The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 19, 2011- 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October19, 2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
FBI investigates
Wayne County
severence deal
A controversial severance deal
that initially paid an outgoing
economic development director
$200,000 before she was told
by Wayne County's executive to
return the money is being inves-
tigated by federal officials.
The FBI is now looking into
the recently nullified agreement
between Turkia Mullin and the
county, according to John Sellek,
a spokesman for Michigan Attor-
ney General Bill Schuette.
Mullin received $134,000 in
net pay from the deal when she
left her job to take over as chief
executive of Detroit Metropoli-
tan Airport.
The deal upset many county
employees who have been forced
to take pay cuts as Wayne Coun-
tybattles a $160 million accumu-
lated budget deficit.
"Attorney General Schuette ...
has full faith in the FBI to con-
duct a thorough investigation,"
Sellek said in a statement Tues-
day.
DETROIT
Ford employees
approve new four-
year contract
Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. factory
workers have approved a new
four-year labor contract.
Workers in Louisville, Ky.,
approved the agreement yester-
day, according to a post on the
Louisville local's Facebook page.
That was the last large local to
vote, and it ensures the agree-
ment will go into effect.
The contract covers 41,000
Ford workers in the U.S. The
automaker and the UAW reached
the agreement Oct. 4, but it need-
ed to be ratified by workers.
Most workers won't get annu-
al raises under the contract,
but they will get profit-sharing
checks.They'll also get a $6,000-
bonus for approving the agree-
ment and billions in investments
in their plants.
SEATTLE, Wash.
Scientists test
salmon for deadly
marine virus
Scientists in Washington state
are working to improve testing
of a deadly, contagious marine
virus as a precaution, after the
virus was detected in wild salm-
on for the first time on the West
Coast.
Researchers with Simon Fra-
ser University in British Colum-
bia and elsewhere announced
Monday they had found the
influenza-like virus in two juve-
nile sockeye salmon collected
from the province's central
coast. The virus, which doesn't
affect humans, has caused losses
at fish farms in Chile and other
areas, and could have devastat-
ing impacts on wild salmon in
the region and other species that
depend on them, the researchers
said.
BRUSSELS
NATO considers
ending Libyan
bombing campaign
NATO said yesterday it is
considering ending its bombing
campaign in Libya but the deci-
sion must consider the threat
pro-Moammar Gadhafi fighters
still pose to civilians.
Some have speculated that the
North Atlantic Council, NATO's
top decision-making body, will
declare an end to the 7-month-
old Libyan operation when it
meets today.
But a diplomat said France
and Britain have insisted that
the bombing campaign continue
until Libya's new authorities are
able to assume responsibility for
security nationwide. The diplo-
mat spoke on condition of ano-
nymity, given the sensitivity of
the matter.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
California rail
companies sued
for pollution
Suit alleges train
diesel exhaust is
responsible for
health problems
LOS ANGELES (AP) - When
the lump on her toddler's tummy
turned out to be a rare cancer,
Carla Hernandez wondered if liv-
ing just a half-mile from two rail
yards emitting a constant veil of
near-invisible pollution was some-
how responsible.
"When she was diagnosed they
kept asking me if I smoked or if
anyone smoked around her, but no
one did," said Hernandez, sitting
beside her 4-year-old daughter,
who was sleeping after her latest
treatment at Children's Hospital
Los Angeles.
Such accounts of families and
children living near transporta-
tion corridors and experiencing
health problems helped prompt a
conservation group and two envi-
ronmental justice groups filed a
lawsuit yesterday against two of
the nation's biggest railroad com-
panies.
The Natural Resources Defense
Council filed the suit under a
unique legal theory that die-
sel exhaust is hazardous waste
and companies should be held
accountable for health problems
suffered by residents living near
rail yards.
The lawsuit filed in federal
court against Union Pacific
Corp. and BNSF Railway Co.
accuses the companies of vio-
lating the Resource Conserva-
tion and Recovery Act, which
regulates hazardous solid waste
disposal. The lawsuit alleges
problems at 17 rail yards across
California, from Oakland to San
Bernardino.
The conservation group
claims minute particles in die-
sel exhaust, including lead,
cadmium, arsenic and other
toxic elements, are solid waste.
If the novel suit is successful, a
senior attorney with the council
believes it could open the door
for legal action against similar
air pollution sources such as
ports, airports or anyplace with
a lot of diesel equipment.
"We really believe it's haz-
ardous and a product of the rail
company's operations," said
Angelo Logan, executive direc-
tor for East Yard Communities
for Environmental Justice, one
of the litigants. "It's being emit-
ted into the air and the local resi-
dents have to bear the brunt of
the toxic waste the locomotives
and other equipment are produc-
ing."
Lena Kent, a spokeswoman for
Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF,
called the lawsuit unreasonable
and said the railroad has spent
hundreds of millions of dollars to
reduce emissions and replace out-
dated locomotives.
"The NRDC and environmen-
tal justice groups have refused
to acknowledge any of the work
we've done," she said. "They're
beingunreasonable and it's anoth-
er attempt to attack the region's
goods movement industry."
Aaron Hunt, a spokesman for
Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacif-
ic, said the railroad had not yet
seen the filing but "Union Pacific
remains in compliance with state
and federal regulations."
A man washes coins donated to protesters while participating in the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park, New
York on Friday.
OccpyWall Street
has raised $435K
Majority of from blankets to cans of food to
swium goggles to protect them
funds donated at from pepper spray - some
stored in a cavernous space on
Manhattan park Broadway a block from Wall
Street.
NEW YORK (AP) - After Though the money is a pit-
a month of bashing banks and tance compared to the profits
other corporations, the Occupy of many corporations that the
Wall Street movement has had activists blame for the nation's
to become a money manager financial woes, it's growing.
itself. Roughly $8,000 is now coming
It has $435,000 - most of it in every day just from the lock
from online credit-card dona- boxes set up to take donations
tions, but $85,000 of it has been at Zuccotti Park, Prince said.
donated in person at the Man- More is coming through the
hattan park that's become the mail and online.
epicenter of the global "anti- "It's way more support than
greed" protests, said Darrell we ever thought would come
Prinme---ant--activist using his in," Prince said.
business background to keep The cash flow has forced
track of the daily donations. changes in the "finance work-
Handling the money, and inggroup" that arose spontane-
figuring out what to do with it, ously among the self-governed
could prove to be one of the big- protesters to handle the move-
gest challenges for a movement ment's money. Buckets were
united by anger more than by once used to collect park dona-
strategy, and devoted to build- tions, and until recently, a
ing consensus among activists 21-year-old art student played a
with wide-ranging goals. key role in the working group.
The protesters have been Prince, who has worked in
spending about $1,500 a day on sales, said the group is gaining
food, and also just covered a financial expertise. He said the
$2,000 laundry bill for sleeping volunteers they recruit for the
bags and jackets and sweaters. work generally "have experi-
They've spent about $20,000 on ence running their own busi-
equipment such as laptops and nesses or have worked in the
cameras, and costs associated industry."
with streamingvideo of the pro- They've also been getting
test on the Internet. help from a nonprofit group.
And they don't just have Occupy Wall Street officially
money donations. They have became a project of the Wash-
a mountain of donated goods, ington, D.C.-based Alliance
for more information call 734/615-6449
The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science,
and the Arts presents a public lecture and reception
for Global Justice on Sept. 28,
11 days after protesters began
camping out at the park. The
status allows the alliance to
process donations on the move-
ment's behalf, and makes it
responsible for tax reporting.
"They approached us after
people started wanting to
give them money," said Chuck
Kaufman, a coordinator for the
alliance.
LSA
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Rackham Amphitheater
4:10m
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