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Wednesday, September 21, 2011// The Statement 3B
news in review
Five of the most talked-about stories of the week, ranked in ascending order of actual importance
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Cryos International, the largest
sperm bank in the world, reported
on Monday that it is turning away
sperm donors with red hair due to
a lack of demand. The director of
the sperm bank said the only real
demand is in Ireland.
Full Tilt Poker, an online gambling President Barack Obamaannouced Troy Davis was denied clemency Afghan Peace Council Chief and
website, was accused yesterday of on Monday his plan to cut $320 on Tuesday from the Georgia State former Afghan president Burhan-
stealing $440 million out of online billion of proposed spending on Board of Pardons and Paroles in uddin Rabbani was assasinated in
users' winnings and filtering the Medicare and Medicaid over the attempts to thwart death row Kabul yesterday night when a sui-
funds to the board members and next decade. This is a part of his by lethal injection. Davis was cide bomber infiltrated his home.
owners of the website. The site new deficit-reduction package to convicted in 1989 of shooting Rabbani was trying to negotiate a
has been stealing since 2007. reduce the deficit by $3 trillion. poilce officer Mark MacPhail. peace agreement with the Taliban.
ersiuys mace ner meals as arroraaw cas
possible.
"I know how to make the cheapest
macaroni and cheese," Oudersluys said.
"It's a package of Ramen noodles and a
slice of American cheese."
A part of the federally funded Sup-
plemental Nutrition Assistance Pro-
gram, the Bridge Card is the most
recent and modern form of govern-
ment-issued food stamps. Food stamps
originated with the anti-poverty Food
Stamp Act of 1964 signed by President
Lyndon B. Johnson when crop sur-
pluses coincided with high levels of
hunger in the country. The government
could give food to the needy and help
farmers move their crops. Since then,
food stamps have gone through many
reforms to become the Bridge Card,
but still serve the purpose of providing
food to those who may otherwise not be
able to get it.
Oudersluys has had a Bridge Card
since February and feels she can eat
healthier because of it - abandon-
Recipients of Bridge Cards have
money deposited into their Bridge card
accounts by the federal government
every month on a scheduled date. Gen-
erally. for students like Oudersluys, the
amount is $200. However, the amount
is dependent on how many people the
card is supporting. The card is similar
to a debit card except funds can only be
used to purchase food - not prepared
meals, cigarettes or alcohol. When the
card is used at the checkout, if any of
the prohibited items are being pur-
chased, the card will recognize those
items and not allow the funds to pay for
them.
Oudersluys said she heard about the
Bridge Card Program through a friend
who also had the card.
"It's extremely helpful because I
don't have to worry about when I'm
going to be able to buy groceries or
when am I actually going to be able to
eat food," Oudersluys said. "It's one less
thingI don't have stressing me out any-
more."
In 2009, The New York Times col-
lected information about Bridge Card
usage in every county. In Washtenaw
County, 9 percent of the population,
or 30,224 people, were SNAP recipi-
ents compared to neighboring Wayne
County, which had 427,676 people, or
22 percent of its population receiving
food assistance.
According to the Food Research and
Action Center, the state of Michigan
received more than $2.8 billion for the
SNAP program from the federal gov-
ernment in 2010. In February, about
1.8 million people in Michigan were
recipients of the money. About 20,000
of them were students.
Previously, status as a college stu-
dent deemed many students eligible for
the program. The federal government
put optional work requirements in the
qualifications for the program. How-
ever, it is up to the state to enforce the
requirements - something Michigan
previously chose not to do. But when
a state bill revisiting the qualifications
passed last spring, the work require-
ments were added to Michigan's pro-
gram qualifications.
Additionally, when state legislators
voted to change the qualifications to
become a part of the SNAP program in
February, the state cracked down on
the number of college students able to
obtain a Bridge Card. Currently, college.
students looking to enter the SNAP pro-
gram must either claim a child as their
dependent or work at least 20 hours
each week, and they may also not be
declared a dependent to their parents.
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quotes of the week from the archives
"I have more power than anybody other than the Sugar cones of spirit
president, in the sense that I can get things changed,
quickly"
BILL O'REILLY, describing himself during an interview with Newsweek,
promoting his new historical thriller about Lincoln's assassination.
"Men loving women and women loving men and
men loving men and women loving women - you all
know we like to watch that. But what I'd like to say
is, God Bless America, y'all!"
DAVID GROHL, FOO FIGHTERS LEAD SINGER, yelling from a truck
during a counter-protest concert against an anti-gay hate church group. cOURTESY OF LONDON DAIRY FARM
Translating an epic rivalry between two schools into innocuous, but scrump-
tious ice cream flavors was a lucrative business eaten up outside the Big
the rules House. In 1987, The Michigan Daily reported on the innovative idea conjured
by London Farm Dairy. ("School's War has spread to ice cream," 10/9/87) The
farm wanted to market their company through rival game day ice cream samples:
No. 317: No. 318: No. 319: Spartan Mint Fudge and Maize n' Berry. At the time, the Spartan flavor was pre-
Avoiding eye If you are in Ann If you're making ferred by most - though Wolverines were embarrassed to admit that they favored
the chocolate-y mint taste.
contact when your Arbor and you him Cookies and The real showdown happened in East Lansing in an intense "Lick Off" on Oct.
professor is cold- have flu-like he's still not dating 9 when the two schools rallied around the opposing ice cream flavors, gauging
calling doesn't symptoms, you're you, stop making which one would disappear at first. This rally in 1987 was the first joint pep rally
between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. Who knew
Work anymore. screwed. him cookies. school pride could be so delicious!
I
- . - - _O _,"Ww_ _" - -
my tax status. They did ask if I had any
supplemental income from things like
family or friends."
He said he applied for the Bridge
Card because he doesn't earn enough to
pay for all the expenses in college.
"I'm working 17 hours a week and
taking 18 credit hours of class, and I'm
still not making enough to pay tuition
and rent and I needed a little break
somewhere," he said.
To get the card, he had to fill out an
application online and then participate
in a half hour phone interview. After
that, the card was mailed to him with
the funds already in his Bridge Card
account and ready to be used. The last
step in the process will be for him to
send photocopies of official documents,
including his paycheck, to validate the
information he submitted on his appli-
cation.
"It wasn't obvious (what the qualifi-
cations were)," he said. "The fact that I
got the card in the mail surprised me.
by the numbers
COURT ESY OF MSNBC
O° Liters of semen that Cryos International Percent of Scotland's population that is Donors that are on the waitlist at Cyros
can hold at one time. The company recently redheaded. There are approximately 6 to International Sperm Bank because of the
reached capacity at 14,000 donations. 18 million of redheads in the U.S. recent influx of donations.