The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Men linked to slain
Detroit mosque
leader indicted
Eleven people have been indict-
ed in the FBI's investigation of a
Detroit mosque leader who was
fatally shot nearly three weeks ago.
Ten of the 11 are charged with
conspiring to possess and sell sto-
len goods, from computers to furs.
They were first named in a
criminal complaint in late October.
The complaint also named mosque
leader Luqman Ameen Abdullah,
who was described as having a vio-
lent, anti-government ideology. His
allies deny he was a radical.
The FBI says Abdullah was
killed after firing a gun and resist-
ing arrest on Oct. 28.
The indictment against the 11
was filed last week in federal court
in Detroit. There are no terror-
related charges. Court documents
say two men will ask a judge Tues-
day to release them on bail.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.
Twelve injured in
concert shooting
A gunman opened fire at a group
of fighting men, injuring 12 people
outside a concert hall, authorities
said Monday.
The gunfire erupted Sunday
night near the Regency Ballroom
after several men were involved in
a fist fight, San Francisco police Sgt.
Wilfred Williams said. The victims
were taken to hospitals with non-
life threatening injuries.
At some point, a man stand-
ing near the fighters opened fire
in their direction before running
away, police said.
The suspect did not appear to
be related to either of the fighting
parties and was not part of the fist
fight, Williams said.
Eight people were shot and
another four were injured by glass
and bullet fragments, Williams
said. The men involved in the fight,
who were not identified, were not
hurt.
Police said the concert had let
out when the fist fight broke out. It
was not immediately clear whether
the men in the fight or the gunman
attended the concert, which was
sponsored by San Francisco hip
hop and rhythm and blues station
O KMEL.
BEING
Obama: Iran,
North Korea have
choices on nuke
programs
President Barack Obama says
there will be consequences if Teh-
ran does not demonstrate Iran's
nuclear program is "peaceful and
transparent."
Speakingwith Chinese President
Hu Jintao, Obama said Tuesday
that the United States and China
will work together to confront the
threat of an Iran that is armed with
nuclear weapons. Obama says the
United Nations Security Council
members are unified against such
a prospect. el
Obama says he and Hu also dis-
cussed their shared goal to stop
the spread of nuclear weapons
and the verifiable elimination of
North Korea's nuclear weapons
program..
He says Pyongyang has a choice
between engagement and isola-
tion. Obama says North Korea's
people would benefit from Pyong-
yang complying with interna-
tional demands over its nuclear
program.
NEW YORK
'Unfriend' is US
dictionary's 2009
Word of the Year
What word sums up 2009? How
about unfriend?
That's the New Oxford Ameri-
can Dictionary's 2009 Word of the
Year. It means to remove someone
as a friend on a social networking
Web site such as Facebook.
Each year Oxford University
Press tracks how the English lan-
guage is changing and chooses a
word that best reflects the mood of
the year.
Oxford lexicographer Christine
Lindberg says unfriend has "real
lex appeal."
Finalists for 2009 also included
netbook, which is a small laptop,
and sexting, which is sending sexu-
ally explicit texts and pictures by
cell phone.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Cash reward
offered for Elm
St. attack leads
GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson listens to a question while talking with reporters after a news conference.
GM:-., Improved quarter
shows signsofstabiit
Still no leads in
brutal Halloween
attack investigation
By DARRYN FITZGERALD
Daily StaffReporter
The Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment is now offering a $250
reward for information about
the brutal Elm Street beating
that left one 19-year-old man in
the hospital.
According to eyewitness
accounts, the victim was brutally
beaten after attempting to drive
down the crowded street during
the annual Elm Street Halloween
block party. The AAPD confirmed
that there were between 10 and 15
individuals involved in the beating.
AAPD Lt. Mark St. Amour
said the detective assigned to
this case has "exhausted all her
leads to any suspects."
"She's interviewed the victim
and is just unable at this point to
pinpoint any suspects," he said.
St. Amour said that though
witness interviews held at the
scene of the beating did not yield
any leads, he expects witnesses
still remain because of the sheer
volume of people on the street.
"There's a good chance that
someone mightrecognize or know
someone by name," he said.
St. Amour said any individual
who provides any information
that leads to a conviction will be
awarded the money.
Currently the AAPD hasn't
identified a single suspect, and
is encouraging witnesses to
come forward. St. Amour said
the AAPD also wants anyone
who was involved in the beat-
ing to "give us their side of the
story."
Anyone with information
about the beating is encouraged
to contact AAPD at (734) 794-
6939 or tips@a2gov.org.
According to a previous Daily
article, LSA seniors Brian Barton
and Zachary Ward said they cap-
tured video footage and photos of
the attack on a digital camera. Bar-
ton and Ward said they immedi-
ately submitted the memory card
with the evidence to police at the
scene, but that officers later told
them the memory card was lost
before police could view it.
Barton told the Daily that the
memory card contained images
of college-aged men jumping on
the back of the victim's vehicle
right before he was beaten.
According to AAPD, the offi-
cer in possession of the memory
card reported that it fell out
of his breast pocket when he
removed his memo pad at the
scene of the beating. St. Amour
couldn't identify which officer
lost the memory card.
Though Barton said AAPD
told them the memory'card was
lost before it could be viewed, St.
Amour said the evidence was in
fact viewed but was immediately
determined to be inconclusive
because of its poor quality. He
said the video and photos were
taken on a camera phone, not a
digital camera.
"(The officer) did see it but
it's .a cell phone camera and it's
nighttime so its not detailed,
just a large crowd surrounding
the victim." St. Amour said.
Automaker pledges a stay in Chapter 11. The company
credited a sharp reduction in debt
to start repaying and sales of newmodels.
In what it called a sign of prog-
government loans ress, GM also pledged to start pay-
ing back $6.7 billion in U.S. loans.
DETROIT (AP) - General But the money will come from a
Motors, its river of red ink stemmed contingency account full of gov-
by a trip through bankruptcy court, ernment cash, leading critics to
reported a narrower quarterly loss question justhow healthy the auto-
and said it would start repaying bil- maker really is.
lions of dollars in government loans In onesignGM isindeedon firmer
that helped keep it alive. footing, it took in $3.3billion more in
GM lost $1.2 billion for the third acash than it spent in the third quar-
quarter - far less than the $6 billion ter. In the first quarter, the last one
itlostinthe first three months of the for which it reported results, GM
year, before GM was transformed by burned through $10 billion in cash.
-- -- cern with respect to the football
AUDIT program."
From Page 1 However, a report by the Free
Press yesterday about the audit
response is not required." report quoted several experts who
However,the University's state- raised serious concerns about the
ment yesterday explained this Athletic Department's operations
statement in the memorandum, in light of the report's findings.
saying that "response to the issue Josephine Potuto, a law profes-
was required and did occur" and sor at the University of Nebraska
that "forms are now turned in on and former chairwoman of the
a timely basis." NCAA's committee on infractions
In contrast to that statement said she didn't believe compliance
from the University, an auditor's officers could effectively do their
note in the audit stated that, in job without CARA reports.
fact, not all CARA forms have "I find it very surprising if the
been turned in. compliance people didn't know
"Football out-of-season forms that the forms weren't being sub-
were submitted after the audit was mitted," she told the Free Press.
completed and were therefore not "One of the obligations of compli-
reviewed by University Audits. ance is to collect those forms and
Football regular-season CARA reviewthem."
forms still have not been submit- Michael Buckner, a lawyer from
ted," auditors wrote in the report. Florida who consults with univer-
University spokeswoman Kelly sities duringNCAA investigations,
Cunningham declined to com- told the Free Press that if the Uni-
ment on the apparent discrepancy versity cannot produce evidence
in a telephone interview yester- to convince the NCAA of its inno-
day, because of the ongoing inves- cence, there could be much more
tigations by the NCAA and the trouble for the Athletic Depart-
University. ment.
It is unclear when off-season "The enforcement staff is going
CARA reports were received, and to be looking at whether the insti-
the University's statement does tution failed to monitor," he told
not explicitly address the matter. the Free Press.
At the time the allegations from Buckner continued by telling
the Free Press were published, the Free Press that could be "a
Associate Director Judy Van Horn, major violation."
the Athletic Department's compli- "It's one step below lack of
ance officer, denied allegations of institutional control," he told the
wrongdoing. newspaper.
"We have not had any reason to A third expert quoted in a
self-report any violations in this report by the Free Press yester-
area with any of our sports," Van day, Mark Jones, a former NCAA
Horn said in a statement at the enforcement supervisor, said the
time. University's lack of records was
Rodriguez and Athletic Direc- another piece of bad news for a
tor Bill Martin both denied allega- program already under investiga-
tions in August that the team had tion by the NCAA.
violated NCAA rules, saying they "There always can be factors
did not believe any wrongdoings that can influence things that may
had occurred. notmake themnas bad asyou think,"
The denials from Van Horn, Jones told the Free Press. "But in
Rodriguez and Martin came at the long run - still not good. No
a time when at least some of the way getting around that."
CARA forms -the regular-season Today's releases are the first
forms - had not been submitted major ones from the University
for review, since the Detroit Free Press pub-
Speaking to the audit's limits lished its report on Aug. 30. They
with respect to the NCAA inves- come almost four weeks after the
tigation, the University's state- NCAA issued the University an
ment yesterday explained that the official "notice of inquiry" -. a
"audit does not identify where the procedural notice that the NCAA
system broke down and it did not is moving forward with an inves-
identify any other areas of con- tigation.
REGENTS at the University. The project would
rom Pagreplace networking infrastruc-
From Page 1 ture that coordinates data sharing
betweenbuildingsoncampus,would
goals of the renovation include improve the University's wireless
"more efficient use of office space network and would upgrade compo-
and increased cross-departmental nents of the University's telephone
sharing" of various common areas. switch. Additionally, funds would
The renovations will temporarily be used to extend outside cabling
displace 50 parking spots at Wol- to North Quad, the North Campus
verine Tower until the project is Research Complex and the Wall
completed in fall 2011. Street complex.
The fourth project up for consid- Finally, the regents will also
eration is a $3.8 million upgrade to entertain a proposal to replace
IT Communication infrastrue ire a chiller - a large. r condition-
GMwarneditwillfaceothercosts
that will bring down earnings in the
coming months, including restruc-
turing in Europe and as much as
$700 million to shutter dealerships.
And there are still questions about
the strength of the auto market and
the economy.
"We're seeingsigns of, I won'tecall
it a recovery, but certainly stability,"
CEO Fritz Henderson said.
The repayment of government
loans will begin with a $1.2 billion
installment in December. GM said it
plans to repay the debt over the next
two years and possibly as early as
next year.
In today's statement, the Uni-
versity noted that the audit and
an accompanying memorandum
were provided to the NCAA "at
the outset of its investigation."
According to the notice of
inquiry, signed by David Prince,
the NCAA's vice president of
6riforceinent, the NCAA investi-
gation is focusing on possible vio-
lations that "primarily involve the
matters under review by the insti-
tution and the enforcement staff
concerning the football program."
The letter added, though, that
the NCAA would consider infor-
mation "that leads to expanded
inquiries."
According to the notice, the
NCAA expects to complete its
investigation by Dec. 31, 2009.
Speculation from many has
focused on whether Rodriguez
may be dismissed from his posi-
tion as Michigan's football coach
if the NCAA allegations are found
to be true. Though Rodriguez's
contract includes a penalty for
early termination, it also includes
a clause that would exempt the
University from paying the pen-
alty if he is found to have violated
NCAA rules.
"If the Head Coach is deter-
mined by the NCAA, the Big Ten
Conference, or the University to
have committed a major violation
of the NCAA Rules, or to have
intentionally committed any other
type of violation of the NCAA
Rules, whether while employed
by the University or during prior
employment at another NCAA
member institution, the employ-
ment of the Head Coach may be
terminated as provided in Sec-
tions 4.02 and 4.03 of the Agree-
ment," the contract states.
"In no case shall the Univer-
sity be liable to Rodriguez for the
loss of any Base Salary, Additional
Compensation, collateral business
opportunities or any other ben-
efits, perquisites or income result-
ing from activities such as, but not
limited to, camps, clinics, media
appearances, television or radio
shows, apparel or shoe contracts,
consulting relationships or from
any other sources that may ensue
as a result of the University's ter-
mination for cause of Rodriguez'
employment under this Agree-
ment," section 4.03 of Rodriguez's
contract states.
er - in the Chemistry Building
that serves both the Chemistry
Building and the Willard H. Dow
Laboratory. The replacement is
estimated to cost $1.5 million,
though a communication from
Slottow to the regents said its
replacement would provide nearly
$300,000 a year in energy savings
to the University. The project is
expected to be completed in the
fall of 2010.
- James Lee contributed
to this report.
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