Daily Chronicle / Daily-Chronicle.com • Section A • Tuesday, November 3, 2015 •
NEWS 5
Mystery, confusion surround plane crash in Egypt By DMITRY LOVETSKY and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV The Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Mystery and confusion surrounded the final moments of a Russian jetliner that plummeted suddenly from high altitude to the Egyptian desert, killing all 224 people aboard. The airline Monday ruled out pilot error or a technical fault, but Russian aviation officials dismissed those comments as premature. Some aviation experts raised the possibility that a bomb on board the Metrojet Airbus A321-200 brought it down, while others cited an incident in 2001 when the aircraft grazed the runway with its tail while landing. James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, said that while there is no direct evidence of any terrorist involvement yet, it couldn’t be excluded that the plane was brought down by Islamic State extremists in the Sinai Peninsula. “It’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out,” he told reporters in Washington. Asked if a terrorist attack could be ruled out, President
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “No versions could be excluded.” The Metrojet was flying at 31,000 feet over the Sinai when it crashed Saturday only 23 minutes after taking off from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for St. Petersburg with mostly Russian passengers. Metrojet firmly denied that the crash could have been caused by either equipment failure or crew error. “The only possible explanation could be an external impact on the airplane,” Metrojet’s deputy director Alexander Smirnov told a news conference in Moscow. When pressed for more details, Smirnov said he was not at liberty to discuss them because the investigation was ongoing. Asked if the plane could have been brought down by a terrorist attack, he said only that “anything was possible.” But Russia’s top aviation official, Alexander Neradko, dismissed the company’s statement as premature and unfounded. In televised comments from Egypt, Neradko said it would be possible to draw conclusions about the crash only after
Court troubled by DA’s rejection of black jurors By MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court signaled support Monday for a black death row inmate in Georgia who claims prosecutors improperly kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted him of killing a white woman. Justice Stephen Breyer likened the chief prosecutor to his excuse-filled grandson. Justice Elena Kagan said the case Timothy s e e m e d a s T. Foster clear a violation “as a court is ever going to see” of rules the Supreme Court laid out in 1986 to prevent racial discrimination in the selection of juries. At least six of the nine justices indicated during arguments that black people were improperly singled out and kept off the jury that eventually sentenced defendant Timothy Tyrone Foster to death in 1987. Foster could win a new trial if the Supreme Court rules his way. The discussion Monday also suggested that a technical issue might prevent the justices from deciding the substance of Foster’s case. Georgia Deputy Attorney General Beth Burton had little support on the court for the proposition that prosecutor Stephen Lanier advanced plausible “race-neutral” reasons that resulted in an all-white jury for Foster’s trial. Foster was convicted of killing 79-yearold Queen Madge White in her home in Rome, Georgia. Several justices noted that Lanier’s reasons for excusing people from the jury changed over time, including the arrest of the cousin of one black juror. The record in the case indicates that Lanier learned of the arrest only after the jury had been seated. “That seems an out and out false statement,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. Breyer drew an analogy with a grandson who was looking for any reason not to do his homework, none of them especially convincing. “And so I would say my answer to my grandchild is, ‘Look, you’re not too tired to do your homework,’” Breyer said. With Lanier, he said, “I think any reasonable per-
son looking at this would say no, his reason was a purpose to discriminate.” Justice Samuel Alito, who typically sides with prosecutors in criminal cases, was bothered by Lanier’s explanation that the same juror whose cousin was arrested also was not chosen because she was close in age to Foster. “She was in her 30s. He was 18 or 19,” Alito dryly said. The discussion of the juror’s cousin also prompted Justice Sonia Sotomayor to say that Lanier never established whether the juror even was close to her cousin. “I have cousins who I know have been arrested, but I have no idea where they’re in jail. I hardly – I don’t know them,” Sotomayor said. Georgia courts have consistently rejected Foster’s claims of discrimination, even after his lawyers obtained the prosecution’s notes that revealed prosecutors’ focus on the black people in the jury pool. In one example, a handwritten note headed “Definite No’s” listed six people, of whom five were the remaining black prospective jurors. The sixth person on the list was a white woman who made clear she would never impose the death penalty, Foster’s lawyer, Stephen Bright said Monday. “Even she ranked behind the black jurors,” Bright said. Burton tried to persuade the justices that the notes focused on black people in the jury pool because prosecutors were preparing to defend against discrimination claims. Burton said the Supreme Court’s ruling about race discrimination in jury selection was about a year old when Foster’s case went to trial. The 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky set up a system by which trial judges could evaluate claims of discrimination and the race-neutral explanations by prosecutors. Foster’s trial lawyers did not so much contest his guilt as try to explain it as a product of a troubled childhood, drug abuse and mental illness. They also raised their objections about the exclusion of African-Americans from the jury. On that point, the judge accepted Lanier’s explanations that factors other than race drove his decisions. The jury convicted Foster and sentenced him to death.
Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations via AP
Egyptian Military experts examine a piece of an engine Sunday at the wreckage of a passenger jet bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Hassana, Egypt. experts examined the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders and studied the wreckage. He said the large area where debris were scattered indicated the jet had broken up at high altitude, but he refrained from
citing a reason for the crash pending the investigation. Viktor Yung, another deputy director general of Metrojet, said the crew did not send a distress call and did not contact traffic controllers before the crash.
Egyptian officials have offered conflicting accounts on whether or not the plane issued any distress calls. Experts said planes break up in flight usually because of one of three factors: a catastrophic weather event, a midair colli-
sion or an external threat, such as a bomb or a missile. A local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group has claimed it brought down the aircraft, which crashed in the northern Sinai where the Egyptian military and security forces have battled militants for years. Both Egyptian and Russian officials have dismissed that claim as not credible. Still, the U.S., Germany and Britain all had overflight warnings in place for the Sinai. They advised airlines to avoid flying over the peninsula below 26,000 feet and to avoid the Sharm el-Sheik airport because of extremist violence and, notably, the use of anti-aircraft weapons. British military analyst Paul Beaver said he thought the crash was most likely caused by a bomb on board, because the IS hasn’t been known to possess surface-to-air missile systems capable of striking passenger planes at cruising altitude. “That’s a very serious piece of equipment, and I don’t think they have that sophistication,” Beaver said, adding that the Sinai desert is well-scrutinized by intelligence agencies, so a missile system would have been seen.
Technology upgrades expected in Phase I renovations • REDEVELOPMENT
Continued from page A5 “This is not money that can be used for purposes other that what we committed to when we borrowed the money it 2010,” said Butler. “We have funds available to at least start that project, and then we’ll be working with the foundation to help maybe raise additional funds, to help move that project forward.” Phase I renovations are expected to include technology upgrades, said Jenkins. Among the enhancements that could come to the ground floor level of the building are more eateries in an extended marketplace, expanded lounging areas – with at least one of them connected to an outdoor patio, a suite of rooms where student organizations could have offices and host activities and an improved waiting area near the university-run bus terminal. One of the only changes likely for the hotel connected would be to update the welcome desk located on the ground floor. Holmes Center already is a bustling social hub – accessible not only to students and staff, but also the surrounding community. There are several meeting rooms in the basement. The ground floor, which would be the site of Phase I, in-
Holmes Student Center: Phase I – Ground Floor Plan
Image provided
After conceptual drawings for Phase I of the Holmes project. Tthese are conceptual drawings and the final design may be different from what is represented by these illustrations. cludes a bank branch, lounge area, eateries, the NIU bookstore and the Huskies Den – which has full bowling lanes, pool tables and more. The building’s main floor features a lobby with open lounging areas and flat-screen TVs. It’s where the Duke Ellington Restaurant and ballroom are located. It serves as the terminal for the university-run buses. The center also has an adjoining 15-story, 78room hotel that students, staff
and the general public may use. Norm Jenkins, director of the Holmes Center, said it is a “self-sustaining” operation. As the project’s name suggests – The Holmes Student Center Neptune Complex Redevelopment Plan – renovating the run down Neptune residence hall had been expected along with the center’s upgrades. But improvements to the dorm – which has no air conditioning, limited elevator
access and is one of the oldest on the campus – became secondary to the revenue-engine that is Holmes Student Center. “We want to make it as friendly and open a facility as we can. Where students can come and enjoy camaraderie, but also have access to food and drink and entertainment,” Jenkins said. “Versatility, I would say, is a really important part of what we’re trying to achieve.”
Planning commission recommended annexation of 6 parcels • ANNEXATION
Continued from page A1 The city’s Planning Commission made recommendations at a public hearing Oct. 12 to annex six parcels northwest of the city. Each of the six property owners within the 300 acres has submitted a draft annexation agreement, each of which was unanimously approved by the commissioners
Oct. 12. The land would have been zoned rural residential, meaning it would have a maximum population density of one home for every 3 acres. But when it came time to vote, council members wondered whether the timing and location were right for the annexation. “I’ve never received so many phone calls that were against it,” Janice Tripp, 4th Ward Alderwoman said. “I
didn’t receive them before in 2002 but, boy – I got them this time.” Had the plan been approved by the City Council, property owners would have been required to pay an annexation fee of $2,500 an acre. The annexed property would not have been covered by city’s sewer system and would use private wells for water supply. Mayor Ken Mundy voted twice in favor of the annex-
ation, citing it as a “point of history” in the city’s comprehensive plan. “There isn’t any property – any rural property – in this county that would be as heavily regulated as the development of this 300 acres,” Mundy said. “So it’s puzzling to hear, from my perspective, the hesitancy. But then it’s something different. It’s something untried here, so maybe there’s some reluctance along those lines.”
Some bills being paid through court orders, state law • BUDGET
Continued from page A1 GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner took office this year with promises to make Illinois more attractive to businesses and create more new jobs. The former private equity investor insists he won’t sign off on a tax increase to close a roughly $5 billion budget hole until Democrats and labor unions give in to some of his demands. But Democrats have refused, saying curbing union powers will hurt the middle class. No one expects the standoff to be resolved before 2016. Although there’s no budget in place, some bills are being paid through court orders and
state law. Lawmakers and state employees are collecting their salaries, and schools and most government offices remain open. But local governments aren’t getting their share of gasoline taxes or state gambling receipts. Human service agencies that contract with Illinois aren’t getting paid or are getting partial payments months late. Wealthier communities with a stronger property tax base and cash reserves have gotten by, although even they are warning of serious consequences ahead. Many places in the state’s poor southern region, however, have no cushion. In the seven counties, vacant homes and boarded up storefronts show the impact
of factory closings years ago, which have left the region with the state’s highest unemployment rate. In Cairo, one of the most robust businesses is demolishing the shells of historic buildings to salvage bricks for resale. Roughly one-third of the workforce is employed by state or local government – more than double the statewide percentage, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. That’s meant people aren’t just losing the services of agencies affected, they’re losing the jobs. For Alexander County – where one-third of residents live in poverty – the loss of roughly $55,000 in state money per month came on top of a $1.6
million deficit this fiscal year. On Oct. 1, the County Board laid off half its workforce of 20. That included seven of 13 people in the sheriff’s department and a staffer in the state’s attorney’s office. The Delta Center, a local mental health care and substance abuse counseling provider, closed in August. The nearby Family Counseling Center took on about three-fourths of its more than 300 clients, but director Sherrie Crabb has so far had to lay off 37 staff, including herself. The state owes Family Counseling Center at least $1 million for services already provided, and while most staff still come to work Crabb isn’t sure how long they can continue.