The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
KALAMAZOO, Mich.
K. River oil spill
relatively harmless
to humans
People who canoe on, or wade
or swim in, the Kalamazoo River
near Marshall in southwestern
Michigan are not expected to
suffer any long-term harm from
chemicals left in the water when
an oil pipeline burst in 2010,
according to a state report.
Oil-related and non-oil relat-
ed chemicals were measured in
the surface water following the
Enbridge Inc. pipeline rupture
that sent 800,000 gallons of oil
into the river and a tributary
creek.
Only a very few of these
chemicals were detected above
health-protective screening lev-
els in surface water samples, said
the public health assessmnent
released Monday by the Michi-
gan Department of Community
Health for portions of the river
in Calhoun and Kalamazoo
counties.
SALIDA, CO.
Colorado hikers
trapped in rock flow
Five hikers were trapped by
a rock slide on a trail in south-
central Colorado on Monday,
and another was pulled out with
injuries and flown to a hospital,
authorities said.
A seventh person was unac-
counted for, the Chaffee (CHAY'-
fee) County Sheriff's Department
said.
The slide occurred at about 11
a.m. on the trail to Agnes Vaille
(VAYL) falls in the Pike and San
Isabel National Forest, an easy
day hike about a 2 1/2 hour drive
southwest of Denver.
A 13-year-old girl was extract-
ed from the slide and flown to
Children's Hospital in Denver,
sheriff's spokesman Dave Cotten
said. He didn't know the nature
and extent of her injuries.
The names and hometowns of
the hikers haven't been released.
Rescuers from at least five agen-
cies were working at the scene
Monday afternoon.
RALEIGH. NC.
NC challenges new
election law
North Carolina's Republican
governor is vowing to fight a law-
suit by the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment challenging the state's
tough new elections law on the
grounds it disproportionately
excludes minority voters.
Gov. Pat McCrory said Mon-
day he has hired a private lawyer
to help defend the new law from
what he suggested was a parti-
san attack by President Barack
Obama's Democratic administra-
tion.
"I believe the federal govern-
ment action is an overreach and
without merit," McCrory said at
a brief media conference during
which he took no questions. "I
firmly believe we have done the
right thing. I believe this is good
law."
RALEIGH, NC.
Congo refugee
numbers swell
A new U.N. report says the
number of refugees fleeing the
war in Congo swelled by more
than 350,000 in just the past few
months as fighting escalated,
pushing the number of people
uprooted in the long-running con-
flict to 3 million.
The Congo conflict is a spill-
over from the 1994 genocide in
neighboring Rwanda. Hundreds
of Hutus who participated in the
mass slaughter escaped into Congo
and still fight there. Fighting has
continued over two decades.
The report to the Security
Council released Monday said
that as of the end of August, about
440,000 Congolese had become
refugees in neighboring Burundi,
Rwanda and Uganda. A report
three months ago put that number
at 70,000.
-Compiledfrom
Daily wire reports
INSURANCE
From Page 1
GradCare plan currently covers
5,900 students, including gradu-
ate student instructors, gradu-
ate student staff assistants,
graduate student research assis-
tants, benefit-eligible fellow-
ship holders and benefit-eligible
medical students.
While enrollment data for
the fall has yet to be released,
combined graduate and profes-
sional student enrollment has
exceeded 14,000 in each of the
past three years, meaning that
GradCare likely covers less than
half of that.
For those outside the Grad-
Carenetwork,thereare avariety
of options: The University offers
the Domestic Student Health
Insurance Plan to graduate and
doctoral students who are com-
pleting requirements. Graduate
or professional students may be
able to become insured through
their parents if they are under
age 26, or through a spouse. The
deadline to enroll in DSHIP for
the fall semester was Septem-
ber 23, and uninsured students
were encouraged by University
Health Services to enroll if they
wanted insurance that could be
used sooner than offerings on
the marketplace.
Business graduate stu-
dent Tiffani Bender decided
that DSHIP's $3,284-per-year
premium was too expensive,
instead opting to see if market-
place options would be cheaper.
Though exact costs have yet
to be released, the marketplace
will offer four plans: bronze, sil-
ver, gold and platinum.
A consumer who purchases
the bronze plan would pay the
cheapest monthly premium, but
would also bear roughly 40 per-
cent of out-of-pocket costs - the
highest proportion of any plan.
Someone on the platinum plan
would pay the highest monthly
premium rate, but would be
responsible for only 10 percent
of out-of-pocket costs.
Each plan provides the same
set of essential benefits, includ-
ing doctor visits, emergency ser-
vices and prescriptions, but the
more expensive options could
include additional services.
UHS director Robert Win-
field, the University's chief
health officer, said that the Uni-
versity's health coverage most
resembles the silver plan in
terms of its proportion of cov-
ered to out-of-pocket costs - sil-
ver leaves patients responsible
for 30 percent of out-of-pocket
costs, while University policy-
holders pay roughly 28 percent.
Although the gold and
platinum plans offered on the
marketplace cover a greater pro-
portion of costs, Winfield said
the University health plan cov-
ers a broader range of pharmacy
benefits and physical-therapy
services.
"The University's benefits
for those non-essential cov-
ered items are for the most part
going to be better than most of
the insurances offered on the
exchange," Winfield said.
Despite all of the atten-
tion given to the marketplace,
another component of the ACA
may be more relevant for the
uninsured University popula-
tion: Medicaid expansion. This
provision gives states the option
of expanding Medicaid eligibil-
ity to 133 percent of the federal
poverty level, all at the federal
government's expense.
Gov. Rick Snyder signed Med-
icaid expansion into law in Sep-
tember, but the Republican-led
state Senate did not grant the
bill immediate effect, meaning
it won't be implemented until
late March or April. Tempo-
rary University employees and
uninsured graduate or profes-
sional students may qualify for
Medicaid because of the income
eligibility expansion, which
makes individuals with income
of roughly $15,000 or a family
of four with roughly $31,000 in
income eligible.
Implementation aside, Win-
field said one of the biggest chal-
lenges will be helping people
figure out all of their options
between the federally-run
insurance marketplace and the
state-run Medicaid program.
"I think it's just a great exam-
ple of the struggle between
federalism and states' rights,"
Winfield said. "(There is) com-
promise after compromise
which leads to more and more
confusion."
Consumers and health
administrators share this con-
fusion. For people like Bender,
the Business graduate student
who left a job in advertising at
McCann Worldgroup to return
to school, the insurance mar-
ketplace allows people to learn
more about their options, but all
that information can be hard to
comprehend.
"When I got (insurance)
through my employer, it was
almost like a black box: You pay
a premium every month, you
know when you go to the doc-
tor you may or may not have a
certain copay, or if you needed
prescriptions you'd know if it's
covered," Bender said. "I'm 26;
I've had health insurance my
whole life, but now I feel like I'm
just learning about it, because
now it's being put in my control."
It is unclear how the govern-
ment shutdown early Tuesday
morning will affect the Mar-
ketplace, but it appears the pro-
gram will open for enrollment
as planned.
SHUTDOWN
From Page 1
sion on Internships (sic) with
the U.S. Dept. of State has been
cancelled. We anticipate the ses-
sion will be rescheduled at a later
date," read an e-mail sent to an
International Center listserv.
A Career Center official said
most of the time the center is
unaware of cancellations until
they don't show up for their
scheduled time.
Students in Washington, D.C.
affected by shutdown
Students in D.C. for the Michi-
gan in Washington semester are
still largely unaware of whether
they should attend their intern-
ships in the morning.
Of the 23 students in D.C., 11 are
working in government intern-
ships, according to Margaret
Howard, MIW program manager
in Washington, D.C. Howard said
so far one student has been told to
stay home and four students have
been notified that they should to
go to work.
Though the shutdown may be
a lost day of work for some stu-
dents, LSA and Public Policy Prof.
Edie Goldenberg, who is also the
director of Michigan in Washing-
ton, said the shutdown should be a
good lesson.
"They are going to learn quite
a bit about how the government
does or doesn't function," Gold-
enberg said. "Mainly, we are
interested in them learning while
they're there, and this is going to
be a very educational experience
for all of them."
LSA senior Andy Craft, a cur-
rent MichiganinWashingtonpar-
ticipant, said his internship with
government access TV network
C-SPAN would not be directly
affected by the government shut-
down. However, he said the shut-
down would limit his ability to do
his job, as C-SPAN covers many
government-sponsored events.
In a meeting Friday, Craft said
MIW officials discussed plans to
set up walking tours and other
activities should the government
shutdown last throughout the
week.
"All the monuments and muse-
ums will be closed, so there won't
be anythingto do anyways," Craft
said.
Craft said it has been a "tumul-
tuous semester" with the Navy
Yard shooting closing down some
students' workplaces, and now
the government shutdown could
further impede work.
"This city never sleeps for
sure," he said.
Transportation, veteran care
and financial aid
Airports and Amtrak - includ-
ing the station in Ann Arbor -
are among the systems that will
remain open, the Washington
Post reported.
Derek Atkinson, spokesperson
for Veteran Affairs Ann Arbor
Health System, said the hospital's
operations will not be affected,
regardless of the shutdown.
The Post also reported that
Pell Grants and Federal Direct
Student Loans will continue to
be processed, although payments
may slow as there may be fewer
employees to process them. Other
grants previously approved by the
Department of Education, such
as Race to the Top, Investing in
Innovation and Promise Neigh-
borhoods will also continue to be
distributed.
-Daily Staff Reporter Will
Greenberg contributed reporting.
REPORT
From Page 1
2011 to 16 in 2012.
Burglaries reported have
increased steadily over the last
several years with 68 reported
in 2012 and 60 reported in 2011.
Larcenies on campus - such as
laptop thefts - in 2012 added
up to 734, compared to 617 in
2011.
Statistics also show that
alcohol-related crimes, such as
Minor in Possession of Alcohol,
have also increased in recent
years.
The report discloses both
alcohol-related crimes handled
by police organizations and alle-
gations handled internally by
the University. In 2012, the state
of Michigan adopted a medical
amnesty law which gives stu-
dents the ability to seek medical
help for excessive alcohol con-
sumption without facing legal
repercussions. However, the
law does not prohibit the Uni-
versity from taking disciplinary
action against students involved
in underage drinking.
Liquor law arrests, citations
and violations reported to Uni-
versity and Ann Arbor Police
totaled 426 in 2012 with 941
alcohol cases handled internal-
ly, though some of these reports
may have been for the same
violation. In 2011, liquor law
arrests, citations and violations
reported to University and Ann
Arbor Police totaled 358 and 857
were handled internally.
Fires in 2012 caused more
than $500 in damage, versus
about $350 in 2011, according to
the report.
-Online Editor Austen Hufford
and Daily News Editor Taylor
Wizner contributed to this report.
PROVOST
From Page 1
look at socioeconomic diversity
in-state we see continued steady
progress over the past decade. It's
still not where we want it to be,
but we're definitely on the right
track."
Pollack also discussed poten-
tial ways of using technology to
increase efficiency and use the
savings to increase hands-on
learning and integrated learning
experiences.
OFFICE
From Page 1
has failed to foster trust in the
community and noted problems
with budgeting in the Downtown
Development Authority.
"Leadership doesn't have to
result in distrust," he said. "Lead-
ership is about totally up to the
issues and making those deci-
sions and trying to impart upon
the good public policy of those.
You can't do that if you're playing
games."
Hieftje said he's been happy
Associate Prof. Sally Oey
expressed concerns about allo-
cated resources among research
departments.
"The research quality is really
what drives the quality of our
teaching and everything else,"
Oey said. "I feel like the IT sup-
port that we have right now is
being physically removed from
us and is reducing its efficiency.
I am concerned when I looked
at who was advising the faculty
committees because there are
few faculty directly on these
committees."
with the transparency shown
by his administration, as well as
with the city's operations during
his time as mayor.
"I'm surerthat anyone that's
new in the office would want to
make changes to a whole bunch of
things, but our city is doing very,
very well," Hieftje said.
Hieftje said he has not made
an official decision on whether or
not to run again, saying he typi-
cally announces at the beginning
of the calendar year. He added,
however, that Kunselman run-
ning won't have any effect on his
decision.
Syrian minister claims to be at
war with al Qaida-linked miliants
'Terrorist' activity
a possible cover up
for the disposal of
chemical weapons
UNITED NATIONS (AP)
- Syria's foreign minister
claimed Monday that his gov-
ernment is fighting a war
against al-Qaida-linked mili-
tants who eat human hearts
and dismember people while
they are still alive, then send
their limbs to family members.
Walid al-Moallem, address-
ing world leaders at the U.N.
General Assembly in New
York, also charged that the
U.S., Britain and France had
blocked the naming of the real
perpetrators of chemicalweap-
ons attacks in Syria, which he
blamed on the opposition.
President Barack Obama
told the same forum last week
that it was the President
Bashar Assad's regime that
was behind a chemical weap-
ons attack in August that killed
hundreds in the Damascus
suburbs and brought threats of
a retaliatory U.S. strike.
After the U.S. threatened to
attack Syria, the Assad regime
committed to getting rid of its
stockpiles of chemical weap-
ons. The U.N. Security Coun-
cil then voted unanimously
on Friday to oblige it to do so
based on a plan made by the
Organization for the Prohibi-
tion of Chemical Weapons. The
resolution broke 2-1/2 years of
paralysis on the Syria conflict
in the Security Council.
U.N. spokesman Martin
Nesirky was asked after the
speech why the U.N. was not
assigning blame for the chemi-
cal weapons attacks in Syria.
He said that U.N. guidelines
mandate that U.N. inspec-
tion teams determine whether
chemical weapons were used,
but not who used them.
Syria's main opposition
group in exile called al-Moal-
lem's speech "an attempt to
hide from the world a totali-
tarian regime's systematic and
indiscriminate attacks against
its own people." The Syrian
National Coalition (SNC) said
the minister "denied the Assad
regime's fundamental respon-
sibility for creating and per-
petuatingthis conflict."
Syria's civil war, raging for
2-1/2 years, had killed more
than 100,000 people.
"The Syrian regime has
abandoned all responsibility
to protect its people," the SNC
claimed.
Al-Moallem claimed "ter-
rorists" fighting the regime
are being supplied with
chemical weapons, but he
did not name specific nations
accused of supplying them.
The Syrian regime has long
referred to the entire opposi-
tion rising up against Assad
as "terrorists."
Al-Moallem claimed that it
was clear to all that offshoots
of al-Qaida - "the most dan-
gerous terrorist organization
in the world" - is fighting in
the civil war. But some coun-
tries refuse to recognize it, he
charged.
"The scenes of murder, man-
slaughter and eating human
hearts were shown on TV
screens, but did not touch blind
consciences," al-Moallem said
"There are innocent civil-
ians whose heads are put on
I
the grill just because they vio-
late the extremist ideology and
deviant views of al-Qaida. In
Syria ... there are murderers
who dismember human bodies
into pieces while still alive and
send their limbs to their fami-
lies, just because those citizens
are defending a unified and
secular Syria.
A video published online
in May purported to show
a member of Syria's armed
opposition eating a human
heart while the body of a Syr-
ian soldier lay close by. The
video drew condemnation
from human rights groups as
well as the Syrian National
Coalition (SNC), one of the
main opposition groups.
Another video the minis-
ter referred to purportedly
showed rebels grilling the
head of a Syrian soldier.
As rebels gain more terri-
tory and a multitude of mili-
tias, jihadists and criminals
join the fight against Assad,
reports of serious human
rights abuses committed by
armed opposition elements are
on the rise.
Summary executions com-
mitted by rebel forces - albeit
on a far smaller scale than the
regime's alleged atrocities -
have put the West in a diffi-
cult position as it seeks to arm,
train and otherwise aid the
rebels.
Al-Moallem said his gov-
ernment was committed to a
political solution to the con-
flict, which he called a war
against "terror" and not a civil
war as the international com-
munity has been referring to
it for months. He added that
"terrorists" from 83 countries
are operating in Syria
I .
KATHERINE
FREESE
GEORGE E. UHLENBECK
COLLEGIATE PROFESSOR
OF PHYSICS
The U-M College of
Literature, Science, and
the Arts presents a public
lecture and reception.
For info call 734.615.6449
A
I