The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, April 3, 2009 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 3, 2009 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Former Illinois
Congress votes on Gov. indicted on
budget alternatives
The Democratic-controlled
House approved a budget blueprint
drawn to President Barack Obama's
specifications yesterday and the
Senate hastened to follow suit after
administration allies rejected alter-
natives from liberals and conserva-
tives alike.
The vote in the House was 233-
196, largely along party lines, for
a $3.6 trillion plan that includes a
deficit of $1.2 trillion.
The country wants "real change,
and we have come here to make a
difference," House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., said as both cham-
bers worked on plans to boost
spending on domestic programs,
raise taxes on the wealthy in two
years' time and clear the way for
action later in the year on Obama's
priority items of health care, ener-
gy and education.
Republicans in both houses
accused Democrats of drafting
plans that would hurt the reces-
sion-ravaged economy in the long
run, rather than help it, and saddle
future generations with too much
debt.
WASHINGTON
Study finds Arctic
ice melting faster
than expected
Arctic sea ice is melting so fast
most of it could be gone in 30 years.
A new analysis of changing con-
ditions in the region, using complex
computer models of weather and
climate, says conditions that had
been forecast by the end of the cen-
tury could occur much sooner.
A change in the amount of ice
is important because the white
surface reflects sunlight back into
space. When ice is replaced by dark
ocean water that sunlight can be
absorbed, warming the water and
increasing the warming of the
planet.
The finding adds to concern
about climate change caused by
human activities such as burn-
ing fossil fuels, a problem that has
begun receiving more attention in
the Obama administration and is
part of the G20 discussions under
way in Landon.
"Due to the recent loss of sea ice,
the 2005-2008 autumn central Arc-
tic surface air temperatures were
greater than 5 degrees Celsius (9
degrees Fahrenheit) above" what
would be expected, the new study
reports.
That amount of temperature
increase had been expected by the
year 207O.
FARGO, N.D.
Alcohol sales rose
along with Red River
In the debate over which busi-
nesses are essential during an
emergency, manylocal liquorstores
and bars had no doubt about where
they fell during the Red River flood
threat.
"It's been like New Year's Eve,"
Andy Urton said, manning the
counter at Village West Liquors,
where he rang up $4,000 in sales in
the first two hours he was open one
recent day as people lined up to buy
beer by the case to fuel sandbag-
ging efforts or 1.75-liter bottles of
vodka to ease the aches and stress
of flood preparation.
Self-medication with alcohol
during crises worries mental health
experts, who say it can lead to long-
term problems. But in an upper
Midwest state where drinking is a
popular pastime during the long,
cold winters, it only makes sense to
some residents.
"You've got to do it," said Brian
Jorgensen, 39. "You kind of hurt at
the end of the day."
MEXICO CITY
Mexico arrests
major drug suspect
Mexican officials say they have
arrested one of their most-wanted
drug suspects, Vicente Carrillo
Leyva.
The federal Attorney Gener-
al's office has displayed Carrillo
Leyva to the press at a news con-
ference early Thursday, bringing
a young man in glasses and a track
suit before flashing cameras.
The announcement comes just
over a week after Carrillo Leyva
was named to a list of Mexico's
most-wanted narcotics suspects
and offered a reward of 30 mil-
lion pesos ($2.1 million) for his
capture.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
federal charges
Despite allegations, Obama's deputy press secre-
tary, Josh Earnest, said the White
Blagojevich says he House would not comment. The
inoet indictment does not allege any
iS innocent wrongdoing by Obama or his top
aides.
CHICAGO (AP) - Ousted Illi- Prosecutors also accused
nois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan Blagojevich and members of his
to auction off President Barack inner circle of plotting to line
Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat their pockets with millions of
marked the culmination of years dollars in ill-gotten gains. They
of scheming for personal gain are accused of squeezing con-
that included trying to extort tractors, hospital owners and
a congressman and pressuring others seeking state business
businesses to hire his wife, pros- for kickbacks they planned to
ecutors alleged yesterday. split after the governor left
A sweeping 19-count fed- office.
eral indictment alleges that "I'm saddened and hurt but I
Blagojevich discussed with aides am not surprised by the indict-
the possibility of getting a Cabinet ment," Blagojevich, who was
post in the new president's admin- in Walt Disney World with 'his
istration, substantial fundraising family, said in a statement. "I am
assistance or a high-paying job in innocent. I now will fight in the
exchange for the Senate seat. courts to clear my name."
u.S., Mexico work
to fight drug cartels
A black Chevy Suburban SUV, manufactured by financially threatened General Motors Corp., stands ready to transport high-
ranking government officials at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday.
General Motors prepares new
proposal for bondholders, UAW
Cross-border group
created to stop illegal
gun, drug flow
CUERNAVACA, Mexico (AP)
- The U.S. and Mexico are cre-
ating a cross-border group to
develop strategies for stopping
the illegal flow of guns and drugs
between the two countries, offi-
cials said yesterday.
Emerging from a conference
with U.S. officials, Mexican
Attorney General Eduardo Med-
ina-Mora said more meetings are
needed to develop plans to bring
warring drug cartels under con-
trol along the border.
Medina-Mora said Mexico
planned to begin checking 10
percent of the vehicles entering
the country from the U.S. for
illegal weapons and will more
closely check outgoing vehicles
for drugs and money.
Medina-Mora said the new
vehicle-inspection measures
were part of Mexico's overall
$1.4 billion modernization of
border customs and crossing
points. The first such vehicle
checks are already being car-
ried out in Matamoros, across
the border from Brownsville,
Texas.
Medina-Mora also said there
had about 1,600 drug-related
killings in Mexico in the first
quarter of 2009, about 25 per-
cent less than the last quarter of
2008. He did notgive a reason for
the decline, but the government
says violence has decreased in
border cities like Ciudad Juarez
after thousands of additional
army troops were sent there ear-
lier this year.
U.S. Homeland Security Sec-
retary Janet Napolitano said
that, in addition to beefing up
border inspections north of the
border, "we have to do more to
reduce demand for drugs."
Napolitano and U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder metprivate-
ly for several hours with Medi-
na-Mora and Mexico's Interior
Minister Fernando Gomez-Mont
and Public Safety Secretary
Genaro Garcia Luna.
GM bondholders
hold roughly $28B in
unsecured debt
DETROIT (AP) - General
Motors Corp. has prepared a new
proposal for bondholders that aims
to satisfy the government's demand
for much deeper givebacks from
creditors, and the company also is
working on a new concession pack-
age for the United Auto Workers,
according to two people briefed on
the plans.
The offer to the bondholders,
who hold roughly $28 billion in
unsecured General Motors debt,
will exceed a previous government
requirement that GM swap two-
thirds of its unsecured debt for
company stock, one of the people
said.
Both people spoke on condition
of anonymity because the negotia-
tions are private.
GM and Chrysler LLC have
received $17.4 billion in govern-
ment loans to fund their operations
but the companies are trying to
slash costs and debt levels to stave
off bankruptcy. President Barack
Obama said Monday the carmak-
ers' recently submitted restructur-
ing plans failed to go far enough
and gave them strict deadlines to
win more concessions from their
stakeholders.
The concessions demanded by
the White House go deeper than
what was required by the Bush
administration under the original
terms of the government's loans in
December.
The government gave GM until
June 1 to further restructure or
face bankruptcy. Chrysler was
deemed unable to stand on its own
and was given until April 30 to
forge an alliance with Fiat Group
SpA or another company. Without
an alliance, no more government
money will be spent and Chrysler
almost certainly would be sold off
to pay creditors.
Both companies had a tentative
deal with the UAW on wages, ben-
efits and other issues, but the pacts
were never presented to union
members because both sides failed
to reach a deal on swapping stock
for half of the company's required
payments into a union-run trust
that will take over retiree health
care costs next year. The trust is
called a voluntary employee ben-
eficiary association, or VEBA.
At GM, there are no formal
negotiations underway with the
union as the company awaits fur-
ther guidance from the adminis-
tration's autos task force on just
how deep further cuts mustbe, one
of the people said.
It appears the government is
going to seek more cuts from older
blue-collar workers.
Jared Bernstein, Vice President
Joe Biden's chief economist and
a task force member, said in an
interview Tuesday with WWJ-AM
in Detroit that additional conces-
sions may be necessary from older
members of the UAW. He noted the
union had already made significant
cuts for entry-level workers.
"Those concessions arelockedin
at a level that's extremely competi-
tive, so they've come to the table in
that regard. I think there are still
some issues with older workers
and especially if you look at the full
compensation package, including
the VEBA," he said.
Bernstein said the UAW's past
concessions have been "deep, sig-
nificant and important. That said,
most of those concessions apply
to new workers, entry-level work-
ers coming in. There are still lots
of workers who are older, more
experienced and still benefit from
contracts that were signed a long
time ago."
In a landmark 2007 contract,
the UAW preserved wages of older
workers but agreed to the health
care trust and lower wages and
benefits for many newly hired
workers.
First Annual Victors Run for
Diabetes Awareness 5k
-1
Hosted by Students for Diabetes Awareness
Saturday, April 4th at 11:00AM
at The Nichols Arboretum
To Register visit our website:
SDAumich.wordpress.com or Active.com
$20 online before the event
$25 day of
For more information contact:
SDABoardMembers@umich.edu
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