The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, January 13, 2011- 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January13, 2011 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS * LANSING Gov. Snyder plans to invest in state's 15 universities Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says universities likely will have to sac- rifice in the short run, but he wants to invest more in higher education when times get better. The Republican governor met Wednesday with the presidents of the 15 state universities who make up the Presidents Council. They say they're ready to help Snyder boost economic development. Michigan Technological Uni- versity President Glen Mroz said in a statement that the meeting set a positive tone for the relationship between universities and the new Snyder administration. Snyder spoke about the project- ed $1.8 billion shortfall but didn't give any details on what he plans for universities in the next budget. State funding for university operations has dropped 12 percent over the past eight years, while tuition has risen an average of 80 percent. AUSTIN, Texas Texas governor challenges local immigration rights Republican Gov. Rick Perry offered no clues yesterday on how Texas might abolish "sanctuary cities" that he says provide haven to illegal immigrants, after order- ing the new GOP-dominated state legislature make the issue a top priority. "There are cities in this state that have made decisions that they're goingtobe havens for those that are in conflict with federal immigration laws or state laws, and we're going to prohibit that," Perry said. "We'll have a good and open discussion about what we're going to prohibit." Democrats say they've identi- fied at least 40 bills targeting ille- gal immigration this session. The proposals include requiring local law enforcement to ask anyone without ID during a legal traffic stop whether they're in the coun- try legally. Another would require school districts to identify stu- dents who are illegal immigrants. TOKYO Pentagon views North Korea a threat to the U.S. * Top Pentagon officials say the United States fears the risk of war is rising between South Korea and the heavily militarized and increasingly unpredictable regime in North Korea. And the Pentagon considers North Korea a threat to the mainland United States. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is meeting top political leaders in Japan today about the grow- ing worry that North Korea might push its saber-rattling too far. Gates sees leaders in South Korea on Friday. Meanwhile, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen says that North Korea poses an evolving threat beyond the region to the United States specifically. Mullen tells the Foreign Press Center in Washington he urges coordinated pressure among China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. Those nations have disarmament lever- age and the most at stake. * RATHDRUM,Idaho Idaho mother wins $190 million Mega Millions jackpot A northern Idaho woman has claimed the remaining half of a $380 million Mega Millions jack- pot, Idaho Lottery officials said Wednesday. Holly Lahti, a 29-year-old moth- er of two from the small town of Rathdrum, will split the second- largest lottery jackpot in history with Jim and Carolyn McCullar of Ephrata, Wash. The McCullars appeared at a news conference last Thursday to announce they'd won half the jack- pot, or $190 million. Lahti wasn't on hand for Wednesday's announcement in Boise. "She's requested that the media respect her privacy and not attempt to contact her until she's prepared to speak to you," Lottery Director Jeff Anderson said at a news conference. -Compiled from Daily wire reports Obama goes to Arizona for memorial AP In this frame grab image taken from amateur video and acquired by APTN protesters are seen amid a burning vehicle in Douz, Tunisia, Wednesday Jan. 12, 2011. Tunisians protest in capital,. 23 dead President Obama visits wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Thrust into the role of consoler, President Barack Obama yesterday stood at the bedside of wounded law- maker Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and spent private moments with oth- ers who were shot in an assassina- tion attempt against her that has unnerved the nation. He prepared to try to rally the nation's spirit ina memorial for the victims. In an unscheduled stop shortly after landing in Arizona, Obama spent about 10 minutes with Gif- fords and her husband in her hos- pital room. The president and the first lady also met with other vic- tims wounded in the shooting ram- page before moving onto the site of the memorial, where they gathered with families of those who were killed. The president was to speak for roughly 15 minutes toward the end of the memorial, devoting most of his comments to recalling the lives of the victims. In total, 19 people were shot, and six of them killed, in what police say was a bra- zen attempt by a gunman to kill Gif- fords. She was shot point-blank in the head butis expected to survive. Obama planned to use his com- ments to "reflect on how all of us might best honor their memory in our own lives," said his spokes- man, Robert Gibbs. An overflow crowd packed the University ofAri- zona basketball arena for a service that was meant to give voice to the nation's shock, sadness and anger. People erupted into cheers when a panning camera flashed live video screen images of people connected to the story, including Sherriff Clar- ence Dupnik, and Giffords' intern Daniel Hernandez, who is credited with using his own hands to stem the bleeding from her head after the shooting. Searching for the right tone in the evening service, Obama aimed to console the country, not dissect its politics. Giffords was the target of the first assassination attempt on a member of Congress in decades. Inside the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, the president spent about 10 minutes with Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. He also met with four other victims from the shooting, including two of Gif- fords' staff members who were wounded in the rampage. A bipartisan delegation of law- makers had accompanied Obama on Air Force One in a sign of soli- darity; all branches of government were represented on site. Back on Capitol Hill, Giffords' House colleagues praised her and the other shooting victims and insisted that violence would not silence democracy. "We will have the last word," declared new House Speaker John Boehner. He fought back tears as he described Giffords' battle to recov- er from Saturday's gunshot wound to her head. Obama was again playing the role of national consoler that comes to all presidents and, in rare times, helps define them. Youth respond to oppressive gov. by rioting in city TUNISIA (AP) - Tear gas and stone-throwing youths reached the heart of Tunisia's once- calm capital yesterday as rioters desperate for jobs defied their autocratic president in escalat- ing unrest that poses his biggest challenge in 23 years in power. The army deployed armored vehicles around Tunis, and the government imposed a virtu- ally unprecedented curfew to try to quell protests over unem- ployment and political repres- sion that began more than three weeks ago in a central Tunisian town. Outside the capital, at least two deaths were reported from police fire yesterday. The demonstrations have set off clashes with police as they spread around the country, leaving at least 23 dead and shattering Tunisia's image as an island of calm in a region beset by Islamist extremism. The rioting stayed outside the capital until yesterday, when the interior minister was fired and clashes broke out hours later, -ineensifying -ane unprecedented sense of uncertainty about the future of Tunisia's government. European countries issued warn- ings about the increased dangers of travel to the country. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, 74, has maintained an iron grip on Tunisia since grabbing power 23 years ago ina bloodless coup, repressing any challenge to a government many see as cor- rupt and intolerant. The image of stability and religious moderation helps draw millions of mostly European visi- tors a year to the Mediterranean beaches of this small North Afri- can nation, making tourism the mainstay of the economy. But Ben Ali's tight control has also creat- ed the simmering sense of anger and resentment that erupted in the capital and outside it. A witness in the central city of Douz said there were two deaths at a protest there yesterday. Slah Nebti, a 32-year-old French teacher, said he saw "police fire and everyone flee. I saw a man who fell, and everyone surround- ed him, so I filmed him." The video, posted on Face- book, showed the victim lying face-down in a pool of blood. Nebti said he didn't know the victim personally, yet learned his identity when he went with other teachers to meet the man's fam- ily. He identified the victim as a computer science professor who had spent time in France. After Nebti posted the video online, some of the victim's stu- dents contacted him. "They sent me messages to say he was a good teacher and a good man," Nebti said by telephone. In Tunis, hundreds of pro- testers emerged from a suk, or market, in the capital and hurled stones at police at a key intersection. Officers responded with volleys of tear gas, driving the protesters to disperse into adjoining streets. Stores in the area were shuttered. It was not clear whether there were any injuries or arrests. Two army vehicles were post- ed at the intersection, which is right by the French Embassy, and military vehicles patrolled neigh- borhoods on the edges of the capital. The government ordered the army to ensure the overnight curfew is obeyed. In another neighborhood in central Tunis, hundreds of pro- testers tried to reach the region- al governor's office but were blocked by riot police. And at the main national union head- quarters, police surrounded pro- testers who tried to break out. Tensions also erupted along the edges of the capital. The rioting first erupted in mid-December in an inland town after a young man tried to kill himself. They then hopscotched around the country, as social net- works like Facebook spread word of the unrest, circumventing tight control of the media. Police have repeatedly shot at demonstrators setting fire to buildings and stoning police. The government says 23 people have died but unions and witnesses put the toll at 48 or higher. The U.S. calls Tunisia a strong ally in the fight against inter- national Islamist terror groups, which Rex Ali has-c -s ,tly claimed threaten the nation. There has been no indication of a militant Islamist role in the rioting, but Denmark's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that a risk exists of terror attacks against Western interests in Tunisia. Germany's government issued a statement warning of the "danger of kidnapping and attacks, and Spain issued a travel warning urging its citizens to avoid inland Tunisia and to be careful in tourist areas along the coast. Russia invited to tour Iran's nuclear sites. Man protests destruction of oaks Iran also extends invitation to China and Hungary MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has not yet decided whether to accept Iran's invitation to tour its nuclear sites, but believes that such a visit could help ease concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, a senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday. Iran invited several countries - including Russia, China and Hun- gary, which currently holds the European Union's rotating presi- dency - to tour the sites ahead of the next round of international talks on its disputed nuclear pro- gram, now set for Jan. 21-22 in Turkey. The invitation was not extend- ed to the United States or the three European countries - Britain, France and Germany - that have been more critical of Iran. Those four countries also take part in the talks, together with Russia and China. Deputy Foreign Minister Ser- gei Ryabkov said Tuesday that Moscow received Iran's invita- tion "with interest," but had some questions about the proposed tour and was discussing them with the Iranians before makinga decision. "We believe that in the end an optimal solution can be found that would allow for such a visit to take place for the benefit of removing the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program," he said, making Rus- sia's first comments on the Iranian invitation. Iran said the facilities to be vis- ited include the uranium enrich- ment facility at Natanz and the Arak site where it is building a plutonium-producing heavy water reactor. Tree sitter inspires movement against construction of dam ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) - With the sounds of bulldozers echo- ing beneath him, veteran tree sitter John Quigley perched in a century-old oak yesterday, saying he won't come down until public works officials stop felling scores of trees as part of a dam improve- ment project. Quigley, who helped save a beloved oak with a similar sit-in eight years ago, was joined by a handful of other sitters who took up positions in branches overlook- ing 11 acres of picturesque foot- hills. "They're destroying trees all around us," Quigley said by cell phone as the sound of bulldozers below him could be heard. "It's a sad scene and definitely some- thing that didn't need to happen." Public works officials say the 11 acres of trees, some of them more than 100 years old, must go to ensure the integrity of a near- by dam that provides most of the drinking water to the Los Ange- les suburbs of Arcadia and Sierra Madre. As darkness fell about two dozen protesters and curious onlookers including actress Darryl Hannah gathered at a gate leading to a stand of trees being felled. "I came out just to support the community that is trying to put out some common sense and not cut down a paradise for a rubble pit," Hannah said. The actress said she learned of the protest from Quigley, who she has known since she took part in a tree-sitting protest to try to save an urban garden in a warehouse district near downtown Los Angeles that was plowed under in 2006. Hannah, like other environ- mental activists, said the sediment from the Dam could be placed elsewhere, including a huge gravel pit about 10 miles away. Later Wednesday about three dozen people held a candlelight vigil with a moment of silence to express their dismay over the removal of the trees. "We shouldsend some thoughts out to the guys in the trees and the girls in the trees," Hannah said as the silence ended. Los Angeles County Public Works spokesman Bob Spencer said four people were believed to be hiding in the trees and public workers were checking the area treebytree to make sure none was taken down with a person in it. "The safety of all the people here today, the trespassers, the contract workers, the protesters, is of chief importance to us," he said. David Czamanske, vice chair of the Sierra Club's Pasadena group, said deputies had not asked the demonstrators at the gate to dis- perse. The tree-sitters were not affiliated with his group, he said. Spencer said the tree removal project has been in the works for three years and the county has approval from federal and state agencies. He said it must done for the Santa Anita Dam, which was built in 1927, to meetseismic safety standards. Over the years, Spencer said, sediment has built up behind the dam, limiting its water capacity and compromising its safety in the event of an earthquake or other catastrophe. Clearing the 11 acres of oaks and sycamores will create a place- ment area the sediment can be channeled to. Spencer said the dam provides 75 percent of the drinking water used in Arcadia, a city of about 56,000 people, and all of the drinking water for Sierra Madre, where about 10,000 people live. ' L.