The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 3, 2008 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Musharraf calls for Bhutto investigation President Pervez Musharraf announced yesterday that Scotland Yard will help investigate the assas- sination of Benazir Bhutto, revers- ing his initial rejection of foreign help after he came under pressure to allow a U.N. probe. Authorities also pushed back parliamentary elections until Feb. 18 - a six-week delay prompted by the rioting that followed the oppo- sition leader's death. Opposition parties condemned the delay but still plan to take part in the elec- tions, seen as a key step in bringing democracy to Pakistan after years of military rule. Both developments could ease the turmoil that has gripped Paki- stan since Bhutto's slaying in a gun and suicide bomb attack last week, which plunged the nation deeper into political crisis as it struggles to contain an explosion of Islamic militant violence. WASHINGTON U.S. lags on admitting Iraqi refugees U.S. admissions of Iraqi refugees are nose-diving amid bureaucratic in-fightingdespite the Bush admin- istration's pledge to boost them to roughly 1,000 per month, accord- ing to State Department statistics obtained by The Associated Press. For the third straight month since the United States said it would improve processing and resettle 12,000 Iraqis by the end of the current budget year, the number admitted has actually slid, the fig- ures show. The steady decline - from 450 in Octoberto 362inNovember and245 in December - means the adminis- tration will have to allow in 10,943 Iraqis over the next nine months, or roughly 1,215 per month, to meet the target it has set for itself. WASHINGTON Justice Dept. launches CIA tapes investigation The Justice Department opened a full criminal investigation yes- terday into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, putting the politically charged probe in the hands of a mob-busting public cor- ruption prosecutor with a reputa- tion for beingindependent. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that he was appointing John Durham, a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, to over- see the investigation of a case that has challenged the Bush adminis- tration's controversial handling of terrorism suspects. "The Department's National Security Division has recommend- ed, and IShave concluded, that there is a basis for initiating a criminal investigation of this matter, and I have taken steps to begin that investigation," Mukasey said in a statement released yesterday. LAUREL, Md. Iowa students feel lodging shortage To encourage student night," said Schierenbeck, who is the president of the College Demo- turnout at caucus, crats of Iowa. In closely contended caucuses, group offers free the student vote could give some candidates an advantage. rooms, gas money Democratic contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the can- By ANDY KROLL didate wllo has emphasized the DailyStaffReporter student vote most, has been criti- cized for encouraging out-of-state DES MOINES - After a long students to return to the state to night of caucusing today, Grin- participate in the caucus. nell College junior Alec Schie- At a private college like Grin- renbeck plans to join nearly 100 nell, where about 85 percent of fellow student caucus-goers who students come from outside Iowa, will be spending the night on any form of university housing Grinnell's campus an hour east of available to students - even if it's the capital. a hard gym floor - is necessary Unfortunately for Schie- to encourage students to partici- renbeck and his peers, their pate in the caucus, Schierenbeck housing arrangements will be said. sleeping bags, foam pads and The University of Iowa, located the cold, wooden gym floor of about 60 miles west of the Illinois an old Grinnell physical educa- border, in Iowa City, is only keep- tion building. ing two of its 10 dormitories open Many Iowa college students during its winter break, which participating in the caucus today lasts until Jan. 22. face not only the tough decision of Phillip Jones, dean of students choosing a candidate to support, at the University of Iowa, said the but also must find somewhere to university had no plans to open stay tonight, as many colleges have additional dorms for the caucus. closed their dormitories for winter The two open dorms are meant break. to accommodate international "The gym isn't ideal, but I think students who remain on campus it shows just how excited students during the break, Jones said. are to come back and caucus, that Jones cited the small amount they're willing to drive across the of students who live in the dorms country and sleep in a gym for the during the school year -about Drivers on cells phones slow down commute 2,500 - compared to the nearly 25,000 students who live off cam- pus as one of the main reasons why the university didn't need to open more dorms for the caucus. Jones said only two or three students had formally requested university housing for the night of the caucus before the fall semester ended Dec. 21. "It can be hard to judge if there's any demand when only one-fifth of students live on campus," Jones said. "But as far as I can tell, there has been very little demand coming from students looking to get into the rooms that are already available over winter break." Rooms in the Iowa House Hotel on campus are also available to stu- dents at a discounted rate, Jones said. About 100 miles west at Iowa State University in Ames, the Department of Residence announced in December that only one dorm would remain open dur- ing winter break -and only to stu- dents with existing ISU housing contracts. Several other Iowa colleges, including the University of North- ern Iowa in Cedar Falls, also announced in December they would make university-owned housing options available to stu- dents for the night of the caucus. Despite the lack of housing options at major state universities like the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, it's unlikely that a shortage of options will dis- courage students - especially out- of-state students - from returning for the caucus. The Young Voter PAC, a student voting rights lobbying group, is offering student caucus-goers free hotel rooms and gas money in an effort to encourage more students to participate today. All students have to do is fill out a simple online application form available on the group's website. The group is also organizing carpooling groups for students traveling to Iowa with a Facebook. com group. As of last night, the group "Hey Clinton, Stop Telling Young Voters to Stay Home" had 67 people confirmed to an event called "Come Back to Caucus in Iowa." Atul Nakhasi, president of the University of Iowa Democrats, said the Young Voter PAC had also pro- vided his organization with sepa- rate funding to book hotel rooms for students interested in return- ing to caucus. Jane Fleming Kleeb, Young Voter PAC's executive director, said once it was announced that the caucus was moved up to today, her organization needed to take action to ensure that all students, both in- and out-of-state, had the accommodations to participate in the caucus. "When candidates started say- ing that students shouldn't come back to caucus, we knew right then we had to stand for the youth vote," Kleeb said. Kleeb said over 150 students have requested funding from Young Voter PAC, and she added that the total amount doesn't include students who are carpool- ing together to Iowa. "We were thrilled with the response because, as past years tell us, small numbers can mean a lot in the Iowa caucuses," Kleeb said. WANT LIVE UPDATES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL? Visit the Daily's news blog, the Wire, for coverage of the Iowa Caucus. www.michigandaily.com/the wire Study finds cell phone drive slower in heavy traffic WASHINGTON (AP) - Drivers talking on cell phones are probably making your com- mute even longer, concludes a new study. Motorists yakking away, even with handsfree devices, crawl about 2 mph slower on commut- er-clogged roads than people not on the phone, and they just don't keep up with the flow of traffic, said study author David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah. If you commute by car an hour a day, it could all add around 20 hours a year to your commute, Strayer said. "The distracted driver tends to drive slower and have delayed reactions," said Strayer, whose study will be presented later this month to the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. "People kind of get stuck behind that person and it makes everyone pay the price of that distracted driver." Strayer's studybased onthree dozen students driving in simu- lators, found that drivers on cell phones are far more likely to stick behind a slow car in front of them and change lanes about 20 percent less often than driv- ers not on the phone. Overall, cell phone drivers took about 3 percent longer to drive the same highly traffic- clogged route (and about 2 per- cent longer to drive a medium congested route) than people who were not on the phone. About one in 10 drivers is on the phone so it really adds up, said Strayer, whose earlier stud- ies have found slower reaction times from drivers on the phones and compared those reaction times to people legally drunk. Combine those factors and Strayer figures distracted drivers are adding an extra 5 to 10 per- cent of time to your commute. It's simply a matter of brain overload. Your frontal cortex can handle only so many tasks at one time, so you slow down, Strayer said. Escaped prison inmate dies in shootout An inmate who escaped from a hospital yesterday, briefly taking a worker hostage and stealing two get- away cars, was cornered hours later in a cemetery by police and killed in To play: C a shootout, authorities said. and e Kelvin Poke, 45, overpowered guards at Laurel Regional Hospital Th and fired several shots before flee- ing, authorities said. just us fie was' captured hours later about 30 miles away. Officers had Drl tailed a suspiciousvehicle - a white Ford Explorer with flat tires - into a cemetery shortly after 3 p.m. Poke got out of the vehicle and opened fire on police, who then shot back, police said. - Compiled from Daily wire reports Number of American service mem- 5 bers who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press, There were no new military deaths reported yesterday.