The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 6, 2011- 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January 6, 2011 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. Great Lakes Asian Carp DNA research r proven effective Scientists whose genetics-based research became a.lightning rod in the debate over protecting the Great Lakes from Asian carp have made their case in a newly pub- lished article that says at least some of the dreaded invaders have gotten beyond an electric barrier meant to block their path to Lake Michigan. Still, the researchers argue that so-called "environmental DNA," or "eDNA," has proven a more effec- tive means of detecting Asian carp than conventional methods such as electroshocking and netting. They predict it will become a valuable tool in efforts to prevent exotic spe- cies invasions and preserve species that are threatened or endangered. "There can no longer be any question about the validity of the eDNA work and its reliability," David Lodge, a University of Notre * Dame biologist and the project leader, said in an interview Tues- day. "This research has with flying colors passed the most rigorous peer review possible." OMAHA, Neb. Student opens fire on school officials before killing self A student opened fire at an Omaha high school yesterday- wounding two adults including the principal and causing students to rush to a school kitchen to take cover, authorities said. Later, the suspect, identified as 17-year-old Robert Butler, Jr., was found dead in car about a mile away from the school after shooting himself, Omaha police chief Alex Hayes said. It was not immediately clear why Butler, a son of an Omaha police detective, shot Millard High School Principal Curtis Case and Vice Principal Vicki Kasper. Case was in stable condition and Kasper was in critical condition at an area hospital, the chief told reporters. A 16-year-old student at the school told The Associated Press she was just beginning lunch when a school administrator came into the cafeteria. "He was like yelling, 'Get in the kitchen! Get in the kitchen!' He was waving his arms. You knew some- thing was wrong and it wasn't a drill," said Laura Olson, who is the daughter of an AP reporter. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Mysterious plane crash barely misses * residential house Federal authorities say one per- son was killed when a small plane crashed in a Birmingham neigh- borhood. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the Beech BE-58 went down while it was approaching a runway at the Birmingham International Airport. She said authorities have not yet determined why it crashed and wasn't sure if anyone on the ground was hurt. Firefighters and police officers swarmed the scene. WBMA-TV reported the plane crashed about 50 yards from a house. * JUBA, Sudan Sudanese officials expect large voter turnout for election Nearly 4 million people in Southern Sudan are registered to vote in a referendum to be held Jan. 9, the top election official said Monday. The electoral body is "100 per- cent prepared" for the vote and it will be held on time, said Justice Chan Reec Madut. Some observ- ers had worried that South Sudan's poor infrastructure and political issues might delay the polls. Most people expect the oil- rich, mainly Christian south will vote for independence from the mainly Muslim north. The two sides fought a bloody civil war that stretched over two decades. Sun- day's vote is the culmination of a * peace deal that ended the conflict in 2005. "Our people are ready to walk for six hours, eight hours, in order to reach their polling centers," he said. -Compiled from Daily wire reports A Jordanian man lights a candle before a prayer ceremony for the victims who died after a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 people at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Amman, Jordan. Coptic churches far r s mTore suicide attaCks Extremist Islamic websites encourage attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian Chris- tians say they fear a repeat attack against their community on Cop- tic Christmas Eve today despite authorities planning heavy secu- rity following a New Year's suicide bombing of a church in Alexandria that killed 21. In response to the threats against the Christians by extrem- ists, Egyptian activists have called on Muslims toform humanshields in front of the churches on Christ- mas Eve as gesture of solidarity with country's Coptic Christian minority, which makes up 10 per- cent of Egypt's 80 million people. The bombing of the church, the worst act of sectarian violence in the country in a decade, touched off days of demonstrations and riots by the Christians blaming the government for encouraging discrimination and prejudice and not doing enough to protect them. Some Christians have even said they will skip today's Christmas Eve services for fear that there will be more attacks. "I had a fight with my mother. She kept saying no churches this year. I wanted to go but my par- ents are afraid something might happen again," said Karim Moni- er, a 19-year-old student living in the middle-class neighborhood of Hadayak Helwan in southern Cairo. Egyptian authorities have beefed up security around many churches all over country, with explosives experts on hand. Armored vehicles will be sta- tioned in main squares in case of emergency. The Interior Ministry yester- day released to the. public a com- posite photo of what is said was the one remaining victim out of the 21 dead who has not yet been identified. The ministry asked for anyone who recognized the face to report the identity to authorities, apparently aiming to determine whether he could be the bomber. Police said the face in the photo had been pieced together from remains, and parts of the image appeared digitally manipulated to fill in gaps. Extremist Islamic websites affiliated with al-Qaida have been circulating lists of Coptic Churches in Egypt and Europe - including the one attacked on New Year's - along with instructions on how to attack them. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," the statement read. Coptic websites have been worriedly circulating the lists of churches as a warning to their members and several European government have announced they will be increasing security at their own Coptic sites. Mohammed Moussaoui, head of France's main Muslim group, said it will send a delegation to attend a Coptic Christian Christ- mas service in France on Friday. The threats have sparked a backlash in Egypt, where there have long been sectarian tensions, and numerous groups are pushing for Muslims to guard the churches as human shields. Prominent young Egyptian actor Khaled Aboul Naga called on Muslims in his blog not to "stand still while Coptic Egyp- tians feel unsafe in their worship- ping places," and urged people to head to any nearby church to attend Christmas Eve prayers. New U.S. Census formula measures rise in poverty Census figures: 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of poor people in the U.S. is millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans - many of them 65 and older - struggling in poverty due to ris- ing medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released yesterday. At the same time, government aid programs such as tax credits and food stamps kept many people out of poverty, helping to ensure the poverty rate did not balloon even higher during the reces- sin in 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office. Under a new revised census formula, overall poverty in 2009 stood at 15.7 percent, or 47.8 mil- lion people. That's compared to the official 2009 rate of 14.3 per- cent, or 43.6 million, that was reported by the Census Bureau last September. Across all demographic groups, Americans 65 and older sustained the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula - near- ly doubling to 16.1 percent. As a whole, working-age adults 18-64 also saw increases in poverty, as well as whites and Hispanics. Children, blacks and unmarried couples were less likely to be con- sidered poor under the new mea- sure. Due to new adjustments for geographical variations in costs of living, people residing in the suburbs, the Northeast and West were the regions mostly likely to have poor people - nearly 1in 5in the West. The new measure will not replace the official poverty rate but will be published alongside the traditional figure this fall as a "supplement" for federal agencies and state governments to deter- mine anti-poverty policies. Econ- omists have long criticized the official poverty measure as inad- equate because it only includes pretax cash income and does not account for medical, transporta- tion and work expenses. "Under the new measure, we can clearly see the effects of our government policies," said Kathleen Short, a Census Bureau research economist who calcu- lated the revised poverty num- bers. "When you're accounting for in-kind benefits and tax credits, you're bringing many people in extreme poverty off the very bot- tom." Short's analysis, published yes- terday as part of a series of cen- sus working papers on poverty, shows that out-of-pocket medical expenses had a significant impact in affecting the number of poor - without those costs, poverty would have dropped from 15.7 percent to 12.4 percent. The numbers cited for 2009 are preliminary, but census officials say they offer a good representa- tive look at the state of U.S. pov- erty and where the numbers are headed when new 2010 figures are released this fall. Southern Chileans evacuate in anticipation of earthquake Citizens flee from 7.1 earthquake, no damage reported SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - A magnitude-7.1 earthquake shook southern Chile on Sunday, prompt- ing tens of thousands to flee the coast for higher ground amid fears it could generate a tsunami like the one that ravaged the area last year. There were no reports of deaths or damage, and Vicente Nunez, head of the National Emergency Office, said no tsunami alert was issued. "There has been no harm to people, no harm to property," Nunez said. "We will continue monitoring." The Pacific Tsunami Warn- ing Center in Hawaii also said a destructive Pacific Ocean-wide tsunami was not expected. Some cell-phone communica- tions and electrical power were knocked out in the Araucania region where the quake was cen- tered, 370 miles (595 kilometers) south-southwest of the capital, Santiago. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was about 45. miles (70 kilometers) away from the provincial capital of Temuco, which has a population of about 250,000. The quake struck at a depth of about 11 miles (17 kilometers), according to the USGS, and there was at least one aftershock of 5.0 magnitude. When the first temblor struck, people in several coastal cities quickly moved away from the ocean, abandoning some shop- ping centers entirely. Inthe communities ofLaArau- cania, Puerto Saavedra, Tolten and Teodoro Smith, an estimated 50,000 people voluntarily evacu- ated to higher ground, according to Nunez. Residents of the region have fresh memories of the magni- tude-8.8 quake and resulting tsunami on Feb. 27, 2010, that killed at least 521 people and left 200,000 homeless. Sergio Barrientos, director of the seismology office at the Uni- versity of Chile, said Sunday's temblor was itself an aftershock of last year's mega-quake.