The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, February 7,2011 - - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, February 7, 2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING, Mich.
Women prisoners
may be forced to
pay restitution
A fightisemergingover wheth-
er female prisoners who won a
lawsuit after being sexually vic-
timized in Michigan's corrections
system should have to pay some of
the money to the victims of their
own crimes.
A 2009 settlement came called
for $100 million to be paid to up to,
900 female inmates who under-
went sexual assaults, groping or
harassment from prison guards
over 16 years.
Some of those women also
face restitution orders for their
crimes. The Michigan attorney
general's office has been trying to
learn what restitution orders are
in effect for 15 women convicted
of felonies in Oakland County and
believed to have been part of the
settlement.
Of the 15, seven have been
released from prison and dis-
charged from parole, four remain
in prison and four are on parole.
Together, they owe $172,814 in
restitution.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio
11 shot, one killed
j at Youngstown
State house party
Two men have been arrested
and charged in a shooting at an
Ohio fraternity house that killed
one student and injured 11 people
at a party near Youngstown State
University campus, police said
yesterday.
Each man is charged with
aggravated murder, shooting into
a house and 11 counts of felonious
assault, Youngstown police Chief
Jimmy Hughes said.
The suspects are in their early
20s and from the Youngstown
area, but he withheld their names
pending further investigation.
One suspect surrendered to
police, and the other was arrested
at his home, he said.
Hughes said he wasn't sure if
either man has a criminal record.
TEHRAN, Iran
American hikers
appear in court
Two Americans accused of
spying appeared in a closed-door
Iranian court session yesterday
to begin trial after an 18-month
detentionthathas broughtimpas-
sioned family appeals, a stunning
bail deal to free their companion
and backdoor diplomatic out-
reach by Washington through an
Arab ally in the Gulf.
All three - two in person
and one in absentia - entered
not guilty pleas during the five-
hour hearing, said their lawyer,
Masoud Shafiei.
He added that he was barred
by Iranian law from giving any
further, details of the proceed-
ings. But he noted that the judge
decided for at least one more ses-
sion in Tehran Revolutionary
Court, which deals with state
security cases including some of
the high-profile opposition fig-
ures arrested in the violent after-
math of Iran's disputed election
in 2009.
He described the jailed Ameri-
cans - Shane Bauer and Josh Fat-
tal - as appearing in good health
and said they sat next to him dur-
ing the trial session.
JONESBORO, Ark.
Cow gives birth to
set of triplets
Guess it runs in the family: A
descendant of an Arkansas cow
famed for giving birth to triplets
multiple times has birthed her
own set of triplets.
Rancher David Jones tells the
Jonesboro Sun his mixed-breed
cow named Nosy Rosy gave birth
to the triplets on Jan. 25. Accord-
ing to Oklahoma State University
researchers, beef cattle have
triplets in one of about 105,000
pregnancies.
Jones says he named Nosy
Rosy's calves Larry, Curly and
Moe.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Obama plans to visit
Northern Michigan
President will
discuss expanding
Internet access
MARQUETTE, Mich. (AP) -
President Barack Obama willvisit
Marquette on Thursday to talk
about expanding Internet access,
the White House said Friday.
In his State of the Union
address, Obama called for
expanding high-speed wireless
Internet access to 98 percent
of Americans within five years.
Doing so is part of a three-part
plan the president outlined to
help America "win the future."
White House spokesman Rob-
ert Gibbs said Marquette, a port
city in Michigan's Upper Peninsu-
la, is an example of a place where
local businesses have been able to
grow because of increased access
to the Internet. Obama won polit-
ically important Michigan during
the 2008 presidential election.
Obama is expected to tout
Northern Michigan University's
4G WiMax network, a new wire-
less technology that promises
faster data speeds than most cur-
rent cellular broadband networks.
Northern Michigan, in Mar-
quette, is the only university in
the U.S. using the technology, said
university spokeswoman Cindy
Paavola.
"Obviously we're very excited.
Presidents don't stop by the U.P.
every day," Paavola said.
Former President George W.
Bush made a campaign swing
through the area in the summer
of 2004.
Students at the university are
happy that school is in session
this time around - though the
weather will certainly be more of
a factor in February.
"They're very tech-savvy,
regardless of what their major is.
To be able to show off the technol-
ogy that they use every day to the
president of the United States is
fantastic," Paavola told The Asso-
ciated Press ina phone interview.
More details about the presi-
dent's visit are expected later.
"We're a rural communi-
ty that's really trying to take
advantage of all the technology
programs that the federal govern-
ment is making available," said
Bill Vajda, the city manager of
Marquette. He said it's important
to them to have all the high-tech
advantages to open up markets.
"Just having him show up is a
lot of excitement for a little town
like ours,"Vajda said.
The White House had been
calling the university for weeks
to find out about the network and
the general broadband situation
in Marquette and the Upper Pen-
insula, Paavola said. The school
thought it was going to get a men-
tion in the State of the Union
address, but didn't. Now officials
know why.
SOLIMAN OTEIFI/AP
Egyptian Vice President OmarSuleiman, center, meets yesterday with representatives of anti-government protesters in Cairo.
Egyt's VP meets withi
Muslim Brotherhood
Schools, banks
reopen as protests
continue
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's vice
president met with the out-
lawed Muslim Brotherhood and
other opposition groups for the
first time yesterday and offered
sweeping concessions, includ-
ing granting press freedom and
rolling back police powers in the
government's latest attempt to
try to end nearly two weeks of
upheaval
But the opposition leaders
held firm to a demand the gov-
ernment rejects: that President
Hosni Mubarak step down
immediately. And the source of
the opposition's sudden power
- the youthful protesters filling
Cairo's main square -'said they
weren't even represented at the
talks and won't negotiate until
Mubarakis.gone......
"None of those who attended
representus,"saidKhaledAbdul-
Hamid, one leader of a new coali-
tion representing at least five
youth movementsathat organized
the 13-day-old protests. "We are
determined to press on until our
number one demand is met" -
the ouster of Mubarak.
"The regime is retreating,"
Abdul-Hamid told The Associ-
ated Press. "It is making more
concessions every day."
At the same time, there were
signs that the paralysis grip-
ping the country since the crisis
began was easing yesterday, the
first day of Egypt's work week.
Some schools reopened for the
first time in more than a week,
and so did banks - though for
only three hours, with long lines
outside. A night curfew remains,
and tanks continue to ring the
city's central square and guard
government buildings, embas-
sies and other important institu-
tions.
Since protests began Jan. 25,
the 82-year-old Mubarak has
pledged not to seek another
term in elections to be held in
September. The government
promised that his son Gamal,
who had widely been expected
to succeed him, will not do so.
Mubarak appointed a vice presi-
dent - Omar Suleiman - for-the.
first time since he took office
three decades ago. He sacked
his Cabinet, named a new one
and promised reforms. And on
Saturday, the top leaders of the
ruling party, including Gamal
Mubarak, were purged.
Yesterday brought another
concession that would have been
unimaginable just amonth ago in
this tightly controlled country:
Suleiman's meeting with opposi-
tion groups including the funda-
mentalist Muslim Brotherhood,
which has been outlawed since
1954 but is the ruling party's
largest rival.
Egypt's opposition - essen-
tially banned by the government
for decades - has long been
hampered by a lack of cohesive-
ness. Sunday's talks could be a
sign the government is trying to
divide and conquer as it tries to
placate protesterswithout giving
in to their chief demand.
Mubarak is insisting he can-
not stand down now or it would
only deepen the chaos in his
country. The protesters, skepti-
cal of a regime they blame for
repression, corruption and wide-
spread poverty, vow to maintain
their pressure until Mubarak
leaves.
The United States gave key
backing to the regime's gradual
changes on Saturday, after Presi-
dent Barack Obama signaled
more strongly that it was time
for Mubarak to leave. Yesterday,
speaking to Fox News ahead of
the Super Bowl football broad-
cast, Obama said he would not
be drawn into predicting when
Mubarak would leave office.
"Only he knows what he's
going to do," Obama said.
Former Tunisian ruling
party suspends activities
Interior Minister's
move seen as
first step toward
dissolving party
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Tuni-
sia's interior minister yesterday-
suspended all activities of the
country's former ruling party
amid the most serious protests
since the country's autocratic
president fled into exile less than
a month ago.
Fahrat Rajhi suspended all
meetings of the Democratic
Constitutional Rally, known as
the RCD, and ordered all party
offices or meeting places it owns
closed - ahead of a demand to
dissolve the party, a ministry
statement said.
The RCD embodied the poli-
cies of former President Zine
El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled
into exile Jan. 14 after a month
of nationwide anti-government
protests. The party became a
key instrument by which Ben Ali
maintained power, and by which
corruption spread. Should the
RCD be dissolve, it would be
among the most sweeping moves
since Ben Ali's departure.
The official TAP news agency,
which carried the statement,
said the measure was taken
--because of the "extremeurgen-
cy" of the situation, a reference
to deadly weekend protests
around Tunisia, and to "pre-
serve the higher interests of the
nation."
The announcement came
hours after crowds pillaged,
then burned a police station in
the northwestern city of Kef a
day after police shot dead at least
two demonstrators. It was the
worst violence in Tunisia since
Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia,
ending 23 years in power.
Protests have also erupted
in other corners of the North
African country, which is being
run by a caretaker government
before presidential elections to
be held in six to seven months.
Pennsylvania judge accused of
sending children to jail for cash
Prosecutors: Judge he reigned over juvenile court
in a "harsh, autocratic and arbi-
made $2.8 million trary" manner. The ex-judge
shmhas said he didn't believe he was,
in scheme breaking the law.
Hillary Transue, 19, plans to
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - watch the trial from afar.
Kids in Luzerne County had a Now a college sophomore
powerful incentive to stay out in New Hampshire, Transue
of the courtroom of Mark Ciava- appeared in Ciavarella's court-
rella, a fearsome, zero-tolerance room in 2007 and spent a month
judge who tossed youths into in awilderness campforbuilding
juvenile detention even when a MySpace page that lampooned
their crimes didn't warrant it. her assistant principal. She did
Ciavarella ordered a 13-year- not have an attorney when she
old boy to spend 48 terrifying went before Ciavarella, nor was
days in a private jail for throwing she told of her right to one.
a piece of steak at his mother's Whatever Ciavarella's fate,
boyfriend during an argument. she said, the important thing
An honor roll student who had is that he no longer wields any
never been in trouble before power. Ciavarella and another
was sent to the same jail, PA implicated judge, Michael Cona-
Child Care, because she gave the han, left the bench shortly after
middle finger to a police officer. being charged in January 2009.
A girl who accidentally set her "I don't care if he's away for
house ablaze while playing with seven minutes or seven years,"
a lighter languished in PA Child she said. "The man's reputation
Care for more than a month - is destroyed, and he's never going
forced to shower naked in front to do this to children again."
of male guards, she says, and Ciavarella's attorney declined.
prohibited from hugging her comment.
family during rare visits. Court documents outline a
She was only 10 years old. scheme in which Conahan, then
PA Child Care's beds were Luzerne County's president
filled with young offenders who judge, forced the county-run
didn't belong there, prosecutors juvenile detention center to close
allege, because its owner was in 2002 and helped PA Child
paying kickbacks to Ciavarella. Care LLC, a company owned
Today, the disgraced former by his friend, secure contracts
judge will stand trial in one of worth tens of millions of dol-
the biggest courtroom scandals lars to house youth offenders at
in U.S. history - a $2.8 million its new facility outside Wilkes-
bribery scheme known as "kids Barre.
for cash." Ciavarella, who presided over
A state panel that investigated juvenile court, sent youths to PA
the scandal called Ciavarella Child Care and to a sister facility
"Dickensian" in his treatment of in western Pennsylvania while
juvenile offenders and said that he was taking payments from
the owner and the builder of the
facilities, prosecutors said. He
ran his courtroom with "com-
plete disregard for the constitu-
tional rights of the juveniles," in
the words of the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court, including the
right to legal counsel and the
right to intelligently enter a plea.
Megan, whose last name is
being withheld by The Asso-
ciated Press, was perhaps the
youngest defendant to appear
in Ciavarella's courtroom. At
age 10, she had set fire to a piece
of paper in her bedroom. She
thought she put it out, but the
paper smoldered and eventually
set her room ablaze. No one was
hurt.
Though the landlord didn't
want to press charges and
Megan had no history of delin-
quency, Ciavarella claimed she
committed arson and sent her
to PA Child Care. She left the
courtroom in handcuffs and
shackles.
In an interview with AP,
Megan said she was forced to
shower naked in front of two
or three men her first morn-
ing at the facility. She said she
assumed they were guards. She
said they told her it was a "one-
time" requirement.
"It made me feel really
uncomfortable and nervous and
shaking because I didn't want
anybody to see me naked, and I
was really shy," she said.
Megan cried herself to sleep
almost every night she was in
the detention center. After she
got out, classmates teased her
mercilessly. She dropped out of
school and enrolled in a cyber-
school.
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