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Monday, October 13, 2008 - 3A
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NEWS BRIEFS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
* Legislative panel:
Paln abused her
power in office
A legislative committee inves-
tigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
has found she unlawfully abused
her authority in firing the state's
public safety commissioner.
The investigative report con-
cludes that a family grudge wasn't
the sole reason for firing Pub-
lic Safety Commissioner Walter
Monegan but says it likely was a
contributing factor.
The Republican vice presiden-
tial nominee has been accused
of firing a commissioner to settle
" a family dispute. Palin support-
ers have called the investigation
politically motivated.
WASHINGTON
* U.S.takes
N. Korea off
terrorism blacklist
North Korea has agreed to all
U.S. nuclear inspection demands
and the Bush administration re-
sponded Saturday by removing the
communist country from a terror-
ism blacklist. The breakthrough is
intended to salvage a faltering dis-
armament accord before President
Bush leaves office in January.
"Every single element of veri-
fication that we sought going in
is part of this package," State De-
partment Sean McCormack said at
a rare weekend briefing.
North Korea will allow atomic
experts to take samples and con-
duct forensic tests at all of its de-
clared nuclear facilities and un-
declared sites on mutual consent.
The North will permit experts to
verify that it has told the truth
about transfers of nuclear tech-
nology and an alleged uranium
program.
WASHINGTON
Tax rebates, food
stamps might be
used in aid plan
After consulting with Barack
Obama, Democratic leaders are
likely to call Congress back to work
after the election in hopes of pass-
ing legislation that would include
extended jobless benefits, money
for food stamps and possibly a tax
rebate, officials said Saturday.
The bill's total cost could reach
$150 billion, these officials said.
The officials stressed that no
final decisions have been made.
They spoke on condition of ano-
nymity, saying they did not want to
pre-empt a formal announcement.
House Democrats have announced
plans for an economic forum on
Monday "to help Congress devel-
op an economic recovery plan
that focuses on creating jobs and
strengthening our economy."
WASHINGTON
Bush visits
finance officials,
urges cooperation
Global finance leaders are
pledging cooperation between
rich and poor nations to deal with
a severe credit crisis after Presi-
dent Bush discussed the serious-
ness of the current situation.
The Group of 20 nations, which
includes the world's wealthiest
nations and the largest developing
countries such as China, Brazil and
India, issued a joint statement late
Saturday night which stressed their
resolve to work together to over-
come the current financial turmoil.
Bush paid an unexpected visit
to the group's meeting. Brazilian
Finance Minister Guido Mantega
said the president had stressed the
seriousness of the situation and told
the finance ministers he was doing
all he could to involve other coun-
tries in efforts to resolve the crisis.
The complaint asks the Federal
Elections Commission to audit
Obama's campaign fund, RNC
chief counsel Sean Cairncross said
in a conference call with reporters.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
0. DEA S
4,181
Number of American service
members who have died in the
war in Iraq, according to The
Associated Press. There were no
deaths identified yesterday.
U.S. Rep. parses out
nominees' social stances
Focus is on electric
car batteries in Ohio
College Dems bring
Warren to campus
to discuss McCain's,
Obama's platforms
By ELAINE LAFAY
DailyStaffReporter
In its inaugural event, the Col-
lege Democrats' Committee for
Social Justice brought U.S. Rep.
Rebekah Warren (D - 53rd Dis-
trict) to campus yesterday to
parse the presidential nominees'
stances on controversial social
issues.
In her speech before about 30
students yesterday in the Wolver-
ine Room of the Michigan Union,
Warren tackled issues including
health care, gender equality, gay
marriage and prison reform in
just the first half of her speech.
She said that while Michi-
gan is one of the top states in the
country for providing health care
for children, the state needs to
work harder so that health care is
affordable for everyone.
"We can't have a system where
we have folks who have absolutely
zero access to healthcare, which
is happening too often already
here in Michigan," she said.
Warren also pushed for the
legalization of same-sex mar-
riage. In 2004, Michigan voters
passed adding a ban on same-sex
marriage to the state's constitu-
tion.
"Michigan has unfortunately
been at the forefront of passing a
ban on same-sex marriage," she
said. "We really want to make
sure that we don't backslide, and
if we had a president that would
be advocating for a kind of nation-
al, constitutional ban on same-sex
marriage, that would be a huge
step backwards for us."
Before Warren's talk, those in
attendance got a 12-minute crash
course in four social justice issues
- global poverty, Iraqi refugees,
torture and discriminatory sen-
tencing - with committee member
and LSA sophomore Zachary Mar-
tin mentioning each presidential
candidate's stance on the topics.
When speaking on torture in
the U.S., Martin stepped carefully
around McCain's history as a pris-
oner-of-war during the Vietnam
War while also calling his voting
record into question.
"John McCain used to stand
up to his party on this issue and
he obviously understands what
torture is like, because he went
through it," Martin said. "But
then he voted to allow the CIA to
continue torture."
Martin said he wanted the
committee to cover global pover-
ty at the event, saying the United
States has an obligation to help
citizens in countries where peo-
ple die from preventable disease
and malnutrition.
"There are countries in Africa
where the life expectancy is less
than 40 years old and that's just
unacceptable," he said. "We have
the ability to help with things so'
easily, with vaccinations and with
things like mosquito netting and
condoms, to cut back on malaria
and AIDS."
Committee chair DJ Heebner
said the talk was an attempt to
shed light on issues that receive
less coverage than topics like the
war in Iraq and the economy. She
said she was pleased with the
group's first event, but thought
the next one would need more
publicity.
LSA sophomore Josh Levas-
seur said he went to the event to
support friends in the committee,
but left with a stronger interest in
the topics addressed.
"Social justice isn't really a
popular thing among students,"
he said. "The majority of college
students would rather worry
about finals and how much ramen
costs."
Researchers intent
on increasing range
of GM battery
CEDARVILLE, Ohio (AP) -
General Motors Corp.'s new elec-
tric car won't be in showrooms
for another two years, but already
two sister companies based in
this western Ohio community are
working to make the Chevrolet
Volt better.
GM has said a lithium ion bat-
tery will power the Volt up to
40 miles on a single charge, but
Applied Sciences Inc. and co-
owned Pyrograf Products Inc.
want to see if that range can be
doubled.
"It's safe to say this is our No. 1
priority," said David Burton, head
of research and development for
Applied Sciences.
Helped by $1 million in state
funding and another $500,000
from GM, the research and devel-
opment company headquartered
about 20 miles east of Dayton in
Greene County has been work-
ing for two years on tiny carbon
fibers that could make the battery
lighter and more efficient.
The threads so thin they can-
not be seen without magnifica-
tion would replace some of the
three pounds of carbon in the
Volt battery currently under
development, company officials
said.
"Bymakingthecarbonperform
better, you can reduce the weight
of that component in the battery,"
John Mackay, an Applied Scienc-
es spokesman, told the Dayton
Daily News.
GM is keenly interested -in
reducingthe weight of the battery
to boost the overall performance
of the vehicle, said Mackay, who
estimated that the Volt lithium
ion battery now weighs inat about
400 pounds. That's already much
lighter than the old 800-pound
lead acid battery that was a drag
on the EV1, an electric-powered
car that GM discontinued earlier
in the decade.
According to GM, the Volt will
travel up to 40 miles on a single
charge from a home outlet. As it
approaches 40 miles, a small gas-
oline or E85 ethanol engine will
kick in, but purely to recharge
the battery and keep the car
going for potentially hundreds
more miles.
When the vehicle arrives in
November 2010, Applied Sciences
is hopeful that its technology will
be on board.
"GM researchers say they have
not seen any carbon materials
that have performed as well as
ours," Mackay said.
McCain weighs new
economic proposals
Economic woes could block cap-and-trade
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
top adviser to Republican John
McCain said yesterday the presi-
dential hopeful is weighing new
economic proposals to help the
nation weather the financial cri-
sis.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
said McCain was considering
policy proposals that would cut
taxes on investments.
"I think it goes along the lines
of now's the time to lower tax
rates for investors, capital gains
tax, dividend tax rates, to make
sure that we can get the econo-
my jump-started," Graham said
on "Face the Nation" on CBS.
"It will be a very comprehen-
sive approach to jump-start the
economy by allowing capital to
be formed easier in America by
lowering taxes."
In the wake of the U.S. finan-
cial crisis, national polls and
those in contested states have
found Sen. McCain trailing his
Democratic rival, Sen. Barack
Obama, especially on the ques-
tion of which candidate would be
a better steward of the economy.
McCain already has laid out
proposals to address the crisis,
including a $300 billion plan for
the federal government to buy
distressed mortgages and rene-
gotiate them at a reduced price.
The Arizona senator has said
his plan is necessary to get thou-
sands of bad mortgages off the
books in order to stabilize home
values and open up credit. But
critics said the plan would do
little more than reward financial
institutions that made the bad
loans to in the first place.
On Friday, McCain called for
legislation that suspends for one
year the requirement that inves-
tors age 70 1/2 begin to liquidate
their retirement accounts. The
Arizona senator said it would
be unfair to force seniors to sell
their. stocks when stock prices
have tumbled so severely. Obama
aides said the Illinois senator
favors a similar effort.
Obama also has offered plans
to address the fiscal crisis but
nothing as sweeping or contro-
versial as McCain's mortgage
proposal. On Friday, the Illinois
senator announced a $900 mil-
lion plan to temporarily extend
an expiring tax break that lets
small businesses write off invest-
ments up to $250,000 immedi-
ately, rather than over the course
of several years.
Aides said Obama also wants
to extend the Small Business
Administration's disaster loan
program to help small businesses
that cannot access other sources
of capital, as well as eliminate
fees on SBA loan guarantees and
increase the size of loans that
could be covered. They put the
cost at $5 billion.
Both candidates voted for the
$700 billion bailout proposal
Congress passed and President
Bush signed into law earlier this
month.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
economic free fall gripping the
nation may bring down one of the
main environmental objectives:
capping the greenhouse gases that
are blamed for global warming.
Democratic leaders in the
House and the Senate, and both
presidential candidates, continue
to rank tackling global warming
as a chief goal next year. But the
focus on stabilizing the economy
probably will make it more dif-
ficult to pass a law to reduce car-
bon dioxide and other greenhouse
gases. At the very least, it will push
back when the reductions would
have to start.
As one Republican senator put
it, the green bubble has burst.
"Clearly it is somewhere down
the totem pole given the economic
realities we are facing," said Tom
Williams, a spokesman for Duke
Energy Corp., an electricity pro-
ducer that has supported federal
mandates on greenhouse gases.
Duke is a member of the U.S. Cli-
mate Action Partnership, an asso-
ciation of businesses and nonprofit
groups that has lobbied Congress
to act.
Just months ago, chances for
legislation passing in the next
Congress and becoming law
looked promising. The presiden-
tial candidates support mandatory
cuts and a Democratic majority is
ready to act on the problem after
years of the Bush administration's
resisting federal controls.
But the most popular remedy
for slowing global warming, a
mechanism know as cap-and-
trade, could put further stress on
a teetering economy.
Under such a system, the gov-
ernment would establish a market
for carbon dioxide by giving or
selling credits to companies with
operations that emit greenhouse
gases. The companies can then
choose whether to invest in tech-
nologies to reduce emissions to
meet targets or instead buycredits
from other companies who have
already met them.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Economic Issues
in the Campaign:
Health Care, Taxes, Trade,
and the Financial Crisis
A Panel Discussion Hosted by
the Office of Tax Policy Research
at the Ross School of Business
Tuesday,
October 14, 2008
Palmer Commons,
Great Lakes South Central Room, 4th Floor
4:15 - 6:00 p.m.
Public Welcome
p.--