The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
BAGHDAD
With violence rising,
Iraqi prime minister
issues ultimatum
Iraq's prime minister warned
gunmen in the oil port of Basra to
surrender their weapons by Friday
orfaceharshermeasures, asclashes
between security forces and Shiite
militia fighters spread throughout
the south and in Baghdad.
Despite Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki's ultimatum yesterday,
government troops in Basra were
having trouble making inroads into
neighborhoods that the radical Shi-
ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi
Army has controlled for years. Res-
idents spoke of militiamen using
mortar shells, sniper fire, roadside
bombs and rocket-propelled gre-
nades to fight off security forces.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite, remained
in Basra to supervise a crackdown
against the spiraling violence be-
tween militia factions vying for
control of the center of Iraq's vast
oil industry, located near the Ira-
nian border.
LANSING
Senate proposes
K-12 funding boost
The state Senate has passed
a spending plan for K-12 public
schools.
Schools would get $71 to $142
more per student, with lower-
funded districts getting more and
higher-funded schools getting a
lower increase.
Governor Jennifer Granholm
proposes increasing state aid be-
tween $108 to $216 per student, but
the Senate is worried tax revenues
will come in lower than expected.
Republicans who control the
Senate on Wednesday rejected
Democrats' attempts to create
small high schools in districts with
failing students.
The GOP instead supported giv-
ing every district another $20 per
student to spend on buildings.
The K-12 budgetbill heads to the
Democratic-led House.
Lawmakers hope to finish the
state budget by July.
BEIJING
Chinese officials
decry U.S. delivery
of fuses to Taiwan
China strongly protested to the
United States yesterday over the
mistaken delivery of fuses for long-
range missiles to Taiwan, the latest
incident involving arms sales to the
island to roil relations between Bei-
jing and Washington.
In a statement posted on the For-
eign Ministry's Web site, spokes-
man Qin Gang said China sent a
protest to Washington expressing
"strong displeasure."
"We ... demand the U.S. side
thoroughly investigate this mat-
ter, and report to China in a timely
matter the details of the situation
and eliminate the negative effects
and disastrous consequences cre-
ated by this incident," Qin said "We
. demand the U.S. side thoroughly
investigate this matter, and report
to China in a timely matter the
details of the situation and elimi-
nate the negative effects and disas-
trous consequences created by this
incident," Qin said.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Report: Pilot fired
gun in cockpit by
mistake
A US Airways pilot whose gun
fired inside a cockpit said he was
trying to stow the weapon as the
crew got ready to land, according to
a police report obtained yesterday.
The pilot didn't tell air traf-
fic control about the shooting or
say the bullet had punctured the
cockpit until after the plane landed
safely at Charlotte-Douglas Inter-
national Airport, the report said.
Photos obtained by The Associated
Press show a small exit hole on the
plane's exterior below the cockpit
window.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
ELECTIONS
From Page 1A
going to run a full slate, naturally
that piques people's attention a
little more," he said.
LSA junior Maricruz Lopez,
who ran unsuccessfully as the
vice presidential candidate for
the Defend Affirmative Action
Party, said a debate between
the two presidential candidates
would have increased voter
turnout.
In 2007, the two presiden-
tial candidates participated in a
debate on the student-run televi-
sion station WOLV-TV. The sta-
tion also held a debate two years
ago but the tape was lost and the
debate never aired.
Former MSA President Moham-
mad Dar argued that the lack of a
debate had little to do with low
voter turnout. He cited the 2006
election, pointing out that turn-
out was high even though the tape
was lost.
Butch Oxendine, president of
the American Student Govern-
ment Association, said turnout
is higher when students connect
with the candidates face to face.
"The number one way Student
Governments improve their voter
turnout is by connecting with fel-
low students throughout the year,
showing them that SG does some-
thing tangible that matters to
them," Oxendine said in an e-mail.
"If it can prove that it is seeking
their opinion and trying to serve
fellow students, then SG has a
chance of increasing voter turnout
when elections roll around."
Rackham student Kate Stenvig,
who ranunsuccessfully as DAAP's
presidential candidate, said recent
student government scandals
influenced the lackluster turnout.
"I think that has to be because
of a general distaste with MSA,
because people are reading about
scandal after scandal and people
don't really want to participate
with it," she said.
Sohoni agreed, saying the body
needs to focus on regaining stu-
dents' trust.
"If students' only interaction
with MSA is everything we've
done wrong, then students aren't
going to vote," he said. "We have
to make MSA something that stu-
dents are proud to be involved in."
Stenvig said campaign restric-
tions, like those on flyers advertis-
ing the election also play a role in
turnout.
Lopez said she's pushing MSA
to change. those rules for next
year's elections.
"Something that's completely
non-partisan, informing people
that the elections are happening,"
she said.
HASH BASH
From Page 1A
tain time.
The policy for Diag schedul-
ing on SAL's website reads simply,
"SAL does not give out the name
of a group who has reserved the
DIAG prior to you coming in - plan
ahead." Felix said this means that
he can't tell Kent which group has
the Diag reserved on April 5, and
also cannot contact that group on
his behalf, because it would be vio-
lating NORML's privacy.
Whether or not the event is reg-
istered, Brook said he is confident
marijuana enthusiasts will show up
that day.
"The Hash Bash community is
made up of all types of people, and
they don't care about all this politics
stuff,"he said.
Birkett said because many people
will come for Hash Bash, the other
group planningto use the DiagApril
5 should negotiate with NORML.
"They need to know what's going
to happen -2,000 stoners mightjust
show up at their event," he said.
Organizers have used several
methods to figure out which group
might be holding an event that day,
but to no avail.
Brook said the only thing that
could turn Hash Bashers away from
the Diag on the first Saturday in
April would be bad weather.
Department of Public Safety
spokeswoman Diane Brown said
she wasn't concerned about Hash
Bash disrupting another event.
The organizers of this year's Hash
Bash had planned to fly in John Sin-
clair, a noted drug policy reform
activist, from his Amsterdam home
to speak at Hash Bash. Sinclair's
Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 3A
1969 arrest for marijuana posses-
sion that inspired liberal icons like
John Lennon, Bob Seger and Allen
Ginsberg to come to Ann Arbor for
.the "Free John Now Rally" in 1971.
That event evolved into today's
Hash Bash. But Brook said organiz-
ers may not be able to affordto bring
Sinclair if they aren't able to hold a
Diag bucket drive, which he said is
their principal source of funding.
As for obtaining a permit, Brook
said he wasn't sure what route orga-
nizers would take.
"The only recourse we seem to
have is taking the University to court,
and we're trying not to do that," he
said, adding that Hash Bash organiz-
ers have sued the University for aper-
mit before and been successful.
"This is now the 37th annual
Hash Bash. They've never stopped it
before and they're not going to stop
it now," he said.
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4,003
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. i'-
4