The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com Friday, October 9, 2009 - 3 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 9, 2009 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS LANSING Mich. lawmakers pass budget bills Gov. Jennifer Granholm has signed bills establishing new bud- gets for community colleges, courts and military and veterans' affairs in Michigan. The bills signed yesterday were passed by the Legislature before an Oct. 1 budget deadline with bipartisan agreement. Other bills needed for a full state budget either haven't been passed the Legislature or haven't been sent to Granholm because Republicans worry she will veto them. State departments are operat- ing under a temporary budget that expires Oct. 31. No budget is in place foraidto K-12 schools. The community college bud- get remains unchanged at $299 million. The courts budget does not include funding for a men- tal health court pilot project but does include some money for drug treatment courts. LANSING House committee votes to extend bar closing time Bars could stay open two hours longer and stores could sell alcohol on Sunday mornings in exchange for paying a state fee under legisla- tion approved yesterday by a House committee. TheDemocratic-ledHouseAppro- priations Committee voted 18-12 along party lines to send the extend- ed-hours bill to the full House, which could vote later in the day. Current closing time for Michigan bars is 2 a.m. The legislation would let bar owners pay $1,500 to sell alco- holuntil 4 a.m. The bill also would lift the state's Prohibition-era ban against selling alcohol on Sunday morning if estab- lishments pay $1,500. Golf courses, stores and Detroit bars catering to Lions fans are among those hoping to sell before noon Sunday. Local governments could opt not to allow local businesses to sell dur- ing the extended hours. LOS ANGELES UCLA student stabbed in chem lab A female UCLA student was hospitalized yesterday after a fel- low student slashed her throat in a chemistry lab on campus, authori- ties said. A man was arrested after UCLA police got a call about the stabbing Thursday afternoon in Young Hall. UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said the victim and suspect were among a group of students working in the undergraduate teaching lab at the time. They are both 20-year-old seniors. Officers were interviewing 30 to 40 witnesses who were in or near the lab and might have seen the at- tack, Campus Police Assistant Chief Jeff Young said. No names have been released, and the motive is un- der investigation. MEXICO CITY Mexico police arrest * FBI most wanted One of the FBI's most-sought fugi- tives, wanted for the 2002 killings of his girlfriend and her two young sons in Idaho, has been captured in Mexico. Federal police detained Jorge Alberto Lopez Orozco on a highway in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, Mexico's Attorney General's Office said yesterday. He was transported to the neighboring state of Michoa- can and held on a U.S. extradition request. Lopez Orozco, 33, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Rebecca Ramirez and her sons, aged 2 and 4, in Elmore County, Idaho. He was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in March 2005. There was no immediate informa- tion on whether U.S. prosecutors had agreed not to seek the death penalty against Lopez Orozco; Mexico refus- es to extradite suspects who might face execution. According to FBI reports, Lopez Orozco called Ramirez on July 30, 2002, and later picked her up along with her two sons at her father's house in Nyssa, Ore. Twelve days later, fishermen found the aban- doned, burned-out shell of the car that Lopez Orozco had been driving near the Snake River in a remote area of Elmore County. - Compiled from Daily wire reports Lawyer shared Kilpatrick texts with Free Press CHARLES REXARBOGAST/AP In this Feb. 8, 2009 file photo, General Motors Vice President for Sale, Service and Marketing Mark LaNeve, talks about 'the future of GM, at the Chicago Auto Show in Chicago, Lawmakers question GM Chrysler union demands Attorney Mike Stefani obtained the texts while suing Detroit mayor DETROIT (AP) - A lawyer who obtained atrove of sexually explicit text messages while suing former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2007 said Thursday he gave a copy to the Detroit Free Press, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning stories led to criminal charges and forced the mayor from office last year. Mike Stefani made the disclosure whiletestifyingbeforethe Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, where he's accused of acting unethically while representing police officers in lawsuits against Kilpatrick. "I gave one to the Detroit Free Press for safekeeping ... a day or two after I got them," Stefani said, according to the newspaper's account of his testimony. During a break, he told The Detroit News: "It wasn't something just for the Free Press; it was just that it needed to come out." The Free Press never disclosed how it obtained text messages for a blockbuster story in January 2008 that revealed a torrid affair between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty. The story contradicted repeated denials that there wasn't a sexual relationship. The question was crit- ical because police officers had sued Kilpatrick, claiming they were pun- ished when they tried to investigate wrongdoing by his inner circle. Free Press publisher and editor Paul Anger declined to comment when asked by The Associated Press if messages supplied by Ste- fani were the basis for its story. Messages seeking comment were left with Stefani and his lawyer, Ken Mogill. Stefani obtained text messages from the city's communications provider after a jury awarded $6.5 million to his clients, two officers in a whistle-blowers' lawsuit, in 2007. Kilpatrick vowed to appeal, but he settled the case and another for $8.4 million when he learned what Stefani had. The Free Press story followed a few months later. Kilpatrick and Beatty subsequently pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice because of their lies at trial and were sent to jail. Concessions made by unions during crisis now being seen by some as anti-union WASHINGTON (AP) -Months after the government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, some lawmakers are questioning tough contract demands by the two auto companies that union officials argue could lead to the replacement of hundreds of union carhaulers with nonunion drivers. Michigan lawmakers have raised the issue with GM CEO Fritz Henderson and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in let- ters during the past week, con- cerned that the automakers could reduce business with auto trans- port companies whose drivers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "We demand an explanation of your position," wrote Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., in letters to Hen- derson and Marchionne. "We do not support your plansto abandon your long-term carrier partners." Union officials said GM and Chrysler have sought cost savings of at least 25 percent from Allied Systems Holdings Inc. of Atlanta, and Cassens Transport Co. of Edwardsville, Ill., who deliver assembled vehicles to car dealers in the U.S. and Canada. The Teamsters represent about 4,800 workers who deliver new cars and trucks to auto dealers. More than 2,000 employees work for Allied, Cassens and Jack Cooper Transport Co. in Kansas City, Mo. Chrysler Group LLC's contracts with Allied and Cassens expired Sept. 30 and the company has shifted some work to nonunion contractors, affecting 129 union drivers, including 50 in Detroit, said Fred 2uckerman, director of the Teamsters' automobile trans- port division. According to a one-page sum- mary titled "Chrysler Vehicle Distribution Changes," the com- pany said some of the changes occurred because a new facility built in Toledo, Ohio, allowed the automaker to mix vehicles in one location for distribution. Chrysler said in the document that Allied and Cassens failed to address uncompetitive cost struc- tures and beginning Oct. 1 the auto company would re-source 28 percent of its haulaway carrier business "to improve transit time and reduce costs by $31 million over three years." Chrysler said in the document that Allied and Cassens would reduce 77 Team- ster jobs in Michigan. Zuckerman called it an attempt by Chrysler to undermine union drivers. "We don't believe for a minute that it had anything to do with cost," he said. In addition to the 50 jobs in Detroit, Zuckerman said the Chrysler moves led to union job losses in Winston-Salem, N.C., Warren, Mich., Richfield, N.J., Buffalo, N.Y., Miami, Jessup, Md., and Shelbyville, Ky. Teamster officials are also watchingupcoming talks between General Motors Co. and Allied, whose contract with the automak- er expires Feb. 1, 2010. About 400 union drivers deliver GM vehicles for the transport company. Allied filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and imposed a 17.5 percent wage cut on its workers in 2007 and 2008, Zuckerman said. He said GM has sought cost reduc- tions of 26 percent, cuts he said would be unsustainable. A GM spokeswoman declined comment. Messages left with Allied and Cassens officials weren't immediately returned. The union job losses have caught the attention of several Michigan lawmakers, who sought government loans for GM and Chrysler and pushed for a $3 bil- lion Cash for Clunkers program to revitalize auto sales. "I urge you to not discriminate against the unionized labor work force," wrote Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich. "Although cutting costs is a necessary measure, I expect that you will not base your deci- sion exclusively on which opera- tors pay their employees the lowest wage rate." Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., wrote the "intent of the government's support for GM and Chrysler and the 'cash for clunk- ers' program was to keep the automobile industry viable and not to force companies in the sup- ply chain like the car haul indus- try into bankruptcy." InalettertoCongressmanPeters, Mike Keegan, Chrysler's senior vice president of supply chain man- agement, wrote that the company explained to Allied and Cassens its inability to continue subsidizing their uncompetitive business mod- els, particularly in light of the auto- maker's recent bankruptcy action . and the concessions made by the UAW, CAW and dealers. Keegan wrote that Chrysler's business relationship with Allied and Cassens will continue in seg- ments and regions where they are more competitive. All Day Fish Fry Platter for $6.99 / / - &az 7e 6t 1010-CL Domestic Bottles Start At $1 310 Maynard St-Food To Go 734.995.0100-Next to the Maynard Parkin Structure --U, ACORN mobilizes to save image following scandal Supporters make phone calls, public speeches to restore credibility LOS ANGELES (AP) - Armed with little more than pen and pad, ACORN organizer David Maza- riegos hits inner-city streets to save his embattled employer ratherthan his usual mission of saving homes from foreclosure. Mazariegos approaches Jose and Maria Rodriguez on their patio surrounded by overflowing potted plants and a Virgin of Guadelupe statue and asks ifthey would speak at a news conference about how ACORN saved their house. Maria Rodriguez doesn't hesi- tate. "The only people who helped us were ACORN.We triedto negotiate with the bank, but they wouldn't listen," she says. "We paid $5,000 to a company to help us fix the loan. They took the money and didn't do anything." As the nonprofit strives to survive the worst scandal in its 39-year history - videotapes of staffers counseling a faux pimp and prostitute how to run a brothel - the organization is doing what it does best: mobilizing low-income people. In this case, the goal is to restore the organization's cred- ibility. Themobilizationeffortisunfold- ing on several fronts. People like Rodriguez are being asked to speak up about how ACORN saved them. She and her husband also agreed to work a phone bank and bring five new people to the next community meeting. And ACORN officials say people are donating more money as they rally to the organization's defense. "The truth is it broke my heart," Mazariegos said of the scandal. "But it doesn't faze me. It wasjust a couple people who did this, not the organization." ACORN activists across the country say being the voice for the voiceless is the real story of their organization. That's why they refuse to buckle to what they see as right-wing detractors trying to bring down the group because it teaches poor people to stand up for themselves. Their work continues, whether its stopping bulldozing of flooded homes in New Orleans, building housing for the working poor in New York City or protesting teach- er layoffs in Los Angeles. "Most of us have the under- standing that we can't not do what we do," said Tanya Harris, the New Orleans chief organizer who was featured in Spike Lee's 2006 Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke." "If we're taken out of the equation, what is to happen to those people? Who steps in there and fills that void in the way we've done? How are they heard?" Fallout from the videotape scan- dal has been harsh. ACORN lost millions of dollars in federal fund- ing and associations with institu- the U.S. Census Bureau. Several states, including California and Louisiana, are investigating the group's operations. Inrecentyears,ithas alsoweath- ered charges of voter-registration fraud and a $948,000 embezzle- ment by the founder's brother. But the widely broadcast videotapes, recorded on hidden camera, have damaged the organization's cred- ibility, perhaps irreparably. The scandal has shaken the group. ACORN has suspended its tax preparation service and housing assistance program. Foreclosure cli- ents are now referred to counselors at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Yet the group continues to oper- ate.Staffers arebeingretrainedand procedures reviewed. Activists, are working on other types of issues, such as the case of a New York City woman who says she was assaulted by a police officer. They're also trying to drum up cash. Last week, headquar- ters sent a fundraising plea to field offices under the title "Will ACORN survive?" in a bid to make up the loss of some $2 million in government money. Most of the nonprofit's $25 million annual budget, however, comes from the 500,000 active members. They're asked to give $10 a month, but not all pay dues regularly. People are responding, said Brian Kettenring, deputy director of national operations. He reported a huge outpouring of online dona- tions, but said the dollar amount timit of 2 tickets per student, valid with student ID,regular price $35. Tickets go on sale to the general public October 16th at 1OAM. sDi tions such as Bank of America and was not yet available.