The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, December 8, 201- 3A NEWS BRIEFS LANSING, Mich. Michigan Senate bans domestic partner benefits Republicans who control the Michigan Senate have approved bills aimed at blocking the offer- ingoftaxpayer-paid health insur- ance to domestic partners living with some public employees. The main bill in the package passed by a 27-9 vote yesterday, with only Democrats in opposi- tion. It returns with changes to the House, which approved the bill earlier this year. The legislation would pro- hibit some public employers from extending health benefits to unmarried partners of employees, whether they are of the same sex or opposite sex. It would apply to public schools, local governments and some state employees. It would not apply to public universities, which have consti- tutional power to determine their own policies. SEATTLE Nations marks 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich looks back at the crowd and waves as he returns home with his wife Patti is Chicago, yesterday, after he was sentenced by Judge James Zagel to14 years in prison for his convictions on 18 corruption counts. Blagojevich gets 14- year prison sentence Events held to remember 2,390 Americans who died in attack PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) - In wheelchairs and on walkers, the old veterans came yesterday to remember the day 70 years ago when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But FDR's "date that will live in infamy" is becoming a more distantmemory. Fewer and fewer veterans who experienced the attack on Dec. 7, 1941, are alive to mark the anni- versaries and most of them are in their 90s, many prevented by health problems from traveling to Hawaii. One survivors' group said it would disband because age and infirmity made it too dif- ficult to carry on. "People had other things that they wanted to do with the remainder of their lives," Pearl Harbor Survivors Association president William Muehleib said. "It was time." The 2,390 Americans who died in the attacks are not forgot- ten. Besides Pearl Harbor, there are remembrances elsewhere. In Phoenix, the goal every year isto draw 1,177 people - the number who died on the USS Arizona - to march through the city, but organizers don't come close to that anymore. Just 45 people showed up last year. Yesterday, about 300 people gathered for a mile-long remem- brance walk, carrying miniature U.S. flags and tags bearing the names of Pearl Harbor casualties. "As time goes by, it might actually fade. This may be the last significant anniversary when we could thank a survivor. Get out there. Get your chance to thank them," event chairman Ben Ernyei said. Those who made it to Pearl Harbor were treated to a hero's reception. The 5,000 spectators whistled, shouted and applauded loudly as the 120 or so survivors stood to be recognized, and oth- ers asked for autographs and took photos with them. Muehleib said local chapters of his group will function as long as they have members and sur- vivors can gather socially, but they will no longer have a for- mal, national organization. He also predicted survivors would attend future commemorations at Pearl Harbor. The association - founded in 1958 - has 2,700 members, he said. There are an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Pearl Harbor sur- vivors. President Barack Obama hailed the veterans in a state- ment proclaiming yesterday as "National Pearl Harbor Remem- brance Day." "Their tenacity helped define the Greatest Generation and their valor fortified all who served during World War II," he said. "As a nation, we look to December 7, 1941, to draw strength from the example set by these patriots and to honor all who have sacrificed for our free- doms." Sen. Daniel Inouye,D-Hawaii, witnessed the attacks as a young man in Honolulu and fought in World War II, losing his right arm in combat and earning the Medal of Honor. "As we continue to lose mem- bers of the Greatest Generation, those who witnessed the attack, lived through the war and saw the world change, we must remember the events of Decem- ber 7," he said ina speech on the Senate floor. Occupy movement F protests move to foreclosed homes The Occupy Wall Street pro- tests are moving into the neigh- borhood. Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming fore- closed homes and boarded-up properties as they find it increas- ingly difficult to camp in public spaces. Groups in more than 25 cities held protests yesterday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions. In Atlanta, protesters attempt- ed to disrupt an auction of seized homes. New York protesters ral- lied outside a Brooklyn foreclosed house and said a group of home- less people were going to move in to the building. The events reflect the protest- ers' lingering frustration over the housing crisis that has sent mil- lions of homes into foreclosure after the burst of the housing bubble.. ATLANTA Test scores show improvement in urban schools Students in urban schools are doing better in reading and math, even in Atlanta, which has been embroiled in a cheating scandal on state exams. Federal officials said there was no evidence that the cheat- ing had carried over to the National Assessment of Edu- cational Progress - called the "Nation's Report Card" - and that Atlanta fourth- and eighth- graders have made substantial gains since 2002. The national test is adminis- tered by independent officials rather than by the school dis- trict. Atlanta is one of 21 urban districts that volunteered to be part of the federal testing pro- gram, which is congressionally mandated to gauge how students are performing using a uniform measure. MEXICO CITY Mexico says Gadhafi's son tried to enter country Mexico said yesterday that a son of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and three relatives had plotted to sneak into Mexico under false names and take clandestine refuge at a posh Pacific coast resort. The elaborate plan to bring al- Saadi Gadhafi to Mexico allegedly involved two Mexicans, a Cana- dian and a Danish suspect, all of whom have been detained, Interi- or Secretary Alejandro Poire said. He did not reveal which rela- tives had planned to accompany Al-Saadi Gadhafi, who is known for his love of professional soc- cer and run-ins with police in Europe. -Compiled from Daily wire reports g 01 CH: Blagoj lenged like a politic Tv sh cence, yester to14y tion. Fro vously forme anoth to add Bluste his far hair v his Ju that it Presid Senats In Demo and a Zagel mistal "I c ing an ormer Illinois trying with uncharacteristic humility to avert severe punish- )V. tried to sell ment. "I was the governor and I should have known better and I bama's former am just so incredibly sorry." It was not enough for Zagel, Senate seat who gave the 54-year-old a sen- tence close to the 15 to 20 years ICAGO (AP) - The Rod prosecutors had sought. evich who once chal- "The abuse of the office of d a prosecutor to face him governor is more damaging man, the glad-handing than the abuse of any other tan who took to celebrity office, except the president's," tows to profess his inno- he said. , was nowhere to be found "Whatever good things you 'day as he was sentenced did for people as governor, rears in prison for corrup- and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions wning and pulling ner- when you wanted to use your at his tie, the disgraced powers ... to do things that r governor seemed like were only good for yourself," er person as he stepped up Zagel said. ress the sentencing judge. Blagojevich slumped for- r once as conspicuous as ward in his chair - momen- mously lavish head of dark tarily frozen as the judge vas wiped out, a victim of pronounced the sentence. ne convictions on charges Moments later, his wife, ncluded attempting to sell Patti, fell into his arms; when lent Barack Obama's U.S. he pulled back from their e seat. embrace, he brushed tears a low voice, the two-term from her cheek. crat apologized again "When it is the governor gain, telling Judge James who goes bad," Zagel said, he had made "terrible "the fabric of Illinois is torn kes." and disfigured and not easily aused it all. I'm not blam- repaired." tybody," Blagojevich said, Illinois governors have gone bad with stunning fre- quency. Four of the last nine have been sentenced to prison, including Blagojevich's pre- decessor, George Ryan, who remains behind bars. Blagojevich, who received more than twice as much time as any of the other governors, was also more of a national spectacle - both because of the charges against him, and how he responded to them. In the most notorious of the FBI wiretaps that sealed his fate, Blagojevich is heard crow- ing that his chance to name someone to Obama's Senate seat was "f---ing golden" and he wouldn't let it go "for f---ing nothing." His lawyers claimed the comments were simply "musings," but jurors and the judge agreed they were evi- dence of a crime. Deutsche Bank Agile minds explore all possibilities Holiday wish lists shorter this year I!' Taking your first steps with a global leader will give your career a real head start. Here at Deutsche Bank, we can give you direct access to some of the greatest minds in banking - people who are setting the pace and shaping the future of the entire industry. If you want to make your own mark on our success, join our Analyst Internship Program. Submit your resume by Friday, December 9th. Learn more at db.com/careers/Umichigan Afare.'ovws Parents and Santas careful not to get kids' hopes up RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A job for their mom or dad. Money for the heating bill. Food or a place to live. Maybe gloves or boots. More and more, Santas say the children on their laps are asking for less for themselves - and Santa is promising less as well. With unemployment stub- bornly high, more homes in foreclosure and the economic outlook dim, many children who visit Santa are all too aware of the struggle to make ends meet. "These children understand the conditions around the home when they ask for stuff," said Richard Holden, a 69-year- old Santa from Gastonia, N.C. "They understand when there are other children in the fam- ily, they need to be cautious or thoughtful of them as well and not ask for 10to 12 items." Cliff Snider, who's been play- ing Santa since he was a teen- ager, agrees. "I think the parents are say- ing, 'It's an economic thing. Just list two to three things you real- ly want to have,"' he said. "Par- ents are tryingto encourage the children to be thrifty." And the 64-year-old Snider does his best to help out. When he gets a big-ticket request, he typically responds: "There's an awful lot of children asking for that this year. What else do you want?" At the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School, Santas learn lines like, "Wow, that's a big gift. Is there anything else you might like?" These days, though, Santas are havingto use it less and less. "I think it's becoming more popular not to have that long list," said Tom Valent, dean of the Howard Santa school in Midland, Mich., which gets more than 3,000 letters to Santa a year and just graduat- ed its 75th class. "Families are teaching their children to be as much of a giver as a receiver." Starlight Fonseca has been teaching her five children, ages 5 to 14, "that we're not the only ones who have to cut things back. We're not the only ones struggling." The 31-year-old mother and her husband Jose had been relying on a stipend from the University of Texas law school that Fonseca lost when an ill- ness made it impossible for her to keep her grades up. She'd hoped to graduate in May but was unable to attend school this semester and can't get stu- dent loans due to poor credit. Fonseca tells her kids that "to make it fair for everyone, Santa has to cut back for every- one.... We paint it in a way that Santa is doing the best he can to make everybody happy at Christmas." It's especially hard for the oldest children. "They were two little kids who used to be excited about Christmas, and now they know every gift under the tree should have gone to the utility com- pany," she said. "It shouldn't be that way, but that's where we are now."