS * Speaker to lecture on gender and prescription drugs Sean McCabe, a representative from the University's Substance Abuse Research Center, will be speaking today from noon to 1:30 p.m. on the topic of gender differ- ences in illicit and prescription drug use. The lecture will be held in room 2239 of Lane Hall. Poster sale begins today at Michigan Union University Unions Arts and Pro- grams is sponsoring a poster sale beginning today on the ground floor of the Michigan Union from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The sale will run through Jan. 13 and will feature over 1,500 different posters. FOKUS MLK film screenings to be shown during Jan The film "Music is My Life, Poli- tics My Mistress" will be shown tonight as the first of four movies screened as part of the FOKUS MLK Film Series, co-sponosred by Uni- versity Unions Arts and Programs. The screening will take place in the Hussey room of the Michigan League at 7:30 p.m. Other films to be shown throughout the month of January include "Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids," "Inno- cent Voices" and "Paper Clips." CRIME NOTES Assault victim treated at emergency room The Department of Public Safety reported that a victim of an assault was treated Sunday at the University Hospital emergency room. Accord- ing to DPS, the assault occurred off campus. Student cited for MIP taken to emergency room A student was cited for minor in possession of alcohol Sunday at West Quadrangle Residence Hall, accord- ing to DPS. The student was taken to the University Hospital emergency room. Cable stolen from Tap Room in Union A caller reported to DPS Satur- day that a cable had been stolen from the Tap Room at the Michigan Union. THIS DAY In Daily History * 'U' fears losing graduate students to Vietnam draft Jan. 10, 1969 - While the Univer- sity has not yet lost many students to the Selective Service, many faculty members fear they will begin to see the effects of the draft this semester. Enrollment figures have not been finalized, but there is some indica- tion that the University has lost more than 300 graduate students already. One such indication came the week before Christmas when graduate deans and counselors found them- selves flooded with phone calls from students who received induction notices and were seeking advice. "Judging by the volume of phone calls there must be a marked increase in the number of students receiving induction notices" Assistant Gradu- ate School Dean Bvron Groesbeck Lawmakers poised to slash business tax Granholm not in favor of tax relief if it means making more budget cuts LANSING (AP) - Republican lawmakers are poised to pass legis- lation slicing state taxes in half for 32,000 small businesses by month's end, a move aimed at expanding tax relief beyond the state's struggling manufacturing sector. House Speaker Craig DeRoche of Novi and Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming will announce the legislation today, along with a plan to tuck leftover money from the most recent budget year into savings. But Democratic Gov. Jennifer Gra- nholm may oppose the tax cut. She has said more tax relief isn't possible unless supporters find a way to pay for it with- out cutting more from the budget. Under the GOP plan, small businesses that pay an alternative tax to the state's main business tax would see their rate drop immediately from 2 percent to 1 percent, according to details of the pro- posal provided yesterday to The Associ- ated Press. The cut would save 32,000 businesses an average of $938 annually while costing the state budget about $30 million a year. The first year of lost tax revenue would be covered by the recent state funding surplus. But Granholm is concerned because it appears Repub- licans don't plan to offset the cut with new revenue in future years, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said. "If the tax cuts are ongoing, the way to pay for them has to be ongo- ing as well," she said. Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler countered: "We are insisting on put- ting economic recovery first and the state budget second." The GOP's proposal comes after a $600 million tax relief law took effect Jan. 1 primarily targeting automakers, suppliers and manu- facturers. The personal property tax credit applies to everything from equipment to computers, but manu- facturers shoulder the lion's share of the tax. DeRoche spokesman Matt Resch said Michigan has more small busi- nesses than it does large manufactur- ers and that small businesses are vital to the state's economic recovery. "You can't just sit back and say, 'We passed something for manufacturers, let's cross our fingers and hopefully our job is done,"' Resch said. Proposing to reduce the alternate small business tax rate is nothing new. Granholm suggested cutting it from 2 percent to 1.2 percent as part of a broader business tax cut package unveiled nearly a year ago. But Republicans opposed the plan because it also would have raised the premiums tax on the insurance indus- try to make up for lost revenue. In December, the Legislature sent Granholm a bill to drop the alter- nate rate by a tenth of a percentage point. That died when a larger tax deal between the governor and GOP leaders unraveled. Now, GOP law- makers are proposing dropping the rate by a percentage point. Keith Carey, a Lansing lobbyist for the National Federation of Inde- pendent Business, welcomed the newest plan. "I wouldn't describe it as a momentous piece of tax relief," he said. "But it's very important. It's broad-based tax relief for small business. It doesn't pick winners and losers." Michigan Republican aims to become whip Former FBI agent enters race forI house majority position trailing Rep. Eric Cantor (R. Va.) by 140 votes DETROIT (AP) - Rep. Mike Rogers, a former FBI agent who oncec investigated organized crime, said yesterday he will try to become thee third-ranking member of the U.S. House and work to restore public con-N fidence in a Congress grappling with political corruption.7 Rogers, seeking to become the House majority whip, cited the Repub- lican party's support for tax cuts, personal responsibility and extending- democracy abroad during its control of Congress. "Unfortunately, many of those achievements are obscured today as our constituents turn on the news and hear of political corruption and scandal, and government growing at unsustainable rates," Rogers (R-Brighton) wrote in a letter seeking support from GOP colleagues. "I am afraid we have lost our way in the day-to-day adminis- tration of this government," he wrote. Rogers is likely to face an uphill climb. A spokesman for Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said yesterday that he had locked up 140i votes to become the majority whip. With 231 Republican mem-s bers of Congress, a candidate for the leadership position wouldc need 116 votes.r Rogers acknowledged he was entering the race "at a signifi-c cant disadvantage." "My candidacy is not predicated on a 'sure thing.' To be clear,i Dems aim to curl Canadas trash diur I am not running against anyone. I am running to give our mem- bers a choice for change," he wrote. Rogers's office declined comment on Cantor's suggestions that he had enough votes. Reps. Roy Blunt (R-MO.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio) are try- ing to succeed Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who announced during the weekend that he would not try to regain his lead- ership post. DeLay temporarily vacated the position after he was indicted on campaign finance charges in his home state of Texas. DeLay and others in Congress have been linked to lobby- "I am afraid we have lost our way in the day-to-day administration of this government" - Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Brighton) ist Jack Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to federal con- spiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud charges in a congressional corruption scandal. The probe has led Republicans to push for new leadership and raised concerns that it could damage their campaigns in next fall's elections. Cantor has been serving as a deputy whip under Blunt. Add- ing to the competition, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) said he would run for the office of majority whip if Blunt wins the race for majority leader, the No. 2 spot behind House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) Rep. Dave Camp (R-Midland) was supporting Cantor because the two have worked closely together in Congress, Camp spokes- man Sage Eastman said. Nate Bailey, a spokesman for the state GOP, said Rogers could become Michigan's first Republican to serve in the House leadership since former President Gerald Ford, who was House minority leader. Former Rep. David Bonior (D-Mount Clemens) served as majority and minority whip in the House. Rogers said he would seek "bold change," including the cre- ation of an independent commission regulating lobbyists' activ- ities and preventing senior congressional aides from quickly turning around to work for firms that lobby Congress. First elected to Congress in 2000, Rogers served from 1995 through 2000 in the Michigan Senate, where he was majority floor leader. Prior to politics, Rogers worked in Chicago as an FBI field agent, investigating public corruption in its organized crime unit. The congressman told colleagues that "much to my wife's chagrin, I chose to tackle the toughest assignments, all of which centered around public corruption and organized crime in Chi- cago." "I learned a lot about people during my service in the FBI, and those lessons dictate that we must always challenge our- selves to hold people in the public trust accountable," he wrote. U U qm Democrats say more than 400 Canadian garbage trucks enter state from Canada each day LANSING (AP) - State House Democrats want to get voters involved in the fight to keep Cana- dian trash out of Michigan. Today, Democrats will announce plans to put a proposal on the November ballot that would raise fees to dump trash and put a morato- rium on new landfills in the state. The new mea- sures could deter "Raising th Canada and other states from bring- dumpingC ing their garbage . to Michigan, sup- act as a di porters say. to dum p "Trash comes to P Michigan because citizens of it's cheap," Rep. Kathleen Law (D- Gibralter) said in a - R statement. "Rais- ing the dumping charge will act as a disincentive to dump on the citi- zens of Michigan." The proposal is unlikely to win The Democratic proposal would raise the state dumping charge from 21 cents a ton - the lowest state rate in the Great Lakes region - to $7.50 a ton, which would be the most expensive, according to informa- tion supplied by House Democrats. The increased fee would raise an estimated $170 million a year. The money would be sent back to local governments. New landfills would be banned until 2010. A simple majority of lawmak- ers in both the House and Senate ,; . r ,'. ,: v 3' .v. u ' :''.... _:.. . xx. ..: .:: .. :: .:...... :... :. 1 .. ti . I I I 1e charge will sincentive n the f Michigan." ep. Kathleen Law (D-Gibralter) would have to approve putting the issue on the ballot before vot- ers would get a chance to weigh in on the issue. Democrats say they want to go to voters because Republi- cans have stalled their efforts to cut down on Canadian trash. ' Bills that would raise the dump- ing charge and ban new landfills have not moved in the Legislature.