The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - 3 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Man found guilty in family killings A jury has found a 29-year-old Detroit man guilty of first-degree murder for gunning down his 7-year-old daughter, grandmoth- er and aunt. Police report that Ferdarius Shine's mother told them he ran from the house after the Feb. 15, 2013, shootings, screaming that "the devil" made him do it. He surrendered at a psychiatric hospital the next day and under- went a mental competency exam before his trial in Wayne County Circuit Court. A jury convicted him Monday. The victims were Shines' daughter Amera Jones, his 49-year-old aunt Santangela Wil- liams and his 68-year-old grand- mother Geraldine Bates. Investigators say he had a con- cealed weapon license. First-degree murder in Michi- gan carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without the pos- sibility of parole. SAN FRANSISCO, Calif. Several Smart cars found vandalized Four Smart cars were flipped over in an apparent vandalism spree Monday in two San Fran- cisco neighborhoods. Police said they didn't know whether the attacks were a prank or another episode in escalating tensions among some residents who blame the tech industry for rising rents and cost of living. "It'shardtodetermineamotive without any suspects identified or in custody," said Officer Gordon Shyy, a police spokesman who said the culprits would face felony vandalism charges. The first car was found flipped on its roof around 1 a.m., and a second was spotted on its side around a couple of blocks away about10 minutes later in the city's Bernal Heights neighborhood, said Shyy, a police spokesman. WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Driver investigated in train derailing An engineer driving a speed- ing commuter train that derailed last year, killing four people, had a sleep disorder that interrupted his rest dozens of times each night and said he felt strangely "dazed" right before the crash, according to federal documents released Monday. Asked if he was clearheaded enough to realize he was enter- ing a curve just before the-Dec. 1 derailment inthe Bronx, engineer William Rockefeller told investi- gators "apparently not." The Metro-North Railroad train hit the curve, which has aO30 mph speed limit, at 82 mph. More than 70 people were injured. CAIRO Four prominent activists convicted An appeals court on Mon- day upheld the convictions and three-year prison sentences handed down to three of Egypt's most prominent political activ- ists, a ruling that is likely to revive opposition to a draconian protest law they were accused of violating. It is also certain to deepen the rift between the current mil- itary-backed government and Egypt's liberal and secular pro- democracy campaigners, many of whom participated in the 2011 popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak. The ongoing campaign against dissent and pro-democ- racy activists has been over- shadowed by a much larger crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood group and other Islamists. That push has led to the death of hundreds and the jailing of at least 16,000 people since the July ouster of Presi- dent Mohammed Morsi. The verdict swiftly drew con- demnation from international rights groups. -Compiled from Daily wire reports COUNCIL From Page 1 possible need for it after evalu- ating the effectiveness of the ordinance's self-enforcement for one year. Warpehoski responded to Kunselman's concerns regard- ing the penalty by stating the proposed legislation was not simply a suggestion. "We have a code of ordinanc- es," Warpehoski said. "Not a book of suggestions." Warpehoski also responded to concerns of some council- members - including Lumm and Kailasapathy - that imple- mentation of this ordinance by law enforcement officers would detract from their focus on more pressing issues. Warpehoski cited a study regarding a similar smoke-free ordinance as evidence that such claims are unsubstanti- ated. A 2014 study of municipal costs stemming from Ontario, Canada's smoke-free ordinance found that no significant costs were incurred as a result of the ordinance. Ellen Rabinowitz, Washt- enaw County's interim director of public health, spoke at the meeting in favor of the legisla- tion. She noted that of the 12 years that a similar smoke-free ordinances have been in place throughout the county, only about 400 complaints have been made - none of which were complaints about repeat offend- ers. Rabinowitz noted that the bill has been "largely self- enforcing." UHS director Robert Win- field, the University's chief health officer, also attended Monday night's meeting to give imput regardingthe University's smoke-free policy. "This is a difficult subject, but when we were considering the issues for the University of Michiganweunderstoodthatwe wanted to behave ina respectful way to smokers," Winfield said. "But we also wanted to set up a healthy campus." Winfield added that a com- bination of social pressure and education has limited the num- ber of smokers causing issues on the University's campus. "Our central campus is a very nice example of a practically smoke-free place with no heavy- handed enforcement," Winfield said. The council also unanimous- ly passed a resolution against Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's efforts to appeal the March 21, 2014 decision of DeBoer v. Snyder overturning the ban on same-sex marriage. Although the resolution is largely symbolic, it follows the on city council's precedent of supporting rights for LGBTQ citizens. While Councilmember Tay- lor is the sponsored the resolu- tion, five other members of city council signed on as co-spon- sored including Mayor John Hieftje, Margie Teall (D-Ward 4), Lumm, Briere and Warpe- hoski. Taylor criticized Snyder's defense of the appeal and the lauded Judge Friedman's deci- sion. "It does not advance any con- ceivable legitimate state inter- est," Taylor said. Warpehoski also spoke on the issue, and said he hopes the resolution will move the city and state forward to a day where "marriage is just mar- riage for everybody who loves each other." MEDICAID From Page 1 son whose income is lower than 138 percent of the federal pov- erty line. Sommers said such an expansion would help the bulk of low-income individuals, who many assumed it was helping already. "The ACA essentially said forget about these categories - if you are low-income and you meet legal residence qualifica- tions, you can get Medicaid," Sommers said. "It essentially gives the country the Medicaid program many people think we already have." Sommers said the expanded Medicaid program looks great on paper. If a state chooses to expand Medicaid, the federal government promises to cover costs of the newly eligible for the first three years and at least 90 percent until 2020. For citizens formerly eligible for Medicaid, government contribution will remain the same -60 percent or less, on average. Although this seems large, Sommers said states that have not expanded harbor important concerns, such as the affect of expansion on state budgets. Due to the immense outreach sur- rounding the ACA, many people who were previously eligible for Medicaid but had not signed up would enroll after expansion. The federal government will not increase coverage for previously eligible enrollees, and the states could face high costs. "There are actually about 10 million people in the U.S. who were already eligible for Med- icaid but just hadn't signed up," Sommers said. "It could drive up costs for the states. They have to pay 25-50 percent of the costs for those people." Sommers said a majority of states also believe the federal government will not follow through on covering costs. "Two-thirds of these states that are expanding Medicaid predict that the federal govern- ment is.not going to hold up its end of the bargain," he said. "These officials have no more insight into that issue than I do or than you do - they're guess- ing." Sommers spent a large part of the lecture discussing what states can expect when they expand Medicaid. He cited states that expanded Medicaid relatively early, meaning in 2010 or 2011, including Connecticut, New Jersey, Minnesota, Wash- ington and California, lessons and examples for the program's implementation. Sommers listed a few lessons of these early expansions. He said states gained many more enrollees than expected and the states that were not politi- cally divided encountered fewer problems when implementing the Medicaid expansion. Some states are choosing to expand Medicaid using alter- natives to the federal system. Arkansas was the first state to implement the 'private option,' which takes the federal Med- icaid funding and puts all would-be enrollees into private insurance plans. In an article published Mon- day in the Journal of the Ameri- can Medical Association, Public Policy Prof. John Ayanian, who co-authored the JAMA view- point with two graduate stu- dents, wrote that the level of state autonomy with regards to ACA implementation has led to uncertainty over the law's effec- tiveness. "State flexibility is a dou- ble-edged sword," the authors wrote. "By shifting some diffi- cult decisions from the federal government, states can tailor health reform to the needs of their stakeholders. But imple- menting reform through the states increases the number of elected officials able to influence implementation." The article notes that, across the nation, Michigan is one of only five states to accept a fed- eral Medicaid waiver, which provides federal funding for expansion while allowing states to maintain a larger degree of self-governance. Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana and Pennsylvania are the others that have either implemented or are in the pro- cess of implementing similar programs. While this option uses private health insurance companies, it appears to experience less resistance from conservative lawmakers, who want to avoid increasing Medicaid enrollment, the authors noted that the state- run plans could become "vul- nerable to shifts in the political climate at the state and federal levels," especially after the 2016 presidential election. Public Health student Lau- ren Kuenstner said she finds it regrettable that some states have not expanded Medicaid. "It's unfortunate that so many uninsured people are essentially political pawns." Kuenstner said. "A lot of governors don't want to expand Medicaid purely for ideological reasons, and the people who are uninsured are the ones suffering the conse- quences." SACUA From Page 1 ing the University. "This (video) has 807,749 views, while the University Cam- pus Tour video only has 63,202 views," she said. "This is recruit- ing students before we get to. I might not play the whole thing, because it sucks your soul." "The social network and the viral nature of the Internet is in some ways is great on college campuses, and it also hasa harder time for us to manage in terms of the perception of alcohol use," Desprez said. Hower spoke about the chang- es the University is considering making to the orientation process due to concerns that newstudents have easy access to parties and alcohol, posing a high risk of irre- sponsible drinking. Another concern expressed is the time students have before classe start, while many are moving to Ann Arbor. Several speakers expressed concerns that Welcome Week fosters an unsafe drinking environment-especial- ly for new students. Several SACUA members said they were concern about the issue, and requested additional meetings to discussways in which the administration is working to make progress. The last SACUA meeting of the CAFFEINE From Page 1 tions across Michigan. Campus vendors include U-go's in the Union, Bert's Cafe, Mujo Caf6, as well as the cafe in the Architec- ture School's Media Center. Bogdan is also targeting other universities, including Michi- gan State as a new market for his products. LSA junior Brie Commons, student manager at Ugo's in the Michigan Union, said that although she was unsure about the idea of a "chocolate chip blondie," it exceeded her expec- tations. The campus convenience store sells a variety of other Get Up and Go products, the newest being the espresso cookie, but Commons said the traditional chocolate chip cookies are the best seller. LSA senior Alma Worthy, also a student manager at Ugo's, said while it is difficult to advertise the products, those who know about them come in to buy them frequently. The startup will be launch- ing an Indiegogo campaign on April 15, with the goal of reach- ing $10,000 to help fund its first manufacturing order. Bogdan is currently making the products himself in a commercial kitchen, which restricts the number of items being produced. Once a manufacturer is secured, Bogdan projects his products will spread to a couple of hundred stores throughout Michigan by the end of the year. The products will soon feature Indiegogo stickers to publicize the campaign and Bogdan said he will be giving out samples in cam- pus libraries. "People will definitely see us around campus," Bogdan said. ENGINEERING From Page 1 Eisenberg presented results from both nationwide and Uni- versity studies on mental health. According to a survey of 29 schools, 32 percent of students face some type of mental health challenge, and 9 percent suffer from major depression. However, Eisenberg said engineering students at the Uni- versity have a slightly higher prevalence of mental health problems, hovering around 40 percent of students surveyed. He added that engineering students have also proven to be less likely to use mental health services at the University, such as Counseling and Psychological Services. He said there is a rea- son for this discrepancy. "The first thing people usu- ally think of is stigma and nega- tive attitudes about seeking help or about disclosing mental ill- ness," Eisenberg said. "But we actually see - and this is con- sistent across, really, most of the campuses - that very small percentage of students actually agree with the statement that's intended to measure stigma: 'I think less of people who receive mental health treatment.'" Following Eisenberg's pre- sentation, University alum Blake Wagner, a research specialist in the School of Public Health, screened a public service announcement produced by Ink- blots, an organization he started with his father to address issues of depression amongstudents. The short film, "Treadmill," highlighted four major steps to coping with stress and insecu- rity: stop, breathe, reflect and choose. Wagner said these are a reflection of Inkblots' general slogan: "Tiny shifts can lead to big changes." University alum Richard Sheridan, the CEO of local Ann Arbor tech company Menlo Innovations, was the final speaker at the event. He said he founded Menlo Innovations because he was tired of the standard bureau- cracy of software development, which had at one point instilled in him "a personal trough of dis- illusionment." According the Menlo Inno- vations website, the company's mission is to end human suffer- ing in the world as it relates to technology. Sheridan said this concept requires a unique working envi- ronment with open workspace that embraces "the serendipity of noise" to maximize produc- tivity. He added that this meth- od is conducive to collaboration, which is required of his employ- ees. Sheridan said students must not be afraid to persevere in the face of disappointment, because fear of failure is an obstacle to joy. "I can tell you that in your work lives, as you go forward, most things you think about will be shot down before you ever try them," he said. "We pierce through that at Menlo with one simple phrase: 'Let's run the experiment.'" Angie Farrehi, the assistant director of student affairs in the College of Engineering and Own It's faculty adviser, said this mindset - fostering inclusion and "running the experiment" - is exactly what the student movement seeks to encourage. "Own It takes on the chal- lenge of improving the climate and connectedness of our com- munity," she said. "Those two pieces are integral to any key- note event ... with the end result of hopefully improving success of our students." Ships hunting for 'pings' in continuing plane search Hunt reaches critical stage as beacon battery nears depletion PERTH, Australia (AP) - Search crews hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet have failed to relocate faint sounds heard deep below the Indian Ocean that officials said were consistent with a plane's black boxes, the head of the search operation said Tuesday. Angus Houston, the retired Australian air chief marshal who is heading the search far off Aus- tralia's west coast, said sound locating equipment on board the Ocean Shield has picked up no trace of the signals since they were first heard late Saturday and early Sunday. Time may have already run out to find the devices, whose locator beacons have a battery life of about a month. Tues- day marks one month since the plane vanished. Once the bea- cons blink off, locating the black boxes in such deep water would be an immensely difficult, if not impossible, task. "There have been no further contacts with any transmission and we need to continue (search- ing) for several days right up to the point at which there's abso- lutely no doubt that the batter- ies will have expired," Houston said. If, by that point, the U.S. Navy listening equipment beingtowed behind the Ocean Shield has failed to pick up any signals, a sub on board the ship will be deployed to try and chart out any debris on the sea floor. If the sub maps out a debris field, the crew will replace the sonar sys- tem with a camera unit to photo- graph any wreckage. Houston's comments contra- dicted an earlier statement from Australia's acting prime min- ister, Warren Truss, who said search crews would launch the Bluefin 21 autonomous sub on Tuesday. The towed pinger locator detected late Saturday and early Sunday two distinct, long-last- ing sounds underwater that are consistent with the pings from an aircraft's "black boxes" - the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, Houston said, dub- bing the find a promising lead in the monthlong hunt for clues to the plane's fate. Still, officials warned it could take days to determine wheth- er the sounds were connected to Flight 370, which vanished March 8 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 239 on board. "This is an herculean task - it's over a very, very wide area, the water is extremely deep," Defense Minister David John- ston said. "We have at least sev- eral days of intense action ahead of us." Houtson said finding the sound again was critical to nar- rowing down the search area before the sub can be used. If the vehicle went down now with the sparse data collected so far, it would take "many, many days" for it to cover all the places the pings might have come from. "It's literally crawling at the bottom of the ocean so it's going to take a long, long time," Hous- ton said. Despite the excitement sur- rounding the Ocean Shield's sound detections, Houston warned that the search had pre- viously been marred by false leads - such as ships detecting their own signals. Because of that, other ships cannot be sent in to help with the underwater search, as they may add unwant- ed noise. "We're very hopeful we will find further evidence that will confirm the aircraft is in that location," Houston said. "There's still a little bit of doubt there, but I'm a lot more optimistic than I was one week ago." Finding the black boxes is key to unraveling what happened to the Boeing 777, because they contain flight data and cock- pit voice recordings that could explain why the plane veered so far off-course. "Everyone's anxious about the life of the batteries on the black box flight recorders," said Truss, who is acting prime min- ister while Tony Abbott is over- seas. "Sometimes they go on for many, many weeks longer than they're mandated to operate for - we hope that'll be the case in this instance. But clearly there is an aura of urgency about the investigation." The first sound picked up by the equipment on board the Ocean Shield lasted two hours and 20 minutes before it was lost, Houston said. The ship then turned around and picked up a signal again - this time record- ing two distinct "pinger returns" that lasted 13 minutes. That would be consistent with trans- missions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. j. 4