Robert Soave: Have LUCILLE BALLER President Coleman's positions on corporate Though she played a housewife on boards affected her policy T.V., Ball was an industry pioneer. decisionmaking? PAGE4 PAGE5 Ie ffidlian &iJ Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday, April 6, 2010 miciguanaaily cum Resident to City Council: Revisit porch couch ban ANNA SCHULTE/Dail U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) encourages students to get involved in the health care profession at a talk she gave in the School of Public Health yesterday. fSen. Stabenow talks benefits of new health Care bill for students Co an 200 an ( A lo Arbor revisit uphols duced 2004 - on Sat started caught Offic cause o rental 1 that ki versity and inj The stated furnitu ate fire ry enti the oc from a The )uncil proposed to impose a $t00 fine for viola- tors - was originally proposed on d tabled ban in July 18, 2004, just over a month after a June 15, 2004 fire destroyed 4 in response to a house on Oakland Avenue and injured two residents, The Michi- )akland Ave. fire gan Daily reported at the time. The City Council indefinitely By DYLAN CINTI postponed voting on the ordi- Daily StaffReporter nance at its Aug. t6, 2004 meeting, according to minutes from that cal resident asked the Ann meeting. It has not addressed the City Council last night to ordinance since. a proposed ban on outdoor Ann Arbor area resident C. Rob- tered furniture - intro- ert Snyder spoke during the public and subsequently tabled in commentary section of the City - in light of a deadly blaze Council meeting last night, and urday that officials suspect requested that the council recon- i with an outdoor couch that sider a the ordinance proposed by fire. the Fire Department, arguing that cialsarestillinvestigatingthe Saturday's fire shows the impor- f the fire, which occurred at a tance of a swift re-evaluation. house on 928 South State St., "Safety is paramount," Snyder lled Eastern Michigan Uni- said.. "(I) urge you to enact a ban student Renden LeMasters on the outdoor use of upholstered ured two others. furniture." 2004 proposed ordinance Snyder defended his view by that "placing upholstered pointing out that the ordinance ire on front porches can cre- was proposed by the Ann Arbor conditions near the prima- Fire Department. rance/exit that can impede "We should not second guess" cupants' abilities to escape the fire department, Snyder said. fire." "Please listen to your fire depart- ordinance - which sought See CITY COUNCIL, Page 8 At campus lecture, Senator also talks public health benefits of reform By SUZANNE JACOBS Daily StaffReporter United States Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) discussed health care reform legislation and its impact on the public health community yesterday during a talk with members of the School of Public Health. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Stabenow has been involved in the debate over the health care reform bill that President Barack Obama signed into law on March 23. Speaking to a packed audito- rium, Stabenow provided a time- line of health care changes that will take effect over the next eight months. Many of these changes will directly impact members of the University community, she said. Throughout the talk, Stabe- now emphasized that health care affordability was the driving force behind the legislation. "The bottom line is this is about making a commitment in this country ... and finding a way for people to get health insurance," Stabenow said. AccordingtoStabenow, some of the changes to take effect imme- diately include tax cuts for small businesses with fewer than 25 employees to help them provide health care benefits and increased investment in community health centers in more than 10,000 com- munities. The bill also provides access to a special fund, which will be available starting at the end of June, for patients with pre-exist- ing conditions to pay for medical expenses. The fund will remain See STABENOW, Page 8 CLEANING OUT THE COMPETITION Non-graduates could receive tickets to commencement Officials announce distribution plan for tickets to graduation By BETHANY BIRON Daily StaffReporter University officials announced yesterday the ticket distribution plan for this spring's commence- ment ceremony, which could give some non-graduating students the opportunity to see President Barack Obama's speech at the Big House. According to a press release distributed yesterday, graduating students and their families will receive priority in obtaining tick- ets with graduating seniors eli- gible to receive up to eight tickets and graduate students participat- ing in commencement eligible to receive up to four tickets. To receive their tickets gradu- ating students are instructed to go with a valid MCard to the Alumni Association building on Fletcher Street, where tickets will be avail- able for pick up on April 26 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on April 27 and April 28 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the release. After graduating students have picked up their allotted tickets, the remaining tickets will then be available on a first-come, first- serve basis to the University com- munity on April 29 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Remaining tickets will then be offered to the general public on April 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said that the Uni- versity is expecting as many as 7,500 students to graduate this See TICKETS, Page 8 Chancellor of Flint campus talks TOREHAN SHARMAN/Daily Ke-ke Watson, Business School senior and executive director of the University's Dance2XS chapter, practices with fellow team- mates in Angell Hall. The team "cleans" their dance routine by ensuring that all dancers execute their moves the same way. They are practicing for a performance in Champaign, Ill. where they will be performing with other Dance2XS teams. community involvement at SACUA With economy, students face tough job hunt Ruth Person says 'U' students now outnumber GM workers in Flint By ANNIE GORDON THOMAS Daily StaffReporter In an address to the Senate Advisory Committee on Universi- ty Affairs yesterday, Ruth Person, chancellor of the University of WEATHER HI: 70 TOMORROW LO:50 Michigan-Flint, spoke about the campus's current state of affairs and its future plans for increasing the University's role in the Flint community. Person - a University alum who has worked in her current position for just over a year - told SACUA - the University's lead- ing faculty governing body, --that she was originally drawn to work- ing at the University's Flint cam- pus because of the challenge that would come with working in a community that was hit particu- larly hard by the down economy. "It was really about the chal- lenge," she said. "So all right, let's see if we collectively - we meaning everybody in the leader- ship community - can turn this around." About 80,000 General Motors employees used to call the city of Flint home, Person said, but now only about 5,000 GM employees live there. This makes the stu- dent body of the University's Flint campus larger than the once- See SACUA, Page 8 Despite competitive field, jobs available in social media, alternative energy By KAITLIN WILLIAMS Daily StaffReporter With commencement only four weeks away, some soon-to-be graduates are struggling to find jobs with the effects of the eco- nomic downturn still lingering. Lynne Sebille-White, assistant director of the University's Career Center, said though the job market is starting to show signs of recov- ery, students are still goingto have a difficult time finding jobs. "I would say that maybe it's a little better than last year, but it's certainly not booming," Sebille- White said. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while every state experienced an increase in the unemployment rate last year, Michigan experienced the highest increase in its unemployment rate. And experts report that though the job layoff rate today is about the same as it was during past eco- nomic downturns, the net job loss is greater because the hiring rate is lower. The "brain drain" of students who attend college in Michigan and then leave the state has been cited as a contributor to Michi- gan's struggling economy. Accord- ing to a survey sponsored by S.E. Michigan Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Develop- ment and the Michigan Munici- See JOBS, Page 8 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.comand let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILYCOM 'U' students launch website with low down on A2. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE WIRE INDEX NEWS ................................. 2 ARTS.. . . . .......... 5 Vol. CXX, No.t123 SUDOKUO .U.................. ........3 CLASSIFIEDS......................6 v The ichigan aily O PINIO N ...............................4 SPO RTS............................ .7 I I'