The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 3 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Lawsuit pending on domestic partner benefits ban People who lost domestic part- ner benefits under a2011 Michigan law say they're feeling the pinch as they wait months for a judge to decide whether the ban affecting public school and local government employees is unconstitutional. A law passed by the Republi- can-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder ended health insurance for people whose domestic partners work for cer- tain public employers. "I feel like a second-class citi- zen," said Gerardo Ascheri, 55, of Lansing, who lost insurance available through his partner's employer. "At my age, I'm begin- ning to think about retirement, trying to save as much as I can. This complicates it." ATLANTA, Ga. Coast guard look into troubled cruise A leak in a fuel oil return line caused the engine-room fire that disabled a Carnival cruise ship at sea, leaving 4,200 people with- out power or working toilets for five days, a Coast Guard official said Monday. Cmdr. Teresa Hatfield addressed the finding in a con- ference call with reporters and estimated that the investigation of the disabled ship, the Carnival Triumph, would take six months. Hatfield said the Bahamas - where the ship is registered, or flagged - is leading the investi- gation, with the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board representing U.S. interests in the probe. The vessel was in international waters at the time of the incident. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti U.S. attorney general meets with Caribbean leaders U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed regional crime with Caribbean leaders on Mon- day during a summit in Haiti. Holder talked with the lead- ers of mostly English-speaking Caribbean countries about crime problems, efforts to curb weapons and drugtraffickingand a need to alert countries in the region about imminent deportations at the con- ference of the Caribbean Commu- nity, known as Caricom, held at a hotel in the Haitian capital. Hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico and other nations have been deported to homelands they barely know since the U.S. Con- gress mandated in 1996 that every non-citizen sentenced to a year or more in prison be booted from the countryupon release. -Compiled from Daily wire reports Ahn Young-joon/AP South Korean army soldiers patrol along barbed-wire fences at the lmjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone of Panmunjom, in Paju, South Korea FamilyofOscar Pistorius' girlfriend wants answers. Olympic athlete says deadly shooting was accident JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend wants answers, her mother told a Johannesburg newspaper, as South Africans braced to hear why prosecutors believe a national hero murdered the model who was shot multiple times. June Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's mother, told The Times in a front page interview published Monday: "Why? Why my little girl? Why did this hap- pen? Why did he do this?" "Just like that she is gone," the newspaper quoted her as saying in what it described as an emo- tional telephone interview. "In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here." Pistorius, who remains in cus- tody in a red-brick, one-story police station in Pretoria, is set to return to court Tuesday for the start of his bail hearing. It will be the first opportunity for the prosecution to describe evi- dence police gathered against the 26-year-old double-amputee runner and the reasons why he was charged with murder. Pros- ecutors allege the killing was premeditated. Pistorius' family denies he committed murder though they have not addressed whether he shot her. When word first emerged about the killing there was speculation in the local media that Steenkamp had been mistaken for an intruder in Pis- torius' home. Police have said that was not something they were considering. In an email to The Associated Press on Monday, Pistorius' long- time track coach - who was yet to comment - said he believes the killing was an accident. . "I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track," Ampie Louw wrote in his statement. "I am still in shock following the heart-breaking events that occurred last week and my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved." Pistorius' top sponsor, Nike, said in a brief statement to the AP on Monday that it "has no plans for Oscar Pistorius in upcoming campaigns." They declined to give any further information. While Pistorius goes to court, Steenkamp's funeral will also be held Tuesday in her hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast, her family said. It is to be a pri- vate ceremony at a local crema- torium, closed to the public and media. Boy's suspensions renew debate over zero tolerance Sandy Hook has our school community feeling unsafe or threatened would be influenced a string irresponsible and negligent." The boy's mother, Sheila of suspensions Cruz-Cardosa, said school officials are responding irra- (AP) - Waiting in line for the tionally in the wake of Sandy bus, a Pennsylvania kindergar- Hook. She said they should be tener tells her pals she's going concentrating on "high school to shoot them with a Hello kids or kids who are more of a Kitty toy that makes soap bub- threat, not an innocent 5-year- bles. In Maryland, a 6-year-old old who's playing with Legos." boy pretends his fingers are a Though Newtown intro- gun during a playground game duces a wrinkle to the debate, of cops and robbers. In Mas- the slew of recent high-profile sachusetts, a 5-year-old boy suspensions over perceived attending an after-school pro- threats or weapons infractions gram makes a gun out of Legos has renewed old questions and points it at other students about the wisdom of "zero tol- while "simulating the sound of erance" policies. gunfire," as one school official Conceived as a way to put it. improve school security and Kids with active imagina- maintain consistent discipline tions? Or potential threats to and order, zero tolerance was school safety? enshrined by a 1994 federal law Some school officials are that required states to mandate taking the latter view, suspend- a minimum one-year expul- ing or threatening to suspend sion of any student caught with small children over behavior a firearm on school property. their parents consider perfect- Over the years, many states and ly normal and age-appropriate school districts expanded zero - even now, with schools in a tolerance to include offenses state of heightened sensitiv- as varied as fighting, skipping ity followingthe mass shooting school or arguing with a teach- at Sandy Hook Elementary in er. December. Some experts say there's lit- The extent to which the tle evidence that zero tolerance Newtown, Conn., shooting - in which certain infractions might influence educators' dis- compel automatic discipline, ciplinary decisions is unclear. usually suspension or expul- But parents contend admin- sion - makes schools safer, istrators are projecting adult and contend the policies leads fears onto children who know to increased rates of dropouts little about the massacre of 20 and involvement with the juve- first-graders and six educa- nile justice system. Supporters tors, and who certainly pose no respond that zero tolerance is threat to anyone. a useful and necessary tool for "It's horrible what they're removing disruptive kids from doing to these kids," said the classroom, and say any Kelly Guarna, whose 5-year- problems stem from its misap- old daughter, Madison, was plication. suspended by Mount Carmel The original 1994 federal law, Area School District in eastern and most state and local zero Pennsylvan'ia last month for tolerance policies, give school making a "terroristic threat" administrators the flexibility to with the bubble gun. "They're tailor punishments to fit the cir- treating themas mini-adults, cumstances, noted school safety making them grow up too expert Kenneth Trump. fast, and robbing them of their "Contrary to the myth of zero imaginations." tolerance, most school board Mary Czajkowski, superin- policies provide options and tendent of Barnstable Public flexibility for administrators. Schools in Hyannis, Mass., What you see is poor decision- acknowledged that Sandy Hook making and poor implementa- has teachers and parents on tion of the policies, rather than edge. But she defended Hyan- the fact school administrators nis West Elementary School's are handcuffed in terms of their warning to a 5-year-old boy discretion," he said. who chased his classmates with Trump said most school a gun he'd made from plastic officials bend over backward building blocks, saying the stu- to be fair. But he added there's dent didn't listen to the teacher no question that Sandy Hook when she told him repeatedly weighs heavily. to stop. "It's a normal occurrence to The school told his mother if have a heightened sensitivity it happened again, he'd face a after a high-profile tragedy, but two-week suspension. that does not negate the need for "Given the heightened common sense," he said. awareness and sensitivity, Maryland father Stephen we must do all that we can to Grafton said common sense was ensure that all students and in short supply in a case involv- adults both remain safe and ing his 6-year-old son, who he feel safe in schools," Czajkows- said was suspended from White ki said in a statement. "To dis- Marsh Elementary School in miss or overlook an incident Trappe for using his hand as a that results in any member of "gun" duringrecess. Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide lea HE (AP) heart McCr Th appar Sund Sprin McCr self-i head She w youn Mt suici( since cope ous p 'much Sp Press wryly Country star string bf issues she'd dealt with over the last half-decade. [ves behind two "It is a giant whirlwind of chaos all the time," she said of young Sons her life. "I call my life a beauti- ful mess and organized chaos. tRBER SPRINGS, Ark. It's just always been like that. - Perhaps there was one My entire life things have been :break too many for Mindy attracted to me and vice versa ready. that turn into chaotic night- e former country star mares or I create the chaos rently took her own life on myself. I think that's really the ay at her home in Heber life of a celebrity, of a big, huge, gs, Ark. Authorities say giant personality". ready died of a suspected This time it seems the whirl- nflicted gunshot to the wind overwhelmed McCready. and an autopsy is planned. Her death comes a month was 37, and left behind two after that of David Wilson, her g sons. longtime . boyfriend and the cCready had attempted father of her youngest son. He de at least three times is believed to have shot himself 2005, as she struggled to on the same porch of the home amid a series of tumultu- they shared in Heber Springs, tublic events that marked a small vacation community of her adult life. about 65 miles north of Little eaking to The Associated Rock. His death also was inves- in 2010, McCready smiled tigated as a suicide. y while talking about the It was the most difficult moment in a life full of them. McCready issued a state- ment last month lamenting his death. And she called him her soul mate and a caregiver to her sons in an interview with NBC's "Today" show. "I just keep telling myself that the more suffering that I go through, the greater character I'll have," she said, according to a transcript of the interview. Melinda Gayle McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994, still in her teens with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records. She had a few memo- rable moments professionally, scoring her first No. 1hit almost immediately. "Guys Do It All the Time," a self-assured dig at male chau- vinism, endeared her to female fans in 1996. She also scored a hit with "Ten Thousand Angels," and her album of that title sold 2 million copies.