4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
Fight
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The panelists agreed that the assumption that Lawrence draws a homeless population is a myth.
"People don't come from all over the nation to sleep on a mat." Hartnett said.
Hartnett said the second-place ranking by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the media headlines sparked an open public debate. She is currently working with a class of students on a survey to "fill the gap" and find out what the homeless in Lawrence think about people's behavior toward them.
Highberger said he thought
the ranking was inaccurate. Specific ordinances like the prohibiting of camping by rivers, on rooftops and on sidewalks were targeted as reasons behind the city's "mean" nature.
— Edited by Cynthia Hernandez
Highberger said other jurisdictions around the nation have the same ordinances, and that they were passed to solve problems, not out of spite for the homeless.
The open question-and-answer forum in the Kansas Union was part of "Into the Streets Week," one of 15 programs sponsored by Center for Community Outreach.
NATION
Workers rally to protest Wal-Mart
BY MARCUS KABEL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Unions representing 6 million workers rallied Wednesday in 35 cities from New York to Los Angeles to Kansas City, Mo., to protest what they called inadequate health-care coverage by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer.
In Atlanta, about 50 to 60 people gathered in a city church.
In Denver, about 200 people turned out. Only 14 showed up in El Paso, Texas, where organizers said they were unable to get a city permit for a larger demonstration.
In Cleveland, WKYC TV reported dozens of protesters. Organizers said the totals were over 350 in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., and around 100 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Change to Win labor federation of seven unions, which broke away from the AFL-CIO last year to form the nation's second largest
labor group, said Wal-Mart epitomized a business model of low pay and benefits that drag down the middle class. The AFL-CIO has about 8 million members.
"You can't really talk about these issues without talking about Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart drags everybody down, but they are not the only bad actor out there," said Carole Florman, spokeswoman for Change to Win.
It is the federation's first national rally targeting Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart and part of a broader campaign called "Make work pay" aimed at raising living standards for workers, she said.
wal-Mart called the rallies a political stunt that ignored the fact that it created 225,000 U.S. jobs last year and provides career opportunities and above-average pay and benefits for the retail sector.
It also says it saves its customers, including working families, about $2,300 a year.
Enron founder takes the stand
BUSINESS
Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy
BY KRISTEN HAYS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Enron founder Kenneth Lay is escorted to the courthouse for his third day of testimony in his fraud and conspiracy trial Wednesday in Houston.
Pat Sullivan/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay dropped his famous affable persona as his cross-examination began Wednesday, snarling at a prosecutor who accused him of witness tampering when the ex-chairman and chief executive called several potential witnesses during his fraud and conspiracy trial.
Jurors who had been listening impassively snapped to attention.
"Did you have any conversations to get your story straight for trial?" asked prosecutor John Hueston, equally primed for battle.
for battle.
"Can you elaborate on that Mr. Hueston?"
Lay shot back.
"I'm not sure what story you're talking about."
The prosecutor noted that Lay called two Goldman Sachs & Co. executives during the trial regarding a September 2001 meeting about Enron.
Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow — whom Lay has dubbed a traitor, liar and crook — testified that he and Lay met with the executives to discuss restructuring Enron at the same time Lay was telling employees and reporters that the company was sound. Lay says the executives called the meeting to discuss Enron's vulnerability to a takeover.
Lay said he called the executives in March — the same month Fastow testified — but he said he didn't try to align their memories of the meeting with his.
"I was trying to make sure some facts I had about a meeting we had in the fall of 2001
was right. I was just trying to make sure that all of my facts were as accurate as they could be," he declared, noting further that Fastow "gave a fake version of that meeting."
that meeting. Lay, known in Houston for his avuncular, polite persona and who frequently headlined charity events, shed any pretenses to his usual diplomacy when faced with the prosecutor who secured his indictment in July 2004. Lay's visible anger and Hueston's rapid-fire questioning produced an electricity that has been absent from the trial, even during almost eight days of testimony from his far scrappier co-defendant, former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling.
After a short afternoon break,
Lay appeared to calm down.
Lay also acknowledged he tried to contact Vince Kaminski, a former top risk analyst for Enron, nine days before Kaminski testified for the prosecution. Kaminski told jurors he got a cold reaction when he told Lay and other executives in October 2001 that Enron needed to "come clean" on questionable financial structures in the weeks before it crashed into bankruptcy proceedings.
"I was trying to reach Vince Kaminski a long time ago before I even knew he would testify. I was trying to reconnect with Vince, to talk to him about some issues I wanted to talk to him about," Lay said.
Lay said Wednesday he thought Glisan, who is serving
a prison term for creating one of the structures Kaminski complained about, has been under "enormous pressure" from federal prosecutors.
Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy from when he reprised the role of CEO following Skilling's abrupt resignation in mid-August 2001. Skilling faces 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors related to his activities from 1999 to 2001.
Once jurors in the Lay-Skilling case begin deliberating, Lay faces a trial without a jury before Lake on bank fraud charges for allegedly reneging on an agreement with banks not to use $75 million in loans to buy Enron stock on margin.