The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, November 3, 2009 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DENVER, Colo.
Man threatens
abortion doctor
Federal prosecutors say state-
ments from a Washington man
accused of threatening a Colorado
abortion doctor's family should be
admitted in court.
Donald Hertz of Spokane has
said authorities didn't read him his
constitutional rights before ques-
tioning him and that his statements
aren't admissible.
He is accused of calling the
Boulder Abortion Clinic in June
and threatening to kill Dr. Warren
Hern's family. Hertz faces charges
of making an interstate threat and
of violating a law protecting access
to reproductive health services.
Prosecutors said in a federal
court filing yesterday that authori-
ties didn't have to read Hertz
his rights because he wasn't in
custody when he allegedly told
investigators he called the clinic.
CHICAGO
Half of American
kids will receive
food stamps
Nearly half of all U.S. children
and 90 percent of black youngsters
will be on food stamps at some
point during childhood, and fallout
from the current recession could
push those numbers even higher,
researchers say.
The estimate comes from an
analysis of 30 years of national data,
and it bolsters other recent evidence
on the pervasiveness of youngsters
at economic risk. It suggests that
almost everyone knows a family
who has received food stamps, or
will in the future, said lead author
Mark Rank, a sociologist at Wash-
ington University in St. Louis.
"Your neighbor may be using
some of these programs but it's not
the kind of thing people want to talk
about," Rank said.
The analysis was released yes-
terday in the November issue of
Archives of Pediatrics and Adoles-.
cent Medicine. The authors say it's a
medical issue pediatricians need to
be aware of because children on food
stamps are at risk for malnutrition
and other ills linked with poverty.
WASHINGTON D.C.
GOP's troubles may
continue
For Republicans, an election win
of any size today would be a bless-
ing. But victories in Virginia, New
Jersey or elsewhere won't erase
enormous obstacles the party faces
heading into a 2010 midterm elec-
tion year when control of Congress
and statehouses from coast to coast
will be up for grabs.
It's been a tough few years for
the GOP. The party lost control of
Congress in 2006 and then lost the
White House in 2008 with three
traditional Republican states -
Indiana, North Carolina and Vir-
ginia - abandoning the party.
So even if political winds start
blowing harder behind them and
even if they can capitalize on Demo-
cratic missteps, Republicans still
will have a long way to go over the
next year because of their party's
own fundamental problems - divi-
sions over the path forward, the lack
of a national leader and a shrinking
base in a changing nation.
MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
Clinton curbs praise
of Israeli policy
In the face of Arab criticism of
the administration's recalibrated
Mideast peace tack, U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
moderated her praise yesterday for
Israel's offer to restrain building set-
tlements in Palestinian areas.
While Israel was moving in the
right direction in its offer to restrict
but not stop the settlements, Clinton
said, its offer "falls far short" of U.S.
expectations.
Clinton said her earlier praise of
Israel's offer, during a stop in Jeru-
salem, had been intended as "posi-
tive reinforcement." But they drew
widespread criticism from Persian
Gulf ministers who interpreted it as
a softening of the U.S. position on
settlements, which stand in the way
of aresumption of Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks.
In a sign of U.S. eagerness to calm
Arab concerns about the U.S.position
on settlements, Cylinton is extend-
ing her trip by one day to fly to Cairo
to meet with President Hosni Muba-
rak tomorrow, her staff announced.
She had been scheduled to return to
Washington today.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Debate on paying
for Mich. public
schools begins
Schools could face
consolidation to cut
costs, save money
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Fif-
teen years ago, Michigan changed
the way it pays for public education,
switching from local property taxes
to a mix of sales and property taxes,
lottery revenue and other money.
Now, with cuts ofnearly $300 per
student looming and some districts
looking at losing as much as $600
per student, think tanks, business
groups and education advocates are
calling for looking again at the way
Michigan pays for public schools.
"The reduction in school rev-
enues is really a product of the
economy tanking," says former
state Rep. Lynn Jondahl, who
was the Democratic House Taxa-
tion Committee chairman when
Proposal A passed. He's now
working with the group, A Bet-
ter Michigan Future, to get the
state's finances on a more stable
footing.
"We're in deep trouble a year
from now without the stimulus
money," he says.
Schools are scrambling to
absorb cuts being imposed on
them this month. Total cuts in the
public education budget total $292
per student.
That's not even counting the $52
million Democratic Gov. Jennifer
Granholm vetoed for wealthier
school districts that get as much as
$4,000more per pupil than schools
getting the lowest per-pupil
grants. Those include more than
two dozen in southeast Michigan
and others - such as East Lansing,
Saugatuck and Detour - scattered
around the state.
Those school districts are
looking at decreases of as much
as $600 per student.
Lawmakers could erase some of
the cuts school districts face. They
have until Nov. 21 to come up with
more revenue that would erase the
$127-per-student cut Granholm
imposed last week because she
says the school aid budget isn't bal-
anced - a statement Senate Repub-
licans dispute.
Lawmakers also could override
Granholm's veto of the $52 million
for the wealthier districts by then,
although that's a tougher task
since it takes a two-thirds vote in
both the House and Senate.
The cuts would have been even
worse if the state didn't have
$450 million in federal stimulus
money to draw on for schools.
The federal dollars saved schools
from another $280-per-student
decrease this school year.
Students move through the entrance of Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis during a class change Wednesday.
Community college plan.
migh not be enough
Strong economic
reports lift hopes
Community college
enrollment soars
during recession
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Arthur
Call commutes three hours roundtrip
to his anatomy class at community
college because similar courses on
campuses closer to his Indianapolis
home are packed thissemester.
"Classes around the state were
just full," says Call, a full-time stu-
dent who takes the rest of his classes
in Indianapolis. "Thank God it's only
Tuesdays. I just have to drive there
once a week."
President Barack Obama wants to
invest some $12 billion in community
colleges with the aim of seeing an
additional 5 million students gradu-
ate by 2020. This goal comes while
many schools are already bursting at
the seams with droves of displaced
workers hit by the recession compet-
ing with traditional students seeking
an education bargain.
"All community colleges are not
prepared to take on those poten-
tially large numbers of students,"
said Debra Bragg, a professor and
director of the Forum on the Future
of Public Education at the University
of Illinois.
The Obama administration notes
that 5 million more community col-
lege graduates doesn't necessarily
mean there will be that many more
students - schools could increase
graduation rates to reach the goal.
And the administration says money
from the 10-year initiative to rebuild
aging facilities and establish online
classes would help schools handle the
extrastudents.
Bragg says the schools' ability
to deal with more students largely
comes downto cash.
Much of the money for the nation's
1,200 community colleges comes
from local and state sources. That
funding has been hard to come by
during the economic downturn, even
as enrollment booms. In California,
community colleges are struggling
to cope with $840 million in budget
cuts while enrollment is expected to
climb.
Obama's 10-year initiative would
provide a welcome infusion of cash,
but some fear it would not sustain
community college programs.
"They will be constrained by
funding," says Bragg. "It could be
potentially extremely. challenging if
there's not increased funding at the
federal, state and local level to make
that happen."
The conundrum comes at a time
of intense growth for the more than
century-old community college sys-
tem, which already educates more
than half the nation's undergradu-
ates.
And more young Americans than
ever are going to college, particularly
community college. A record high of
about 11.5 million Americans age 18
to 24, or nearly 40 percent, attended
college in October 2008, according
to a study of Census data recently
released by the Pew Research Center.
Almost all of the increase of 300,000
students over the previous year came
at two-year schools.
About 12 percent of18-to24-year-
olds were enrolled in community col-
leges last year,up from10.9 percent in
2007.
Enrollment numbers are not yet
available for the fall 2009 semes-
ter, but the American Association
of Community Colleges estimates
enrollment is up at least 10 percent
over 2008. Some schoolshave report-
ed increases of 25 to 30percent.
Michael Hansen, president of
the Michigan Community College
Association, says classes in popular
fields such as nursing require low
student-to-faculty ratios and expen-
sive equipment. He is concerned it
will be difficult to meet new demand
without yet more funding.
Manufacturing,
home building show
signs for recovery
NEW YORK (AP) - Hopes for
the fledgling economic recovery
got a boost yesterday from better-
than-expected news on manufac-
turing, construction and contracts
to buy homes.
U.S. manufacturing activity
grew in October at the fastest pace
in more than three years, accord-
ing to a private group's measure. It
was driven by government spend-
ing, businesses' need to rebuild
their inventories and higher
demand from overseas.
The Commerce Department
said construction spending rose
in September on the strength of
home building. The report sup-
ported optimism that the ail-
ing housing sector is starting to
revive.
And the number of signed con-
tracts to buy previously occupied
homes rose for the eighth straight
month in September, according to
the National Association of Real-
tors.
Still, President Barack Obama
said the public and private sec-
tors must find more ways to cre-
ate jobs to continue the recovery.
In remarks at the start of a White
House meeting with economic
advisers, Obama credited his stim-
ulus package for recent upticks in
economic numbers, including the
manufacturing boost reported
yesterday.
The president said there's still
"a long wayto go," especially when
it comes to job creation. "We are
still seeing production levels that
are significantly below peak levels
and most distressing is the fact
that job growth continues to lag,"
Obama said.
The trio of positive reports
about areas of the economy that
could help power a recovery
helped drive Wall Street higher
earlier in the day before a retreat
in financial stocks pulled the
broader market lower. The Dow
Jones industrials added about 25
points in afternoon trading, while
broader indexes dipped.
Still, with jobs scarce, lend-
ing tight and consumers wary of
spending, it's unclear whether
the strength can be sustained as
government stimulus programs
wind down. For example, the
contracts to buy homes rose as
buyers scrambled to take advan-
tage of a tax credit for first-time
owners that expires at the end of
this month. Congress is moving to
extend the credit until April 30.
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