The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 10, 2013.- 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, January 10, 2013 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING
Snyder signs law to
help prevent child
sexual abuse
Gov. Rick Snyder has signed
legislation into law that aims to
increase education and training
in schools to help prevent the
sexual abuse of children.
The Republican governor's
office announced Wednesday
that he signed the bipartisan leg-
islation named "Erin's Law." It's
named after a woman from Scha-
umburg, Ill., who was sexually
abused as a child and now cam-
paigns nationally for increased
education and protections.
Snyder officials say the bills
were among about 30 pieces of
legislation getting his signature.
One clarifies that the state's
Family Independence pro-
gram is temporary and not an
entitlement. It prevents further
cash assistance to families that
receive it for at least five years.
BOSTON
In Boston, flu
season declared a.
health emergency
Boston declared a public
health emergency Wednesday as
flu season struck in earnest and
the state reported 18 flu-related
deaths so far.
The city is workingwith health
care centers to offer free flu vac-
cines and hopes to set up places
where people can get vaccinated.
The city said there have been four
flu-related deaths, all elderly resi-
dents, since the unofficial start of
the flu season Oct. 1.
"The best thing you can do to
protect yourself and your family
is to.get the flu shot," said Boston
Mayor Thomas Menino.
PRAGUE
Tattooed artist
runs for Czech
0 president
He's tattooed from head to toe,
a warrior-like mix of blue, green
and red.
He's also running in a sur-
prising third place ahead of this
week's Czech presidential elec-
tions.
Vladimir Franz, an opera
composer and painter, seems the
most unlikely of candidates for a
prestigious post previously held
by beloved playwright-dissident
Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus,
a professor credited with plot-
ting the economic transition from
communism to a free market.
Some have a nickname for
Franz: 'Avatar.' And during a tele-
vised debate a caller compared
him to "an exotic creature from
Papua New Guinea."
TOKYO
Giant squid
captured on video
in ocean depths
After years of searching, sci-
entists and broadcasters say they
have captured video images of a
giant squid in its natural habitat
deep in the ocean for the first
time.
The three-meter (nine-foot)
invertebrate was filmed from a
manned submersible during one
of 100 dives in the Pacific last
summer in a joint expedition
by Japanese public broadcaster
NHK, Discovery Channel and
Japan's National Museum of
Nature and Science.
NHK released photographs of
the giant squid this week ahead
of Sunday's show about the
encounter. The Discovery Chan-
nel will air its program on Jan.
27.
The squid, which was inex-
plicably missing its two longest
tentacles, was spotted in waters
east of Chichi Island about 1,000
kilometers (600 miles) south of
Tokyo, NHK said. The crew fol-
lowed it to a depth of 900 meters
(2,950 feet).
-Compiled from
JDaily wire reports
Blueprint reveals
plans for Detroit
A mangled crane lies at the construction site in the Queens borough of New York where it collapsed, Wednesday, lan. 9,
2013, behind a big neon "Pepsi Cola" sign, a local landmark. The Fire Department of New York says the 200-foot crane col-
lapsed onto a building under construction, injuringseven people, three of them seriously.
New York crane collapses
on work site, hurting seven
Leaders to address
the city's 30,000
vacant homes
DETROIT (AP) -.A 50-year
blueprint for revitalizing
Detroit, from leveling parts of
nearly vacant neighborhoods
for parks to relaxing rules
for startup companies, was
released Wednesday after two
years of research and commu-
nity input.
The project was launched by
Mayor Dave Bing, who joined
dozens of community, busi-
ness and philanthropic leaders
in unveiling the plan for the
shrinking and financially trou-
bled city. The 349-page'strate-
gic framework focuses on job
growth, land use, improving
neighborhoods and rebuilding
infrastructure.
It doesn't include financing
plans, but at least $150 million
in initial funding will come
over the next five years from
the Kresge Foundation. The
private organization, which is
based in nearby Troy, has long
been active in Detroit-area
projects.
"It became clear to me that
business as usual would not
effectively transform our
city, and a new framework for
Detroit's future needed to be
developed," Bing said Wednes-
day.
"As mayor of Detroit and
a long-time member of this
community, I've witnessed the
steady decline of a city with
so much promise," said Bing, a
former NBA star and success-
ful businessman in Detroit.
"I'm convinced Detroit can be a
world-class city again."
A major focus is on Detroit's
ramshackle neighborhoods.
The city - which lost a quar-
ter-million people in the last
decade - currently has at least
30,000 empty homes and 20
square miles of vacant land.
Among the report's sug-
gestions are targeting vacant
land and empty buildings for
employment districts to stimu-
late job growth in neighbor-
hoods. It also recommends
encouraging residents living
in sparsely populated neigh-
borhoods to move out, then
converting the land into open
space or community gardens.
Officials said no residents
would be left behind, though
no mechanism is in place to pay
people in those neighborhoods
to move to more stable areas of
the city.
The report doesn't include
specific timelines for projects.
For example, it suggests that
zoning, land use, and other
policies and rules "must be
realigned" within the next five
years to help the city stabilize
some neighborhoods.
But organizers say the report
is intended to be a guide for
current and future city leaders.
It's the culmination of coop-
erative work by city residents,
business owners and others.
"The full potential of this
framework will only be real-
ized with the collective efforts
and resources of everyone -
public, private, philanthropic,
nonprofit - all pulling togeth-
er," Rip Rapson, Kresge's presi-
dent and chief executive, said
as he encouraged other foun-
dations and businesses to get
involved.
But the future of the
139-square-mile city is cloud-
ed.
In the 1950s, about 1.8 mil-
lion called Detroit home. But
dramatic population and busi-
ness losses over the last 50
years left Detroit with whis-
pers of a tax base. And the city's
current population of about
700,000 people is expected to
continue falling.
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machinery poppingsound and turned back
around.
W YORK (AP) - With the At that moment, "I saw the
g of cables and the snap- cable whipping toward the
metal, a crane collapsed deck. ... You could just hear it
building under construc- buckling," White said.
ar the East River water- The impact shook the scaf-
Wednesday, injuring folding he was on.
people, three of whom The crane cut down the
I to be extricated from framework of the building "like.
teath the fallen machin- a hot knife in butter," White
said, because there was no con-
red crane toppled crete on it yet.
1 2:30 p.m., sprawling Roberson said the crane,
the metal scaffolding which he estimated to be about
od planking that made 200 feet high, had been up since
first floor skeleton of a the weekend - and went down
ntial building in the New really fast.
ity borough of Queens City officials went up in a
a big neon "Pepsi Cola" cherry picker while investigat-.
* local landmark. Work- ing the accident.
ting up the second floor Tony Sclafani, a spokesman
work scrambled to get out for the city's Department of
way. Building, said their engineers
ce that snap came, that were investigating the cause of
said Russell Roberson, the collapse.
Brooklyn. "I just heard "This is a mobile crane,
elling, 'Run, run!" whose boom collapsed onto the
people who had to be building under construction,"
ted from underneath Sclafani said.
ane suffered a range of He said the crash happened
s, broken bones being at the site of a project for a
ost severe, Deputy Fire 25-story apartment building
Mark Ferran said. He said under contract by TF Cor-
ency services personnel nerstone, a residential and
need heavy machinery to commercial real estate devel-
m out. None of the inju- oper and property management
s life-threatening. company. The company said it
ton White, 48, a carpen- was working with authorities
m the Bronx, was work- to help determine what caused
the crash.
It said the crane had been
leased by a subcontractor, from
New York Crane and Equip-
ment Corp.,
Construction cranes have
been a source of safety worries
in the city since two giant rigs
collapsed within two months
of each other in Manhattan
in 2008, killing a total of nine
people.
New York Crane's equip-
ment was involved in one of
those collapses. Owner James
Lomma was tried and acquitted
on manslaughter charges.
A call to their offices seeking
comment Wednesday wasn't
answered.
Those accidents spurred the
resignation of the city's btiild-
ings commissioner and fueled
new safety measures, including
hiring more inswpectors and
expanding training. reqpire-
ments and inspection check-
lists.
Another crane fell and killed
a worker in April at a construc-
tion site for a new subway line.
That rig was exempt from most
city construction safety rules
because it was working for a
state-overseen agency that
runs the subway system.
During Superstorm Sandy
in late October, a construction
crane atop a $1.5 billion luxury
high-rise in midtown Manhat-
tan collapsed in high winds
and danged precariously for
several days until it could be
tethered.
Winter storm bafters
Mideast, eight dead
Woman who shot intruder
inspires gun control foes.
Ga. resident uses
personal handgun
to protect family
against burglar
LOGANVILLE, Ga. (AP) -
A Georgia mother who shot an
intruder at her home has become
a small part of the roaring gun
control debate, with some fire-
arms enthusiasts touting her as a
textbook example of responsible
gun ownership.
Melinda Herman grabbed
a handgun and hid in a crawl
space with her two children
when a man broke in last week
and approached the family at
their home northeast of Atlanta,
police said. Herman called her
husband on the phone, and with
him reminding her of the lessons
she recently learned at a shoot-
ing range, Herman opened fire,
seriously wounding the burglary
suspect.
The National Rifle Association
tweeted a link to a news story
about the shooting, and support
poured in from others online,
hailing Herman as a hero. The
local sheriff said he was proud
of the way she handled the situ-
ation.
"This lady decided that she
wasn't going to be a victim, and
I think everyone else looks at this
and hopes they have the cour-
age to do what she done," Wal-
ton County Sheriff Joe Chapman
said Wednesday.
Herman was working from
home Friday when she saw a man
walk up to the front door. She
told police he rang the doorbell
twice and then over and over
again. He went back to his SUV,
got something out and walked
back toward the house, a police
report said.
Herman took her 9-year-
old son and daughter into an
upstairs bedroom and locked
the door. They went into bath-
room and she locked that door,
too. She got her handgun from
a safe, the report said, and hid
with her children. At some
point, she called her husband,
who kept her on the line and
called 911 on another line.
In a 10-minute 911 recording
released by the Walton County
Sheriff's Office, Donnie Herman
calmly explained what was hap-
pening to a dispatcher. His part
of the conversation with his wife
was also recorded.
"Is he in the house, Melinda?
Are you sure? How do you know?
You can hear him in the house?"
Donnie Herman said.
His wife told him the intruder
was coming closer.
"He's in the bedroom? Shh,
shh, relax. Just remember every-
thing that I showed you, every-
thing that I taught you, all right?"
Donnie Herman told his wife,
explaining later to the dispatcher
that he had recently taken her to
a gun range.
It wasn't clear from the
recording exactly when they
went to range and Donnie Her-
man told The Associated Press
on Wednesday the family didn't
want to talk about the shooting.
After Donnie Herman told his
wife police were on the way, he
started shouting: "She shot him.
She's shootin' him. She's shootin'
him. She's shootin' him. She's
shootin' him."
"OK," the dispatcher respond-
ed.
"Shoot him again! Shoot him!"
Donnie Herman yelled. He told
the dispatcher he heard a lot of
screaming, but he seems to get
increasingly worried when he
doesn't hear anything from his
wife.
Melinda Herman told police
she started shooting the man
when he opened the door to the
crawl space. The man pleaded
with her to stop, but she kept
firing until she had emptied her
rounds, she told police. She then
fled to a neighbor's house with
her children.
The man drove away in his
SUV. Police found the SUV on
another subdivision street and
discovered a man bleeding from
his face and body in a nearby
wooded area. Police identified
the suspect as 32-year-old Paul
Slater of Atlanta.
Chapman said the hospital
asked him not to comment on
Slater's condition, but he said
he is not certain Slater will sur-
vive. Authorities have a warrant
but haven't formally arrested
Slater yet. They plan to charge
him with burglary, possession
of tools for the commission of
a crime and aggravated assault,
Walton County sheriff's Capt.
Greg Hall said.
Unusual snow,
rain and wind
disrupt daily life
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -
The fiercest winter storm to hit
the Mideast in years brought a
rare foot of snow to Jordan on
Wednesday, caused fatal acci-
dents in Lebanon and the West
Bank, and disrupted traffic on
the Suez Canal in Egypt. At least
eight people died across the
region.
In Lebanon, the Red Cross
said storm-related accidents
killed six people over the past
two days. Several drowned after
slipping into rivers from flooded
roads, one person froze to death
and another died after his car
went off a slippery road, accord-
ing to George Kettaneh, Opera-
tions Director for the Lebanese
Red Cross.
In the West Bank town of
Ramallah, a Palestinian offi-
cial said two West Bank women
drowned after their car was
caught in a flash flood on Tues-
day. Nablus Deputy Governor
Annan Atirah said the women
abandoned their vehicle after it
got stuck on a flooded road, and
their bodies were apparently
swept away by surging waters.
Their driver was hospitalized in
critical condition.
In the Gaza Strip, civil defense
spokesman Mohammed al-Haj
Yousef said storms cut electric-
ity to thousands of Palestinian
homes and rescuers were sent to
evacuate dozens of people.
Parts of Israel were bracing
for snow a day after the military
was forced to send helicopters
and rubber dinghies to rescue
residents stranded by flood-
waters. In Jerusalem,' streets
were mostly empty as light
snow began to stick Wednes-
day night. School was canceled
for the next day because of the
weather, which Israeli meteo-
rologists said was the stormiest
in a decade.
The unusual weather over
the past few days hit vulnerable
Syrian refugees living in tent
camps very hard, particularly
some 50,000 sheltering in the
Zaatari camp in Jordan's north-
ern desert. Torrential rains over
four days have flooded some 200
tents and forced women and
infants to evacuate in tempera-
tures that dipped below freez-
ing at night, whipping wind and
lashingrain.
"It's been freezing cold and
constant rain for the past four
days," lamented Ahmad Tobara,
44, who evacuated his tent when
its shafts submerged in flood
water in Zaatari. A camp spokes-
man said that by Wednesday,
some 1,500 refugees had been
displaced within the camp and
were now living in mobile homes
normally used for schools.
Weather officials said winds
exceeded 45 miles (70 kilome-
ters) per hour and the rain left
two feet (70 centimeters) of
water on the streets.
The storm dumped at least
a' foot of snow on many parts
of Jordan and was accompa-
nied by lashing wind, lightning
and thunder. It shut schools,
stranded motorists and delayed
international flights, Jorda-
nian weatherman Mohammed
Samawi said. The unusually
heavy snowfall blocked streets
in the capital Amman and iso-
lated remote villages, prompt-
ing warnings from authorities
for people to stay home as snow
plows tried to reopen clogged
roads. It forced atleast 400 fami-
lies to evacuate their homes and
move to government shelters
overnight.
Samawi called it the "fiercest
storm to hit the Mideast in the
month of January in at least 30
years."
The snowstorm followed four
days of torrential rain, which
caused, flooding in many areas
across the country.
In Lebanon, several days of
winds and heavy rain along the
coast and record snow in the
mountains caused power out-
ages across the country, blocked
traffic and shut down mountain
passes.
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