The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
EDENVILLE, Michigan
Woman dead, man
kills self in online
dating probe
Central Michigan authorities
searching for a woman who dis-
appeared on a date with a man
she met online say a man killed
himself as deputies arrived at his
house, and the woman's body was
found nearby.
Sheriff Jerry Nielsen says the
body found Wednesday afternoon
in Midland County's Edenville
Township wasn't immediately
identified as 45-year-old Leigh
Swanson of Saginaw County's
Saginaw Township. Nielsen says
Swanson left for the date Nov. 16
and calledher mother Nov. 18, say-
ing she'd be home soon.
Nielsen says as deputies
approached a house where Swan-
son made the call, they heard a
gunshot. He says a man emerged
and told them his son had shot
himself.
SACRAMENTO, California
Ex-treasurer
receives 8-year
sentence
A former Democratic campaign
treasurer was sentenced Wednes-
day to more than eight years in
federal prison for defrauding
high-profile clients such as U.S.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a case
that a judge said tampered with
the electoral process..
Kinde Durkee, who has been
described by prosecutors as
the Bernie Madoff of campaign
treasurers, was sentenced to 97
months and ordered to pay $10.5
million in restitution after plead-
ing guilty to five counts of mail
fraud in March. It's unlikely, how-
ever, that most of the money will
ever be repaid, since Durkee has
few assets.
During sentencing, U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Kimberly Mueller
emphasized the egregious nature
of Durkee's crimes.
SPOKANE, Washington
Pot legalization no
free ride to smoke
on campus
Young voters helped pass laws
legalizing marijuana in Wash-
ington and Colorado, but many
still won't be able to light up.
Most universities have codes
of conduct banfning marijuana
use, and they get millions of dol-
lars in funding from the federal
government, which still consid-
ers pot illegal.
With the money comes a
requirement for a drug-free cam-
pus, and the threat of expulsion for
students using pot in the dorms.
DOHA, Qatar
Arctic sea ice larger
9 than United States
melted this year
An area of Arctic sea ice big-
ger than the United States melt-
Sed this year, according the U.N.
weather agency, which said the
dramatic decline illustrates that
climate change is happening
"before our eyes."
In a report released at U.N. cli-
mate talks in the Qatari capital
of Doha, the World Meteorologi-
cal Organization said the Arctic
ice melt was one of a myriad of
extreme and record-breaking
weather events to hit the planet
in 2012. Droughts devastated
nearly two-thirds of the United
States as well western Russia
and southern Europe. Floods
swamped west Africa and heat
waves left much of the Northern
Hemisphere sweltering.
But it was the ice melt that
seemed to dominate the annual
climate report, with the U.N..
concludingice cover had reached
"a new record low" in the area
around the North Pole and that
the loss from March to Sep-
tember was a staggering 11.82
* million square kilometers (4.57
million square miles) - an area
bigger than the United States.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
MCubed research
program awards
first 50 grants
"Teen Mom" stars Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra speak in Rackham Auditorium Wednesday night. The couple
appeared to help educate about adoption services,
In campus speech, 'Teen
Mom' staresxtalkadoption
Grants aimed
to promote
collaboration
By MICHELE GILLINGHAM
For the Daily
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, the
Twitter account of the Universi-
ty's Office of the Vice President
for Research started lighting up
with new tweets.
"Emergence of locally-
owned food business in Detroit
#mcubed," read one tweet,
accompanied by a link.
"Adaptive health commu-
nications over mobile devices
#mcubed," read another.
The tweets, totaling 50 over,
the course of 51 minutes, were
announcements of choices for
the MCubed program, a $15-mil-
lion initiative started in May as
part of the University's Third
Century initiative to encourage
interdisciplinary research.
Wednesday's announcements
represented the first set of 50
research projects to receive
seed grants and each selected
project will receive $60,000 in
grants. Among chosen research
topics include the genetics of
tooth defects, an examination
of post-industrial cities, carbon
capture and hydraulic fractur-
ing. The research approved in
this round of projects is expect-
ed to be completed by June 2014.
, The contest for grants was
competitive, as faculty rushed to
apply for funding after hearing
of the program. Mark Burns, the
chair of the department of chem-
ical engineering - along with
Alec Gallimore and Thomas Zur-
buchen, the founders of MCubed
and associate deans in the Col-
lege of Engineering - selected
applicants through a semi-ran-
domly pick in order to make the
process fair, Zurbuchen told the
Daily in October.
Faculty applicants had to
partner with at least two other
researchers to form a "cube,"
and at least two members of a
prospective cube had to be from
different departments.
Susan urphy, a professor of
statistics, explained that she had
to compose a research and men-
toring plan, as well as determine
a budget.
Ben Allen, an assistant pro-
fessor of cell and developmental
biology, had his cube approved
by MCubed. Allen will study
the effects of cancer drugs that
inhibit Hedgehog signaling, a
nuanced type of signaling deal-
ing with taste and smell. He said
he is looking forward to having
the opportunity to be part of the
program.
"Fortunately, at UM, there are
experts in Hedgehog signaling
(both basic scientists and clini-
cians), taste and smell," Allen
said. "MCubed provided a per-
fect opportunity for these scien-
tists to collaborate in the pursuit
of answers to this question."
Event sponsored by
Bethany Christian
Services and
Students for Life
By SAM GRINGLAS
DailyStaffReporter
A black and white 1950s-era
film clip filled the projection
screen in Rackham Auditorium
as a grainy promotional televi-
sion segment - produced by
a U.S. government agency to
encourage adoption - depicted
happy parents selecting chil-
dren from orphanages.
The piece served as an intro-
duction to an address by Cate-
' lynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra,
the stars of MTV's reality show
"Teen Mom," on adoption, a
practice they said was a far cry
from the antiquated images of
the past. Hundreds of students
attended the event -sponsored
by Bethany Christian Services, a
family-planning center, and the
University's chapter of Students
for Life - that was designed to
examine adoption and provide
students with a chance to brush
shoulders with well-known
reality stars.
.The two guests, now age
20, who are from Marine City,
Mich., appeared with their
Bethany Christian Services
adviser, to show clips from the
MTV series and share their
story in a question and answer
format. ,
When Bethany approached
Students for Life about hosting
the event, club president Tori
Criswell said it was a perfect
opportunity.
"We're all about fostering a
culture of life," Criswell said.
"We're a pro-life group, but we
really want to encourage dia-
logue. This is a great way to do
thatbecause Catelynn and Tyler
are really candid about their
experiences and that this stuff
gets people talking. They have a
very positive story and we want
to share life and the beauty of
that and how really good things
can come out of a seemingly
scary situation."
Criswell said Students for
Life hopes. its campus efforts,
including Wednesday's event,
will raise awareness and pro-
vide support for students coping
with unexpected pregnancy. In
addition to hosting speakers,
the group provides confidential
support through a Pregnant on
Campus Initiative and walks in
the March for Life each year.
That story began before
Lowell found out she was preg-
nant at age 16. Baltierra said he
remembers passing notes to
Lowell in seventh grade music
class, hoping to convince her
to go out with him, and they've
been together ever since.
After receiving news about
the baby, the couple struggled
to decide between raising the
child and completing an adop-
tion. Since both teens resided in
unstable home settings - Low-
ell's mother was an alcoholic
and a drug user and Baltierra's
dad shuffled in and out of prison
- ultimately, the two opted for
an open adoption.
Lowell and Baltierra careful-
ly selected the adoptive family,
and in their open adoption they
stay in contact with the family
and their child. They communi-
cate with their daughter, Carly,
regularly.
Lowell said she has no
regrets about deciding on adop-
tion. Both had unfulfilled goals
to meet, like graduating high
school, and they both plan
to enroll in college to pursue
degrees in social work.
Still, they said the decision
wasn't easy, and Baltierra said
he admires the courage Lowell
had in tackling the situation.
"I think for someone to have
that strength to be able to sacri-
fice like that for the child, to see
her strength through the whole
situation, really inspired me,"
Baltierra said.
Manyofthe event's attendees
also gleaned inspiration from
listening to the couple's experi-
ences. .
"I watched their story on
'Teen Mom' and always thought
the story was special," Engi-
neering sophomore Carly
Chorba said. "Not a lot of people
would have the courage to give
up the baby for adoption."
However, some students said
they mostly attended the event
to see their favorite reality tele-
vision stars.
LSA freshman Olivia Robert-
son said she didn't necessarily
agree with the pro-life spon-
sors, but still welcomed the
chance to attend the event.
"I think it's an interesting
opportunity to see people from
a TV show," Robertson said.
Regardless of reasons for
attending, Lowell said she is
glad to help educate others who
attended the event.
"It's crazy because I'll get
girls who said they made an
adoption plan from hearing my
story," she said.
Though Lowell and Baltierra
aren't planning on having more
children anytime soon, they
plan to get married next year
at a Renaissance themed wed-
ding. After nine years, Baltierra
said their relationship is stron-
ger than ever.
"I think trauma either does
one of two things to a relation-
ship. It either brings things
closer or rips them apart," he
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