The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, March 26, 2010 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING
0 Mich. Senate passes
stricter texting
while driving ban
The state Senate on Thursday
passed a new, tougher version of
legislation that would make it ille-
gal to send text messages from cell
phones while driving in Michigan.
The main bill in the package
passed the Republican-led chamber
by a 28-10 vote, with only Republi-
cans in opposition. It now advances
to the Democrat-led House, which
isn't expected to take up the new
measure until returning from a
scheduled two-week break that
ends in mid-April.
The new Senate version would
make texting while driving a pri-
mary offense starting July 1, mean-
ing police could pull over and cite
motorists just for texting. Fines
would be $100 for a first offense and
$200 for each offense after that.
Previous versions of the bill had
made texting a secondary offense.
That meant police would need
some other reason to stop a vehicle.
WASHINGTON
Sanctions imposed
on Sunni leader
with suspected ties
to al-Qaida
The Obama administration on
Thursday imposed new sanctions
on a Sunni leader in Iraq believed to
be connected to al-Qaida.
The Treasury Department said it
is freezing the assets in U.S. juris-
dictions of Muthanna Harith al-
Dhari, 40, for allegedly providing
financial and technological support
to al-Qaida in Iraq and providing
guidance for attacks against coali-
tion and Iraqi forces.
At the same time, the United
Nations added al-Dhari, who has
led the Sunni Association of Mus-
lim Scholars, to its list of individu-
als and entities associated with
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and the
Taliban.
The U.S. has accused al-Dhari,
who is believed to be living in Jor-
dan, of ordering the kidnappings of
foreigners and directing an October
2006 plot to bring bombs into Bagh-
dad's fortified Green Zone as part
of an effort to assassinate the com-
mander of U.S. forces in Iraq and the
U.S. and British ambassadors.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N..
Teenager charged
again in Walmart
racial incident
A teenager who allegedly made
an announcement earlier this
month ordering all black people
to leave a southern New Jersey
Walmart has been charged in a
similar incident at the same store
just after Christmas.
The 16-year-old Atlantic County
boy, whose name was not released
because he is a juvenile, was
charged last week with harassment
and bias intimidation in the March
14 incident.
Washington Township police
said Thursday that the teen did the
same thing Dec. 28 at the Glouces-
ter County store. Police were not
initially notified of that incident,
but store officials turned over sur-
veillance video this week.
MEXICO CITY
Drug trafficker
known as 'King of
Heroin' arrested
Federal police have arrested
Mexico's "King of Heroin," a pow-
erful drug trafficker allegedly
responsible for running thousands
of pounds of heroin into Southern
California each year, authorities
said Thursday.
Jose Antonio Medina, nick-
named "Don Pepe," was arrested
in the western state of Michoacan
on Wednesday and is being held for
prosecution, said Ramon Pequeno,
head of the anti-narcotics division
of Mexico's federal police.
Medina, 36, ran a complex smug-
gling operation that hauled 440
pounds (200 kilograms) of heroin
each month across the Mexican
border in Tijuana for La Familia
drug cartel, Pequeno said.
The White House National Drug
Threat Assessment says that while
heroin use is stable or decreasing in
the U.S., the source of the drug has
shifted in recent years from Colom-
bia - where production and purity
are declining - to Mexico.
-Compiled from,
Daily wire reports
Student aid overhaul passed
with health care reform
Changes include
increase in Pell Grant
funding, removal of
fees for private banks
WASHINGTON (AP) - More
needy college students will have
access to bigger Pell Grants, and
future borrowers of govern-
ment loans will have an easier
time repaying them, under a vast
JOBS
From Page 1
tively low unemployment rate can
be attributed to the area's diver-
sification of industries, according
George Fulton, director of the
University's Research Seminar in
Quantitative Economics.
"We are still losing jobs, even if
you are creating jobs," Fulton said.
"If you don't create them rapidly
to cover the people, the unem-
ployment rate will stay up there.
Ann Arbor is doingbetter than the
state because of the mix of indus-
tries, particularly in the city area."
According to the statistics, the
number of jobs in Washtenaw
County declined from 171,900 in
January 2009 to 164,600 in Janu-
ary 2010 alone. In January 2010,
the number of unemployed work-
ers in the county increased from
12,900 to 16,800.
Fulton said that while he, and
many other economists, predict
that the rate of rising unemploy-
ment will decrease in the future,
throughout 2010, it will continue
to be high and have an adverse
affect on people seeking employ-
ment.
The ability of Ann Arbor's
economy to adapt to changing
industries and move away from
the manufacturing sector is a
strong contributor to its capacity
to remain a stable city throughout
the recession, Fulton said.
"The job prospects are not
going to be quite as good as they
FIRE DRILL
From Page 1
fire at the Delta Upsilon fraternity
house. In May 2008, the house,
located at 1331 Hill Street, caught
fire, destroying a large portion of
the structure.
After conducting some
research, Rampton said he con-
cluded that the Greek community
is at "high risk" when it comes to
fire danger.
According to a 2009 Federal
Emergency Agency report on fires
in on- and off-campus housing at
universities, fraternity and soror-
ity house fires account for a small
portion of the total number of
fires that occur at colleges across
the country. However, the report
also found that fires at fraternity
and sorority houses account for a
larger portion of larger fires.
According to the FEMA report,
fraternity and sorority houses
across the country account for
13 percent of non-confined fires,
4 percent of confined fires and 6
percent of all university housing
fires.
Once the Ann Arbor Fire
Department and the Office of
Greek Life decided to team up,
Rampton said officials devised a
plan, which would include frater-
nities and sororities that chose to
participate after being asked by
the Office of Greek Life.
Because the fire simulations
are meant to be as realistic as
possible, most of the people liv-
ing in the house don't know when
they will happen. Only the chap-
ters' presidents are informed of
the dates of the fire simulations,
Rampton said.
When the fire simulation
starts, the house's fire alarm is
pulled. Residents leave the house,
they are greeted by a fire truck
and American Red Cross cars.
Once everyone has exited the
house, the residents are informed
that it is a fire simulation and then
participate in an interactive feed-
back session with members of
both the AAFD and the American
Red Cross.
The purpose of the feedback
session is to explain to the mem-
bers of the house how they could
better improve their evacuation
in the event of a real fire.
The first fire simulation was
conducted in the middle of Feb-
ruary, Rampton said.
LSA junior James Milne, risk
manager for Phi Delta Theta - a
fraternity that participated in a
simulation earlier this month -
said the experience was helpful
overhaul of higher education aid
on its way to President Barack
Obama's desk.
Under the measure, private
banks would no longer get fees
for acting as middlemen in fed-
eral student loans.
The government would use the
savings to boost Pell Grants and
make it easier for some workers
to repay their student loans. In
addition, some borrowers could
see lower interest rates and
higher approval rates on student
have been in the past, but it all
depends on what you are looking
for," Fulton said. "In terms of the
state, Ann Arbor is doing as well
as any place in the state, and it is
probably going to do better in the
future because its economy is tar-
geted more toward the knowledge
information-based economy, (and
moving) more away from manu-
facturing."
But not all Ann Arbor officials
think the state should completely
abandon its manufacturing-based
background.
Ann Arbor City Councilmem-
her Mike Anglin (D-Ward 5) said
he still supports manufacturing
as a central component to Ann
Arbor's success in the changing
economybecause he fears that too
much of an emphasis on technol-
ogy may not be as beneficial in the
long run.
"I would like to see us as a state
concentrate more on manufactur-
ing (than) put all our eggs in one
basket of high tech," Anglin said.
"I think the ultimate thing, as
Ford has shown, is that the manu-
facturing sector will be our larg-
est employer as it has been in the
past and will move that way in the
future."
However, Fulton refuted this
notion, stating that an educated
workforce is the best bet for the
state's economy to recover.
"Anything to do with more
knowledge-based industries are
the ones that are going to be most
successful down the road," Fulton
said.
to the fraternity's members.
He said though they were told
by the Red Cross and the fire
department that the fraternity
did a good job of staying calm and
checking the house to make sure
no one was left inside, there are
still areas they could improve on.
"They wanted us to have a set
place to meet outside and said
that we should get a louder fire
alarm because it wasn't too loud
upstairs," Milne said.
LSA sophomore Tom Hard-
enbergh, president of Phi Delta
Theta, said since the fraternity
had an "informal system" prior to
the fire simulation, the fraternity
took the suggestions to heart and
implemented them at their chap-
ter meeting that same night.
Hardenbergh said though
he doesn't think the members
believed there was an actual fire
going on at the time, members
took it "seriously enough" and
had an "adequate response."
He added that while he thinks
the initiative is a good idea, he
thinks that after a while, the
simulation's intent to surprise
may wear off, since most mem-
bers of the Greek community
will become aware of the initia-
tive.
"The act of it being a surprise
is very important in seeing how
people react," Hardenbergh said.
"If you go to every single house,
eventually people will know it's
going to happen. But the idea
behind it is definitely agreatidea,
especially with the Delta U house
fire in the summer of 2008."
LSA and Kinesiology senior
Jordan Nelson, president of Alpha
Gamma Delta - a sorority on Hill
Street -, said the sorority had the
fire simulation last month, which
helped members to gain a general
knowledge of whatthey should do
in those situations.
"We always have our regular
fire drills, but this was an interac-
tive experience because we were
able to talk to them and they letus
know what we were doing wrong
and what we could improve
upon," Nelson said.
Nelson said one flaw the AAFD
and Red Cross officials pointed
out was thatmany of the residents
exited through the front door of
the house instead of the nearest
door. They also suggested that the
sorority create a method to make
sure the sorority is accountable
for all the residents of the house.
The sorority plans on improv-
ing this in the future by creating a
buddy system, Nelson said.
Since the sorority house has
had many false alarm fire drills
loans.
The legislation, an Obama
domestic priority overshadowed
by his health care victory, has
widespread reach. About 8.5
million students are going to col-
lege with the help of Pell Grants.
The measure was part of a
package of fixes to the health
care legislation Obama signed
earlier this week. The Senate
approved the fixes Thursday,
and the House planned to vote
on them later in the day.
But both Fulton and Anglin
think the University's presence
in the city and its job stability has
played a big role in keeping the
Ann Arbor economy alive and in
drawing people to the city and
surrounding area.
"The presence of the University
creates jobs in this area," Fulton
said. "The University has a posi-
tive economic impact on the area
and on the state."
Anglin attributed Ann Arbor's
low unemployment rate to the
lower-paying jobs like retail that
have been coming to the city, but
said he thought this ultimately
wouldn't help the city recover
from the recession or provide
career opportunities for students.
"I think Ann Arbor was able to
sustain a 9-percent (unemployment
rate), which I think is a good deal
of unemployment," Anglin said.
"Most of the immediate expansion
of jobs has taken place right outside
the city. We might have lost some
tech jobs, but there havebeen some
stores and stuff that have opened
right outside the city."
But Anglin added that the city's
decreasing population is a cause
for concern in terms of trying to
get more resources for the city.
"I think we are losing popula-
tion and that the 2010 census will
reveal that," Anglin said. "We
have limited budget resources but
have to use them wisely and do
things that are much more suited
to our population level. Since the
year 2000, we have lost popula-
tion, about 1 percent."
recently, Nelson said the resi-
dents weren't so surprised by the
fire alarm's going off, though they
still exited the house.
But Nelson said this initial
reaction changed when the mem-
bers saw the fire truck outside.
Nelson added that once the situ-
ation was explained, the sorority
members were eager to hear what
the fire safety officials had to say.
Chris Haughee, assistant
director of Greek Life, said he
feels the initiative has been effec-
tive thus far in increasing fire
safety awareness among students
in the Greek community.
"(They) seem to reflect that
students appreciate the effort and
are learning what they need to do
in response to these situations,"
Haughee said.
Haughee said he thinks
through the Greek community's
involvement in fire safety aware-
ness, others on campus will reap
the benefits as well.
"We hope that the effort of
Greek Life (will) also have a
favorable impact on the rest of
the community," he said. "Our
students are involved in a lot of
student groups and their experi-
ences can be shared with them.
The ripple effect will hopefully
be positive."
Rampton, the community
disaster education coordinator,
said that so far participating stu-
dents' reactions have only "rein-
forced the idea of this initiative."
"It's very obvious that many
sororities and fraternities don't
have plans in place, don't have
plans for accountability and are
unsure on what roles to take,"
Rampton said. "They knew to get
out of the building, but there's
more to it than that."
Rampton said it's important to
have a meeting place all residents
are aware of so that everyone is
accounted for and to know exact-
ly how many people are inside
the premises when the alarm is
pulled.
He added that the University
has one of'the oldest Greek sys-
tems in the country with many
older houses, making them even
more susceptible to fire damage.
The Delta Upsilon house that
caught fire in 2008 was built in
1903.
"Asa result, many (Greek hous-
es) were built in the 1920s, some
even earlier," Rampton said. "A
lot of the wood and insulation are
very, very old. Some of them have
obviously been updated but some
parts of the houses are impossible
to update. With age, the risk (of
fire) is higher."
AARON AUGSBURGER/Daily
Students listen to speakers at a rallyto protest state funding cuts to higher
education in Lansing yesterday.
RALLY
From Page 1
students, who had never lobbied
before, contributed to the enthusi-
astic atmosphere at the rally.
"There was great school spirit,
with everyone in the state coming
together," Caldwell said. "They
were waving their school flags
in the crowd and making a lot of
noise."
LSA senior Fiona Ruddy, who
went to Lansing, said she felt the
speakers at the rally made many
valid points about students who
feel they need to leave the state
after graduating.
"Speakers talked about the fact
that students don't want to leave
Michigan," Ruddy said. "There are
many students who are concerned
about Michigan and grew up here
who really want to stay invested in
the state and don't want to have to
leave."
Ruddy said 10 of the 15 public
universities in Michigan had stu-
dents attend the rally, including
schools located in the Upper Pen-
insula like Northern Michigan
University and Michigan Tech
University.
Caldwell said representation
from multiple schools is necessary
in order to make legislators under-
stand that students don't want
more budget cuts.
"We could all see that maybe
we have rivalries in football, but
we need to come together on this
issue to make something happen,"
Caldwell said.
The students who talked with
legislators distributed a letter com-
piled by the Student Association
of Michigan and College Demo-
crats. The letter included statis-
tics about how much tuition has
increased over the past 15 years
and explained how the govern-
ment's decisions have forced stu-
dents to bear the financial burden
of higher education.
According to Caldwell, the aver-
age amount of student loans is
nearly $25,000. Caldwell added
that students' need for loans
increases with each tuition hike.
Caldwell said the meetings with
members of the state legislature
were frustrating because represen-
tatives tried to defend their reasons
for cutting funds for education.
"(In the offices) we kept hear-
ing that we're in a recession and
the budget is being cut across the
board," Caldwell said. "We know
we need to look at the bigger pic-
ture, but education is the founda-
tion of that picture."
After the rally occurred outside,
students were brought into the gal-
leries for both state representatives
and state senators to see the stu-
dent turnout.
Serwer said standing in the gal-
lery made legislators connect faces
with their budget cutting deci-
sions.
"We showed that students really
care about higher education," Serw-
er said."It wasvery,verysuccessful."
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