The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, December 12, 2011-- 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, December12, 2011 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. Township employee spent stolen funds on lottery tickets The Oakland County Sheriff's Department says a bookkeeper embezzled $110,000 from a sub- urban Detroit electrical contrac- tor and used the stolen money to buylotterytickets. The department says 47-year- old Waterford Township resident Steven Sharrard was arraigned Friday in Pontiac District Court on embezzlement charges and freed on a $50,000 bond. He's due back in court on Thursday. The sheriff's department says Sharrard worked as a bookkeeper at Moote Electric in Pontiac and had been employed there about 12 years. The department says its detec- tives found that he took $110,000 over the past year. BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas U.S. proposes new border regulations with Mexico The U.S. is proposing its first unmanned border crossing with Mexico in a remote stretch of West Texas. Federal officials tout the port of entry in Big Bend National Park as a security upgrade, not- ing that wading across the shal- low Rio Grande undetected is all too easy. By the spring, kiosks could open up allowing people from the tiny Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen to scan their identity documents and talk to a customs officer in another location, at least 100 miles away. Authorities say extra Border Patrol agents would be stationed in the park if the crossing is approved. A public comment period runs through Dec. 27 on the estimated $2.3 million project, which has support from both countries. SACRAMENTO, Calif. * Calif. psychologist accused of faking her own rape Authorities allege a woman was so determined to convince her husband of a need to move to a safer neighborhood that she faked being raped. She split her own lip with a pin, scraped her knuckles with sand- paper, had her friend punch her in the face, and even wet her pants to give the appearance she had been knocked unconscious, authorities said Friday. Charges filed by the Sacramen- to County district attorney allege Laurie Ann Martinez, a prison psychologist, conspired with the friend to create the appearance that she was beaten, robbed and raped by a stranger in April in her Sacramento home. MEXICO CITY Mexico hit by 6.5-magnitude earthquake A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck in Mexico's western Guer- rero state, shaking buildings and causing panic in the nation's capi- tal and the Pacific resort of Aca- pulco. Officials said at least three people died, but there were no reports of widespread damage. The U.S. Geological Service initially estimated the quake at magnitude at 6.8, but downgrad- ed it to 6.7 and then 6.5. A quake of that magnitude is capable of causing severe damage, although the depth of this temblor lessened its impact. The USGS said the quake occurred at 6:47 p.m. Saturday at a depth of 40.3 miles (64.9 kilo- meters). It was centered about 26 miles (42 kilometers) south- west of Iguala in Guerrero and 103 miles (166 kilometers) south- southwest of Mexico City. Mexico's Interior Department said the quake was felt in parts of nine states. -Compiled from Daily wire reports RELAXATION STATION PAUL SHERMA LSA junior Patricia Haslinger and LSA freshman Holly Eschenburg recieve massages at the Trotter Multicultural Center as a part of the 72 Hour Study Break on Friday night. BUDGET From Page 1A do harm to institutions right now by saying, 'OK, suddenly we're going to have a formula that seems wills-nill." very specific in those measure- ments. "We're not at all opposed to performance-based funding. yia bcii 1 y-11 . pc v iai~-ac ui lg, Regents last month, University Coleman suggested using the Hanlon said. "How the formu- President Mary Sue Coleman Carnegie Classification of Insti- la's constructed is really impor- wrote that the state should put tutions of Higher Education to tant, and an important piece is more emphasis on academic decide the state's appropriated that it captures performance performance, rather than just funds. The system groups com- and not activity." fulfil criteria like graduation parable universities and has Last month Coleman and and retention rates. controls for institutional differ- Hanlon sent a letter to Nixon's In an interview with The ences, making it a useful tool in office voicing their concerns Michigan Daily last week, Cole- analyzing various universities. regarding the formula. man echoed her previous state- Because the state's formula Nixon told the Daily he's ments and said she's worried is still being developed, Nixon "not offended by the letter," about the equality of the new said he wasn't able to comment but added the formula's devel- funding plan. on specifics details. However, opment is based on realistic "I've never seen a formula he said the formula will include options for the state. that could be fair," Coleman performance-based metrics "We are dealing with a cer- said in her office-on the second like graduation rates. tain set of realities as we put floor of the Fleming Admin- In an interview with the together the budget and those istration Building. "I'm very Daily last week University Pro- realities are that we aren't flush concerned since the funding vost Phil Hanlon said though with cash," Nixon said. "So as level in the state is the bottom the University supports perfor- you look at the resources we 10 percent in the nation among mance metrics, the construc- have, you have to take great states, that somehow we would tion of the formula must be care in allocating them." U.S. Postal Service cuts jobs amnidfinncialstrife PETA continues to use pigs in intuba- PTagetion training. From Page lA In an e-mail sent to the Daily on Friday, David Perle, senior lems or the inability to find a media coordinator for PETA, new home prevented some adop- wrote that PETA was pleased tions," the statement said. with the University's decision The statement added that to replace cats with intubation while the University's main pri- simulators. ority has been to provide quality "Lost, stolen and homeless training to flight nurses through pets will no longer have hard the Survival Flight course, it plastic tubes repeatedly forced aims to reduce the number of down their delicate windpipes, animals used in research and before finally being killed," Perle educational initiatives. wrote. "(The University) is commit- He added PETA will continue ted to the principles known as to campaign to stop the use of the "3 Rs" - reducing the pigs in intubation training at the number of animals used to the University. minimum necessary, replacing LSA junior Akshay Verma, the use of animals with director of the student organi- other options whenever pos- zation Michigan Animal Rights sible and refinement of practices Society, said while she was glad to ensure the most humane to hear that the course will no conditions possible," the state- longer be using live cats intrain- ment said. ing, she is disappointed that the Howeverthe FOIA data shows use of pigs will persist. that the University uses cats "For me, I think the grossest from R&R Research, an animal injustice is that it was unneces- dealer currently under inves- sary," Verma said. tigation by the United States He added he believes the med- Department of Agriculture for ical problems the cats endured criminal charges of selling stolen that led to their eventual eutha- and undocumented pets. nization were likely a result "The records show that (the of their use in the University's University) obtains the cats training. from R&R Research - a notori- In May, more than 100,000 ous 'Class B' animal dealer that signatures were compiled for a obtains lost, stray and aban- petition to end the use of cats in doned cats and dogs from animal Survival Flight training. MARS shelters as well as from undocu- and PETA have campaigned mented 'random sources,' the against the use of animals in PETA release states. the Survival Flight training pro- According to the University's gram for years, garnering sup- statement, no cats have been port from the Michigan Student used in intubation training since Assembly and appealing to the July. However, Survival Flight University Board of Regents. domain names for any purpose. DOMAINS "The University has absolutely From Page 1A no intention of creating web- sites in this new .xxx domain," Fitzgerald said. it as a bit of an insurance policy The University owns a total on the Internet." of 470 domain names, but 50 of The .xxx domain names those names only protect the became available for purchase institution from being used by last Tuesday, the same day the another entity. For example, the University filed for a number of University owns michigandif- the names it ultimately procured. ference.org, michigandifference. "By opening up this new sort com and michigandifference.net, of new section of the Internet, but only michigandifference.org if you will, it kind of reopens is a functional website. The oth- the whole naming convention," ers direct users to the website. Fitzgerald said. "So that's the According to Fitzgerald, this reason that we took these sort of avoids confusion for users decid- additional steps, just to protect ing which website to visit to find the reputation of the University." University-affiliated content. The University acquired the A number of universities in domain names in two phases. Michigan have also taken similar The first was in October, when precautionary measures. Central the University and other corpo- Michigan University purchased rations were given the opportu- three domain names, and other nity to buy the domain names of universities around the country phrases for which they had reg- have also followed suit. istered trademarks as of Sept. 1, Michigan State Univer- 2011. At that time, the University sity chose not to buy any .xxx acquired 14 names at the price of domain names and instead plans $200 per name for a 10-year peri- to closely monitor the use of xxx od. Some of these included wol- websites under the university's verines.xxx, mgoblue.xxx and name. michigandifference.xxx. MSU spokesman Kent Cas- On Tuesday, the University sella told the Detroit Free Press had the opportunity to bid on there are too many potential domain names for which no reg- domain names for the school istered trademark exists. In this to buy, so it doesn't make sense phase, the University purchased financially for MSU to buy them. an additional seven names such Should MSU's legal copyrights as umich.xxx and leadersand- be infringed upon, the school best.xxx. These were purchased would take legal action, accord- at the cost of $99 each for a one- ing the Detroit Free Press. year period. While Fitzgerald acknowl- Fitzgerald said while he is edged that the University cannot unaware if a decision has offi- protect every name, he said the cially been made as to whether or decision was the right call finan- not the University will renew the cially. one-year holds on the websites, "It was the University's judg- he believes it most likely will. ment that these costs were rea- He added that the Univer- sonable, and (it) just seemed sity does not plan on using these to make sense to go ahead and EVER WONDER HOW A MICHIGAN DAILY STORY IS CREATED? VISIT THE VIDEO PAGE ON WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM See how a news article is crafted from start to finish and meet the editors who produce these pages each day. Upward of 28,000 mail positions to be slashed IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The U.S. Postal Service's plan to close 252 mail processing facili- ties and cut 28,000 jobs by the end of next year may help the agency curb its mounting finan- cial problems, but it faces big practical obstacles. Deciding which plants to close will be difficult and face opposition from community leaders. Actually closing all of them could take a few years, and most workers will stay employed under union rules. The bulk of the job cuts will actually come from attrition and retirements, not layoffs, while the remaining work force is shuffled into new locations and positions. What's about to unfold in cit- ies from Reno, Nev., to Chicago will illustrate the complexity of cutting a work force protected by strong union contracts and shrinking operations dependent on intricate logistics. "The downsizing or the demise of the postal service, it's going to be a mess and it's going to bea mess for a long time," said John Zodrow, a retired Denver attorney and former Postal Ser- vice arbitrator who wrote a book about its labor relations. "It's a huge undertaking." The proposed closures are among several moves aimed at helping the agency avert bank- ruptcy and adjust to declin- ing mail volume as customers migrate to the Internet to com- municate and pay bills. Delivery changes announced Monday would virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day for the first time in 40 years and pave the way for closing more than half of the 461 plants where the mail gets processed and sorted. Postal officials say they can save up to $3 billion by 2015 by following through with the cuts - getting rid of buildings, run- ningequipment more efficiently, operating fewer mail trucks and cutting employees. The postal service's man- ager of collective bargaining said Monday that the agency foresaw the "potential for sig- nificant attrition" given that more than 20 percent of postal workers were eligible for early retirement. Managers and non- career employees could be laid off while no decisions have been made on how any early retire- ment incentives will be offered, said the official, Kevin Rachel. For most workers and com- munities, the uncertainty is ter- rible but the economic impact might not be as catastrophic as feared. Most workers in the facilities are represented by the American Postal Workers Union, which reached a four- year contract in May guarantee- ing that its 220,000 clerks and maintenance employees cannot be laid off or transferred more than 50 miles away. Employees in plants that are closed will have to decide wheth- er to relocate to the places where work is consolidated, which will need to rapidly expand in size. If they stay behind, they will fight for remaining jobs in the area and will likely have to switch duties. Many post offices, for instance, have deliberately left open retail clerk and letter-car- rying jobs. "It's, 'grab a job before there are no more jobs left to be grabbed.' It's the proverbial musical chairs," Zodrow said. Zodrow said the turbulence could motivate more workers to take early retirement, which he warned would be a mistake for some. Postal workers do not have skills that transfer well to the private sector and are mak- ing more than they would else- where, he said. The outcome of negotiations between the postal service and unions representing mail han- dlers and letter carriers, which both have deadlines of next week, could be crucial in deter- mining how cost-cutting plans are carried out. Mail handlers, who are represented by a union of 47,000 members, are bargain- ing about job protections and reassignment rules. Kate Bronfenbrenner, direc- tor of labor education research at Cornell University, said she wonders whether the postal ser- vice will get as many retirements as it is counting on. "Nobody in this economy is retiring unless they are really ready. There has to be some incentive," she said. The agency first has to decide which plants to close. While they have had a list of 252 prospective targets since September, postal officials say final decisions will not be made until they assess the potential savings, the impact on mail delivery and whether other plants in the area could handle the volume. There will be intense local opposition. The city council in Reno, Nev., passed a resolution Wednesday protesting any plans to close its processing facility and move 177 jobs to West Sac- ramento, Calif., one of the pro- posals under review. Members of Congress in Iowa, Illinois and elsewhere are already going to bat for local plants. Businesses that rely on speedy mail delivery are fighting, too. Once a closing decision is made, it could take a year or longer to wind down operations and transition work elsewhere, postal service spokesman Rich- ard Watkins said in a phone interview from Kansas City. The closing of the mail pro- cessing center in Sioux, City, Iowa, in October illustrates what may be awaiting other postal workers. Some mail handlers and clerks moved 90 miles north to the facility in Sioux Falls, S.D., where their operations were transferred. Some union employees filled vacant posi- tions for letter carriers in Sioux City and are now walking routes. Others have been performing temporary assignments while they wait for permanent jobs.