The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 3A The Michigan Daily - mictigandailycom Thursday, September 1~, 2011 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Woman disputes removal from Denver flight An airline that reported suspi- cious behavior by two men aboard a flight from Denver on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks said authorities in Detroit removed them - and a female passenger who is half Middle Eastern and claims she was later strip-searched - without con- sulting the pilots or crew. However, airport police and the Transportation Safety Administration said authori- ties responded after getting an in-flight alert from Frontier that three passengers were engaged in suspicious activity. The crew on Frontier Airlines flight 623 followed security pro- tocols on Sunday, spokesman Peter Kowalchuk said in an email yesterday to The Associated Press. WASHINGTON Senate procedural snarl could shut down FAA again A single Republican senator's. objections plus a procedural snarl could force another partial shut- down of the Federal Aviation Administration at the end of this week, potentially putting thou- sands of workers out of jobs and depriving the government of $30 million a day in uncollected air- line ticket taxes. Senate rules don't allow law- makers to shift from the bill they're currently working on, a disaster aid bill, to a stop-gap funding measure for the FAA and highway programs without the consent of all lawmakers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is refusing to give his consent. Coburn wants to change the highway portion of the stopgap transportation bill that the House passed on Tuesday. NEW ORLEANS Man sentenced after lying about Katrina shootings A man who pleaded guilty to lyingto the FBI about what he saw during deadly police shootings on a New Orleansobridge after Hurri- cane Katrina has been sentenced to eight months in prison. Marion David Ryder apolo- gized after sentencing hugged Lance Madison, the brother of the mentally disabled man who was gunned down by police on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the 2005 storm. Madison was arrested after Ryder claimed he shot at him near the bridge. Ryder was posing as a St. Landry Parish sheriff's deputy on the day of the shootings. Federal prosecutors say Ryder never saw any armed residents and lied when he told police that somebody had shot at him. GENEVA Red Cross: At least 13 mass graves found in Libya The International Committee of the Red Cross says at least 13 mass graves have been found in Libya over the past three weeks. The Geneva-based Red Cross says its staff assisted in the recovery of 125 bodies found at 12 Adfferent sites in and around Tri- ? says remains of 34 people we e also recovered from a site in the Nafusa mountain village of Galaa in western Libya. ICRC spokesman Steven Anderson said yesterday that more mass graves are being found every week. The aid group says it is helping ensure the remains are properly recovered so that the identities of the dead can be established and relatives informed. -Compiled from Daily wire reports A demonstrator holds up a sign that reads in Creole "We say no to the occupation, long live free Haiti" during a protest against the U.N. mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday. Protesters calling for the withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers from Haiti clashed with police outside the earthquake-damaged Haitian National Palace. Haitian demonstrators dem--and U.N. removal Sexual assault, cholera outbreak sparked anger toward troops PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Protesters calling for the withdrawal of U.N. peace- keepers from Haiti clashed with police yesterday outside the earthquake-damaged Haitian National Palace. The protesters hurled rocks at Haitian police in riot gear, and the officers responded by firing volleys of tear gas canis- ters toward the crowd of several hundred demonstrators. As the crowd dispersed, many protest- ers fled into the Champs des Mars, the park that became a huge encampment of tents and shanties following the January 2010 earthquake. There did not appear to be any serious injuries among pro- testers, who said they wanted to see a withdrawal of the U.N. troops who have helped keep order in Haiti since 2004, when political violence engulfed the country. But a group of protesters in a university near the plaza carried out a young man to an ambulance; minutes before, pro- testers had lobbed rocks from the building and riot police had fired back with tear gas. A passenger in the ambu- lance said the man had been cut by razor wire. Then the vehi- tle sped off as demonstrators pelted an oncoming riot police truck with stones. Haitian National Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours told The Associated Press that he hadn't received any reports of injuries. Protesters said they were angry over the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old Hai- tian man by U.N. peacekeepers from Uruguay in the southwest- ern town of Port-Salut in July. They also expressed anger over a cholera outbreak likely intro- duced by a battalion from Nepal. The outbreak has killed more than 6,200 people since it sur- faced last October, according to the Health Ministry. "We are doing a peaceful march and asking for MINUS- TAH to leave the country," said protester Christo Junior Cadet, referring to the U.N. force by its French acronym. The U.N. has 12,000 U.N. military and police personnel in Haiti but no peacekeepers were in sight as the protesters clashed with the Haitian police. Haitian President Michel Martelly is expected to ask for a renewal of the U.N. mission's mandate, which expires next month. The peacekeeping force has been a fixture in Haiti following a violent rebellion that ousted former President Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004. The force in Haiti has been a target of com- plaints for years, but the criti- cism has increased in recent weeks after a cell phone video surfaced showing several U.N. soldiers holding down a young Haitian man. It was not imme- diately clear in the video what else the soldiers may have been doing. The Wednesday protest came. the same day the U.N. released a statement saying that Secre- tary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a trio of senior-ranking officials to Haiti to ensure that a "zero- tolerance" policy on misconduct is enforced. The U.N., Haiti and Uruguay are investigating the abuse alle- gations. Economists say rise in sea level would cost Calif. Flooding could three different sea level studies and flood models to reach their cause $52 million conclusions. "We used the best available in damage for science," King said. "We wanted Venice B each to come up with something that could be used by local planners." The San Francisco State SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - study is the latest to predict Economists predict erosion major consequences for Cali- from rising sea levels could cost fornia due to rising seas. In California hundreds of millions 2009, in a report funded by of dollars in lost tourism and three California agencies, the tax revenues as beaches shrink Pacific Institute determined and buildings would have to be that nearly half a million peo- protected,.according to a new ple, wetlands, ecosystems and report. infrastructure would be at risk. A study by San Francisco They estimated that average State University released Tues- projections find that seas would day shows a surge in the Pacif- rise 4 to 5 feet by 2100, causing is Ocean because of climate $100 billion in damage. change, and accompanying One of the communities San storms and erosion, would batter Francisco State profiled was California's shoreline, diminish- Venice Beach, which could lose ing the appeal of coastal areas up to $440 million in tourism and threatening structures with and tax revenue if the Pacific flood damage. Ocean rises 55 inches by 2100. The eroding beaches will also The study found sea level rise destroy scores of animal habi- could cause $52 million in flood tats, the report finds. damage to homes in the Venice "More than 80 percent of Cal- Beach area, and nearly $39 mil- ifornians live in coastal commu- lion in habitat loses. nities, and California's beaches The newsreport also found support local economies and Zuma Beach and Broad Beach critical natural species," said in Malibu could lose up to Philip King, the study's author $500 million in tourism spend- and an economics professor at ing, $28.5 million in damage to San Francisco State. homes and more than $102 mil- The study commissioned by lion in losses to habitat. the California Department of And San Francisco's Ocean Boating and Waterways exam- Beach could see $540 million in ined sea level projections at five damage to land, buildings and beach communities. infrastructure. As the authors note, coastal Naturally, the damage pre- storms and beach erosion are a dicted at each beach community common event that have already differs by its geography, econo- shaped the geography of coastal my and land use decisions made environments. Yet, because sea by local officials. levels are projected to rise and While building seawalls to storms are expected to be more help protect buildings from an intense due to a warming planet, encroaching sea has been one the effects over the next century response, King said, in some are expected to be more signifi- cases, allowing coastline to cant than ever. ...t__rrt or bojegrig fbeaches The study said because of the with plants or other nourish- uncertainty ofhow much the sea ment could be more cost-effec- will rise, the researchers used tive. House Republicans question funding of solar panel company Solyndra Inc. spent stimulus bill would create jobs. But the company has since filed $2 million lobbying for bankruptcy and shed 1,100 workers, saying it couldn't com- federal government pete with foreign manufacturers of solar panels. WASHINGTON (AP)- House Documents reviewe by The Republicans questioned yester- Associated Press show Solyndra day whether the White House spent nearly $2 million lobby- rushed approval of a half-bil- ing the federal government dur- lion-dollar loan guarantee for a ing the last four years, including now-bankrupt solar panel manu- on provisions of the Energy facturer once cited as the kind of Department's loan program just renewable energy company wor- months before White House thy of federal stimulus money. officials urged that the funds be Solyndra Inc. was ,a major approved. presence in Washington and In the first quarter of 2009, spent millions of dollars on lob- Solyndra paid eVIBee Strategic bying there, particularly about Consulting $20,000 to lobby the Energy Department's loan on issues related to the Energy guarantee program. And its Department's loan guarantee executives raised thousands of program, records show, and it dollars for Obama and Demo- paid $30,000- in early 2008 to crans in Congress. Dutko Worldwide to handle The collapse of the Fremont, Solyndra's loan application. Calif.-based company once tout- Republican lawmakers on the ed by President Barack Obama House Energy and Commerce ultimately left taxpayers on the Committee's investigations panel hook for $528 million, raising are questioning why there was questions if the loan was rushed a rush to approve the loan and to accommodateacompanyevent whether the entire loan guaran- in September 2009 that featured tee progranis warranted. "Our Vice President Joe Biden. investigation raises several ques- The congressional panel tions about whether the admin- examining the loan disclosed istration did everything it could emails that appeared to show to protect taxpayer dollars," said senior staff at the Office of Man- the committee's chairman, Rep. agement and Budget chafing Fred Upton, R-Mich. about having to conduct "rushed White House spokesman Jay approvals" of federal loan guar- Carney said the emails don't sug- antees designed to help jump- gest that the White House was start the nation's renewable pushing for the loan tobe made. energy industry. "What the emails make clear "We would prefer to have is there was urgency to make a sufficient time to do our due decision on a scheduling matter. diligence reviews and have the It is a big proposition to move the approval set the date for the president or to put on an event announcement rather than the and that sort of thing so people other way around," said one of were simply looking for answers the emails from an unnamed about whether or not people OMB aide to Biden's office. could move forward," Car- Obama cited Solyndra as an ney told reporters at the White example of how the economic House. USDA to offer meals for low-income children Schools, churches to provide lunches during summer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Food can be scarce around the Mendoza household during the summer. School food service worker Alina Mendoza loses most of her hours and pay at the same time her daughter stops getting free meals at school. That's why Mendoza was excited this summer when a fed- eral grant provided money for her daughter and other children to pick up backpacks full of food each Friday from a local elemen- tary school. The grant was part of $6.3 million the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent this year to try to find new ways of making sure children from low-income families get enough to eat during the summer. Of the 20.6 million children nationwide who receive free or reduced-price lunches, less than one in five get meals when school lets out, according to the USDA. The agency pays schools, churches and other nonprofits to serve summer meals to children in low-income neighborhoods, but that doesn't always work because many children don't have a way to get there each day, said Crystal FitzSimons, who overseas and studies summer nutrition programs for the anti- hunger nonprofit Food Research and Action Center. In other cases, the USDA hasn't been able to find groups willing to run summer meal programs. 11 The loss of school meals also hits some families hard because it comes when they are paying more for child care, FitzSimons said. "Families who are already stretching their dollar to make ends meet find it even harder because now they are having to pay for meals that they don't nor- mally have to pay for," she said. To address the problem, the USDA has been testing a num- ber of new approaches in Kan- sas, Missouri and 11 other states. While some grant recipients sent food home in backpacks, others delivered meals to chil- dren's homes or served them to participants in arts and sports programs. Mendoza, 40, a single mom from Topeka, Kan., said she tries tostockup duringtheschoolyear and stretch her supplies during the summer. But the backpack filled weekly with items such as fruit cups and canned chicken helped. On Cape Cod, the local YMCA dispatched a van to deliver breakfasts and lunches, includ- ing low-fat milk, locally grown fruits and vegetables, and easy- to-prepare entrees. The meals, delivered two or three at a time, fed 110 children seven days a week. Many of the children's parents are unemployed or hold low- paying service jobs in the area's booming tourism industry. Alberta Glover of Hyannis, Mass., was out of work and tak- ing classes until she recently started a job as an assistant in a medical office. Her two chil- dren - ages 9 and 13 - received meals. "The program was a big help," Glover said. "They were getting whole grains, fruits, dairy and vegetables." The USDA began testing alternative ways of delivering summer meals last year. New data show the number of meals served to children in Arkansas jumped 40 percent from 2009 to 2010 after the USDA began pro- viding an extra 50 cents per meal to entice groups to offer meals for a bigger chunk of the sum- mer. USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel said a common problem has been groups shutting down meal programs up to a month before school starts. In Arkansas, the state also helped in 2010 by providing transportation for welfare fami- lies and kicking in extra money so adults could eat with their children. In Mississippi, the number of meals served increased by 5 per- cent from 2009 to 2010 after the USDA gave some groups extra money to lure children with edu- cational and recreational activi- ties. The Mennonite Service Center in rural Macon drew - and was able to feed - 50 to 60 children a day with a mix of art, music and sports programs. Other states - Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon and Texas - have piggy-backed on food stamp and other aid pro- grams to try to help hungry chil- dren. Arizona and Ohio tested sending food home in backpacks, and Delaware and New York also got grants to deliver food to chil- dren's homes.