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2A | Th e Stat e N e ws | we dne sday, o cto ber 1 6, 201 3 | state n e ws.com

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Police Brief Police catch Apple tech thieves Police have arrested several individuals in connection with a string of thefts involving Apple products throughout the past three weeks, according to a statement from the East Lansing Police Department. Officials said the city has seen an increase in “Apple picking,” a term used to describe suspects who hone in on Apple products and snatch them from passerby. Several people who attended a party on the 200 block of Charles Street on Saturday, Sept. 21 reported having their phones stolen. Police eventually recovered five iPhones and arrested Jackson residents Devin Michael Caudill, 17, and Marquise Sherrell Coleman, 17, who are charged with felony conspiracy to commit larceny from a person. Another suspect from Jackson is wanted in the case, police said. Lansing resident Jeremy Randall Cline, 22, was arrested Oct. 13 in an unrelated incident. He reportedly stole an iPhone on Oct. 12 at a party on the 200 block of Collingwood Drive and attempted to sell it back. Detroit resident JaJuan Quinton Stuckey, 19, was arrested Oct. 13 and was charged with felony larceny from a person after allegedly stealing an iPhone from a person’s hands on the 200 block of Stoddard Avenue.

case

MSU, others could be barred from using race in admissions if ruling stands from page one

Khoa Nguyen/The State News

Players celebrate after winning a point last Saturday at Jenison Field House. The Spartans defeated Nebraska, 3-1. The team is set to receive heavy television attention this week.

spartans

MSU is faced with a different break between games as a result of television scheduling and media attention from page one

T he t wo-day break between the Minnesota and Wisconsin games is a result of TV scheduling, but it’ll be a welcome break for the team as they’ll have time to regroup in between trips. “It ’s different, but it ’s

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and other administrators have been hesitant to take a firm stance publicly, although a brief filed to the court from MSU and U-M called into question a number of arguments in opposition. A brief submitted by U-M and MSU asks the court to disregard the state’s argument for raceneutral policies, claiming there’s not enough evidence to confirm whether race-neutral admissions alternatives are as effective as affirmative action in diversifying the student body. “There is no evidence in the record to support the argument with respect to the university respondents, and the limited evidence that does contradicts it,” the brief said. If the high court upholds the ban, MSU and the other 14 public universities in the state of Michigan will remain barred from including race as a factor in admissions decisions.

alright,” George said. “It’s just something that you deal with and you change a little bit of the way you prepare.” At the press conference, George commended BTN Network for the number of volleyball games the network has broadcast thus far in the season. The Big Ten Conference has been historically good this season, with eight Big Ten teams currently represented in the polls and four ranked in the top 10. “With the Big Ten Network, they’ve really been showing a lot of volleyball,” George said. “It’s been great exposure for our conference and for our

players.” With such a strong start to the season, the weekend will allow the team showcase its talent to a national audience. MSU is excited for the challenge that lies ahead in terms of playing. “We do have a better group, and you see the maturity at different times,” George said. We have some youth, so it’s nice to have leadership with the youth that we have and how it combines into handling everything one day at a time with the way we’re going at it.”

case for months. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he was very pleased with how the case went. He said he thought there were good arguments with a solid representation. A supporter for affirmative action, he said he was satisfied with the number of questions that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked. “The fact that this was about race in the political (sector), and the (fact that) numbers are down in U-M (and) down across the country, that’s very critical,” Anthony said.

“The fact that this was about race in the political (sector), and the (fact that) numbers are down … that’s very critical.”

The decision, which will likely not be released for several months, may ripple to other states with similar laws. Solicitor General John Bursch, who argued for the state in court Tuesday, made a case that raceneutral admissions policies are just as effective at fostering a diverse student body as direct affirmative action. Bursch said that the ban simply outlaws race-based discrimination. Driver and lawyer Mark Rosenbaum, representing the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action in the case, disagreed sharply. They said the ban places special burdens on minority students vying for leverage in the admissions process. The heated back-andforth between justices and lawyers seemed to be more intense during Rosenbaum and Driver’s testimonies. Roberts wondered if it would still have been an act of political restructuring if admissions faculty adopted a ban on affirmative action rather than the voters. “At what point does the political restructuring doctrine kick in?” Roberts asked in court. Sotomayor later responded to his logic by saying: “When the process is … changed specifically and only for race.”

Geoff Preston

politics Three-day forecast

Schuette argues that equal treatment “ought to be the letter of the law” in higher education from page one

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“As a black student at the University of Michigan, I’ve seen how it’s played out in the classrooms — it’s pitiful,” Abraham said. “But I am hopeful and I think the crowd is expecting a vote in our favor.” The justices are not expected to issue a decision in the

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In testimony last week, McCowan claimed he suffered concussion-like effects during the fight with Singler from page one

night of the murder to “talk things out” with Singler. The prosecution used transcripts of the text messages between Singler, Connor McCowan and Shay McCowan to paint a different narrative, which could have made a difference in the case. “I don’t think we can underestimate the importance of the text messages and the role they played in the minds of the jury,” Dunnings said, referring to the profanity and threatfilled messages sent between the three prior to Singler’s death. Even t hough Con nor McCowan armed himself with a knife prior to going to Singler’s house, Cooley Law School professor Ron Bretz said his action likely didn’t

Wendell Anthony, president, Detroit branch of NAACP

“And this is the Supreme Court, we’re hoping they will be ‘supreme’ and do the right thing.” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette took a different approach, favoring the state’s continued use of Proposal 2. Schuette said students should not receive special consideration based on their race or ethnicity. “Equal treatment ought to be the letter of the law,” Schuette said. “Any criteria or assessment that a uni-

versity might make that results in racial discrimination is just wrong.” During a post-case press conference, Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who defended affirmative action in the case, restated his earlier arguments, telling reporters that since affirmative action passed, the number of black students

at the University of Michigan declined by almost a third. “This is an attempt to end racial diversity in all schools,” Rosenbaum said. Shanta Driver, a lawyer representing opponents of the ban, said that whenever issues of race are at play, there’s obviously a big divide on the court. She said she is confident of the outcome and expects a vote favoring affirmative action. “I think we’ll definitely have the stronger argument, and if this was just a question on logic, and application on precedent, we would win.”

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warrant an intent to kill. “While that kind of act is often used to show a premeditated intent to kill ... here, Singler apparently texted McCowan that he was going to ‘beat his ass,’” Bretz said in a statement. “It makes sense that McCowan armed himself solely for self-protection.” At other times, defense at tor ney Chris Bergstrom tried a different approach. He argued that when Singler hit Connor McCowan during their confrontation, Connor McCowan sustained a head injury similar to various sports-related injuries he’d received in the past. During his testimony last Thursday, Connor McCowan said he felt effects commonly associated with concussions after Singler punched him. “I saw a bright white flash of light and immediately felt so disoriented, like I was dropped into the situation,” he said. When Bergstrom attempted to call an expert witness to testify about concussions, Judge Clinton Canady III did not allow it. Canady said that because Connor McCowan did not report the head injury, the court had no verification.

Level: 1

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SOLUTION TO TUESDAY’S PUZZLE

10/16/13 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