The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 27, 2012 - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 27, 2012 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT City Council balks at state offer to take over Belle Isle Covered in green and sur- rounded by the slow, flowing waters of the Detroit River, the 975-acre Belle Isle is perhaps Michigan's best-known park not run by the state. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder want to change that, but their plan to turn Belle Isle into Michigan's 102nd state park has met resistance from some officials with the cash- strapped city. City Council members chas- tised the Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials this week for not bringing enough details to the negotiating table about the proposed lease, which would start at 30 years but could span as long as 90. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. Akin, McCaskill both court Mo. P Republican voters His spot on the ballot now guaranteed,MissouriSenatecan- didate Todd Akin began rebuild- ing support Wednesday among fellow Republicans who shunned him after a remark about "legiti- mate rape" while Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill honed an election strategy that will use Akin's own words to portray him as an extremist. Akin won a pair of high-pro- file Republican endorsements Wednesday from former presi- dential candidate Rick Santorum and tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint. Perhaps just as impor- tantly, the National Republican . Senatorial Committee - which had pulled millions of dollars of planned advertising after Akin's remark - said Wednesday that it hopes Akin wins and cracked open the possibility of again get- ting involved in the Missouri campaign. GENEVA Group claims there 1 is an earlier copy of the Mona Lisa A Zurich-based foundation says it will prove to the world Thursday that Leonardo Da. Vinci painted an earlier ver- sion of the Mona Lisa - a claim doubted by at least one expert on the multifaceted Renaissance artist. The Mona Lisa Foundation, which has been working with the anonymous owners of the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," says that after 35 years of research, experts believe it predates the famed 16th-century masterpiece by some 11 or 12 years based on regression tests, mathematical comparisons and historical and archival records. UNITED NATIONS Egypt's Morsi assumes major role in Mideast Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi assigned himself the heavyweight's role in the Middle East on Wednes- day, declaring in his first speech to the United Nations that the civil war raging in Syria is the "tragedy of the age" and must be brought to an end. In a wide-ranging address that touched on all major issues confronting the region, Morsi also decried Israeli settlement- building on territory Palestin- ians claim for a future state and condemned a film produced in the United States that denigrates Islam's Prophet Muhammad. He urged all U.N. member nations to join in an effort to end what he called "the catastrophe in Syria" that pits the regime of Bashar Assad against opposition forces trying to end 40 years of dictatorship. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the 18-month conflict. -Compiled from Daily wire reports They're back: NFL, referees tentatively agree to new deal A poster with an image of Cesar Chavez and the motto "Si se puede (Yes we can") is seen at an orientation seminar for illegal immigrants, to determine if they qualify for temporary work permits, at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rightsof Los Angeles, in Los Angeles. Court fastT tracks some green card applications Refs will be back this weekend; offer includes annual pay increases NEWYORK (AP)- The NFL and the referees' union reached a tentative contract agreement at midnight Thursday, ending an impasse that began in June when the league locked out the officials and used replacements instead. "Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night" for the Cleveland-Bal- timore game, Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We appre- ciate the commitment of the NFLRA in working through the issues to reach this impor- tant agreement." With Goodell at the table, the sides concluded two days of talks with the announce- ment of a tentative 8-year deal, which must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 mem- bers. They plan to vote Friday. "Our Board of Directors has unanimously approved taking this proposed CBA to the mem- bership for a ratification vote," said Scott Green, president of the NFLRA. "We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week's games." The replacements worked the first three weeks of games, triggering a wave of frustra- tion that threatened to disrupt the rest of the season. After a missed call cost the Green Bay Packers a win on a chaotic final play at Seattle on Monday night, the two sides really got serious. The union was seeking improved salaries, retirement benefits and other logistical issues for the part-time offi- cials. The NFL has proposed a pension freeze and a higher 401(k) match, and it wants to hire 21 more officials to improve the quality of officiat- ing. The union has fought that, fearing it could lead to a loss of jobs for some of the current officials, as well as a reduction in overall compensation. The NFL claimed its offers have included annual pay increases that could earn an experienced official more than $200,000 annually by .2018. The NFLRA has disputed the value of the proposal, insisting it means an overall reduction in compensation. Replacement refs aren't new to the NFL. They worked the first week of games in 2001 before a deal was reached. But those officials came from the highest level of college foot- ball; the current replacements do not. Their ability to call fast-moving NFL games drew mounting criticism through Week 3, climaxing last week- end, when ESPN analyst Jon Gruden called their, work "tragic and comical." Those comments came dur- ing Monday Night Football, with Seattle beating Green Bay 14-12 on a desperation pass into the end zone on the final play. Packers safety M.D. Jennings had both hands on the ball in the end zone, and when he fell to the ground in a scrum, both Jennings and Seahawks receiv- er Golden Tate had their arms on the ball. The closest official to the play, at the back of the end zone, signaled for the clock to stop, while another official at the sideline ran in and then sig- naled touchdown. Priority given to applicants who have recently turned 21 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that immigration officials must give priority sta- tus to thousands of green card applicants who lost their place in line for U.S. residency when they turned 21. A narrowly divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the United States Citizen and Immigration Services wrongly determined the applicants were no longer eligible for special visas as children of green card holders after they turned 21. The immigration service said those children who "aged out" during the process lost their place in line, even if the parents' application took years to process. Under U.S. immigration law, children 21 and older cannot immigrate under their parents' applications for green cards. The court ruled 6-5 court otherwise, saying the appli- cants may keep their "priority date" established when their parents filed for a derivative visa for their children. The ruling held that Con- gress meant to aid these appli- cants with the 2002 passage of the Child Status Protection Act. The act meant to preserve the original date of application of a minor who turned 21 during the pendency of the parents' appli- cation, the court ruled. "We conclude that the plain language of the CSPA unam- biguously grants automatic conversion and priority date retention to aged-out deriva- tive beneficiaries," Judge Mary Murguia wrote for the majority. The court ruled that immi- gration officials were wrongly forcingmanyofthese applicants to file new applications for resi- dency, putting their application at the bottom of the pile. The new ruling requires immigra- tion officials to consider the original application date while processing the application for residency. The opinion reversed a trial court judge, who tossed out a class-action 'lawsuit filed by legal U.S. residents whose children were removed from residency consideration under their application when they turned 21. "Tens of thousands of chil- dren living in the U.S. or abroad who have 'aged out' of the green card process would reclaim their place in line based on this decision," said Carl Shuster- man, one of the lawyers repre- senting the applicants. The federal government could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter. A U.S. Department of Jus- tice spokesperson couldn't be reached after hours in Wash- ington D.C. Judge Milan Smith wrote a dissenting opinion. Smith called the 2002 law ambigu- ous and said it's unclear what Congress meant with its pas- sage. Further, he said the new class of applicants now eligible for priority consideration will likely bump other, more clear applications of other seeking residency further down the line. Report: Armerican confidence in the economy increasing UC agrees to pay $1 million to settle pepper-spray lawsuit after Occupy Each protester to receive $30,000 in settlement SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by dem- onstrators who were pepper- sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall, according to a preliminary set- tlement filed Wednesday. The Nov. 18; 2011, incident prompted national outrage, angry campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after online videos shot by witnesses went viral. Images of a police officer casually spraying orange pep- per-spray in the faces of non- violent protesters became a rallying symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The demonstrators had been pro- testing steep tuition hikes and police brutality. Under the proposed settle- ment, UC would pay $30,000 to each of 21 plaintiffs named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split. Katehi, who has publicly apologized for the incident, would be required to issue a formal written apology to each of the plaintiffs, who are cur- rent students or recent alumni. If the $1 million settlement is approved, total costs asso- ciated with the incident could exceed $2 million, according to the Sacramento Bee news- paper. Those expenses come as UC faces the prospect of deep budget tuts if Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative fails in November. UC and plaintiffs repre- sented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed the pre- liminary settlement in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. The agreement, which was approved by the UC Board of Regents in mid-September, is subject to the approval of a fed- eral judge, and parties have the right to appeal. The settlement also calls for UC to set aside $100,000 to pay other individuals who can prove they were arrested or pepper-sprayed. The univer- sity would give the ACLU up to $20,000 for its work reviewing free speech and protest policies at UC Davis. "It was felt that the proposed settlement was in the best interest of the university," said UC spokesman Steve Montiel. UC officials believe the cost of going to trial would be more expensive than the cost of set- tling the lawsuit, Montiel said. Plaintiff Fatima Sbeih, who recently graduated with an international studies degree, said she suffered panic attacks and nightmares after she was pepper-sprayed on the UC Davis Quad. "I want to make sure that nothing like this happens again," Sbeih said in a state- ment. "The university still needs to work to rebuild stu- dents' trust and this settlement is a step in the right direction." A task force report released in April blamed the incident on poor communication and plan- ning throughout the campus chain of command, from the chancellor to the pepper-spray- ing officers, and concluded the situation could have been pre- vented. "The settlement should be a wake-up call for other univer- sities and police departments," said Michael Risher, staff attor- ney with the ACLU of Northern California. "If the First Amend- ment means anything, it's that you should be able to demon- strate without being afraid of police violence." Last week, Yolo County pros- ecutors said the UC Davis offi- cers who fired the pepper-spray won't face criminal charges because there is not enough evidence to prove the use of force was illegal. John Pike, the campus police lieutenant shown in the notori- ous videos, was fired in July. Annette Spicuzza, who oversaw the campus police department during the pepper-spray inci- dent, resigned in April. Documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee through a Pub- lic Records Act request indicate UC has already spent more than $1 million on expenses associ- ated with the incident, includ- ing: - $320,000 for a law firm for work on a UC review of how campuses should respond to protests. - $88,686 for salaries and other fees to UC Berkeley offi- cials whoworked onthatreview. - $119,714 for a firm to pro- vide "real time crisis manage- men support for UC Davis." - $445,879 for a consulting firm that investigated the inci- dent for an independent task force. - $230,256 for an internal affairs investigation into the actions of one of the pepper- spraying officers. Hiring expectations, home values drive rise WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are more confi- dent in the economy than they have been in seven months, an encouraging sign for President Barack Obama with six weeks left in the presidential race. A new survey of consumer confidence rose Tuesday to its highest level since February on expectations that hiring will soon pick up. And a separate report showed home values ris4 ing steadily, signaling sustained improvement in housing. "This is like an opinion poll on the economy without the political parties attached," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics, a consult- ing firm. The confidence survey "says people are feeling better. If so, they are less likely to vote for change." The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence shot up in September. The jump surprised many economists because the most recent hir- ing and retail sales figures have been sluggish. The increased confidence could help explain recent polls that show Obama with a widen- ing lead over Mitt Romney in some battleground states. The consumer confidence index is closely watched because consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity. The index jumped from 61.3 for August to 70.3 for September. It remains well below 90, the level that is thought to signify a healthy economy. Among those feeling more optimistic about the economy is Darlene Johnson of Silver Spring, Md., who works for the National Institutes of Health. The value of Johnson's 401(k) account has risen. Home sales in her neighborhood have ticked up, too, and are com- manding higher prices. "I feel like things are stabi- lizing," she said. "I don't feel as uneasy as I did a few months ago." But Johnson, who voted for Obama in 2008, remains unde- cided on which candidate to back. And she's still a bit ner- vous about the future. "It will depend on how my pockets are looking," she says. "Everyday circumstances will drive my decision on how I am going to vote." Economists point to some key reasons why consumers have grown more confident. Stocks are up: The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has surged nearly 15 percent this year. Gas prices have leveled off after rising for several months. And the broad increase in home prices is likely giving would-be buyers more confidence. When prices rise, buyers don't worry so much that a home might lose value after they bought it. National home prices rose 1.2 percent in July compared with a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. That was the second straight month in which year-over-year home prices have increased. Some economists question whether the higher level of con- fidence is sustainable. They've seen the index spike briefly before since the Great Reces- sion ended more than three years ago. Some say confidence could be affected by negative campaign ads that focus on the economy. But others note that even a weak economy doesn't feel so bad to many consumers once it begins to make steady improve- ment. "The economy is perceived in relative rather than absolute terms," noted St. Louis Univer- sity political scientist and poll- ster Ken Warren.