The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS SANTA ANA, Calif. Man charged for running student visa fraud ring A California man was charged yesterday with operating a ring of illegal test-takers who helped doz- ens of Middle Eastern nationals obtain U.S. student visas by pass- ing various proficiency and college- placement exams for them, federal authorities said. Eamonn Daniel Higgins, 46, of Laguna Niguel made an appear- ance in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud as federal immi- gration agents arrested 16 of his suspected clients who remained in Southern California. A judge entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Higgins. * The allegations revealed a potentially dangerous security breach in the country's student visa system and underscored the vulnerability of a tracking pro- cess that relies on schools to verify the identities of people taking the mandated exams. WASHINGTON, D.C. Health bill provision ensures coverage for part-time workers A Democratic aide says a new provision in the health care bill will require businesses to count part-time workers when calculat- ing penalties for failing to provide coverage. The bill originally passed by the Senate only penalized businesses for full-time workers who weren't covered. The Senate bill is being used as the basis for a final pack- age President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass in the next few weeks. The inclusion of part-time work- ers is part of a package of final changes that is nearing completion, according to the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it's not been made pulic. Democrats feared that business- es would avoid penalties by hiring iore part-time workers. But husi- ness groups oppose the change as overly burdensome. ody text. ANN ARBOR, Mich. Michigan court overturns murder conviction A Michigan man sent to prison for 15 years is getting a new trial after the judge failed to do a routine procedure - ask the jury to take an oath. Timothy Becktel was sentenced in 2008 for assault with intent to murder. But his appellate lawyer successfully argued that the ver- dict should be thrown out because the jury didn't swear to return an honest decision based on law and evidence. The Michigan Court of Appeals said Friday it must erase the verdict to preserve the fairness and integ- rity of the judicial system. Assistant prosecutor David King says his office might appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. He says Becktel's trial attorney never objected to the lack of a jury oath. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Haitian gov't. frees U.s. missionary One of two Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released yesterday, but the U.S. group's leader remained in custody. Charisa Coulter, 24, was taken from her jail cell to the airport by U.S. Emhassy staff more than a month after she and nine other Americans were arrested for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the earthquake. Coulter, wearing a red tank top and sunglasses, declined comment as she quickly got into an SUV that took her to the airport. The leader of the Idaho-based missionary group, Laura Silsby, said she was glad about Coulter's release. "I'm very happy that she left today, and for her freedom, and expect mine to come soon," Silsby told The Associated Press as she left the courthouse where a judge held a closed hearing yesterday. Silsby, 40, was returned to her cell in a police station near Port-au-Prince airport. -Compiled from Daily wire reports JORGE SANCHEZ/Ap Students of the Bias Canas school attend their first day of classes in Santiago yesterday. Hundred of schools are still closed after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile on Feb. 27, causing widespread damage. Classes commence in Ch ile after quake delay Both Iraqi parties claim poli victory Results of and a drop in voter excitement. A spate of attacks on election day - Sunday's historic some directly targeting voters and polling stations - killed 36 people. parliamentary Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, called the election unknown election a milestone and said that every sign suggests Iraq will be BAGHDAD (AP) - The Iraqi able to peacefully form a new gov- prime minister's coalition and its ernment in the coming months, main secular rival both claimed and U.S. combat troops can head to be ahead in the vote count yes- home by the end of August. terday, a day after historic par- Most of the roughly 96,000 liamentary elections that the top troops in Iraq will remain here U.S. commander said would let all through May, when the military but 50,000 American troops come will begin scaling down to 50,000 home by the end of summer. noncombat troops by the Obama Sunday's election, which took administration's self-imposed place against a backdrop of vio- deadline at the start of September, lence in Baghdad, marked a turn- Odierno said. ing point for the country's nascent The timetable calls for all troops democracy. The winner will help to be outby the end of 2011. determine whether Iraq can "Unless there's a catastrophic resolve its sectarian divisions and event, we don't see that changing," preserve the nation's fragile secu- Odierno said. rity as U.S. troops leave. With ballots still being counted, Initial results for some prov- officials from both the State of Law inces, as well as for Baghdad - an coalition led by Prime Minister area essential to determining any Nouri al-Maliki and the rival Iraq- winner - were to be announced iya claimed to be leading. Iraqiya is Tuesday. a secular alliance led by Shiite for- The election was only the coun- mer Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, try's second for a full parliamenta- but it also contains many Sunnis. ry term, and it attracted 62 percent Abbas al-Bayati from al-Maliki's of about 19 million eligible voters, coalition said early information according to the nation's election from the coalition's representa- commission. The last such elec- tives showed the group did well in tion, in December 2005, attracted Baghdad and in the Shiite south, roughly 76 percent of eligible vot- which includes Iraq's second-larg- ers. est city, Basra. Officials attributed the lower "We think that the State of Law turnout to a combination of voter coalition will shoulder the task of intimidation, more stringent ID forming the next government," he requirements at the polls said. - - - - Tuesdays Are South Of The Border toonaSolNodella/Pacifico SpecialS All ight $2.50 Tequila Sunrise & Vodka Drinks 25% Off Mexican Fare All With NO COVE R Officials warn it could be months before all studens can return to the classroom SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Chile's earthquake-delayed school year began yesterday, but education officials said it may take until April 1 before all students are back in classrooms. About half of the schools in the disaster zone have some damage from the 8.8-magnitude earth- quake and tsunami, and others are being used as staging areas for relief. While the education minis- try hasn't tallied the total repair cost, it will likely use up a large part of the $1.2 billion that Chile estimates it will need for restoring infrastructure. The earthquake hit on the last weekend of the South American summer vacation, and many fami- lies had just made back-to-school purchases of books and uniforms, only to see the supplies ruined or swept away. "This is all we've found of all the supplies we bought for my son," said Marcela Ortiz, holding up a single mud-covered black shoe in Dichato, where the tsu- nami destroyed 80 percent of the houses, reducing many to stinking piles of lumber and twisted metal. Picking through the wreck- age, many townspeople realized almost nothing was salvageable. Reopening schools is a key part of the recovery effort. While res- cue missions shifted to relief sev- eral days ago, bodies are still being recovered and identified, increas- ing the confirmed death toll to 497 yesterday, Deputy Interior Minis- ter Patricio Rosende said. The government is still trying to determine exactly how many schools are unusable, but Educa- tion Minister Monica Jimenez said 80 percent of the students in the areas most affected by the disaster - more than 2 million in all - were resumingclasses yesterday, a week late. She said schools would gradu- ally reopen for the rest. "By April first, we expect to have regional school systems functioning 100 percent," said Miguel Rojas, the regional educa- tion director in Concepcion. To make up for lost time, the July winter vacation has been canceled, authorities said. School can't reopen quickly enough for 8-year-old Hernan Perez Villagran, who has been camping in a park with his moth- er, sister and four other relatives in Concepcion since the earth- quake. "I want to go back to school, I'm bored here. I want to see my friends," he said. Only schools that can guaran- tee water, power and safety for the children will be allowed to reopen, Rojas said. School direc- tors will have to personally sign documents proving they have fulfilled the requirements, Rojas said. In Chile's capital, Santiago, Mayor Pablo Zalaquett said many older school buildings show dan- gerous cracks that need to be ana- lyzed by structural engineers to be sure they are safe. Gov't to 'reinvigorate civil rights enforcement' Nappy flour $4.99 6 Wing & Pint .. ... "N IM PMIMIRIVII! ss U My'narc . - i utters I m Ou ex 1'e saynart rartu otmcts'e H,.-.K In symbolic speech, Sec. Duncan cites MLK's dream SELMA, Ala. (AP) - Educa- tion Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday the federal govern- ment will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to every- thing ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs. "We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement," Duncan said on a historic Selma bridge to commemorate the 45th anni- versary of a bloody confrontation between voting rights demonstra- tors and state troopers. Duncan said the department also will issue a series of guide- lines to public schools and colleg- es addressing fairness and equity issues. "The truth is that, in the last decade, the office for civil rights has not been as vigilant as it should be. That is about to change," Duncan said. Duncan spoke to a crowd about 400 people on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in observance of "Bloody Sunday," the day in 1965 when several hundred civil rights pro- testers were beaten by state troop- ers as they crossed the span over the Alabama River, bound for Montgomery. The demonstrators were stopped that day, but thousands more arrived along with Dr. Mar- tin Luther King Jr. two weeks later for what became known as the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. "With a strict adherence to statutory and case law, we are goingto make Dr. King's dream of a colorblind society a reality." High school student D'wan Lewis, who is black, said he liked what he heard. "I don't think we have the same opportunities as other schools," said Lewis, 18, a student at Keith High, a small, rural school outside Selma. "We need more materi- als. Really, we just need a better school." The Education Department expects to conduct 38 compli- ance reviews around 40 different issues this year, said Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights. "For us, this is very much about working to meet the president's goal, that by 2020 we will regain our status in the world as the num- ber one producer of college gradu- ates," Ali told The Associated Press. Although the investigations have been conducted before, the department's OfficeofCivilRights is looking to do more complicated and broader reviews that will look not just at whether procedures are in place, but at the impact district practices have on students of one race or another, and if student needs are being met. Duncan also highlighted sev- eral jarring inequities. - At the end of high school, white students are about six times more likely to be college-ready in biology than black students, and more than four times as likely to be prepared for college algebra. - Black students without dis- abilities are more than three times as likely to be expelled as white students, and those with disabili- ties more than twice as likely to be expelled or suspended - num- bers which Duncan says testify to racial gaps that are "hard to explain away by reference to the usual suspects." - Students from low-income families who graduate from high school scoring in the top test- ing quartile are no more likely to attend college than the lowest- scoring students from wealthy families. Dem. sees positive signs for health care reform Rep. Stupak says he's optomistic about resolving dispute over abortion policy TAWAS CITY, Mich. (AP) - Prospects are good for resolving a dispute over abortion that has led some House Democrats to threat- en to withhold support of Presi- dent Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a key Michigan Demo- crat said Monday. Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of fed- eral money for the procedure. "I'm more optimistic than I was a week ago," Stupak told The Associated Press between meetings with constituents in his northern Michigan district, including a crowded town hall gathering where opinions on health care and the abortion issue were plentiful and varied. "The president says he doesn't want to expand or restrict cur- rent law (on abortion). Neither do I," Stupak said. "That's never been our position. So is there some language that we can agree on that hits both points - we don't restrict, we don't expand abortion rights? I think we can get there." Stupak has emerged as spokes- man for about a dozen House Democrats who supported health legislation approved by the House in November but contend a $1 tril- lion version that passed the Senate the next month would authorize federal abortion subsidies. They insist on restoring stiffer restric- tions Stupak added to the House measure. Stupak had said last week that nothing had changed and he didn't think the House leaders had the votes to pass the bill. His hard-line stand has made him a lightning rod for abortion- rights supporters. WE'RE APPLY ONLINE by MARCH 19th www.umich.edu/info Campus Information Centers Hicbigan Union 0 Pierpoet Commons « 17341 764-INFO