The Michigan Daily = michigandaily.com

Thursday, April 16, 2009 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, April 16, 2009 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
GOP: Intelligence
report unfair to right
Republicans yesterday said a
Homeland Security Department
intelligence assessment unfairly
characterizes military veterans as
right-wing extremists.
House Republican leader John
Boehner described the report as
offensive and called on the agency
to apologize to veterans.
The agency's intelligence assess-
ment, sent to law enforcement
officialslastweek,warnsthatright-
wing extremists could use the bad
state of the U.S. economy and the
election of the country's first black
president to recruit members.
The assessment also said that
rturning military veterans who
have difficulties assimilating back
into their home communities could
be susceptible to extremist recruit-
ers or might engage in lone acts of
violence.
"Tocharacterizemenandwomen
returning home after defending
our country as potential terrorists
isoffensive and unacceptable," said
Boehner, R-Ohio.
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran looks to settle
nuclear dispute
President Mahmoud Ahmadine-
jad says Iran is preparing a new
package of proposals aimed at re-
solving disputes over its nuclear
program.
He has also vowed that Iran will
not allow the U.S. and its allies to
impose their will on Tehran.
Addressing thousands of Iranian
citizens in Kerman, southeastern
Iran, Wednesday, Ahmadinejad
said Iran welcomes dialogue with
the world powers provided that it
isbased on justice and respect, sug-
gesting the West should not try to
force it to halt its uranium enrich-
ment program.
The U.S. and some of its allies
accuse Iran of seeking to build
nuclear weapons. Tehran denies
the charges, saying its nuclear pro-
gram is geared towards generating
electricity.
BOGOTA, Colombia
Most-wanted drug
lord in Colombia
caught yesterday
Colombia's most wanted drug
lord was cowering like a dog under
a palm tree when he was captured
yesterday in a jungle raid involv-
ing hundreds of police officers, the
defense minister said.
Daniel Rendon Herrera, alias
"Don Mario," was taken in shack-
les to the capital to await possible
extradition to the United States.
Rendon Herrera allegedly com-
manded hundreds of armed men
in a private militia and directed
a criminal organization that sent
hundreds of tons of cocaine to the
U.S.
PresidentAlvaroUribe described
Rendon Herrera, 43, as "one of the
most feared drug traffickers in the
world."

Rendon Herrera's organization
is responsible for 3,000 murders in
the last 18 months alone, said Gen.
Oscar Naranjo, who directs the
national police.
Police said he had offered his
assassins $1,000 for each officer
they killed, in hopes of evading
arrest.
SACRAMENTO
Sacramento tent
city begins to empty
Dozens of the people who have
been living in a homeless encamp-
ment near downtown Sacramento
folded their tents and packed
their shopping carts yesterday,
the deadline set by the city to
clear out.
Many said they did not want to
go to shelters or had heard that the
city's shelters were full.
"I don't know where I'm going,"
said Danny Valadez, 48, who lost
his job as a painter and has lived at
the so-called "tent city" with his
girlfriend for the past 13 months.
He said they didn't want to live in
shelters because there are too many
rules and they feel "a little like jail."
"Everybody's trying to find a
spot where they won't get messed
with," Valadez said.
About 50 tent and tarp camp-
sites remained at the tent city site
and an adjacent piece of vacant
land. Homeless advocates said
many people left because they
feared being arrested and planned
to come back later to retrieve their
belongings.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Private firm looks
to buy GM's Saturn

DETROIT (AP) - An Okla-
homa City private equity firm
has teamed with a group of Sat-
urn dealers in an effort to buy the
money-losing brand from General
Motors Corp.
The proposal from a group
led by Black Oak Partners LLC
is among several that GM has
received for the brand, said GM
spokesman Mike Morrissey.
"We are working with all
those groups," Morrissey said.
"It's too early to speculate as to
what the ultimate outcome is
going to be."
Jennifer Threet, a spokes-
UNEMPLOYED
From Page 1A
additional avenue for dislocated
workers.
"I think it certainly provides
folks with another program to
earn a certificate in," she said.
Carpenter said though she
can't speak on behalf of this
specific certificate program, No
Worker Left Behind's goal is to
supply training programs for jobs
with high employment rates.
"Our whole intent is to provide
training to folks in high demand
occupations," she said. "Those
high demand occupations vary
across the state in various areas."
In a recent University press
release, officials wrote that the
depleted health care worker indus-
try provides displaced workers with
a chance to starta new career.
Dina Kurz, managing direc-
tor at the University's School of
Public Health, said she has been
contacted about the certificate
program by a number of people
who are in manufacturing - par-
ticularly in the automotive and
pharmaceutical industries who
have been working with mar-
keting and business skills - and
want change careers.
"They want to reinvent their
careers,"Kurzsaid."The No Work-
er Left Behind Act gives displaced
workers the funding to retrain in a
different area such as public health
which is a growing field."
Kurz added that the health
care field in general is also grow-
ing, and School of Public Health
graduates have many opportuni-
ties to find jobs in the field.
Kurz said the program pro-
vides students with a foundation
of the five major disciplines in

woman for the Black Oak group,
said it delivered a proposal toGM
last week and is awaiting a formal
meeting.
The group said in a statement
issued Wednesday that it would
get vehicles from GM initially, but
itexpects to sell smaller, fuel-effi-
cient vehicles from other global
manufacturers.
GM put the Saturn brand up
for review and possible sale last
year. The company must shed
Saturn and other brands as part
of its restructuring plan to justify
billions in government loans that
it needs to stay in business.
public health.
"A large percentage of the
public health workforce does not
have formal training in public
health," she said. "This program
provides each individual with
foundational knowledge and pro-
vides them graduate academic
credit as a gateway to a master's
(degree) if the individual desires
further training."
All the coursework is taught
online. Students take five courses
to receive the certificate as well as
an additional 16 graduate credits
that they can apply to a master's
degree either at the University or
another school.
Kurz said online instruction
makes it easy for students to par-
ticipate in the program.
"It gives people the flexibilityto
studywithoutleavinghome,"Kurz
said. "They don't have to come to
campus to have the benefit of the
high-quality education the School
of Public Health offers."
The program has been in place
since this past fall, and Kurz said
it has a variety of students.
"We have a wide spectrum
of individuals," she said. "From
people who have just graduated
to people who have been in the
field for a number of years and
want a formal education in public
health."
Kurz added the variety of
people involved in the program
allows them to learn and support
each other as well as create dif-
ferent networks.
"It's an exciting program
because the students involved bring
a lot from their own experience and
share it with each other as well as
with the faculty," Kurz said.
- The Associated Press
contributed to this report.

GEeALD HERBERT/AP
President Barack Obama exits after making remarks about the tax code, yesterday at the White House.
Last year, Obamas earned
$2.M\., aided bbook sales

First couples' income
fell from $4.2 million
two years ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle,
millionaires from his best-selling
books, made $2.7 million last year
and paid just under one-third of their
adjusted income in federaltaxes.
While the income, mostly his,
was far more than the U.S. median
household income of about $50,000,
it was quite adecrease fromthe $4.2
million the Obamas made in 2007.
Both years, nearly all of the
earnings came from Obama's
best-selling books. "Dreams from
My Father" and "The Audacity of
Hope" - brought in about $2.5 mil-
lion in royalties last year, according
to copies of the returns released by
the White House on Wednesday,
the federal filing deadline.
Obama earned $139,204 asa Dem-

ocratic senator from Illinois last year
before leaving his seat after winning
the November election. Michelle
Obama received a salary of $62,709
from the University of Chicago Hos-
pitals, where she was an executive.
The couple's total federal tax
came to $855,323. That was 32 per-
cent of their adjusted gross income
of $2,656,902.
The Obamas overpaid by
$26,014, and elected to apply that
amount to their 2009 taxes.
The couple's federal tax deduc-
tions included about $50,000 in
home mortgage interest.
They reported contribut-
ing $172,050 to charity last year,
including $25,000 each to the
CARE international relief agency
and the United Negro College
Fund. That $172,050 represented
about 6.5 percent of the family's
adjusted gross income. That per-
centage is roughly two to three
times the national average for
household donations to charity,

according to the Center on Philan-
thropy at Indiana University.
The Obamas gave a total of
$1,400 to five churches. In contrast
to 2007, they gave nothing to the
Trinity United Church of Christ.
Barack Obama was a longtime
member of the church, and gave it
$26,270 in 2007, but resigned from
it and cut ties with its pastor, the
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after Wright
made incendiary comments that
became a campaign issue.
The Obamas' total Illinois
income tax was $78,765, their state
return showed.
The White House also released
Vice President Joe Biden's tax
returns. Biden and his wife, Jill,
earned $269,256 last year.
The Bidens' main sources of
income were salaries from the Sen-
ate, Widener University, Delaware
Technical & Community College
and royalties from the audio
rights to the vice president's
memoir, "Promises to Keep."


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