8 - Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Progress on budget slows
THE CANDYWOMAN
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Nearing deadline,
lawmakers divided over
privatizing adoption,
juvenile detention
LANSING (AP) - With little time left,
lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm
were still divided yesterday over wheth-
er more private providers should handle
adoption, foster care and juvenile justice
services - the big sticking point in resolv-
ing the state budget.
But other signs of progress emerged as
the Senate passed spending plans for the
state police and other state departments.
The House also began passing some
department budgets, yesterday night, and
more voting was expected tomorrow in
the Legislature.
Final action could depend on reaching
an agreement over whether more func-
tions in the Department of Human Servic-
es should be handed to private agencies.
The Legislature has until tomorrow to
pass the budget bills to avoid another par-
tial government shutdown such as the one
that occurred in the early hours of Oct. 1.
Sen. Bill Hardiman, (R-Kentwood),
is among those pushing to put more DHS
services into private hands.
He said it costs the state $550 a day to
house each youthful offender at the W.J.
Maxey Boys Training School in Whitmore
Lake, but it would cost only $225 to $250 a
day if the youths were dealt with through
private companies.
"We need to move forward in this area.
The money we save, we can spend in other
needed areas," Hardiman said. "To ignore
this, I think, is absolutely wrong."
Granholm, a Democrat, opposes giv-
ing more DHS services to private provid-
ers. So do labor unions representing state
workers who would lose their jobs if their
work is taken over by private agencies.
Democrats have argued that handing
more responsibility for adoptions, foster
care and juvenile justice over to private
agencies is risky and would not necessar-
ily save money. They have said it could
endanger children at a time the state is
under scrutiny for the deaths of some fos-
ter children.
But Hardiman points out that private
agencies already provide 40 percent of
such services to Michigan children. He
wants to partially close Maxey and send
some offenders to less expensive facilities.
Negotiators from the Republican-led
Senate and Democratic-controlled House
have mostly agreed on handing more ser-
vices over to private agencies, despite Gra-
nholm's objections, Hardiman said. But
because the governor could veto the bill if
she doesn't like it, negotiations continue.
Lawmakers avoided disagreements
over whether to increase hunting and
fishing fees and environmental permit
fees by delaying the decisions until later.
Budget bills for the departments of Envi-
ronmental Quality and Natural Resources
assume that fees would rise but give the
Legislature until Jan.15 to vote on specific
increases.
Republicans and some Democrats have
been reluctant to embrace higher fees,
even though both departments have said
staff and services will have to be reduced
if the fees aren't raised.
DEQ officials have warned that they
might have to lay off 200 to 300 work-
ers and turn some permitting functions
over to the federal government, while the
DNR - which has not raised hunting and
fishing fees since 1996 - could lay off 79
workers. Other cutbacks include closing
two state forest campgrounds, two fish
hatcheries and some DNR field offices.
Rep. Doug Bennet (D-Muskegon) said
some of the environmental fees have not
been raised in 10 or 15 years and cited
concerns within the business community
about permitting delays if funding is not
increased.
"It's-a serious, significant problem," he
said, arguing that the delays could hurt
economic development. Others say the fee
hikes would hurt businesses.
Sen. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Lee-
lanau) said legislative leaders have told her
they intend to fully fund the DNR, wheth-
er through fee increases or other options.
She said she personally hasn't take a
position on higher fees proposed by Gra-
nholm.
"It certainly is a problem that requires a
legislative solution, rather than a depart-
ment solution," McManus said.
Counting other forms of funding,
including compensation to help cover
unfunded payments in a tuition waiver
program for American Indians, some of
the state's 12 smaller universities will get
a bit more than a 1 percent increase. Lake
Superior State University would get a 2.4-
percent boost.
The Legislature's bill retains about $56
million in tuition grants for students at
private schools.
The House also passed a bill that would
provide an average 1 percent funding
increase for community college opera-
tions.
The House also adopted a Department
of Community Health budget that doesn't
kick any groups off of Medicaid coverage.
The chamber also passed a spending bill
for the state's prison system that would
reflect some previously agreed to hous-
ing unit reductions and include more use
of GlobalPositioning System units to track
parolees.
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Ann Arbor resident Amy Tartaglia makes caramel apple at Kilwin's Chocolate factc
erty Street yesterday. Tartaglia has been working at the candy shop for two years.
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3 in Simpson case agree to guilty plea
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Cutting
deals with co-defendants to testify
against O.J. Simpson could under-
cut prosecutors if they ever need to
convince a jury the former football.
starisguiltyofserious crimes, legal
experts said yesterday.
But that could happen only if
the case makes it past a prelimi-
nary hearing next week before a
judge whose main concern will be
what the evidence is rather than
where it came from. Of the five
men charged with Simpson in a
hotel-room confrontation with
sports memorabilia dealers, three
have agreed to plead guilty and
testify against him.
"This is a basic prosecution tac-
tic that is very effective," said Jody
Armour, acriminal lawprofessor at
the University of Southern Califor-
nia. "Its greatest weakness is that
the jury is going to hear from the
defense that the only reason they're
testifying is because they cuta deal
that can benefit them."
Simpson co-defendant Michael
McClinton told a judge yesterday
that he will plead guilty Nov. 13 to
robbery and conspiracy to commit
robbery. The 49-year-old Las Vegas
man could end up being the star
witness.
McClinton's lawyer said he can
testify that Simpson asked him
to bring guns to a room at a Las
Vegas casino hotel to get items that
Simpson said was his. That would
contradict Simpson's claim that no
guns were involved.
McClinton wielded a gun and,
acted like a police officer Sept. 13
when Simpson and the others alleg-
edly robbed collectibles dealers
Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beard-
sley, according to police reports.
McClinton's lawyer said his client
worked as a security guard and had
a concealed weapons permit.
Authorities say memorabilia
taken included football game balls
signed by Simpson, Joe Montana
lithographs, baseballs autographed
by Pete Rose and Duke Snider, pho-
tos of Simpson with the Heisman
Trophy, and framed awards and
plaques, together valued at as much
as $100,000, according to police
reports.
Jersey
squirrels
safe to eat
0
* StudentUniverse.comI
EPA says original
warning about lead
contamination was
a mistake
u RSON WELLES'
WAR
of *uE
WORLD!
09yu AMMIMMARr PARTYI
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
at the University of Michigan
and the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center
present a lecture by
Visiting Professor Marilyn Halter
American Kaleidoscope:
Immigration and Adaptation
in a Multiethnic Society
10 a.m., Tuesday, November 6
at the Best Western Conference Center, 2900 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, and retirees will be admitted
free to this event upon presentation of U-M identification.
This is a featured presentation in a six-lecture, paid series,
Is Our Melting Pot Boiling Over?
U.S. Immigration in the 21st Century
For information on these lectures, fees, and membership, contact the
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at (734) 998-9351 or
www.olliumich.org>.
Oher lecture titles in the series:
- Who are the New Americans?, Nov. 1
" Current Isues in Immigration Law, Non. 15
" Immigrants, Exiles, Refugees: Two Centuries of Jewish Immigration, Nov. 29
Ialir de Nuestra TierrauEs Sufir (To Leae Our Land Is to Suffer), Dec. 6
" Is Immigration Good Bussiness for America?, Dec. 13
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - In
January, the state warned hunt-
ers and residents near a toxic
waste dump in northern New
Jersey to limit their consump-
tion of squirrel after federal
monitors tested a dead squirrel
and found it contaminated by
lead.
Yesterday, officials said it was
a false alarm.
The U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency said a
blender used to process the
squirrel's tissue samples was
defective and that the lead
believed to be in the squirrel
actually came from a part of
the blender.
"Resampling indicated signif-
icantly lower lead levels in the
squirrel tissue," the agency said
insa statement.
State officials will decide
what action they need to take
regarding the squirrel advisory
based onthe EPA's new findings,.
said Tom Slater, a spokesman for
the Department of Health and
Senior Services.
The dead squirrel was sent
to the EPA lab as part of tests
the agency was conducting
on plants and animals near
a Superfund site where Ford
Motor Co. used to dump toxic
-waste.
Furd spokesman Jon Holt said
the Dearborn-based automaker
was pleased that the issue had
been clarified.
He said the EPA's findings
demonstratetthe need to per-
form accurate testing.
"Our position has been that
the paint sludge has been iso-
lated, and that it doesn't really
leach into the soil or the water,
so it hasn't been any real threat
to the environment or animals
in the area," Holt said.
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Marilyn Halter. Ph.D., is Professor of
History and Director of the American
and New England Studies Program
at Boston University; and she is a
Research Associate at BU's Institute
on Culture, Religion and World
Affairs. She also serves as senior
consultant and project historian for
the OASIS Institute's "The Immigrant
Experience," a national education
project for older adults, and co-chairs
the "Boston Immigration and Urban
Hi0tory Seminar,' an ongoing series
in conjunction with the Massachu-
setts Historical Society. Her Bot.
recent hook is Shopping forldentty.
the Marketing of Ethnicity.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS IIRAR
7Thf FlTOR /GHATCER GRATE £IIMRY
TUE$DAX O'CTODER 30Th'IO 4
TONIGHT!
A
In conjunction with Prof. Halter's Osher appearance, the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies
and the American Culture Program are sponsoring Prof. Halter in a seminar,
"Young, Gifted and West African: TransnationaiMigrants Growing Up in America."
Guests are welcome: Noon, Monday, November 5, CAAS Conference Room, 4701 (fourth floor) Haven Hall,
which is behind Angell Hall, at 505 South State Street on the University of Michigan campus.
For info e-mail <ecnirp@umich.edu>or call (734) 764-5517.
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