4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2008
BSU (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Curette that there was concern about voters being misled by news stations like MSNBC or Fox News, which tend to politically lean one way or another.
Ricky Thrash, Kalamazoo, Mich., graduate student, said he wished color and race weren't cited in the coverage of the election.
"I hope people don't vote for or against Obama just because he's black, just like I hope people don't vote for or against McCain because he's white," Thrash said. "I hope people vote colorblind and focus on the issues."
One major concern was the future of race relations, regardless of which candidate gets elected. Koga Ndikum-Moffor, president of BSU and Overland Park senior, said racial tensions could rise because of the high pedestal on which the public has placed Obama.
"People have set their hope so high for change." Ndikum Moffor said. "If he doesn't do something phenomenal, if he falls short in any way, things will go crazy."
BSU member Robel Yemane, St. Louis senior, agreed with Ndkum-Moffor and said he was scared of what would happen if Obama was elected and people didn't see immediate change.
"If McCain got elected, he would have to do one thing, like fix health care, in order to be considered successful," Yemane said. "Obama will have to do a hell of a lot more than that to be considered successful."
BSU member Danielle Cooper, Kansas City, Kan., freshman, said she felt that minorities had to work twice as hard in order to be considered on the same playing field as non-minorities.
While Barack Obama has emphasized in his speeches the
time it would take for change to come, a tendency to expect instant gratification might overshadow the slow process. Though America might have to wait for changes in healthcare, the economy and education, students in BSU had already observed a shift in the candidate.
"This year, I was watching the BET Awards Show, and it was the first time I ever heard the word 'vote' on any of the awards shows," Cooper said.
The increase in black voter turnout has also been a change from the 2004 election. During the presidential primaries, many states experienced an increase in black voter turnout. In Georgia, black voter turnout rose 85 percent, according to the Democratic National Committee.
— Edited by Ramsey Cox
NATIONAL
Man fatally shoots minister, wounds deacon at funeral
Dispute between gunman, church becomes deadly
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
COVINGTON, Ky. — A gunman fatally shot a Cincinnati minister and wounded a church deacon just after the two men arrived at a northern Kentucky church to attend a funeral, police said.
Court records in Hamilton County, Ohio, revealed a yearlong dispute between the accused gunman and the minister, the Rev. Donald Fairbanks Sr.
Fairbanks and Dowdell Cobb were shot just before 11 a.m. Saturday, police said.
The gunman chased one of the men to a nearby park, where
he shot the man a second time, said Lee Russo, the police chief in Covington, Ky. $ ^{1}$
It was unclear which of the men was shot in the park.
Frederick L. Davis, of Covington, quickly surrendered to police and was charged with murder, first degree assault, criminal mischief and violating an emergency protection order. He was being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. A Kenton County, Ky., jail representative said Davis had no attorney listed.
Fairbanks, pastor of Cincinnati's New St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, died later Saturday at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Covington, authorities said. Cobb, a deacon at the church, was treated at University Hospital in Cincinnati. A hospital spokesman declined to release information on Cobb's condition.
In June 2007, Fairbanks filed a complaint accusing Davis of making a threatening phone call to his wife, records showed. Davis, 40, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in October 2007, and a judge sentenced him to a year probation and ordered him to stay away from Fairbanks and New St. Paul Baptist Church.
Fairbanks and Cobb had hoped to attend the funeral of a 71-year-old woman who was related to a member of New St. Paul's congregation.
Officials at Covington's Ninth Street Baptist Church went ahead with an abbreviated service for the woman after the shooting.
"To think that somebody would have total disregard for the family," the Rev. Richard Fowler, Ninth Street's pastor, said of the gunman. "They're already bereaved over the loss of a family member."
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Warren Buffett, Chairman & CEO, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., is seen at The Women's Conference in Long Beach, Calif. As stocks have plunged, so have the value of CEOs' equity stakes in their own companies. Topping that list is Buffett, who has seen the value of equity in his company fall by 15 percent to $9.6 billion so far this year, to leave his holdings valued at $2.1 billion.
Even the rich see losses
ECONOMY
Economic woes affect wealthy along with poor
They are still plenty rich, but their losses — some on paper and others actually realized — illustrate how few have been spared in today's punishing market when even big-name investors, corporate executives and hedge-fund titans are all watching their wealth evaporate.
BY RACHEL BECK ASSOCIATED PRESS
The portfolio damage for some of these high-flyers has soared to billions of dollars in recent months. And they can't just blame the market's downdraft — some did themselves in with badly timed stock purchases or margin calls on shares bought with loans.
NEW YORK — Here's something that might provide a bit of solace amid the plunging values in your retirement accounts: Warren Buffett is losing lots of money, too. So are Kirk Kerkorian, Carl Icahn and Sumner Redstone.
"It's always hard to beat the market no matter who you are," said Robert Hansen, senior associate dean at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. "But when the ocean waters get that rough, it is hard for any boat to avoid getting swamped."
It has been a painful year for anyone exposed to the stock market. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, considered a barometer for the broad market, has lost about 36 percent since January, with every single sector — including once thriving energy and utilities — seeing declines of about 20 percent or more.
Such losses in the last year have wiped out an estimated $2 trillion in equity value from 401(k) and individual retirement accounts, nearly half the holdings in those plans, according to new findings by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Similar losses are seen in the portfolios of private and public pension plans, which have lost $1.9 trillion, the researchers found.
As stocks have plunged, so have
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the value of chief executives' equity stakes in their own companies. The average year-to-date decline is 49 percent for the corporate stock holdings of CEOs at 175 large U.S. companies, according to new research by compensation consulting firm Steven Hall & Partners.
Topping that list is Buffett, who has seen the value of equity in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, fall by about $13.6 billion, or 22 percent, so far this year, to leave his holdings valued at $48.1 billion. Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison has seen his equity stake fall by $6.2 billion, or about 24 percent, to $20.1 billion, according to the research that ran from the start of the year through the close of trading Oct. 29.
Rounding out the top five in that study were Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, whose company equity fell by $5.1 billion to $9.4 billion; Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, whose equity fell by $3.6 billion to $5.7 billion; and News Corp's Rupert Murdoch, with a $4 billion contraction to $3 billion.
News Corp. and Microsoft declined comment, while representatives from Berkshire Hathaway, Oracle and Amazon.com didn't respond to requests for comment.
Those results included the value of the CEO's stock, exercisable and non-exercisable stock options and shares that haven't yet vested. They are drawn from each company's most recent proxy statement, which means they might not include subsequent stock purchases or sales.
"Everyone wants to see executives have skin in the game, and this shows they certainly do," said Steven Hall, a founder and managing director of the compensation consulting firm. "But in the end, we have to remember they still have billions to fall back on."
But there have been recent instances where executives' large equity positions have blown up — not only damaging a particular CEO's portfolio but the company's shareholders, too.
A growing number of executives at companies including Boston Scientific, XTO Energy Corp. and Williams Sonoma Inc. have been forced to sell stakes in their companies to cover stock loans to banks and brokers. The company stock was used as collateral for those loans. The falling prices triggered what is known as a "margin call."
"A decrease in inster owner ship is bad for corporate governance," said Ben Silverman, director of research at the research firm InsiderScore.com. "Then executives' interests are less aligned with their shareholders."
Investors in Chesapeake Energy Corp. were recently faced with the surprising news that company CEO Aubrey McClendon was forced to sell almost 95 percent of his holdings — representing more than a 5 percent stake in the natural gas giant — to meet a margin call. His firesale of more than 31 million shares, valued at nearly $570 million, put downward pressure on Chesapeake's stock in the days surrounding the mid-October transaction.
McClendon has called this a personal matter and said he would rebuild the ownership position, according to Chesapeake spokesman Tom Price.
Redstone, the famed 85-year-old chairman and controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., was forced to sell $233 million worth of nonvowning shares in those companies. That was done to satisfy National Amusements' loan covenants, which had been violated when the value of its CBS and Viacom shares fell below required levels in the loan agreements.
— one batch of 7.3 million shares sold at an average price of $2.43 each, and the other for 26.4 million shares at an average sale price of $2.01 each. That means for about a quarter of his total Ford holdings, he got $71 million.
National Amusements is Redstone's family holding company, and the stock sales represented 20 percent of the holding company's CBS shares and 10 percent of its Viacom shares. A spokesman for National Amusements declined to comment.
Earlier this year, billionaire Kerkorian's investment firm Tracinda Corp. paid about $1 billion, at an average share price of near $7.10, for about 141 million shares in Ford Motor Corp. That represented a 6.49 percent stake in Ford.
Those shares have tumbled as the automaker's financial condition weakened considerably amid slumping sales and tighter credit conditions. That drove Tracinda to disclose twice in recent weeks that it was selling some of its Ford stock
Certainly some of the biggest investors aren't happy with recent market events.
Let's Work Together and Get Things Done
"Please join me in voting for Republican Scott Morgan for the Kansas State Senate. As a registered Democrat and Obama supporter, I know that Scott can reach out to people of different political backgrounds to find solutions. He will work hard for KU and Lawrence in the state legislature."
- Maggie Cartt, East Lawrence resident and retired KU Law School Placement Director
Scott Morgan for State Senate An Independent Voice of Reason for Lawrence www.ScottMorganforSenate.com/KUStudents.htm
Paid for by Scott Morgan for Senate Committee, David Ambler, Chair; Brad Finkeldei, Treasurer