The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
First brigade to
leave Iraq will
come from Diyala
Commanders in Iraq have decided
to begin the drawdown of U.S. forces
in volatile Diyala province, marking
a turning point in the U.S. military
mission, The Associated Press has
learned.
Insteadofreplacingthe3rdBrigade
of the 1st Cavalry Division, which
is returning to its home base at Fort
Hood, Texas, in December, soldiers
from another brigade in Salahuddin
province next door will expand into
Diyala, thereby broadening its area
of responsibility, several officials said
yesterday.
In this way, the number of Army
ground combat brigades in Iraq will
fall from 20 to 19. This reflects Presi-
dent Bush's bid to begin reducing the
American military force and shifting
its role away from fighting the insur-
gency toward more support functions
like training and advising Iraqi secu-
rity forces.
DES MOINES, Iowa
Iowa GOP moves
caucus to Jan. 3
Iowa Republicans yesterday
rescheduled their presidential
nominating caucuses to Jan. 3 in
response to other states scheduling
early contests.
"With under 80 days to go, this
is a huge help to our counties and
county chairs to get the ball rolling
and start organizing," Chuck Laud-
ner, executive director of the Iowa
GOP, said in a statement. .
The announcement came late
yesterday after the state central
committee, two national committee
members and the party chairman
approved the date on a conference
call.
DETROIT
GM announces slate
of permanent cuts
General Motors Corp. said yes-
terday it will permanently lay off
767 workers later this year at a plant
near Detroit because of lagging
sales of its products.
GM's Hamtramck assembly
plant will go from two shifts to
one shift on Dec. 14, company
spokesman Tom Wickham said.
The plant will be closed from Dec.
14 to Jan. 2 for a planned shut-
down and for a holiday recess,
Wickham added.
The plant currently employs
1,847hourly workers and makes the
Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS
sedans. Lucerne sales fell 15 per-
cent in the first nine months of this
year, while DTS sales were down
14 percent, according to Autodata
Corp.
WASHINGTON
Dalai Lama brushes
off Chinese anger at

U.S. celebrations
The Dalai Lama, after meeting
privately yesterday with President
Bush, brushed off China's furious
reaction to U.S. celebrations this
weekin his honor.
"That always happens," the
exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's
Buddhists said with a laugh, speak
ing to reporters gathered outside
his downtown Washington hotel.
The White House defended the
meeting in the president's residence
and dismissed Beijing's warning
that the talks and the awarding of
the Congressional Gold Medal to
him on Wednesday would damage
relations between the United States
and China.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
U. S, CASUALTIES
3,828
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the War in'
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. The following service mem-
ber was identified by the Depart-
ment of Defense on Monday:
Army Spc. Frank L. Cady III,
20, Sacramento, Calif.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Justin S.
Monschke, 28, Krum, Texas
Army Pfc.. Kenneth J. Iwasin-
ski, 22, West Springfield, Mass.
Army 1st Lt. Thomas M. Mar-
tin, 27, Ward, Ark.
Army Spc. Jason B. Koutrou-
bas, 21, Dunnellon, Fla

Drug-resistant-
germ linked to
19,000 deaths

BIKE RACK BUILDER

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. death toll from 32 cases per 100,000 people.
In an accompanying editorial in
ISA could exceed the medical journal, Dr. Elizabeth
A. Bancroft, an epidemiologist with
number of the Los Angeles County Depart-
ment of Public Health, character-
nurder victims ized that finding as "astounding."
The prevalence of invasive MRSA
By KEVIN SACK - when the bacteria has not mere-
The New York Times ly colonized on the skin, but has
attacked a normally sterile part of
ANTA - Nearly 19,000 peo- the body, like the organs - is great-
d in the United States in 2005 er, she wrote, than the combined
eing infected with virulent rates for other conditions caused by
sistant bacteria that have invasive bacteria, including blood-
rampantlythrough hospitals stream infections, meningitis and
rsing homes, according tothe flesh-eating disease.
orough study of the disease's The study also concluded that
once ever conducted. 85 percent of invasive MRSA infec-
government study, which is tions are associated with healthcare
ublished today in The Jour- treatment. Previous research had
he American Medical Associ- indicated that many hospitals and
uggests that such infections long-term care centers have become
twice as common as previ- breedinggrounds for MRSAbecause
hought, according to its lead bacteria may be transported from
Dr. R. Monina Klevens. patient to patient by doctors, nurses
e mortality estimates are cor- and unsterilized equipment.
enumber ofdeaths associated "This confirms in a very rigor-
e germ, methicillin-resistant ous way that this is a huge health
ococcus aureus, or MRSA, problem," said Dr. John A. Jerni-
exceed those attributed to gan, the deputy chief of prevention
DS, Parkinson's disease, and response in the CDC's division
ema or homicide each year. of healthcare quality promotion.
:trapolatingdata collected in "And it drives home that what we
cations, the researchers esti- do in health care will have a lot to
that 94,360 patients devel- do with how we control it."
invasive infection from the The findings are likely to further
en in 2005 and that nearly stimulate an already active debate
very five, or 18,650 of them, about whether hospitals and other
he study points out that it is medical centers should test all
ways possible to determine patients for MRSA upon admission.
r a death is caused by MRSA Some hospitals have had notable
ly accelerated by it. success in reducing their infection
authors, who work for the rates by isolating infected patients
enters for Disease Control and then taking extra precautions,
vention, cautioned that their like requiring workers to wear
ology differed significantly gloves and gowns for every contact.
revious studies and that But other research has suggested
omparisons were therefore that such techniques may be exces-
ut they said they were sur- sive, and may have the unintended
by the prevalence of serious consequence of diminishing medi-
ns, which they calculated as cal care for quarantined patients.

ROB MIGRIN/Daily
Jared Blumhardt installs bike hoops on NorIth University Avenue near Thayer Street yesterday. Blumhardt works for
Gulf Construction, which the city of Ann Arbor pays to install the hoops and do other construction proects around Ann
Arbor.
House passes shield
law for reporters

WASHINGTON (AP) - The
House yesterday strongly
backed the right of reporters
to protect the confidentiality
of sources in most federal court
cases, saying thatrightwas cru-
cial to a free and effective press.
The White House, warning
that the media shield bill would
encourage leaks of classified
information, threatened a veto.
Under legislation that
passed 398-21, reporterscould
still be compelled to disclose
information on sources if that
information is needed to pre-
vent acts of terrorism or harm
to the national security.
That wasn't enough for the
White House, which said the

privi es given to reporters
"could severely frustrate -
and in some cases completely
eviscerate - the ability to
investigate acts of terrorism or
threats to national security."
Advocates of press freedom
have pushed the issue this
year in the wake of several
high-profile cases, including
subpoenas for reporters to
testify in a probe into the leak
of a CIA operative's identity.
Supporters -pointed to
press reports on Abu Ghraib,
clandestine CIA prisons and
shoddy conditions at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center as
examples where source confi-
dentiality was crucial.


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