The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
T DmMonday, December 13, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Veteran diplomat
in critical condition
after heart surgery
Veteran diplomat Richard Hol-
brooke, who is a special envoy on
the Afghanistan war, was in criti-
cal condition after surgery to fix a
tear in the large artery that moves
blood from the heart.
President Barack Obama said in
a statement that he and first lady
Michelle Obama were praying for
Holbrooke's recovery.
He called Holbrooke, "a tower-
ing figure in American foreign pol-
icy" who has been a critical player
in developing the administration's
policy on Afghanistan.
The 69-year-old Holbrooke was
meeting with Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton about
midmorning Friday at the State
Department when he collapsed.
LOS ANGELES
Parents of gang kids
ordered to classes
It's a Saturday morning and a
half-dozen adults are sitting in a
high school classroom, staring at
grim photos of sickly drug addicts
and hearing about the deadly con-
sequences of gang crime. They'd
rather not be here, but a judge made
them come.
The moms and dads were
ordered to attend the class under
a new California law giving judges
the option of sending parents for
training when their kids are con-
victed of gang crimes for the first
time.
Assemblyman Tony Mendoza,
the lawmaker behind the Parent
Accountability Act, said it is the
first state law to give judges the
power to order parents of gang
members to school, though other
court-mandated classes exist at the
local level.
"A lot of parents do not know
how tohandle teenagers," Mendoza
said. "Now more than ever, parents
need a guide."
The new law went into effect in
January and eventually will be in
place across California.
NEWNAVEN, Conn.
I'm not a witch' is
year's top quote,
according to Yale
Christine O'Donnell's TV ad
declaration "I'm not a witch"
during her U.S. Senate campaign
topped this year's het quotes,
according to a Yale University
librarian.
O'Donnell's quote is cited by
mFred Shapiro, associate librarian
Wat Yale Law School, who released
his fifth annual list of the most
notable quotations of the year. In
the ad, O'Donnell was respond-
ing to reports of her revelations
that she had dabbled in witchcraft
years ago.
"It was such a remarkable
unconventional quote to be a part
of the political discourse," Shapiro
said.
The quote by O'Donnell, a tea
party favorite running in Dela-
ware, tied for first place with "I'd
like my life back," the lament made
in May by BP's CEO Tony Hay-
ward after the worst offshore oil
spill in U.S. history.
. ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast poll
winner tries to lead
from hotel room
From a hotel room just big
enough to hold a bed and a desk,
the man considered the legiti-
mate president of Ivory Coast
is trying to govern a troubled
nation whose sitting president
refuses to leave.
Alassane Ouattara does not
have access to the presidential
palace, so he holds Cabinet meet-
ings in a tent on the hotel lawn.
His administration has taken
over the hotel manager's office,
where the fax machine is used
to communicate with embassies
abroad. And the neighboring golf
course's sloping fairways may
soon house soldiers defecting
from the army still controlled
by incumbent President Laurent
Gbagbo.
In the upside-down world that
has taken root in this corner of
Africa, 68-year-old Ouattara was
declared winner of last month's
presidential election by his coun-
* try's election commission in an
outcome certified by the United
Nations.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
MICHIGAN'S INNO VATJNG FUTURE
Snyder: 'We're going to go out, and we're going to
make this an entrepreneur and innovation state'
By PATRICIA SNIDER
DailyStaffReporter
Republican Governor elect-
Rick Snyder attended an event
on campus to hear the winners
of the Accelerate Michigan Inno-
vation Competition - a program
Snyder said is a preview of what
he envisions for the future of the
state.
"You are getting a snapshot of
what I believe will happen 365
days a year in Michigan's future,"
Snyder told a crowd gathered
at the North Campus Research
Complex on Saturday. "We're
going to go out, and we're going
to make this an entrepreneur and
innovation state."
The competition, developed by
Ann Arbor SPARK - a company
to which Snyder founded - and
other organizations, aims to pro-
mote economic growth in the
state of Michigan. On Saturday,
several start-up companies, won
prizes of up to $500,000 for their
work.
Awards were presented at the
culmination of a three-day event,
featuring presentations, panels
and networking opportunities
as well as speeches from Snyder
and University President Mary
Sue Coleman. The ceremony took
place in the University's North
Campus Research Complex and
both student and profession-
al finalists were chosen from
among 600 entries to be awarded
more than $1 million.
Ann Arbor SPARK, a non-
profit business incubator, was
given $750,000 in funding from
the New Economy Initiative for
Southeast Michigan to create the
program on behalf of the Busi-
ness Accelerator Network for
Southeast Michigan.
In her opening remarks, Cole-
man said the competition is cru-
cial for recognizing business
efforts to revitalize the state's
economy. While many students
were focused on Saturday's
hockey game against Michigan
State University in Michigan
Stadium, Coleman said the com-
petition should be just as excit-
ing for the University since it is
making strides to improve the
state.
"This is our field of dreams,
ANNA SCHULTE/Daily
Michigan Governor-elect Rick Snyder speaks at the North Campus Research Center about the Accelerate Michigan Business Competition on Saturday.
and you embody our aspira-
tions, for a thriving and innova-
tive Michigan," Coleman said.
"There is a lot of excitement in
Ann Arbor for the hockey game,
but the real story in Ann Arbor is
the talent and ideas that are pres-
ent in this room."
Coleman added that the final-
ists in the competition are Mich-
igan's future and play a critical
role in changing the state's strug-
gling economy.
"We are now ready for you,
your products, your services,
your technology and your solu-
tions," Coleman said. "The real
winners are the people of Michi-
gan. All of us benefit from your
creativity."
In his keynote address, Sny-
der presented five key strategies
on how to create an atmosphere
conducive to innovation in the
state. The tactics include har-
nessing and improving tech-
nology, infrastructure, capital,
people and culture. Snyder said
that without all of these things,
achieving success as an entrepre-
neur would be difficult.
"If you are -missing any of
these, it's going to be extremely
challenging to create an innova-
tive and creative environment,"
Snyder said.
Snyder said that programs like
the Accelerate Michigan Innova-
tive Competition allow Michigan
to highlight talent within the
state and showcase companies
that are working toward eco-
nomic development.
"We have the most talented
people in the world in our state,"
Snyder said. "And we're mak-
ing great progress, but we need
to continue that organizational
effort."
University of Michigan stu-
dent teams won all four of the
cash awards in the student team
portion, totaling $60,000. Uni-
versity students Zaher Andraus,
Vimal Bhalodia and Matthew
Neagle received the $15,000 first
runner-up prize for their com-
pany Reveal Design Automation
- a business that develops soft-
ware tools to authenticate digital
chips in electronics.
Bhalodia, a graduate student
in the Business School, wrote
in an e-mail interview Saturday
that in addition to the monetary
award his team received, they
also gained important skills in
networking and career develop-
ment.
"We've found the experi-
ence of pitching in front of and
networking with members of
the investment community and
other people interested in spon-
soring innovation to be extreme-
ly valuable," Bhalodia wrote.
"While the prize money is nice,
some of the leads we walk away
with for both business develop-
ment as well as funding were just
as important."
Bhalodia also wrote that the
competition has the potential to
make an impact on both the state
of Michigan and the University.
"We think it can have a huge
impact on Michigan's future,"
Bhalodia wrote. "Showcasing-the
best companies in the area and
giving them a forum to meet and
learn from like-minded entre-
preneurs as well as experienced
members of the investment com-
munity is invaluable to helping
these companies succeed."
"Accelerate Michigan is a per-
fect complement, offering anoth-
er high profile opportunity for
U-M to showcase its best inno-
vations and brightest entrepre-
neurs," he added.
ReGenerate, a company that
developed the Compact Organic
Waste System, which produces
a renewable source of electricity
and nutrient-rich compost, from
the conversion of unwanted and
expensive organic waste, won
the grand prize in the student
competition. COWS is aimed at
university cafeterias and super-
markets.
Armune BioScience of Kal-
amazoo won the grand prize of
$500,000 in the company com-
petition. The company works to
create protein-based examina-
tions for cancer, helping doctors
and patients decide on more spe-
cialized treatment options.
ElizabethEdwards eulogizedas a
guide, source of strength for many
Friends and family us - a point of guidance when we John Edwards, her estranged McElroy and Glenn Bergenfield, mist.
t" Cate Edwards said. husband did not sneak. The coule also gave euloies "She knew who she was She
e
remember and
celebrate life of
political spouse
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Whether
it was advice about politics, clothes
or boys, Elizabeth Edwards was
always ready dispense her wisdom.
Family and friends of Elizabeth
Edwards remembered her Saturday
as a political sage, an idealistic law
student who challenged professors
and a matriarch who comforted
her family even as she was dying of
breast cancer.
Elizabeth's oldest daughter, Cate,
eulogized her mother, recalling her
strength, grace and witty recom-
mendations about everything from
clothing (there .are always fewer
regrets wearing solids than pat-
terns) to marriage (don't settle for
the first boy you ever meet).
"She's been a lighthouse to all of
U1C1;5, LUU1UdU 1.
Edwards' funeral drew hun-
dreds to Edenton Street United
Methodist Church, where she
once mourned her 16-year-old son,
Wade, after he died in a car crash
in 1996. She was buried next to him
during a private ceremony.
Speakers reflected on a multi-
faceted personality: Edwards, 61,
was an intellectual who frequented
discount clothing stores like T.J.
Maxx, a fiery competitor without
an ego and a public figure who won
the private confidence of virtually
everyone she met.
"There aren't words that are
good enough," Cate Edwards said.
Her eulogy contained a passage
from a letter her mother spent years
preparing to leave to her children
after she was gone.
. "I've loved you in the best ways
I've known how," the letter said.
"All I ever really needed was you,
your love, your presence, to make
my life complete."
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had four children together. John
Edwards sat alongside 28-year-old
Cate, 12-year-old Emma Claire and
10-year-old Jack. They held hands
as they followed the casket into the
sanctuary.
Their oldest daughter talked of
how her mother comforted those
around her as she lay dying - at
one point barely able to speak -
while she held her daughter and
John's hands, looking back and
forth to each, repeating, "I'm OK.
I'm OK."
"She was way more worried
about us than we were about her,"
Cate Edwards said.
The memorial brought several
political figures, including Sen.
John Kerry, who led the Demo-
cratic presidential ticket in 2004
that included John Edwards, and
North Carolina Gov. Beverly Per-
due.
Two of Elizabeth Edwards'
longtime friends, Hargrave
McElroy spoke admiringly of
the fiery woman who first became
a close friend as the couple raised
their young children, telling stories
of Edwards' expertise at any pur-
suit that required intellect - from
board games to sports trivia. She
said Edwards was always an opti-
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never held back. She was without
pretense," McElroy said.
Bergenfield described a woman
he first met in law school who
challenged her professors with a
vibrant mind and who possessed
"big world, head-turning, walk-
into-the-pole gorgeous" looks.
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Stockholm hit by two blasts
in suspected terrorist attacks
Suspected suicide
bomber the sole
casualty in attacks
STOCKHOLM (AP) - No one
died except for the suspected
bomber, but two explosions in
Sweden's capital tore at the fabric
of this tolerant and open nation
- a society that hadn't seen a ter-
rorist attack in more than three
decades.
Two people were wounded in
central Stockholm on Saturday
in what appeared to be the first
suicide bombing in the history of
Sweden, which has been spared
the major terrorist strikes seen in
several other European countries.
A car exploded in the middle
of the seasonal shopping frenzy,
shooting flames and causing sev-
eral smaller blasts as people ran
screaming from the scene. The
blast that killed the alleged bomb-
er came moments later further a
few blocks away from the car
explosion on a busy pedestrian
street.
Experts said the alleged bomb-
er probably didn't succeed in
detonating all the explosives and
could have caused much greater
damage.
While police haven't confirmed
Saturday's attack was motivated
by Islamist views, an audio file
sent to Swedish news agency TT
shortly before the blast referred
to jihad, Sweden's military pres-
ence in Afghanistan and a car-
toon by a Swedish artist that
depicted the Prophet Muham-
mad as a dog, enraging the Mus-
lim world.
It hasn't been verified that the
speaker is the person who set off
the explosive, but police have
said they are investigating that
possibility.
"Now the Islamic state has
been created. We now exist here
in Europe and in Sweden. We are
a reality," the voice said in the
file, submitted to The Associated
Press by TT. "I don't want to say
more about this. Our actions will
speak for themselves."