Tuesday, October 10, 2006 CHEERIO! OUR WRITER PLAYS CRICKET ACROSS THE POND ... SPORTS, PAGE 10 News 3 Granholm, DeVos to square off in debate Opinion 4 Toby Mitchell on Arts 5 Ryan Gosling shines D~ssdcpin e £b j uf a I in 'Half Nelson' One-hundred-sixteen years of editorialfreedom www.michiandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVII, No. 26 @2006 The Michigan Daily OH, THE PLACES WE'LL GO Mario Manningham snags a catch during Michigan's 31-13 victory over Michigan State University Saturday. Star wideout may miss PSU game Carr won't confirm or deny reported injury to Manningham By Scott Bell Daily Sports Editor Will Mario Manningham play? That's the million-dollar question swirling around Ann Arbor after the the dynamic sophomore wide receiver suffered an appar- ent knee injury last Sat- urday against Michigan State. Radio reports early Mon- day morning began surfac- ing that the nation's leader in touchdown receptions will not play this weekend against Penn State because of the injury. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr declined to go into details on the status of his star wide receiver during his weekly press confer- ence yesterday and brushed off subsequent attempts by reporters to get him to com- ment. "Is he going to play?" Carr asked following the first question. "Well, we'll have to see." Carr was pressed more following that response and was asked whether or not he expected Manningham to practice this week. "I don't have any com- ment on Mario," Carr said. "I'm sure you understand, because I don't know every- See FOOTBALL, page 9 Many students leave Mich. due to state's economic woes By Gabe Nelson Daily Staff Reporter Chris Soto, a School of Engineering alum from Tem- perance, wanted to stay in Michigan after he graduated this past spring. With his degree in con- struction engineering and management, he looked for a job near home and couldn't find anything. Instead, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he works as a field engineer for a contracting company. The D.C. area has plenty of con- struction jobs, he said. Soto said he knows of some openings in Michigan and thinks he will eventually be able to find work back home. But he said he wants to spend a few years in Wash- ington first. "I was planning on eventu- ally moving back to Michi- gan, but the economy will have to get a little bit better before I'll do that," Soto said. Stories like Soto's are examples of what is called the state's "brain drain," a term used to describe the outflow of many recent college gradu- ates seeking employment outside of Michigan. Some worry the state Legislature will use this phenomenon as rationalization to cut higher education funding. Some of these graduates can't find work near home. Others leave for the glamour of big cities such as New York and Chicago. With the state's unem- ployment the highest in the country, many Michiganders are worried that the most talented college graduates, including some recent Uni- versity alums, are fleeing the state for greener economic pastures. See DRAIN, page 9 GRAPHIC BY BRIDGET O'DONNELL/Daily BY THE NUMBERS 53 Percentage of recent University graduates who live in Michigan 77 Percentage of recent in-state Univer- sity graduates who live in Michigan SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF BUDGET AND PLANNING STUDY On campus, wage change hardly felt Minimum wage jumped to $6.95 an hour Oct. 1 By Amanda Markowitz For the Daily When the minimum wage for Michigan workers jumped to $6.95 an hour on Oct. 1, few employees on and near campus were even aware of the change. The hike is the result of a new law that the state Leg- islature passed last March under pressure from interest groups, some of which were student-led. Many locally owned busi- nesses,including Zingerman's and Shaman Drum Book Shop, already have starting wages above $6.95, so the hike didn't change much for most student employees. Some students were not affected by virtue of their position: the new minimum wage does not apply to wait- ers and waitresses. Mechanical Engineering junior Bryan Kobie works at Borders Books and Music in downtown Ann Arbor. Kobie works at the informa- tion desk and helps customers locate books throughout the store. He earns $7.25 an hour, which is already higher than the new wage. He was aware of the increase but said that Borders employees were not See WAGE, page 9 WAGE IN BRIEF Sunday, Oct. 1 was the first of the three minimumwage increas- es that the state Leg- islature passed last March, bumping the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.95. On July 1 of next year it will increase to $7.15 per hour and on July 1, 2008 it will be raised to $7.40. The legislation also established a mini- mum wage for work- ing youths. Employees under 18 will receive $5.91 an hour or 85 percent of the new wage. People's Food Co-Op employee Cliton Zimmerman stocks produce yesterday afternoon. Zimmerman said the store had the best minimum pay he could find in the area. Group rallies for battered women's clemency Granholm rejected petitions last Spring By Arikia Millikan Daily Staff Reporter LANSING - Eighteen women from the Univer- sity were perched atop the steps of the Capitol Building Friday, their faces painted bruised and bloody. Printed on the backs of their dull blue prison uni- forms were words like "sis- ter," "mother" and "aunt." They represented victims of domestic abuse who have been imprisoned for crimes against their attackers. The scene was part of a rally by the Michigan Bat- tered Women's Clemency Project, a women's rights activist group started by University professors 15 years ago. The group has fought to obtain freedom for 20 women, most of whom are serving life sentences for injuring or killing their abusive partners while they were trying to defend them- selves from an attack. Participants of the demon- stration donned this prison attire and painted their faces to convey the message that while the Michigan legal system may only see these women as vicious criminals, they are much more to their family and friends. While the blood on the demonstrator's faces was purchased from a costume store, women such as Linda Hamilton once sported authentic hemoglobin cour- tesy of abusive partners. After being repeatedly beaten by her husband, Ham- ilton finally decided to seek outside help in 1976 when she came home from to finds him raping her 4-year-old daughter. She sought assis- See CLEMENCY, page 9 REGISTER TVOTE TO VOTE IN THE NOV. 7 GENERAL ELECTION, REGISTER BEFORE 5 P.M TODAY. HERE'S WHERE TO GO AND WHEN: Mobile Secretary of State office When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: In front of the Michigan League What to look for: State employees near a 24-foot trailer Voice Your Vote When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: On the Diag What to look for: Student volunteers in blue 'Voice Your Vote' T- shirts holding clipboards