* The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS LANSING * Mich. civil rights champion dies at 47, officials say State officials say Michigan Department of Civil Rights Direc- tor Kelvin W. Scott has died of cancer. State Civil Rights Commission Chairman Matthew Wesaw says the 47-year-old Scott died Sat- urday. Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Scott to the rights com- mission in 2004. He was named the civil rights agency's director last year. Granholm called Scott "a great * champion" of the civil rights cause in a statement issued Sunday. Scott had previously served as an assistant U.S. attorneyin Mich- igan's Eastern District. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Cen- ter and his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. The state Department of Civil Rights says Scott is survived by his wife Ursula Henry and his par- ents. ANCHORAGE, Alaska Body found of man missing in ruin of avalanche Searchers have recovered the body of a ConocoPhillips Alaska employee missing and presumed dead since a Feb. 13 avalanche on the Kenai Peninsula that killed the head of the company. The body of 40-year-old Alan Gage was found Monday near Grandview. Gage and 57-year-old Jim Bowles, the president of Cono- coPhillips Alaska, were killed when the avalanche hit their snowmobile party. Bowles' body was recovered that day. Gage was part of the Cono- coPhillips capital projects team. Rain, low clouds and other foul weather, plus hazardous ava- lanche conditions, kept searchers . out of the area until Saturday. Alaska State Troopers say up to 58 people since then have combed an avalanche debris area a little larger than a football field using trained search dogs, probes and other devices. WASHINGTON Obama praises Senate for pushing jobs bill forward PresidentBarack Obamais prais- ing senators from both parties who helped push a bipartisan jobs bill past a Republican filibuster. After the bill passed a legisla- tive hurdle on Monday, Obama said Americans want to see Washington put aside its partisanship and put the country back to work. Obama says the bill is just part of the administration's efforts to repair the economy. He says creating jobs remains the White House's top pri- ority. The measure moved forward with the backing of five Republi- cans, including the chamber's new- est member, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts. RAMADI, Iraq 3 killed in bombing in Iraq's Anbar province Iraqi police say a car bomb tar- geting a police building has killed three people in the capital of Iraq's western Anbar province. The bombing comes as Iraq is preparing for March 7 parliamen- tary elections. Insurgents have been repeatedly targeting govern- ment institutions in Anbar and the rest of Iraq in an attempt to destabilize the country ahead of the vote. Police officials say a suicide bomber exploded the car outside the Internal Affairs office in the provincial capital, Ramadi. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Anbar province was considered the hotbed of the insurgency until many fighters turned against the insurgents in what is considered one of the key turning points of the war. Energy Minister Ali Rodri- guez says the government must V accelerate plans to reduce energy consumption while boosting pro- duction. - Compiled from Daily wire reports After sprinkler goes off, West Quad evacuated DAVIDGOLDMAN/AP Automotive technician Jason Winston, works to correct a gas pedal recall on a Toyota Camry at a dealership in New York. New agree-ment puts Lufthansa back in air After less than 24 hours, the German airline suspended its strike FRANKFURT (AP) - Luf- thansa and its pilots are set to return to the cockpit after the German airline and a key union agreed to halt a four-day strike that disrupted travelers and was poised to go on through Friday. The four-day walkout ended less than 24 hours after it began after two hours in a Frankfurt labor court that saw both sides agree to suspend the strike and hold talks, they said Monday night. Lufthansa confirmed the deci- sion and said the walkout would end at midnight (2300 GMT, 6 p.m. EST). "The parties agreed in front of the court that the strike is to be suspended through the 8th of March," Lufthansa spokesman Andreas Bartels told AP, adding the 4,000 pilots will return to work Tuesday though it would take some time for normal opera- tions to resume. "They're going to go back to work tomorrow," he said. Some 10,000 Lufthansa and Germanwings passengers were upended by the strike, which began at 12:01 a.m. (2301 GMT, 6:01 p.m. EST) Monday and ended at midnight. Cockpit union spokesman Joerge Handwerg said the strike was suspended until March 9, pending the resumption of talks between both sides. Pilots for Lufthansa Cargo and the low- budget subsidiary, German- wings, were also taking part in the strike. "We are happy with the agree- ment because Lufthansa now has to resume negotiations without preconditions," Handwerg said. Lufthansa pilots announced the walkout last week over their concerns that cheaper crews from Lufthansa's smaller airlines in other countries couldeventu- ally replace them. The Lufthansa strike disrupt- ed plans for 10,000 passengers worldwide, but that was just the first of what was set to come this week. Five unions representing French air traffic controllers on Monday announced a four- OLYMPICS From Page 1 romantic evening. Their gentle, slow start showcased their skat- ing skills, their edges so quiet and smooth they appeared to float above the ice. But make no mistake, there was plenty of strength behind that softness. They had as much power and speed as the hockey players Moir admires so much, but it was per- formed with balletic grace. Their combination spin seemed to go on forever, with many different posi- tions and edge changes. While Virtue and Moir were all softness and grace, Davis and White's "Phantom of the Opera" was big and bold, as powerful as any Broadway production. They skated perfectly to their music, flying across the ice in the fast part and using deep edges to con- vey romance and lyricism in the slow parts. Their lifts were akin to stunt tricks, done at breakneck speed yet with perfect control. In one, White flipped Davis over his shoulder so she faced the oppo- day strike of their own starting Tuesday that is forcing the can- cellation of hundreds of flights at Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. France's DGAC avia- tion authority ordered airlines toa cancel 50 percent of the flights at Orly and 25 percent of the flights at Charles de Gaulle. French carrier Air France said it would maintain all of its long- haul flights during the strike, with the protest movement affecting only its routes within France and Europe. British Airways PLC, mean- while, faced a renewed threat of cabin crew strikes, after the Unite union announced that most of its members had voted in favor of a walkout. And Eurostar - the main train alternative to planes between Paris, Brussels and London - experienced yet another embar- rassing train failure. A Eurostar Paris-to London train inexplicably broke down in southern England late Sunday, plunging more than 700 passen- gers into darkness and forcing them to climb down ladders onto the track to a replacement train. They arrived in London about 2:30 a.m. (0230 GMT Monday, 9:30 p.m. EST Sunday), more than four hours late. Last week, Eurostar was sharply criticized by inde- pendent investigators for its response when several trains broke down before Christmas in the Channel Tunnel, disrupting travel plans for tens of thousands of people. All told, Monday was not a good day for travelers. Albert Carles and his wife arrived at Frankfurt airport after a 14-hour flight from'Vietnam to find that their connecting flight to Marseille was canceled and trains to Paris were overbooked. "There is no information, we are left on our own," he told Ger- man news agency DAPD. "We have not eaten or drunk any- thing." While Lufthansa canceled about 800 of its estimated 1,800 daily flights - including long- haul flights to U.S. destina- tions like New York and Denver - Bartels said the airline will move toward resuming its nor- mal operations, but cautioned it would not be immediate. "I can't say when we are back to normal operations. It takes a lot of tioe." site direction. He then picked up his right leg and crossed it behind him as she opened her arms, that platform-like leg of his the only thing keeping her from plunging to the ice. Their only flaw was a deduc- tion, likely for an extended lift. But it wouldn't have made a differ- ence in the final results. In a press release issued by the University's Athletic Department following the pair's performance, Davis said she was proud of the work she and White had done. "We put in a really good perfor- mance for us, we're really proud of ourselves," Davis said following their last skate. "So where we end up is kind of out of our hands, but we feel good." White expressed his feelings in an NBC news segment aired before.the couple completed their last skate. "If there's one thing that can top a Michigan football game it would be an Olympic medal," White told NBC, agcording a statement released by the University's Ath- letic Department. In an interview with The Mich- igan Daily earlier this month, Davis expressed her excitement The airline estimated the strike would cost it around euro25 million ($34 million) per day. The airline may face more obstacles in coming weeks. Late Monday, Germany's UFO cabin crew union said in a statement that it was considering walkouts of its own "in the coming weeks." In London, Unite - Britain's biggest labor union - said after the vote that it was not announc- ing any strike date and its mem- bers will meet Thursday to discuss the ballot result before deciding on a strike date. A previous strike threat by BA cabin crew - planned for the Christmas and New Year's holi- days - was canceled only after the airline obtained an emergen- cy court injunction blocking it. Fears about job security were the underlying theme for all the airline work actions. The French air traffic con- trollers are upset about plans to integrate European air traffic operations, leaving them to face new work rules, the loss of their civil servant benefits or even job cuts. British Airways cabin crews don't want the company to slash the number of employees working on flights. The Lufthansa pilots are seek- ing increased work security and want German labor conditions to apply to Lufthansa pilots hired abroad, in an effort to pre- vent their jobs from migrating to neighboring countries with cheaper conditions. Lufthansa has denied it was planning to relocate the jobs. Tony Concil of the Interna- tional Air Transit Association in Geneva noted that the global air- line industry is still losing money and still needs to cut operating costs. "The industry lost $11 billion in 2009 and will probably lose $5.6 billion in 2010," he told AP. "The emphasis at airlines is sav- ing cash, managing capacity as effectively as possible, and cut- ting costs." Lufthansa reached out to travelers online, posting a strike schedule on its Web site and offering flight updates on Twit- ter. But some travelers were still caught unaware. "We arrived in Frankfurt from Taiwan. We have been on the road for 24 hours," a Swiss woman told AP Television News. for the trip to Vancouver. "This is an incredible oppor- tunity, but you don't want to do any more or less than we've been doing, even though the audience is that much bigger," Davis told the Daily at the time. "I'm just excited about the chance to show the world what we've been putting our hard work and sweat into our whole lives." Fellow Americans and Univer- sity students Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates took 11th place in the ice dance competition. The pair earned an 88.94 in the free skate - besting their personal record by eight points - skating to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Samu- elson and Bates - who earned an overall score of 174.30 - are known for their footwork tal- ents and strong lines, but were not expected to make the 2010 Olympics. However, with their placement, the duo is considered to be a strong challenger for the U.S. in the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi. - The Associated Press and Daily Sports Writer. Ryan A. Podges contributed to this report. Incident comes after residence hall's recent rash of false fire alarms By ANNIE GORDON THOMAS and DARRYN FITZGERALD Daily StaffReporters While West Quad residents have had to deal with the annoyance of a spat of false fire alarms recently, the residence hall was evacuated for a reason last night. But that rea- son was not a fire, officials say. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown told The Michigan Daily late last night the evacuation of West Quad was due to a sprinkler head being set off -not a fire. While the exact cause of the sprinkler discharge was not known as of 2 a.m. last night, Brown said it was likely due to a sports-related activity in the hallway where the sprinkler head was broken. Brown stressed the incident was not the result of any system malfunction. Residentswere allowed to return to their rooms last night, but those living in the affected hallway were not being let back into their rooms. . Brown said officials on the scene were making accommodations for students who would not be able to return to their rooms for the night. "Housing and DPS will be working to determine if any of the residents might need alternative housing tonight," she said. ARENS From Page 1 saying Arens has demonstrated a desire to work on his drug and alcohol problems which may have been related to the offense and to his past convictions of home inva- sion, retail fraud and a juvenile conviction of assault with inten- tion to commit criminal sexual conduct. "I'm hoping and am optimis- tic that he will get control of his drinking and his drug problems," Mullins said. . Following the statements, the presiding judge Melinda Morris sentenced Arens to a minimum of 19 months to a maximum of 10 years in a Washtenaw County Department of Corrections facil- ity. Mullins then spoke with Arens for a few minutes before Arens made the decision to set a trial date to lessen his sentence. After the sentencing, Judge Morris also established that res- titution for the building must be set within 90 days. Morris said if an agreement isn't reached on the restitution amount within 90 days, a hearing will be sched- uled. Brown said it was too early to tell how much water damage there would be in the affected hall or to the hall below it, but said more would be known once the area had been cleaned up and the damage could be more fully assessed. LSA sophomore Jason Zweig said he was in his room reading when he heard the fire alarmgo off. "My RA came out and he said it wasgoingtobealittlelonger,because this one he said is real," Zweig said. Because of a recent slew of false alarms at West Quad, Zweig said he thought this was just another false alarm, and added he didn't smell smoke in the dorm. "I honestly thought it was a drill because that's the way it's been the past few times," Zweig said. "I think somebody's been pulling the fire alarm - but I'm not sure." Since Feb. 1, West Quad has experienced three false fire alarms. LSA freshman Brad Kowalk said he was starting to get annoyed by the number of false alarms in recent weeks. He added that last week West Quad resident advisors told students they were looking into possible leads behind whoever had been pulling the alarms. Kowalk expressed concern that his fellow West Quad residents have stopped taking the recent onslaught of alarms seriously. "The more times people pull the fire alarms, the less people come out because they keep crying wolf," he said. - Daily News Editor Kyle Swanson contributed to this report During Aren's preliminary exam in December, the pros- ecutor in the case, Karen Field reduced the charge against Arens from arson of personal property to arson of real property exceed- ing $20,000, arguing thatbecause the building was abandoned at the time of the fire it did not con- stitute personal property. Field also said Arens - who authorities believe was homeless at the time of the fire - frequent- ly slept in the building and also knew others who slept there but ignored the potential hazard to others when he set the fire. At the same appearance in December, Mullins requested Arens' bond at the time be low- ered from $100,000, noting that his mother would be willing to post a lower bond and take him to her home. Field objected based on Arens' past criminal history and Judge J. Simpson denied Mullins's request, saying Arens could be "detrimental to the safety of the community." Arens' co-defendant, Ian Mackenzie, will be pleading not guilty during his trial slated to be held on May 10 before Judge Mor- ris. 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