The Michigan Daily - mic
NEWS BRIEFS
STANDISH, Mich.
Saginaw tribe
plans casino
expansion
higandaily.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - 3A
-
Shootout in Los
Angeles ends in
death of at least
two people
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian
Tribe plans to expand its Sagan-
ing Eagles Landing Casino in
Michigan.
The Morning Sun of Mount
Pleasant and MLive.com report
the tribe announced plans Mon-
day for the casino near Standish,
about 120 miles northwest of
Detroit.
The current 32,900-square-
foot casino would see the addition
of about 90,000 more square feet,
including 150 hotel rooms, a diner
and more gambling space.
Plans call for work to begin
later this year. The tribe hopes to
complete construction in spring
2014 and says the project will add
about 250 full- and part-time jobs.
SALT LAKE CITY
Three people
killed in Utah
shoot-out
Three people were shot to
death and one was critically
wounded Tuesday at a known
drug house in suburban Salt Lake
" City, causing temporary lock-
downs at several area schools as
police looked for two men who
may have been involved.
Investigators said a person
inside the house reported the
shooting in Midvale at about 8
" a.m.
Unified Police Department Lt.
Justin Hoyal said a search war-
rant had been served at the resi-
dence in recent weeks for drug
activity. "It was a known narcot-
ics house," he said.
The house backs up to a sound
barrier for Interstate 15 about 12
miles south of Salt Lake City.
DENVER
Colorado
struggles with
marijuana safety
Marijuana may be coming
out of the black market in Colora-
do and Washington state, but the
drug, at least for now, will retain
a decidedly underground feel:
Users may not know what's in it.
Less than a year away from
allowing pot sales, regulators
are grappling with how to ensure
that the nation's first legal mari-
juana industry will grow weed
that delivers only the effects that
pot smokers want.
Whether it is establishing
rules to govern the growing of
marijuana, including the use
of pesticides and fungicides, or
accurate product labeling, offi-
cials know they will be doing it
alone.
Federal agencies that regu-
late food and drugs are staying
out because pot remains illegal
under federal law. That means
the states are starting from
scratch to protect consumers
from pot that could be tainted
by mold, mildew or unwanted
chemicals.
ALEPPO, SYRIA
Rebels advance
toward Aleppo
airport
Rebels captured a small mili-
tary base near Aleppo on Tuesday
and stormed another in the same
area that protects a major airport,
a day after seizing Syria's largest
dam.
With the back-to-back blows to
President Bashar Assad's regime,
opposition fighters appear to
be regaining some momentum,
expanding their northern zone
of control while at the same time
pushing deeper into the heart of
the capital, Damascus.
Rebels have been attack-
ing Aleppo's civilian airport,
which remains in regime hands,
for weeks. They now appear to
have removed the main defens-
es around the facility. Civilian
flights stopped weeks ago because
of the intensity of the fighting.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
An roung-joon/Ar
South Korean army soldiers patrol along barbed-wire fences at the Imjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone of
Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea
N. Korea conducts nuclear
test despite U.N. warnings
United States
issues strong
condemnation
PYONGYANG, North Korea
(AP) - Defying U.N. warnings,
North Korea on Tuesday con-
ducted its third nuclear test in
the remote, snowy northeast,
taking a crucial step toward its
goal of building a bomb small
enough to be fitted on a missile
capable of striking the United
States.
North Korea said the atom-
ic test was merely its "first
response" to what it called U.S.
threats, and said it will con-
tinue with unspecified "second
and third measures of greater
intensity" if Washington main-
tains its hostility.
The underground test, which
set off powerful seismic waves,
drew immediate condemnation
from Washington, the U.N. and
others. Even its only major ally,
China, summoned the North's
ambassador for a dressing-
down.
President Barack Obama,
who was scheduled to give a
State of the Union address later
Tuesday, said nuclear tests "do
not make North Korea more
secure." Instead, North Korea
has "increasingly isolated
and impoverished its people
through its ill-advised pursuit
of weapons of mass destruc-
tion," he said in a statement.
But the Obama administra-
tion's options for a response
are limited, and a U.S. military
strike is highly unlikely.
In an emergency session, the
U.N. Security Council unani-
mously said the test poses "a
clear threat to internation-
al peace and security" and
pledged further action.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice
called the test "highly pro-
vocative" and said the North's
continued work on its nuclear
and missile programs threat-
ens regional and international
peace and security and "the
security of a number of coun-
tries including the United
States."
"They will not be tolerated,"
she said, "and they will be met
with North Korea's increasing
isolation and pressure under
United Nations sanctions."
It remains to be seen, how-
ever, whether China will sign
on to any new, binding global
sanctions. Beijing, Pyongyang's
primary trading partner, has
resisted measures that would
cut off North Korea's economy
completely.
China expressed firm oppo-
sition to Tuesday's test but
called for a calm response by
all sides. Chinese Foreign Min-
ister Yang Jiechi summoned
North Korea's ambassador and
delivered a "stern representa-
tion" and demanded that North
Korea "swiftly return to the
correct channel of dialogue and
negotiation," the ministry said
in a statement.
The test was a defiant North
Korean response to U.N. orders
that it shut down its atomic
activity or face more sanctions
and international isolation. It
will likely draw more sanctions
from the United States and
other countries at a time when
North Korea is trying to rebuild
its moribund economy and
expand its engagement with
the outside world.
Several U.N. resolutions bar
North Korea from conducting
nuclear or missile tests because
the Security Council considers
Pyongyang a would-be pro-
liferator of weapons of mass
destruction and its nuclear
testing a threat to internation-
al peace and stability. North
Korea dismisses that as a dou-
ble standard, and claims the
right to build nuclear weapons
as a defense against the Unit-
ed States, which it has seen as
Enemy No. 1 since the 1950-53
Korean War. The U.S. stations
more than 28,000 troops in
South Korea to protect its ally.
Tuesday's test is North
Korea's first since young leader
Kim Jong Un took power of a
country long estranged from
the West. The test will likely
be portrayed in North Korea
as a strong move to defend the
nation against foreign aggres-
sion, particularly from the U.S.
"The test was conducted in a
safe and perfect way on a high
level, with the use of a small-
er and light A-bomb, unlike
the previous ones, yet with
great explosive power," North
Korea's official Korean Central
News Agency said.
The U.N. Security Council
recently punished North Korea
for a rocket launch in Decem-
ber that the U.N. and Washing-
ton called a cover for a banned
long-range missile test. Pyong-
yang said it was a peaceful
launch of a satellite into space.
In condemning that launch,
the council demanded a stop
to future launches and ordered
North Korea to respect a ban on
nuclear activity - or face "sig-
nificant action" by the U.N.
The timing of Tuesday's test
is significant. It came hours
before Obama's speech and
only days before the Satur-
day birthday of Kim Jong Un's
father, late leader Kim Jong II,
whose memory North Korean
Former LAPD
officer engages in
shootout, kills at
least one person
BIG BEAR, Calif. (AP) - The
extraordinary manhunt for the
former Los Angeles police offi-
cer suspected of three murders
converged Tuesday on a moun-
tain cabin where authorities
believe he barricaded himself
inside, engaged in a shootout
that killed a deputy and then
never emerged as the home
went up in flames.
A single gunshot was heard
from within, and a charred
body was found inside.
Ifthe man inside proves toube
Christopher Dorner, as author-
ities suspect, the search for the
most wanted man in America
over the last week would have
ended the way he had expected
- death, with the police pursu-
ing him.
Thousands of officers had
been on the hunt for the for-
mer Navy reservist since police
said he launched a campaign
to exact revenge against the
Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment for his firing. They say he
threatened to bring "warfare"
to officers and their families,
spreading fear and setting off
a search for him across the
Southwest and Mexico.
"Enough is enough. It's time
for you to turn yourself in. It's
time to stop the bloodshed,"
LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith
said at a news conference held
outside police headquarters in
Los Angeles, a starkly differ-
ent atmosphere than last week
when officials briefed the news
media under tight security with
Dorner on the loose.
A short time after Smith
spoke Tuesday, smoke began
to rise from the cabin in the
snow-covered woods near Big
Bear Lake, a resort town about
80 miles east of Los Ange-
les. Flames then engulfed the
building - images that were
broadcast on live television
around the world. TV helicop-
ters showed the fire burning
freely with no apparent effort
to extinguish it.
"We have reason to believe
that it is him," said San Ber-
nardino County sheriff's
spokeswoman Cynthia Bach-
man, adding that she didn't
know how the fire started.
She noted there was gunfire
between the person in the
cabin and officers around the
home before the blaze began.
Until Tuesday, authorities
didn't know whether Dorner
was still near Big Bear Lake,
where they found his burned-
out pickup last week.
Around 12:20 p.m. Tues-
day, deputies got a report of a
stolen pickup truck, authori-
ties said. The location was
directly across the street from
where law enforcement set up
their command post on Thurs-
day and not far from where
Dorner's pickup was aban-
doned. The owner of the vehi-
cle taken Tuesday described
the suspect as looking similar
to Dorner.
A warden for the California
Department of Fish and Wild-
life traveling down Highway
38 recognized a man who fit
Dorner's description traveling
in the opposite direction. The
officer pursued the vehicle
and there was a shooting at
12:42 p.m. in which the wild-
life vehicle was hit numerous
times and the suspect escaped
on foot after crashing his
truck.
After holing up in the cabin,
there was a second gunbattle
with San Bernardino County
deputies, two of whom were
shot. One died and the other
was expected to live after
undergoing surgery.
"We're heartbroken," Big
Bear Lake Mayor Jay Obernolte
said of the deputy's death and
the wounding of his colleague.
"Words can't express ho'v
grateful we are for the sacri-
fice those men have made in
defense of the community and
our thoughts and prayers are
with them and their families."
The man believed to be
Dorner never came out of the
cabin, and a single shot was
heard inside before the cabin
was engulfed in flames, a law
enforcement official told The
Associated Press.
The official later told the
AP that a charred body was
found in the burned cabin. The
official requested anonymity
because of the ongoing investi-
gation.
Officials were waiting for
the fire to burn out before
approaching the ruins to search
for a body.
Police say Dorner began his
run on Feb. 6 after they con-
nected the slayings of a former
police captain's daughter and
her fiance with an angry Face-
book rant they said he posted.
Threats against the LAPD led
officials to assign officers to
protect officers and their fami-
lies.
Within hours of the release
of photos of the 6-foot,
270-pounder described as
armed and "extremely danger-
ous," police say, Dorner unsuc-
cessfully tried to steal a boat in
San Diego to flee to Mexico and
opened fire on two patrol cars
in Riverside County, shooting
three officers and killing one.
Jumpy officers guarding one
of the targets named in the rant
shot and injured two women
delivering newspapers Thurs-
day in Torrance because they
mistook their pickup truck for
Dorner's.
Police found weapons and
camping gear inside the charred
Gay marriage bill passes
in France's lower house
Nation on track to
join a dozen mostly
European nations in
legalization
PARIS (AP) - France's lower
house of parliament approved
a sweeping bill on Tuesday to
legalize gay marriage and allow
same-sex couples to adopt chil-
dren, handing a major legislative
victory to President Francois
Hollande's Socialists on a divi-
sive social issue.
The measure, approved in the
National Assembly in a 329-to-
229 vote, puts France on track
to join about a dozen mostly
European nations that allow gay
marriage and comes despite a
string of recent demonstrations
by opponents of the so-called
"marriage for all" bill.
Polls indicate a narrow major-
ity of French support legalizing
gay marriage, though that sup-
port falls when questions about
the adoption and conception of
children come into play.
The Assembly has been
debating the bill, and voting on
its individual articles in recent
weeks. The overall legislation
now goes in the coming weeks
to the Senate, which also is con-
trolled by the governing Social-
ists and their allies.
With Tuesday's vote, France
joins Britain in taking a major
legislative step in recent weeks
toward allowing gay marriage
and adoption - making them
the largest European countries
to do so. The Netherlands, Bel-
gium, Norway and Spain, as well
as Argentina, Canada and South
Africa have authorized gay mar-
riage, along with nine U.S. states
and the District of Columbia.
The issue has exposed fault
lines between a progressive-
minded leftist legislative major-
ity in officially secular France,
and the country's conservative
religious roots. Critics - includ-
ing many Roman Catholics -
have railed that the bill would
erode the traditional family.
Socialists, however, sought to
depict the issue as one of equal
rights, and they played off
France's famed Revolution-era
motto of "Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity."
"This law is going to extend
to all families the protections
guaranteed by the institution of
marriage," Prime Minister Jean-
Marc Ayrault said before Tues-
day's vote. "Contrary to what
those who vociferate against it
say - fortunately they're in the
minority - this law is going to
strengthen the institution of
marriage."
As with many major and con-
troversial reforms in France, the
issue drew its share of political
grandstanding over weeks of
debate. Conservative opponents
forced a discussion of nearly
5,000 amendments, a move
derided by Socialists as inconse-
quential stalling tactics. But by
the final vote, the government
rank-and-file rolled out grand,
solemn statements of victory.
"This law is a first neces-
sary step, a social evolution that
benefits society overall," said
Socialist representative Corinne
Narassiguin, announcing her
party's support for the measure.
"Openingup marriage and adop-
tion to homosexual couples is a
very beautiful advance.... It is an
emblematic vote, a vote that will
mark history."
However, the political right
hasn't given up just yet, say-
ing the Constitutional Court -
whose 12 members include three
former French presidents and
several other prominent conser-
vatives - will determine wheth-
er the law, if finally passed,
meshes with the law of the land.
"So it's not the end of the
story yet," said Herve Mariton,
a member of the main opposi-
tion UMP party. "We still have
arguments to make and we want
to convince people that it is not a
good project."
HD-,,