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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 3A


* NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Feds add charge to
Kilpatrick case
Federal prosecutors have
added a charge to the corrup-
tion case against former Detroit
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The indictment returned
Thursday accuses Kilpatrick
and his pal Bobby Ferguson of
extorting money from a city con-
tractor who towed vehicles. The
government says the two men
shared $50,000 in June 2008,
just four months before Kilpat-
rick pleaded guilty in a crimi-
nal case that forced him out of
office. The allegations include
other instances of money chang-
ing hands.
Messages seeking comment
were left with attorneys for Kil-
patrick and Ferguson. They and
others face a federal trial in Sep-
tember.
NEW CASTLE, Pa.
Smokehouse fire,
'best-smelling in a
long time,' put out
Firefighters in Pennsylva-
nia have managed to save 200
pounds of Polish sausage from
what they're calling the best-
smelling fire they've doused in
years.
The New Castle News reports
that firefighters responded about
11:30 a.m. Monday when a 20-by-
20-foot smokehouse caught fire
in the yard of Cash Koszela (koh-
ZEL'-uh). He's a retired meat cut-
ter who's been smoking his own
sausage for about 30 years.
Firefighters say some grease
caught fire when the smokehouse
got too hot - about 300 degrees.
Koszela says it will cost about
$3,000 to replace the smoke-
house. It's actually a tin-lined
walk-in cooler fed by smoke piped
in from a fire pit.
Assistant Fire Chief David
Joseph says, "This is definitely
the best-smelling fire we've seen
in a long time."
CHARLOTTESVILLE,Va.
Defense begins in
Virginia lacrosse
murder trial
A defense witness in the mur-
der trial of a former University of
Virginia lacrosse player says the
defendant's ex-girlfriend suffo-
cated while she lay face down in
a pillow in her bedroom.
Dr. Jan E. Leestma testified
Wednesday in the trial of George
Huguely V. The 24-year-old is
accused in the May 3, 2010, death
of Yeardley Love. Prosecutors say
she died as a result of a battering
at the hands of Huguely.
In his testimony, Leestma
said it was his medical opinion
that Love was asphyxiated when
blood and fluids from her mouth
sealed off her breathing.

The defense began its presen-
* tation yesterday after prosecutor
Dave Chapman rested. He called
about 50 witnesses, including
medical experts who said Love
died a result of blunt force trau-
ma that bruised and wrenched
her brain.
TOKYO
SJapan planned
review of tsunami
risk, but too late
Four days before a tsunami
devastated a Japanese nuclear
plant, its operator promised a
fuller assessment of the risk of
such a disaster - but not for
seven months.
The disclosure in a three-page
briefing paper obtained by The
Associated Press raises ques-
tions about whether the utility
and regulators were too compla-
cent about studies that suggest-
ed a tsunami could overwhelm
the defenses at the 40-year-old
Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.
It also highlights Japan's
slow pace of decision-making on
an issue that experts had been
warning about for at least 20
months.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

a' ,.

Brown, Warren spar
over contraception

FILE PHOTO/AP
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadineijad speaks at a ceremony at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility on April 9,
2007.
Defi[ ant Iran claims m--ajor
steps toward nuclear fuel

Progress comes as the country's main enrichment
facility at Natanz in central
Iran threatens oil Iran.
In Washington, the assistant
embargo on Europe secretary of state for Interna-
tional Security and Nonpro-
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - In liferation, Tom Countryman,
defiant swipes at its foes, Iran dismissed the Iranian claims
said yesterday it is dramatically of reaching a pivotal moment.
closer to mastering the produc- "The announcement today by
tion of nuclear fuel even as the Iran has much more to do with
U.S. weighs tougher pressures political developments in Iran
and Tehran's suspected shadow than it has to do with factual
war with Israel brings probes developments," he said.
far beyond the Middle East. White House press secretary
Iran further struck back at Jay Carney said Iran's "defiant
the West by indicating it was acts" seek to "distract atten-
on the verge of imposing a mid- tion" from the damage brought
winter fuel squeeze to Europe by international sanctions.
in retaliation for a looming boy- Meanwhile, Iran is facing
cott of Iranian oil, but denied major new international compli-
reports earlier in the day that cations: Accusations of bringing
six nations had already been cut an apparent covert conflict with
off. Israel to points stretching from
The uncompromising mes- Thailand and India to the former
sages from Iran, however, came Soviet republic of Georgia.
with a counterpoint. The official officials in Israel ramped
IRNA news agency said Iran's up allegations that Iran was
top nuclear negotiator, Saeed linked to international bomb
Jalili, told European Union for- plots, saying magnetic "sticky"
eign policy chief Catherine Ash- bombs found in a Bangkok
ton that Iran is ready to return house rented by Iranians were
to talks with the U.S. and other similar to devices used against
world powers. Israeli envoys in a foiled attack
The dual strategy - taking in Georgia on Monday and a
nuclear steps while proposing blast in New Delhi that injured
more talks - has become ahall- four people, including a diplo-
mark of Iran's dealings for years mat's wife.
and some critics have dismissed "In recent days, Iran's ter-
it as a time-buying tactic. The ror operations are being laid
advances claimed yesterday bare for all," said Israeli Prime
could likely feed these views. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
In a live TV broadcast, Presi- who convened his security cab-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inet. It included discussions
was shown overseeing what was about "preventive measures"
described as the first Iranian- against Iranian threats, said
made fuel rod inserted into a a statement from Netanyahu's
research reactor in northern office that did not elaborate.
Tehran. Separately, the semiof- Iran's Foreign Ministry
ficial Fars agency reported that spokesman, Ramin Mehman-
a "new generation" of Iranian parast, called the allegations
centrifuges - used to enrich "baseless" and an attempt to
uranium toward nuclear fuel push "conspiracy" theories to
- had gone into operation at discredit Iran with its Asian
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partners, including major oil
buyer India.
Iran, in turn, accused Israel of
beingbehind clandestine attacks
that have claimed the lives of at
least five members of Iran's sci-
entific community in the past
two years, including a "sticky"
bomb blast that killed a director
at the Natanz labs last month.
Framed photos of the five sci-
entists were shown by Iranian
TV before a speech by Ahma-
dinejad, who was flanked by the
flags of Iran and the country's
nuclear agency.
He repeated Iran's goal of
becoming a technological bea-
con for the Islamic world and
insisted that scientific progress
is the right of all nations. Here
rests one of the biggest dilem-
mas for the West. Iran has
merged the nuclear program
with its national identity and
is unlikely to make any conces-
sions without huge incentives.

Battle in Mass.
senate race
emblematic of
national debate
BOSTON (AP) - The debate
over the line between religious
freedom and federal health care
mandates has made its way into
Massachusetts' closely watched
U.S. Senate race, with Republi-
can Sen. Scott Brown accusing
his chief Democratic rival of
wanting to "dictate to religious
people about what they should
believe."
Consumer advocate and Har-
vard professor Elizabeth War-
ren has responded by criticizing
Brown for signing on to a Repub-
lican-backed bill that would
allow employers and health care
plans to deny coverage for any
service they say violates their
moral or religious beliefs.
"This is a completely new
attack that threatens everyone's
health care," Warren said yester-
day. "This bill would allow any
employer or insurance company
to refuse to cover anyone for any-
thing."
Brown, however, said Warren
is trying to stifle religious liber-
ties by supporting a proposal
from President Barack Obama
that would allow workers at reli-
gious affiliated institutions to get
free contraception directly from
insurers.
"Now, it is Harvard Profes-
sor Elizabeth Warren who has
assumed the mantle of oppres-
sor," Brown said in a statement.
"She and her allies on the left are
dictating to Catholics and other
people of faith that they must do
as they are told when it comes
to health care or face the conse-
quences."

Brown has intensified his crit-
icism of Warren by invoking the
memory of the late Democratic
U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a
Catholic who held the same Sen-
ate seat for nearly a half-century
before his death from brain can-
cer in 2009.
In a letter to Pope Benedict
XVI that year, a dying Kennedy
wrote of his support for "a con-
science protection for Catholics
in the health field.". Kennedy
made the statement in the con-
text of the debate over Obama's
national health care bill.
"Like Ted Kennedy, I support
areligious conscience exemption
in health care," said Brown, who
won the 2010 special election to
fill Kennedy's seat.
The invocation of the Kenne-
dy name is designed to resonate
in a state with a high number of
Catholic voters, some of whom
may disagree with their church
on the contraception issue but
could be sensitive to the question
of religious freedom.
Neither Brown nor Warren is
Catholic.
The fight stems from an
effort by Obama to require
church-affiliated employers to
pay for birth control for their
workers.
That effort met with stiff
resistance from Catholic lead-
ers who said it would force
them to violate the teachings of
the church, which opposes con-
traception.
Obama has offered what he
says is a compromise that would
allow workers at religious insti-
tutions to get free contraception
directly from health insurers.
The offer has failed to satisfy
church leaders.
The top U.S. Catholic bishop
has vowed to fight the compro-
mise in Congress and through
the courts.


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