The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Gupta considered
for surgeon general
position
President-elect Barack Obama
has approached CNN's chief medi-
cal correspondent, Sanjay Gupta,
to be the country's next surgeon
general, the cable network said yes-
terday.
CNN said it has kept Gupta from
reporting on health care policy and
other matters involving the incom-
ing Obama administration since
learning he was under consider-
ation for the post.
Two Democrats with knowl-
edge of the discussions over the
surgeon general spot said Gupta
was under consideration but cau-
tioned there was not yet a final
decision on who would fill the
post. They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media
on the matter.
Obama's transition office did not
immediately respond to requests
for comment.
Gupta hosts "House Call" on
CNN and contributes reports to
CBS News.
JERUSALEM
Israel agrees to
"humanitarian
corridor" in Gaza
Israel says it has agreed to set
up a "humanitarian corridor" to
ship vital supplies to the people of
the Gaza Strip.
The office of Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert says in a statement
that the humanitarian corridor
idea came from the U.N. Security
Council, and he accepted it.
Under the plan, Israel would
suspend attacks in specified areas
of Gaza to allow the people to
get supplies. The statement early
today said the goal was to "pre-
vent a humanitarian crisis in the
Gaza Strip."
Israel insists it has allowed
enough supplies into the terri-
tory during 11 days of conflict,
but the U.N. says there is already
a humanitarian crisis there
because of shortages of food, fuel
and medicine.
WASHINGTON
Reps. Schauer,
Peters sworn into
U.S. House
Michigan's new members of
Congress saidyesterdaytheyhoped
to use their committee assignments
to give the state's ragged economy a
needed boost.
Democrats Mark Schauer and
Gary Peters were sworn into the
U.S. House, joining a large class
of freshmen lawmakers who are
expected to act on a multibillion-
dollar economic stimulus plan dur-
ing the first weeks of President-elect
Barack Obama's administration.
"I'm ready to get to work," said
Schauer, of Battle Creek.
Schauer, the former minor-
ity leader in the state Senate, was
selected to serve on the House
Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, which will shepherd
road and bridge construction proj-
ects considered a key part of the
stimulus package.
Peters, a former state senator
and state lottery commissioner,;
was chosen for a seat on the House
Financial Services Committee,
which took a lead role in shap-
ing the $700 billion bailout of
the financial sector last fall and a
separate aid package for domestic
automakers.
WASHINGTON
Feinstein says
Senate should seat
Blagojevich's pick
The chairman of the Senate
Rules Committee has parted with
many of her Democratic colleagues
and says that the Senate should seat
former Illinois Attorney General
Roland Burris.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of Cali-
fornia said yesterday that Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, however
tainted by corruption charges, has
the right to appoint someone to
President-elect Barack Obama's
former seat. The Rules Committee
decides whether Burris is qualified
to serve.
Feinstein said that blocking
Burris would have ramifications
for other governors' appoint-
ments.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
A
France, Egypt push
for Gaza cease-fire
(PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAI/AP>
Members of the House of Representatives of the 111th Congress, accompanied by family members and guests, are sworn in at
the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington.
New Congress vows to fix
crisis-rdden -ieconomy
At least 30
Palestinians left
dead after mortar
shells explode
GAZA CITY, Gaza (AP) -
France and Egypt announced an
initiative to stop the fighting in
Gaza late yesterday, hours after
Israeli mortar shells exploded
near a U.N. school sheltering hun-
dreds of people displaced by the
onslaught on Hamas militants. At
least 30 Palestinians died, staining
streets with blood.
FrenchForeign MinisterBernard
Kouchner released no details of the
cease-fire plan, saying at the U.N.
Security Council that the presi-
dents of his country and Egypt were
awaiting aresponse from Israel.
Israeli officials in Jerusalem
declined immediate comment on
the announcement, which came
amid diplomatic efforts by the U.S.
and other nations to resolve a con-
flict between Israel and the Islam-
ic militants of Hamas that has seen
600 people killed in11days.
President-elect Barack Obama
broke his silence on the crisis
Tuesday, saying that "the loss of
civilian life in Gaza and in Israel is
a source of deep concern for me."
He declined to go further, reiter-
ating his stance that the U.S. has
only one president at a time.
Israel's military said its shelling
at the school - the deadliest single
episode since Israeli ground forces
invaded Gaza on Saturday after a
week of air bombardment - was a
response to mortar fire from with-
in the school and said Mamas mili-
tants were using civilians as cover.
Two residents of the area
who spoke with The Associated
Press by telephone said they saw
a small group of militants firing
mortar rounds from a street near
the school, where 350 people had
gathered to get away from the
shelling. They spoke on condition
of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Majed Hamdan, an AP pho-
tographer, rushed to the scene
shortly after the attacks. At the
hospital, he said, many children
were among the dead.
"I saw women and men - par-
ents - slapping their faces in
grief, screaming, some of them
collapsed to the floor. They knew
their children were dead," he
said. "In the morgue, most of the
killed appeared to be children. In
the hospital, there wasn't enough
space for the wounded."
He said there appeared to be
marks on the pavement of five sepa-
rate explosions in area of the school.
An Israeli defense official,
speaking on condition of anonym-
ity because he was not allowed to
make the information public, said
it appeared the military used 120-
mm shells.
Burris kept from
claiming seat in
Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Capitol rang loud with vows to fix
the crisis-ridden economy yesterday
as Congress opened for business at
the dawn of a new Democratic era.
"We need action and we need action
now," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Republicans agreed, and
pledged cooperation in Congress
as well as with President-elect
Barack Obama - to a point.
On a day largely devoted to cer-
emony, new members of Congress
and those newly re-elected swore to
defend the Constitution. The Senate
galleries were crowded; children
and grandchildren of lawmakers
squirmed in their seats in the House
chamber as the winners in last fall's
elections claimed their prizes.
One office-seeker was not
among them.
In a scripted bit of political the-
ater, Democrat Roland Burris of
Illinois was informed he would
not be seated because his paper-
work was not in order. He pledged
a lawsuit, the latest twist in a
political drama that began when
he was named to Obama's Sen-
ate seat by Gov. Rod Blagojevich,
who has been charged with having
attempted to sell the appointment.
Obama was across town in a
meeting with his economic advis-
ers as the opening gavels fell in
the House and Senate at noon. His
inauguration as the nation's first
black president is two weeks away.
Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, a veteran of numerous battles
with President George W. Bush,
made plain how glad he was the old
administration was winding down.
"We are ready to answer the
call of the American people by put-
ting the past eight years behind us
and delivering the change that our
country desperatelyneeds,"he said
on the Senate floor. We are grate-
ful to begin anew with a far more
robust Democratic majority."
At the same time, in comments
directed at Republicans, he said,
"we are in this together" when it
comes to the economy, the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, health care
and the country's energy needs.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ken-
tucky, the Republican leader, replied
in a speech of his own, saying, "The
opportunities for cooperation are
numerous." He said Democrats
should avoid a "reckless rush to meet
anarbitrarydeadline" topass aneco-
nomic stimulus bill that could reach
$1 trillion, and he outlined possible
changes in the approach Obama and
the Democratic congressional lead-
ers have been considering.
Among themwas a proposal to
cut taxes by 10 percent. Another
was to lend money to hard-pressed
state governments rather than
give it to them. "States will be far
less likely to spend it frivolously"
in that case, he said.
By the new political calculus,
McConnell will soon be the most
powerful Republican in government
after elections that handed Demo-
crats the White House and left them
with gains of least seven seats in the
Senate and 21 in the House.
McConnell's counterpart in
the House, Republican leader
John Boehner of Ohio, handed
the speaker's gavel to Pelosi in a
traditional unity tableau. He, too,
pledged cooperation, then said,
"America's potential is unlimited.
But government's potential is not.
We must not confuse the two."
Obama spent much of Monday
in the Capitol, conferring with
Republicans and Democrats alike
on the economic stimulus measure
he hopes to sign early in his term.
The nation's consumer spending
has plummeted, manufacturing
has withered and job losr h nsc
grown in recent months, adding
urgency to the legislative effort in
contrast to the customary sluggish
start to a new Congress.
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Coleman files lawsuit over
Minnesota recount results
Lawsuit alleges
Canvassing Board
made mistakes
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Repub-
lican Norm Coleman filed a lawsuit
yesterday challenging Democrat
Al Franken's apparent recount
victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate
race, delaying a resolution of the
contest for weeks or months.
At a Capitol news conference
filled with cheering supporters,
Coleman said he won't accept a
board's determination a day ear-
lier that Franken captured 225
more votes in the November elec-
tion. He had a seven-day window
to file the lawsuit.
"We are filing this contest to
make absolutely sure every valid
vote was counted and no one's was
counted more than anyone else's,"
Coleman said.
Coleman shrugged off the idea
that he might concede the election
to avoid a protracted fight thatcould
leave Minnesota with only a single
senator in Washington for months.
"Something greater than expe-
diency is at stake here," Coleman
said. He added: "Democracy is not
a machine. Sometimes it's messy
and inconvenient, and reaching
the best conclusion is never quick
because speed is not the first
objective, fairness is."
State law prevents officials from
issuing an election certificate until
legal matters are resolved.
Franken attorney Marc Elias
called Coleman's lawsuit "essential-
ly the same thin gruel, warmed-over
leftovers from meals we've all been
served over the lastfew weeks."
He said that Coleman has the
right to sue, but that doesn't mean
his claims have merit, and he is
confident Franken would prevail.
Franken e-mailed supporters
Tuesday to request donations to
continue the fight, just as Coleman
did a day earlier.
Coleman, whose term expired
Saturday, led Franken by 215 votes
in the Nov. 4 count but that advan-
tage flipped during a prolonged
recount.
In going to court, Coleman
has three big challenges: raising
money to pay escalatinglegal bills,
proving the election was flawed
and managing the public's desire
to have the race over.
"They definitely have an uphill
fight on their hands," said Guy-
Uriel Charles, a professor of elec-
tion and constitutional law at the
University of Minnesota. "Their
legal theory will have to overcome
a burden of proof, and then they
have to find enough votes to over-
come Franken's lead."
That could prove difficult, since
any bloc of new votes would almost
surely include some for Franken,
who declared victory Monday.
A lawsuit gives both sides
options they lacked during the
recount, such as accessing voter
rolls, inspecting machines and
introducing testimony from elec-
tion workers.
Coleman's filing includes some
of the points his lawyers have
been making for weeks. It centers
mainly on claims that hundreds
of rejected absentee ballots from
Republican-leaning areas should
have been part of the recount, that
some ballots in Democratic terri-
tory were counted twice and that
election officials were wrong to
use machine tallies for a Minne-
apolis precinct where ballots went
missing.
But there are new angles, too.
The lawsuit alleges that the
Canvassing Board made mistakes
when determining voter intent on
challenged ballots, that ineligible
voters cast ballots and that some
absentee ballots were erroneously
opened early, raising chain-of-
custody concerns.
A race that was a couple of
years in the making - Franken
announced his campaign in Feb-
ruary 2007 - is now two months
past Election Day.
The case would fall to a three-
judge panel selected by Chief Jus-
tice Eric Magnuson of the state
Supreme Court, an appointee of
Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and
a member of the Canvassing Board.
The costs of the election law-
suit fall to the losing campaign,
although state law could require
various units of government to
foot the bill if their errors or irreg-
ularities lead to a reversal.
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