The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, March 20. 2008 - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, March 20. 2008 - 3A NEWSBRIEFS WASHINGTON War anniversary passes with modest protests Protesters blocked traffic and government buildings in Wash- ington, acted out a Baghdad street scene in upstate New York and banged drums in San Francisco on yesterday to mark the fifth anni- versary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In other, more somber observanc- es, organizers setup a 2-mile display of about 4,000 T-shirts in Cincinna- ti, meant to symbolize the members of the U.S. military killed in Iraq, while in Louisville, Ky., demonstra- tors lined rows of military boots, sandals and children's tennis shoes on the steps of a courthouse. On previous anniversaries, tens of thousands of people marched through major U.S. cities, and more than 100,000 gathered on several occasions leading up to the invasion. Only a few hundred mustered for one of yesterday's largest gath- erings, in Washington, the crowds' size perhaps kept in check by a late- winter storm system that stretched the length of the country. CAIRO, Egypt In video, bin Laden condemns cartoons Osama bin Laden, in a new audio message posted yesterday, con- demned the publication of drawings that he said insulted the Prophet Muhammad and warned Europe- ans of a "severe" reaction to come. The message, which appeared on a militant Web site that has car- ried al-Qaidastatements inthe past and bore the logo of the extrem- ist group's media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of bin Laden aiming with an assault rifle. "The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God," said a voice believed to be bin Laden's. The five-minute message, bin Laden's first this year, made no mention of the fifth anniversary yesterday of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq. BEIJING Chinese officials confirm Tibet riots China acknowledged for the first time today that anti-govern- ment riots that rocked Tibet last week have spread to other prov- inces, while communist authorities announcedthefirstgroupofarrests in connection with the violence. The moves came as the govern- ment sent armed police into far- flung towns and villages to reassert control in the Tibetan areas of western Chisa as sporadic demon- strations against Chinese rule in Tibet continued to flare up. A top Beijing Olympics official vowed the unrest would not dis- rupt plans for the torch relay pre- ceding this summer's Olympics in Beijing. One leg of the relay is to pass through Tibet, taking the flame to the peak of Mount Everest sometime in May. BAGHDAD Iraq moves closer to provincial elections Under strong U.S. pressure, Iraq's presidential council signed off yesterday on a measure paving the way for provincial elections by the fall, a major step toward easing sectarian-rifts as the nation marks the fifth anniversary of the war. The decision by the council, made up of the country's president and two vice presidents, lays the groundwork for voters to choose new leaders of Iraq's 18 provinces. The elections open the door to greater Sunni representation in regional administrations. - Compiled from Daily wire reports U.S. DE AT HS 3,992 Number of American service mem- bers who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. The following deaths were identified yesterday: Army Spe. Lerando J. Brown, 27, Gulfport, Miss.. ArmyStaffSgt.MicaeD.Eledge, 41, Brownsburg, Ind. Army Spc. Christopher C. Simp- son, 23, Hamptn, Va. S. Carolina state troopers At town hall meeting, Granholm under investigation pushes alternative energy, jobs COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Videos have surfaced showing two mem- bers of the South Carolina Highway Patrol using their cruisers to ram fleeing suspects, just weeks after two leaders of the agency resigned because of a furor over a trooper's use of a racial slur. In one of the two new dash-cam videos, which were first reported Wednesday by The Post and Courier of Charleston, Lance Cpl. Steven C. Garren drives after a man on foot, striking him when he crosses in front of Garren's cruiser. The man flips over the car's hood and into high grass on the roadside. "Yeah, I hit him. I was trying to hit him," Garren, who is white, can be heard telling another trooper. In the other, Lance Cpl. Alex- ander Richardson drives between apartment buildings, on sidewalks and past onlookers in an attempt to run down a suspect. After about a minute, Richard- son's car bumps the man, who grabs the vehicle in an attempt to steady himself. The man doesn't fall and takes off running again. Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said neither trooper was available for comment. The videos depicted isolated events, and the troopers involved had been punished, Gaulden said. Garren received a three-day sus- pension, which he has appealed. Richardson was reprimanded and completed a stress management course, disciplinary records show. Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminal justice pro- fessor who consults with police on pursuit policies, said using cars as battering rams shows poor decision making. "They're just lazy," Alpert said. "Rather than get out of their car or get in a foot race, or tackle someone ... they'll just hit them with the car door, with the bumper, and hope they don't run them over." Alpert said he had never seen any training materials that advised authorities to use cruisers to hitsus- pects on foot. The suspects in both of the new videos are black. One of the troop- ers involved is white, and the other is black, Gaulden said. The Post and Courier's report about the videos comes three weeks after Highway Patrol Col. Russell Roark and his boss, Public Safety Director James Schweitzer, sub- mitted their resignations over their handling of an incident in which a white trooper used racial slur dur- ing a traffic stop. Governor touts wind energy to boost state's ailing economy GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's winds, wood-prod- uct waste and shuttered factories could be used to create renewable and alternative energy sources as well as thousands of new jobs, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said yes- terday night. The state is "uniquely posi- tioned" to take the lead in the development of renewable power and alternative fuels for transpor- tation, she said during a town hall meeting that focused on energy and the economy. "This state's economy is the most challenged in the nation," Granholm said during the event, which was televised on all six of Michigan's NBC affiliates. "We have the highest unemployment rate in the nation and we've lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the year 2000. "This state, more than any other state, needs to focus on the basics: diversifying our economy to pro- vide a job for every worker, edu- cating our citizens from young to old, making sure that we have safe places to live and work for all of us and health care for every citizen." She wants the Legislature to require that more of Michigan's electricity come from wind, solar and other renewyble sources. Her proposed renewable portfolio standard would require that 10 percent of the state's power come from renewable energy by the end of 2015. Granholm, a Democrat, has said this would give businesses the certainty they need before build- ing wind farms in Michigan and attracting thousands of jobs. Her administration also argues that in the long run, renewable energy is cheaper than energy generated by coal-fired plants because of the rising cost of coal and potential carbon dioxide restrictions in the future. There are 28 states with renew- able portfolio standards, policies that require electricity providers to obtain a minimum percentage of their power from renewable ener- gy resources by a certain date. "Michigan is so unique with its geography and history with the auto industry that we could leap ahead of those other states in cre- ating jobs," she said. "We could replace those lost manufacturing jobs if we are focused, if our Legis- lature passes this bill." Some lawmakers oppose man- dates and would instead prefer to create incentives for more green energy to be used. It is unclear whether a final deal can be reached soon because the issue is tied to controversial efforts to rewrite the law opening up monopoly utilities to competition in 2000. Legislators "are working together in a bipartisan kind of way to say, 'Is a renewable portfo- lio standard the way to go?" said state Sen. Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, who was in the studio audience. "There's also several other alternative and renewable energy- type programs that we're looking at, and industries. I agree with the governor - wind is one of them. But we've got others, all the way from algae and others that you would think were pretty far out there." When Ron Pavlichek, a tool- and-die worker from Mancelona, asked Granhoim what could be done to retain manufacturing jobs in Michigan, the governor again steered the discussion to renew- able and alternative energy. 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