b&e lfliiian 4&iIlj Anm Arbor, Michigan Thursday, February 6, 2014 michigandaily.com FOLLOW THE MONEY GOVERNMENI Funds for higher ed. increase in new budget Lawrence Porter, the assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party, speaks about the political conspiracy behind Detroit's bankruptcy on behalf of international Youth and Students for Social Equality in the League Wednesday. BUSINESS Liquor store closes doors Gov. Rick Snyder's budget for public universities grows by $80.3 million By SHOHAM GEVA Daily StaffReporter On Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) announced his executive budget proposal for the 2015 fiscal year in a presentation to a joint session of the Senate and House Appropriations Com- mittees. The budget, which totals $52.1 billion, includes significant increases in several areas such as K-12 education, as well as propos- als for tax relief and assistance for Detroit during bankruptcy its proceedings. Public universities were rec- ommended to receive a substan- tial 6.1-percent funding increase amounting to $80.3 million, which represents both the larg- est increase in higher educa- tion funding since 2001 and a structural reversal from the 15-percent decrease in education funding Snyder proposed in 2011 during his first year as governor. State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D- Ann Arbor) said the increase in education funding, along with proposed tax relief measures, represented some of the major differences between the gover- nor's latest budget proposal and those from previous years. "You can tell it's an election year with how different this bud- get is from the previous budgets I've had the opportunity to vote on," Irwin said. "We're actually seeing education get the money; we're actually seeing tax relief being targeted more broadly rather than just at wealthy indi- See BUDGET, Page 3A B 0 By "S plast Fron ary. J lue Front shop inventory this past week, Blue Front locked its doors to the wner says rent Ann Arbor community after more than two decades of busi- was too high ness. The 701 Packard Street con- HILLARY CRAWFORD venience store, recognizable by Daily StaffReporter its blue awning and cone-shaped roof, sold beer, wine and other TORE CLOSING" signs convenience items. In 2005, ered the door of the Blue owner Suresh Bhagat bought t party store in Janu- the establishment, which was After selling the last of its founded in 1988. Bhagat acknowledged that although rent has not changed in the last few years, business has declined. Inability to make up for the price of rent was a primary factor in the store's clo- sure. "Rent was too high - that's why I closed the store," Bhagat said. "That's it." Robert Kesto, who owns two University-area liquor stores, said smaller businesses like Blue Front lack the luxury of being able to lower their prices and make up for the losses. "You can't lower your prices so much to stay in business on campus, because rent is so high," Kesto said. "So you have to run it as if there's no competition." Kesto owns Champions Party Store at 1227 South University Avenue and State Street Liquor at 340 South State Street. See STORE, Page 3A HEALTH HEALTH CVS'removal of tobacco gets mixed reviews Students weigh in on the convenience store's historic move By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily Staff Reporter CVS Caremark, the nation's largest second-largest drug store chain, announced Wednesday that it would stop selling tobacco products in its 7,600 stores by Oct. 1, becom- ing the first drugstore chain to adopt such a policy. Under the new policy, CVS estimated that it will lose out on approximately $2 billion of annual tobacco-related rev- enue. However, this figure is only a fraction of its $123 bil- lion in annual sales, according to reports from 2012. Mike DeAngelis, director of public relations for CVS Care- mark, said the financial losses linked to tobacco sales aren't a huge concern, adding that health is the company's main focus. "Pharmacies are becom- ing more involved in chronic disease management to help patients with high blood pres- sure, high cholesterol and dia- betes," he wrote in an e-mail interview. "All of these condi- tions are made worse by smok- ing and cigarettes have no place in a setting where healthcare is delivered." Robert Winfield, the Uni- versity's chief health officer, said reducing access to tobacco products will positively affect communities nationwide. He called tobacco a "substantial killer" and said any means to reduce its use could be benefi- cial. Winfield acknowledged that CVS's decision to take tobacco off the market won't stop every- one from smoking, but this kind of policy coupled with commu- nity pressure may change the minds of some smokers. "When we were deciding to have the campus become smoke-free, we knew that we would be addressing the com- munity issue because we were going to change the environ- ment and make it a less wel- coming place for people to smoke," Winfield said. "The fact that CVS is choosingto not See CVS, Page 3A CAMPUS LIFE Greek orgs., PULSE host health fair to aid students Program aims to increase awareness about diversity of services available By JULIA LISS Daily StaffReporter As studentsbraved the blustery weather, others manned stations throughout Central Campus dedi- cated to promoting health and we.lness. The Greeks for Wellness divi- sion of PULSE, a student-run organization sponsored by Uni- versity Health Service, held a health and wellness fair Wednes- day afternoon. Called "7 Wonders of the Wellness World," the event featured stations around Central Campus focusing on major health issues that college students often face. The stations focused on seven significant health issues for stu- dents, including mental health, academics, body image, sexual health, healthy relationships, nutrition and exercise. The stations were spread out See GREEK, Page 3A TRACY K/Oaily Michigan forward Glenn Robinson III scored 23 points to lead the Wolverines toa 79-50 win over Nebraska. Student disabilities office celebrates 40th anniversary Panelists discuss center's progress, future initiatives By CHARLOTTE JENKINS Daily StaffReporter The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is celebrating its 40th anniversary thisyearwith aseries of presen- tations. SSD collaborated with the Career Center Wednesday to present "Navigatingthe Road to Work: Making the Connec- tion Between Students with Disabilities and Employment." The event, which was held in Hatcher Graduate Library, fea- tured panelists from the Uni- versity and companies to advise students with disabilities. Ashleigh Maynor, career consultant at the Career Center and liaison between SSD and the Career Center, helped initi- ate the collaboration between the two offices. "I noticed students coming into the Career Center with alot of questions about talking about disability with an employer," Maynor said. Maynor said she hopes the event will begin a collaborative initiative that will educate the University community about an increasingly common issue. She added that the program See DISABLED, Page 3A WEATHER H 1:13 TOMORROW 0 LO: -3 GOT A NEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail The Filter: Rethinking Justin Bieber news@michigandaily.com and let us know. MICH IGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS INDEX NEWS .........................2A CLASSIFIEDS ............... 6A Vol CXXIV, No, 62 SUDOKU..................... 2A SPORTS ....................... 7A @2014TheMichiganDaily OPINION ..................... 4A B-SIDE ...................1 Bt minligondoily.com I A I