The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - 3

NEWS BRIEFS
HONOLULU
One day before
election, Obama's
grandmother dies
Barack Obama's grandmother,
whose personality and bearing
shaped much of the life of the Dem-
ocratic presidential contender, has
died, Obama announced yesterday,
one day before the election. Mad-
elyn Payne Dunham was 86.
Obama announced the news
from the campaign trail in Char-
lotte, N.C. The joint statement
with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng
said Dunham died peacefully late
Sunday night after a battle with
cancer.
They said: "She was the corner-
stone of our family, and a woman
of extraordinary accomplishment,
strength, and humility. She was
the person who encouraged and
allowed us to take chances."
Obama learned of her death Mon-
day morning while he was cam-
paigning in Jacksonville, Fla. He
planned to go ahead with campaign
appearances. The family said a pri-
vate ceremony would be held later.
Republican John McCain issued
condolences to his opponent. "Our
thoughts and prayers go out to
them as they remember and cele-
brate the life of someone who had
such a profound impact in their
lives," the statement by John and
Cindy McCain said.
Last month, Obama took a
break from campaigning and flew
to Hawaii to be with Dunham as
her health declined.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba
bin Laden video
maker sentenced to
life in prison
A video maker for Osama bin
Laden who vowed that al-Qaida
will never stop fighting America
was sentenced to life in prison
yesterday for encouraging terror-
ist attacks.
A jury of nine military officers
deliberated for just under an hour
before condemning Ali Hamza al-
Bahlul at Guantanamo's second
war-crimes trial. AI-Bahlul was
convicted of 35 counts of conspir-
acy, solicitation to commit murder
and providing material support
for terrorism.
The military has not said where
he will serve his sentence.
The 39-year-old Yemeni defi-
antly admitted joining al-Qaida,
accused the U.S. of oppressing
Muslims for 50 years and said "we
will fight any government that
governs America."
WASHINGTON
$900B in gov't
borrowing seen
through March
The government, raising cash
to pay for the array of financial
rescue packages, said Monday it
plans to borrow $550 billion in the
last three months of this year -

and that's just a down payment.
Treasury Department officials
also projected the government
would need to borrow $368 billion
more in the first three months of
2009, meaning the next president
will confront an ocean of red ink.
The nonpartisan Committee for a
Responsible Budget estimates all the
government economic and rescue
initiatives, starting with the $168 bil-
lion in stimulus checks issued earlier
this year, total even more - an eye-
popping $2.6 trillion.
DETROIT
Circuit City to
close seven Mich.
stores, 155 in all
As the lights go out at about 20
percent of Circuit Citys stores, the
company is hoping that by closing
hundreds ofstoresand cuttingthou-
sands of jobs it can survive consum-
ers who are reluctant to spend and
vendors less eager to give it credit.
But analysts say the moves
announced Monday renewed
the specter of bankruptcy
hanging over the nation's No.
2consumer electronics retailer
heading into a holiday shopping
season that could determine its
future.
Circuit City Stores Inc. is clos-
ing 155 of its more than 700 U.S.
stores by Dec. 31. Seven of the
closing stores are in Michigan. It
is laying off about 17 percent of its
domestic work force, which could
affect up to 7,300 people.
- Compiled from
Daily mire reports

General Motors sees sales
drop 45 percent in Oct. as
industry continues to tumble.

DETROIT (AP) - U.S. auto
sales dropped to their lowest level
in more than 17 years last month
as consumers frightened by Wall
Street turmoil stayed away from
showrooms, prompting some auto
company executives to predict
dire consequences if the market
doesn't improve.
By the time all automakers
reported their numbers yesterday,
sales had dropped 32 percent to
just over 838,156 vehicles, the low-
est monthly sales figure since Jan-
uary 1991, according to Autodata
Corp. and Ward's AutoInfoBank.
"This is clearly a severe, severe
recession for the U.S. automotive
industry and something we really
can't sustain," said Mike DiGio-
vanni, General Motors Corp.'s
executive director of global mar-
ket and industry analysis who said
the government should speed up
actions to thaw out frozen credit.
"There really needs to be actions
focused on the consumer and
available credit."
GM's sales plunged 45 percent
in October, the worst drop of any
major automaker. Chrysler LLC,
which is in talks to be acquired by
GM as a way for both companies to
survive inthe currentclimate, saw
a 35 percent decline. Ford Motor
Co.'s sales dropped 30 percent.
Japanese companies weren't
immune from the carnage, with
Toyota Motor Corp. sales down
23 percent despite a zero-percent
financing offer. Honda Motor Co.'s
sales dropped 25 percent and Nis-
san Motor Co.' sales tumbled 33
percent.
October's seasonally adjusted
annual sales rate of 10.6 million
vehicles was worst the since Feb-
ruary 1983 and far below the rate
of 16 million a year earlier, Auto-
data said. The closely watched fig-
ure indicates what sales would be
if they remained at their current
rate all year, with adjustments for
seasonal fluctuations.
"There are no hot segments or
really hot products," said George
Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst.
The figures were especially
troublesome for GM and Ford,
both of which are trying to con-
serve cash and stay in business
long enough to outlast a severe
economic downturn. Neither
company had any idea when sales
might rebound to more normal
levels.
Emily Kolinski Morris, the

Dearborn-based company's senior
economist, said that because auto-
mobiles are more durable tihan in
the past, people can wait without
buying a new vehicle until they
feel more confident in the econo-
my.
"The answer to when we will
start to come out of that trough
lies in when the economy comes
out of that trough," Kolinski Mor-
ris said on a conference call with
reporters and analysts.
The poor sales, though, will
mean good deals for people who do
wanttobuycars.Toyotadecided to
extend its zero-percent financing
offer on most models for another
month, while GM announced it
would bgin its annual "Red Tag"
year-end sale Tuesday, earlier
than normal. Auburn Hills, Mich.-
based Chrysler said it would
continue incentives introduced
in November that include cash
rebates of up to $6,000 and dis-
counted financing on remaining
2008 models.
Toyota's no-interest loans
gave it an advantage last month
over automakers such as GM and
Chrysler whose finance compa-
nies are having trouble getting
access to capital.
"This managed to breathe some
life into an otherwise lackluster
month," said Bob Carter, Toyota
Division general manager.
But added incentive spend-
ing likely will mean automakers,
especially Ford, GM and Chrysler,
will have to burn up cash at a fast-
er rate to compete in a shrunken
market, said Jesse Toprak, execu-
tive director of industry analysis
for the automotive information
site Edmunds.com.
"They will have no choice but
to be more aggressive if they want
to at least be moving some units,"
he said.
Industry analysts are con-
cerned that Detroit-based GM,
which burned more than $1billion
per month in the second quar-
ter, may run out of money some-
time next year if the auto market
doesn't improve. Ford, which has
borrowed more money than GM,
is also cash-strapped but can last
longer, they say.
GM's DiGiovanni said no auto-
maker can stay alive in a U.S.
market that had the worst year-
over-year monthly decline since
1975.
"No matter what manufacturer

you are, no matter how deep your
pockets are, you are going to be
affected severely by this," he said.
If GM's sales were adjusted
for population growth, October
would be the worst month of the
post-World War II era, DiGiovan-
ni said. It was GM's worst year-
over-year monthly decline since
1975, he said.
But despite the steep drop, GM's
total was enough to keep it ahead
of Toyota for the No. 1 U.S. sales
spot. GM sold 168,719 vehicles to
Toyota's 152,101.
Ford likely will announce car
and crossover vehicle production
cuts when it announces its third-
quarter earnings Friday, Pipas
said. Truck production cuts earlier
in the year have kept inventories
low, but car and crossover inven-
tories need to be brought into line,
he said.
Sales of the company's F-Series
pickup trucks, traditionally its top
seller, fell 16 percent in October,
better than Ford's light trucks asa
whole, which dropped more than
30 percent. The company began
selling a newversion of the pickup
last month and has announced
plans to add 1,000 workers at its
Dearborn Truck Plant in January
to handle what it expects will be
increased'demand.
While Toyota offered free
financing, and Nissan followed
suit with a similar offer on five
models starting Tuesday, GM's
financing arm, GMAC Finan-
cial Services, said last month it
tightened its lending standards to
require a credit score of at least
700, shutting out some buyers.
Mark LaNeve, GM's vice presi-
dent for North American sales,
said steep cutbacks in leasing and
lack of available credit accounted
for half of GM's year-over-year
sales decline.
Analysts said GM's employee
pricing incentives in August and
September likely pulled in buyers
who would have waited to pur-
chase cars, further reducing Octo-
ber sales.
The Associated Press reports
unadjusted auto sales figures, cal-
culating the percentage change in
the total number of vehicles sold
in one month compared with the
same month a year earlier. Some
automakers report , percentages
adjusted for sales days. There
were 23 sales days last month, two
less than in October 2007.

Stockwell Hall to go
co-ed in fall 2009
Largest single-sex. about 390 -
Because adding unisex bath-
dorm will house rooms was already a part of the
Stockwell renovation plans, Logan
men for first time said the switch from all-female to
a r a coed won't affect ongoing con-
struction there.
The number of single rooms in
By ANDY KROLL Stockwell, which comprise about
Daily News Editor 70 percent of the 410 rooms, will
stay the same when dorm reopens
A female-only dormitory since in the fall, Logan added.
its opening in 1940, Stockwell The residence hall, which will
Hall will house both male and have renovated bedrooms, bath-
female students when it reopens rooms and common spaces, will
next fall, signifying the decreas- be air-conditioned. All those perks
ing popularity of single-sex hous- will likely make the hall popular
ing on campus. among upperclassmen returning
Stockwell, currently under ren- to the residence halls.
ovation, will become a coed dorm The idea of making Stockwell
because of a decrease in housing coed was first openly discussed
requests for spaces in all-female in the winter of last year during
residence halls, according to Uni- informal conversations University
versity Housing spokesman Peter Housing officials held with mem-
Logan. bers of the Residence Hall Asso-
Logan said the University has ciation.
nearly 800 spaces for all-female Since then, University Hous-
housing, but over the past five ing has on several occasions tried
years University Housing has to assess the level of support for
had only about 240 requests from making Stockwell coed among the
incoming freshman to live in all- dorm's current residents through
female housing. As a result, the open houses and meetings, but
Housing office has had to place Logan said he received little
about 500 female students who response.
didn't request all-female housing The majority of those who did
in those residence halls. respond, he added, indicated that
"We've had an over-supply they wanted the residence hall to
of all-female housing, and with remain all-female.
Stockwell becoming a renovated RHA president Ashley Londy
facility in a neighborhood that is said in a statement that she was
very lose to central campus, we excited that a final decision had
thought students's interest in hav- been made regarding Stockwell's
ing more choice for single rooms future asa coed dorm.
would be worthwhile," he said. "What is especially important
"At the same time, it creates a bet- to RHA," she added, "is that the
ter balance among the all-female decision was made after student
housing we offer and the increas- input, and dedication to. giving
ing demand for coeducational students what they want."
housing." MSA president Sabrina Shin-
Logan said the demand for coed gwani, who lived in Stockwell her
housing has increased while all- freshman year, said she thinks the
female demand has remained flat. decision to make the dorm coed
When Stockwell reopens in will help prevent situations when
the fall, Betsy Barbour and Helen incoming students get placed in
Newberry Houses, the Martha single-sex housing even though
Cook Building and Henderson they didn't request it.
House will be the only remaining "This is something that will
all-female residence halls. Logan positively affect incoming stu-
said the total number of all-female dents," she said. "I think it's a
residence hall spaces will drop to great move that they're making."
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