The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com NEWS BRIEFS SUTTON BAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. Skull returned to Indian tribe after several generations A skull that was apparently passed down through generations of a northern Michigan family has been turned over to an Indian group in a repatriation ceremony. The family doesn't want its name known, according to Leela- nau County Sheriff Mike Borkov- ich. He told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that the family gave the skull to his office in Sutton's Bay Township in the northwest- ern Lower Peninsula. The skull had been in the family for years, Borkovich said. He said an elderly family member died and younger members didn't want it. According to family lore, a fam- ily member was a mariner on the Great Lakes, the sheriff said. He said the family member stopped at Beaver Island, where a Native American offered him the skull, according to the story. NEW YORK Four-year-old siblings killed in accidental fire A basement blaze that killed 4-year-old half siblings was acci- dentally set by children playing with fire, authorities said Sunday. The twin of one of the chil- dren survived the blaze that was reported to authorities just before midnight Saturday in a two-story brick home in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Khalid Baylor, spokesman with the Fire Department of New York, said the fire was accidental, but he wouldn't elaborate on exactly what caused it. Within minutes of police and firefighters arriving, the children were carried outside and rescue workers tried to resuscitate them as neighbors watched. The fire was under control less than an hour and ahalflater. YORK, Pa. Miss America asks school to reconsider student suspension Miss America is asking a Penn- sylvania school district to recon- sider the punishment of a senior who asked her to prom during the question-and-answer portion of an assembly. The York Dispatch reported Sunday that Nina Davuluri posted a statement on the Miss America Organization's Facebook page say- ing she contacted Central York High School to ask officials to rethink the three-day in-school suspension issued to 18-year-old Patrick Farves. Davuluri says her travel sched- ule will prevent her from attend- ing the dance with Farves. School officials knew Farves intended to ask her to prom and warned him not to do it. Fellow stu- dents cheered afterward,but Farves was suspended for misbehaving. LONDON Portrait of Queen unveiled for her 88th birthday A portraitw of Queen Eliza- beth II by renowned British pho- tographer David Bailey has been unveiled to mark the monarch's 88th birthday. The black-and-white photo- graph, taken at Buckingham Pal- ace in March, shows the queen smiling broadly. Bailey described his subject as a "very strong woman" with "very kind eyes with a mischievous glint." The portrait, unveiled Sunday for the queen's birthday on Mon- day, was commissioned for a gov- ernment campaign to promote Britain's heritage and tourism to potential visitors abroad. Britain's monarchy and royal history is one of the biggest drivers of its strong tourism industry. -Compiled from Daily wire reports BLIMPY From Page 1A Blimpy Burger announced its new location, Magner said con- struction would take three to four months. It would open in March at the earliest or perhaps at the end of April, adding there START-UPS From Page lA sented their ideas for bettering the world through social innova- tion. The five teams included Go Green Technologies, Synapse, Miscellania, Blueprints for Pan- gaea and STARR Movement. Go Green Technologies won the $1,000 crowd vote award. This team developed a low-cost, efficient alternative to home energy systems. LSA freshmen Praveen Loganathan and Alex- ander Cox, Go Green Technolo- gies' creators, engaged with the audience to solidify their motto: "Go Blue, Stay Green." The freshmen will build their first Go Green-powered home this summer, which will use solar, wind and hydrogen ener- gies paid for in monthly incre- ments of $250 for 10 years. Their product reduces a home's aver- age carbon footprint by 80 per- cent. Cox created the idea as a soph- omore in high school, but put it on the back burner. After he and Loganathan met in their Baits Residence Hall dorm this year, the two decided to combine their talents and bring the idea to life. "Anywhere at Michigan, peo- ple are so open and friendly that you can make a new friend, a new business partner," Loganathan said. Loganathan, who is also a member of the Ross Preparation Initiative Learning Commu- nity, said he was initially afraid of taking the first steps towards becoming an entrepreneur and having confidence in his own abilities. "But the aspect of 'Why not me?' came to me saying I can do it; I have the necessary knowl- edge to do it," Loganathan said. In between pitches, past final- ists introduced the next team, while sharing progress reports on their own projects with the audience. After receiving fund- ing April 2013, these innovators continued to participate in the optiMize group by mentoring the next cohort of social innova- tors. Business sophomore Claudia Lynn, a member of the optiMize core team, said previous teams focused on Detroit. "It's somewhere you can actu- ally go physically and make a dif- are "usually delays." Magner said in December the location is as close to the original as possible and is nearby campus. "It has been a long and compli- cated process and we appreciate your patience and support," the Facebook post read. "We look forward to serving you in a cou- ple months!" ference and see the results in the moment," Lynn added. "You can see the impact right away." However, this year, students focused on the local community and the University. Other stu- dents had a global point-of-view. For example, Blueprints for Pangaea seeks to reallocate medical supplies to low resource areas in Ghana, intending to expand to other nations. STARR Movement, whose founders attend University of Michigan -- Dearborn, provide mentorship to area students who are failing school. Information graduate stu- dent Tim Pituch, who is pur- suing a degree in health informatics,founded optiMize with University alum Jeff Sorensen. Pituch said the group has grown significantly since its inception just over a year ago. More than twice as many stu- dents applied to the challenge this year, more workshops were offered to contestants and fund- ing increased from $26,000 to $33,000. Sorensen added that the con- nections within the group itself have continued to expand as past finalists choose to stay involved. The group hopes to allow more teams the opportunity to present their ideas and gain rep- resentation among more Univer- sity colleges. In addition to maintaining an expanding network of past and current teams, optiMize Social Innovation is offering four mini- courses in "critical issues" for the Fall 2014 semester. They will focus on education, health, ener- gy, environment and Detroit. Buisness graduate student Chris Roszell, who is in his first year of the Master of Entrepre- neurship Program, is a member in the Social Innovation group. He said the courses supports the group's mission. "The programis unique in that it brings together students from such a diverse range of academ- ic backgrounds," said Roszell. "All of these creative ideas and thoughts to really affect posi- tive change in our communities around us, and even across the state and country." -LSA freshman Margo Levy contributed to this report. CSG From Page 1A tionally, she said she is currently meeting with CSG representa- tives to stay in tuned to the dif- ferent goals and initiatives they will be working on in the fall semester. Dishell said he hopes to contin- ue their main initiatives through- out the summer. These include collaboration with the Alumni Association and the LEAD Schol- ars Program, creating a mental health peer support network and developing a mobile ticketing system with the Athletic Depart- ment. These initiatives are all con- tinuations of original platform points from Dishell and Shokar's campaign with Make Michigan. A resolution involving working with the Alumni Association on expanding the LEAD Scholars program and allocating CSG funds was already introduced Tuesday night at the assembly's first meeting. Dishell said he would be in contact with the Athletic Depart- ment throughout the summer to work on introducing mobile tick- eting as soon as possible. He said it is possible that a mobile system will be in place for the upcoming basketball season with a pilot to run at one football game. Athletic Director Dave Bran- don recently spoke to CSG and commented on the thousands of season tickets that go unused every game. Mobile ticketing would make it easier for students to transfer tickets to one another, helping to eradicate this issue of empty seats. Dishell added that repealing the keg law is another priority HIP HOP From Page 2A an interview with The Mich- igan Daily. Kendall said Immortal Technique, whose songs often include social and political commentary, embodies Hip Hop Congress' core values. "I really think Immortal Technique was fitting with the theme of a lot of things that have been going on this year as far as social commentary goes," Kendall said. "Hip-hop at its root is social commentary and KINESIOLOGY From Page 1A and neurosurgery. These seek to aid patients with scoliosis, brain tumor resections, spinal tumors, peripheral nerve tumors and other diseases. In Fall 2013, the program piloted with a class of four stu- dents. Two of these students are graduating in May; one student switched fields and another is staying to take additional class- es. r There are 17 students in the CSG will work on immediately to address student safety. The keg law requires that a tag with the customer's name, address, phone number and state ID number be attached to each keg sold, better preventing purchases by under- age students. The law went into effect in 2011 with the initial intent of curb- ing underage drinking, but back- fired since many now prefer hard liquor. Dishell said there have been visible increases in hard liquor sales and alcohol-related hospitalizations since the passage of the law. "It's something we came to a realization about that we didn't necessarily run on," he said. "We've really seen a drinking problem increase." Dishell added that he hopes to increase the support of arts at the University in the upcoming year. He said he wants to find ways to encourage students who are not in the School of Music, Theater & Dance to be engaged in the per- forming arts as well. "The arts play an integral role in education in helping bring about things and workingthrough problems," he said. "Making them more accessible to students here I think is really huge, whether that's formally through classes or whether that's informally through studentgroups." Both Dishell and Shokar held key CSG roles over the past year, as vice president and speaker of the assembly, respectively, giv- ing them a clear idea of how to improve based on their experi- ences so far. Dishell said soliciting student organizations through stronger Executive Commissions, specifi- cally the Student Organization Outreach Commission and Legis- I think Immortal Technique does great job in communicat- ing that in his music". In the past, Hip Hop Week has consisted of a weekend, but this year, organizers scheduled activities each day of the week leading up to the show, includ- ing a film screening, a visit to a Detroit gallery and a discussion on drug use and hip-hop. "A lot of times hip-hop or rap is painted in a pretty negative light so it's pretty much our job to kind of show people the other side of that," Kendall said. Kendall added that the dis- cussion of drug usage in hip- second class participating in the program, which capped at 18. "We are limited by how many students we can allow into the program based on how many clinical sites are available for those students," Mergos said. Though there was no formal application process previously for the program, there will be an application process beginning in Fall 2015, Mergos said. "We want to give everyone the opportunity that is interest- ed and has the ability to do the program well," Mergos said. Winn heard about the pro- gram from a Kinesiology career Monday, April 21, 2014 - 3A lative Committees, will be some- thing to work on starting in the summer. "There's a lot of opportunity there for the assembly to really work with the Commission and work with the Program Commu- nications Director in the fall on making sure CSG is out there, on the ground, besides when its elec- tion time," Dishell said. Executives appoint leaders of Commissions, and applications for these positions will be avail- able in the summer. Committees are extensions of the CSG Assem- bly and will be finalized sometime next week. The Black Student Union was one of the more prominent stu- dent organizations that worked with CSG in the past year. CSG passed a resolution in support of several of the BSU's goals for increasing diversity on campus. LSA junior Geralyn Gaines, BSU vice speaker, is also new rep- resentative serving on the CSG Assembly. She said the BSU has not made any formal decisions yet for what to work on next year, but her role will help with any future CSG resolutions. "There are almost 800 people in the BSU listserv," she said. "I'll be able to use that perspective, and perspective of students out- side the BSU, in order to gauge what people want and what kind of change they want to see, what issues are most important to them." Overall, Dishell said he hopes to increase CSG's visibility on campus by attending more stu- dent events and spending time with more student organization leaders. "We talk to a lot of students every day, but there is always more we can do," he said. hop was the most popular event apart from Friday's show. "That was a great event," he said. "It was a conversation where I feel like everybody walked away with something so it was really productive." Kendall said the show's suc- cess - with musical perfor- mances lasting an hour past their expected conclusion - demonstrated the organiza- tion's main goals. "Hip Hop has the power to bring people together that oth- erwise probably wouldn't be in the same room," Kendall said. fair and shadowing a clinician in the operating room. "I cannot get enough of being in the operating room, it is just so awesome to experience," Winn said. Mergos said she hopes to expand clinical sites, incorpo- rate international opportunities and expand research opportuni- ties for students. "My hope is that there are more directed study opportuni- ties for undergraduate students to be involved with the research that is pushing our field for- ward." Before vote, Assad visits seized village as war continues Syrian president's trip attempts to secure image as minority protector BEIRUT (AP) - Syria's embattled president marked Easter with a tour Sunday of an ancient Christian village recent- ly recaptured by his forces, an important symbolic prize for his government ahead of com- ing presidential elections he appears poised to contest. President Bashar Assad's visit to Maaloula, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Damas- cus, serves a propaganda victory for his government in its quest to be seen as protector of religious minorities as its civil war grinds on. Meanwhile, questions contin- ue to swirl about allegations of recent poison gas attacks in the country, with French officials saying Sunday there were indi- cations that Assad's forces were behind them. Rebels, including fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, seized Maaloula several times late last year, most recently in December. Govern- ment troops swept through the village on Monday, sending rebel fighters fleeing to nearby hills. Despite damage to holy sites in the village, Assad told Syrian state television: "Maaloula will remain steadfast in the face of barbarism of all those who are targeting the homeland." "Nobody, regardless of the extent of their terror, can erase our cultural and human his- tory," the state news agency quoted Assad as saying as he surveyed damage to the Mar Takla Greek Orthodox monas- tery in the village. Assad promised to defend Christians - who make up about 10 percent of Syria's prewar population of 23 million - and protect churches that he said were part of the country's cul- tural heritage. Syria's civil war has seen Islamic extremists and radical foreign fighters join the fight and target Christians and their houses of worship. Many of Syria's patchwork of minority Christian and Muslim faiths support Assad or have remained neutral, fearing for their fate should hard-line rebel groups seize power. Assad's visit, while highlight- ing the recent gains his forces have made around the capital and along the Lebanese border, also took on the air of a cam- paign-style event. On Monday, Syria's parliament will open registration for presidential can- didates in its upcoming election, scheduled to be held this sum- mer.