The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
LYNDON TOWNSHIP, Mich.
Enbridge agrees
to pay $1.3 million
for road repairs
Authorities have reached a
$1.3 million agreement with
Enbridge Inc. to cover the cost of
damage that the company's pipe-
line construction work will do on
roads in the Ann Arbor area.
The Washtenaw County Road
Commission recently negoti-
ated the deal after Enbridge's
construction schedule for its
new crude oil pipeline ran into
seasonal weight restrictions.
Enbridge is based in Calgary,
Alberta.
AnnArbor.com says the deal
exempts Enbridge from adher-
ing to seasonal weight restric-
tions while paying for repair and
reconstruction of the roads it's
using. Most are in Lyndon Town-
ship in the northeast corner of
Washtenaw County.
SOUTH BEND, Indiana
Private jet
crashes, kills two
0
A private jet apparently expe-
riencing mechanical trouble
crashed Sunday in a northern
Indiana neighborhood, hitting
three homes and killing two peo-
ple aboard the plane, authorities
said.
The Beechcraft Premier I twin-
jet had left Tulsa, Okla.'s Riverside
Airport and crashed late Sun-
day afternoon near South Bend
Regional Airport, Federal Avia-
tion Administration spokesman
Roland Herwig in Oklahoma City
said. Two of four people aboard
the plane were killed, Herwig
said.
It was not clear if anyone on the
ground was killed, and Herwig
did not have any additional infor-
mation.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
Bills created to
end'farm animal
abuse videos
An undercover video that
showed California cows strug-
gling to stand as they were prod-
ded to slaughter by forklifts led
to the largest meat recall in U.S.
history. In Vermont, a video of
veal calves skinned alive and
tossed like sacks of potatoes
ended with the plant's closure
and criminal convictions.
Now in a pushback led by the
meat and poultry industries,
state legislators across the coun-
try are introducing laws mak-
ing it harder for animal welfare
advocates to investigate cruelty
and food safety cases.
Some bills make it illegal to
take photographs at a farm-
ing operation. Others make it a
crime for someone such as an
animal welfare advocate to lie
on an application to get a job at
a plant.
TRIPOLI, Libya
Deaths and injury
* rise due to alcohol
poisoning
Libya's health minister says
the death toll from drinking
homemade alcohol that con-
tained poisonous methanol has
risen to 87.
Minister Nouri Doghman says
1,044 people have been harmed.
He said Sunday that 15 people
were blinded, and others went
into comas or suffered kidney
failure. He said some people
admitted themselves to the hos-
pital too late, contributing to them
increasing toll.
The deaths were first reported
a week ago.
The dead range in age from 19
to 50 years old.
The sale and consumption of
alcohol is banned in the conser-
vative North African country.
Like illegal drugs elsewhere,
some Libyans turn to black mar-
ket dealers to buy alcohol, which
is often cooked in homes or
deserted farms.
He was recaptured both times.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
Monday, March 18, 2013 - 3A
Two high school
football players
convicted of rape
Francis waved to the crowd in the street outside St. Anna's Gate and before entering the church, which serves Vatican
City State's hundreds of residents, he shook hands of the parishioners and kissed babies.
Popema kes first speech,
interacts with crowd
Pope Francis
greets bystanders
with handshakes
VATICAN CITY (AP) -
Walking up to crowds, shaking
hands with surprised bystand-
ers in the street, mixing his for-
mal speeches with off-the-cuff
remarks, Pope Francis stamped
his own style on the papacy
Sunday.
His humor and down-to-
earth manner captivated those
filling St. Peter's Square in
Rome to overflowing, and he
,worked the crowd in a way that
hadtogive his securitystaffpal-
pitations. Rome Mayor Gianni
Alemanno, in the square him-
self, estimated the crowd's size
at 300,000.
"Brothers and sisters, 'Buon
giorno,"' Francis said in Italian
in his first welcome from the
window of the papal residence,
setting an informal tone that
has become the definig spirit
of his young papacy. -.
Earier Sunday, he made an
impromptu appearance before
the public from a side gate of the
Vatican that startled passers-
by and prompted cheers as he
shook hands and kissed babies.
Francis had just finished cel-
ebrating Mass and delivering
a six-minute homily - brief
by church standards - in the
Vatican's tiny parish church, St.
Anna, when he walked outside
to greet parishioners one by one,
just as an ordinary pastor does
after weekly services.
Francis started speaking at
the window even before the
stroke of noon -- the appoint-
ed time for the weekly papal
address. The windows of the
papal study in the Apostolic
Palace were opened for the first
time since Francis' predeces-
sor, Benedict XVI, gave his last
SundayblessingonFeb. 24. Four
days later, Benedict went into
retirement, the first pontiff to
do so in nearly 600 years.
Francis, the first pope from
Latin America, was elected
Wednesday and has been stay-
ing in a hotel on the Vatican's
premises until the papal apart-
ment is ready.
"The pope is down-to-earth.
He is a people person and it is
amazing," said Emanuel Anat-
sui from Britain. "He is going to
do wonderfully for the church."
After Mass, Francis again
put his security detail to the
test as he waded into an inter-
section just outside St. Anna's
Gate. Francis stepped up to the
crowd, grasping outstretched
hands. The atmosphere was so
casual that several people even
gripped Francis on the shoulder.
"Francesco! Francesco!"
children shouted his name in
Italian. As he patted one little
boy on the head, he asked "Are
you a good boy?" and the child
nodded.
"Are you sure?" the pope
quipped.
At one point he glanced at his
watch and turned to an aide -
as if to ask "How much time do
I have?"
The pope then ducked back
inside the Vatican's boundaries
to dash upstairs for the address
to St. Peter's Square.
Often abandoning the pre-
pared text in his hand, Francis
told the crowd thathe wanted to
talk about mercy, saying he was
inspired by a book about forgive-
ness that he was reading. Citing
the author, an elderly German
cardinal, and praising him as a
"top-notch" theologian, Francis
quipped: "Don't think I'm mak-
ing publicity for my cardinals'.
books!" drawing a roar of laugh-
ter from the crowd.
Francis said mercy can
"change the world" and make
it "less cold and more just."
He spoke only in Italian -
ending with "Buon pranzo"
(Have a good lunch) - a wish
that triggered nods of approv-
al from the crowd in Rome,
where a leisurely Sunday fam-
ily lunch is a cherished tradi-
tion.
But Francis did tweet in
English and other languages,
saying: "Dear friends, I thank
you from my heart and I ask
you to continue to pray for
me."
Past pontiffs have used the
Sunday window greetings
to offer brief reflections and
wishes in several languages.
Vatican spokesman the Rev.
Federico Lombardi said Fran-
cis would likely stick with
Italian, a language he's com-
fortable with for spontaneous
remarks. Lombardi left open
the possibility the 76-year-old
pope would use other languag-
es in future public appear-
ances.
During his window speech,
Francis also talked about of his
family's roots in Italy's north-
western Piedmont region. He
told the crowd that by naming
himself as pope after St. Fran-
cis of Assisi, an Italian patron
saint, he was "strengthening
my spiritual tie with this land,
where, as you know, my family
has its origins."
Attorney general
to continue
investigating
community
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP)
- Two members of Steubenville's
celebrated high school football
team were found guilty Sunday
of raping a drunken 16-year-old
girl, and Ohio's attorney general
warned the case isn't over, say-
ing he is investigating whether
coaches, parents and other stu-
dents broke the law, too.
Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'Lik
Richmond, 16, were sentenced to
at least a year in juvenile prison
in a case that has rocked this
Rust Belt city of 18;000 and led to
allegations of a cover-up to pro-
tect the Steubenville High team,
which has won nine state cham-
pionships. Mays was ordered
to serve an additional year for
photographing the underage girl
naked.
They can be held until they
turn 21.
The two broke down in tears
after a Juvenile Court judge
delivered his verdict. They later
apologized to the victim and the
community, Richmond- strug-
gling to speak through his sobs.
"My life is over," he said as he
collapsed in the arms of his law-
yer.
The crime, which took place
after a party last summer,
shocked many in Steubenville
because of the seeming callous-
ness with which other students
took out their cellphones to
record the attack and gossiped
about it online. In fact, the case
came to light via a barrage of
morning-after text messages,
social media posts and online
photos and video.
"Many of the things we
learned during this trial that our
children were saying and doing
were profane, were ugly," Judge
Thomas Lipps said:
Immediately after the verdict,
Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine said he will convene a
grand jury next month to investi-
gate whether anyone else should
be charged. Noting that 16 people
refused to talk, many of them
underage, DeWine said pos-
sible offenses to be investigated
include failure to report a crime.
"This community desperately
needs to have this behind them,
but this community also desper-
ately needs to know justice was
done and that no stone was left
unturned," he said.
Among those who have been
interviewed are the owners of
one of the houses where parties
were held that night, the high
school principal, and the football
team's 27 coaches, many of them
volunteers.
Text messages introduced
at the trial suggested the head
coach was aware of the rape
allegation early on. DeWine
said coaches are among officials
required by state law to report
child abuse. The coach and the
school district have repeatedly
declined to comment.
Mays and Richmond were
charged with penetrating the
West Virginia girl with their
fingers, first in the back seat of a
moving car after a mostly under-
age drinking party on Aug. 11,
and then in the basement of a
house.
"They treated her like a toy,"
prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter
said.
Prosecutors argued that the
victim was so intoxicated she
couldn't consent to sex that night,
while the defense contended the
girl realized what she was doing
and was known to lie.
The girl testified she could not
recall what happened but woke
up naked in a strange house after
drinking at a party.
"It was really scary," she said.
"I honestly did not know what to
think because I could not remem-
ber anything."
She said she believed she was
assaulted when she later read
text messages among friends
and saw a photo of herself
naked, along with a video that
made fun of her and the alleged
attack.
Three other boys, two of them
on the football team, saw some-
thing happening that night and
didn't try to stop it but instead
recorded it with their cellphones.
Granted immunity to testify, they
confirmed the girl was assaulted
and said she was so drunk she
didn't seem to know what was
happening.
Evidence at the trial also
included sexually explicit text
messages sent by numerous stu-
dents after the party. Lawyers
noted how texts have seemed to
replace talking on the phone for
young people. A computer foren-
sic expert documented hundreds
of thousands of texts found on 17
phones seized during the investi-
gation.
In sentencing the boys, Lipps
urged parents and others "to
have discussions about how you
talk to your friends, how you
record things on the social media
so prevalent today and how you
conduct yourself when drinking
is put upon you by your friends."
Palestinians skeptical of
Obama visit, peace agenda
See president as
unlikly to put
pressure on Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank
(AP) - President Barack
Obama will find a disillusioned
Palestinian public, skeptical
about his commitment to pro-
moting Mideast peace, when he
visits the region.
Obama's trip, beginning
Wednesday, appears aimed pri-
marily at resetting the some-
times troubled relationship
with Israel. 'But winning the
trust of the Palestinians, who
accuse him of unfairly favoring
Israel, could be a far more dif-
ficult task.
After suffering disappoint-
ments during the first Obama
administration, Palestinians
see little reason for optimism in
his new term. The White House
announcement that Obama will
not present any new peace ini-
tiatives strengthened their con-
viction that the U.S. leader isn't
prepared to put the pressure on
Israel that they think is neces-
sary to end four years of dead-
rock in negotiations.
"Obama is coming for Isra-
el, not for us," said Moham-
med Albouz, a 55-year-old
Palestinian farmer. "Obama
will come and go as his pre-
decessors did, without doing
anything."
While Israel is preparing
to give Obama the red-carpet
treatment, there are few signs
of excitement in the West Bank.
Large posters of Obama hung
in Ramallah last week were
quickly defaced, and a small
group of activists called "The
Campaign for Dignity" plans
on releasing black balloons into
the air in a sign of mourning
when Obama arrives.
Obama himself played a
role in reaching the current
deadlock, which stems in large
part from disagreements over
Israeli settlement construc-
tion in the West Bank and east
Jerusalem. The Palestinians
claim both areas, captured by
Israel in the 1967 Mideast war,
as parts of a future state, a posi-
tion that is widely backed inter-
nationally.
When Obama first took
office, he strongly and publicly
criticized the Israeli settle-
ments, saying the construction
undermines hopes for peace.
"It is time for these settle-
ments to stop," Obama said in
a high-profile address to the
Muslim world delivered in
Cairo just months after taking
office.
When Benjamin Netanyahu
was elected Israeli prime min-
ister in early 2009, the Pales-
tinians said they would not
negotiate unless settlement
construction was frozen. They
were further emboldened by
Obama's tough stance.
Obama persuaded Netanya-
hu to impose a 10-month slow-
down, but Palestinians did not
agree to restart talks until the
period was nearly over. When
the Israeli moratorium expired
several weeks later, Netanyahu
rejected American appeals to
extend the slowdown, and the
negotiations collapsed.
Obama stopped pushing the
matter, and talks have never
resumed, and the Palestinians,
viewing Obama as afraid to
take on Israel's allies in Wash-
ington, have few expectations
now.
"What we are going to tell
him behind closed doors is
what we are saying in public.
There is no secret that a suc-
cessful peace process needs a
complete settlement freeze,"
said Nabil Shaath, a top adviser
to President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The Israelis are building on
our land and claiming they
want to negotiate with us about
this land."
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