The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, February 8, 2008 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS VIENNA, Austria Iran develops advanced nuclear centrifuge Iran's nuclear project has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge to churn out enriched uranium much faster than its previous machines, diplo- mats and experts said yesterday. They said that few of the IR- 2 centrifuges were operating and that testing appeared to be in an early phase, with the new machines rotating without pro- cessing any uranium gas. More significant, the officials said, is the fact that Iran appears to have used know-how and equipment bought on the nuclear black market in combination with domestic ingenuity to overcome daunting technical difficulties and create highly advanced cen- trifuges. WASHNGTON Romney exits GOP race, McCain looks to unite party John McCain sought to mend his tattered relationship with conser- vatives and unify a splintered GOP as he all but clinched the party's presidential nomination yester- day. Mitt Romney, his former chief rival, dropped out, and a parade of prominent Republicans swung be- hind the Arizona senator. "We're continuing campaign- ing and not taking anything for granted," McCain said in an Asso- ciated Press interview, still reluc- tant to call himself anything more than the front-runner. "I certainly think that we have enhanced our chances." Only Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul remained in what has been a crowded and wide-open nomina- tion fight for the past year. Both have narrow voting constituencies and are far behind in the hunt for delegates to the GOP's nominating convention this summer. NEW YORK Stocks inch up after three days of losses Wall Street finished moderately higher in fitful trading yesterday as investors, still nervous about the economy, decided to buy back into a stock market pummeled by three straight days of losses. With the market having largely priced inthe possibility of a recession, many believethere are plenty of valu- able stocks at cheap prices. Before yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen this week by 543 points,or 4.26 percent,givingup allof last week's sharp gains. Though the market ended up rising yesterday, trading was extremely fickle due to a batch of gloomy data that included declin- ing January sales at major retailers, a drop in December sales of pend- ing homes, and a disappointing outlook from Internet networking supplier Cisco Systems Inc. WASHINGTON Waterboarding debate flares A debate over waterboarding flared yesterday on Capitol Hill, with the CIA director raising doubts about whether it's currently legal and the attorney general refusing to investi- gate U.S. interrogators who have used the technique on terror detainees. Vice President Dick Cheney, meanwhile, said "it's a good thing" that top al-Qaida leaders who under- went the harsh interrogation tactic in 2002 and 2003 were forced to give up information that helped protect the country. "It's a good thing we had them in custody, and it's a good thing we found out what they knew," Cheney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 3 9 Number of American service mem- bers who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. There were no deaths identi- fied yesterday. WRESTLING isn't much room for pain. Luke continues and finishes the prac- From Page 1 ' tice. . His mind isn't even on the inju- As Michigan coach Joe McFar- ry, though. Luke has two chap- land begins speaking to the group ters of biochemistry reading and to signal the start of practice, Calculus 2 problems to do before everyone pays attention. Late going to a class. Then he has to wrestlers getclucky, scurrying into prepare in the morning for tomor- the room just in time. row's match againstcPurdue --ifhe McFarland is as down to earth doesn't succumb to exhaustion. as they come, literally and figu- "I'll probably change my plans," ratively. Having wrestled in the Luke said. "After my 11:30 a.m. 126-pound weight class during his class, I could come home and say, days as a four-time All American 'I'm way too tired and fall asleep wrestler at Michigan, McFarland and don't end up reading'." is rarely taller or bigger than the person he's speaking with. FRIDAY, THE DAY OF It's that combination of slight THE PURDUE MATCH: statureandloftyaccomplishments that allow him to relate with any- No one on the team will say it body onthe team, whether a walk- directly, but tonight's matchup on or a 275-pound heavyweight. against the Boilermakers is noth- Today's practice, like most ing more than a tune-up for the McFarland-run practices, starts Minnesota dual meet tomorrow. with an hour of drills building Purdue has just one ranked wres- toward two seven-minute simu- tler in its lineup. The sixth-ranked lated matches. Wolverines have six. McFarland said each session But there's still some mental is largely dependent on how hard angst among the Michigan wres- each wrestler is willing to work. tIers as weigh-ins approach. Mak- "It can't be something where ing weight is a part of wrestling you justwalk into practice and flip that those outside the sport don't a switch on," he said. understand and those involved in And this practice has an awk- it detest talking about. Many har- ward twist, one that stems from bor the memories of decades past something McFarland decided when some wrestlers would be so before the session began. Red- weak after weighingin thatthey'd shirt sophomore Aaron Hynes need to be hooked up to IVs. had approachedthe coachingstaff The Michigan wrestling pro- a few days before, asking for an gram knows all too well about the opportunity to earn the starting dangers of weight cutting. In 1997, position in the 157-pound weight then-junior Jeff Reese, a Michi- class over Marsh. gan wrestler, died of kidney and Because Hynes did well at heart failure after working outin a an open tournament - a set of rubber suit. It's something McFar- matches that allow non-starters land won't talk about, but it's also to gain experience - the week an event that sparked change in before, McFarland decides to collegiate wrestling policies. grant an indicator match between Back when weight cutting the two to determine if a wrestle- went mostly unsanctioned - off is warranted. before Reese's death - weigh-ins It's a sticky situation and one occurred the day before a match, Marsh is all too familiar with. Just allowing wrestlers to cut as much last season, Marsh held the start- weight as possible and replenish ing spot at the 157-pound weight themselves overnight in order to class onlyto lose itrightbefore the have strength. Today, weigh-ins Big Ten Championships. occur one hour before match time. Unlike other sports at the Uni- Because of this, it's nearly impos- versity,whereteammates are loyal sible for someone to starve him- tothe end, thewrestlingroomcan self and wrestle well. sometimes become an "every man And while some of this year's for himself" environment. Of the Wolverines have worn sweatpants 28 wrestlers on the roster, just 10 and sweatshirts duringpractice to are able to start each match. lose weight quicker, McFarland As a result, Marsh knew he does everything in his power to had to go after Hynes as if he make sure his wrestlers are eat- were an enemy. The strategy paid ing properly. He's more concerned dividends, too. Marsh won 8-0, aboutchiscteam wrestling at its best keeping his starting position for thanhavinghis wrestlers compete another day. at the lowest weight. "I had the idea that this was To address the issue, McFar- my spot, you're not going to take land has started scheduling mini- it away from me," Marsh said. "I workouts before weigh ins. The don't care who you are. I don't workouts serve as a warm up for care if you're myteammate or not, the match that night and allow I'm not givingyou any respect." wrestlers to eat normally without Come match time, though, worrying about getting too heavy. Marsh and his teammates will "In the morning, I want them have to switch gears and rely on eating," McFarland said. "Then each other if they are to beat Pur- I want them eating a light lunch, due or Minnesota. come in, get a little drilling and then getcready for weigh-ins." THURSDAY, ONE DAY Later that night, it appeared BEFORE THE PURDUE MATCH: that the training paid off. Michi- gan has little trouble dispens- Injuries are an inevitable part ing the Boilermakers, 24-12. But of wrestling, and the Wolverines the win comes at a price. Sopho- are no aberration. more Anthony Biondo, the team's Two heavyweights went down surprisingly solid 197-pounder, earlier in the season because of sprains an elbow ligament during various ailments, forcing McFar- a match against Purdue's Logan land to bump up a 197-pounder for Brown. It's just another leak in the the team's loss to Central Michi- dam holding together this fragile gan. Todd, the team's starting team. 184-pounder and vocal leader, was McFarland can'tchelpbut worry hospitalized with a staph infec- about the ramifications. tion earlier in the season. "I'm worrying about is this Today, though, McFarland is going to be nagging? How long is more worried about the problems this going to keep him out for? Is it facing two of his star wrestlers: something he can wrestle with?" seniors Josh Churella and Steve McFarland said. "It's a little frus- Luke. Both of them are returning trating. You don't want your guys All-Americans, but very question- getting hurt." able heading into the weekend. Especially when the No. 4 team Luke sprained his ankle against in the country is coming to Ann the Chippewas and Churella is Arbor the next day. battling a chest cold. "Just staying healthy is a trick," SATURDAY, THE DAY OF Todd said. "Hardly anyone gets THE MINNESOTA MATCH: through without something going wrong, but you have to maintain The atmosphere tonight is doing the right thing, trying to decidedly different than the heal up after each week." match against Purdue. Biondo has Luke tweaks his ankle even already been ruled out because of more during the practice, almost his injury, and Churella has been stopping at one point because of re-inserted into the lineup. the pain. But in wrestling, there Butclosing just one person could prove costly for the Wolverines since Minnesota has five ranked wrestlers. Like all teams, though, the Golden Gophers are battling injuries themselves. Their 149- pounder, Dustin Schlatter, will miss tonight's match. His match with Churella could have gone either way. Just two weeks earlier, Michi- gan defeated Minnesota, 23-16. But tonight's rematch starts out as poorly as it possibly can. Jason Lara gets pinned in the 125-pound contest and so does sophomore Chris Diehl in the 133- pound match. Freshman Kellen Russell, ranked No. 3 in the 141- pound weight class, loses a close decision to Minnesota's Manuel Rivera, giving the Gophers an insurmountable 15-0 lead. Minne- sota holds on, cruising to a 24-15 win. "A big part of wrestling is believing in yourself, guys," McFarland said to a silent locker room afterwards. He's not yelling. That's not in his nature. But there is something different about the way he looks at the team. He's no longer down to earth like he nor- mally is. "You have to carry thatonto the mat," he continues. "You have to believe in yourself first." Lara and Diehl are sitting in the corner, heads down, avoid- ing McFarland's face at all costs. Todd stands in the back of the locker room, arms folded, listen- ing intently. It's clear he wants to add his own two cents to the con- versation. "You guys that didn't wrestle well, remember how tired you were in the third period," said Todd, who, like McFarland, isn't yelling but speaking with convic- tion. "That pain should drive you. If it doesn't, you don't belong in this sport." As Todd's last words sit in the air for a few seconds, the discom- fort lingers like a morning's fog. McFarland breaks the silence, addressing the entire room. He goes back to what he said about practice habits on Thursday. "You guys have to start wres- tlingwithachiponyourshoulder," McFarland said. "Understand this, it has to be there every day in practice. It's not something you just flip a gear on the night we're going to wrestle." The team's fractures begin to emerge immediately following the loss. There's a certain ten- sion between the Wolverines' best wrestlers and those who are merely average. "It's hard to ratchet up the intensity with the starters, with five or six guys that are doing well," a frustrated Todd said out- side the locker room. "We need guys pushing us, making us work harder and making us feeluncom- fortable in practice." The Wolverines are at a cross- roads. The Minnesota loss could hurt the team in the weeks lead- ing up to the National Champion- ships. Or it could prove to be the defining moment that motivates the team to step things up. Either way, the tension and stress never end for these wres- tlers. Saturday's loss will quickly turn into another Monday prac- tice leading up to another Friday match. It's how Michigan deals with this reality that will define the season. A week later, Michigan gets back on track with a 22-16 win over Illinois. The same success- ful formula is followed: The stars carry the team, and the Wolver- ines capture six consecutive vic- tories in the middle of the meet. But again, the lower weights struggle with junior Michael Watts - taking over for the inef- fective Lara - getting pinned and Diehl losing by major decision. There is a surprise, though. After battling to keep his start- ing spot earlier, Marsh pulls off the upset of the year, defeating Illinois's Mike Poeta, the nation's top-ranked wrestler in the 157- pound weight class. The unlikely result is the deciding factor in the team's win. Those waffles have probably never tasted better. UNDER THE RRTGHT ITGHTS LSA sophomore Ben Lee sings "Isn't She Lovely" yesterday in the basement of She Michigan League. He was competing in Michigan Idol, which airs live on WOLV-TV. The winner of the contest gets $500. FUNDING From Page 1 cent increase. Cynthia Wilbanks, the Universi- ty's vice president for government relations, said she's "not enam- ored" with the idea of incentives, but it's something universities have to deal with. She said while she understands the legislature's intentions, incentives usually vary from year to year, making it dif- ficult for the University to make long-term plans based on state funds. "One size doesn't really fit all,'' she said. But Wilbanks said she's opti- mistic about the potential funding increase. "A'3-percent increase is wel- come news," she said. Last year Granholm proposed a 2.5 percent increase in appropria- tions to all universities, but they only received a 1-percent increase. The proposal also suggests that universities should use a portion of the newly allocated funds to keep tuition increases as small as pos- sible. Wilbanks said she's unsure how the new budget might affect tuition. She said discussions are underway to determine the Uni- versity's budget, which should be finalized in June or July. Last summer the University Board of Regents raised tuition 7.4 percent. Granholm's proposal still has a long way to go before it becomes law. It has to be negotiated and passed by Senate and House com- mittees before being passed by both houses of the state legisla- ture. Wilbanks said she was pleased to see the University, along with Michigan State University and Wayne State University, recog- nized in a separate section of the proposal as the state's three major research universities. But the three universities are still push- ing to have their appropriations split into a bill separate from the state's 12 other public universities. Those schools have resisted the move, saying it would put them on a lower tier. The proposal also includes an increase in Michigan Promise Grants, the Michigan Merit Award Program and the Tuition Incentive Program. The $43.6 million increase for higher education was made pos- sible in part by a $350 million sur- plus from the 2007 fiscal year, said Leslee Fritz, a spokeswoman for the State Budget Department. Just under a third of the surplus will be saved for a rainy day fund. The rest of the money is going to the state's general fund. Fritz said the extra money eased the pres- sures of increasing costs. Fritz said she doesn't anticipate that this year's budget process will be as contentious as last year's. Legislators negotiated down to the wire on Sept.30, failingto agree on a budget by the time the new fiscal year started on Oct. 1. After the state government shut down for four hours, they agreed on a con- tinuationbudgetfor amonthbefore reaching a compromise. That was due in large part to a tax increase proposed by Granholm and rev- enue shortfalls that required deep cuts in the budget. "We'll have our disagreements, but it won't be anywhere near what it was last year," said Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt). "The gover- nor very clearly does not want to create the angst and the vitriol of last year." GOP happier with th is year's budget Lack of tax hikes won't make it through the Legisla- ture without being "massaged." fee increases makes "We start with more agreement out of the chute. That's important," Granholm plan more he said. Unlike last year, when an palatable impasse over how best to balance the budget led to a temporary gov- LANSING (AP) - Gov. Jennifer ernment shutdown on Oct. 1, the Granholm yesterday proposed a budget could be done this year by budget that spends more on educa- July 1, Jelinek said. tion, cities and the poor, but does it Appropriations subcommit- without any tax or fee increases. tees in the House and Senate are That fact alone had Republican expected to begin working soon on lawmakers feeling more mellow parts of the budget before the bills toward the Democratic governor, go to the full House and Senate. who took pains to avoid cutting "We'll have our disagreements, GOP favorites such as tuition grants but it won't be anywhere near what for students at private colleges and it was last year," said Sen. Alan the Michigan Agricultural Experi- Cropsey (R-DeWitt). "The gover- ment Station. nor very clearly does not want to "I wrote this in the spirit of col- create the angst and the vitriol of laboration and cooperation," Gra- last year." nholm told reporters after budget It didn't hurt, of course, that the director Robert Emerson delivered increase in the state income tax and her proposal for the budget year surcharge on the state's main busi- that starts Nov. 1 to lawmakers. "It ness tax passed last year will bring invests in the things that citizens in an extra $1.54 billion - enough value." money to cover the state's costs in The governor's $44.8 billion the year ahead. budget proposal is 2.9 percent That hasn't been the case in the higher than what's being spent in earlier years of Granholm's term, the current budget. when she not only faced shortfalls It includes $9.8 billion in general in the upcoming budget year but fund spending and $13.5 billion in often had to deal with unexpected school aid. deficits in the current budget year Last year, the governor rec- as well. ommended a 2.2 percent overall The state's financial situation increase. also has been helped by falling Senate Appropriations Chair- interest rates, which will make man Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks) it possible for the state to save gave the governor's proposal high money by refinancing some of its marks, although he also noted it debt. Kilpatrick tried to keep messages secret Detroit mayor's whistle-blower suit cost city $8.4 million DETROIT (AP) _ Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick approved a secret agreement to keep confi- dential intimate and sometimes sexually explicit text messages with his chief of staff in an $8.4 million whistle-blower settle- ment, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported yes- terday. The newspapers said Kil- patrick and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty signed a con- fidential agreement that would conceal the text messages as part of the city's settlement of the lawsuit. Under the agreement, Michael Stefani, lawyer for two former officers in last summer's law- suit, would surrender all origi- nal records and copies of those records from the city's commu- nications provider, SkyTel, the newspapers said. Those messages show that Kilpatrick and Beatty had an intimate, physical relationship in 2002-03, something they both denied under oath during the whistle-blower's lawsuit. Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. has ordered the release of a number of docu- ments involving the lawsuit settlement and a deposition of Stefani by attorneys for the Free Press and News. The city yesterday appealed the release of some of the docu- ments and the deposition to the state appeals court, but agreed to make some of the documents public. Sharon McPhail, the mayor's legal adviser, denied yesterday there was a secret deal. "In fact, no secret deals exist or have ever existed," she said. A