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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2002)
NATION 'HE BATTAt the battalion 9A Thursday, April 11, 2002 •oils Prison population growth tree! slowest in three decades ,r: «*• :e procedures idem was rep®; along Worlds tie-used roads i edge of the as narily by air . The jet tra; 60 feet, built get the nose oi! he street and i officials said, -as shut downai buildings andu the jet coi The plane was! r maintenance k d his colleagues th genes that« n called calmodi r CaMK. When: 1, it and another] ic physical char, ter intense exera with a high level J more niitochoit increase of a type " muscle. These; stained activity, si iners. archers found ti igh levels of CaX e same healthy i lice that did exert? ct increases more: itch muscles, bu' ;es the number i in the fast m\< ” he said. “That to what happens training." dria are struc® bat provide energ); oxygen and nutritf iny mitochondrial ■ work over a lop il training in®* n muscle cells. g that would trip ig pathway has: re is a specific®! lent easier. ght, Wilson said, the man speaks® auld not explain** re for or howto* atteries. :he shoes to an is- mine them, hesa* a preliminary ^ of the man tm*- ispicious. The a* : released. WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people in prison grew last year at the slowest rate in three decades, the Justice Department reported Wednesday. The total population in all prisons and jails rose a bit more than 1 percent, nearing 2 million, according to the annu al report. As of June 30, 2001, one of every 145 U.S. resi dents was behind bars. Tougher anti-crime policies, more facilities and longer sen- Prison population growth slows Last year the growth rate of the prison population was the slowest since 1972. Federal prisons saw a greater increase even though most inmates are held at the state level. Change In prison population Percent change from previous year 16% 1972 1990 2000- 2001 NOTE: 1972 to 1990 are calendar years: beginning in 1991, years are from July 1 to June 30. SOURCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics AP tences have caused the decades- long increase in the prison pop ulation. Most of the growth between 2000 and 2001 came in federal facilities. “It appeaps the state prison population has reached some stability,” said Allen Beck, a statistician with the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime rates are down and parole violations have stabilized, while state legislatures in recent years have not enacted the kind of sweeping sentencing reforms that passed in the early 1990s. Beck said the federal sys tem could continue to grow at its current pace as U.S. district court caseloads swell. Much of that caseload is taken up by drug, immigration and weapons prosecutions. The trend “depends on fed eral law enforcement and pros ecutorial discretion ” he said. Overall, there were 1,965,495 people in custody in federal and state prisons and local jails in June 2001, up 1.6 percent from the previous year. The population in U.S. and state prisons combined rose 1.1 percent, the slowest annual growth since 1972. The bulk of the prison pop ulation is at the state level, which rose 0.4 percent. The number of federal prisoners rose 7.2 percent. Prisons usually hold convict ed criminals sentenced to terms longer than one year. Jails gener ally keep inmates awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences. Long-standing racial and eth nic disparities remained, partic ularly among younger black men. For instance, 13.4 percent of black males age 25 to 29 were in prison or jail, compared with 4.1 percent of Hispanic men and 1.8 percent of white males. Marc Mauer, assistant direc tor of The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group, gave a mixed review to the Justice report. The group pushes for alternatives to incarceration. “Increasingly, policy-mak ers recognize that prisons are expensive,” Mauer said about the trend on the state level. He suggested that the current atmosphere of tightening budg ets may have legislators rethinking sentencing policies to avoid building new prisons. “Money is less of an obstacle to Congress,” Mauer added. “The federal system is where there has been a great reluctance in Congress to reconsider mandatory sentencing laws and drug policy.” Beck added that some of the increase in the federal prison population came as the U.S. government continued to assume responsibility for District of Columbia prisons. NEWS IN BRIEF Retirement plans may get protection after Enron WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to strengthen protec tions for workers’ retirement plans is heading for debate on the House floor in the aftermath of the Enron collapse. The bill, which largely contains President Bush’s pension overhaul plan, follows a flurry of hearing and /roposals on pensions, accounting standards and corporate disclosure after the December collapse of ttie energy company. A final plan was being crafted Wednesday after an agreement was reached between Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and Workforce Chairman John Boehner, R-Ohio, on investment advice provisions and other differences in the bills that cleared their committees. Boehner’s bill will serve as the framework of the plan. But House Democrats, who had not seen the final version, complained that neither bill “would prevent big corporations from taking advantage of their employees as Enron did,” said Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Rep. Martin Frost, D- Texas, in a letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-lll. • Authorized Warranty Service Center • Factory Trained & Certified Technicians • State-of-the-Art Diagnostic Equipment •V DCCTI THE DCO I I DOUGLASS • FREE Shuttle Service • Clean and Comfortable Waiting Areas Driven Genuine Nissan Parts with 12 Month/12,000 Mile Limited Warranty Nobody knows your Nissan like Douglass Nissan For service appointments call A** 764-7726 1001 Earl Rudder Freeway South, College Station PRE-INVENTORY SALE • 30-60% off all Aggie merchandise • Selected tees $ 5. 00 • 50% off all backpacks, briefcases, duffles, and all other bags • 10% off all calculators and software bookstores • Northgate • Culpepper Plaza • Village Center Aggie Unlimited Rost Oak Mall 1.800-699-1 142 Sale now thru April I 2 Calls loo and The Department of English of Texas A&M University Present: Yuse£ Komunyakaa Pulitzer Prize Veteran of the Vietnam War Two Prize- Winning Writers Rolando Hinojosa-Smith Primo Casa de las Americas Veteran of the Korean War The Stark Galleries / Memorial Student Union Thursday / April 11 / 7:30 pm Reception to follow For more information contact Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters 979-458-3108 orcallaloo@tamu.edu fbee LIVE MUSIC PARTY!! f Come dunk Yell Leader Or 0 Cardo!! ^Oor 1 A.UO I «'So Come and see the “new* '■'ze. BOOKSTORES at Doors open at 8:00 Northgate 8:00 PM-IO:OOPM April II No Purchase Necessary Z 1 Your Degree is Your Ticket to a New Car 2002 Volkswagen Jetta Advantage Volkswagen in Houston is extending a program to graduates who plan to purchase a new or pre-owned car. Under our special plan, you could qualify for very low interest rates, no co-signer or credit history are required and we will pay your first month's payment on a new or certified pre-owned Volkswagen. To learn how you can apply prior to graduation, call Mike Capps at 713/293-6000. ' Volkswagen (713) 293-6000 www.advantagecars.com 7025 Old Katy Road Mon - Fri 9am - 7pm Houston, Texas Sat 9am - 6pm Drivers wanted! Sale does not include diploma frames and sale prices cannot be combined with any other offer.