The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Ethics probe
questions Hastert
on Foley scandal
House Speaker Dennis Hastert
urged ethics investigators to work
quickly to unravel the congressio-
nal pages scandal yesterday, testi-
fying before them just after a GOP
lawmaker whose recollections dif-
fer from his.
The investigation is focusing
on which House leaders were told
about sexually explicit messages
sent by Rep. Mark Foley to former
pages, when leaders were told and
what was done in response. Hastert
and some other Republicans have
suggested revelations about the
messages were timed to hurt the
GOP in next month's elections.
Yesterday's appearances by Hast-
ert (R-Ill.) and House GOP cam-
paign chair Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.)
could signal that the four-member
ethics committee is nearingthe end
of its testimony-taking phase. Both
men testified behind closed doors
as committee rules require.
BAGHDAD
U.S.: More GIs may
be needed to curb
violence in Iraq
Two weeks before U.S. mid-
term elections, American officials
unveiled a timeline yesterday for
Iraq's Shiite-led government totake
specific steps to calm the world's
most dangerous capital and said
more U.S. troops might be needed
to quell the bloodshed.
U.S. officials previously said they
were satisfied with troop levels
and had expected to make signifi-
cant reductions by year's end. But
a surge in sectarian killings, which
welled up this past summer, forced
them to reconsider.
At a rare joint news conference
with the American ambassador, the
top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen.
George Casey, said additional U.S.
troops could come from inside or
outside Iraq to "improve basic ser-
vices for the population of Bagh-
dad."
PHILADELPHIA
Christmas creeping
up on shoppers even
before Halloween
It's beginning to look a lot like
Christmas - and it's only October.
Santa isn't here yet, but retailers
already are stocking shelves with
Christmas merchandise, in some
cases setting up Christmas trees
and holiday lighting way before
Thanksgiving and even pre-empt-
ing Halloween.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target
Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. are some
retailers hoping to get consumers
into a Christmas shopping frame
of mind two months early. Sears
Holdings Corp.'s Sears and Kmart
stores kick off the Yuletide mood
in late October or early November.
Costco Wholesale Corp. said it's
always put out Christmas orna-
ments, gift wrap, cards and artifi-
cial trees as early as September.
SHERMAN TOWNSHIP
Amish come
together after girl
dies inbuggy crash
Members of the area's Amish
communitygathered to support the
family of an 11-year-old Amish girl
who was killed when a pickup truck
rear-ended a horse-drawn buggy
carrying her, her five siblings and
their parents.
Kathryn Miller died in Sunday
night's crash in Newaygo County's
Sherman Township, just east of
Fremont.
A sister, Lorene Miller, who
is less than a year old, was listed
in serious condition at Spectrum
Health Butterworth Campus in
Grand Rapids.
Another sister, Rachel Miller,
9, broke bones in her legs and suf-
fered a ruptured spleen, The Grand
Rapids Press reported yesterday.
She was in good condition at Ger-
ber Memorial Medical Center in
Fremont.
The other three children - Luel-
la, Freeman and Melvin - and
parents Levi and Amelia Miller
suffered minor injuries.
No serious injuries were report-
ed in the second accident.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
SITE OF THE AY
White victims
sought more
THE LULLABY OF BIRDLAND
Katrina
Minorities were less
aggressive in filing
insurance complaints
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The
Littles and the Kitchens watched
helplessly as Hurricane Katrina
battered their homes. Both families
waited patiently for an insurance
adjuster to settle their losses. And
both were sorely disappointed with
the outcome.
Then, their paths diverged.
Richard and Cindy Little, a white
couple living in a predominantly
white neighborhood, filed a com-
plaint with the Louisiana Depart-
ment of Insurance. Eventually, they
won full reimbursement for their
repairs.
Doretha and Roy Kitchens, a
black couplemliving in New Orleans'
overwhelmingly black Lower Ninth
Ward, simply gave up and took what
their insurer gave them. They didn't
know they could appeal to the state.
Though poor and minority
neighborhoods suffered the brunt
of Katrina's fury, residents living
in white neighborhoods have been
three times as likely as homeown-
ers in black neighborhoods to seek
state help in resolving insurance
disputes, according to anAssociated
Press computer analysis.
The analysis of Louisiana's insur-
ance complaints settled in the first
year after Katrina highlights a cold,
hard truth exposed by Katrina's
winds and waters: People of color
and modest means, who often need
.
aid
the most help after a major disaster,
are disconnected from the govern-
ment institutions that can provide
it, or distrustful of those in power.
"The blacks didn't complain
'cause they got tired," said Doretha
Kitchens, 58, who recalls numer-
ous phone calls to her insurer that
often ended with her being put on
hold. Ultimately, she accepted her
insurer's offer of about $34,000 for
damages that actually total more
than $120,000.
The insurance industry and
state regulators say they made spe-
cial efforts - even in the midst of
Katrina's chaos - to reach out to
poor and minority neighborhoods
to inform them of options.
But their ad appeals on local
radio did little to inform the thou-
sands of mostly black residents who
were displaced to Houston. And
giving a toll free number for help
didn't help poor minorities who
stayed behind with no telephone
or cell service. Officials acknowl-
edge victims slipped through the
cracks.
"The message doesn't get to
everyone," Louisiana Insurance
Commissioner Jim Donelon said.
More than a year after the epic
hurricane laid waste to much of the
Gulf Coast, frustration and anger
still simmer.
More than 700,000 insurance
claims were filed for damage result-
ing from Katrina in Gulf Coast states
and to date, only $14.9 billion out of
$25.3 billion in insured losses have
been paid, the national risk model-
ing firm ISO estimates.
Riana Nelson (vocals) and Pat Whitehead (piano) perform the world premiere arrangement of "Skylark," a song arranged by
Jimmy Heath with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, in Rackham Auditorium yesterday.
For second time in six years,
Senate could be evenly split
Bill threatens
online gambling
In case of a tie,
Republicans would
maintain majority
WASHINGTON (AP) - Expect-
ed Democratic gains in the election
raise the possi-ility that the Sen-
ate, for the second time in six years,
will end up in a 50-50 tie.
If that happens, Democrats
would like to revive a power-shar-
ing deal that was struck in 2001.
But partisan passions on Capitol
Hill are stronger now than when
President Bush took office promis-
ing to be "a uniter, not a divider."
Republicans would officially still
be the majority party in an evenly
divided Senate because Vice Presi-
dent Dick Cheney, in his role as
president of the Senate, would give
the GOP a tie-breaking vote. But
Democrats would surely demand
a greater role in determining how
the Senate treated Bush's legisla-
tive agenda in his final two years in
the White House.
Currently Republicans hold 55
seats and the Democrats 44. Sen.
James Jeffords, an independent
from Vermont who usually votes
with the Democrats, is retiring at
the end of this session.
The 2000 election resulted in
a Senate split down the middle.
Democratic leader Tom Daschle
of South Dakota became majority
leader for just 17 days, between Jan.
3, 2001, when the new Senate was
sworn in and Al Gore was still vice
president, and the Jan. 20 inaugu-
ration of Bush and Cheney.
In returning to the majority
leader position, Sen. Trent Lott (R-
Miss.) negotiated with Daschle a
power-sharing arrangement under
which the two parties got equal
numbers of seats and staff posi-
tions on committees. Republicans
chose committee chairmen and
controlled the agenda on the Sen-
ate floor.
Lott took some heat from his
Republican colleagues at the time
for being overly generous to Demo-
crats, but it paid off four months
later when Jeffords bolted from the
GOP and became an independent
allied with the Democrats. That
put the Democrats back in control
with Daschle as majority leader.
The Lott-Daschle deal stayed
intact until November 2002, when
Republican James Talent defeated
Missouri's appointed senator, Jean
Carnahan, in a special election
and Republicans regained power.
They've held majorities on Senate
committees since then.
This time, Democrats may need
the help of two independents to
reach parity with the Republicans.
Rep. Bernie Sanders, another
Vermont independent, is the front-
runner in the race to succeed Jef-
fords. Sanders has always been a
member of the Democratic caucus
in the House and his office said
he would continue to support the
Democrats in the Senate.
Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman
of Connecticut appears likely to
return to Congress as an indepen-
dent after his loss to a Democratic
challenger inthe primaries. Lieber-
man, in line to become chairman of
the Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs Committee if
Democrats capture the Senate, is
also committed to staying with the
Democratic caucus, his office said.
Jim Manley, press spokesman
for Senate Democratic leader
Harry Reid of Nevada, said that
in the event of a 50-50 breakdown
the 2001 Lott-Daschle deal "should
serve as a useful guidepost for
any negotiations" on power-shar-
ing between Reid and Sen. Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky).
Business growth, not
gamblers, could suffer
- from bill
NEW YORK (AP) - Gamblers
may look over their shoulder now,
but experts say a new Internet
gambling ban won't keep bettors
from ponying up, just turn them on
to overseas payment services out of
the law's reach.
"It has put a terrible scare into
people," said I. Nelson Rose, who
teaches gambling law at Whittier
Law School. "But it won't by any
means wipe out Internet gam-
bling."
The fright swept through the
$12 billion industry on the heels of
the recent arrests of two gambling
company executives and a new law
President George W. Bush signed
Oct. 13 that seeks to ban most
online gambling and criminalizes
funds transfers.
The law has wiped out billions
of dollars in shareholder value
of British companies, leaving the
industry's future in doubt as U.S.
lawmakers initially trumpeted they
had found a way to halt bets coming
from the America.
But serious questions remain
about whether the legislation can
be effective in stopping U.S. resi-
dents from playing poker or betting
on sports.
The "Unlawful Internet Gam-
bling Enforcement Act" goes after
the money, not the millions of play-
ers, which would be nearly impos-
sible to enforce.
It will essentially try to choke off
the way Americans fund their gam-
bling habits, hoping to prevent the
transfer of dollars to the popular
Internet sites.
It's also widely understood that
the law has online poker in its gun
sights, identifying it as a game of
chance - something the poker
companies dispute. They believe
poker is a game of skill and there-
fore not subject to the new rules.
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It's nothing new for
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from the pressures of
politics and corporate
advertising. But it's unusual
for the politicians and corpora-
tions to follow suit.
On Secondlife.com, an online
role-playing website, major cor-
porate advertisers have been cul-
tivating a following. Ben Folds
performed a concert there as a
pixilated character, and One Vir-
ginia politician even conducted an
interview on the site.
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