The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, A pril 3, 2007 - 3

NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Supreme Court
rules greenhouse
gases pollutants
The Supreme Court rebuked
the Bush administration yesterday
for its inaction on global warming
in a decision that could encourage
faster action in Congress on climate
change and lead to more fuel-effi-
cient cars as early as next year.
The court, in a 5-4 ruling in
its first case on climate change,
declared that carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases are air pol-
lutants under the Clean Air Act.
The Environmental Protection
Agency has the authority to regu-
late those emissions from new cars
and trucks under the landmark
environment law, and the "laun-
dry list" of reasons it has given for
declining to do so are insufficient,
the court said.
BAGHDAD
15 killed, 200
wounded in Kirkuk
bombing
A suicide truck bomber, his
deadly payload hidden under bags
of flour, crashed into a police sta-
tion in a Kurdish neighborhood in
the disputed city of Kirkuk yester-
day. At least 15 people were killed,
including a newborn girl and a
U.S. soldier, and nearly 200 were
wounded.
Several girls walking home from
school were among those wounded
in the bombing, a possible prelude
to far greater violence to this oil-
rich city180 miles north of the capi-
tal. The attack came just days after
the government adopted a plan to
relocate thousands of Arabs who
were moved to Kirkuk decades ago
in Saddam Hussein's campaign to
displace the Kurds.
WASHINGTON
Reid threatens to
cut war funding
Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid said yesterday he will try to
cut off funding for the Iraq war if
President Bush rejects Congress'
proposal to set a deadline for end-
ing combat.
The move is likely to intensify
theDemocrats' rift withthe admin-
istration, which already contends
Democrats are putting troops at
risk by setting deadlines.
"It's time the self-appointed
strategists on Capitol Hill under-
stood a very simple concept: You
cannot win a war if you tell the
enemy you're going to quit," Vice
President Dick Cheney said Mon-
day.
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran and Britain
move closer to
ending standoff
Iran and Britain signaled possible
movement toward ending the stand-

off over 15 detained British sailors
yesterday, with Tehran promising
to stop airing video confessions and
London saying it's willing to discuss
ways to avoid boundary confusion
in the Persian Gulf
The quieter tone from both
capitals raised hopes the 11-day
standoff might be solved soon. But
optimistic signs emerged before,
only to be followed by a hardening
of positions and tough rhetoric.put
the crew on trial.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
FALLEN AhR- AN
3,256
Number of American service
members who have died in the War
in Iraq, according to The Associat-
ed Press. The following were iden-
tified by the Department of Defense
yesterday:
Staff Sgt. Jason R. Arnette, 24,
of Amelia, Va.
 Spc. Wilfred Flores Jr., 20, of
Lawton, Okla.
Three-hundred-eight ser-
vice members have been killed in
Afghanistan. The following were
identified by the Department of
Defense yesterday.
Sgt. Edmund W. McDonald, 25,
of Casco, Maine.
Spc. Agustin Gutierrez, 19, of
San Jacinto, Calif.
Spc. Christopher M. Wilson,
24, of Bangor, Maine, died Mar. 29
Afghanistan.

PREPARING FOR PASSOVER

' alum buys Tribune Co.

CHICAGO (AP) - Real estate
mogul and University of Michigan
alum Sam Zell won the battle of
the billionaires yesterday, landing
media conglomerate Tribune Co.
after a down-to-the-wire bidding
war.
Even with the buyout's $8.2 bil-
lion price tag, the outlook for the
nation's second-largest newspaper
publisher remained as uncertain as
it did six months ago when it began
a strategic review to boost a lagging
stock price.
A big chunk of new debt also will
be required to pay the $34 a share
cash buyout. Zell is counting on
repaying the debt largely through
tax benefits from a new employ-
ee stock option plan that would
supplement existing retirement
accounts for the company's 20,000
workers.
Aside from selling the Chicago
Cubs baseball team and its stake in

Comcast SportsNet, Zell and Tri-
bune executives were mum about
prospects for the rest of the compa-
ny's assets, including 23 television
stations-and nine newspapers rang-
ing in size from the Los Angeles
Times and the Chicago Tribune to
the Daily Press in Newport News,
Va. that will remain after two
papers in Connecticut are sold.
"Whether someone whose expe-
rience is in commercial real estate
- in steel and cement and bricks
and leases - can navigate the
ungainly media structure for suc-
cess remains to be seen," said Rich
Hanley, a journalism professor at
Connecticut's Quinnipiac Univer-
sity. "This is unlike any other busi-
ness he's touched. ... The stakes are
very high."
Tribune Chief Executive Den-
nis FitzSimons told The Associated
Press that there are no plans to cut
the company's work force or sell off

other newspapers or TV stations.
"This is a good outcome for our
shareholders and a good outcome
for our employees," FitzSimons said
in the interview.
Butindustry observers said more
divestitures or spinoffs are likely,
especially as Zell learns the ropes
of the newspaper business and a
company that has been losing read-
ers and advertisers to the Internet.
"There tends to be a fairly long
learning curve with respect to how
newspapers operate," said Sammy
Pappert III, the chief executive of
Dallas-based newspaper consul-
tants Belden Associates.
The company's complex deal
with Zell has a relatively small
breakup fee - $25 million - leav-
ing open the possibility of another
counter bid from Los Angeles bil-
lionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle,
who also submitted $34-per-share
offers for Tribune.

AP PHOiO/Oded Ballty
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish girl adds a piece of sponge to a fire set up to burn leav-
ened items in a final preparation before the Passover holiday in Jerusalem yesterday.


APARTMENT
From page 1
the complex's amenities will be
enough to attract students from
Central Campus.
Students in the College of Engi-
neering, School of Art and Design,
School of Music, Theatre and Dance
and College of Architecture and
Urban Planning, are the most likely
to want to live near North Campus,
because many of their classes are
there.
Engineering sophomore Dan
Zhang said that as long as The
Courtyards are not too expensive,
"it would definitely be something
I'd like to check out."
He added that there are few
options in off-campus housing on
North Campus, and "a lot of them
are pretty overpriced."
Engineering sophomore Jordan
Bradley said that although price
and location are what he looks at
first, he does find the complexes'
amenities appealing.
"North Campus is notreally close
to anything," he said, adding that

sometimes it's hard to find things to
do or places to eat on North Cam-
pus at night.
Hetherington said it has been
many years since there has been
new development on North Cam-
pus and thathe thinks that students
will find the facilities attractive.
"We think that it will be very
well received," he said.
University Planner Sue Gott
said while the University is not
directly affiliated with this proj-
ect, it did grant two easements
- legal agreements that allow
construction access across Uni-
versity property - east of the
construction site for vehicular
access and south for pedestrian
and emergency access.
"I think (The Courtyards) will
add to the student population on
North Campus," she said.
Gott said the new apartments
may cause an increase in the
demand for transportation to, from
and around North Campus. She
said the University may consider
adding more buses to the exist-
ing routes to handle the increased
population.

SCHOLARSHIPS
From page 1
50 alumni associations have this
status, said Steve Grafton, presi-
dent of the University of Michigan's
Alumni Association.
Although the schools have both
been forced to respond to similar
affirmative action bans, there is
no guarantee that what worked for
Texas will work for Michigan, said
Steve Grafton, the President of the
Alumni Association of the Univer-
sity of Michigan.
"I've had some conversation with
mycounterpartsatTexas,andthey've
been able to do some real supportive
things for their universities," Grafton
said. "But Texas and Michigan are
different states, and there are differ-
ent issues that play in, so we kind of
have to figure that out."
The recommendation for the
Alumni Association to increase its
funding for scholarships was part of
a preliminary report by the Diver-
sity Blueprints Task Force. But the
group's final report - released last
month - did not make any spe-
cific suggestions about the Alumni
Association financing scholarships
on a wider scale.
University Provost Teresa Sulli-
van said task force members wanted
toinclude more general suggestions
and save specific projects for a later,
more in-depth report.

Sullivan also said there is uncer-
tainty about the legality of the
Alumni Association's contribu-
tions. She said the Alumni Asso-
ciation must be seen as a separate
entity from the University for
legal purposes. In 1992, the Ohio
Supreme Court ruled that the pri-
vate, nonprofit alumni association
of the University of Toledo - apub-
lic institution - was subject to state
law because it had close ties to the
university.
"There are a lot of legal issues
involved when you are crafting
such a foundation," Sullivan said.
"When Texas used the alumni asso-
ciation, it worked pretty well, and
the alumni association is indepen-
dent from the university. But you do
have to have an alumni association
that is a separate 501(c)3."
Isabella Cunningham, a commu-
nication professor and chair of the
Task Force on Enrollment Strat-
egy at the University of Texas, said
people there knew the Texas Exes
program was a separate organiza-
tion from the school system. She
said that prevented a backlash from
people who felt itwas an attempt by
the school to fight the affirmative
action ban.
"People knew our alumni asso-
ciation was separate," Cunningham
said. "It has always been completely
separate."
But Michigan's situation doesn't
seem as clear. Although the Alumni

Association's mission statement
says it is an "independent, world-
wide organization," it also calls
itself "a committed partner of the
University."
Maya Kobersy, the University's
assistant general counsel, said this
language could complicate the
Alumni Association's case.
"The Alumni Association is a
separately incorporated 501(c)3
organization, but clearly there is a
relationship with the University,"
she said. "Obviously part of its mis-
sion relates to the University itself."
When the Texas Exes made a
decision to increase scholarship
funding after the Hopwood case
banned affirmative action there, it
was just an extension of previous
efforts by the organization, Cun-
ningham said.
The same would be true if Mich-
igan's Alumni Association were
to expand its funding for scholar-
ships, Grafton said.
Grafton said he's aware of the crit-
icism the Alumni Association could
receive for aiding the University's
efforts and that his organization will
comply with all laws in the process.
"There are still a lot of questions
out there as to what is appropriate
for us to do and how we can best
do it," Grafton said. "We don't have
any answer yet, but the board will
be meeting again in May and this
will certainly be one of the topics
we talk about."


DOLLAR STORE
From page 1
Perry has workers to help her
run the business, but it was Perry
herself who sat behind the sales
counter during yesterday's grand
opening, welcomingcustomers.
Perry said that when she came
to open the store yesterday, there
were several people sitting on the
sidewalk, waiting for the new store
to open.
Callista Scotto, a customer and
graduate student at the School of
Social Work, said it isnconvenient to
stop in the store and pick up some-
thing cheap.
Perry said the first day of busi-
ness went well. People have been
really excited, she said, and they
have been surprised at the prices

- despite the name of the store.
"There was definitely a need for
a cheaper place to buy things," LSA
sophomore Angelic Vasquez said
while browsing inthe store.
Psychology graduate student
Amanda Berhenke, who was also
shopping at the store yesterday,
said the store would be a nice place
to stop and get things before class.
"I think that we haven't had a
close and convenient place to buy
little things like cleaning supplies
and napkins," said Berhenke. "I'm
delighted."
After graduation, Perry plans to
stay in the Ann Arbor area to attend
graduate school and run her store.
She said if the business turns out
to be successful, she might look for
opportunities to open dollar stores
on other college campuses across


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