The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, January 20, 2009 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip
Hamas fighters
seek to restore
order in Gaza
Uniformed Hamas security
fteams emerged on Gaza City's
streets yesterday an leaders of the
Islamic militant group vowed to
restore order in the shattered Pal-
estinian territory after a three-
week pummeling by the Israeli
military.
Hamas proclaimed it won a great
victory over the Jewish state - a
view that appeared greatly exag-
gerated - and the task of recon-
struction faced deep uncertainty
because of the fear of renewed fight-
ing and Israel's control over border
crossings.
Cars and pedestrians again
clogged streets. Donkey carts
. hauled produce and firewood past
rubble and broken glass. The parlia-
ment building and other targets of
Israeli attacks were piles of debris,
while orange and olive groves on
the edge of town were flattened.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon planned to travel to Gaza on
Tuesday to inspect damage and
visit U.N. facilities hit in the fight-
ing. Ban did not scheduled meet-
ings with officials from Hamas,
whose government is not interna-
tionally recognized.
WASHINGTON
Women less able to
suppress hunger
Faced with their favorite foods,
women are less able than men to
suppress their hunger, a discovery
that may help explain the higher
obesity rate for females, a new
study suggests.
Researchers trying to under-
stand the brain's mechanisms for
controlling food intake were sur-
prised at the difference between
the sexes in brain response.
Gene-Jack Wang of Brookhaven
National Laboratory and colleagues
were trying to figure out why some
people overeat and gain weight
while others don't.
They performed brain scans on
13 women and 10 men, who had
fasted overnight, to determine how
their brains responded to the sight
of their favorite foods. They report
their findings in today's edition of
Proceedings of the National Acad-
emy of Sciences.
NEW YORK
Investigation of US
Airways jetliner
crash to take a year
The probe into the crash-landing
of a US Airways jetliner will take a
year, and the lessons learned from
the spectacular accident will last
much longer, a senior investigator
said yesterday.
"I think this one is going to be
studied for decades," said Robert
Benzon, chief investigator on the
case for the National Transporta-
tion Safety Board.
Benzon said the fact that all
155 people aboard the plane
survived removes the guilt and
finger-pointing that sometimes
accompany aviation accidents.
We said lessons learned from
the successful ditching into the
Hudson River could improve air
safety.
"In one like this, I think there's
potential for a lot of good to come
out of it, long-term good," he
said.
CHICAGO
* Ear, nose and
throat infections
on rise in children
Researchers say they found an
"alarming" increase in children's
ear, nose and throat infections
nationwide caused by dangerous
drug-resistant staph germs.
Other studies have shown ris-
ing numbers of skin infections
in adults and children caused by
these germs, nicknamed MRSA,
but this is the first nationwide
report on how common they are
in deeper tissue infections in the
head and neck, the study authors
said. These include certain ear
and sinus infections, and abcesses
that can form in the tonsils and
throat.
The study found a total of 21,009
pediatric head and neck infec-
tions caused by staph germs from
2001 through 2006. The percent-
age caused by hard-to-treat MRSA
bacteria more than doubled during
that time from almost 12 percent to
28 percent.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Bush pardons
former U.S.
border agents
cHARLES DHARAPAK/AP
President-elect Barack Obama visits a renovation project at Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a shelter for homeless or runaway
teens, in Washington, D.C. Monday, Jan.19, 2009.
Obama honors King on
final pre-presidency day
Obama takes part in
community
renovation project
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fresh
off a rollicking celebration in the
shadow of Abraham Lincoln,
President-elect Barack Obama is
shaping the final day of his pre-
presidential life around another
giant figure, the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Obama is taking part in a com-
munity renovation project in the
Washington area to honor King,
the civil rights leader who was
assassinated in 1968. Yesterday
was the federal holiday commemo-
rating the birthday of King, who
advocated peaceful resistance and
equality amongall races. He blazed
a trail for Obama, soon to be the
nation's first black president.
The vice president-elect, Joe
Biden, is also taking part in volun-
teer service on Monday. His wife,
Jill, and Obama's wife, Midhelle, are
helping with a service project, too.
Transition aides declined to
name the locations or details of
the projects.
The rtin-up to Obama's inau-
guration on Tuesday has, like
his election itself, been defined
by enormous public enthusiasm,
carefully choreographed events
and a lofty spirit of unity. What
awaits, as Obama often reminds
the nation, is many months, if not
years, of tough work.
Theweekendcelebrationsbegan
Saturday with Obama's whistle-
stop tour, from Philadelphia to
Washington, along the path Abra-
ham Lincoln took in 1861. Then
came a roaring celebrity-filled
concert at the Lincoln Memorial
on Sunday, where several hun-
dred thousand people flanked the
reflecting pool, hearing actors,
singers and then Obama himself
rally for national renewal.
Now Obama is askingthe nation
to honor King's legacyby making a
renewed commitment to service.
That has long been the goal of the
King holiday, even if many see it as
a day off.
The Presidential Inaugural
Committee has launched a Web
site, USAService.org, to help peo-
ple find volunteer opportunities
close to their homes.
"I am asking you to make a last-
ing commitment to make better
the lives of your fellow Americans
- a commitment that must endure
beyond one day, or even one presi-
dency," Obama said in a YouTube
appeal last week. "At this moment
of great challenge and great
change, I am asking you to play
your part; to roll up your sleeves
and join in the work of remaking
this nation."
The president-elect had a busy
evening yesterday, too.
He had to attend three private
dinners to honor the public ser-
vice of former Secretary of State
Colin Powell; Biden, a longtime
senator from Delaware; and Sen.
John McCain, the 2008 Republi-
can presidential nominee. Those
dinners will be held at the Hilton
Washington, National Building
Museum and Union Station.
Michelle Obama, the future
first lady, is hosting a children's
evening concert.
Meanwhile, with the nation's
transition of power now just
more than a day away, a new hero
has been invited to join the inau-
guration.
US Airways Capt. Chesley B.
"Sully" Sullenberger, who safely
crash-landed a failing jetliner in
the Hudson River on Thursday,
has been invited by the president-
elect to attend Tuesday's ainugu-
ration. So has Sullenberger's crew
and his family.
An aide to nOm aid.te
inaugural committee is working
on the details.
Two former border
agents convicted for
shooting a Mexican
drug dealer
WASHINGTON (AP) - In his
final acts of clemency, President
George W. Bush yesterday granted
early prison releases to two former
U.S. Border Patrol agents whose
convictions for shooting a Mexi-
can drug dealer fueled the national
debate over illegal immigration.
Bush, responding to heavy
pressure from Republican and
Democratic lawmakers alike, com-
muted the prison sentences of Igna-
cio Ramos and Jose Compean. The
tVuo guards from El Paso, Texas,
each were sentenced to more than
10 years for the shooting, which
they tried to cover up. They will be
released within two months.
Opposition to their convictions,
sentencing and firings has simmered
ever since the shooting occurred in
2005.
"After four years of fighting this,
it's taken a toll on me and my daugh-
ter, and really the whole family," said
Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in law, who
has received tens of thousands of
supportive e-mails and spent much
of the past two years traveling the
country to speak about the case. "We
wouldn't give up. ... I knew sooner
or later God would come through -
that finally it would happen."
Bush "has given us a chance to be
a family again and I want to thank
him for that," Ramos' wife, Monica,
told Fox News Channel.
The border agents' case became
a rallying cause for conservatives
concerned about border protection.
On talk shows, people sympathetic
with the agents argued thatthe men
were just doing their jobs, defend-
ing the U.S.-Mexico border against
criminals.
Bob Baskett, Compean's attorney
in Dallas, cited widespread congres-
sional support from the biparti-
...tdw1gfssional delegation from
Texas. "I think the president did the
right thing," he said. "An awful lot
of people did an awful lot of work to
get this done."
David Botsford, a lawyer for
Ramos in Austin, Texas, said he had
been guardedly optimistic that the
commutations would be granted
because of the support from Con-
gress and the thousands of people
who had sentletters of concern. The
president has shown "he's a compas-
sionate man," Botaford said.
Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas,
who called the agents' convictions
a "grotesque injustice," said he and
other lawmakers initially had hoped
to have the agents pardoned. "When
it became evident there was resis-
tance at the White House to a par-
don, that's when we shifted gears to
ask for a commutation," he said.
Culberson helped gather sig-
natures from 31 of the 34 current
members of the Texas congressio-
nal delegation and two former del-
egation members for a letter asking
Bush for the commutations. Culber-
son hand-delivered the letter to the
White House last week.
"I was beginning to really be
concerned that with literally only
hours left in the president's term,
this might not happen," he said.
"With this one decision, President
Bush has done more to improve his
popularity than any single thing he
could do."
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas,
applauded the president's decision:
"I donotcondonetheactionsofthese
two men,but I believe the mandatory
10-year sentencing guidelines used
in this case were excessive."
Compean and Ramos were con-
victed of shooting admitted drug
smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila
in the buttocks as he fled across the
Rio Grande, away 'from an aban-
doned van load of marijuana. He
remains in a low-security prison in
Fort Worth, Texas.
The border agents claimed at
their trials that they believed the
smuggler was ainmed andthatthey
shot him in self defense. The pros-
ecutor in the case, a U.S. attorney
who was appointed by Bush in
2001, said°there was no -eviece
linking the smuggler to the van of
marijuana.
Kellogg says FDA confirms
salmonella in crackers
Michigan-based
company recalls 16
products last week
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Kellogg
Co. said Monday federal authori-
tieshave confirmed thatsalmonella
was found in a single package of its
peanut butter crackers, as a Mid-
western grocer recalled some of its
products because of the scare.
Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kel-
logg recalled 16 products last week
because of the possibility of sal-
monella contamination.
The company said yesterday
that contaminationwas confirmed
by the Food and Drug Administra-
tion in a single package of Austin
Quality Foods Toasty Crackers
with Peanut Butter.
Food companies and retailers
have been recalling products with
peanut butter in them because
of suspicion of contamination
amid a salmonella outbreak that
has killed at least six people and
sickened more than 470 others in
43 states. At least 90 people have
been hospitalized.
Also yesterday, Midwestern
grocer and retailer Meijer Inc.
said it was recalling two types of
crackers and two varieties of ice
cream because of the possibility of
salmonella contamination: Meijer
brand Cheese and Peanut Butter
and Toasty Peanut Butter sand-
wich crackers, and Peanut Butter
and Jelly and Peanut Butter Cup
ice cream.
Golden Valley, Minn.-based
General Mills said Monday after-
noon that it was recalling two
flavors of snack bars: LARABAR
Peanut Butter Cookie snack bars
and JamFrakas Peanut Hutter
Blisscrisp snack bars. The compa-
ny said the recall affected 15,000
cases and no illnesses have been
reported. General Mills said the
recall did not affect any other
products it makes.
It was not immediately clear
how many packages of Kellogg
crackers had been tested, if more
tests were being made on other
products or if some had already
been found not to have salmo-
nella, Kellogg spokeswoman Kris
Charles said. A spokesman for the
FDA said the agency was not pro-
viding any new information Mon-
day.
The government on Saturday
advised consumers to avoid eat-
ing cookies, cakes, ice cream and
other foods containing peanut
butter until health officials learn
more about the contamination.
Officials said most peanut but-
ter sold in jars at supermarkets
appears to be safe.
Officials have been focusing on
peanut paste and peanut butter
made at Peanut Corp. of Ameriha's
plant in Blakely, Ga.
On Sunday, Peanut Corp.
expanded its own recall to all pea-
nut butter and peanut paste pro-
duced at the Blakely plant since
July 1.
The company's peanut butter is
not sold directly to consumers but
is distributed to institutions and
food companies.The peanut paste,
made from roasted peanuts, is an
ingredient in cookies, cakes and
other products sold to consumers.
Meijer, based in Grand Rapids,
said in a news release Monday it
was issuingits recallbecause mak-
ers of its products had announced
possible contamination.
WE WANT YOUR
INAUGURATION DAY PHOTOS
Going to D.C.? Just watching Obama get
sworn in from the comfort of your couch?
Send us your photos and reactions at
InaugurationDay@umich.edu.
In Wednesday's Daily, we'll run the best of
what we get.
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