CWSv
5A - Friday, October 31, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Israel closes Jerusalem holy
sites after police shooting
ERANGAJAYAWARDENA/AP
Sri Lankan mudslide survivor, left, who lost her two daughters is comforted by her father as she cries at a relief center set
up in a school in Punagala in Badulla district, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday.
Sri Lanka says no chance of
finding mudslide survivors
Tensions increase
after violence
escalates
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel
closed all access to Jerusalem's
most sensitive religious site,
on Thursday, a rare move that
ratcheted up already height-
ened tensions following the
attempted assassination of a
prominent Jewish religious
activist and the killing of his
suspected Palestinian assailant
by police.
The Palestinians accused
Israel of a "declaration of war,"
deepening a crisis fueled by
failed.peace efforts, continued
Israeli settlement construc-
tion and months of simmering
violence in the holy city. While
Israel said it would reopen the
site on Friday, the increasingly
religious nature of the unrest
risked igniting further violence.
Both the Israeli and Palestin-
ian leaders blamed each other
for the tensions. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
accused Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas, who has
called for banning Jews from
the hilltop holy site, of inciting
the violence.
"The international commu-
nity must stop its hypocrisy and
act against the inciters," Netan-
yahu said.
Abbas, meanwhile, said Jeru-
salem is a "red line that must
not be touched." The decision
to close access to the Al Aqsa
Mosque compound was "a dec-
laration of war" that "will lead
to further escalation and insta-
bility," his spokesman, Nabil
Abu Rdeneh, said. Abbas made
no mention of the attempted
killing of the Jewish activist.
East Jerusalem, the section
of the city captured by Israel in
1967 and claimed by the Pales-
tinians, has experienced unrest
since the summer, with Pales-
tinian youths throwing stones
and firebombs at motorists and
clashing frequently with Israeli
police. The violence gained
steam last week, when a Pales-
tinian motorist rammed his car
into a crowded train station,
killing a 3-month-old Israeli-
American baby girl.
Much of the unrest has cen-
tered on the holy site, revered
by Jews as the Temple Mount
and Muslims as the Noble Sanc-
tuary. The violence reached a
new high late Wednesday when
a gunman on a motorcycle shot
and seriously wounded Yehuda
Glick, a U.S.-born activist who
often leads groups of Jews on
visits to the site.
Glick is a leading voice in
efforts to allow Jews to pray on
the mosque compound - some-
thing that Israeli authorities
ban because they fear it would
prompt violence. Muslim wor-
shippers view Jewish prayer
there as a provocation, fearing
that Jewish extremists are plot-
ting to take over the area.
In an interview this week
with The Associated Press,
Glick warned of the growing
violence in Jerusalem and said
Jews were increasingly being
attacked by Muslims.
"The more extreme Islamist
organizations are taking over
and if we don't stop them early
enough, they will take over
the entire Jerusalem," he said.
"We're calling upon the Israeli
government: Stop the violence."
He remained hospitalized
Thursday in serious condition.
In Washington, State
Department spokeswoman
Jen Psaki condemned the
shooting and said the U.S.
was "extremely concerned by
escalating tensions" in Jerusa-
lem. "It is critical that all sides
exercise restraint, refrain
from provocative actions and
rhetoric, and preserve the sta-
tus quo," she said, adding the
U.S. had been in touch with
Israeli, Palestinian and Jor-
danian officials to calm the
situation. Under a longstand-
ing arrangement, Jordan holds
custodial authority over the
mosque compound.
Heavy monsoon
rains leads to 200
person death toll
KOSLANDA, Sri Lanka
(AP) - Hundreds of desperate
Sri Lankan villagers dug with
" bare hands through the broken
red earth of a deadly landslide
Thursday, defying police orders
after a top disaster official said
there was no chance of finding
more survivors at the high-ele-
vation tea plantation.
There were conflicting
reports of how many people
were missing in the slide, which
struck Wednesday morning in
the island nation's central hills
after heavy monsoon rains.
Disaster Management Min-
ister Mahinda Amaraweera
said the number of dead at the
Koslanda tea plantation would
be fewer than 100. But Sri
Lanka's Disaster Management
Center - which Amaraweera
oversees - reported 190 people
missing.
Villagers, meanwhile, said the
death toll could easily exceed
200.
"I have visited the scene and
from whlati saw I don't think:
there wi be any survivors,"
Amaraweera told The Associat-
ed Press on Thursday. "But that
number is less than 100."
Frustrated relatives who had
watched the search from the
sidelines tried to follow a politi-
cian into the search site but were
stopped by police. However, the
politician argued with police
and took villagers with him
who joined hundreds of soldiers
searching through the mud for
survivors.
The search was suspended
WHITE
From Page 3A
on our own endowment to pay
for the University's operations
because the state appropriation
keeps decreasing, it is even more
important that we are great stew-
ards of that endowment," White
said.
White estimated the total cost
of attendance for each student at
the University is $55,000, or the
cost of an out-of-state student's
" tuition. The difference between
in-state and out-of-state tuition
is supposed to be the state appro-
priation, but because this has
decreased there becomes a great-
er challenge for the University,
White said.
"We are well aware that you
can't charge what it costs to every-
body because they can't afford it,"
White said. "We want to have the
best students regardless of their
socioeconomic circumstances so
we have to come up with ways to
make up that gap."
One of the key sources of
providing funding will be the
Victors for Michigan $4 billion
fundraising campaign - $1 bil-
lion of which will be earmarked
for financial aid. White said
this effort aims to provide the
University financial aid sustain-
ability over coming generations,
White said.
While this is White's third
time running, she said she has
4 found continued enthusiasm for
the job, particularly with the
new leadership of University
President Mark Schlissel.
"Schlissel is tireless and he is
engaged," White said. "I really
want to help him be successful."
Thursday evening because of
heavy rain.
President Mahinda Rajapak-
sa visited the disaster site on
Thursday and spoke to residents
who are takingshelter in schools
and temples. According to his
website, Rajapaksa ordered
officials to expedite rescue and
relief for the victims.
Television reports showed
Rajapaksa inspecting the disas-
ter from the air and meeting
with relief officials. Later he
was seen distributing sleeping
mats and boxes with essential
items to the displaced people
and consoling weeping men and
women.
Amaraweera said the
government had asked the
National Child Protection
Authority to take charge of chil-
dren orphaned by the disaster.
Many children had left for
school before the slide and
returned to see their homes
buried with their parents. A
government minister told Par-
liament thatthey have found 75
orphaned children.
"The government will be fully
responsible for them, we will not
give them to anyone other than
somebody from immediate fam-
ily because they can be sent for
child labor," he said.
A large number of children in
Sri Lanka's tea plantations drop
out of school and work as domes-
tic helpers or waiters in tea bou-
tiques. Many times parents send
children to work due to poverty
or alcoholism.
Displaced people spent
their second evening Thursday
crammed inside a dark, cold
school classroom atop a misty
mountain. Government officials
had begun a survey of the dead
and missing and doctors attend-
ed to the sick and wounded.
A 48-year-old truck driver
who gave his name only as Raja
said he lost all five members of
his household - his wife, two
sons, daughter-in-law and his
6-month-old grandchild.
"I left for work early morn-
ing and got a call asking me to
rush back," Raja said, weeping.
"I came back and there was no
trace of my home, everyone was
buried."
A local government officer
familiar with the tea plantation
said he believes 200-250 people
may have been buried, based on
the number of people usually in
the area at the time. There were
many houses, a big Hindu tem-
ple, a playground and two milk
collection centers where farm-
ers brought their milk to sell.
The officer spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity because gov-
ernment rules prevent him from
speakingto the media.
The tea plantation in Badulla
district, about 140 miles (220
kilometers) east of Colombo,
was one of many in the higher
altitudes of Sri Lanka, formerly
called Ceylon, one of the world's
leading tea producers.
Most of Sri Lanka has expe-
rienced heavy rain over the past
few weeks, and the Disaster
Management Center had issued
warnings of mudslides and fall-
ing rocks. The monsoon season
here runs from October through
December.
Vettiyan Yogeswaran, who
lives in part of the tea plantation
not affected by the landslide,
said authorities had warned
people that the area was vul-
nerable to mudslides and they
should move. But he said no
housing alternatives were
offered.
Efforts to enforce Ebola
quarantine stall in Maine
Nurse insists she
is healthy, leaves
home for bike ride
FORT KENT, Maine (AP) -
Insisting she is perfectly healthy,
nurse Kaci Hickox again defied
the state's Ebola quarantine
Thursday by taking a bike ride
with her boyfriend, and Maine
health authorities struggled to
reach a compromise that would
limit her contact with others.
Hickox, 33, stepped out of her
home on the remote northern
edge of Maine for the second
day in a row, practically daring
authorities to make good on their
threat to go to court to have her
confined against her will. On
Wednesday evening, she went
outside for an impromptu news
conference and shook a reporter's
outstretched hand.
By evening, it was unclear
whether the state had gone to
court or whether there had been
any progress toward ending the
standoff that has become the
nation's most closely watched.
clash between personal freedom
and fear of Ebola. The gover-
nor's office and Hickox's lawyers
would not comment.
Hickox, who returned to the
U.S. last week from treating
Ebola victims in West Africa as
a volunteer with Doctors With-
out Borders, has been under
what Maine is calling a voluntary
quarantine at her home in this
town of 4,300 people.
She has rebelled against the
restrictions, saying that her
rights are being violated and that
she is no threat to others because
she has no symptoms. She tested
negative last weekend for Ebola,
though it can take days for the
virus to reach detectable levels.
Her 21-day quarantine - the
incubation period for the Ebola
virus - is scheduled to end on
Nov.10.
Gov. Paul LePage said state
attorneys and Hickox's lawyers
had discussed a scaled-down
quarantine that would have
allowed her to go for walks, runs
and bicycle rides while prevent-
ing her from venturing into pop-
ulated public places or coming
within 3 feet of others.
Around midday, however, LeP-
age said that the hours of negotia-
tions had gone nowhere, and that
he was prepared to use the full
extent of his authority to protect
the public.
"I was ready and willing - and
remain ready and willing - to
reasonably address the needs
of health care workers meeting
guidelines to assure the public.
health is protected," he said.
Hickox stepped into the media
glare when she returned from
Sierra Leone to become subject to
a mandatory quarantine in New
Jersey. After an uproar, she was
released and traveled more than
600 miles to the small town on
the Canadian border where she
lives with her boyfriend.
She said she is following the
federal Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention recommen-
dation of daily monitoring for
fever and other signs of the dis-
ease.
An unmarked state police
cruiser followed Hickox on her
hour-long morning bike ride on
trails near her home, but police
could not take action to detain
her without a court order signed
by ajudge.
"I really hopethat we can work
things out amicably and continue
to negotiate," she said.
Her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur,
met with reporters Thursday
evening to tell them she was stay-
ing inside.
Addressing the bicycle ride,
Wilbur said they purposefully
rode away from town to avoid
coming into contact with peo-
ple. "We're not trying to push
any limits here. We're members
of this community, too, and we
want to make people comfort-
able," he said.
Maine law allows a judge to
confine someone if health offi-
cials demonstrate "a clear and
immediate public health threat."
Allocating money to help fight
SNYDER the spread of invasive species,
From Page 3A specifically, Asian carp, into
the 2014 budget was another
step, along with Snyder's plans
Snyder did not state his stance to increase mass transit rail and
on same sex marriage then, nor hiking trails.
in the conference call. However Snyder was the catalyst for
he did say at the time that the reuniting the Council of Great
marriages, albeit legal, will not Lakes Governors in 2013, which
be recognized in the state of previously had not convened for
Michigan. eight years. The Council works
He referenced his support for together to make regional deci-
the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights sions relating to the Great Lakes
Act - which prevented discri- region.
mionation toward the LGBTQ Some,however,donotbelieve
community workplace in hous- the governor is doing enough to
ing and employment. protect the environment. The
"I'm being proactive in terms nonpartisan Michigan League
of the employment discrimi- of Conservation Voters, which
nation issue in part because gives out letter grades to politi-
that is something that can be cians for how they vote on envi-
addressed from the legislative ronmental issues, gave Snyder a
point of view," he said. "C" on their How Green is Your
Governor? Midterm Report
Environment Card. He received an "A" in the
transportation category, prais-
Over his term, Snyder said ing his transit rail, but an "F"
he has made the environment in toxics and hazardous chemi-
a priority. His first move was cals, denouncing his signing of
working with universities to Senate Bill450,whichdefunded
study and monitor the envi- the DEQ programs that reduced
ronment to better assess what the harms of hazardous chemi-
precautions should be taken cals, moving that money into air
to combat ecological threats. quality control instead.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
FROM THE MICHIGAN DAILY!
CANDIDATES
From Page 2A
of affordable housing programs.
He said if he becomes mayor, the
availability of funds and timing
would determine potential proj-
ects for affordable housing.
"What the city can do is it can
make sure that zoning is suitable
for residential usage and itccan par-
ticipate in the market by support-
ing affordability and affordable
housing inthe city," Taylor said.
Kelly said he believes the city
needs more shelters along with
substance abuse programs, as
he said many of the homeless are
substance abusers.
He added that government
creates the problem of afford-
able housing as much asuit solves
it because zoning and building
codes are not primarily based on
the affordability of the housing
market.
"The best way city government
can make housing more afford-
able is to cut taxes," Kelly said.
"The second is to spur growth of
businesses through less restric-
tive zoning, i.e. mixed-use or
commercial overlay zoning, so
that wages rise and people have
more money. The third is to
pursue a density experiment in
downtown and, if possible, else-
where. As more options for living
space become available, we will
see the effects development has
on the market."
Stadium Boulevard
Billboard
Kelly said the University
undoubtedly benefits the city,
largely through the number of
people employed by the Univer-
sity and the University Health
System. However, he also noted
that the University acts indepen-
dently, citing the fact that the
billboard at Stadium Boulevard
violates city ordinance.
"It's really become the situa-
tion where the University throws
the party and the city cleans up
afterwards," Kelly said.
Kelly met with James Kosteva,
the University's director of com-
munity relations, and discussed
the relationship of the city with
the University. Kelly said he
understood that the goals of the
University and the city overlap
and that the University only pur-
chases properties that are useful
to its purposes.
He added that the main lesson
he took away is that communi-
cation between the University
and the city is very important
and can improve. He said if the
University communicated bet-
ter with the public, much of the
animosity towards its decisions
would be solved.
"(Kelly) reinforced the impor-
tance of communication and the
importance of recognizing that
there are some mutual interests
and that being able to communi-
cate and understand each other's
interests would be exceedingly
important," Kosteva said.
Taylor, who has not yet met
University President Mark
Schlissel but has met with other
University officials as a council-
member, said the University and
the city are bound together and
that the two work together well.
He also noted that he has long
wanted the billboard signs at Sta-
dium Boulevard to be removed.
"There is no question that the
University is a tremendous ben-
efit to the city of Ann Arbor. That
is a given," Taylor said. "There
is also no question that the bill-
board on Stadium Boulevard is a
distraction and an intrusion and
of little utility."
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