The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, February 3, 2014 - 5A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycomMonday, February 3, 2014 - SA

NEWS BRIEFS
BIG RAPIDS, Mich.
Man arrested for
shooting college
student
Michigan authorities
announced Sunday they have
charged a 20-year-old man with
shooting a Ferris State Univer-
sity student at his off-campus
apartment, while police contin-
ued searching for a man they
say killed one Michigan State
University student and wounded
another near that school.
DeCory D. Downing is
charged with attempted mur-
der and having a firearm in a
felony, said Ferris State Univer-
sity Public Safety Director Bruce
Borkbvich.
Downing is from Macomb
County in suburban Detroit,
isn't a student at Ferris State
and has an "extensive criminal
record," Borkovich told MLive.
com. Downing was being held
in the Mecosta County Jail and
expected to be arraigned Mon-
day in district court.
SEATTLE
Seahawks
fans celebrate
Superbowl win
With shouts, cheers and fire-
works, Seattle residents cel-
ebrated a dominant victory in
the Super Bowl - the city's first
major sports championship in
more than 30 years.
Scores of people took to the
streets throughout the city
and Seattle police planned an
increased presence through-
out the city Sunday night. They
sent a tweet on the department's
widely followed Twitter account
saying, "Officers will be out and
about citywide making sure
everyone is celebrating safely."
The Seahawks beat the Den-
ver Broncos 43-a. The last time
a major Seattle sports franchise
won a championship was in 1979
when the Supersonics took the
NBA title. The WNBA's Seattle
Storm have won two champion-
ships, in 2004 and 2010.
TRENTON, N.J.
Republicans support
Christie after
bridge scandal
High-profile Republicans
were adamant Sunday that
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
should not resign from his post
as chairman of the Republican
Governors Association follow-
ing a former ally's claim that
there is evidence Christie knew
about an apparently politically
motivated traffic jam earlier
than he has said.
The support from former New
York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan
put Republicans on the offensive
and the Democratic chairman

of a state legislative committee
investigatingthe Septemberlane
closures near the George Wash-
ington Bridge on the defensive
the day Christie's state hosts the
Super Bowl.
KIEV, Ukraine
Leader returns
from sick leave in
midst of protests
Ukraine's president will
return Monday from a short sick
leave that had sparked a guess-
ing game he was taking himself
out of action in preparation to
step down or for a crackdown
on widespread anti-government
protests.
Viktor Yanukovych's office
made the announcement about
the president's return the same
day as protesters seeking his
resignation held one of their
largest gatherings in recent
weeks. About 20,000 people
assembled at the main protest
site in Kiev's central square on
Sunday.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Immigration reforms
raise citizenship cost

Police are seen outside the home of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in New York. Hoffman, who won an Oscar for
best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in "Capote", was found dead Sunday in his apartment. He was 46.
Phi 1ip Seymour offman
found dead fro-m overdose

Oscar winner was
discovered Sunday
in his apartment
NEW YORK (AP) - Philip
Seymour Hoffman, who won
the Oscar for his portrayal
of writer Truman Capote
and created a gallery of
slackers, charlatans and other
characters so vivid that he was
regarded as one of the world's
finest actors, was found dead
in his apartment Sunday with
what officials said was aneedle
in his arm. He was 46.
The actor apparently died
of a drug overdose, said two
law enforcement officials, who
spoke to The Associated Presson
condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to
discuss the case. Envelopes
containing what was believed to
be heroin were found with him,
they said.
Hoffman - with his doughy,

everyman physique, his often-
disheveled look and his limp,
receding blond hair - was a
character actor of such range
and lack of vanitythat he could
seemingly handle roles of any
size, onthe stage and in movies
that played in art houses or
multiplexes.
He could play comic or dra-
matic, loathsome or sympa-
thetic, trembling or diabolical,
dissipated or tightly controlled,
slovenly or fastidious.
The stage-trained actor's
rumpled naturalism brought
him four Academy Award
nominations - for "Capote,"
"The Master," "Doubt" and
"Charlie Wilson's War" - and
three Tony nominations for his
work on Broadway, including
his portrayal of the beaten and
weary Willy Loman in "Death
of a Salesman."
Hoffman spoke candidly
over the years about his strug-
gles with drug addiction. After
23 years sober, he admitted in

interviews last year to falling
off the wagon and developing a
heroin problemthat led to a stint
in rehab.
"No words for this. He
was too great and we're too
shattered," said Mike Nichols,
who directed Hoffman in
"Charlie Wilson's War" and
"Death of a Salesman."
The law enforcement officials
said Hoffman's body was
discovered in a bathroom in his
Greenwich Village apartment
by his assistant and a friend who
made the 911 call.
For much of the day, a police
crime-scene van was parked out
front, and technicians carrying
brown paper bags went in and
out. Police kept a growing crowd
of onlookers back. A single red
daisy had been placed in front of
the lobby door.
On Sunday night, a black
body bag was carried out on a
stretcher, loaded into the back
of a medical examiner's van and
driven away.

Citizenship
application price may
rise with passage of
new laws
EDINBURG, Texas (AP) -
Hilda Vasquez squirreled away
the money for her U.S. citi-
zenship application by selling
batches of homemade tamales
at South Texas offices. Carmen
Zalazar picked up extra baby-
sitting jobs at night after caring
for kids all day in Houston.
The women scrimped and
saved for months to pay for
the $680 application, but for
other applicants in the future,
it might not be enough.
As President Barack
Obama renews his quest for
immigration reform, some
proposals would impose fines
of $2,000 on top of application
fees, making the financial
hurdles much taller for people
who are here illegally.
"You have more rights when
you are a citizen, like to vote,"
said Zalazar, a legal resident.
As soon as she started a
citizenship class, "I started to
save because I knew otherwise
it won't be possible."
The struggle is familiar to
millions of immigrants. A 2012
survey by the Pew Hispanic
Center showed that only 46
percentcof Hispanic immigrants
eligible to become citizens had
done so. The top two reasons
were lack of English skills and
lack of money to pay for the
application.
Manuel Enrique Angel
made learning English his
first priority upon arriving in
Houston from his native El
Salvador two years ago. He
now speaks English clearly and
deliberately and plans to apply
for citizenship as soon as he
becomes eligible later this year.
Trained as a lawyer in El Sal-
vador, the 28-year-old works
as a cook in a Houston burger
joint. His wife, an American
citizen, is a hair stylist. He
estimates it will take him up
to eight months to save the
money for the citizenship
application.
"It's really hard when you
have to pay rent around $600,
when you have car notes for
$300 and $500," Angel said.
Republican supporters of the
proposed fines say penalties
are necessary to defend against
any appearance that creating
a pathway to citizenship
amounts to amnesty.
Mark Krikorian, execu-
tive director of the Center for
Immigration Studies, a Wash-
ington-based think tank that
supports tighter immigration
controls, said if immigrants
who are in the country illegally
are allowed to seek citizen-
ship, they should have to pay
the costs, which will increase if
millions of applications need to
be processed.
However, he said, the costs
should not be so high that peo-
ple can't afford them.

out of the market," Krikorian
said.
Angel plans to take advan-
tage of a program at a Houston
credit union that offers small
low-interest loans specifically
to help clients become citizens.
The Promise Credit Union
partners with Neighborhood
Centers Inc., a nonprofit net-
work of community centers in
the Houston area that cater to
immigrants.
Credit union President
Randy Martinez said the
program began as a pilot in
2012 and only officially started
last fall.
"We don't want that to
become an obstacle for them
not to become citizens, just
because they don't have the
entire fee to pay," he said.
The credit union's $455
loans include $380 toward the
citizenship process plus a $75
processing fee for the loan
application. They carry a fixed
5 percent interest rate for a
12-mbnth term, so the monthly
payments work out to about
$38.
Applicants must contribute
$300 of their own money. They
are all pre-screened by the
Neighborhood Centers legal
team to make sure they qualify
for citizenship and have all the
necessary documentation.
The credit union has already
discussed expanding the loans
if Congress approves a reform
package that offers people in
the country illegally a costlier
path to citizenship, Martinez
said.
An immigration reform bill
passed by the Senate in June
did not set the costs of the pro-
posed 13-year path to citizen-
ship. Lawmakers left that up to
U.S. Citizenship and Immigra-
tion Services, with the idea that
fees would make the system
self-sustaining.
While the fees remain
unspecified, the Senate bill lays
out penalties totaling $2,000 to
be paid at various steps along
the way. The legislation would
create a new status called "reg-
istered provisional immigrant"
and require anyone with that
status to pay taxes.
During the 13-year wait,
immigrants would be "work-
ing on the books, and you will
hopefully be able to make a bet-
ter income and be progressing
in your life," said Ellen Bat-
tistelli, a policy analyst with
the National Immigration Law
Center, who has argued against
making the process too costly.
"There are so many require-
ments and financial burdens,
this is a very rigorous path to
go," especially for low-wage
workers, Battistelli said.
In previous crackdowns, a
court order had already barred
Al-Jazeera local affiliate from
broadcasting in Egypt since
September, accusing it of
endangering national security.
The channel, Al-Jazeera
Mubasher Misr, has continued
to broadcast using its studios in
Doha, Qatar, collaborating with
freelancers and using amateur

Israel returns remains of 30
Palestinian suicide bombers

Families recieve
remains over a
decade after death
BETHLEHEM, West Bank
(AP) - When 18-year-old
Ayat al-Akhras blew herself
up outside a busy Jerusalem
supermarket in 2002, killing
two Israelis, her grieving par-
ents were unable to bury her
and say their final goodbyes
because Israel refused to send
her remains home.
More than a decade later,
after appeals from human
rights groups, Israel is hand-
ing over some 30 bodies of Pal-
estinian assailants, including
that of al-Akhras, enabling her
family to arrange a funeral.
Israel has returned the
remains of Palestinian

attackers from time to time
during the decades of conflict,
sometimes as part of prisoner
swaps, but the current round
involvesthe mostrecentsuicide
bombers and gunmen and has
revived painful memories for
families and friends of some of
the victims.
In the West Bank town
of Bethlehem, the teenage
bomber's parents, Mohammed
and Khadra al-Akhras, expect
an easing of their grief.
"The pain will end," said
Mohammed al-Akhras, 67, who
chain-smoked while he talked
and rested his hands - gnarled
from years of manual labor -
on top of the cane he uses to
walk with. "At any time during
the day, during the night, we
can go and visit her," he added.
In Israel, the return of the
remains of attackers from the

second Palestinian uprising a
decade ago has provoked some
anger.
"Those who killed civilians
should be treated like people
who committed war crimes,"
said Meir Indor, head of
Almagor, a group that speaks
for victims of attacks by
militants. "Eichmann's body
was not given back," he added,
referring to Adolf Eichmann,
the Nazi who was executed
by Israel in 1962 for his role
as one of the architects of the
Holocaust.
The Israeli rights group
HaMoked appealed to Israel's
Supreme Court in 2011, seek-
ing release of the remains of
31 assailants. The group said
that the court didn't rule, but
that Israel's Defense Ministry
decided late last year to hand
over about 30 bodies.

California drought may result
in unemployment increase

Lack of water
strains agriculture
industry, jobs
MENDOTA, Calif. (AP) -
Amid California's driest year
on record, the nation's leading
agricultural region is locked in
drought and bracing for unem-
ployment to soar, sending farm
workers to food lines in a place
famous for its abundance.
One-third of the Central Val-
ley's jobs are related to farm-
ing. Strains on water supplies
are expected to force farmers
to leave fields unplanted, cre-
ating a ripple effect on food
processing plant workers,
truck drivers and those who
sell fertilizer, irrigation equip-
ment and tractors.
No place may be harder hit
than Mendota, a small farm
town where unemployment
rose above 40 percent at the

height of the economic reces-
sion in 2009, also a dry year.
Mayor RobertSilvasaidhe fears
this year could be even worse.
"We're supposed to be
the cantaloupe capital of the
world," Silva said. "But we're
the food line capital of the
world."
Residents of Mendota late
last year began seeing tough
times on the horizon when little
rain fell in the valley and snow
didn't blanket the High Sierra.
This marks the third consecu-
tive dry year for California, and
Gov. Jerry Brown has declared
a drought emergency.
This past week, the snow
pack's water content was mea-
sured at 12 percent of normal.
State officials announced that
they would not be sending
water to California's agricul-
tural customers. U.S. officials
are expected in late February
to announce they will allot
only a fraction of the federally

controlled water that farmers
want, if any.
If that scenario plays out,
Silva estimates the lines they
saw outside a Mendota food
bank five years ago could run
three times as long this year.
His town's unemployment
today is at 34 percent - the
highest in Fresno County -
and interim City Manager Don
Pauley figures it will top 50
percent.
Officials at Mendota's City
Hall aren't the only uneasy
ones. Steve Malanca, general
manager at Thomason Trac-
tor in Firebaugh, said farmers
have already told him that dig-
ging deeper wells and buying
irrigation water are higher pri-
orities in 2014 than investing
in new The researchers gave
Vitamin E, in a range of supple-
ment doses, or an antioxidant
drug named N-acetylcysteine
to mice engineered to have lung
cancer.

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