2A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008
quote of the dav
Lou Holtz
The legal weight for an eighteen wheeler is 80,000 lbs. That is without any oversize or overweight permits. In comparison, the average automobile weighs around 5,000 lbs.
-www.thetruckersreport.com
Want to know what people are talking about? Here's a list of Monday's five most e-mailed stories from Kansan. com:
3. Guest: Kansas basketball beyond definition
most e-mailed
2. Cinco de Mayo: under the influence
1. To hell and back
4. Ryan: Yale artist raises serious, basic questions about art
5. A question of identity
KU1info daily KU info
Leaving Lawrence for the summer? KU Independent Study has 150 online courses to choose from. You can start the courses any time you want, and take up to nine months to complete them.
et cetera
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of The Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at the Kansan business office, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045.
The University Daily Kansan (ISSN 0746-4967) is published daily during the school year except Saturday, Sunday, fall break, spring break and exams. Weekly during the summer session excluding holidays. Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence,KS 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $120 plus tax. Student subscriptions of are paid through the student activity fee. Postmaster: Send address changes to The University Daily Kansan,119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045
media partners
NEWS
KUJH
For more news,
turn to KUJH-
TV on Sunflower Broadband Channel 31
in Lawrence. The student-produced
news airs at 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.,
9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. every
Monday through Friday. Also, check
out KUJH online at tvku.edu.
KJHK is the student voice in radio. Each day there is news, music, sports, talk shows and other content made for students, by students. Whether it's rock 'n' roll or reggae, sport or speci al events, KJHK 90.7 is for you.
Jayhawks & Friends
Photo courtesy of Matthew Petty
Members of the local United Auto Workers strike outside the GM Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., Monday. Workers struck primarily for seniority rights.
Clark Siebert, Pretty Prairie sophomore, Curtis Falkner, Gardner junior, Erica Cailteux, Leawood junior, Matthew Petty, Chanhassen, Minn., sophomore, and Callie Reber, McPherson sophomore, celebrate the Jayhawks' National Title at the Alamodome. Students can submit pictures for consideration to print in Jayhawks & Friends to photos@kansan.com.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GM workers strike at KCK plant
ECONOMICS
BY MARGARET STAFFORD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A strike Monday by a United Autoworkers local at the General Motors plant here could endanger production of the popular Chevrolet Malibu sedan, adding to mounting problems for the automaker.
Employees at the Fairfax plant, which has more than 2,500 UAW members, set up pickets in medians and at the gates of the sprawling plant, and vowed to stay out for as long as necessary to get a contract.
The strike is particularly important to GM because the plant produces the Malibu, a medium-sized sedan that was named "Car of the Year" at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The strike comes on the heels of another walkout that began April 17 at a GM plant in Delta Township near Lansing. Other UAW locals in Wyoming and Warren, Mich., and Mansfield, Ohio, are negotiating.
Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates, said GM needs to settle the local union strikes quickly because it has only a 30- to 40-day supply of Malibus and 40- to 50-day supply of the large crossover vehicles such as the Buick Enclave. A 60-day supply is optimal by industry standards.
The redesigned 2008 Malibu has posted strong sales since its launch last fall, as drivers reacting to high gasoline prices and the struggling economy move away from trucks and sport utility vehicles.
"These are going to start impacting volume as well as market share and profits," he said.
GM announced last week that it lost $3.3 billion in the first quarter, due largely to one-time charges and North American losses that offset
gains in the rest of the world.
Malibu. From April, GM had sold 58,126 Malibus, up 32 percent from the same period last year. Sales were up 55 percent in April.
The company had pinned some if its hopes for a rebound on the Malibu. From January through
GM spokesman Dan Flores in Detroit said the company will consider increasing
"These are going to start impacting volume as well as market share and profits."
they hope their work on the Malibu would pressure GM to end the strike quickly.
But Schuster said increasing Malibu production at that plant would reduce output of the Pontiac G6 mid-size car, which is made at the same factory.
Seniority rights were the main issue cited by workers who struck Fairfax on Monday and some said
"It is in our favor that we make
JEFF SCHUSTER Executive director for J.D Power & Associates
Malibu production at its Orion Township, Mich., plant.
the Malibu," said C.J. Griffin, 50, of Gladstone, as other strikers nodded in agreement. "It's the company's number one car and I don't think GM can keep us idle for too long."
Industry
analysts have speculated that the UAW is trying to pressure GM to coax American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. into ending a bitter nine-week strike.
GM accounts for 80 percent of American Axle's parts business. About 3,600 UAW workers at five American Axle plants have been on strike since Feb.26.
Gary Chaison, a labor specialist at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said that by striking at Fairfax, UAW is applying pressure to get the American Axle deal done. The union had to use the GM strikes as leverage because the American Axle strike was going largely unnoticed due to slumping pickup truck and SUV sales, he said.
"Bargaining has intensified a great deal, and I think what the UAW is trying to do is just wrap it up," Chaison said Monday.
Chaison predicted the American Axle strike would end within a week, followed quickly by deals in Kansas City and Delta Township.
But Jeff Manning, president of the UAW local 31 that struck the Fairfax plant, said Monday's action had "nothing to do with" the Axle walkout.
"We would have put pressure on earlier it not been for American Axle," Manning said. "We have our issues and they have their issues. We fully support them and we hope they support our efforts."
Manning said the strike would last until seniority rights were protected.
GM shares fell 84 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $22.36 in trading Monday.
Shop supplies & disposal fees at no additional charge. Includes oil & filter change, lube the chassis, check & fill all fluids, check & inflate tires, up to 5 quarts of standard oil, oil filter, related fluids, & wheel weights, inspect bolts, hoses, air filter, wiper blades, lights & a visual brake inspection. European imports & diesel may be higher.
on campus
The lecture "CREES Brownbag: Laird Essay Winner. 'Slovakia's Gypsies: Centuries of Problems, Few New Solutions'" will begin at noon in 318 Bailey.
The KU Libraries Book Sale will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Watson Library.
The University Senate Executive Meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. in Strong Hall.
The concert "University Band" will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center.
The public event "Wonderful Life: A Musical Exploration of Evolution" will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Spooner Hall Commons.
The seminar "2008 Spring Faculty Colloquium" 'Walking Tree at Midnight'" will begin at 3:30 p.m. in 106 Spooner.
The concert "Bales Chorale" will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Bales Organ Recital Hall.
ODD NEWS Bear provides security to prison for free
NEW ORLEANS — The way the warden sees it, the more than 400-pound black bear living in the middle of the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary is an extra layer of security.
"I love that bear being right where it is," Warden Burl Cain said Monday. "I tell you what, none of our inmates are going to try to get out after dark and wander around when they might run into a big old bear. It's like having another guard at no cost to the taxpaver."
As for acting as an unpaid prison guard. Davidson doubts that the bear would provide much of a deterrent to a fleeing prisoner.
The bear was first seen by an inmate crossing a road in the prison on Friday.
Prison officials believe they have eight to 10 bears on the grounds, said Gary Young, head of the executive management office at the prison.
Maria Davidson, manager of the Large Carnivore Program for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, doubts there are that many, but marvels that even one was spotted in an area of high activity such as the center of the prison.
"I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heiights.
Man touts custom Pabst Blue Ribbon casket
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, III. — Bill Bramanti will love Pabst Blue Ribbon eternally, and he's got the custom-made beer-can casket to prove it.
He threw a party Saturday for friends and filled his silver coffin — designed in Pabst's colors of red, white and blue — with ice and his favorite brew.
The 67-year-old Glenwood village administrator doesn't plan on needing it anytime soon, though.
Associated Press
contact us
Tell us your news
Contact Darla Slake,
Matt Erickson.
Dianne Smith, Sarah Neff or
Erin Sommer at 864-4810 or
editor@kansan.com.
Kansas newroom
11 Stauffer Fint-Hall
135 Jawayhawk Blvd.
145 Jawayhawk Blvd.
(758) 864-8410
Voted Best Pizza in Lawrence!
RudyTuesday
2 Small Pizzas
2 toppings
2 drinks
Free Delivery!
749-0055 • 704 Mass. • rudyspizzeria.com
---
6