The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, February 22, 2008 - 3A'
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, February 22, 2008 - 3A
NEWSBRIEFS
BELGRADE, Serbia
Rioters set fire
to office inside
U.S. Embassy
Angry Serbs broke into the U.S.
Embassy and set fire to an office
last night as rioters rampaged
through Belgrade's streets, putting
an exclamation point of violence to
a day of mass protest against West-
ern support for an independent
Kosovo.
At least 150,000 people rallied
in Belgrade, waving Serbian flags
and signs proclaiming "Stop USA
terror," to denounce the bid by
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian major-
ity to create their own state out of
what Serbs consider the ancient
heartland of their culture.
A charred body was found in the
U.S. Embassy after the fire was put
out, but all staff were accounted
for, embassy spokeswoman Rian
Harris said. Belgrade's Pink TV
said the body appeared to be that
of a rioter.
TOLEDO, Ohio
McCain denies
relationship with
lobbyist
John McCain emphatically de-
nied a romantic relationship with a
female telecommunications lobbyist
yesterday and said a report by The
New York Times suggesting favorit-
ism for her clients is "not true."
"I'm very disappointed in the
article. It's not true," McCain said
during a news conference called
to address the matter. McCain de-
scribed the womaninquestion, lob-
byistVicki Iseman, as a friend.
The newspaper quoted anony-
mous aides as saying they had urged
McCain and Iseman to stay away
from each other prior to his failed
presidential campaign in 2000.
In its own follow-up story, The
Washington Post quoted longtime
aide John Weaver, who split with
McCain last year, as saying he met
with lobbyist Iseman and urged her
to steer clear of McCain.
RALEIGH, N.C.
Duke lacrosse
players sue over
emotional distress
over three dozen current and for-
mer Duke lacrosse players claim in a
lawsuit they suffered emotional dis-
tress during the furor over the now-
discredited rape case against three of
their teammates.
Attorneys planned to file a federal
lawsuit yesterday in North Carolina
that accuses Duke University, the
City of Durham and several school
and police officials of fraud, abuse,
and breach of duty for supporting the
prosecution of the case.
Lead attorney Chuck Cooper said
the private university turned its back
on the players to protect the school's
image.
"This lawsuit is born out of Duke
and Durham's sustained wrongdoing
and callous conduct against the play-
ers," Cooper said while announcing
the lawsuit at a news conference in
Washington, D.C.
CARACAS, Venezuela
South American
airliner missing
A commercial airliner with 46
eople on board was reported miss-
ing yesterday in western Venezuela,
officials said.
The twin-engine plane failed to
contacttrafficcontrollers as expect-
ed after it took off from Merida en
route to Caracas' airport, said Noel
Marquez, director of Venezuela's
emergency management agency in
Merida.
"It did not make contact with
the control towers," Marquez said.
He said authorities were searching
for the plane and confirmed that it
belonged to Santa Barbara, a small
Venezuelan airline that covers
domestic routes.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
U.S. LE .ATHS
3,969
Number of American service mem-
bers who have died in the war in
Iraq, according to The Associated
Press. No new deaths were identi-
fied yesterday.
Detroit Project changes name to Clinton and Obama
reflect partnerships with city
debate in Texas
Group wants view ourselves as in a relationship
with Detroit organizations and
to demonstrate often work with them to lend a
, hand in ways possible to help. We
partnership, not hope, that in the end, both parties
acquire valuable experiences."
charity The student group voted on
the change Wednesday by a two-
By PHILIP GUICHELAAR thirds majority vote of its roughly
Daily StaffReporter 50 core members.
The group works with 21
The Detroit Project, a campus schools, community centers,
community service organiza- churches and nonprofit organiza-
tion, has changed its name to The tions in Detroit on various proj-
Detroit Partnership in an effort ects like tutoring or cleaning up
to demonstrate a more reciprocal parks.
relationship between its volun- Although name changes have
teers and the Detroit organiza- been discussed in the past, two
tions it benefits. planning committee members
The name change shows an formally submitted the proposal
attempt to address criticisms of earlier this month, said LSA senior
similar urban renewal projects Tom Szczesny, the group's execu-
that are often seen as patronizing tive director.
toward the residents of the cities The change will be officially
involved. announced at DP Day, the group's
"We do not do charity," said most visible event, on March 29.
LSA senior Michael O'Brien, the DP Day is a one-day volunteer
group's spokesman. "Instead, we event in which University stu-
feld," another did brainteasers
STUDY like crossword puzzles and the
From Page 1A last group discussed a hot-button
issue in pairs.
regardless of age, brain function Afterwards, when asked to
improved with a higher amount of complete menial tasks like count-
socializing, Ybarra said. ing backwards, those who had
The second study, which ana- done brainteasers or had a discus-
lyzed mostly University students, sion demonstrated slightly sharp-
proved that these effects could er brain function than those who
occur in the short term. had watched a TV episode.
The survey participants were Burnstein said the study's goal
randomly divided into three was to prove that there is a rela-
groups and assigned different tionship between the richness of
tasks. One group was assigned a person's social life and cognitive
to watch an episode of "Sein- performance at tasks like studying
dents travel to some of Detroit's
most dilapidated areas and work
in teams at about 50 different
sites to help to clean up the city
by doing things like tearing down
abandoned houses or painting
murals.
On average, about 1,000 stu-
dents participate in the event each
year.
Throughout the year, about 150
members also volunteer at Detroit
schools and community centers on
a weekly basis, Szczesny said.
Szczesny, the group's executive
director, said the name change
will more accurately reflect the
group's mission.
"It emphasizes the relation-
ships that we have developed in
the city and the amount of collab-
oration we have with our commu-
nity partners," he said. "We think
that 'partnership' better conveys
that message."
- Sutha K. Kanagasingam
contributed to this report.
for an exam.
He said more research is need-
ed to find out what level of social-
izing is optimaL
Ybarra said it would be a mis-
take to adopt an "all work and no
play" philosophy - or the other
way around - because a person
would miss out on a necessary
dimension of brain function.
LSA junior Stephen Hickner
was happy to hear that finding.
"What people don't realize is
that it is probably a good thing
to get out on the weekends," said
Hickner, grinning.
Senators argue over
differing health care
coverage plans
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Hillary
Rodham Clinton accused presiden-
tial rival Barack Obama of politi-
cal plagiarism last night, but drew
boos from a Democratic debate
audience when she ridiculed him
as the candidate of "change you
can Xerox."
Obama dismissed the charge
out of hand, then turned the jeers
to applause when he countered,
"What we shouldn't be doing
is tearing each other down, we
should be lifting the country up."
The exchange marked an
unusually pointed moment in an
otherwise civil encounter in the
days before March 4 primaries in
Texas and Ohio - contests that
even some of Clinton's support-
ers say she must win to sustain her
campaign for the White House.
The former first lady has lost 11
straight primaries and caucuses,
and trails her rival in convention
delegates. Obama has won a pair
of big union endorsements in the
past two days.
In a university auditorium in
the heart of Texas, the two rivals
agreed that high-tech surveil-
lance measures are preferable to
construction of a fence to curtail
illegal immigration.
They disagreed on the proper
response to a change in govern-
ment in Cuba in the wake of Fidel
Castro's resignation. Clinton said
she would refuse to sit down with
incoming President Raul Castro
until he implements political and
economic reforms. Obama said he
would meet "without precondir
tions," but added the U.S. agenda
for such a session would include
human rights in the Communist
island nation.
They also sparred frequently
about health care, a core issue of
the campaign.
Clinton said repeatedly that,
Obama's plan would leave 15 mil.
lion Americans uncovered.
But he, in turn, accused the fort
mer first lady of mishandling the
issue by working in secrecy when
her husband was in the White
House.
"I'm going to do things differ
ently," he said. "We can have great
plans, but if we don't change hoir
the politics is working in Wash:
ington, then neither of our plans
are going to happen."
Clintonwas combative and com-
plimentary by turns, and reflected
on her well-known personal strug-.
gles in the debate's final moments.
"Everyone here knows I've
lived through some crises and
some challenging moments in my
life," she said - a thinly veiled but
clear reference to her husband's'
affair with Monica Lewinsky and
subsequent impeachment. But she
added that nothing she had been,
through matched the everyday
struggles of voters.
Then, offering unprompted
praise to her rival, the one-time
front-runner said, "No matter,
what happens in this contest, I am
honored to be here with Barack
Obama."
GEO
From Page 1A
turers' Employee Organization
since 1998, didn't participate in
negotiations yesterday but spoke
on behalf of the University's bar-
gaining team.
While GEO officials said their
salary proposals were based on
cost of living figures found on the
University's Office of Financial
Aid website, the University's wage
proposals were determined by "an
internal consultation process with
the leadership of the University,"
Frumkin said.
In December, GEO representa-
tives submitted their first salary
proposal - 9-percent increases
for all three years of their contract
- but the University countered
those with 2-percent increases
over three years.
"We still remain very far apart
on the issue of salaries," said Col-
leen Woods, the lead negotiator
for GEO and GSI in the history
department. "Although they've
made some concessions in the sal-
aries article, from what we heard
from our members last night,
they're not enough."
Frumkin said he thought the
University's latest salary proposal
was a step in the right direction
for both parties.
"The proposal we made today
willhelp bringus closer together,
and I think it brought us closer
to the union's (salary proposal),"
Frumkin said.
GEO negotiators lowered the
proposed salary increases in the
final two years of the contract
from 9 percent to cost of living
increases in hopes of reaching
an agreement with the Univer-
sity. The concessions were also
an effort to ensure that graduate
student salaries keep pace with
increases in inflation.
Byaskingforanundetermined
number, the union hoped to set-
tle on a figure that was dictated
by the economic situation of the
next few years.
"We would prefer to see lan-
guage that didn't peg us to a
number as much as it acknowl-
edged keeping pace with the
rate of inflation or a cost of living
adjustment," Woods said. "We
would like to ensure that our sala-
ry keeps pace with inflation rather
than pick a number."
A 2.3-percent cost of living
increase was determined for
2007, and officials will announce
next year's increase in October
2008.
At the next round of bargaining
on March 3, Woods said GEO rep-
resentatives plan to resubmit their
previous proposal of a 9-percent
salary increase the for first year
followed by cost of living adjust-
ments for the second and third
years.
In addition to their stalemate
on salary increases, the Univer-
sity's negotiating team and GEO
also remain far apart on the health
care proposals the union wants for
its members.
The union originally proposed
expansionsofhealthcarecoverage
that gave its members improved
dental, vision, physical therapy
and mental health care, while
also making health care coverage
available for low-fraction employ-
ees - GSIs who work fewer than
20 hours a week.
The University rejected all of
GEO's health care proposals in
January. The union responded
to the University's rejection by
resubmitting its original health
care proposals in the Feb. 14
bargaining session, only to
have the University again reject
GEO's health care proposals
yesterday.
The University's bargaining
team says current health care
coverage is satisfactory, and it's
unlikely they'll make any major
changes to the existing cover-
age.
"The University's response as
far as the health care was essen-
tially to continue the same pro-
posals we have had with one
exception," Frumkin said.
The one exception was that
both sides agreed to freeze co-
pays on doctor's visits at the cur-
rent amount that employees are
responsible for.
Woods said GEO's negotiating
team would continue demanding
changes to health care because
it believes the University has
the means to cover many of the
things the organization is ask-
ing for.
"For the University to expand
health care benefits to people
working at a low-fraction does
not cost the University very much
in terms of their overall budget,"
Woods said. "It's very inexpensive
for them to do that. We are disap-
pointed that they haven't taken
that proposal as seriously as we
would like them to."
REMINDER!!!
Applications to run in the MSA
Winter Tenn Elections are due
tomorrow (March 4, 2008) at 5pm
in the MSA Office (3909 Michigan
Union).
Applications can be found in the
MSA Office or on our website,
www.msa.umich.edu.
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