4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2006
LICENSE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
perspective, it's just one extra check for us."
Farha said the Wheel would continue to accept vertical licenses for customers older than 21 until people had an opportunity to adjust to the new policy.
Regardless of the ease of enforcing the horizontal license policy, students fail to see the logic in requiring what they think is an inconvenience on a day when they would rather be celebrating.
"I don't think there's actually a point in doing it because what they were doing before was fine," Blandon said.
Kansas residents can renew their licenses at any state DMV office. The Lawrence office is at 1035 N. Third St., Suite 122. Its hours are 7 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.
Kansan staff writer Danny Luppino can be contacted at dluppino@ kansan.com.
Edited by Jacky Carter
KU alum replaces Ford Motor Co. executive
BUSINESS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DEARBORN, Mich. — Bill Ford, who struggled for five years to steer Ford Motor Co. toward financial stability, has stepped down as chief executive of the company founded by his great grandfather and is being replaced by top University of Kansas graduate and Boeing executive Alan Mullaly.
The change comes more than seven months into a restructuring, which is the second under Bill Ford's watch and has so far failed to revive the nation's No. 2 automaker. Under the first plan, Ford closed five plants and cut 35,000 jobs, but its North American operations failed to turn around. The latest plan, announced in January, would cut up to 30,000 jobs and close 14 facilities by 2012.
Bill Ford said it was time for
someone with experience in turning around a troubled company, tacitly acknowledging his own efforts were falling short.
Mulally, 61, was widely praised for being a key architect of the resurgence of Boeing's commercial airplanes unit during the past couple of years. He was a top candidate for the Boeing CEO job last year, but the company went outside instead to select aerospace veteran Jim McNerney, then the 3M Co. chief executive.
Mulally holds bachelor's of science and master's of science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from KU.
Bill Ford said he began talking with Mulaly in July, which suggested the change was something he had some time to plan instead of it being abruptly forced on him. Ford is the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, and his family still owns a 40 percent voting stake
in the company. Any leadership plan would require its assent.
Ford, 49, has served as CEO since October 2001 and been chairman since 1999. He owns more than 10 million shares that have a market value of more than $70 million.
"We needed somebody who had extensive turnaround experience, who was a leader and a real team builder," Bill Ford said during an afternoon news conference.
He called Mulally "ideally suited" for the job.
"He understands how tough a turnaround can be before the results start to flow, and the necessity of keeping the team together and in focus," Ford said.
Mulally, who has spent 37 years at Boeing, said he looked forward to applying lessons learned at Boeing to Ford.
Mulally said that although he's not an auto person, "I'm certainly a product designer and I care deeply
about having a viable business," he said.
He said that some people believe the U.S. can't compete with the rest of the world in manufacturing, adding, "I personally think we absolutely can if we pull together."
Dearborn-based Ford, which lost $1.4 billion in the first half of 2006, pledged in July to speed up the restructuring. At the time, Bill Ford said the company had been caught off guard by the speed of the consumer shift away from pickups and SUVs to more fuel-efficient vehicles — a shift that has largely benefited Asian automakers at the expense of domestic companies.
Bruce Clark, lead auto analyst at Moody's Investors Service, said Mullally faces a "daunting task in attempting to reshape Ford's operating model" as demand shifts rapidly away from trucks.
"However, he comes to the company with a strong background in
engineering, manufacturing and product development." Clark said in a statement. "We think that this will be a valuable skill set as he fills the CEO position at Ford."
"It just shows you how tough things have gotten at Ford," said George Magliano, an auto analyst at consulting company Global Insight. He said the biggest task facing Ford is to reshape its product strategy to cope with high gas prices and Mulally should bring in a new product guru.
"I think the feeling was they needed to show the financial community and the rest of the industry that they're ready to make sweeping changes," Magliano said.
Bill Ford said he would continue to be highly involved in the company as executive chairman.
"I'm not going anywhere." Ford said. "I was born with the Ford Motor Company and I'll die with the Ford Motor Company."
INTERNATIONAL
After months of contention, Mexico selects president-elect
BY WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Felipe Calderon was declared president-elect Tuesday after two months of uncertainty, but his ability to rule effectively remained in doubt with rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowing to lead a parallel leftist government from the streets.
The unanimous decision by the
Federal Electoral Tribunal rejected allegations of systematic fraud and awarded Calderon the presidency by 233,831 votes out of 41.6 million cast in the July 2 elections — a margin of 0.56 percent. The ruling cannot be appealed.
Calderon now must win over millions of Mexicans angry that President Vicente Fox, who is from Calderon's party, didn't make good on promises of sweeping change
-- and ferd off thousands of radicalized leftists who say they will stop at nothing to undermine his presidency.
Calderon invited opposition parties, including Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution, to begin talks to try to end the two-month-long electoral standoff.
"We can have different opinions, but we aren't enemies," he said.
— who have split their votes in disputes about other elections — also found that Fox endangered the election by making statements that favored Calderon, and that business leaders broke the law by paying for ads against Lopez Obrador, who promised to govern on behalf of the poor.
But the problems weren't serious enough to annul the results, they said.
"There are no perfect elections",
Judge Alfonsina Berta Navarro
Hidalgo said.
"Now, more than ever, is the time for unity," Fox said. Fox and
Fox, in a televised speech, defended his actions, saying they were always within the law. He also congratulated Calderon and called for a national dialogue.
Calderon are expected to meet on Wednesday.
The court's president, Leonel Castillo, called on Mexicans to unite and mend the deep divisions the election revealed.
The court rejected most of Lopez Obrador's allegations, including his claim that an ad campaign comparing him to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unfairly swayed voters. The court also dismissed Lopez Obrador's claim of subliminal messages in television ads by pro-Calderon businesses.
Lopez Obrador, whose support is dwindling but becoming more radical, said he will not recognize the new government.
"I hope we conclude this electoral process leaving confrontation behind," he said.
Markets, which had expected Tuesday's ruling, were unchanged. World leaders, including Japan's prime minister and several Central
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American presidents, congratulated Calderon on his victory.
Tuesday's ruling came two months, three days, and tens of thousands of pages of legal challenges after voters cast their ballots. In comparison, the U.S. presidential election of 2000 remained in dispute for only 35 days.
The decision was unlikely to end the demonstrations that have crippled Mexico City's center or to heal the nation's growing political divide.
new governor has vowed to block Lopez Obrador has vowed to block Calderon from taking power Dec. 1. Protesters outside the tribunal wept as the decision was announced and set off firecrackers that shook the building.
Lopez Obrador has called on his followers to remain peaceful. His movement has become increasingly radicalized since the election, and polls indicate he lost support after lawmakers from his party blocked Fox's last state-of-the-nation address on Friday.
the decision by the seven judges
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