The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, September 7, 2007 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
CAIRO, Egypt
Bin Laden to
address U.S. with
video on 9/11
Terror mastermind Osama
bin Laden plans a new video
addressingthe American people
regardingthe anniversary of the
Sept. 11 attacks, terror monitor-
ing groups said yesterday.
SITE Intelligence Group said
an Internet announcement of
the plan included a photo of
the al-Qaida leader from the
upcoming video - his beard,
which in previous messages had
been streaked with gray, was
entirely dark.
Intelcenter, which is based in
Alexandria, Va., and also moni-
tors Islamic Web sites, said the
video was expected within the
next 72 hours, or by Sunday.
That would come before the
sixth anniversary next Tues-
day of the World Trade Center
attack. The last bin Laden video
was in October 2004, shortly
before the U.S. presidential
elections.
WASHINGTON
Study says U.S.
forces in Iraq
should be reduced
U.S. forces in Iraq should be
reduced significantly, according
to anew study on Iraq's security
forces that inflamed debate in
Congress on how quickly that
can happen without hurling the
country into chaos.
The report, authored by a 20-
member panel comprised most-
ly of retired senior military and
police officers, said the mas-
sive deployment of U.S. forces
and sprawl of U.S.-run facili-
ties in and around Baghdad has
given Iraqis the impression that
Americans are an occupying,
permanent force.
DETROIT
Top Toyota exec
in North America
joins Chrysler
Chrysler announced yes-
terday that auto executive Jim
Press will take over its sales and
marketingoperations as the new
vice chairman and president on
Sept. 17. He'll inherit stagnant
sales, disgruntled dealers and a
marketing plan that's in disar-
ray after poor sales of some new
products. He'll be working for
a private equity firm, Cerberus
Capital Management LLC,
which took over Chrysler last
month. And for the first time,
he'll come face to face with the
United Auto Workers union,
which represents 46,276 hourly
workers atChryslerbuthasbeen
unable to unionize Toyota's U.S.
workforce. U.S. automakers are
currently negotiating new con-
tracts with the UAW.
Many analysts say that's
just the kind of challenge that
appealed to Press, a consum-
mate salesman and one of the
industry's most highly regarded
executives.
LANSING
Lawmaker aims
to decrease illegal
bottle returns
One dime at a time, Michi-
gan taxpayers and businesses
may lose more than $10 million
a year when people get refunds
on bottles and cans from out of
state.
A state lawmaker wants to
stop people from claiming the
10-cent Michigan refund on
bottles and cans that come from
Ohio, Indiana and other states
that don't have similar bottle
return laws.
Rep. Steve Bieda (D-War-
ren) detailed legislation yester-
day aimed at stopping what he
called smuggling of illegal out-
of-state bottles and cans.
"It's a big problem, especially
in the border areas," Bieda said.
"We need to fix it."
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
FALLEN A ER ,}ANo
3,752
Number of American service
members who have died in the
War in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. The following
were identified by the Depart-
ment of Defense yesterday:
Army Cpl. William T. War-
ford III, 24, of Temple, Texas,
Army Pfc. Dane R. Balcon,
19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Budget deadlock continues
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Hours
of closed door meetings and rare
displays of public pressure yester-
day were failing to resolve Mich-
igan's state government budget
crisis. i
But the chambers remained in
session late into the evening, build-
ing speculation that an agreement
was close on how to fill an estimated
$1.7 billion deficit for the fiscal year
that starts Oct. 1.
The Republican-led Senate joined
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm
in urging the Democrat-controlled
House to vote on a tax increase,
which some say is necessary to avoid
SAFETY
From page 1
sures, like the text messaging alert
system, appear to make sense, but
that it'stoo earlyto determine wheth-
er they are feasible or necessary.
Some schools already have text
messaging alert systems. The Col-
lege of Notre Dame of Maryland, for
example, sent a text message to stu-
dents an Saturday after a report of
an attempted abduction on campus.
At the University of Colorado
at Boulder, thousands of students
rushed to sign up for the new text
message warning system there after
a stabbing in August.
Although the University doesn't
have a text messaging alert system,
DPS could assign officers to drive
down every street in Ann Arbor
playing an emergency message, if
drastic program cuts or a state gov-
ernment shutdown next month.
Democrats and Republicans from
the 38-member Senate left their
chamber together and converged on
the 110-member House in the late
afternoon. Democratic Gov. Jenni-
fer Granholm also was on the House
floor trying to persuade representa-
tives, mostly Republicans, to pass a
tax hike.
"There's a bipartisan effort from
the Senate to encourage the House
to move the revenue bill and to do
it in a bipartisan way," said Senate
Minority Leader Mark Schauer (D-
Battle Creek) while standing in the
necessary, Brown said.
Brown said her biggest concern
is that students don't take safety
issues seriously. She cited a fire that
broke out in the Art and Architec-
ture Building on North Campus the
week of the Virginia Tech shoot-
ings. When the fire alarm went off,
students didn't leave.
"We do need people to be more
aware of these systems," she said.
"If they're going to ignore the alerts,
it's notgoingto help the situation."
The report also addresses the
ways mental health services can
help prevent tragedies. Although
Brown and other University admin-
istrators said some crises are impos-
sible to prevent - particularly those
involving a violently disturbed per-
son - they added that the Universi-
ty's Counseling and Psychological
Services office plays a vital role in
keeping campus safe.
CAPS director Todd Sevig said
House chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Mike
Bishop (R-Rochester) said he
would wait on House action "as
long as it takes for them to do
something."
"Everything's inplace," he added.
"The question is now: What are they
going to do?"
Despite the pressure, the House
didn't immediately plan any major
votes yesterday to raise taxes. Dem-
ocratic House leaders asked the
senators to leave so they could begin
to take some relatively minor bud-
get-related votes, clearly unmoved
by the display.
CAPS is expanding its outreach
with a program called "Questidon,
Persuade, Refer," which trains stu-
dents and staff to identify people
who might need counseling or may
be a danger to themselves or others.
Dean of Students Sue Eklund
said some of CAPS's programs
- like a hotline students can call if
they think a peer needs immediate
help - could be better publicized.
She said many students don't know
these services exist.
The report encouraged high
schools to pass mental health
information to colleges, which is
illegal in Michigan. Sevig said that
while CAPS can help identify indi-
viduals who may need counseling
and provide help, students mustbe
the ones to act.
"Let's use Virginia Tech to help
clear up some issues," Sevig said.
"If you think your fellow student
needs help, do something."
Joe Malcoun celebrates with fellow first-year MBA students in section six after
winning the S.C. Johnson Shout-Off on Ingalls Mall last night. The Shout-Off was
intended to build cameraderie among first -year MBA students who were judged
on noise level ad creativity.
Home foreclosures
rise in Midwest
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
record number of homeowners got
an unpleasant notice in their mail-
boxes this spring that their mort-
gages were being foreclosed.
The grim prospect is that thou-
sands more of those notices will
crop up in mailboxes in coming
months as the steepest slump in
housing in 16 years contributes to
a widening mortgage crisis.
More than 2 million families are
facing the prospect of seeing their
adjustable mortgage payments rise
sharply over the next two years,
possibly to levels that many will be
unable to pay.
The largest number of fore-
closures and delinquencies have
occurred in subprime mortgages,
loans extended to people with
weak credit histories. But quar-
terly data released yesterday by
the Mortgage Bankers Associa-
tion indicated the problem is now
spreading to other types of mort-
gages.
The MBA report showed the
number of homeowners who got
foreclosure notices in the April-
June quarter hit an all-time high
of 0.65 percent, up from 0.58 per-
cent in the first three months of
the year. It marked the third con-
secutive quarter that a new record
has been set.
The rising defaults in subprime
mortgages have roiled global
financial markets in recent weeks,
sending stock prices on a roller-
coaster ride as investors wonder
which big bank or hedge fund will
be the next to report huge losses
from subprime mortgages that
were bundled into securities and
resold to investors.
Both President Bush and Fed-
eral Reserve Chairman Ben Ber-
nanke tried to calm fears late last
week. Bernanke pledged the cen-
tral bank would "act as needed" to
limit any adverse economic effects
from the market turmoil.
Bush announced changes in
the Federal Home Administra-
tion insured-loan program to help
combat the expected wave of fore-
closures and also answer attacks
from Democrats that his adminis-
tration has been slow to respond to
a growing crisis in mortgage fore-
closures.
Democrats accused Bush of not
going far enough and vowed to
push more aggressive legislation
through Congress, not only to help
homeowners facing foreclosure
but also to attack predatory lend-
ing practices that they contend led
to the crisis.
A BITING ROMANTIC
COMEDY... REVEALS MORE
ABOUT EMOTIONAL AND
SEXUAL CHEMISTRY THAN
ANY FILM I CAN RECALL'
Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES
'THE BEST MOVIE
OF THE YEARIn
Caroline Kepnes, El NLINE
JULIE DELPY ADAM GOLDBERG
2 DAYS
IN PARIS
a filmby JULIE DELPY