The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday November 25, 2009 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, November 25. 2009 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
. WASHINGTON
Obama to unveil
plan to add troops
in Afghanistan
Obamas welcome guests to state dinner
War-weary Americans will sup-
port more fighting in Afghanistan
once they understand the perils
of losing, President Barack Obama
declared yesterday, announcing he
was ready to spell out war plans
virtually sure to include tens of
thousands more U.S. troops.
He is expected to make his case
to the nation in a speech next Tues-
day night, even as the military
completes plans to begin sending in
reinforcements in the spring.
Eight years after the Sept. 11
attacks led the U.S. into Afghani-
stan, Obama said it is still in
America's vital national interest to
"dismantle and destroy" al-Qaida
terrorists and extremist allies. "I
intend to finish the job," he said.
Obama said he would announce
after Thanksgiving his decision on
additionaltroops, and military, con-
gressional and other sources said
the occasion would be a Tuesday
night televised speech laying out
his plans for expanding the Afghan
conflict - and then ultimately end-
ing America's military role.
DETROIT
Saab likelyto close
as General Motors
fails to sell car brand
A deal for General Motors Co. to
sell Saab to a specialty carmaker
has collapsed, leaving the storied
Swedish brand born from jets in
.1947 close to extinction.
Koenigsegg Group AB, a con-
sortium formed by Swedish luxury
sports car maker KoenigseggAuto-
motive AB, said yesterday it pulled
out of the deal in part because it
was unable to agree with investors
on how best to move the brand from
mass-market to premium.
For GM, it was the third time
this year that a deal to shed one
of its brands fell apart as it tries to
recover from a stay in bankruptcy
protection by focusing on a core of
four: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and
Cadillac.'
The next move is up to GM's
board, which will decide Saab's
future in a few days. But with no
apparent backup investors and the
Swedish government refusing to
buy Saab, GM may follow through
on a contingency plan to let the
brand die.
That jeopardizes the jobs of
Saab's 4,500 employees, most of
them in Sweden.
EAST LANSING, Mich.
Michigan State
kicks two players
off football team
Michigan State coach Mark
Dantonio says running back Glenn
Winston and safety Roderick Jen-
rette "have been dismissed from
the football team for violation of
team rules."
The statement released yester-
day gave no other details.
The moves come about a month
after another pair of Spartans, run-
ning backs Caulton Ray and Andre
Anderson, were removed from the
team's active roster.
Winston already was out of
action with a right knee injury.
Jenrette was lost for the rest of the
regular season with a broken foot.
Winston was reinstated to
the team in August. He had been
l indefinitely suspended after plead-
ing guilty to misdemeanor assault
charges over a fight that briefly
left a Michigan State hockey player
hospitalized.
WASHINGTON
GM returnS $140M
provided for parts
suppliers
General Motors has returned $140
million ofthe $290 millionitreceived
from the government to support is
parts suppliers.
The Treasury Department said
yesterday that the $140 million was
part ofthe $2.5 billion pledged to GM
to help the automaker's parts suppli-
ers. The money came from the gov-
ernment's $700 billion bailout fund.
GM, however, received only $290
million from the fund for the parts
suppliers. GM spokesman Alan Adler
saidthecompanynowbelieves itwill
only need to use $150 million. For
that reason, GM decided to return
the other $140 million it got from
Treasury.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
First state dinner of
Obama White House
honors Indian
prime minister
WASHINGTON (AP) - The first
state dinner of the Obama White
House had it all: Oscar-winning
entertainers, Hollywood moguls,
a knockout guest chef and even a
wardrobe malfunction.
Traditional evening gowns vied
with saris of vibrant colors yester-
day night at the high-glitz dinner
in honor of Indian Prime Minis-
ter Manmohan Singh. There were
turbans and bindis as well as dia-
monds and brocades.
"Everyone looks great; we're
feeling great," White House social
secretary Desiree Rogers told a
phalanx of cameras as she arrived,
betraying no hint of nerves at the
biggest social event of the Obama
presidency.
RESEARCH
From Page 1
regularly," Valenstein said. "Work-
ing in the VA, we thought about
what we could do that would be
perceived as non-coercive but also
practical."
The study's researchers devel-
oped a pharmacy-based interven-
tion program called MedsHelp
and observed the prescription
refill adherence of 118 patients who
have been diagnosed with either
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
"Unit of use" packaging - one
First lady Michelle Obama had
been a little more forthcoming ear-
lier in the day when she described
the trick to-pulling off the event as
sort of like being a swan: calm and
serene above the water but "pad-
dling like mad, going crazy under-
neath."
The 338-person guest list was a
mix of wonky Washington, Holly-
wood A-listers, prominent figures
from the Indian community in the
U.S., and Obama friends, family
and campaign donors.
Attorney General Eric Holder
patted his pocket as he arrived and
said his kids had prepped him with
all sorts of questions for tablemate
Steven Spielberg. U.N. Ambassa-
dor Susan Rice, asked who she was
most looking forward to chatting
with, ventured, "I'd have to name
four." Then didn't.
Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsyl-
vania had to scramble when his
ensemble went rogue at just the
wrong moment: His cummerbund
dropped to the floor just as he and
his wife stopped to pose before a
scrum of about 40 reporters and
photographers.
Alfre Woodard and Blair Under-
wood provided the celebrity quo-
tient, but neither could come up
with a connection to India. Under-
wood said he was there because of
Woodard. She said she was there
because she's on the president's
Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities.
Dinner guests were treated to an
eye-catching scheme of green and
purple, from the green curry sur-
rounding the prawns to the purple
floral arrangements paying homage
to the peacock, India's national bird.
Pumpkin was on the menu, too,
with yesterday's dinner coming
just two days before Thanksgiv-
ing.
Hours before guests arrived and
in keeping with tradition, Mrs.
Obama previewed the glamorous
table settings in the State Dining
Room. That's often the venue for
such dinners, but not this time.
CHARLE5DHARAPAK/AP
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obata welcome India's Prime Min-
ister ManwohanfSinth and his wife Gorsharan Kaur to he Stale Dinner af the North
Portico of fhe White House in Washington yesterday.
notable feature of MedsHelp -
groups pills under labels for spe-
cific days of the week or months
to remind patients when to take
their medications. The idea was
inspired, in part, by a similar time
guide used for individuals taking
oral contraceptives and anti-infec-
tive medications in developing
countries, Valenstein said.
"It's a very strong visual cue,"
said Valenstein, also a research
investigator at the Health Services
Research and Development divi-
sion of the Department of Veterans
Affairs. "We thought we could try
that for people with serious mental
illness along with some other ideas
at the pharmacy."
Those other ideas included syn-
chronizing the due date for all of
a patient's prescription drugs and
notifying their clinicians if refill
dates were not met on time.
MedsHelp relied heavily on
pharmacy staff to take an "innova-
tive approach" to patient advocacy,
Valenstein said. Minimizing the
cost of the intervention program,
pharmacy technicians fielded
patients' medication-related inqui-
ries and sent out reminders two
weeks in advance of a refill date.
With MedsHelp, Valenstein said
the pharmacy staff often serves as
an intermediary between doctors
and their patients, especially in
cases where patients are unclear
about dosage instructions.
"We involved pharmacy people
as part of a clinical team, and that
hasn't really been done for people
with serious mental illness," she
said.
Because it's economically fea-
sible and easy to use, pharmacy-
based intervention has already
seen implementation in five VA
facilities.
MedsHelp has not been strictly
limited to patients with serious
mental illness; it has been extend-
ed to people with chronic condi-
tions, like diabetes, and geriatric
patients who experience difficulty
managingtheir medications.
"Even though our patients are
often thought to be different than
people with other chronic illness-
es, it seems like this kind of simple
intervention has a similar effect,"
she said. "I think the evidence is
accruing that this might be a prac-
tical approach for a lot of people
who need assistance, including the
elderly, individuals living alone
and people who have irregular
schedules."
EDITORS
From Page 1
Smilovitz said he hopes to con-
tinue some of the technological
advances that current Editor in
Chief Gary Graca put in place.
"Over the next year, we're going
to keep pushing to improve our
coverage and our content and at
the same time, really push our
online reach to get that content in
front of as many eyes as possible,"
Smilovitz said.
Smilovitz appointed Business
junior Matt Aaronson, a current
Daily senior news editor, as the
Daily's new managing editor. The
Daily's senior editors confirmed
this appointment.
LSA junior Rachel Van Gilder
was elected editorial page editor.
Van Gilder currently serves as an
associate editorial page editor.
During her tenure as editorial page
editor, Van Gilder said she hopes to
improve the training of opinion
writers.
LSA junior Jillian Berman, a
current Daily senior news editor,
was elected managing news edi-
tor. Berman said she plans to work
with news staffers to make their
writing more "punchy and fun."
Berman said she thinks her role
leading the news section will hold
some significance in itself, as there
has been a recent lack of female
managing news editors, despite
large numbers of female reporters.
"Making women who walk
through the door here understand
that they can have any position
that they want is what I want my
legacy to be," Berman said.
LSA junior Ryan Kartje, a cur-
rent Daily assistant sports editor,
was elected as the Daily's new
managing sports editor. He said
he's looking forward to implement-
ing better sports writer training
and incorporating more mediums
for sports coverage.
"I hope for more innovative
things to happen," Kartje said.
"We're going to try to focus some
more on onlinevideo content (and)
a lot of multimedia. We're taking
baby steps, but I'd like to sort of
institutionalize multimedia."
LSA junior Jamie Block - a cur-
rent senior arts editor who served
as the Daily's editor-in-chief this
past summer - was elected manag-
ing arts editor. Block said he plans
to improve the section's blog and
increase local arts coverage.
"I think the main goal is that
there's a lot of arts happening on
this campus that we don't cover
adequately," he said. "The major
goal for next year is to (remove)
some of the reviews that are
less relevant and instead cover
what's happening."
LSA junior Sam Wolson and
Art & Design junior Max Col-
lins, current assistant photo edi-
tors, were elected co-managing
photo editors. The pair is plan-
ning to- take over the Daily's
multimedia and introduce the
photo staff to video journalism.
"We may fall on our face,"
Wolson said. "But we're hoping
to get somewhere better."
Wolson said they also hope
to "inspire" the photo staff by
reminding it of its responsibility
to document life at the University.
LSA sophomore Anna Zielinski
and Engineering sophomore Sarah
Squire were elected co-managing
design editors.
The magazine editor and copy
chief will be appointed by the Dai-
ly's senior editors in the coming
weeks.
- None of the Daily staffers nawed
in this report edited the article.
* u oI KIE
INCIDENT
From Page 1
all he wanted was an apology.
"(Martin) said, 'I'm sorry, you
were just doing your job,' " Kahn
said.
Kahn initially took Martin's
apology to be sincere, but has
since come out saying he no lon-
ger believes this to be true and
regrets his decision to forgo
pressing charges.
"If I had known that he wasn't
totally sincere at that time then
I probably would've pressed
charges," Kahn said.
Kahn said that since accept-
ing Martin's apology, he has
become aware of a similar inci-
dent between one of his cowork-
ers and the athletic director.
Kahn referenced LSA sopho-
more Jackie Turner, who was
stationed at the north stairwell
of the Regents Guest Area dur-
ing the Notre Dame game Sept.
12. According to a Nov. 9 article
in The Michigan Daily, Turner
told DPS that three males in
University of Michigan polo
shirts approached the entrance
and attempted to pass her with-
out presenting identification.
Turner told DPS that the man
at the front of the group placed
his hand on her shoulder and
said "Honey, I'm the athletic
director." Martin then pushed
Turner just enough to get by
her.
Kahn said Martin's claim that
the encounters stemmed from
his not being informed of policy
changes at the stadium is a poor
excuse. Kahn said that Martin
had to have been aware of the
policy changes after the first
incident.
Kahn pointed out another
of Martin's inconsistencies.
"In Bill Martin's statement, he
claims that I wasn't wearing my
DPS uniform, but in fact I was,"
Kahn said.
"(Those two factors) lead me to
believe that the apology was not
sincere," Kahn said. "And I regret-
ted accepting the apology."
- Daily News Editor Jillian
Berman contributed to this report.
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Northville 5k Art ntio
Saturday, December 5th 9:00am Arlhrits Foundaion*
Northville Downs Race Track
Bloomfield Hills 5 / 10k
Saturday, December 12th 9:00am
Birmingham Covington School
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