The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
MILWAUKEE
Coal ash spills into
Lake Michigan
A spokesman for a Wisconsin
utility confirms debris spilled into
Lake Michigan during a landslide
this week contained an unknown
amount of coal ash.
Coal ash is a byproduct of
burning coal. It contains low con-
centrations of arsenic, selenium,
lead and mercury but isn't classi-
fied as hazardous.
We Energies spokesman Brian
Manthey said yesterday it's too
early to know how much coal
ash ended up in the lake. He
says the majority stayed on land
and debris in the water has been
largely contained.
A scientist with a freshwater
institute in Milwaukee says any
environmental damage to Lake
Michigan probably will be limited
to the immediate area of the spill.
The spill happened Monday
when a section of cliff gave way
at the utility's coal-fired power
plant near Milwaukee.
ATLANTA
More than 40
Atlanta schools to
lose federal status
Georgia has revoked the fed-
eral standing for more than 40
Atlanta elementary and middle
schools named in a massive cheat-
ing scandal.
The Georgia Department of
Educationreleased datayesterday
morning showing that a hand-
ful of the schools have lost their
status under the federal No Child
Left Behind Act dating back to
2001. The majority of the schools
had their standing yanked for
only 2009.
That means the schools can
face sanctions under federal law
andmayhaveto returnthousands
of dollars in federal money for
each year they reported inflated
test scores.
It's the first time the state has
released the federal standing for
Atlanta schools since July, when
state investigators revealed wide-
spread cheating in nearly half of
the district's 100 schools.
WASHINGTON
Senators offer
* plan to keep Postal
Service solvent
Senators announced a bipar-
tisan plan yesterday to help keep
the financially ailing Postal Ser-
vice solvent and continue six-day
mail delivery for at least two more
years.
The proposal would lift the
agency "from the brink of bank-
ruptcy," said Sen. Joe Lieberman,
chairman of the Senate Home-
land and Governmental Affairs
Committee.
The Postal Service lost $8 bil-
lion last year and could report
even larger losses when its 2011
budget year report comes out in
mid-November.
"We're not crying wolf here"
about the agency, said Sen. Susan
Collins of Maine, the top Republi-
can on the committee.
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan ready to
normalize trade
with India
Pakistan says it has decided
to normalize trade relations
with its giant rival and neighbor
India.
Information Minister Firdous
Ashiq Awan says the Cabinet
yesterdays approved a decision
to give India the status of the
"Most Favored Nation."
The trove is hailed as a posi-
tive first step in normalizing
diplomatic and other links with
India.
The two nuclear-armed coun-
tries have fought three wars
since they were created in 1947.
Granting the most-favored
status means the two countries
can now trade on equal terms,
typically giving each other low
tariffs and high import quotas.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
TSA to expand
test for faster
airport security
KHALID MOHAMMED/AP
US. soldiers begin their journey home at al-Asad airbase, west of Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday. The U.S. has promised to
withdraw from Iraq by the end of the year as required by a 2008 security agreement.
Brigade headed to Kuwait
as other troops withdrawal
About 280,000
frequent fliers in
program
WASHINGTON (AP) - Test-
ing for a new program aimed at
getting certain travelers through
airport security with less hassle
has gone so well that the Obama
administration plans to expand it
to another round of airports and
travelers, the government said
yesterday.
The expanded testing will not
affect most travelers expected to
crowd the airports during this
year's busy Thanksgiving travel
season. But the government has
made other changes in the past
year that could make for a less
intrusive trip through airport
security.
Invasive pat-downs and full-
body imaging machines are still
a central part of the air traveler's
experience in the U.S.
But now children 12-and-under
are less likelyto be patted down or
forced to take off their shoes. And
about half of the full-body imag-
ing machines have been upgraded
to show an outline of a person
instead of a blurry naked image,
a feature of all new machines the
government purchases, Trans-
portation Security Administrator
John Pistole told Congress.
The pre-screening test pro-
gram and policy changes repre-
sent the Obama administration's
attempts at a more risk-based,
intelligence-driven passenger
screening program aimed at
responding to complaints that the
government is not using common
sense when it screens all travelers
the same way at airports.
Details of which airports and
airlines would be eligible for the
next round of testing for the pre-
screening program are still being
hammered out, Pistole said. Cur-
rently about 280,000 frequent
fliers from American and Delta
airlines - the two airlines eligi-
ble for the first round of testing -
are participating in the program,
accordingto TSA. The program is
being tested at airports in Atlan-
ta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami.
"This new screening system
holds great potential to strength-
en security while significantly
enhancing the travel experience,
whenever possible, for passen-
gers," Pistole said in a prepared
statement at a hearing before the
Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee.
But some enhanced security
measures put in place at U.S. air-
ports sincethe 2001 terrorattacks
continue to be controversial.
Some travelers and privacy
advocates object to the intimate
pat-down, a measure Pistole
called for to give screeners the
best chance at catching some-
one hiding a bomb in his under-
wear like the man authorities say
nearly brought down an airliner
over Detroit onChristmas Day in
2009.
Also, not everyone is comfort-
able going through a full-body
imaging machine that produces
a blurry image of their naked
bodies so that TSA screeners can
check for contraband. And there
are still complaints about having
to take off shoes to go through the
machines.
4,000 U.S. soldiers
to remain in Iraq
until year's end
WASHINGTON (AP) -
While all but a small number of
U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by
the end of the year, they won't
all be home for the holidays as
President Barack Obama prom-
ised last month.
The Pentagon is poised to
move at least 4,000 soldiers
from Iraq to Kuwait at the end
of the year, pending a final deci-
sion expected soon by Pentagon
and Kuwaiti leaders, U.S. offi-
cials said yesterday.
The move is part of a still-
developing Pentagon strategy
that ends the Iraq war but posi-
tions a strong U.S. force just
across the border in Kuwait and
across the region to reinforce
the United States' commitment
to the Middle East and prevent
a power vacuum when the tens
of thousands of U.S. forces who
have served in Iraq are gone.
According to officials, the 1st
Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division,
which is currently in Iraq, will
be shifted to Kuwait, where
troops will be close enough to
serve as a quick reaction force
if needed in Iraq or any of the
nearby countries. The officials
spoke on condition of anonym-
ity because the decision has not
been finalized by Defense Sec-
retary Leon Panetta.
The plan to beef up U.S. pres-
ence in Kuwait also must be
approved by the Kuwaiti lead-
ers, although most officials do
not believe that will be a prob-
lem. The U.S. has had a sub-
stantial presence in Kuwait for
years, even before the start of
the Iraq war.
Other plans still under dis-
cussion would affect several
Army National Guard units that
are scheduled to go to Iraq in
the coming weeks. It is not yet
clear whether they will be told
to go to Iraq and return home in
two months or if they will sim-
ply stay. home or be deployed
elsewhere - such as Kuwait,
other nations in the region or
even other posts in the U.S.
Pentagon officials have been
clear all along that they expect
to continue and expand U.S.
military relations with coun-
tries in the Middle East, partic-
ularly as a hedge against Iran.
And Panetta has said that he
expect that about 40,000 U.S.
troops to be stationed across
the Middle East after troops are
pulled out of Iraq.
Over the next two months,
the U.S. will methodically with-
draw the remaining 34,000 or
so American forces from Iraq as
Obama pledged. The final exit
date was sealed after months of
intensive talks between Wash-
ington and Baghdad failed to
reach agreement on conditions
for leaving several thousand
U.S. troops in Iraq as a train-
ing force. The U.S. also had
been interested in keeping a
small force to help the Iraqis
deal with possible Iranian med-
dling.
So late last month, Obama
announced that the eight-year
Iraq war would be over by year's
end, and he declared that all
U.S. troops "will definitely be
home for the holidays."
That vow is now changed a
bit, as the 1st Cavalry Brigade,
which is based at Fort Hood,
Texas, will spend some months
in Kuwait, while U.S. leaders
grapple with how to redistrib-
ute troops around the region
for the long term.
Egypt pardons 334
sentenced in military
tribunals since Feb.
Nonpartisan group has Plan
B for picking 2012 candidate
Move part of
effort to maintain
communication
with youth in revolt
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's rul-
ing generals announced yester-
day the pardon of 334 Egyptian
civilians who were sentenced in
military tribunals since the upris-
ing that toppled President Hosni
Mubarak in February.
In a statement posted on its
Facebook page yesterday, the
Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces said the move was to sup-
port "the continued communi-
cation with the great Egyptian
people and the youth of the revo-
lution."
It did not say what those par-
doned were sentenced for or when
they would be released. It said the
names would be released later.
At least 12,000 people have
been tried by military courts since
January. Human rights groups
and Egyptian activists have
harshly criticized the practice.
The U.S. government has also
called on Egypt to try civilians in
civilian courts.
Late Wednesday, an Egyptian
border guard was wounded by
gunfire when a group of African
migrants assisted by Bedouin
smugglers attempted to infiltrate
across the border into Israel, the
state news agency MENA said.
American Elect
to offer alternate
candidates in all
50 states
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lots
of people complain about the
shortcomings of the country's
two-party system for picking a
president. Now a nonpartisan
group is gathering millions of
petition signatures - and dollars
- to offer people a Plan B.
Americans Elect, which grew
out of a failed 2008 effort to pro-
vide an alternative in the presi-
dential race, aims to secure a slot
on the November ballot in all 50
states for a to-be-determined
candidate who would be nomi-
nated in the nation's first online
convention next summer.
The group, whose backers
include both Republicans and
Democrats anxious to open up
the political process, has raised
$22 million so far and secured
ballot slots in Florida, Alaska,
Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and
Michigan. It has submitted sig-
natures for certification in Cali-
fornia, Utah and Hawaii.
Americans Elect, whose slo-
gan is "pick a president, not a
party," appears to be on track to
secure ballot access across the
country, with 1.9 million signa-
tures collected so far. But how it
will affect the 2012 race depends
on what kind of candidate its
delegates select in next June's
online convention, which will be
open to any registered voter.
"It's a fascinating experiment
in trying to empower the disen-
franchised center in American
politics," says Will Marshall,
one of the group's leaders and
the president of the Progressive
Policy Institute, a centrist Dem-
ocratic think tank. "It uses the
power of the Internet and social
media to provide a new means
for political participation."
Even Marshall admits,
though, that he approaches the
effort with some trepidation.
"I'd hate to see a scenario in
which a vibrant third choice in
some way threw the 2012 elec-
tion to a right-winger like a Rick
Perry or a Michele Bachmann,"
he says.
Americans Elect rejects the
notion its candidate could turn
out to be a spoiler and says that
putting the choice in the hands
- or clicks - of millions of reg-
istered voters will ensure the
selection of a qualified nomi-
nee. Leading candidates for
the group's nomination will be
required to choose a running
mate who is not from their own
party to ensure political balance,
it says.
Mark McKinnon, a GOP strat-
egist who advised George W.
Bush in his presidential cam-
paign, says he got involved in
the effort because "the system
is broken and the traditional
parties are only making a bad
situation worse." He sees the
Americans Elect effort as a rei-
magining of democracy and how
the country selects its leaders.
Getting on the ballot in all 50
states isn't all that unusual: The
New Alliance Party's Lenora
Fulani did in 1988. The Libertar-
ians have done it multiple times.
But none of them garnered a big
share of the vote.
Other outsider candidates
have been more successful: Ross
Perot got 19 percent of the vote in
1992 and 8 percent in 1996; John
Anderson, 7 percent in 1980: and
George Wallace, 13 'percent in
1968.