The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 -.3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, February 10, 2010 -.3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Man charged in
* Detroit airport
breach
The 27-year-old Ohio man who
was arrested after authorities say
he walked through a passenger
screening checkpoint at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport without a
boarding pass faces a new charge.
The Wayne County prosecutor's
office filed the charge of resisting
and obstructing a police officer
yesterday.
The charge comes after the man
identified in a criminal complaint
as Kaylan L. Policherla appeared
briefly in U.S. District Court in
Detroit. He's charged there with
violating federal security require-
ments.
Magistrate Judge Mark
Randon also granted federal
defender Dave Tholen's request
for a mental health evaluation
for the Bryan, Ohio, resident.
LANSING
State GOP calls for
changes in business
tax, incentives
Republicans in the Michigan
House said Tuesday they want
to phase out the surcharge on
the state's main business tax and
reshape tax incentive programs
in hopes of sparking job creation.
The broad, 33-page plan
pitched by the House's minor-
ity party calls for consolidating
many of Michigan's industry-spe-
cific tax breaks such as those for
alternative energy, life sciences
and homeland security into larg-
er, more generic pools. Support-
ers say that would allow projects
with the most potential economic
benefit - including existing busi-
nesses and entrepreneurs - to
have a better shot at getting tax
incentives.
ETax credits for areas such as
brownfield redevelopment and the
film industry would be capped.
Business taxes also would be
targeted by House Republicans.
They would phase out the sur-
charge on the Michigan Busi-
ness Tax that raises more than
$500 million a year. Another
proposal calls for eliminating
personal property taxes that
cost businesses about $75 million
a year on items such as equip-
ment, furniture and computers.
WASHINGTON
Winter weather
won't stop federal
government
If snow keeps 230,000 govern-
ment employees home for the bet-
ter part of a week, will anyone
notice?
With at least another foot of
snow headed for Washington,
Philadelphia and New York, we're
about to find out. The federal gov-
ernment in the nation's capital
has largely been shut down since
Friday afternoon, when a storm
began dumping up to 3 feet of
snow in some parts of the region.
Offices were remaining closed at
least through Wednesday.
So far, the effects have been
negligible. Many essential gov-
ernment services are performed
at offices around the country,
and about 85 percent of federal
employees work outside the Wash-
ington region anyway.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Over 60 feared
* dead, 400 hurt in
Afghan avalanche
A series of avalanches engulfed
a mountain pass in Afghanistan,
trapping hundreds of people in
their buried cars and killing as
many as 64 people so far, authori-
ties said yesterday.
Rescuers brought in bulldozers,
ambulances and helicopters in a
massive effort to reach victims
stuck in the frigid snow along the
12,700-feet-high (3,800-meter)
Salang Pass, which links the
Afghan capital Kabul with the
northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Search-and-rescue teams
recovered the bodies of 24 peo-
* ple but said they feared 40 oth-
ers remain trapped and may
have also died, Interior Minister
Hanif Atmar said at a news con-
ference in Kabul. About 2,500
people were rescued from their
snowbound vehicles, includ-
ing more than 400 injured.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Granholm to
release school
funding plan
First lady Michelle Obama speaks about childhood obesity on Jan. 28, 2010 at the YMCA in Alexandria, Va.
Fire lady begins fight
against chi ldhood o
Michelle Obama
hopes new plan will
be her legacy
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Michelle Obama yesterday
unveiled "Let's Move" - her
national public awareness cam-
paign against childhood obesity,
a problem she says concerns her
both as first lady and as a mom.
One in three American chil-
dren are overweight or obese,
putting them at higher risk of
developing diabetes, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol and
other illnesses. Billions of dol-
lars are spent every year treating
obesity-related conditions. And
public health experts say today's
kids are on track to have shorter
lifespans than their parents.
"None of us wants this future
for our kids," Mrs. Obama said
at the White House. "We have to
act, so let's move."
Her campaign has four parts:
helping parents make better food
choices, serving healthier food
in school vending machines and
lunch lines, making healthy food
more available and affordable,
and encouraging children to
exercise more.
The ambitious campaign,
which Mrs. Obama hopes will
be seen as her legacy, is aimed
at solving the childhood obesity
problem in a generation, so that
children born today can reach
adulthood at a healthy weight.
"This isn't like a disease
where we're still waiting for the
cure to be discovered. We know
the cure for this," Mrs. Obama
said at the unveiling, which was
moved to the State Dining Room
as the second blizzard in less
than a week bore down on the
city.
One major element of Mrs.
Obama's campaign is to have
the Food and Drug Administra-
tion to start working with food
manufacturers and retailers to
make food labels more "custom-
er-friendly." The nonalcoholic
beverage industry said yester-
day it will start putting calorie
information on the front of its
products.
Michigan schools
could face $420
million deficit
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov.
Jennifer Granholm says she will
draw the line against further cuts
to education funding and restore
Michigan's main college scholar-
ship program.
But the Democratic governor
hasn't yet said how she plans
to pay for those proposals, and
Republicans say they will fight
back if she suggests tax increas-
es. That leaves some educators
skeptical about efforts to protect
funding as Michigan's latest bud-
get debate begins.
The governor and the Legisla-
ture must deal with a projected
$1.6 billion shortfall in the fiscal
year starting Oct. 1, including a
possible deficit of more than $420
million for Michigan schools.
Granholm's spokeswoman Liz
Boyd declined to discuss specif-
ics yesterday of the governor's
education funding proposals.
Details are expected Thursday
when Granholm presents her
final annual budget plan.
The governor already has pro-
posed an incentive program that
she hopes will coax about 39,000
eligible teachers and other public
school employees to retire. She
says it has the potential to save
schools about $230 million that
they could spend elsewhere. The
plan has been criticized by the
state's largest teachers union as
not providing enough financial
incentive for educators to leave
their jobs.
Education and social service
groups have urged the governor
and lawmakers to expand the
state sales tax to services, dedi-
cating some of the additional
revenue to schools. Some varia-
tions of the proposal call for cuts
to Michigan business taxes in
exchange for the broadened sales
tax. But many lawmakers in both
parties, including Republicans
who control the state Senate,
are likely to oppose changes that
could be billed as tax increases
- particularly in a big Michigan
election year.
"It's the old gridlock thing,"
said Tom Goodwin, chief finan-
cial officer for Grand Ledge
schools, located west of Lansing.
Grand Ledge is working on
a budget for next year based on
the possible reduction of up to
$268 per student. The district
could trim more than $4 million
from its budget by closing two
buildings, eliminating about 30
teaching jobs and making other
changes.
Russian military
calls U.S. miss~le'
defense a threat
Makarov's comments
are the strongest yet
about the U.S. plan
MOSCOW (AP) - U.S. missile
defense plans are a threat to Rus-
sian national security and have
slowed down progress on a new
arms control treaty with Washing-
ton, Russia's top military officer
said yesterday.
Gen. Nikolai Makarov said that
a revised U.S. plan to place missiles
in Europe undermines Russia's
national defense, rejecting Obama
administration promises that the
plan is not directed at his country.
"We view it very negatively,
because it could weaken our mis-
sile forces," Makarov, the chief
of the Russian military's General
Staff, said in televised remarks.
Makarov's comments are the
strongest yet on the revamped U.S.
missile effort and signal potential
new obstacles to an agreement on a
new nuclear arms reduction treaty
to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms
ReductionTreatythatexpiredDec.5.
The U.S. has insisted that the
missile defense plans should be
separate from talks to forge a new
agreement on cutting the two
nations' nuclear arsenals. Moscow
and Washington hoped that they
would sign a new treaty by the
end of December, but talks have
dragged on.
U.S. State Department spokes-
man P.J. Crowley told reporters
yesterday that U.S. missile defense
moves in Europe are a reaction to
Iran's missile threat and "are in no
way directed at Russia." He said
U.S. officials have been open about
missile defense plans and have
talked with Russian officials gen-
erally about the issue.
President Barack Obama's deci-
sion to scrap Bush administration
plans for missile defense sites
designed to shoot down long-range
missiles from rogue states such as
Iran drew praise from the Krem-
lin, which had fiercely opposed the
earlier plan as a threat.
Cmntinuing UUMStudents...
Do You Need Financial Aid
for Fall/Winter 2010-2011?
Don't forget
to submit your 2010-2011
Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA)I
Complete the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov
FAFSA DEADLINE.
APri 30 > To be considered for federal and
institutional aid
Allow 3-4 weekS for processing!
Note: Michigan residents who also want to be
considered for state aid must submit the FAFSA
by March 1.
For more information, see www.finaid.umich.edu
W4FA
helping U
go blue!
U-M Office of Financial Aid (OFA)
2500 SAB & B430 Pierpont Commons
(734) 763-6600
www.finaid.umich.edu
financialaiddhumich.edu
UTE Energy
THE KRESGE FOUNDATION
Award Ceremony. ]\CIO
Ke ynt by Go Adexsoni President & COOT tEnergy
2:00 p m February 12, 2010 ;4Xli an
lau Auditor un
Stephen MV PussSchool ottBusiness
Universityof Michigan,AnnArbor N rPoWr
Recept to shun F ip Vieog away
esea Government
Cr aree Fa r
,. Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
3-6 pmn at The Michigan Union
Discuss full-time job and internship
opportunities with state and federal agencies
Build networks to expand your job search efforts
Dress professionally and bring your resume
Visit our website for a list of participating
organizations (www.carcercenter.umich.edu)
Boardfor Student
Publications
seeks New Members
The University of Michigan Board for Student Publications
is recruiting two members for three-year terms beginning in April.
The Board is responsible for three publications:
The Michigan Daily, the Michiganensian Yearbook, and the Gargoyle.
Because the Board is committed to realizing diversity's benefits
for itself and for the publications it oversees, the Board
is particularly interested in recruiting members of the
University Community (faculty, staff and students) or the general public
who are members of underrepresented groups and who have
experience and expertise in journalism, law, finance, or development.
Interested persons are encouraged to apply.
For more information and application forms, please visit
our website: www.pub.umich.edu
or contact Mark Bealafeld, Student Publications General Manager
at (734) 936-7883 or mbealafe@umich.edu
The deadline for receipt of applications is
February 12, 2010.
For more informaion contact us at:
3200 SAB -"(734)764-7460 - www.carercenter.unmich.edu