The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, October 3, 2008 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 3, 2008 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Bush: 'People are
watching' House
vote on bailout
President Bush argued yester-
day that the crisis in the financial
markets "has gone way beyond
New York and Wall Street" and
implored Congress to get the $700
billion relief bill to his desk.
A day before the House was set
to vote for a second time on the
package, Bush sought to increase
pressure on the lawmakers
who voted 'no' on Monday. The
House's defeat of the bill shocked
Wall Street and Washington, and
resulted in a sweetened measure
that the Senate approved handily
on Wednesday night.
"This is an issue that is affect-
ing hardworking people," he said.
"They are worried abouttheir sav-
ings; they're worried about their
jobs; they're worried about their
houses; they're worried about
their small businesses.
"The House of.Representatives
must listen to these voices and
get this bill passed so we can get
about the business of restoring
confidence," Bush added.
LANSING
State Senate
approves Michigan
business tax cut
As promised, Senate Republi-
cans on Thursday voted to more
quicklyphase out a22 percentsur-
charge that was added to Michi-
gan's business tax to help resolve
last year's budget crisis.
The move delighted the busi-
ness community and garnered
some Democratic votes, too. The
unresolved question: How to off-
set the loss of hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars in tax revenue for
state government?
The legislation passed 26-12
and was sent across the Capitol
to the Democratic-led House. A
spokeswoman for Democratic
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said she
would be open to Michigan Busi-
ness Tax adjustments if they were
"pared with reforms that can save
the state money."
HOUGHTON, Mich.
Mich. Tech alum
gives school its
largest gift ever
A business executive who grad-
uated from Michigan Tech Uni-
versity is giving $10 million to his
alma mater.
Dave House's gift will be the
largest the university in Hough-
ton has ever received. It was
announced yesterday during the
university's board of control meet-
ing.
House earned a degree in elec-
trical engineering from Michigan
Tech. He is the retired president
of Nortel Networks, the former
CEO of Bay Networks and a long-
time Intel executive. He presently
is chairman of Brocade Communi-
cation System of San Jose, Calif.
TORONTO
Canadian health
officials looking for
potential TB cases
Ontario public health officials
said Thursday that they are look-
ing for 27 people who could have
been exposed to tuberculosis dur-
ing a Greyhound bus trip from
Toronto to Windsor, Ontario in
late August.
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer
of Health, Dr. David Williams, said
in a statement that a passenger on
the bus had infectious tuberculo-
sis and may have passed it on by
coughing while in close contact
with others.
"The risk is low but we want
to make sure everyone who was
potentially exposed is properly
notified and evaluated as needed,"
Williams said.
- Compiled from
Daily mire reports
U.S. DEATHS
4,176
Number of American service
members who have died in the
war in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. There were no
deaths identified yesterday.
Mets owner to
see fruits of gift
Recipients of
scholarships will be
honored today
By TREVOR CALERO
Daily StaffReporter
After donating $5 million to
the University last February for
need-based scholarships, Univer-
sityalums Judy and Fred Wilpon
will soon get to meet the 15 stu-
dents who will initially benefit
from their gift.
The Wilpons' donation, which
created the first class of Irene
and Morris B. Kessler Presiden-
tial Scholars in honor of Judy's
parents, was matched through
University President Mary Sue
Coleman's Donor Challenge,
bringing the total to $10 million.
According to the gift agree-
ment for the Kessler Scholar-
ship, first priority will be given to
"undergraduates who experience
an adverse change in their finan-
cial circumstances after enroll-
ment in the College of LSA."
Tomorrow afternoon, the Kes-
sler Scholars will be introduced at a
receptionheldby LSA before a din-
ner at the Presidential Residence.
The Kessler Scholars program
is expected to expand in the next
few years to provide for more
than 75 students, which would
make it LSA's the largest scholar-
ship program.
Fred Wilpon, chairman and
chief executive officer of the
New York Mets and co-founder
and chairman of the Board of
Sterling Equities, said he wanted
to give back to the University
because he himself was a schol-
arship recipient.
Wilpon received a scholarship
to play baseball at the University
before a rotator cuff injury ended
his athletic career. But due to
the hard work of Ray Fisher, the
Michigan baseball coach at the
time, Wilpon was able to stay at
the University by a scholarship
made available to him.
The scholarship fund was cre-
ated to help students who "are
very qualified academically" but
who can't afford to attend the
University, he said.
"The main reason is to help
preserving students who qualify
for Michigan either to stay at
Michigan or to attend," he said.
"We wanted to help those stu-
dents go to Michigan and have
the Michigan experience, and use
the tools they learn at Michigan
to impact the world."
Wilpon said he's excited to
finally meet the students who
benefit from his and his wife's
scholarship fund.
"This is something special," he
said. "This is the bottom line of
where you change lives and where
people have an opportunity that
they wouldn't otherwise have."
In a press release from the Uni-
versity, a student who was award-
ed the scholarship was quoted
saying, "Because this scholarship
truly has made such a dramatic
impact on the direction of my
academic and professional life, I
have been inspired through the
Wilpons' generosity to make giv-
ing back to students like myself a
prime goal."
In February 2007, the Uni-
versity announced that Wilpon
also donated $5 million to the
University to build a sport injury
prevention center, and another
$4 million to the renovations of
baseball and softball complex
that now bears his name.
APPHOTO
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Democratic vice president candidane Joe Biden respond to questions from
moderator Gwen Ifill of PBS during the vice presidential debate last night in St. Louis.
Veep candidates face off
Underdog Palin
stands ground against
Biden in debate
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Under intense
scrutiny, Republican vice presiden-
tial candidate Sarah Palin stood her
ground last night against a vastly
more experienced Joe Biden, debat-
ing the economy, energy and global
warming, then challenging him on
Iraq, "especially with your son in
the National Guard."
The Alaska governor also noted
that Biden had once said Demo-
cratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama wasn't ready to be
commander in chief, "and I know
again that you opposed the move
that he made to try to cut off fund-
ing for the troops and I respect you
for that."
Bidenrespondedthat JohnMcCa-
in, too, had voted against funding,
and said the Republican presidential
candidate had been "dead wrong on
the fundamental issues relating to
the conduct of the war."
The clash over Iraq was the most
personal, and pointed, of the only
vice presidential debate of the cam-
paign, one in which Palin repeated-
ly cast herself as a non-Washington
politician and part of a "team of
mavericks" ready to bring change
to a country demanding it.
"Maverick he is not onthe impor-
tant, critical issues," Biden shot
back, referring to McCain, And he
said Obama was the true candidate
of change.
Palin, governor of her state for
less thantwo years, faced enormous
challenges as she walked onto the
debate stage atWashington Univer-
sity. After five weeks as McCain's
ticket-mate, her poll ratings have
begun dropping as even some con-
servatives question her readiness
for high public office.
Her solo campaign events are
few, and she has drawn ridicule
for some of her answers in the
few interviews she has granted --:
including her claim that Alaska's
proximity to Russia gives her an
insight into foreign policy.
From the opening moments of
the debate, Democrat Biden sought
to make McCain out as a straight-
ahead successor to an unpopular
President Bush. "He voted four out
of five times for George Bush's bud-
get, which put us ahalf-trillion dol-
lars in debt and over $4 trillion in
debt since he got here," Biden said
of McCain.
In return, Palin accused Biden
of reciting the past rather than
looking to the future. "Americans
are cravin' that straight talk" that
McCain offers, she said midway in
the 90-minute debate.
With one month until the elec-
tion, polls show Obama with a
small but perceptible lead, and
Republican officials said earlier in
the day that McCain had decided to
pull out of Michigan, concedingthe
state to the Democrats. At the same
time, his own aides said the cam-
paign may soon begin to advertise
in Indiana - a state that has voted
Republican in every presidential
election since 1968.
After intense preparation -
including two days at McCain's
home in Sedona, Ariz., Palin made
only one obvious stumble, when she
twice referred to the top U.S. com-
mander in Afghanistan as "Gen.
McClellan." His name is David
McKiernan.
As is her custom on the cam-
paign trail; she spoke in familiar
terms, saying "betcha" rather than
"bet you" and "gonna" rather than
"going to."
She also spoke to the home
folks. "Here's a shout-out" to third
graders at Gladys Wood Elemen-
tary School in Alaska. She said they
would all receive extra credit for
watchingthe debate.
"Can I call you Joe?" she asked
Biden as they shook hands before
taking their places behind identical
lecterns.
Suicide bomber kills
24 in Shiite mosques
BAGHDAD (AP) - Suicide
bombers struck two Shiite
mosques in Baghdad on yester-
day, killing at least 24 people and
wounding dozens during cel-
ebrations marking the end of the
Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
To the north, suspected Shi-
ite militiamen gunned down
six members of a Sunni family,
including women and children,
police reported.
Those attacks occurred four
days after a series of explosions
killed 32 people and wounded
nearly 100 in Shiite areas of Bagh-
dad, raising fears that al-Qaida in
Iraq is trying to provoke Sunni-
Shiite reprisal killings now that
the last of the American "surge"
troops have left the country.
In the deadliest attack, a suicide
car bomber detonated his explo-
sives about 20yards from a mosque
in Zafaraniyah in southeastern'
Baghdad. The blast killed 14 peo-
ple, including three Iraqi soldiers,
and wounded 28, police said.
The death toll would likelier
have been higher, but Iraqi sol-
diers prevented the attacker from
driving closer to the mosque,
police said.
"Pools of blood and the smell
of burned flesh were everywhere
and I sawaman ofabout70bleed-
ing and lying on the ground,"
said Ammar Hashim, 25, whose
brother was also wounded by
broken glass in his shop.
In the other attack in the
capital, a suicide bomber who
appeared to be in his late teens
detonated his explosive belt as
worshippers were leaving the
Rasoul mosque in the eastern
New Baghdad district.
Ten people died and 24 were
wounded, police and officials at
al-Kindi and Ibn al-Nasif hos-
pitals said. The dead included a
guard who blocked the attack-
er from entering the' mosque,
police said.
The Iraqi army said 17 people
were killed in the two blasts.
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