The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Friday, February 18, 2011- 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, February 18, 2011 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Podiatrist, health
care providers
accused of fraud
Federal prosecutors in Detroit
have filed a fresh batch of fraud
charges against health-care pro-
viders, including a podiatrist
accused of billing Medicare for
$700,000 in toenail treatments
that weren't provided.
At least 20 people were indicted
in a variety of alleged schemes
to milk millions of dollars from
Medicare. Most defendants ran
clinics or offered home health
care in the Detroit area and are
accused of billing the government
for bogus services.
Errol Sherman is a podiatrist
in Oak Park. The government said
yesterday that he committed fraud
for at least four years. Sherman
and his attorney declined to com-
ment after they appeared in court.
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade
and Andrew Arena, the head of the
FBI in Detroit, planned to speak to
reporters about the cases.
TAMPA, Fla.
Man arrested for
stealing 3,000
military laptops
Investigators say they've
cracked the case of the 3,000 sto-
len military laptops in Tampa that
were headed to U.S. Special Oper-
ations Command.
Hillsborough County Sheriff
David Gee announced the arrest of
the suspected ringleader Wednes-
day. He says 55-year-old Rolando
Coca led a crew of about 10 people
who stole the laptops from a gov-
ernment contractor's warehouse
last March.
The $7.4 million worth of new
computers didn't have any data
but were bound for U.S. Special
Operations Command at MacDill
Air Force Base.
Gee says the thieves gained
entry into the warehouse by cut-
ting a hole inthe roof.
AUSTIN, Texas
U.S. Census shows
spike in Texas
Latino population
New U.S. Census figures show
that ethnic minorities account
for 89 percent of the growth in
Texas, which is poised to gain
four new congressional seats -
twice as many as any other state.
The numbers released yester-
day confirm the explosive growth
among Latinos in Texas. Some
experts project that in the next
decade, there will be more His-
panics living in the Lone Star
state than whites.
Latino politicians say it's time
their demographic strength
translated into political power.
Democratic state Rep. Robert
Alonzo says map drawers could
configure all four of the new con-
gressional seats to be dominated
by Hispanics. But he says he
doubts Republicans who control
the Legislature will do that.
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Endangered 6-foot
leatherback turtle
spotted with eggs
Conservationists say they got a
rare glimpse of a 6-foot (2-meter)
-long leatherback - the world's
most endangered sea turtle -
together with dozens of eggs in
western Indonesia.
Khairul Amra, a member of
a local conservation group, said
yesterday that the giant turtle
was spotted on a beach on Suma-
tra island over the weekend just
before it plunged into the water.
Soon after 65 eggs thought to
belong to the leatherback were
found in a nest - the third such
discovery on the same beach this
year.
Leatherbacks, which can grow
up to 9 feet (3 meters) long, have
roamed the oceans for 100 million
years, but the globe-trotting sea
turtles today number only around
30,000.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Palestinian wave flags during a demonstration calling to end the split between the West Bank and Gaza, in the West Bank
city of Ramallah, yesterday.
S. tries to avoi vote
on West Bank settlements
TENURE
From Page 1
and the possibility that those
deserving tenure wouldn't be
promoted before the probation-
ary period expired.
However, during the public
comments segment of the Board
of Regents meeting yesterday,
several Medical School depart-
ment chairs and faculty mem-,
bers said they think the tenure
clock should be extended to the
10-year plan.
The faculty members men-
tioned delayed funding from the
National Institutes of Health,
lengthy research methods and
personal obstacles - like hav-
ing children or becoming ill -
as reasons to extend the tenure
probationary period for Medical
School professors.
During the meeting, John
Carethers, chair of the Depart-
ment of Internal Medicine at
the Medical School, said the
1944 bylaw doesn't encompass
the changes in today's science
world or reflect the active role of
research.
"Team science is more rel-
evant today than it was in the
past," Carethers said.
Toby Lewis, an assistant
professor in the Department of
Pediatrics and Communicable
Diseases at the Medical School,
pointed to her own research of
childhood asthma within differ-
ent communities. She said this
type of research, which involves
years of gathering data, extends
beyond the University's tenure
clock.
Lewis also said the University
needs to promote faculty who
perform this extensive research
because of its positive effect on
policy and world health.
"I think we should be able to
extend the clock since we have
high-performing faculty that
need a little extra time to get the
work done," Lewis said.
Carol Bradford, chair of the
Department of Otolaryngol-
ogy at the Medical School, said
at yesterday's meeting that the
current tenure plan isn't family
friendly because it doesn't allow
faculty time to care for their
children. She added that women
currently make up 18 percent of
the University's instructional
track of professors at the Medi-
cal School.
"Were it not for a few great
opportunities, mentorship and
lucky breaks, I might not be
standing here before you today,"
Bradford said.
Similarly, Internal Medicine
Prof. Susan Goold said she feels
the tenure track disproportion-
ately affects women. She added
that the extended tenure offers
the opportunity for manipula-
tion of the system, as faculty
could continue teaching with-
out tenure for a longer period
of time in order to keep salaries
lower.
"Some attention should be
paid to that possibility," Goold
said.
In an interview after the
meeting, Hanlon said he will
begin to address the issue of the
possible tenure changes next
week.
"I'm intending to begin the
public comment process next
Monday," Hanlon said.
Also interviewed after the
meeting, University President
Mary Sue Coleman said Han-
lon's input and public comment
will contribute to the discus-
sion of the issue, which has been
examined over the last four
years.
But Coleman said she realizes
there are obvious concerns with
the current tenure plan.
"I understand the issues that
were discussed today about ten-
ure in the medical schools," she
said, "but my inclination is to
say that the faculty should have
the opportunity to decide."
-Managing Editor Kyle
Swanson and Senior News
Editor Joseph Lichterman
contributed to this report.
White House
calls settlements
'illegitimate'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Stuck
in a diplomatic bind, the Obama
administration scrambled yes-
terday to avert a difficult U.N.
Security Council vote on a Pal-
estinian-backed resolution con-
demning Israeli settlements.
President Barack Obama raised
the subject in a call with Pal-
estinian President Mahmoud
Abbas after other attempts to
sway him failed.
Though Israel's closest ally,
the United States has nonethe-
less opposed new settlements,
saying they are an impediment
to peace between Israel and
the Palestinians. But the U.S.
also does not want the Securi-
ty Council takingup the isse,
arguing it would complicate
peace negotiations.
Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said that the
Security Council vote planned
Friday would be counterpro-
ductive as the United States
focuses on advancing talks that
will lead to a two-state solution.
"We have consistently over
many years said that the United
Nations Security Council and
resolutions that would come
before the Security Council are
not the right vehicle to advance
that goal," she said at a news
conference after a briefing with
senators.
The vote places the Obama
administration in a predica-
ment. A U.S. veto would place
Obama at odds with the Pales-
tinians and its supporters in the
Arab world; abstaining from
the vote would anger Israelis.
The issue also places Obama
in a political fix at home where
he already faced criticism for
trying to avoid a veto from
Democratic and Republican
supporters of Israel in Con-
gress.
On Wednesday, the U.S.
ambassador to the U.N., Susan
Rice, proposed a weaker Secu-
rity Council presidential
statement instead of a legally
binding resolution, a step that
represented a shift from the
long-held U.S. view that the
Security Council is not the
proper forum to address the
issue of Israeli settlements. Pal-
estinians rejected the offer.
Palestinians object to settle-
ment building in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem, saying it is
the primary obstacle to resum-
ing peace talks with Israel. The
resolution declares that those
settlements "are illegal and
constitute a major obstacle to
the achievement of a just, last-
ing and comprehensive peace."
The administration, howev-
er, has declined to describe the
settlements as "illegal," prefer-
ring "illegitimate" instead.
"We, like every administra-
tion for decades, do not accept
the legitimacy of continued set-
tlement activity," White House
spokesman Jay Carney said yes-
terday. "We believe that con-
tinued expansion is corrosive
not only to peace efforts and a
two-state solution, which we
strongly support, but to Israel's
future itself."
Carney said the best-path.
toward peace was direct nego-
tiations between Israelis and
Palestinians.
Rep. Howard Berman of Cal-
ifornia, the ranking Democrat
on the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, urged the Obama'
administration to simply veto
the resolution on settlements.
U.S. faces Iraqi lawsuit
Baghdad demands -
apology, funds to
restore city
BAGHDAD (AP) - The Bagh-
dad city government is demand-
ing the United States pay $1
billion and apologize for damage
to the city caused by blast walls
erected during the nearly eight-
year long war.
City officials filed a lawsuit in
an Iraqi court against the U.S.
military, a media official said
yesterday. He did not want to be
identified due to the sensitivity
of the situation.
In an official statement posted
late Wednesday on its website,
the local government said U.S.
forces had marred the "beauti-
~ctity"
Blast walls "put up at the pre-
text of security" damaged the
sewage system and sidewalks,
caused traffic jams and para-
lyzed business, the statement
read.
City officials want an official
apology and $1 billion to pay for
the damage.
However, Kamil al-Zaidi, the
head of the Baghdad provincial
council said Iraqi security forces
should also share responsibility
for the miles of concrete barriers
that crisscross the capital.
"The Iraqi security bod-
ies, not only the Americans,
bear part of the responsibility
for putting up these walls," he
said.
LAMBDA CHI
From Page 1
cated.
Johnson said the Humane
Society has misinterpreted the
cause of Yikes's injury.
"A lot of it is misunderstand-
ings and people jumping to con-
clusions," Johnson said. "(People
were) taking actions without
really understanding the full
story."
Johnson said a representative
fromthe Humane Societyvisited
the fraternity house to assess the
situation.
"They wanted to see if he was
being abused, but after seeing
his condition, and that we were
working toward his cure, and
that he had a good living situa-
tion, everything checked out just
fine," Johnson said.
Matt Schaecher, supervi-
sor of Cruelty and Rescue at the
Humane Society of Huron Valley,
said the society began an investi-
gation, but said he couldn't dis-
close any further information
since it is a pending case.
Yikes's injury most likely
resulted from his ability to open
doors and knobs and let himself
out of the fraternity house, John-
son said.
"Someone found him outside,
limping on his leg," he said. "We
are guessing that he may have
gotten hit by a car, but we're not
sure."
Since the accident, Johnson
said he has purchased an invis-
ible electric fence to ensure Yikes
won't wander into the street
again.
However, according to Tad
Lichtenauer, director of com-
munications for the interna-
tional headquarters of Lambda
Chi Alpha, Yikes shouldn't have
been in the house to begin with
since it is a violation of the
house lease to have pets. The
local chapter hasn't allowed
students to keep pets on the
premises since the internation-
al headquarters purchased the
house in the mid-1980s, he said.
"When we took ownership
of that house, we have had the
stipulation about no pets, per the
lease, because it's a liability for
us," Lichtenauer said.
Because of this violation and
other factors, Johnson has been
put on disciplinary suspension
by the international organiza-
tion, Lichtenauer said.
"Gabe was suspended for a
number of reasons, and only one
of which was violating his lease
with the dog," he said. "He had a
series of violations of the code of
conduct that also led to his sus-
pension."
According to Lichtenauer,
the suspension could be lifted
if Johnson adheres to certain
criteria and appeals to an exec-
utive committee of the local
chapter. Lichtenauer added that
as long as Johnson was in vio-
lation of the lease, he couldn't
continue to live in the house.
"It's (a) violation of our lease to
have a pet in that house, and that
is really as black and white as it
is from our standpoint," he said.
Johnson declined to comment
when asked about his suspen-
sion.
According to Chris Haughee,
assistant director of the Uni-
versity's Office of Greek Life,
the University doesn't own or
maintain any fraternity or soror-
ity housing, so it doesn't have
any restrictions on house pets.
Haughee said he wasn't aware
of any animal rights violations in
the Lambda Chi house.
"Private housing is a private
issue, and we have no position
and no policy on this issue,"
Haughee said.
Schaecher said animal cru-
elty by students isn't a significant
problem on campus, but is still
discussed as an issue.
"Generally we get complaints
of students that have left for the
summer that leave their animals
behind," Schaecher said.
However, Schaecher said the
Humane Society doesn't dis-
suade students from adopting
pets.
"We don't encourage or dis-
courage students," Schaecher
said. "Most of the students are
capable and are responsible
just like anybody else is for the
humane treatment of an animal.
We're not bombarded with com-
plaints about students mistreat-
ing animals. Most of them can
give the animals the adequate
care."
Despite all the controversy,
Johnson said Yikes is taken care
of at the fraternity house.
"At the end of the day, all I
really want to do is help get my
dog fixed without all this politi-
cal garbage," he said.
After taking Yikes to a vet-
erinarian, Johnson said he found
out the cost of surgery for Yikes
would be higher than initial esti-
mates due to a genetic problem
that makes Brittany spaniels
more prone to injury.
To raise the $3,500 for
Yikes's surgery, the Lambda
Chi brothers started a Face-
book group to garner support
and advertise public services
they're offering in order to raise
funds for Yikes's surgery. These
services include serenading
people and allowing fraternity
members' friends to babysit
Yikes for a fee. So far the broth-
ers have raised $2,100.
Though the fraternity hasn't
yet collected enough funds for
Yikes's surgery,. Johnson said he
plans to proceed with the opera-
tion, which will take place on
Wednesday at the Michigan State
University Veterinary School.
"We're going to go ahead and
get the surgery, even though we
haven'traised enough money," he
said. "We'll just set up a payment
plan and continue to raise it."
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