The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com DETROIT
Detroit gets 35 days to develop plan for lawsuits A federal judge issued an order Tuesday giving Detroit officials 35 days to develop and present a plan to settle lawsuits that were pending before the city filed for bankruptcy protection. The order from Judge Steven Rhodes would allow a lawsuit by the mother of a slain police officer to move forward at the end of the 35-day period unless the city’s plan was approved or a time extension granted. Dozens of unsettled lawsuits against the city automatically were put on hold July 18 when Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr filed the bankruptcy petition.
NEW YORK
Stocks slide as Washington stalemate drags on The stock market is closing at its lowest level in a month as the U.S. government enters a second week of being partially shut down. Investors fear the budget stalemate could prevent Congress from raising the government’s borrowing limit by next week’s deadline, bringing a threat of a debt default by the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 136 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 14,936 Monday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 14 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,676, the lowest in a month. The Nasdaq composite fell 37 points, or 1 percent, to 3,770. Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was much lighter than usual at 2.6 billion shares.
NEW ORLEANS
Judge hears estimates of BP oil spill damages For weeks after BP’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, people across the globe were captivated by a live video feed from underwater cameras that showed the company’s blown-out well belching plumes of black crude into the water. On Monday, more than three years later, clips from the spill cam were projected on a screen in a New Orleans courtroom while lawyers for BP and the federal government quarreled over how much oil gushed out of BP’s Macondo well during the 87-day crisis. The images helped some of the scientists calculate how much oil polluted the Gulf. Determining how much oil spilled is a multibillion-dollar question for U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who is presiding over the trial involving the deadly Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the nation’s worst offshore oil spill. The judge ultimately could decide how much more money BP owes for its role in the disaster.
NAIROBI, Kenya
1,600 ivory pieces hidden in sesame seeds Kenyan officials are counting and weighing more than 1,600 pieces of illegal ivory found hidden inside bags of sesame seeds in freight traveling from Uganda to Kenya’s major port city, Mombasa. Kenya Wildlife Service official Arthur Tuda said Tuesday that smugglers hid small pieces of ivory inside hundreds of 90-kilogram (200-pound) bags of seeds. Tuda said officials have found 1,642 ivory pieces weighing nearly 5 tons in two shipping containers bound for Turkey. Tuda said the seized ivory, discovered by officials last week, did not come from recent kills. He said no suspects were in custody. Wildlife officials are alarmed at the increasing number of African elephants and rhinos being killed to feed demand in Asia, particularly China, for ivory and rhino horn powder. —Compiled from Daily wire reports
BREAKFAST From Page 1A “an intellectual passport, not a fiscal anchor,” she said. “Investing in Michigan provides life-long dreams,” Coleman said. “Higher education is the single most important investment students can make for their futures.” Coleman and her husband, political scientist Kenneth Coleman, contributed to student aid with aa $1-million gift that will provide financial support for study-abroad programs. She will leave the University only a few months into the new development drive. “Campaigns are not the vision of the president, but rather the aspirations of the broader University community,” Coleman said. “The immense planning that has gone into it is a wonderful gift to the University’s next leader.” Coleman also touched on an array of accomplishments from the previous year. When she began her tenure in 2002, she completed former University President Lee Bollinger’s work with the Michigan Difference campaign. She also oversaw the completion of the Life Sciences Institute, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Throughout her years as president, Coleman launched the Residential Life Initiative, which continues with the renovation of South Quad Residence Hall, and approved the renovations of the student unions and recreation buildings. The breakfast was not only the last for Coleman, but also for various administrators who plan to step down from their roles. Ted Spencer, executive director of undergraduate admissions, and Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs, will resign from their respective positions, serving for more than 25 years and 20 years, respectively. Additionally, Constance Cook, the
News executive director for the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and Ruth Person, the chancellor of the University of Michigan-Flint, will retire from their roles. Though Coleman’s speech urged the University to push forward, she did not end her final State of the University address without lingering in the past. With the University’s 2017 bicentennial, Coleman said the anniversary serves as an opportunity to redefine the campus. Coleman appointed Gary Krenz, who serves as special counsel to the president, to work as the co-chair for programs surrounding the milestone. “The bicentennial compels us to rediscover this impact, tell it and celebrate it,” Coleman said. Prompting the audience to visualize the University’s vast history early in her speech, Coleman asked attendees to imagine “a seminal moment” when a stranger, newly arrived in Ann Arbor from Detroit, came forward to support the University. “It’s 1840,” Coleman began. “And what we know was the Diag was a scrubby pasture. A lone classroom building faces State Street ... And now a gift arrives. It is a German encyclopedia from a fur trader who has never been to Ann Arbor. We don’t know why he chose the University, but we know he believed strongly in educating the next generation, including his own children.” Channeling that distant moment from the penthouse of a building she helped bring to reality, Coleman allowed a speech on the University’s future to dip into its past. “The University of Michigan is about legacies, and it is about futures, about historic encyclopedias and talented freshmen,” she said. “We’re reflecting on all of them, on everything that’s been accomplished in using those experiences to move forward on bold ideas, crazy dreams, and using them to create the University of tomorrow.”
Obama nominates Yellen to head U.S. monetary policy as Fed. Reserve head After Summers withdrew nom., Yellen would become first chairwoman WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the nation’s central bank, the White House said Tuesday. Yellen would be the first woman to head the powerful Fed, taking over at a pivotal time for the economy and the banking industry. Both Yellen and Bernanke are scheduled to appear with Obama at the White House on Wednesday for a formal announcement. Bernanke will serve until his term ends Jan. 31, completing a remarkable eight-year tenure in which he helped pull the U.S. economy out of the worst financial crisis and recession since the 1930’s. Under Bernanke’s leadership, the Fed created extraordinary programs after the financial crisis erupted in 2008 that are credited with helping save the U.S. banking system. The Fed lent money to banks after credit markets froze, cut its key shortterm interest rate to near zero and bought trillions in bonds to lower long-term borrowing rates. Yellen, 67, emerged as the leading candidate after Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary whom Obama was thought to favor, withdrew from consideration last month in the face of rising opposition. A close ally of the chairman, she has been a key architect of the Fed’s efforts under Bernanke to keep interest rates near record lows to support the economy, and she would likely continue steering Fed policy in the same direction as Bernanke. The White House announcement comes in the midst of a
confrontation between Obama and congressional Republicans, particularly those in the House, over the partial government shutdown and the looming breach of the nation’s $16.7 trillion borrowing limit. Obama has been harshly critical of Republicans for demanding either changes in health care or spending policies in exchange for paying for government operations and raising the debt ceiling. White House aides, however, said Obama was not likely to use Yellen’s nomination announcement for partisan remarks on the shutdown and debt limit. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that the administration probably decided to go ahead with the announcement to send a signal of policy stability to financial markets, where investors are growing increasingly nervous over the partial shutdown and what they perceive as the much bigger threat of a default on Treasury debt if Congress does not raise the borrowing limit. “Markets are very unsettled and they are likely to become even more unsettled in coming days,” Zandi said. “Providing some clarity around who will be the next Fed chairman should help at least at the margin.” As vice chair since 2010, Yellen has helped manage both the Fed’s traditional tool of shortterm rates and the unconventional programs it launched to help sustain the economy after the financial crisis erupted in 2008. These include the Fed’s monthly bond purchases and its guidance to investors about the likely direction of rates. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who heads the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which must approve Yellen’s nomination, said he will work with the panel’s members to advance her confirmation quickly. “She has a depth of experience that is second to none, and I have no doubt she will be an excel-
Wednesday, October 9, 2013 — 3A
BUS From Page 1A bus route would be more effective than expanding SafeRide, a University service for latenight transportation between campus buildings and areas within a one-mile radius of campus. While the initial cost of $30,000 to run the route for the first semester will be equally split between IFC and the CSG
GRANT From Page 1A said. The John Templeton Foundation was founded in 1987 to fund research projects that include focuses on science, character virtue development and freedom and free enterprise. The foundation’s website states, “Our vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton’s optimism about the possibility of acquiring ‘new spiritual information’ and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship.” With the grant, Krause and his colleagues from across the country will conduct a survey of 3,000 people over the age of 18 around the United States. The team has pinpointed a variety of religious factors to test as well as biological markers such as weight, blood pressure and presence of stress-related hormones.
DISABILITY From Page 1A ethics. At a national level, Delta Gamma has chosen to support Service for Sight, a charity which raises awareness about obstacles for the blind or nearly blind populations and the resources available to them. Lectureship speakers do not have to relate to the sorority’s chosen cause, but Steir said the chapter and alumni were excited about Hingson’s connection to activism for the blind. Hingson previously spoke at the Delta Gamma National Convention in Indiana. Hingson discussed his own experiences as a disabled person and his foun-
POWERSHIFT From Page 1A Solomon responded by raising more than $1,130 through a private donation website — most coming in from family and friends of her team. An additional $600 of funding was granted by a Central Student Government resolution passed late Tuesday night by a unanimous vote. The resolution requires attendees to present a report to the assembly on the conference and further sustainability initiatives the University can pursue. Results from the Powershift conference can be seen on several U.S. campuses. The
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executive branch’s discretionary budget, running the route for additional semesters will rely on the success of the program and a permanent stream of financial support from sponsors. The operation of the bus route during additional days of the week will depend on the support of CSG and other sponsors, Proppe said. He hopes that by the time January hits, he will secure approximately $70,000 to run the route all week.
Because the idea for an offcampus transportation system was initially conceived in the IFC, Dishell said the council wanted to continue to collaborate with CSG. IFC President Michael Freedman said the council was optimistic about its success. “It all really depends on the numbers and the results,” Freedman said. “But we’re pretty positive in thinking that the crime rates will go down because of the bus route.”
Krause said some of the religious dimensions the survey will examine include social relationships in religious communities, prayer, forgiveness and religious coping responses. “The list goes on and on, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re doing the study, because the list is so long, it’s time to pare this down a little bit and see if we can isolate important components,” he said. Krause initially entered the research field to study stress and health among older adults. He said that as he interviewed his subjects, religion became a common factor in dealing with stress — a fact that is contrasted by trends of younger generations. The application for the grant was a long, tedious process. Krause said he spent a few years focusing his research and finding the right questions to present to the foundation. The foundation has two grant-making cycles each year, and full proposals can only be submitted by invitation only.
According to the foundation’s website, grants are aimed at “contrarians” and “intellectual entrepreneurs” to connect different fields and address research questions that have previously gone unanswered. With regard to political and social implications of religious impacts on health, Krause said his team is focused on basic initial research rather than executing any institutional change. “Let’s say I go over to the hospital and try to implement something that’s religiously oriented; that could certainly be interpreted as a conflict of church and state,” he said. Krause said religion may not always be a positive factor in relation to health. “I’m not coming into this thinking that religion is good for everybody or that it’s the silver bullet we’ve all been waiting for, because what my research and what other people’s research has found is that it can have detrimental effects on people, as well.”
dation’s work advocating for the blind. “As a society, we don’t tolerate differences, we fear them,” Hingson said. “I look forward to the day I can walk into a restaurant and be handed a menu in Braille.” In 2011, Hingson established Roselle’s Dream Foundation, named in honor of the heroic guide dog. Proceeds benefit blind people in need of technological aids, such as the $5,495 machine that allows them to take notes in Braille. Members of the Manchester Lions Club — a local chapter of the national service organization — traveled from Manchester, Mich. to the event. Lions member Peggy Allen said she heard about the event through the Ann Arbor Lions Club, and wanted to attend because
of the Lions’ work supporting leader-dog programs for the blind and supplying lowincome or disabled people with eyeglasses. Engineering freshman Nikki Steltenkamp, a member of Delta Gamma, said she heard about the event during sorority recruitment. “One of the biggest pieces of advice my dad gave me before leaving for school was to go to everything, no matter what,” Steltenkamp said. “An event like this shows that college is not just about parties or studying.” LSA sophomore McKenna Meyer said she expected the lecture to center on Higson’s experience during 9/11, but was pleased to hear about his daily experience as a blind individual and the subjectification he faces.
“Divest and Invest” campaign — which Solomon helped start at the University — began just two years ago after a workshop hosted by two universities at Powershift 2011. According to Michigan’s Student Sustainability Coalition, the University has almost $1 billion dollars invested in fossil fuel industries, which accounts for 5 percent of total fossil-fuel investments from U.S. universities. In addition to “Divest and Invest,” this year’s conference will focus on environmental justice, which is a growing part of the environmental movement. “How our environment is affecting the people — a lot of time that is ignored in national
campaigns,” Solomon said. “People don’t look at the people aspect of it and that is so important to motivate other people.” The group initially reached out to churches for lodging, but many were already booked, and others unwilling to accommodate. “You don’t want a bunch of college students sleeping on your floor when you’re not there and you have services to run Sunday morning,” she said. “It’s a big ask.” Solomon said she is optimistic they will find friends at nearby schools that can squeeze 10 people on the floor, and will consider couch-surfing or camping, if it comes down to it.