December 4, 2013

CAMPUS & METRO

CAMPUS & METRO

FOOTBALL

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Students warn to be careful about victim blaming when teaching safety.

The college wants to see how cultural attitudes change in four years.

The Gophers lost Philip Nelson and Brock Vereen in the game Saturday.

Andre Hollins led the team with 21 points, and Austin Hollins added 16.

Student groups respond to crime alerts u See PAGE 4

CFANS students take cultural survey u See PAGE 5

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U OF M

Minnesota needs rest before bowl game

Gophers get statement win, beat Florida State

u See PAGE 7

MINNEAPOLIS

ST PAUL

u See PAGE 8

WEDNESDAY

DECEMBER 4, 2013

WINTER WEATHER

Campus braces for snow Classes are expected to be held Wednesday, but the U is preparing for a winter storm.

BY ALEX BITTER abitter@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota braced for heavy snowfall and arctic temperatures as a winter storm approached the

Twin Cities on Tuesday.

The front began with light rain midday. Weather watchers said they expected the first of 6 to 9 inches of snow to arrive late Tuesday and continue into Wednesday.

The first major snowfall of the season has everyone from commuters to grounds care anticipating the change.

Temperatures were expected to fall as well, with Tuesday’s lows in the 30s giving

way to single-digit highs by the weekend.

National Weather Ser vice Meteorologist Kelsey Angle said the biggest drop is likely to come Thursday, with the high dipping to 15 degrees. “[Without proper covering], hypother mia and frostbite are definitely u See SNOW Page 3 The University most recently canceled classes for a half day in February 2011.

PUBLIC SAFETY

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

HEALTH

Unions take health care cost hikes Employees vocally opposed the increases for more than four months.

BY T YLER GIESEKE tgieseke@mndaily.com

Technical, clerical and health care workers’ unions at the University of Minnesota have approved contracts accepting cost increases to the employee health insurance program after more than four months of vocal opposition to the hikes.

A Board of Regents committee will review the contracts Dec. 12, which include a 3 percent raise for most union members. If passed, the contracts will face the full board the next day.

University officials couldn’t comment on the union contracts because the regents haven’t approved them.

The Of fice of Human Resources announced in a July email that it was making changes to the UPlan, the employee health care program, including adding a deductible and increasing copays for primary and specialty care. The email said the cost increases were necessary to help the University avoid a $48 million excise tax in 2018.

Beginning that year, the Affordable Care Act will put an excise tax on “high-value”

Crime petition gains traction

u See HEALTH CARE Page 5 The University didn’t approve the sliding scale model that unions advocated for this fall.

FACULTY/STAFF

Prof. named to scientific society Eugene Borgida is a CLA dean finalist and psychology professor at the University.

University of Minnesota police officer Ryan Ross assists a pedestrian while directing traffic at Moos Tower on Tuesday.

LISA PERSSON, DAILY

The student authors want to collaborate with the University to increase police presence on campus. crimes this fall, faculty, staff, students,

BY JESSICA LEE jlee@mndaily.com

parents and even friends in nearby

On a cold, gray after noon last

states agree that campus safety is a

month, a man with a handgun robbed

problem. As of Tuesday night, more

a University of Minnesota student

than 3,460 of them had signed a stu-

studying in Anderson Hall.

dent-authored petition asking for more

During the dark hours of a Novem-

police on or near campus.

ber night, a man wearing clothes that

“I just don’t feel safe on campus at

resembled a police officer’s sexually

all,” signer and graduate student Anjoli

assaulted a student after offering her a

Punjabi said.

ride in Marcy-Holmes.

Senior Sara Gottlieb and sopho-

Last Wednesday, a student was the

more Rachel Sadowsky, both Spanish

victim of an attempted kidnapping

and Portuguese pre-med students, cre-

near TCF Bank Stadium.

ated the petition late last month. Sad-

Following the string of violent

owsky said they want to work with the

u See PETITION Page 4

SCIENCE

BY KATELYN FAULKS kfaulks@mndaily.com

Mosquito bites are a nuisance to humans, but the diseases transmitted through them can have serious consequences.

Experts are brainstorming new ways to control insect populations — like genetic modification to pre-

A University of Minnesota psychology professor was named a fellow of one of the world’s largest scientific societies Tuesday.

Eugene Borgida is one of 388 scientists from around the country elected as a 2013 fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The AAAS is an international organization that promotes science worldwide in part through education and policy initiatives. It publishes the academic journal “Science,” which has an estimated readership of 1 million.

Psychology department chair Monica Luciana said Borgida’s research on the connections between political issues and psychology has taken him to University programs beyond psychology. He’s taught courses in the Department of Political Science and the Law School.

At the same time, Luciana said, Borgida has also remained active in the Department of Psychology.

“He’s very much involved in the inner workings of our department,” she said.

Borgida is one of four finalists in the College of Liberal Arts dean search.

He has taught at the University since 1976.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Experts weigh risks of genetically altered bugs A U study explored the potential effects of modifying insects to suppress disease.

BY ALEX BITTER abitter@mndaily.com

vent them from transmitting diseases.

Since the 1950s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations have tried to eradicate diseases that transfer to humans through insects, like malaria. Genetically modifying mosquitos is one method experts are using to tr y to curb malaria and yellow fever, but the risks of releasing genetically engineered insects into the wild u See INSECTS Page 3 Genetically modified insects could threaten the environment.

Building greatness from the bench Coach Brad Frost helped create a powerhouse and bolster a sport.

BY SAM GORDON sgordon@mndaily.com

In the 1980s, ever y kid in Burlington, Ontario, wanted to be Wayne Gretzky, but Brad Frost wanted to be a gym teacher who would “hopefully do some coaching.”

Now the Gophers’ head women’s hockey coach, Frost had no idea he’d lead a Division I hockey program

to 62 consecutive wins and back-to-back national titles.

He had no idea he’d become an ambassador for an entire University or that his team’s achievements would be fundamental in the emergence of women’s hockey.

But for 40-year-old Frost, the wins, trophies and banners are just a bonus. They’re a byproduct of a benevolent culture he’s cultivated within his program — a culture that extends beyond the walls of Ridder Arena. u See FROST Page 7 Frost is only the second head coach in the program’s 17 years.

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

Gophers head women’s hockey coach Brad Frost coaches from the bench at Ridder Arena on Sunday. Minnesota has won backto-back NCAA championships with Frost as head coach.

VOLUME 115 ISSUE 53

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Daily Review

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1991 Islamic militants in Lebanon release kidnapped American journalist Terry Anderson after 2,454 days in captivity.

HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH

VIDEO Vol. 115 Wednesday, December 4, 2013, No. 53

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Boynton Health Service hosts therapy animals every week as part of an effort to increase mental health resources on campus.

More than 400 students showed up to pet dogs, rabbits and a chicken. View the full video and others online at mndaily.com/multimedia/videos.

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WORLD BRIEFING

Europe human rights court hearing on secret CIA prisons

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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STRASBOURG, France — Europe’s human rights cour t shone a rare public light Tuesday on the secret network of European prisons that the CIA used to interrogate terror suspects, reviving memories and questions about the “extraordinar y renditions” that angered many on this continent.

At Tuesday’s hearing, lawyers for two terror suspects currently held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, accused Poland of human rights abuses. The lawyers say the suspects fell victim to the CIA’s program to kidnap terror suspects and transfer them to third countries, and allege they were tortured in a remote Polish prison.

The case marks the first time Europe’s role in the CIA’s “extraordinar y rendition” of terror suspects r eached the Eur opean Cour t of Human Rights.

The program, which occurred at the height of former President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism, upset many Europeans.

All the prisons were

closed by May 2006. Interrogations at sea have replaced CIA black sites as the U.S. government’s preferred method for holding suspected ter rorists and questioning them without access to lawyers.

One of the cases heard at Tuesday’s trial concerns 48-year-old Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who currently faces terror charges in the U.S. for allegedly orchestrating the al-Qaida attack on the USS Cole in 2000, a bombing in the Yemeni por t of Aden that killed 17 sailors and wounded 37.

The second case involves 42-year-old Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian also held in Guantanamo.

Zubaydah has never been charged with a crime.

A declassified report released in 2009 showed the CIA deemed al-Nashiri and Zubaydah as “high value detainees” meaning they are held under ultra-secure conditions in a secret section of Guantanamo known as Camp 7.

Both men say they were brought to Poland in December 2002, where they were detained and sub-

House votes to renew all-plastic firearms ban

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — With the advent of 3-D printers capable of producing plastic weapons, the House voted Tuesday to renew a 25-year-old prohibition against firearms that can evade metal detectors and X-ray machines.

A bipartisan bill extending the Undetectable Firearms Act was passed on a voice vote, a first for gun legislation since last year’s massacre at a Connecticut elementar y school.

The Senate is expected to act on the legislation when it returns from a two-week Thanksgiving recess next Monday, a day before the current law expires.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he and others will try then to add a new requirement that at least one component of the firing mechanism contain enough metal to be detectable in a magnetometer and also be undetachable. But with the National Rifle Association opposed to any change in the statute and many Democrats eager to avoid a new fight over gun controls going into an election year, the Senate is more likely to just pass the House version unamended. The House bill only requires that a plastic gun have some piece of metal in or on it, but it can be removable and doesn’t have to be used to fire the weapon.

“The House bill is better than nothing, but not by much,” Schumer said Tuesday. “... It’s certainly not enough.”

jected to harsh questioning in a Polish militar y installation in Stare Kiejkuty, a village set in a lush area of woods and lakes in the countr y’s remote nor theast.

There they were subject to mock executions, waterboarding and other tor tures, including being told their families would be arrested and sexually abused, said Amrit Singh, a lawyer representing alNashiri.

“This case is an opportunity to break the conspiracy of silence” about the par ticipation of some European gover nments in the CIA’s rendition program, Singh said. “These acts occur red on Polish ter ritor y with the acquiescence and connivance of the Polish authorities,” Singh said.

Polish prosecutor Janusz Sliwa said that Poland should be allowed to complete its own investigation into the claims before having them taken up by Europe’s human rights court.

Sliwa is leading the Polish investigation, which has gone on for five years without an outcome.

Lawyers for the terror suspects are asking the cour t to condemn Poland for various abuses of rights guaranteed by Europe’s Convention on Human Rights.

For mer CIA of ficials have told The Associated Press that a prison in Poland operated from December 2002 until the fall of 2003. Human rights groups believe about eight terror suspects were held in Poland, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Polish leaders in of fice at the time — former President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former Prime Minister Leszek Miller — denied the prison’s existence.

In his memoir “Decision Points” former President George W. Bush writes that he ordered the CIA to subject about 100 ter ror detainees to harsh interrogation techniques, arguing the methods did not constitute unlawful torture and that they produced intelligence that prevented further attacks.

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HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DAILY

Ill. Legislature OKs fix for $100B pension crisis

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Legislature approved a historic plan Tuesday to eliminate the state’s $100 billion pension shortfall, a long-delayed decision proponents described as critical to repairing the state’s deeply troubled finances but that faces the immediate threat of a legal challenge from labor unions.

The House voted 62-53 in favor of the plan, which makes deep cuts in state employees’ retirement benefits, minutes after it was approved by a more union-friendly Senate, 3024. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats, traditional allies of the unions.

The measure now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn, who said he expects to sign it promptly. The Chicago Democrat, who has pushed for years for a fix for the nation’s worst-funded state pension system, declared a victory.

“Today, we have won. The people of Illinois have won,” Quinn said. “This landmark legislation is a bipartisan solution that squarely addresses the most difficult fiscal issue Illinois has ever confronted.”

But the state’s finances are far from in the clear, even with the $160 billion in savings the plan is estimated to provide over the next three decades.

Public-employee unions said they will seek to have the law thrown out because they believe it violates a provision of the state Constitution that says pension benefits may not be diminished. That could delay any positive movement on the state’s credit rating, also the nation’s worst after the major ratings agencies have repeatedly downgraded because of the massive unfunded pension liability.

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All submissions are welcome, but there is no guarantee of publication.

CORRECTIONS

A front-page story in Tuesday’s Daily, “A different kind of crime,” misstated Alex Granquist’s major in a photo cutline.

He is a business and marketing education sophomore.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Experts weigh risks of modified insects

Curve I describes the release of sterile insects.

Curve II describes GE insect technology that uses a strain-replacement mechanism.

Curve III describes GE insects with a gene that suppresses population.

Curve IV describes a released population that grows and remains at a high density.

Curve V describes pests rebounding after developing resistance to insecticides.

Curve VI describes a released population that reduces back to its pre-release density.

Curve VII describes a pest population that’s temporarily suppressed and returns to initial density.

Curve VIII describes successful non-GE pest population suppression tactics, like insecticides.

VI II VII III

I

VIII

SOURCE: ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, JOHN WILEY AND SONS

219 million malaria cases worldwide, and about 660,000 people died that year of the disease.

Montville said there are better methods to avoid mosquito-transmitted diseases, like using citronella candles, growing basil plants around the home or eating a vitamin B-rich diet.

Despite the uncer tain outcomes from releasing genetically engineered insects, Roth said some companies are moving forward with the technology.

In 2009, British biotechnology company Oxitec began field trials with genetically engineered mosquitos in the Cayman Islands. Oxitec made the mosquitos sterile to reduce the population.

Now, the company has started looking to conduct trials in the Florida Keys to reduce the viral disease

Dengue fever.

“They’re still in the process of figuring out if the technology works and what the effects are,” Roth said.

A safer future University researchers didn’t create the framework to decide which risks were better or more likely than others, doctoral candidate and co-author Joe Kaser said.

Instead, the framework shows multiple possible outcomes. It will be up to the policymakers and scientists reading it to decide whether the risk is worth the cost.

Ecology, evolution and behavior doctoral candidate and co-author Aaron David said that because scientists have released few genetically engineered insects, the research group looked at other methods of insect control like pesticide use to develop the

framework.

The researchers predicted eight evolutionary and ecological outcomes of releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes into the wild. One prediction says genetically modified mosquitos could eventually evolve to lose the initial changes to their genes, Kaser said.

Another possibility is that humans wouldn’t develop immunity to malaria if mosquitos don’t infect people with the disease anymore, Kaser said, so humans would be more susceptible to a future malaria outbreak.

The study ser ves as a stepping point for future risk analysis, Morey said.

“It’s a very big field,” she said. “At the very beginning, you’re just trying to come up with what could possibly happen [and] where should we even begin to look.”

WHERE NOT TO PARK DURING A SNOW EMERGENCY

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possibilities,” he said.

He said air travelers and commuter students should plan extra time to make their trip, especially during Wednesday’s snowfall.

University Grounds Superintendent Les Potts said some major walkways around campus would be par tially closed or redirected as a result of heavy snowfall and slipper y ice.

He said foot traf fic will be narrowed in certain areas of campus to limit the area that groundskeepers need to clear and de-ice, including closing off some stairs on the West Bank end of the Washington Avenue Bridge.

Groundskeepers hit some dif ficulties while pretreating campus sidewalks Tuesday due to the rain and a few recently poured sidewalks that

health, safety, or security of the University community, r esear ch animals or other mission-critical assets.”

University Ser vices chief of staf f Leslie Kr ueger said the University has closed only a handful of times in recent years.

“It’s ver y rare, but it does happen,” she said.

The University’s Depar tment of Emergency Management consults a number of sources, including University Landcare, Parking and Transpor tation Ser vices, National Weather Ser vice forecasts and Metro Transit before deciding to close campus, she said.

If University Ser vices administrators decide to close, they will notify students by email and text message, Krueger said.

In the event of a snow emergency, drivers should not park their vehicles on snow emergency streets until after 8 a.m. the day after the storm.

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can’t yet handle salt.

While similar storms have caught the University off guard in the past, Potts said the facilities management staff is ready for this storm.

“Ever ything is fueled up; ever ybody’s checking plows,” he said. “We’ll just wait and see what happens.”

Though classes were expected to continue Wednesday at the University’s Twin Cities campus, the University of Minnesota-Duluth campus closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday and will remain closed through Wednesday.

Class on the Twin Cities campus was last canceled for snow on Feb. 21, 2011. Other par ts of the University, like the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fair view, remained open during the half-day closure.

Under University policy, a snowstorm can close campus and cancel classes if the storm presents “a serious risk to the

Curves I–III represent three generalized pathways specific to current GE insect management techniques.

Curves IV–VIII represent additional pathways possible for a perturbed insect population.

STEADY STATE

UE

Since the impact of genetically engineered insects on the environment is largely unknown, some are opposed to using them to control disease.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals college campaign coordinator Kenneth Montville said experts plan to release modified insects in environments with fragile ecosystems, which could harm the environment.

“Very rarely do these sort of risk assessments actually assess the risks of animals involved,” he said. “We’ve had anti-malaria agents for years and years; keeping mosquitos at bay is almost a non-issue.”

In 2010, the World Health Organization recorded about

TRANSITORY STATE IV

VEN

Uncertain risks

POPULATION DENSITY OVER TIME

HA

are largely unknown.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota created a risk analysis framework to show scientists and officials the potential effects of releasing genetically modified insects. The scientific journal Ecology and Evolution published the study in its October issue.

Experts are aware of some of the ecological effects genetically engineered insects may produce, said entomology doctoral candidate and study co-author Amy Morey.

But the study offers an inclusive list of the potential shortand long-term effects.

“It’s all surrounding this idea that when you have a new technology, you want to know what’s going to happen,” she said.

The framework may help genetic engineers, government officials and scientists analyze any risks and make safer decisions, doctoral candidate and co-author Alexander Roth said.

POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INSECTS

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Insects

Classes are expected to be held Wednesday, but campus is bracing for a winter storm Snow

foreign raids on Afghan homes. Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and allied soldiers have been a key source of contention, exacerbated last week by a U.S. drone strike that killed a child.

The latest r ound of pressure on Karzai puts the U.S. and its NATO allies in the awkward political position of threatening to leave even as they make a strong case to stay.

Rasmussen said he could not rule out the possibility of a so-called zero option — the complete withdrawal of foreign forces at the end of 2014. He said it “can be the unfortunate outcome of the decisions — or nondecisions — in Afghanistan.”

THE

UNITED NATIONS — An estimated 250,000 people in besieged communities in Syria remain beyond the reach of aid, the U.N, humanitarian chief said Tuesday in a closed-door Security Council briefing that one member called “chilling.”

Deep divisions in the council have kept it from taking more action on the 2 ½-year-old civil war that activists say has killed more than 120,000 people. Valerie Amos’ task has been to tell the world body about the worsening conditions for millions of civilians in Syria — and how difficult it is to reach them.

Amos was able to report “modest progress” in such basics as getting 50 more long-demanded visas for aid workers and opening three humanitarian hubs inside Syria, “only two of which are helpful to us.”

But “We have not seen any progress” in the major issues of protecting civilians and demilitarizing schools and hospitals, Amos said. Last month, she told the council that the number of Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance has risen dramatically to 9.3 million people, up from 6.8 million in June.

Against those numbers, she said the Syrian gover nment approved nine aid convoys last month, up from the usual three.

“This is still far too few to meet the needs of millions of people,” Amos said.

Her comments come as the international community prepares for long-delayed peace talks on Syria that will begin Jan. 22 in Geneva. The meeting would be the first face-to-face talks between President Bashar Assad’s government and its opponents since the conflict began in March 2011.

tr y to move for ward,” Kerr y said. “That is what we need to aim for, sooner not later, because that is what is best for Afghanistan.”

Karzai has tentatively endorsed the deal, but he shocked allies last month when he refused to sign it after it was approved by a council of tribal elders known as the Loya Jirga.

The council said the agreement with the U.S. should be signed by the end of December, as Washington demands.

Instead, Karzai maintains the decision should be left to his successor after elections next April.

He has also indicated that he will not sign any agreement that allows for continued airstrikes and

SOU

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS — World diplomats issued a ster n war ning T uesday to Afghan leaders in a new effor t to help secure the war-tor n nation’s future with thousands of foreign forces after 2014. But officials backed of f earlier U.S. threats to withdraw all troops if Afghan President Hamid Karzai doesn’t agree to the of fer before the end of the year.

NATO of ficials said, however, that they need a decision, and soon, on continuing a militar y training mission in Afghanistan through next year. Without clarity, the estimated 50 nations who said they will help transition Af-

ghanistan from 13 years of war will have to start planning how, and when, to send soldiers home.

But U.S. Secretar y of State John Ker r y and NATO Secretar y-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen both resisted holding Karzai to a set deadline for a decision. It was a step back from a White House war ning last month that the U.S. would pull out its troops if Afghanistan did not sign a security agreement by the end of this year.

“This is not fooling around, this is serious business,” Kerr y told repor ters at the annual NATO meeting in Brussels.

“I think that it is important for the agreement to

VEN UE

UN: 250,000 besieged in Syria, beyond reach of aid

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TH A

K I E V, U k r a i n e — Ukraine appeared mired in a political standof f Tuesday, as massive protest rallies showed no sign of letting up and the government warned of its capability for force after a failed attempt to take it down.

The opposition lost its attempt to topple the government by parliamentar y means when a vote of noconfidence failed by a sizeable margin.

President Viktor Yanukovych left on an of ficial visit to China, where he is expected to sign an array of economic agreements, his of fice said. He is expected to be gone until Friday and the prospects for a definitive development in the next few days seem small.

Protest leaders vowed to continue their demonstrations, which have brought as many as 300,000 people to the streets of Kiev, in the largest outpouring of public anger since the 2004 Orange Revolution.

Soon after T uesday’s vote, about 5,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential administration building, then moved to the capital’s central Independence Square, where the crowd grew to more than 10,000, according to police estimates.

The opposition called for the parliamentary vote over Yanukovych’s shelving of a long-anticipated agreement to deepen political and economic ties with the European Union and the violent tactics used by police to disperse demonstrators

protesting the decision.

Yanukovych has sought to quell public anger by moving to renew talks with Brussels. The government appears to recognize that the police violence may have galvanized long-brewing frustrations rather than stifle protests.

But while Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, attending the parliamentar y session with his Cabinet, apologized for the violence, he also made a tough vow. “ We h a v e e x t e n d e d our hand to you, but if we encounter a fist, I will be frank, we have enough force,” he said.

There is a question as to how long protesters’ determination will last as winter sets in and the holiday period approaches, noted Adrian Karatnycky, a Ukraine analyst at the Atlantic Council think tank.

In addition to Yanukovych’s trip to China, “these things suggest Yanukovych is playing for time,” he said.

The no-confidence measure got the support of 186 members of the Verkhovna Rada, 40 shy of the majority needed. Even if it had passed, Yanukovych would have remained president, but the prime minister and Cabinet would have been ejected.

In turn, Vitali Klitschko, the super heavyweight world boxing champion and leader of the opposition party Udar, vowed that the action would continue. “ We w i l l p e a c e f u l l y blockade the government building and not allow them to work,” he told demonstrators at Independence Square after the noconfidence motion failed.

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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NATO seeks clarity on troops in Afghanistan

initial density

Ukraine mass protests resume after gov’t vote

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No Parking Day 1 No Parking Day 2 No Parking Day 3 SOURCE: CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Student groups respond to crime alerts Students warn to be careful about victim blaming when teaching safety.

BY HAILEY COLWELL hcolwell@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota students are turning to their student groups to start discussions about safety after the recent bout of campus crime.

Students are tackling these discussions in ways that fit their groups’ communities — from advising on how to stay safe during commutes to planning self-defense workshops.

One group is concerned the crime alerts sent to the University community after certain incidents might not accurately depict sexual violence.

Because commuters

spend a lot of time in transit between campus and home, the student group Commuter Connection has been advising its students to stay alert while standing at bus stops and walking home, group co-chair Leah VandenBosch said.

Alliance for Women in Media President Christina Munnell said her group has walked together after meetings in an effort to stay safe.

Student Unions and Activities Associate Director Denny Olsen said SUA is trying to make sure everyone who attends its events knows about campus safety resources. It also sent safety information to individual student groups, he said.

“We’re just helping to make sure student groups have information and resources,” Olsen said, “and generally just suppor ting what the police department

Detroit can use bankruptcy to confront debt

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Detroit can use bankruptcy to cut employee pensions and relieve itself of other crushing debts, handing a defeat to the city’s unions and retirees and shifting the case into a delicate new phase.

Judge Steven Rhodes, who wondered aloud why the bankruptcy had not happened years ago, said pensions can be altered just like any contract because the Michigan Constitution does not offer bulletproof protection for employee benefits.

But he signaled a desire for a measured approach and warned city of ficials that they must be prepared to defend any deep reductions.

“This once proud and prosperous city can’t pay its debts. It’s insolvent,” Rhodes said in formally granting Detroit the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. “At the same time, it also has an opportunity for a fresh start.”

The ruling came more than four months after Detroit filed for Chapter 9 protection.

Rhodes agreed with unions and pension funds that the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, had not negotiated in good faith in the weeks ahead of the July filing, a key condition under federal law. But he said the number of creditors — more than 100,000 — and a wide array of competing interests probably made that “impossible.”

Detroit “could have and should have filed for bankruptcy long before it did.

Perhaps years,” the judge said.

The decision set the stage for officials to confront $18 billion in debt with a plan that might pay creditors just pennies on the dollar and is sure to include touchy negotiations over the pensions of about 23,000 retirees and 9,000 workers.

Orr says pension funds are short by $3.5 billion.

Rhodes promised that he would not “lightly or casually” sign off on just any cuts.

The city has argued that bankruptcy protection will allow it to help beleaguered residents who for years have tolerated slow police responses, darkened streetlights and erratic garbage pickup — a concern mentioned by the judge during a nine-day trial that ended Nov. 8.

Before the July filing, nearly 40 cents of every dollar collected by Detroit was used to pay debt, a figure that could rise to 65 cents without relief through bankruptcy, according to the city.

Orr praised the judge’s ruling and pledged to “press ahead.” He also acknowledged that pensions would be a sensitive issue because they represent a “human dimension” to the crisis, with some retirees getting by on less than $20,000 a year.

City tr uck mechanic Mark Clark, 53, said he may

look for another job after absorbing pay cuts and higher health care costs. Now a smaller pension looms.

“Most of us didn’t have too much faith in the court. ... The working class is becoming the have-nots,” Clark said outside the courthouse. “I’m broke up and beat up. I’m going to pray a whole lot.”

Marcia Ingram, a retired clerical worker, said she may need to find work but added: “How many folks are going to hire a 60-year-old woman?”

The judge spoke for more than an hour in a packed courtroom, reciting Detroit’s proud histor y as the diverse, hard-working Motor City devoted to auto manufacturing. But he then tallied a list of warts: doubledigit unemployment, catastrophic debt deals, thousands of vacant homes and wave after wave of population loss.

Behind closed doors, mediators led by another judge have been meeting with Orr’s team and creditors for weeks to explore possible settlements.

Rhodes has told the city to come up with a plan by March 1 to exit bankruptcy.

Orr has said he would like to have one ready weeks earlier.

The city is so desperate for money that it may consider auctioning of f masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts and selling a water depar tment that ser ves much of southeastern Michigan.

“We need to recognize that this decision is a call to action,” Gov. Rick Snyder, who suppor ted the bankruptcy filing, said Tuesday.

“We are confronting fiscal realities that have been ignored for too long.”

Minutes after the r uling, a union lawyer said she would appeal. City officials got “absolutely everything” in Rhodes’ decision, she told reporters.

“It’s a huge loss for the city of Detroit,” said Sharon Levine, an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents half of city workers.

Orr, a bankr uptcy exper t, was appointed in March under a Michigan law that allows a governor to send a manager to distressed cities, townships or school districts. A manager has extraordinary powers to reshape local finances without interference from elected officials. By July, Orr and Snyder decided bankruptcy was Detroit’s best option.

Detroit, a manufacturing hub that of fered well-paying blue-collar jobs, peaked at 1.8 million residents in 1950 but has lost more than a million people since then. With more square mileage than Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco combined, the city does not have enough tax revenue to reliably cover pensions, retiree health insurance and buckets of debt sold to keep the budget afloat.

[and] University Ser vices are already doing.”

Concerns about victim blaming

The crime aler ts sent to the University community after certain incidents are sparking conversations about the message they’re sending to students.

Some are concerned that the alerts proliferate victim blaming — or holding the victim of a crime partially responsible for the harm that occurred.

In response to the recent string of crimes, the student group Women’s Student Activist Collective plans to hold a self-defense workshop early next semester, group staff member Carla Wilson said.

The group held a similar workshop in the past, she said, but some were concerned that it, too, could involve victim blaming.

Tim Busse, communications director for University Services, which houses the University of Minnesota Police Department and sends out the alerts, said the messages aim to keep students safe.

Busse, who writes the alerts, said he works closely with University police officers.

As more aler ts have gone out in the past few weeks, he said, there have been discussions about what kind of information to include and how to communicate it.

The topic of victim blaming figured into that discussion, Busse said.

“We want to make it clear we’re not blaming the victims and don’t have any intention of doing that, but at the same time … there needs to be a culture of safety, and it needs to

be embraced communitywide,” he said.

WSAC member Mollie Lacy said the crime alerts deliver useful information but might paint a misleading picture of sexual violence.

Because most sexual assaults happen when the attacker and victim know each other, she said, recent alerts about sexual assaults on campus might give students the idea that these attacks are more likely to be random.

Lacy said she thinks it would be beneficial to provide students with more information about sexual assault and resources for survivors.

“You’re presenting this information in a vacuum, and so you’re not given the larger context of what sexual assault is like for most survivors,” she said.

Lacy said the alerts insinuate that students will be safe if they stay inside after dark.

“It presents rape as this crime that only happens to women walking alone at night, and that’s not true,” she said.

The alerts contain a limited amount of information so that they’re easier to read, Busse said, and include information about resources like Gopher Chauffeur and campus escort services.

To provide more detailed information, Vice President for University Ser vices Pam Wheelock started sending out public safety updates last week.

The updates will branch out to include other information per tinent to students and could potentially include resources for victims in the future, Busse said.

Palestinians say Iran deal preps for peace

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Senior Palestinians say the diplomatic pressure that produced the nuclear deal with Iran — world powers negotiating jointly in Geneva and wielding the stick of sanctions — should now be applied to the longfestering Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The call for emulating the “Geneva model” is a result of plummeting faith in the traditional formula of U.S.-mediated talks with Israel that produced two decades of failures. With the current round in trouble, Palestinians are grasping at alternatives.

“What happened in Geneva is a model that proves that if the world wants something, then it can achieve it,” said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. “If they want to achieve peace and stability, then the (Israeli) occupation is no less dangerous than nuclear weapons.”

Others around Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have made the same point in recent days, though Abbas himself has not spoken on the matter. He says he’ll keep his promise to the U.S. to stay in bilateral talks with Israel throughout a nine-month period that ends in April.

Any effort to change the format will meet resistance.

Israel strongly opposes

the idea of “internationalizing” the negotiations, fearing pressure from countries it considers less supportive.

U.S. of ficials have traditionally been cool to the idea of bringing in other mediators, arguing that only Washington has the necessar y leverage and influence with both sides.

“We’re less than halfway through the nine-month timeline,” U.S. State Depar tment spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday. “So our focus remains on the direct negotiations, and I don’t think we’re, at this point, speculating on a different alternative forum.”

Peace ef for ts have been internationalized to a degree since the 2002 creation of the so-called Quartet of mediators comprising the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.

Washington’s par tners in the Quartet are often cast in secondary roles, such as helping finance Abbas’ selfrule government, but have not tried to challenge U.S. dominance.

That said, there is a growing sense of urgency about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. Secretar y of State John Kerr y returns to the region on Wednesday to try to salvage the effort. He is meeting separately with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remain so far apart in

their positions they haven’t even met since negotiations resumed in late July.

The atmosphere has grown extremely charged, in part because of Israel’s accelerated construction in Jewish settlements on occupied lands the Palestinians want for their state.

The Palestinians al ready have said that once the set period for talks is over, they will resume their bid for broader inter national recognition of a state of Palestine, accepted a year ago by the U.N. General Assembly as a non-member obser ver state. Fearing fur ther isolation, Israel might retaliate.

At the same time, Palestinian officials have praised the Geneva deal as an important precedent because the international community pulled together, using sanctions, to defuse a dangerous conflict.

In talks with six global powers, Iran agreed to freeze much of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, even as Netanyahu warned a historic mistake was being made. The West has accused Tehran of seeking to build atomic weapons, although the Iranians insist their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Erekat said the world must now show the same determination to help estab-

lish a Palestinian state.

In a taste of what might lie ahead, the EU linked hundreds of millions of dollars in research money for Israel to a pledge that the money would not be spent in occupied territories. Israel initially balked, but signed the agreement, while noting its opposition to the territorial clause in official documents.

Netanyahu has said he is committed to the negotiations and supports the idea of a Palestinian state. But the Palestinians do not trust him because he has accelerated construction for Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Settlement housing starts have jumped by more than 130 percent to more than 2,100 apartments in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period in 2012, according to recent Israeli government figures.

Since March, the government has promoted plans for more than 11,000 additional settlement apartments, the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said.

The number of Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is approaching 600,000, compared to about 2.5 million Palestinians in those territories.

The Palestinians claim both areas and the Gaza Strip, all captured by Israel in 1967, for their state and see settlement construction as a sign of bad faith.

Student petition for more police gains traction Petition u from Page 1

University and would like to see a strengthened partnership between the University and Minneapolis police departments.

V ice Provost for Student Af fairs and Dean of Students Danita Brown Young met with Gottlieb and Sadowsky on Monday to hear their concerns and discuss strategies in place to improve campus safety.

“We don’t want people to feel afraid to come to class,” she said. “We don’t want people afraid to go out at night, like they can’t go out and study and hang out with friends, because that’s part of their [college] experience.”

Since the star t of the school year, University police have issued 13 crime aler ts for 19 incidents on or near campus, including an armed robber y at a bus stop outside University Village on Saturday.

The petition says crime on campus has inter fered with students’ ability to learn, noting fear of walking to study spots at night.

Some students have even considered transfer ring schools.

Brown Young said police have been working “nonstop” to combat crime.

“Even without the petition, and before the petition was even created, we have been ver y diligent about stepping up the police force,” she said.

In an email sent to the University community

LISA PERSSON, DAILY

University of Minnesota police officer Josh Betts patrols Pleasant Street on the University’s East Bank on Tuesday.

Tuesday, Vice President for University Ser vices Pam Wheelock said she wrote a letter addressed to Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Councilwoman Barbara Johnson asking for additional police resources from the city.

University President Eric Kaler and Wheelock met with mayor-elect Betsy Hodges last month to discuss the University’s need for additional city resources. Wheelock and University police Chief Greg Hestness have also met with Minneapolis police Chief Janée Harteau.

“No amount of investment will be sufficient without the partnership of the city and the student body,” Wheelock said in the email.

Brown Young said a task force comprised of University faculty, staf f

and students formed nearly two weeks ago to evaluate campus safety and address areas that need improving, like buildings’ lighting.

The campus ride service Gopher Chauf feur recently expanded its fleet and days of ser vice, and it now of fers shuttles for students Thursday nights.

Also, Brown Young said, the University police’s security monitor escor t service, 624-WALK, assures a safe way home.

Students may feel like they can take care of themselves and don’t need help, she said, but they should take advantage of these services.

“They are not invincible,” she said.

Sadowsky said she and Gottlieb drafted the petition after their friend was

the victim of an attempted kidnapping late last month, deciding a petition was a concrete way to raise awareness.

“Our main goal was just to get word out that students are concerned,” Sadowsky said.

The petition will go to Kaler, University police, Minneapolis police and state legislators, according to the website MoveOn.org, which hosts it. The goal is 4,000 signatures.

“I’m glad that students are wanting to get involved and help,” Brown Young said. “We are absolutely aware of those concerns, and we’re doing all that we can do to ensure the safety of our students.”

Emma Nelson contributed to this report.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

5

CFANS students take cultural survey The college wants to see how cultural attitudes change in four years.

BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences is surveying its freshman class to better understand how students engage with different cultures in the college and elsewhere.

This semester, all incoming freshmen took the Intercultural Development Inventor y to measure how they think and feel about cultural difference. They’ll take the inventor y again senior year, and CFANS will analyze the results to help modify curricula and better prepare students for a diverse workforce.

Mike White, head of the Department of Animal Science, said understanding different cultures is important for students.

“If you are able to talk

US veteran oversaw guerilla group while detained in NKorea

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea — An 85-year-old U.S. veteran being held in Nor th Korea spent his war years there in one of the Army’s first special forces unit, helping a clandestine group of Korean partisans who were fighting and spying well behind enemy lines.

Now South Kor eans who ser ved with Mer rill Newman, who is beginning his sixth week in detention, say their unit was perhaps the most hated and feared by the Nor th and his association with them may be the reason he’s being held.

“Why did he go to Nor th Korea?” asked Park Boo Seo, a former member of unit known in Korea as Kuwol, which is still loathed in Pyongyang and glorified in Seoul for the damage it inflicted on the Nor th during the war.

“The Nor th Koreans still gnash their teeth at the Kuwol unit.”

Some of those guerrillas, inter viewed this week

by The Associated Press, remember Newman as a handsome, thin American lieutenant who got them rice, clothes and weapons during the later stages of the 1950-53 war but largely left the fighting to them.

Newman was scheduled to visit South Korea to meet former Kuwol fighters following his North Korea trip. Park said about 30 elderly former guerrillas, some car r ying bouquets of flowers, waited in vain for several hours for him at Incheon Inter national Airpor t, west of Seoul, on Oct. 27 before news of his detention was released.

Newman appeared over the weekend on North Korean state TV apologizing for alleged wartime crimes in what was widely seen as a coerced statement.

Park and several other former guerrillas said they recognized Newman from his past visits to Seoul in 2003 and 2010 — when they ate raw fish and drank soju, Korean liquor — and from the TV footage, which was also broadcast in South Korea.

Newman’s family has not been in touch with him, but he was visited at a Pyongyang hotel by the Swedish ambassador, his family said in a statement, and he appeared to be in

good health, receiving his hear t medicine and being checked by medical personnel.

His family hasn’t responded to requests for comment on his war time activities. Jeffrey Newman has previously said that his father, an avid traveler and retired finance executive from California, had always wanted to retur n to the countr y where he fought during the Korean War. Newman ser ved in the U.S. Army’s 8240th unit, also known as the White Tigers, whose missions remained classified until the 1990s.

His military records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show he ser ved on active duty from September 1950 until October 1953, much of it in Korea, then he was a reservist for nearly four years.

The records show Newman reached the rank of first lieutenant when discharged and had received several medals including a Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars.

After attending of ficer candidate school, documents show he quickly rose from platoon leader to executive of ficer, then company commander. He is also listed as completing an infiltration course. In 1953, he was sent to study at militar y intelligence school before returning as an infantr y unit commander. He was qualified in various weapons including 75 mm rifles and carbines.

Retired Col. Ben Malcom said he ser ved in Newman’s unit during a different period and didn’t know him. But he later wrote a book about their work detailing how the U.S. supplied weapons, ammunition, food and American advisers to an anti-communist guer rilla force in Nor th Korea. He said some were outfitted with Nor th Korean militar y unifor ms complete with weapons and identification cards to work as spies. Others were trained as paratroopers.

Malcom said his openness about the unit’s work during the war, including a book, a Histor y Channel documentar y and many inter views, would preclude him from even considering visiting North Korea.

“I would never go back to Nor th Korea,” he said.

“They know me.”

across dif ference — if you’re able to work with someone who is dif ferent than you, you will be better at almost anything you do,” he said.

Some students said the potential improvement is beneficial because students can always be more culturally aware.

“I think it’s something that could definitely benefit students,” agriculture and food business management junior Dylan Barth said.

White said he became curious about ways to mea-

sure students’ experiences with dif ferent cultures when he took his students on a month-long study abroad class in 2009.

He used the sur vey before and after the time abroad to gauge how students’ cultural perspectives changed.

Because the sur veys were ef fective for study abroad students, CFANS officials wanted to bring them to University classrooms.

White said CFANS could work more to improve its students’ cultural literacy.

The sur vey’s results could help the college improve this, he said.

“The reason people go abroad is to experience difference, but we don’t give them … the tools to deal with that difference,” White said. “We’re not doing our students a ser vice by just sending them abroad.”

CFANS began using the Intercultural Development Inventor y four years ago, and some classes have added to their curricula based on findings from the previous surveys.

Agronomy and plant genetics professor Paul Porter said he star ted using the earlier findings in his agroecosystems last year. He said these methods were “amazingly successful” in boosting students’ cultural literacy.

Karl Lorenz, director of CFANS’ Office for Diversity and Inclusion, said officials from the Carlson School of Management will look at results of the CFANS surveys and consider using similar tools at CSOM in the future.

Only 1 pct of Snowden info printed

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — The editor of the Guardian said Tuesday his newspaper has published just 1 percent of the material it received from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and denied the paper had placed lives or national security at risk.

Under questioning by lawmakers on Parliament’s home affairs committee, Alan Rusbridger accused British authorities of tr ying to intimidate the newspaper, and warned of “national security being used as a trump card” to stifle debate.

The Guardian helped spark a global debate on privacy and security by publishing a series of stories based on leaks from Snowden disclosing the scale of telephone and Internet surveillance by spy agencies in the U.S. and Britain.

Rusbridger said the leak amounted to about 58,000 files, and the newspaper had published “about 1 percent” of the total.

“I would not expect us to be publishing a huge amount more,” he said.

Government and intelligence officials have reacted angrily to the leaks, saying they compromised British security and aided terrorists.

Britain’s top three spy chiefs

said last month that al-Qaida and other terror groups were “rubbing their hands in glee” in the wake of Snowden’s leaks.

Several Conser vative lawmakers have said the leftleaning Guardian should be prosecuted for breaching terrorism laws.

Rusbridger defended the newspaper’s decision to publish the secret material.

He said stories published by the Guardian, The Washington Post and others had prompted much-needed debate about the scale of intelligence activities and exposed the limits of regulatory laws drawn up in the pre-Internet era.

“There is no doubt in my mind ... that newspapers have done something that oversight has failed to do,” he said.

Questioning by members of the all-party committee ranged from supportive to hostile, a sign of how deeply opinion is divided on the issue. Conservative lawmaker Michael Ellis asked whether the Guardian would have passed information to the Nazis during World War II, while the committee’s Labour chairman, Keith Vaz, asked Rusbridger whether he loved his country.

“I’m slightly surprised to be asked the question,” Rusbridger said, “but yes we (at

the Guardian) are patriots, and one of the things we are patriotic about is the nature of democracy and the nature of a free press.”

Rusbridger denied placing intelligence agents at risk, saying the Guardian had “made very selective judgments” about what to publish and hadn’t revealed any names.

British police launched a criminal investigation into the leaks after detaining the par tner of then-Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald at Heathrow Airport in August under terrorism legislation.

Rusbridger said he didn’t know whether the Guardian was being investigated by police.

Assistant Chief Commissioner Cressida Dick told the committee London’s police force was investigating possible breaches of terrorism laws and Britain’s Official Secrets Act. “It appears possible ... that some people may have committed offenses,” she said, but declined to say whether the Guardian is under investigation.

Rusbridger said the Guardian had come under pressure from authorities in a way that would be “inconceivable” in the U.S., where journalists can rely on First

Amendment protections of freedom of speech.

He cited pressure to stop the stories from Britain’s top civil servant, politicians’ calls for the newspaper to be prosecuted and a security agency threat to confiscate the Guardian’s hard drives containing Snowden files. (Rusbridger destroyed the drives, having first sent copies of the documents abroad).

“I feel that some of this activity has been designed to intimidate the Guardian,” Rusbridger said.

That sentiment was echoed in a letter to the parliamentary panel from the U.S.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which said that “to the rest of the world, it appears that press freedom itself is under attack in Britain.”

The letter was signed by U.S. media organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

It said it was “unwise and counterproductive to react to the reporting on disclosures from Edward Snowden by reflexively invoking security concerns to silence the press or to accuse a news organization of aiding terrorists simply by providing citizens with information they need to know.”

Unions accept University health care cost hikes Health care u from Page 1

insurance plans to discourage consumers from overusing the benefits on these plans.

To assess whether the cost increases will put the value of the UPlan at the right level to avoid a tax, the University needs to implement the changes as early as 2014, the July email said.

Although cost increases aren’t ideal, faculty members generally accept the UPlan changes, said law professor Fred Morrison.

“I think there is an understanding among many faculty that they will be necessar y,” he said. “But they are unfortunate.”

The annual open enrollment period, when UPlan members can adjust their health insurance plans, ended Monday, according to OHR. Some union members likely took advantage of that time to find the most

inexpensive insurance plan possible, said Cher rene Horazuk, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees chapter of University clerical workers.

She said people have told her they were looking at the lower-cost, smallernetwork Accountable Care Organization plan, commonly known as an ACO, which the University is offering for the first time in 2014.

“I know that people were ver y concerned about the costs overall,” Horazuk said.

Sliding scale set aside Three local AFSCME chapters held a rally in opposition to UPlan cost increases and in support of a sliding scale model for health insurance premiums in September.

Under a sliding scale model, employees would pay premiums tied to their salaries.

“It’s an equitable way of distributing the costs,” said Barbara Bezat, president of the AFSCME chapter of University technical workers.

But after repeated attempts at discussing the sliding scale proposal with the University, union leaders said, the recently approved contracts don’t include the model.

“The University was unwilling to negotiate sliding scale,” Horazuk said.

“We’re going to continue to advocate for a sliding scale health care plan.”

AFSCME tried to discuss a sliding scale model during direct bargaining with the University and during meetings of the Benefits Advisor y Committee this fall, Horazuk said. She said the unions first proposed the idea during the summer.

The BAC is a group of faculty, staf f and retired employees that deals with benefit issues for non-union University employees.

Morrison, a committee member, said AFSCME members passed out fliers with information on the sliding scale model at BAC meetings — but they didn’t raise the issue with enough time to actually implement it if the

UPLAN CHANGES AND RELATED EVENTS July 17, 2013

Sept. 26, 2013

Dec. 13, 2013

In an email, the University tells UPlan members it will raise health insurance costs in 2014.

Union members and supporters rally against the UPlan changes.

The Board of Regents will vote on whether to approve the new union contracts, which accept the UPlan changes.

2014

UPlan changes, including a new deductible and higher copays, take effect.

2018

Because of the Affordable Care Act, the University could be charged a $48 million excise tax for its “high-value” plan.

SOURCE: OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES

University accepted it.

He said a project like a sliding scale premium system would require extensive planning before implementation.

“It needs to be raised much earlier,” he said.

6

Editorials & Opinions www.mndaily.com/opinion

Wednesday, December 4, 2013 The Editorials & Opinions department is independent of the newsroom. The editorial board prepares the editorials labeled “EDITORIALS,” which are the opinion of the Minnesota Daily as an institution but not representative of Daily employees’ opinions.

Columnists’ opinions are their own.

HIGHER EDUCATION

EDITORIALS

Affordable textbooks for all

Voices needed in Prospect Park planning

Sen. Al Franken sponsored a new bill that may be the solution students have been asking for.

A

lthough the cur rent top concern of most students is to make it through finals week, they’ll have a not-so-new problem come 2014: the price of textbooks.

An American Enterprise Institute reported that the cost of textbooks has risen 812 percent since 1978. Today’s students shell out an average of $1,200 per year for textbooks and supplies. If you think that’s appalling, then prepare to balk at the fact that Minnesota students pay $200 more than that on average.

Sensing the plight of students in their respective states, U.S. Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., recently introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act, seeking to curb textbook costs throughout public higher education.

The bill would primarily cre-

LUIS RUUSKA columnist

ate a grant program that would support “open textbook” pilot programs at colleges and universities.

Open textbooks are textbooks under an open copyright license that instructors can legally edit and distribute to their students for free — though not for commercial purposes. This allows professors to shape a text to fit a course’s needs.

The University of Minnesota created its own online open textbook librar y last year. Although the selection of available texts is still small, the program could be eligible to receive additional grant funding under Durbin and Franken’s bill.

The University has seen success with its open textbook library. College of Education and Human Development director of academic technology David Ernst told the Minnesota Daily that CEHD students saved about $145,000 over three semesters.

The presidents of the Minnesota Student Association and Graduate and Professional Student Assembly supported the Affordable College Textbook Act in a Nov. 25 Minnesota Daily letter to the editor, saying textbook prices hurt student achievement.

Under the act, universities and colleges receiving grant money would have to ensure that all textbooks created with grant funds are free and accessible to the public.

Furthermore, the bill would also require grant-receiving institutions to report on the effectiveness of these pilot programs to lift financial pressure from students.

The bill would also focus on the textbook industry, which is ultimately responsible for prices limiting publishers from selling textbooks and other materials in bundles.

DEATHS IN IRAQ: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 4,802 — IRAQI CIVILIANS: 115,503- PLUS DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 3,386 — AFGHAN CIVILIANS: UNKNOWN

This is an important provision, as many courses simply require students to purchase an online access code for a website. Publishers could bundle these codes with textbooks and online versions of textbooks to raise prices.

Since publishers typically limit access codes to a single use for a semester, students must keep textbooks or sell them back for a fraction of the original price.

The bill would prevent this decidedly shady business practice, saving students money on materials they may not need or want.

I wrote a column earlier this semester about textbook piracy, which is becoming all too common for students looking to avoid being gouged on textbooks. The bill should reduce piracy, because it discourages students from resor ting to these dire options.

Other members of Congress should listen to their peers and work toward creating affordable textbooks for all.

Luis Ruuska welcomes comments at lruuska@mndaily.com.

TRANSPORTATION

Another thing to memorize The University is set to change Campus Connector routes before finals week.

C

Maxwell Smith welcomes comments at msmith@mndaily.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The following two letters to the editor are in response to a Dec. 3 editorial titled “Minn. should support ethanol reduction.”

Minnesota Daily parrots oil industr y talking points

Unfor tunately, it appears as if the Minnesota Daily has fallen under the oil industr y’s spell. A Dec. 3 editorial slammed ethanol and questioned its environmental benefits compared to gasoline.

The fact is that the oil industr y has enlisted antiever ything environmental groups like the Environmental Working Group to attack farmers and bash ethanol.

It’s all par t of the oil industr y’s plans to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), squash competition at the pump and strengthen its monopoly on the transportation fuels market.

Renewable fuels supporters might not have the deep pockets and political connections the oil industr y enjoys, but we do have facts on our side.

According to a Louisiana State University study, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to slash the amount of ethanol we blend in gasoline will increase gas prices by 5.7 cents per gallon. This would add up to a $10.3

billion windfall for oil companies.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, using more gasoline and less ethanol would result in a 5.1 million metric ton increase in greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent of adding 1 million cars to the road overnight.

Ethanol offers consumers a real choice at the pump and provides longoverdue competition for the oil industr y. Now is not the time to give up on ethanol as a viable, homegrown alter native to expensive, dir ty and foreign oil.

Nick Peterson University student

I choose a homegrown fuel

Would you rather get your fuel from the Alberta tar sands, a Middle Eastern countr y that hates the United States or a Minnesota cornfield?

I understand not ever yone is going to choose a Minnesota cor nfield like I would, but I think it’s impor tant that we at least have the option of choosing a homegrown and renewable fuel.

If the Environmental Protection Agency and the Minnesota Daily editorial board get their way, we wouldn’t even have the choice.

The EPA has proposed slashing the amount of ethanol we blend in gasoline. In a misguided Dec. 3 editorial, the Daily editorial board endorsed the proposal.

I believe in a free market, and ethanol provides some long-overdue competition for oil companies on the transportation fuels market.

When I fill up my car, I want options. The American economy thrives on competition, and monopolies like the one oil industries currently enjoy harm consumers.

Since Minnesota has no fossil fuel resources of our own, much of our gasoline comes from the Canadian tar sands. Producing a barrel of tar sands oil emits two to three times the amount of greenhouse gas compared to a conventional barrel of oil.

Of course, we all know the dangers of relying on Middle Eastern oil to meet our energy needs.

I want a homegrown and local option at the pump. Ethanol gives it to me. If the Daily took a little time to cut through all the rhetoric and talking points put out by oil industries, it would also develop a better understanding of ethanol’s benefits when compared to foreign oil.

Kevin Welter University student

o n struction on campus has confused much of the University of Minnesota community for years.

Next week ADITI PRADEEP will be no columnist dif ferent, albeit with more finals and projects.

The University moved some of its Campus Connector bus stops near University Avenue a few years ago due to Green Line lightrail constr uction. University officials now want to reroute buses back to Washington Avenue starting Dec. 9, which is during a week when students are bogged down with end-of-semester work.

The last few weeks of the semester bring anxiety and strain.

As students tr y to remember both new and difficult things, we should be able to count on the old and the consistent to get us through these stressful days.

The University will bring back the Washington Avenue Bridge Circulator to continue many of its East Bank bus stops. However, it will close Connector stops at Mariucci Arena, the University Wellness and Recreation Center and the intersection of University and 15th avenues. It will open stops at the McNamara Alumni Center, Coffman Union and Blegen Hall.

Finals cause students and faculty to uproot their schedules to take tests in new rooms or at different times. It’s often like starting a class all over again.

The University’s timing may create unnecessar y stress for students, staf f and faculty. Though the University posted the new stops last month, people likely won’t be familiar with new routes by next week. Postponing the shift just a week would reduce confusion.

Students and faculty have finals, winter break plans and safety in mind. It’s unnecessar y to add stress during the busiest par t of the semester.

The University should have considered an alter native date before coming to the decision to change its Campus Connector routes.

Aditi Pradeep welcomes comments at apradeep@mndaily.com.

Prospect Park residents should get engaged in plans for the neighborhood next year.

P

rospect Park will likely see more development, and neighborhood leaders need community input to enhance the coming changes.

The Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association and the planning group Prospect Park 2020 are holding open meetings next year to discuss their goals for the community with residents.

With the new light-rail line opening soon, the University District neighborhood should keep our community members’ interests in mind as development comes.

We urge University of Minnesota students, faculty and staff living in Prospect Park to add their voices to the discussion.

A University Ambulatory Care Center development created some controversy last month with Prospect Park residents. Some residents feared the University would attempt to buy them out. However, PPERIA master planning chair Tamara Johnson told the Minnesota Daily that the larger issue was the uncertainty.

Though Prospect Park will likely see nonUniversity development with the Green Line, the controversy surrounding the ambulatory center highlights the usefulness of open neighborhood discussion about development.

Prospect Park’s future should be of University community interest because of its distinct student and long-term resident communities — as well as its proximity to campus housing.

Residents should look for PPERIA and Prospect Park 2020 meetings next year.

Minneapolis Fed needs U’s collaboration Cutting ties with University economists is a detriment to research and economic policy.

U

ntil recently, the University of Minnesota’s Department of Economics had a longstanding relationship and research collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Originally grown out of a Minneapolis Fed adviser position that former University economics professor John Kareken held in the 1970s, this partnership has borne several Nobel Prizes for some of the University’s top economics researchers, producing research which has helped turn theory into economic policy at the Minneapolis Fed. But current Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota — a former economics professor at the University — has had a change of vision, resulting in monetary adviser and University professor Patrick Kehoe being let go and no contract extension for adjunct professor Ellen McGrattan.

The Wall Street Journal and Minnesota Public Radio have suggested these personnel shifts come with a more defined philosophical change.

University economists have historically believed unemployment cannot be greatly altered by monetary policy, but it seems Kocherlakota has moved away from this view. A Nov. 26 Wall Street Journal article reported Kocherlakota “went from thinking the cause was largely structural (and thus could not be fixed with monetar y policy) to thinking it was largely due to weak demand (which means it could be addressed through policies aimed at boosting demand).”

Whatever the cause behind Kocherlakota’s personnel changes, decreased collaboration between the University and the Minneapolis Fed isn’t good for either party. Philosophical debate is necessary for Nobel Prize-winning research and for the resilience of future economic policy. By cutting ties with University economists, Kocherlakota jeopardizes the multifaceted nature and tradition of the Fed’s collaborative research with the University.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TONY WAGNER = EDITORIALS & OPINIONS EDITOR ERIC BEST = SENIOR EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER WILLIAM BORNHOFT = BOARD MEMBER CASSANDRA SUNDARAM

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Sports The Gophers lost Philip Nelson and Brock Vereen in the game Saturday.

BY JACK SATZINGER jsatzinger@mndaily.com

Mere minutes after the Gophers’ 14-3 loss to Michigan State on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich., head coach Jer r y Kill walked into a trailer that had been converted into a makeshift media room.

That trailer was stuffed with repor ters who had just witnessed what Kill called a “ver y physical football game.” Minnesota played a hard-nosed brand of football that kept the team in the contest until the final minutes.

That brand also resulted in a couple of key injuries.

In the game, several Gophers players, including sophomore quar terback Philip Nelson and senior defensive back Brock Vereen, left with injuries.

Kill was asked about the injuries after the game but didn’t provide a clear update.

“I’m not going to give any updates in fair ness to that,” he said. “I got in the locker room and said, ‘How are you doing?’ “[Nelson] said, ‘I’m doing OK, coach.’ ... I haven’t talked to the trainer or anything like that.”

Kill said Sunday he still didn’t know Nelson or Vereen’s status.

Standout senior defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman said that in the heat of a game in which he batted down a pass and recovered a fumble, he had no idea Vereen was hurt.

“I didn’t even know what happened,” Hageman said.

“I’m just so focused in the game. … I hope he gets better and he’s able to recover over the few weeks that we have to rest.”

Gophers junior cornerback Derrick Wells filled the void left by Vereen.

He made an impact right away, intercepting a pass at the end of the first half.

Wells said he expects Vereen, the Gophers’ vocal leader on defense, to be ready for the bowl game in the coming weeks.

“He’s all right. I think his shoulder is just a little numb,” Wells said Saturday. “He’ll be back.”

Wells has also had his fair share of shoulder issues this season. He hasn’t appeared fully healthy this year, often coming out of games with shoulder problems.

Wells said he’s still only “90 to 95 percent” and said one of the only things he can do to heal his injuries is rest.

And there will be time to rest — Minnesota will not play again until a bowl game in late December or early Januar y.

Wells said he expects to be 100 percent by then.

But for now, whether Vereen and Nelson will be healthy for the bowl game remains a myster y.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Frost leads Gophers his way, helps build a power

MARK VANCLEAVE, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Gophers head women’s hockey coach Brad Frost talks to members of the media after winning the NCAA championship in 2012.

Frost u from Page 1

“Other coaches [at the University] — it looks to me like they ask him quite a few questions now,” said head men’s golf coach John Carlson, a good friend of Frost’s. “They admire not only his success but the way that he’s doing it.”

In his six-plus seasons as Minnesota’s women’s head hockey coach, Frost has aligned the program with the values he learned on the frozen ponds as a boy and those he lived with as a two-year captain at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minn.

As the second coach in the program’s histor y, he’s built on the strong foundation his predecessor Laura Halldorson established.

And now he’s taking the program to unconceivable heights.

This season, Frost’s top-ranked Gophers are 17-1 and the favorites to capture a third consecutive national championship.

“It seems a little too good to be tr ue because it is,” Minnesota senior captain Bethany Brausen said. “You keep waiting for something to go wrong, but ever ything continues to go right.”

The four pillars

AMANDA SNYDER, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Minnesota defensive back Derrick Wells celebrates during the game against Penn State on Nov. 9 at TCF Bank Stadium.

MLB

Twins ink Nolasco to four-year contract

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins, and general manager Ter r y R yan, have always been hesitant to dive too deeply into the free agent pool in search of answers to the team’s problems.

Ryan would much prefer to draft and develop players, grooming them as they rise through the farm system and reach the majors at af fordable price points. But after watching the worst star ting pitching staf f in the majors get bludgeoned for two straight years, Ryan realized it was time to spend.

The first major step

came on Tuesday, when the T wins introduced right-hander Ricky Nolasco, who finalized a $49 million, four-year contract that is the richest the team has given a free agent.

The club also is finishing a $24 million, three-year deal with right-hander Phil Hughes that is expected to be announced later this week, marking a drastic tur n from the pragmatic approach to free agency that has been the Twins’ calling card.

After three straight seasons of at least 96 losses, the Twins simply couldn’t af ford to spend another winter shopping in the bargain bin.

In August 2007, Frost inherited the reins to the program after women’s hockey pioneer Halldorson stepped down.

Frost joined her coaching staf f in 2001, and the two won a pair of national championships together.

Halldorson was more than comfor table leaving the program in the hands of her protégé.

“Brad was the per fect example of someone who shared a similar philosophy but had a dif ferent personality,” she said.

“There were bigger-picture goals that we really wanted to keep in the forefront.”

That became increasingly clear to Frost and his staff after the 2010 season.

The Gophers were once again one of the premier teams in the countr y, but they fell in the Frozen Four to eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth.

“What ended up bothering me is we would make it to the Frozen Four, we’d lose and we’d have our banquet shor tly after, and players and parents were upset because we didn’t win it,” Frost said. “I get that, but I wanted there to be more to this program than whether we won our last game.”

Frost’s best friend and former college teammate Joel Johnson rejoined Minnesota’s coaching staf f in 2010, becoming the latest in a revolving door of assistant coaches.

Frost had hired a new assistant coach each of the previous three seasons, and through the leadership changes, he searched for some stability.

“He was juggling a lot of things early on [in his tenure as head coach],” Johnson said.

Excited that Johnson was back on board, Frost met with him, and the two decided they needed to establish some “nonnegotiable” principles they could use to guide their program.

“We agreed together that we knew if we were able to establish these pillars as a culture, [then] we can recruit enough talent that we’d be successful,” Johnson said.

In tur n, the four proverbial pillars — tough, grateful, disciplined and devoted — have proven sturdy enough to suppor t the team’s current throne.

Brausen said those ideals are ingrained in the program, and there’s been a noticeable improvement and development in the team’s culture.

“When I say ‘culture,’ I mean the way the players interact with the coaches,” she said. “The way the players interact with the players … [and] how we treat each other day in and day out.”

Johnson said the culture change created accountability, credibility and trust off the ice, which has allowed for more success on the ice.

“It’s going to be a great experience for our players because they’ve invested in each other and they’ve invested in their values,” Frost said. “That’s kind of freed our players up and freed me up. That’s why during the win streak, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

The tactician Frost’s Bethel Royals weren’t ver y good during his college career. And that’s putting it kindly.

“We were a terrible team in regards to wins,” Frost said. “We sucked.”

But during his four-year career, Frost developed a full understanding of hockey tactics and honed his leadership skills as a twoyear captain.

Frost said his greatest strength as a player was his knowledge of the game.

To this day, he’ll kick around strategy with his college coach Pete Aus, who has coached boys and girls at the high school level and

GOPHERS’ WINNING PERCENTAGES UNDER HEAD COACH BRAD FROST 100%

76.3%

94.4%

85.4%

83.8% 71.3%

71.1%

27-7-4

32-5-3

26-9-5

26-10-2

’07–’08

’08–’09

’09–’10

’10–’11

men at the college level.

“When I [coached] the girls, I would get together [with Frost] and get some ideas, get some drills,” Aus said. “Some things that [the Gophers] do that other teams … probably aren’t doing.”

Aus said Frost and his coaches are “ahead of the game” when it comes to implementing strategy — specifically with defensive coverage and the penalty kill.

Frost is also a strong r e c r u i t e r, c o n s i s t e n t l y bringing in elite talent that fits his philosophy both on and off the ice.

Fr ost sharpened his recruiting under Halldorson, who delegated some of those duties to her assistants.

Halldorson was careful to point out that Frost does a tremendous job of sealing of f the borders and keeping the top homegrown talent at home — while also thoroughly evaluating players from other states and countries.

Finland’s Noora Räty and Illinois’ Megan Bozek were both All-Americans for the Gophers and key cogs in their perfect 201213 season.

“I wanted to get us back to winning the recr uiting battles. That’s what it comes down to,” Frost said.

“If you can recruit, you’re going to have a great team.”

The family man Frost lived out his initial dream as a teaching specialist and high school girls’ hockey coach at Eagan High School from 1996-99.

He also coached volleyball at New Life Academy, where he coached his wife’s sister, who introduced him to his future bride.

Dayna Frost’s first impression of her husband was like that of many who have worked with him.

“He really cared about

NCAA Championship

Minnesota needs rest before bowl

@MNDAILYSPORTS

NCAA Championship

FOOTBALL

7

34-5-2

41-0-0

17-1-0

’11–’12 ’12–’13 ’13–’14* *Season still in progress SOURCE: USCHO.COM

his students,” she said.

“He cared about his relationships with them. They weren’t just out there to win the game.”

Brad and Dayna Frost married in 2000, and Dayna said she expected to have a relatively normal life that would include cheering on her husband on T uesdays and Saturdays — high school hockey’s game days.

She was in for a bit of a surprise.

Halldorson hired Frost in Januar y 2001 per Johnson’s recommendation.

Frost said the decision to make the jump from high school to college was easy after votes of confidence from Aus and others.

The adjustment was initially a bit of culture shock for Dayna Frost, a converted basketball fan, but she’s since developed a passion for the spor t and for her husband’s career.

“When the season comes around ever y year, it’s kind of that shock every year, like, ‘We’re in this again. We’re busy again,’” she said. “We’ve kind of made it our life. That’s how it goes.”

The couple’s three sons are growing up in the program, too, as their hockey games often conflict with Frost’s.

“They love coming to our games,” Frost said.

“They love hockey, but if they had a choice of going to their own game or going to our game, they’d rather go to our game.”

Dayna Frost said she loves supporting her husband.

It’s a good thing, because the man of the house probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“I hope I retire here. I love this job,” he said. “I don’t even consider it a job. I’m coaching at the Division I level.”

8

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Gophers get statement win, beat FSU Andre Hollins led the team with 21 points, and Austin Hollins added 16.

BY JACE FREDERICK jfrederick@mndaily.com

Florida State’s only two losses came against two top-15 teams when it headed into its matchup with Minnesota.

Now, there’s an outlier.

An unranked Gophers team looked like a top-tier squad Tuesday night, and it put away the Seminoles 71-61 at Williams Arena.

“Of all of our games we’ve played, that’s the toughest we’ve played,” Gophers head coach Richard Pitino said. “To be able to get that type of win ... they showed a lot of heart.”

But the flow of the game was mired by an absurd amount of fouls — par ticularly in the second half.

There were 52 fouls whistled between the two teams — 31 in the final 20 minutes. The teams combined to take 67 free throws, and four players fouled out.

The NCAA implem e n t e d n e w, s t r i c t e r hand-checking r ules before the season, drawing criticism across the countr y. But this game was the Gophers’ first negative encounter with the rules.

“They called it tight,” junior center Elliott Eliason said. “You’ve just got to adjust. ... It turned into a lot of a free-throw-shooting game.”

Pitino has previously suppor ted the r ules but didn’t display the same sentiment during the game, ripping of f his suit jacket and necktie at various points during the second half.

The Gophers put to rest any question of a Hawaii hangover early in their first game back on the mainland following last week’s Maui Invitational.

MINNESOTA 71, FLORIDA STATE 61 Florida State Minnesota

27 34 — 61 33 38 — 71

MINNESOTA Player Min Osenieks 23 Eliason 21 Hollins, An. 36 Mathieu 23 Hollins, Au. 37 Walker 17 King 15 Smith 12 Ahanmisi 10 Buggs 4 Ellenson 2 Total 200

FG FT Reb M-A M-A O-T Ast 2-4 1-1 0-3 0 0-2 1-2 0-2 1 3-13 12-16 0-3 4 2-8 3-3 1-1 4 6-14 2-4 2-5 2 0-2 4-6 4-5 0 1-3 5-6 1-4 0 2-4 0-0 0-1 0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 18-53 28-38 13-32 12

PF 3 5 1 3 2 5 4 0 2 0 0 25

Pts 5 1 21 7 16 4 8 5 2 2 0 71

PF 5 2 3 3 4 5 3 2 0 27

Pts 16 2 11 2 3 5 16 6 0 61

FLORIDA STATE FG FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A O-T Ast White 34 5-10 4-6 1-8 3 Gilchrist 22 1-1 0-0 1-4 0 Bojanovsky 21 5-5 1-2 1-4 0 Bookert 18 0-5 2-2 0-2 1 Brandon 26 0-4 3-6 4-6 0 Thomas 24 1-4 3-4 1-3 3 Miller 36 7-12 2-3 1-3 7 Ojo 17 1-2 4-6 0-5 0 Allen 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Total 200 20-43 19-29 10-36 14

Minnesota jumped on the Seminoles early and took a 23-12 lead with 9:09 left in the first half.

The Gophers took a 33-27 lead into the locker room on the strength of 13 first-half points from junior guard Andre Hollins.

Hollins finished the night with a team-high 21 points. He was closely followed by senior guard Austin Hollins, who scored 16 points.

“Me and Andre know what we have to do when we’re on the floor,” Austin Hollins said. “When we’re out there, we just tr y to make our teammates better.

“If it means making plays for them or going and getting a bucket … [we] just [tr y] to lead the right way and get our teammates motivated.”

The Gophers’ win came on a night when they didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. They only hit on 34 percent of their shots, but they won the game on the defensive end.

Minnesota forced 17 tur novers while committing just six.

The Gophers dealt all night with Florida State’s formidable frontcourt that featured multiple sevenfooters. But the Seminoles

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY

Gophers guard Andre Hollins looks to make a move against Florida State on Tuesday at Williams Arena. Minnesota beat the Seminoles 71-61.

only outrebounded a much smaller Minnesota squad 36-32.

“It was definitely just getting after it,” Austin Hollins said. “If they’re not boxing out, then we can get in there and sneak a few rebounds here and there.”

Minnesota’s toughness was exemplified early in the first half when senior guard Maverick Ahanmisi chipped his tooth while diving to the floor for a loose ball.

Ahanmisi didn’t return, but he looked OK in the locker room after the game.

The Gophers hit the cour t again on Saturday when they take on New Orleans.

HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY

Minnesota’s Kendal Shell, Charles Buggs and Maverick Ahanmisi react to a basket at the game against Florida State on Tuesday at Williams Arena.

NFL

Vikings break ground on stadium

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS — Zygi Wilf beamed in the middle of the sharp-dressed group, a gold-painted shovel in his hands, a purple Vikings hard hat on his head and star running back Adrian Peterson by his side.

Finally, the work on Minnesota’s polarizing and long-sought new stadium was under way.

After more than a decade of planning, dealing and pleading, the $1 billion project began Tuesday with a formal groundbreaking in downtown Minneapolis.

About 600 people, including local politicians, business leaders and chanting fans, were in attendance as Wilf, Peterson, Gov. Mark Dayton and many others took turns flipping dirt and smiling for photos as fireworks

exploded overhead.

The grinning and digging took place in the parking lot next to the Metrodome, where the Vikings have played since 1982.

Their last game there is Dec. 29, and a three-month demolition of the Teflontopped stadium will star t in mid-Januar y. After two years outdoors at the University of Minnesota, the Vikings are scheduled to inaugurate the ship-shaped, glass-encased venue in time for the 2016 season.

During a set of speeches in a nearby tent, Dayton joked that he felt just like Vikings coach Leslie Frazier after the team’s 23-20 over time victor y Sunday over Chicago.

“I can’t believe it’s over, and I can’t believe we won,” Dayton said.

State lawmakers enacted

a bill last year to fund the stadium with the threat, real or perceived, of the 52-year-old franchise moving to Los Angeles hovering over the often-tense process.

Many of the same hardcore, costumed fans who camped out at the state Capitol to help lobby for a deal were at the event Tuesday, their presence recognized

by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

“Sometimes democracy includes painting faces and wearing hor ns,” R ybak said.

The public is on the hook for roughly half the cost: $498 million. The NFL and Vikings are handling the rest, with much of the team’s share coming from corporate naming rights and fees on season ticketholders, known as personal seat licenses.

Many lawmakers and citizens have railed against the project since it was first raised as a possibility around the turn of the centur y when Red McCombs owned the team. Dayton was a driving force behind the legislation, but even he publicly criticized the Vikings for the proposed PSLs. The Vikings recently pledged to increase their contribution to more than $500 million to make sure the project has all the topend amenities they want, like high-definition televisions in extra-wide concourses.

“Whatever that took to get that done, we had to step up because our fans are what this is all about,” Mark Wilf said in an interview after the event. He added: “When it’s actually here and you see the shovels out there beginning to dig, it’s exciting.”

It’s also a nice respite

from a challenging season.

The Vikings have gone from a 10-6 playof f team in 2012 to a 3-8-1 mess this year. And the Wilfs, who built their fortune in a family real estate business, were ordered in September by a New Jersey court to pay $84.5 million to two former business partners the judge ruled they defrauded in a deal forged in the 1980s.

So this event was a true highlight.

“This is a positive, exciting and great project, and that’s been our focus,” Mark Wilf said. “I think as the project goes up, as people start seeing the frame go up, and the building become a reality over these next 2 ½ years, and the jobs being created and the excitement being generated, I think it’s going to be something that all Minnesotans can appreciate.”

Mark Wilf declined to answer a question about the performance of Frazier and general manager Rick Spielman.

“We’re of course disappointed in our season. We didn’t expect to be where we are,” he said. “One of our goals was to get the stadium project built and have a great facility but our ultimate goal is to win championships and Super Bowls.”

Away from the festivities, a collection of conservative groups and lawmakers held a counter-event to tr y to keep focus on the stadium’s heavy taxpayer subsidy. They described the financing as shaky, noting that a prior plan to pay for the $350 million state share through electronic gambling has fallen woefully shor t of projections. Lawmakers plugged the gap in a stadium account this year with a one-time diversion of tobacco taxes and for the future with a corporate tax.

NBA

Timberwolves will play Spurs in Mexico

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — The NBA is back in Mexico for a regular-season game, and the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timber wolves are learning there’s an additional rival to conquer: The altitude.

During a practice game Tuesday, Minnesota’s players looked noticeably exhausted.

“It was ver y tough getting through the sprints,” Kevin Love said. “You lose your breath ver y easy in here, but it was a good practice. Hopefully we’ll have our wind tomorrow.”

The Timber wolves and Spurs will play Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. EST. Sitting at 7,350 feet above sea level, Mexico’s capital is at a far higher elevation than Denver, which is the NBA’s highest venue at 5,280 feet.

“In Denver, which is the highest city in the United states, we can feel (the altitude) in the first five minutes,” the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili said. “I’m sure it will be much more difficult here.”

Minnesota, which will be the home team, has never played in Mexico. During the practice, Love and the rest of his teammates looked visibly tired.

“We did not know the altitude would affect us so much but we were able to run a bit during practice,” said Jose Juan Barea, who has twice played in Mexico for Puerto Rico’s national team — in Cancun and Guadalajara.

“The trainer asked us to drink a lot of water because he wants to make sure we’re OK,” Barea said.

T imber wolves coach Rick Adelman said he plans to modify his strategy a bit

to take the city’s altitude into account.

“We have to be ver y aware on probably getting guys in earlier than we normally would,” Alder said.

“We had a scrimmage to get ready for it. Our substitutions will be quicker.”

Spurs coach Greg Popovich said he won’t change his substitution plan and simply hopes that “as the minutes go by, the (altitude’s) effect will pass. I’m not planning any changes.”

The game Wednesday will be the 21st played south of the border. Although, this will be the first regular-season game since the Dallas Mavericks faced the Houston Rockets on December 6, 1997, at Mexico City’s Palacio de los Deportes.

The Spurs have played five games in Mexico, including one just a couple of years ago when they played a preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“It’s cer tainly dif ferent because now is a sum game,” Ginobili said. “In preseason, it’s for fun. Now we do not want to lose.”

All but two of the 21 games have been held in Mexico City.

After their practice, the Spurs and Timber wolves took their socks and sneakers off and played against a team of Trique Indian boys, who have earned acclaim in Mexico and abroad after sweeping through a youth basketball tournament despite their generally short stature and the fact that most play barefoot.

The team from the souther n Mexico state of Oaxaca won all six of its games to become this year’s champions at the International Festival of MiniBasketball held recently in Argentina.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

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EMPLOYMENT $13/hr Full time/part time RECEPTIONISTS for office bldg DT Mpls next to the Metrodome.

Greet visitors, handle in-coming calls, must have good customer service, and have excellent fluent English speaking skills. between 7:30am-5:30pm M-F. Call Veena 612-321-0000

EMPLOYMENT CHILD CARE SERVICES Afterschool nanny for 8 y/o girl. Tu/Th 4-6 PM. Car required. Uptown Mpls. Spring 2014. melliott@umn.edu

HOUSING Sandy Hill Apartments Large 2 br, large patio and gar, heat inc, avail Dec. 1st www.sandyhillapartments.com 651-775-0511

DINKYTOWN *It’s Time To Rock and Roll and Get This Show On The Road* Dinkytown Rentals Showcase of Homes, New Lodges, Houses, Duplexes available for 2014 Whatever you’re looking for, big or small, we should have it here. 2014 should be quite a year!

612-378-2413 dinkytownrentals.com

PT Receptionist for Morries Mazda in Minnetonka has an immediate position opening for evenings & Saturdays.

Responsibilities are answering phones promptly & professionally w/ light office duties.

Please send resume to Jennifer.zuniga@morries.com or stop in to complete an application.

HOUSING

HOUSING

DINKYTOWN

ST. PAUL

CLASSIC CITY APARTMENTS In Dinkytown/Stadium Village Now Accepting Applications for 2014 Rooms, Studios 1 BR, 2 BR, 5 BR Units

1 BR for rent for F in 2BR 1B Craftsmanstyle Duplex for student or faculty. $550/ mo. Fireplace, cable, washer/dryer. Util. incl. Near Macalester, St. Thomas, St. Kates & EZ access to buslines serving UofM Mpls. & St. Paul campuses. Garage avail @ small xtra charge. No inside smoking. F Housemate works FT & finishing degree @ UofM. Avail. 12/15, could be earlier if needed.

OPEN HOUSES for 5 bedrooms Dates & Times 11/22, 11/23 10am-3pm 12/6, 12/7 10am-3pm Brownstones: 5Bedroom/2 Bath Lofts Includes 46 in. TV Starting at $2800/mo Plus other 5 bedroom locations Call 612-623-1888 for appt. or Email: info@classiccityapartments.com Check out all properties at www.classiccityapartments.com WHY share a room when you can stay in an apt for around the same price???

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UPCOMING EVENTS What: Julfest: College Christmas Party Who: American Swedish Institute When: 5:30–8 p.m., Wednesday Where: American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Ave., Minneapolis Price: Free Take a well-deserved study break, and join ASI for our annual Julfest College Christmas Party with students from local schools, including the University of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus College. Learn Nordic holiday crafts and enjoy music and refreshments in a laid-back setting that’s perfect as an end-of-semester pause from your studies. RSVP to ingridnl@ASImn.org.

What: Light Up The Bridge Ceremony Who: University Suicide Awareness and Prevention When: 7–8:30 p.m., Thursday Where: Washington Avenue Bridge Price: Free Dedicate a candle to those affected by suicide and to show support for suicide awareness on campus by lighting up the Washington Avenue Bridge!

What: Find a Good Company with a Strong Culture Who: Bob Adkinson, former MN Business executive When: Noon–1 p.m., Friday Where: Room 2-219, Carlson School of Management, West Bank, Minneapolis Price: Free (and lunch provided!)

Bob Adkinson will discuss how to spot the best companies to work for by finding companies with cultures designed to help employees succeed!

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10

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

BACKTALK sudoku

horoscopes

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.

12/4/2013

Yesterday’s solution © 2013 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

Today’s Birthday (12/4): Romance, creativity and adventure colored this year. 2014 opens with a profitable bang. Transform your relationship to money to benefit all year. Follow your highest ideals.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Written By Linda C. Black

Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 7 — Dreams contain tricky messages worth deciphering; write them down, and consider the puzzle.

Attend to career goals today and tomorrow.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 6 — Shop carefully. The next two days are good for making changes at home. Be careful, though. Think things through before acting.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is an 8 — You find what you seek out. Dive into work without delay. Transform priorities, and dress the part; a new haircut or style would be nice.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 7 — The team buys into your plan. There are irregularities in cash flow, but it’s manageable.

You’re extra brilliant today and tomorrow.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 7 — Put your heart into your activities. Make big changes for the next two days but without spending yet.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 9 — A controversy gets sparked. Great abundance can be yours over the next few days. Edit your lists, and stay in motion.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is an 8 — It’s a good time to get your message across. Check your intuition by reviewing data. Don’t try to impress others, despite your brilliant idea.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is an 8 — The action today and tomorrow depends on your willpower. Don’t make assumptions or spend frivolously. Relax.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 9 — Don’t overspend or gamble today. There’s more work coming. A rude awakening calls you to reaffirm a commitment. Remain patient. Work and

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 6 — A difference of opinion causes conflict at home.

Meditate in seclusion. Note financial shortages and instability. Learn from others.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 7— Work interferes with travel now, so make plans for later. Postpone a shopping trip. Get an expert for the job (if you’re not one).

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 7 — Dive into a passionate effort. Associates need support now. It takes creativity to reach a breakthrough (but it’s available).

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

overheard Professor: “My polarized sunglasses — I got these where I get most of my clothing and accessories ... the lost and found. Pretty much whatever you guys lose is what I wear; they don’t pay us much here.”

—Tate Laboratory of Physics

“I would pick earthquakes over winter.”

—Washington Avenue

Guy 1: “Data was a robot! He’s not morally considerable!”

Guy 2: “What about Seven of Nine?

She was a robot!”

there, would you?”

Professor: “It’s not the pictures on here I’m worried about. There is a plethora of illegal goodies on here.”

— Akerman Hall

Professor: “Here’s a really fun game to play. Name any theorist you know, and decide if they were a conflict theorist or a consensus theorist.”

Class: [Silence] Professor: “That doesn’t sound like a fun game to you?”

—Anderson Hall

—Philosophy class

“Ecology is just sociology with animals.”

—Middlebrook Hall

(Looking out the window) “Ain’t nobody got time for this.”

—Nicholson Hall

Guy 1: “Have you seen all the hot girls working at the map library?”

Guy 2: “There’s a map library?”

—Dunn Bros in Wilson Library

Student, after noticing a computer slideshow background: “You wouldn’t have any embarrassing pictures on

What did you overhear?

4Post submissions on the “Overheard at U of M” Facebook group.

4Visit mndaily.com and look for the “Connect with the Daily” box on the homepage.

4Email submissions to overheards@mndaily.com.

crossword

FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 4, 2013

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Caesar’s love 5 Signal to an oncall doctor 9 Omits 14 Chowhound’s request 15 Sharif who played Zhivago 16 World Court site, with “The” 17 Shepard in space 18 Plate ump’s purview 20 Brand for heartburn 22 Providence-toBoston dir.

23 Scraps for Rover 24 Unit of work 25 Soda for dieters 28 French season 30 Thin pancake 31 Violinist’s gift 34 Move very slowly 36 Suffers from 37 In recent times 39 Mechanic, at times 41 “That works!”

42 4-Down collector 43 Boy king 44 Made a hue turn?

45 Suffix for records 46 Oater group bent on justice 48 Nile biter 49 Blush wine, for short 51 Short market lines?

54 Piedmont wine region 57 Erie Canal mule 58 __ Pipeline, Oahu surfing attraction 60 “She’s Not There” rock group 63 “Ripostes” poet Pound 64 Overnight refuge 65 Theater part 66 Choir part 67 Blow some dough 68 __ collar 69 Stonewall’s soldiers DOWN 1 Shock 2 Large grinder

12/4/13

By Ed Sessa

3 Citrus shavings 4 Payment to 42Across 5 “Thick and Rich” chocolate syrup 6 Rescue pro 7 Ones on the payroll 8 Freddie __ Jr. of “Scooby-Doo” films 9 Ship reference 10 Musical buzzer 11 Composer Stravinsky 12 Fourth-down play 13 Dates 19 Property border warning 21 The Red Sox’ Jon Lester, e.g.

26 1980s Chrysler product 27 Altered mtge.

29 Social cupfuls 31 This crossword, literally for some, phonetically for all 32 “Please don’t yell __” 33 Oboe, e.g.

34 Eye rudely 35 They’re found in lodes

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

(c)2013 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 Reason for a medal 38 Classic Fords 40 Last year’s frosh 41 1956 Mideast dispute area 43 J. Alfred Prufrock creator 47 Straw-strewn shelter 48 Santa __ winds 49 Shrivel

12/4/13

50 “A Doll’s House” playwright 52 Medicare section 53 Informal byes 54 Dollar dispensers, for short 55 Hit a Target?

56 Head of Paris?

59 Close by 61 Getting on in years 62 Big one on the set, perhaps

dr. date Dr. Date,

Is it weird for a freshman guy to date a senior girl? There’s this girl in my class who I really want to ask out, but she’s 21, and I’m 18. I’m definitely picking up interested vibes from her, but I don’t know for sure if she’ll say yes because of the age difference. Also, if she does say yes, will it be weird that I can’t drink yet?

Is it lame to ask her out for coffee?

Any help is appreciated.

—Young Guy

Plagued By A Number,

Hey young man, it’s never a lame idea to ask your crush out to coffee. It may be a bad idea, but it’s definitely not lame.

Now, let’s talk age. There’s a bucketload of hype around age differences for two reasons: 1. We’ve got certain laws that protect minors from creepy older fellers and ladies.

2. Maturity levels change with age.

Your conundrum obviously falls in the second category. You’re legally old enough to date her, but there’s probably a big emotional and mental difference between the two of you. And if there’s not, that could be a problem in itself.

I can foresee a number of problems that might accompany a relationship between a senior and a freshman. Most importantly, she’ll graduate a hell of a lot sooner than you. By the time you finish your last Bud Light of the night, she’ll be making six figures at a law firm. Yes, I’m exaggerating, but you get my point.

When I was 18, I started dating someone who was 10 years older than me. At the time, I thought it made me seem more mature and collected, but I’m pretty sure everyone could see through that. I was overcompensating for something I needed to find in myself.

I know your age gap isn’t as dramatic as mine was, but I want to caution you against falling into something unhealthy.

If you think you can handle it, go ahead

and ask her out. Just don’t blame me when it ends badly.

—Dr. Date

Dr. Date,

My girlfriend’s last boyfriend cheated on her. The guy was a total dick. It was about two years ago, and we’ve been dating for six months. I love her and would never do something like that to her, but she’s really worried that I will.

She brings it up a lot and sometimes flirts with other guys because, she says, she has low self-esteem from her last relationship.

I’ve told her over and over that I would never cheat on her, but she doesn’t believe me. How can I show her that I love her?

—Not The Cheating Type

Fair Play,

Did he do anything besides cheat on her? I mean, cheating is bad enough in itself, but it sounds to me like your girlfriend is suffering from some posttraumatic stress, which usually accompanies abuse.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: As a human being, you are powerless over the emotions of other human beings. You can’t assure her of anything if she isn’t ready to trust again.

What you can do is remind yourself that her current emotional state has nothing to do with you. You can also let her know when her flirting with other guys becomes bothersome. It doesn’t sound like she’s the only one dealing with the consequences of her last relationship. Make sure you’re being taken care of, too.

Though I wouldn’t try too hard to convince her of this, it really sounds like she could use help from a therapist to get through some of the painful emotions she’s dealing with.

Keep doing what you’re doing. Tell her you love her, and remind her that you’re here for her, but remember that you can’t change her.

—Dr. Date

Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.

11

12

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Amazon’s delivery drones: An idea that may not fly

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Jef f Bezos’ idea to let self-guided drones deliver packages may be too futuristic for Washington to handle.

The Amazon CEO is working on a way to use the small aircraft to get parcels to customers in 30 minutes or less. While flight technology makes it feasible, U.S. law and society’s attitude toward drones haven’t caught up with Bezos’ vision.

Amazon.com Inc. says it’s working on the so-called Prime Air unmanned aircraft project but it will take years to advance the technology and for the Federal Aviation Administration to create the necessary rules and regulations.

The project was first reported by CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night, hours before millions of shoppers turned to their computers to hunt Cyber Monday bargains.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

said in the inter view that while his octocopters look like something out of science fiction, there’s no reason they can’t be used as delivery vehicles.

Bezos said the drones can carry packages that weigh up to five pounds, which covers about 86 percent of the items Amazon delivers. The drones the company is testing have a range of about 10 miles, which Bezos noted could cover a significant portion of the population in urban areas.

Bezos told “60 Minutes” the project could become a working service in four or five years.

Unlike the drones used by the military, Bezos’ proposed flying machines won’t need humans to control them remotely. Amazon’s drones would receive a set of GPS coordinates and automatically fly to them, presumably avoiding buildings, power lines and other obstacles.

Delivery drones raise a

host of concerns, from air traffic safety to homeland security and privacy. There are technological and legal obstacles, too —similar to Google’s experimental driverless car. How do you design a machine that safely navigates the roads or skies without hitting anything?

And, if an accident occurs, who’s legally liable?

Delivering packages by drone might be impossible in a city like Washington D.C. which has many no-fly zones.

But technology entrepreneur and futurist Ray Kurzweil notes that “technology has always been a double edged sword.”

“Fire kept us warm and cooked our food but also was used to burn down our villages,” says Kurzweil.

“It’s fascinating as an idea and probably ver y hard to execute,” says Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies who sees Bezos as an unconventional thinker. “If he could really

deliver something you order within 30 minutes, he would rewrite the rules of online retail.”

Amazon has already done that once. In 1995, with investments from family and friends, Bezos began operating Amazon as an online bookseller out of a Seattle garage. Over nearly two decades, Amazon grew to become the world’s largest online retailer, selling everything from shoes to groceries to diapers and power tools.

Amazon spends heavily on growing its business, improving order fulfillment and expanding into new areas. Those investments have come at the expense of consistent profitability, but investors have been largely forgiving, focusing on the company’s long-term promise and double-digit revenue growth.

The company spent almost $2.9 billion in shipping last year, accounting for 4.7 percent of its net sales.

There is no prohibition on flying drones for recreational use, but since 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration has said they can’t be used for commercial purposes.

“The technology has moved forward faster than the law has kept pace,” says Brendan Schulman, special counsel at the law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. Schulman is currently challenging that regulation before a federal administrative law judge on behalf of a client who was using a radiocontrolled aircraft to shoot video for an adver tising agency. Autonomous flights like Amazon is proposing, without somebody at the controls, are also prohibited.

The FAA is slowly moving forward with guidelines on commercial drone use.

Last year, Congress directed the agency to grant drones access to U.S. skies by September 2015. But the agency already has missed several

key deadlines and said the process would take longer than Congress expected.

The FAA plans to propose rules next year that could allow limited use of drones weighing up to 55 pounds. But those r ules are expected to include major restrictions on where drones can fly, posing significant limits on what Amazon could do. Many of the commercial advances in drone use have come out of Europe, Australia, and Japan.

In Australia, for instance, an electric company is using drones to check on remote power lines.

“The delay has really been to the disadvantage of companies here,” Schulman says. “Generally, the government wants to promote the advancement of science and technology. In this case, the government has done exactly the opposite and thwarted the ability of small, startup companies to develop commercial applications for this revolutionary technology.”

Union official says train engineer nod may be tied to derailment

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YONKERS, N.Y. — An engineer whose speeding commuter train ran off the rails along a cur ve, killing four people, nodded at the controls just before the wreck, and by the time he caught himself it was too late, a union of ficial said Tuesday.

William Rockefeller “basically nodded,” said Anthony Bottalico, leader of the rail employees union, relating what he said the engineer told him.

“He had the equivalent of what we all have when we drive a car,” Bottalico said.

“That is, you sometimes have a momentar y nod or whatever that might be.

How long that lasts, I can’t answer that.”

Rockefeller’s lawyer did not return calls. During a

late-afternoon news conference, federal investigators said they were still talking to Rockefeller, and they wouldn’t comment on his level of alertness around the time of the Sunday morning wreck in the Bronx.

Separately, however, two law enforcement officials said the engineer told police at the scene that his mind was wandering before he realized the train was in trouble and by then it was too late to do anything about it. One of the officials said Rockefeller described himself as being “in a daze” before the wreck.

The officials, who were briefed on the engineer’s comments, weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Questions about Rockefeller’s role mounted rap-

idly after investigators disclosed on Monday that the Metro-North Railroad train jumped the tracks after going into a curve at 82 mph, or nearly three times the 30 mph speed limit. Dozens of people were hurt.

“He caught himself, but he caught himself too late. ... He powered down, he put the train in emergency, but that was six seconds prior to derailment,” Bottalico said.

Rockefeller, who was operating the train from the front car, was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and was released.

National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener repeated that it was too soon to say whether the accident was caused by human error. But he said investigators have found no problems with the brakes or signals.