The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Wayne State takes
part in energy
research project
A Detroit university is playing a
role in early but promising efforts
to find and extract new energy
sources-.
A research project at Wayne
State University is among 14
across 11 states involved in work
on methane hydrates. These are
structures that look like ice but
have natural gas locked inside.
The project builds on what the
U.S. government calls a "success-
ful, unprecedented" test on Alas-
ka's North Slope that produced a
steady flow of gas from methane
hydrates.
The Energy Department says
the hydrates are found onshore,
includingintheArctic permafrost,
and offshore in ocean sediments
along most continental shelves
worldwide. It sees the structures
as an untapped resource holding
great potential for economic and
energy security.
Wayne State is getting $178,000
from the department for its two-
year project.
DETROIT
New auto sales
surge in August
Big pickups carried U.S. auto
sales to their highest level in three
years.
Demand for full-size pickups
jumped 16 percent in August,
helping to make it the strongest
sales month since August 2009.
Overall auto sales increased 20
percent from a year earlier to
nearly 1.3 million, according to
Autodata corp.
The rising demand shows that
businesses need to replace aging
trucks and feel more confident
about the recovery in U.S. housing
- an industry where pickups are
essential for hauling equipment
and crews.
"Businesses don't usually go
* buy a fleet of trucks unless they
have good reason to believe that
business will be ramping up," said
Jesse Toprak, vice president of
market intelligence for the True-
Car.com auto pricing service
Ford, GM and Chrysler, the
biggest makers of full-size trucks,
notched double-digit gains in
overall sales last month.
CLEVELAND
Bridge bombers
to change pleas
A, federal judge on Tues-
day scheduled change-of-plea
hearings for three of the four
remaining defendants charged
with plotting to bomb a highway
bridge in Ohio - a development
that usually signals plans by a
defendant to plead guilty.
U.S. District Judge David
Dowd scheduled the hearings
Wednesday after meeting with
attorneys Tuesday.
Mike Tobin, a spokesman for
the U.S. attorney's office in Cleve-
land, confirmed the change-of-'
plea hearings for Brandon Baxter,
20, of Lakewood; Connor Stevens,
20, of Berea; and Douglas Wright,
26, of Indianapolis.
BOGOTA, Colombia
Colombian rebels
reach peace talks
Colombia and its main left-
ist rebel group said Tuesday they
have signed an accord to launch
peace talks next month aimed at
ending a stubborn, half-century-
old conflict that has claimed tens
of thousands of lives.
In a nationally televised speech,
President Juan Manuel Santos
called the pact a road map to "a
definitive peace." It was reached
after six months of direct talks in
Cuba, with that country's govern-
ment and Norway serving as bro-
kers following a year and a half of
preparatory work.
The agreement, signed Aug. 27,
does not include a cease-fire.
It also doesn't grant a safe
haven to the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as
the last peace talks did.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Ryan doubles
down on RNC
speech content
Republican
VP nominee
Lebanese anti-Syrian regime protesters, shout slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad, during a protest Friday
against Syria's ambassador to Lebanon and against the Syrian regime's mass killings, in Beirut.
Thousands flee Syria
as civil war escalates
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sad says he will and people seeking asylum, and
probably points to a very pre-
ow Red Cross to carious and violent situation
inside the country," she said.
provide aid But even the August figure
only counts refugees who are
tRUT (AP) - More than registered and those awaiting
00 Syrians fled their registration. Officials acknowl-
try in August, the highest edge the real number of Syrian
hly total since the crisis refugees is likely way above
n in March 2011, the U.N. 200,000, because tens of thou-
ee agency said Tuesday. sands are believed to have not
at exodus sharply yet contacted authorities.
ased the number of Syr- The uprising began with
now living in neighboring largely peaceful protests of
tries, bringing the total Assad's regime but has turned
per of refugees to 234,368 into a civil war that activists say
past 17 months, the agen- has killed at least 23,000 people.
id. U.N. Secretary-General Ban
ong with activists' reports Ki-moon accused both the Syr-
the death toll in August ian government and the opposi-
iso the highest in the civil tion of large-scale human right
with 5,000 killed, all signs violations and failing to protect
ointing to unprecedented civilians fleeing the country.
of misery in a country "Prisoners on both sides are
SPresident BasharAssad's subject to harsh treatment and,
ne is fighting an increas- often, torture," Ban said in a
violent rebellion, speech before the U.N. General
you do the math, it's quite Assembly. "There have been
tonishing number," U.N. alarming reports of summary
ee agency spokeswoman executions on both sides."
sa Fleming said of the As Syrians look to escape the
er of people who fled in bloodshed, Assad told the head
er, sfpekinopreorerof the International Committee
t, eakn to reporters of the Red Cross Tuesday that
nd it points to a significant the group is welcome to operate
ation in refugee movement in Syria - as long as it remains
"neutral and independent,"
state media reported.
Assad has accused the inter-
national community of conspir-
ing to unseat him.
ICRC spokeswoman Rabab
al-Rafai did not give further
details about Assad's meeting
with Peter Maurer in Damascus
but said the Red Cross chief also
met Deputy Foreign Minister
Faysal Mekdad and the head of
the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
"President Assad confirmed
Syria welcomes the humanitar-
ian operations that the organiza-
tion is conducting on the ground
in Syria as long as it works in a
neutral and independent way,"
the state-run SANA news agency
quoted Assad asesaying.
Maurer's three-day visit,
which began Monday, comes as
the need for humanitarian assis-
tance grows increasingly urgent.
According to the U.N. refu-
gee agency, there are now more
than 80,000 Syrian refugees
in Turkey, where the borders
remain open, and there is a
backlog of 8,000 Syrians wait-
ing to be processed at the border,
Fleming said. Jordan has more
than 77,000 Syrian refugees;
Lebanon has more than 59,000;
and Iraq nearly 18,700, accord-
ing to the agency.
maintains veracity
of his statements
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)
- Republican vice presidential
candidate Paul Ryan defended
himself Tuesday against
lingering questions about the
accuracy of some of his recent
statements.
In interviews, Ryan
disputed the notion that he
misled voters in last week's
convention speech while
criticizing President Barack
Obama's handling of debt
reduction and the closure of'
a General Motors plant in his
Wisconsin hometown. He also
laughed off questions about
why he understated his time in
A marathon race by an hour.
Asked on NBC's "Today"
whether he would agree that
some of his statements have
not always been accurate,
he said, "No, not in the least,
actually."
In an afternoon appearance
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the
42-year old GOP congressman
took the offensive against
Obama, even as Democrats
opened their convention in
Charlotte, N.C., where they
will nominate the president for
a second term. Ryan aimed his
remarks at the nation's weak
economic performance under
Obama.
"President Obama, to be
charitable, he came into office
with a very difficult situation,"
Ryan told the crowd. "Here's
the problem: He made things
worse. He's run out of ideas.
And he cannot run on his
record. That's why he's
relegated his campaign to a
campaign based on the politics
of envy and division, smear
and fear."
But in a round of morning
broadcast interviews, much
of the attention was focused
on Ryan's own remarks at last
week'sRepublican convention
in Tampa, Fla. In his
acceptance speech there, he
linked Obama to the closure of
a General-Motors plant in his
Wisconsin hometown, a plant"
that actually closed before
Obama took office.
"What theytare trying to
suggest is that I said that
Barack.Obama was responsible
shut down he said that he
would lead an effort to retool
plants like the Janesville plant
to get people back to work. It's
still idle."
Ryan was also asked about
his acceptancespeech criticism
of Obama for rejecting
the recommendations of a
bipartisan debt-reduction
commission the president
appointed. Ryan did not
mention in his convention
remarks that he was on that
commission and voted against
the same plan.
"I didn't think it actually
fixed the problem of runaway
health care entitlement
spending. I authored and
passed through the House
an alternative," Ryan,
chairman of the House Budget
Committee, told NBC. "The
president didn't do that."
Both parties are often
caught stretching the truth.
But Ryan is facing near-daily
accuracy questions just as
many voters are still getting to
knowhim, less thanfourweeks
after Mitt Romney tapped him
as his running mate.
Ryan, a former fitness
instructor, recently told
a radio host that he ran
a marathon in less than
three hours. Ryan released
a statement correcting the
record after Runner's World
magazine found evidence he
had completed one marathon,
in,1990, and finished in just
over four hours.
He was asked about his
inaccurate recounting of his
marathon time an interview
that aired Tuesday on aToledo,
Ohio, television station.
"About my marathon
you said?" Ryan laughed. "I
literally thought that that
was my time. It was 22 years
ago. You forget sort of these
things."
Ryan has been serving as the
GOP ticket's leading aggressor
in recent days. Romney is
spending much of this week
preparing privately for next
month's presidential debates.
Campaign spokesman
Michael Steel acknowledged
that 'Ryan faced tough
questions Tuesday morning,
but suggested it was simply
because it was some national
news organizations' "first
crack" at the Wisconsin
congressman. Similar
questions, however, have also
followed Ryan this week in
rounds of local interviews.
Court orders tuition equality
for Florida publicuniversities
Decision consistent
with similar
rulings in N.J. and
California
MIAMI (AP) - Students at
Florida's public colleges and
universitiescannot be charged
higher out-of-state tuition sim-
ply because their parents are in,
the U.S. illegally, a federal judge
ruled.
U.S. District Judge K.
Michael Moore determined the
policy violates the equal pro-
tection clause of the Constitu-
tion by forcing those students
to unfairly pay three times as
much as Florida residents. Chil-
dren born in this country are
citizens whether or not their
parents have legal immigration
status.
"The state regulations deny
a benefit and create unique
obstacles to attain public post-
secondary public education for
U.S. citizen children who would
otherwise qualify for in-state
tuition," Moore wrote.
The ruling Friday came in a
lawsuit filed by the Montgom-
ery, Ala.-based Southern Pov-
erty Law Center on behalf of
several Florida students who
were denied in-state tuition
because they could not prove
their parents are in this coun-
try legally. The center's deputy
legal director, Jerri Katzerman,
said Tuesday that Moore's rul-
ing could give thousands of
students greater access to an
education.
"He has said in no uncertain
terms that these youngsters are
citizens and they have been dis-
criminated against," she said.
State education officials
said lawyers were reviewing
the ruling and no decision had
been made on a possible appeal..
There are .28 public two-year
colleges - most of which also
offer a limited number of four-
year degrees - and 11 public
four-year universities in Flori-
da.
At the state's flagship Univer-
sity of Florida, in-state tuition
costs about $205 per credit
hour. For those paying out-of-
state tuition, the price balloons
to $947 per hour, according to
the State University System of
Florida.
Children of illegal immi-
grants have won similar battles
in other states.
Last month in New Jersey, a
state appeals court ruled that
an American-born student
whose parents could not prove
legal status was wrongly denied
financial aid. The American
Civil Liberties Union said that
ruling could affect thousands
of New Jersey students seeking
state assistance to attend col-
lege.
In California, a challenge
was resolved in favor of the
students. Similarly, the Colo-
rado attorney general issued an
opinion in 2007 determining
that legal state residents were
eligible for in-state tuition even
if their parents were residing in
the country illegally.
The Florida policy, which has
been in effect for several years,
applies to students under age 24
who are also claimed as depen-
dents by parents. According to
a Florida International Univer-
sity law professor's analysis of
U.S Census figures, nearly 9,000
children of illegal immigrant
parents are enrolled in Florida
public colleges and universities.
in a given year.
. It wasn't immediately clear
Tuesday how many current
students might have their resi-
dency status and tuition costs
changed because of the ruling.
for a. plan shutdown in ---'---'- -- --".-' - .
Attorneys for the state Janesville. That is not what I Meanwhile, Steel says that
argued mainly that classifying was saying. Read the speech," Ryan will not back down from
children of illegal immigrants Ryan said on the "Today" any of his criticism of Obama's
as eligible for in-state tuition show. "What I was saying record.
would cost financially-strapped is the president ought to be "He's very prepared to
colleges and universities mil- held to account for his broken answer questions about what
lions of dollars each year. That promises. After our plant was he's said," Steel said.
argument, however, assumed
Florida would be forced to offer
in-state tuition to all students The .
who lived out of state. inctof FREE'
"This is simply incorrect," R Fview
Moore wrote, adding that his GRAD PRACTICE TESTS
ruling "would not prevent MCAT 10/06/2012
the state from continuing to LSAT 10/06/2012
distinguish between in-state GRE 10/06/2012
residents and out-of-state non- GMAT 10/D6/2012 A
residents." Try an MCAT, LSAT, GMAT or GRE Free
Moore also noted that undoc- Practice Test and receive a detailed
umented parents help pay for score breakdown to see
education through state sales how you would do on the actual test!
and other taxes just as do par- m ii.'.'
ents who are U.S. citizens. "'
State Rep. Hazelle Rogers, a
Lauderhill Democrat who spon-
sored legislation to scrap the ,
policy, said the ruling comes as
welcome news.
"The bottom line is simple:
a U.S. citizen should be treated
like a U.S. citizen no matter who
their parents are,"Rogers said.
New pathways to work and
education have recently been 7
opened at the federal level for
young people who are in the 2 4 3
U.S. illegally.
Earlier this year, President
Barack Obama's administra-
tion expanded the rights of
more than 1 million young ille- 9 1 3 7 2
gal immigrants by giving them
work permits even though they 9 i
would not obtain legal residen-
cy here or a path to citizenship.
The immigrants must prove 9 _ 2 5 4
they arrived in the United
States before they turned 16, are 2 8 5
30 or younger, have been living
in the country at least five years 4 5 2 8
and are in school or graduated '6 2
or served in the military. They
cannot have been convicted of'
certain crimes or otherwise
pose a safety threat.
14.
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