The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
ALPENA, Michi.
Michigan woman
faces four years in
animal cruelty case
A northern Michigan woman
faces up to four years in prison
when she's sentenced in an animal
cruelty case involving dogs and
miniature horses.
The Alpena News reports
35-year-old Jennifer Elen Tucker-'
Richard pleaded guilty Monday to
charges including animal cruelty
or abandonment. Sentencing is set
for April 22 in 26th Circuit Court.
She also could be ordered to per-
form 500 hours of communityser-
a vice and pay fines.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
Governor Beebe
vetoes abortion
ban
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe
on Tuesday vetoed a ban on most
abortions in Arkansas at 20 weeks
into a pregnancy, setting up an
override fight with a Republican-
controlled Legislature that has
beenpushingfor morerestrictions
on the procedure.
Beebe said he vetoed the ban,
which is based on the disputed
belief that a fetus can feel pain at
20 weeks, because it runs afoul
of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973
Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized
abortion until the point where
fetuses can survive outside the
* womb, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
The Republican sponsor of the
measure said he'll seek to override
Beebe's veto.
"Because it would impose a ban
on a woman's right to choose an
elective, nontherapeutic abortion
before viability, House Bill 1037,
if it became law, would squarely
contradict Supreme Court prece-
dent," Beebe said in his veto letter.
"When I was sworn in as governor
I took an oath to preserve, protect
and defend both the Arkansas
Constitution and the Constitution
of the United States. I take that
oath seriously."
" CARDON, Ohio
Ohio teenager
charged in school
shooting pleads
guilty
A teenager charged with kill-
ing three students at an Ohio high
school pleaded guilty to aggravat-
ed murder charges on Tuesday.
Eighteen-year-old T.J. Lane
entered the plea in a deal with
prosecutors. Lane pleaded guilty
to three counts of aggravated
murder, among other charges. As
partofthe agreement, prosecutors
removed the death penalty speci-
fications.
Lane's appearance in the Geau-
ga County courtroom came one
day before the anniversary of the
deadly shootings at Chardon High
' School, east of Cleveland.
JERUSALEM, Israel
Rockets launched
from Gaza into
Israel break three
month ceasefire
Gaza militants on Tuesday
fired a rocket into Israel for the
first time in three months, rat-
tling a cross-border truce that
has held since Israel's military
offensive against the Hamas-run
territory.
Israel closed Gaza's main
cargo crossing until further
notice, an apparent warning to
Gaza's Hamas rulers to clamp
down on rocket squads.
"Quiet will be met with quiet,
missiles will be met with a
response," said Israeli President
Shimon Peres, adding that he
believes both sides "have a deep
interest in lowering the flames."
Militants claiming affilia-
tion with the Al Aqsa Martyrs'
Brigades, a violent offshoot of
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas' Fatah, movement took
responsibility..
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
SEMESTER.
From Page 1A
"transformative opportunity"
for entrepreneurial students.
"We want to empower stu-
dents with a new space that
will allow them to collaborate,"
Strauss said. "They can create
something incredible that would
be difficult to do while enrolled
in full-time courses."
Strauss said he expects the
program to be a reality by fall
2013 or winter 2014.
Business junior Mathias
Arkayin, another member of the
commission, hopes that students
would use the Flipped Semester
to undertake "risky" projects,
such as starting a company,
recording an album or filming a
movie. Students would be able
to appropriate time to these
endeavors if a curriculum were
designed to provide credit hours
for them, he said.
"The idea is that we want to
let students take a calculated
risk under an environment that
is risk-averse," Arkayin said. "At
the core, we are trying to free up
student time so they can devote
more of their time towards their
passion."
Although specific details
regarding the admission pro-
cess to the program haven't been
decided, Engineering sopho-
more Dan Rodak said Flipped
Semester would be highly selec-
tive. Though past entrepreneur-
ial experience would not be a
necessary prerequisite, it would
signal a strong candidate.
Different from existing inde-
pendent study curriculum,
the Flipped Semester would
facilitate cross-communication
among its members. Multiple
students would be able to work
together on the same entrepre-
neurial initiative and gain help
from one another.
"There is going to be a com-
munity formed, and they will be
able to rely on one another and
collaborate with one another in
smaller space," Rodak said.
Strauss believes the long-
term entrepreneurial projects in
which students would partake
during the program would allow
students to showcase their cre-
ations to employers and demon-
strate their capabilities outside
of the classroom setting.
The Flipped Semester orga-
nizers are currently in meetings
with University administrators
to talk ahout credit- collahora-
tion with other programs such
as the Program in Entrepreneur-
ship. To be a part of the "larger
ecosystem" of the University,
organizers said accreditation is
important.
' CSG President Manish Parikh
did not doubt the plausibility of
the Flipped Semester, provided
that administrators and stu-
dents alike would back it.
"(The Flipped Semester) is a
bit of a crazy idea," Parikh said.
"But I genuinely believe that
those are the only ideas worth
pursuing -crazy, ambitious,
inspiring ideas."
-- Daily Staff Reporter Giacomo
Bologna contributed reporting.
Blizzard slams
Midwest, holds
traffic and halts
many flights
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Power cut to of a roof. The storm was also
blamed for the deaths of two
),000 homes and people who were killed in roll-
over crashes Monday on Inter-
businesses state 70 in Kansas.
Heavy snow pulled down
kNSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - large trees and caused roofs to
he second time in a week, cave in at businesses in Belton
or winter storm paralyzed and Warrensburg, Mo., where
of the nation's midsection 13 inches of snow piled up. In
day, dumping a fresh layer Columbia, a canopy over gas
avy, wet snow atop cities pumps collapsed at a conve-
hoked with piles from the nience store.
ous system and making By noon, the storm had
I perilous from the Okla- arrived in the Great Lakes with
panhandle to the Great a mixture of blowing snow, sleet
s. and frigid rain that disrupted
e weight of the snow most forms of travel. Airlines
ned power lines and cut canceled almost 500 flights at
ricity to more than 100,000 Chicago's O'Hare and Midway
s and businesses. At least airports alone.
deaths were blamed on Elsewhere in Chicago, the
lizzard. heavy weather threatened to
.e Missouri Department hold down voter turnout in a
transportation issued a special election to choose the
"no travel" advisory, urg- likely replacement for former
eople to stay off highways Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. The city
t in case of a dire emer- deployed extra resources to
y. Conditions were so bad keep polls accessible. Its full
some snowplows slid into fleet of 284 snowplows was out
es, underlining the danger clearing pavement.
to well-equipped travelers. The wintry mix also blew
's straight hell. It's through Iowa, which had been
ing, blowing, drifting, expected to escape any seri-
'thing," said Robert Bran- ous snowfall. Parts of the state
im, a trucker from Camp- could now get as much as a foot.
Ill., who was hauling Fueled by a strong low pres-
Mart merchandise to Dal- sure system, the crescent-
le had been stranded since shaped storm began Sunday
day evening at Beto Junc- in Texas, then headed north.
about 80 miles southwest It was expected to drop up to
nsas City. 6 inches of snow on Chicago
he cars are stuck in the before crawling east across
ng lot. Some of the trucks Michigan toward northern New
tried to leave got stuck," he England.
"I'm not leaving anytime Schools and major high-
ways in the Texas Panhandle
to 10 inches had fallen in remained closed for a second
round Kansas City, Mo., by day Tuesday. Interstate 27
ime the snow tapered off reopened between Amarillo and
e midday. Mayor Sly James Lubbock, about 120 miles to the
red a state of emergency. south, but the Texas National
r a second straight week, Guard was still working to clear
slchildren, government much of Interstate 40 from the
ers and others caught a Oklahoma border to the New
as most schools and office Mexico state line.
lings were closed. Hospi- Some other roads reopened
closed outpatient centers as sunny conditions began to
rgent-care clinics. thaw ice and snow-packed sur-
though the amount of snow faces.
not unusual for late Feb- Just a day earlier, whiteout
, the snow was so heavy conditions had made virtually
ressed everything it fell all Panhandle roads impass-
especially the electrical able. A hurricane-force gust of
Power was slowly being 75 mph was recorded in Ama-
red as the thick clouds rillo, which got 17 inches. The
d on. heaviest snowfall was in Follett,
the northwest Oklahoma Texas, with 21 inches.
of Woodward, a per- In Oklahoma, 600 snow-
was killed after 15 inches plows and trucks worked to
now brought down part reopen roads.
Free Syrian Army fighters, sing revolutionary songs as they gather at one of their caves, in Jabal al-Zaweya, in Idlib
Province, Syria on Monday.
Brutal clash between Syrian
rebels and gov. forces
United Nations
reports 70,000 dead
since conflict began
in 2011
BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian reb-
els battled government troops
near a landmark 12th century
mosque in the northern city of
Aleppo on Tuesday, while fierce
clashes raged around a police
academy west of the city, activ-
ists said.
The fighting near the
Umayyad Mosque in the walled
Old City threatened to further
damage the historic structure,
part of which was burned dur-
ing clashes last year.
Since July 2012, government
forces and rebels seeking to
topple President Bashar Assad
have been battling over Alep-
po, the country's largest city
and a major prize in the civil
war. While rebels have gradu-
ally expanded the amount of
turf under their control, seven
months of street fighting, air-
strikes and shelling have left
much of the city, considered
one of Syria's most beautiful, in
ruins.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights
reported intense clashes with
heavy gunfire and explosions
near the mosque. Syria's state
news agency said "terrorists"
had detonated explosives near
the building's south wall, caus-
ing "material damages."
Assad's regime refers to the
opposition as "terrorists."
The mosque, also known as
the Great Mosque of Aleppo,
sits near a medieval covered
market in the Old City, which
is a UNESCO World Heritage
site. The mosque was heavily
damaged in October, 2012, just
weeks after a fire gutted the
market.
Syria's nearly 2-year-old
civil war has left its mark on
other gems of the country's rich
archaeological and cultural
heritage.
At least five of Syria's six
World Heritage sites have
been damaged in the fight-
ing, according to UNESCO, the
U.N.'s cultural agency. Loot-
ers have broken into one of the
world's best-preserved Crusad-
er castles, Crac des Chevaliers,
and ruins in the ancient city of
Palmyra have been damaged.
Both rebels and regime forc-
es have turned some of Syria's
significant historic sites into
bases, including citadels and
Turkish bath houses, while
thieves have stolen artifacts
from archaeological excava-
tions and, to a lesser extent,
museums.
To the west of Aleppo, activ-
ists reported fresh fighting
Tuesday near the police acad-
emy that has become a key gov-
ernment military installation.
The observatory said the
two sides were shelling each
other's positions while the gov-
ernment launched airstrikes in
the area.
Online gambling legal in NJ
Online gambling
will raise $235
million in revenue
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Get
ready for betting in your jam-
mies, at work, from the kitchen
table, or at the beach: New Jer-
seyans - and possibly manyoth-
ers - will soon be able to gamble
over the Internet.
New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie signed a bill Tuesday
legalizing Internet gambling,
hours after the state legislature
passed a revised bill that made
the changes he wanted. They
included setting a 10-year trial
period for online betting, and
raising the taxes on the Atlantic
City casinos' online winnings
from 10 to15 percent.
New Jersey became the third
state in the nation to legalize
gambling over the Internet. The
lawmakers' votes and Christie's
signature marked the largest
expansion of legalized gambling
in New Jersey since the first
casino began operating in Atlan-
tic City in 1978.
Nevada and Delaware have
passed laws legalizing Internet
betting, which also is going on
offshore, untaxed and unregu-
lated.
"This was a critical decision,
and one that I did not make
lightly," Christie said. "But with
the proper regulatory frame-
work and safeguards that I
insisted on including in the bill,
I am confident that we are offer-
ing a responsible yet exciting
option that will make Atlantic
City more competitive while
also bringing financial benefits
to New Jersey as a whole."
The idea is to help the strug-
gling casinos by attracting new
gamblers who are not now visit-
ing the casinos. The comps, like
free hotel rooms, show tickets,
meals or other freebies, would
be accrued from online play, but
would have to be redeemed in
person at a casino, presumably
enticing a player to spend more
money while there.
Tony Rodio, president of the
Casino Association of New Jer-
sey, welcomed the new opportu-
nities for his industry.
"The objectives for the con-
tinued stabilization, develop-
ment and success of Atlantic
City that Gov. Christie and our
legislature has facilitated over
the past couple of years have
taken a significant step forward
today with the passage of Inter-
net gaming," he said.
The advent of Internet gam-
bling is particularly good news
for one of Atlantic City's most
struggling casinos, The Atlantic
Club Casino Hotel. It is in the
process of being bought by the
parent company of PokerStars,
the world's largestpoker web site.
"Our state leaders have
stepped up, worked together
and seized this moment," said
Michael Frawley, the casino's
chief operating officer. "New
Jersey will be better for it as the
benefits of I-gaming for our state
are only beginning to be fully
appreciated. We strongly believe
that the economic development
and reinvestment in Atlantic
City, driven through I-gaming,
will be remembered as a criti-
cal turning point for this proud
town. We look forward to the
renewed success this new law
will surely bring."
I