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November 04, 2013 - Image 3

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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, November 4,2013 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, November 4, 2013 - 3A

EAST LANSING, Mich.
Cuban life on
display in photos
at Michigan State
A Michigan State University
professor's photos from Cuba are
going on display Monday at the
East Lansing campus.
Music composition associate
professor Mark Sullivan says the
exhibition draws on more than
6,000 photos he shot during his
visit to the Caribbean Island
nation, long under a U.S. trade
embargo.
The opening of the exhibit
"Cuba: First Times Never Come
Again" is 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the
MSUglobal Knowledge and
Learning Innovations space
in the Nisbet Building. It's up
through year's end.
The 28-year Michigan State
faculty member says life in Cuba
is "radically different" from what
he'd expected.
Sullivan will be on hand to dis-
cuss his photos and plans with
the project, which include turn-
ing his pictures and experiences
in Cuba into a book.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
Birmingham
airport secured,
operations resume
Normal operations are resum-
ing at Birmingham-Shuttles-
worth International Airport after
a threat was investigated.
The airport's Facebook page
said Sunday night that operations
were resuming after authorities
secured the airport.
Police spokesman Johnny Wil-
liams tells al.com that nothingwas
found in a sweep of the airport.
Several flights were diverted
and the terminal was evacuated
after the threat was received in
the afternoon. The airport was
shut down for more than two
hours.
CLEVELAND
Ohio trial set
for man in wife's
hospital killing
A man charged with fatally
shooting his wife in her hospital
bed killed her out of love and will
tell jurors about the heartbreak
he felt over her debilitated condi-
tion, his attorney said.
John Wise, of Massillon, under
house arrest since last year, goes
on trial Monday and will ask for
the jury's understanding, not
sympathy, attorney Paul Adam-
son said.
The 68-year-old Wise could
face life in prison if convicted of
aggravated murder.
Police say Wise calmly walked
into his 65-year-old wife's room
at Akron General Medical Center
and shot her on Aug. 4, 2012. Bar-
bara, his wife of 45 years, died the
next morning.
A week earlier, she had suf-
* fered triple cerebral aneurysms
that left her unable to speak.
YANGON, Myanmar

Boat carrying 70
* Muslim Rohingya
sinks off Myanmar
A boat carrying at least 70
Muslim Rohingya capsized and
sank Sunday off the western coast
of Myanmar, an aid worker said.
Only eight survivors have been
found.
The boat was in the Bay of Ben-
gal and headed for Bangladesh
when it went down early Sunday,
said Abdul Melik, who works for a
humanitarian organization in the
region.
The incident comes after the
United Nations warned that an
annual and often deadly exodus
of desperate people from Myan-
mar's Rakhine state appears to
have begun. The exodus usually
kicks off in November, when seas
begin to calm following the annu-
al monsoon.
As many as 1,500 people have
fled in the last week, Dan McNor-
ton, a spokesman for the U.N.
High Commission for Refugees,
said at a press briefing Saturday
in Geneva.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

France: Journalists
shot killed in Mali

@TWCNTYPOUNDCARP VIA TWITTER
A Twitter picture from @twentypound carp advertising a write-in campaign for Ann Arbor City CouncilA
Twenty Pound Carp runs for
City Council,1 details fishy

Candidate offers
fresh (water) take
on contentious
issues
By KATIE BURKE and
WILL GREENBERG
Daily NewsEditor and
Daily StaffReporter
Ann Arbor voters' attention
has been lured into the 4th
Ward Ann Arbor City Coun-
cil race as write-in candidate
"Twenty Pound Carp" made a
splash by announcing his can-
didacy for the seat.
According to a Twitter
account, @TwentyPoundCarp,
the carp is an Ann Arbor native
that resided in a pond in Ann
Arbor's West Park but was
removed one year ago after city
officials claimed it was destroy-
ing the pond's ecosystem.
The Ann Arbor News report-
ed in November 2012 that a
20-inch-long, 20-pound carp
was pulled from a small pond,
then released into the Huron
River. The fish was removed
due to its destruction of sur-
rounding vegetation.
Twenty Pound Carp wrote
in an e-mail interview that his
campaign platform is centered
on economic reform and "fiscal
responsibility."

"A return to Ann Arbor's
past glories and prosperity
for all ... I fully expect we can
retain recent university gradu-
ates in Ann Arbor rather than
lose them to Chicago, where
the abattoirs cast but the mer-
est shadow their former great-
ness," the Twitter user wrote.
It added that securing the
city's borders is another aspect
of the campaign.
"With the destruction of
Blimpy Burgers, I have pro-
posed the immediate construc-
tion of a series of glacis and
escarpments, ravelins and Par-
rott gun installations to encir-
cle critical strategic points such
as Dominick's and the Fleet-
wood Diner," the user wrote.
Twenty Pound Carp wrote
that if elected, it would encour-
age the city to work with the
federal government to build
canals for its fellow aquatic
creatures, creating "the Venice
of Washtenaw County."
The user declined to dis-
close its exact residence, but is
working with the city to come
to an agreement on residency in
Ward 4.
The campaign appears to
be going swimmingly with 172
Twitter followers as of Sunday
afternoon.
"Campaign rolls on, we have
momentum. I'm focusing on
the Fourth ward, but can't help
it if supporters stray across

borders," @TwentyPoundCarp
tweeted on Oct. 30 in response
to questions about the support
spawning across Ann Arbor.
Fourth Ward candidate Jack
Eaton, a Democrat who is the
only candidate on the ward's
ballot, said he's kept a good
sense of humor about the new
candidate, mentioning that he
and the carp follow each other
on Twitter.
"I take it with the humor
that's intended," Eaton said.
Eaton also said the carp has
not yet filed for candidacy,
which is required before the
election for the votes to be
counted. Additionally, the carp
currently resides in the Huron
River, which does not fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the fourth
ward, leading to some fishy cir-
cumstances surrounding the
legitimacy of the campaign.
If elected, Twenty Pound
Carp would be the self-
described "bottom feeder" to
serve on city council and would
likely give a new fresh-water
face to the council while giving
voice to the long underrepre-
sented residents of Ann Arbor's
ponds and rivers.
Twenty Pound Carp also
tweeted that, if elected, it hopes
to have its special needs accom-
modated so that it can attend
council - meetings, though
details of those logistics are
still unclear.

Details of who was
behind attack and
why remain unclear
PARIS (AP) - Two veteran
French journalists kidnapped
and killed in northern Mali
were shot to death, French
authorities said Sunday, as
questions emerged about how
the gunmen managed to carry
out the attack near a town
where both French troops and
U.N. forces are based.
The slayings of Ghislaine
Dupont, 51, and Claude Verlon,
58, shocked France and under-
scored how insecure parts of
northern Mali remain months
after a French-led military
intervention against al-Qaida
and other extremists.
The new details, shared by
French Foreign Minister Lau-
rent Fabius after a meeting
of key ministers with French
President Francois Hollande,
failed to clarify who was
behind the killings and why the
pair was targeted.
He said the two were shot
multiple times and their bod-
ies found near the vehicle that
whisked them away. Earlier,
four Malian officials, including
the head of the armed forces
in Kidal said the journalists'
throats had been slit.
Their bodies were flown to
the Malian capital of Bamako
on Sunday, and were to be
returned to France on Mon-
day.
The Radio France Inter-
nationale journalists were
kidnapped Saturday after
interviewing a Tuareg rebel
leader in Kidal. The northern
town is under de facto rebel
control despite the presence of
French and U.N. troops.
French troops, alerted to
the kidnappings, set up check-
points, sent out patrols and
called in helicopters to search
for the journalists, French
military spokesman Col. Gilles
Jaron said.
But a patrol arrived too late,
finding the abandoned vehicle
east of the town and the bod-
ies nearby. The French troops,
some 200 of whom are based at
the Kidal airport, had earlier
found no trace of the fleeing
vehicle.
Fabius said the bodies were
found some 12 kilometers (8
miles) outside Kidal and "sev-
eral meters" from the vehicle.
RFI chief Marie-Christine
Saragosse said they were found
80 meters (87 feet) from the
kidnappers' vehicle.
The killings were "odious,
abject and revolting," Fabius
said. He said one journalist
had been hit with three bullets,
the other two - but that the
car, whose doors were locked,
showed no impact from bullets.
Cecile Megie, RFI's execu-
tive editor, said the two jour-
nalists had been seized by a
group that spirited them away
in a beige pickup truck.
"The site showed no trace of
fighting, gunfire. It was an exe-

Despite January's French-
led intervention and a presi-
dential election since, much of
Mali, especially the vast north,
remains in turmoil.
Suspicion as to who was
behind the killings grew as bits
of information trickled out.
Both Tuareg separatists of
the National Movement for
the Liberation of the Azawad,
known as the NMLA, and al-
Qaida-linked fighters operate
in the area.
The NMLA rebels launched
their latest rebellion in 2012.
Those rebels were later chased
out by al-Qaida's fighters in the
region but have returned to
prominence in Kidal in recent
months.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic
Maghreb has kidnapped West-
erners, but it tends not to kill
them but rather to hold them
for ransom as a means of bank-
rolling its operations.
The killings came four days
after France rejoiced at the lib-
eration of four other citizens,
who had been kidnapped in
neighboring Niger three years
ago and were found in north-
west Mali.
"The killers are those we are
fighting, that is, the terrorist
groups who refuse democracy
and refuse elections," Fabius
said.
Mali is to hold a parliamen-
tary vote later this month.
The journalists had traveled
to Kidal to report for a special
program on Mali ahead of the
voting.
Saragosse, who heads France
24 TV along with RFI, was
traveling to Bamako on Sunday
to accompany the return of the
bodies.
She said the slain journalists
had been accompanied from
Bamako to Kidal, some 1,500
kilometers (930 miles) north,
by U.N. troops who have been
present since the end of the
French intervention.
The pair - both long-time
RFI employees familiar with
challenging terrain - were
taken to the town hall, "the saf-
est place," said Saragosse, who
also met with Hollande Sunday.
It was not immediately clear
whether the U.N. troops were
in the vicinity at the time of the
kidnapping.
The French military spokes-
man confirmed reports that
French forces in Mali had
refused to take the journalists
to Kidal for security and "oper-
ational reasons."
A U.N. spokesman said its
troops had not noticed the
vehicle used in the kidnapping
in any of the seven checkpoints
in and around the city manned
by them.
"These seven checkpoints
are at major transit locations
and the vehicle of the kidnap-
pers was not noticed at any of
these checkpoints," said Oliv-
ier Salgado, spokesman for the
U.N. mission in Mali.
He added: "You need to put
this in the context of the desert.
This is a place with dunes. They
must have used a non-official

Crackdown on charity poker
rooms brings backlash

Legislation seeks to
control community
fundraising events
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -
Explosive growth in the pop-
ularity of poker has helped
Michigan's charities, churches
and civic groups stay afloat at
a time of dwindling donations
from elsewhere.
So perhaps it should come
as no surprise that the state's
efforts to rein in the charitable
gambling industry that has
grown more than 20-fold in a
decade are sparking backlash
- some of it in the form of raw
emotion.
Gov. Rick Snyder's deputy
lawyer Dave Murley drew rare
boos in a crowded Capitol com-
mittee room the other day when
he told lawmakers: "Charitable
poker began as a good cause,
evolved into a highly lucrative
business and has degenerated
into a racket."
At stake is the future of "mil-
lionaire parties," casino-style
events where nonprofits split
cash proceeds with unlicensed
poker rooms that provide the
space, dealers, poker chips and
playing cards along with food
and drinks. Many veterans
groups, prep sports booster clubs
and other nonprofits are no lon-
ger hosting Texas Hold 'em and
blackjack fundraisers in small
church basements and halls,
instead contracting with what
authorities charge are large "de
facto casinos" run through bars
and poker rooms.
Revenue from the events
reported to the state was $7.9
million in 2002, peaked at $197
million in 2011 and dipped to

$184 million in 2012,though offi-
cials believe it is more because
loopholes have been found in
$15,000 chip caps. Charities'
profits rose from $3.6 million in
2002 to $19.2 million two years
ago before leveling at $15.8 mil-
lion.
Tension has been building
ever since Snyder in June 2012
transferred oversight of the mil-
lionaire parties from the Lottery
Bureau to the Michigan Gaming
Control Board and its regulators
familiar with monitoring highly
regulated operations at horse
tracks and Detroit's casinos. The
agency, which already had been
working with the lottery to close
down sites due to illegal gam-
bling, cracked down on some
larger bars that contributed to
a 22 percent drop in licenses
issued for millionaire parties
through the first half of this year.
The friction is boiling over,
though, over new regulations
proposed by Executive Director
Richard Kalm.
Among the most significant
proposals are requiring five bona
fide members of a charity on
hand to help run the games, lim-
iting a single location to hosting
one event a dayand no more than
120 a year, and restricting the
fees that poker room businesses
charge charities.
"What started out being the
charities' money, the charities'
profit, has been whittled away
at," said Kalm, who wants to lift
a moratorium on new charitable
gamblingsites once the rules are
in place.
He said charities got 81 per-
cent of the proceeds a decade
ago but now receive half under
profit-sharing agreements never
envisioned when the casino-
style charity games were autho-

rized in a 1976 update of the
Bingo Act..
But charities and establish-
ments running the millionaire
parties like the current system
and are suspicious that the Sny-
der administration is working at
the behest of casino interests, an
accusation denied by regulators.
Charities say modest regulations
are OK but call the proposed
rules an overreach that could
significantly hurt legitimate
fundraising and put permanent
poker sites out of business.
Dane Nickols with the
Laingsburg Lions Club said that
while charities are taking less
of the cut on a percentage basis,
they are still raising much more
money than previously.
"We want the rooms to make
money so they will continue and
be there for us to make more
money," he said.
Nickols said his club raised
just $600 the first time it orga-
nized a poker event. Lottery
officials who audited the service
organizationtold him it was alot
of labor - 10 volunteers - with-
out much bang for the buck and
recommended he try out a card
room in a Lansing-area sports
bar.
. "By going to an established
room, we were able to make
more money," he said.
The dispute has attracted
attention from legislators, who
took the unusual step of holding
a hearing Thursday before the
state has a public hearing on the
rules later in November. After
the public weighs in, the agency
can make revisions - it already
has made a couple concessions
- before submitting them to
the 10-lawmaker Joint Commit-
tee on Administrative Rules as
early as December.

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