Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page A7

WEDNESDAY, WWW.FREEP.COM 7A Headlines STUDENT LOAN RATES Senate Republicans block bill Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic bill Tuesday to preserve low interest rates for millions of college loans, as the two parties engaged in election-year choreography aimed at showing that each is the better protector of families in rugged economy. The 52-45 vote to begin debating the legislation fell eight votes short of the 60 needed to proceed and stalled work on an effort both parties expect will ultimately produce a compromise, probably soon. For now, each side is happy to use the stalemate to snipe at the other with campaign-ready talking points while they are gridlocked over how to cover the $6-billion cost. The Democratic bill would keep interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4% for an additional year, rather than doubling automatically for new loans starting July 1. It would have no impact on current loans.

PENN STATE CASE Assistant coach who blew whistle suing school The Penn State football assistant whose allegationof Jerry Sandusky attacking a child in the showers led to Joe firing says suing the school. Mike McQueary filed a notice of a lawsuit based on whistle-blower protections Tuesday in Centre County. The filing was first reported by the Centre Daily Times. McQueary was a graduate assistant a decade ago, when he reported witnessing the incident to Paterno. McQueary is a key prosecution witness in the child sexual abuse case against former assistant Sandusky.

The notice accompanied by a full complaint. McQueary lawyer Elliott Strokoff respond to a phone message Tuesday. APenn State spokesman says that McQueary remains on the payroll and that school officials comment because they seen the filing. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH KILLING Zimmerman asks for a delay in trial George Zimmerman has waived his right to a speedy trial, arguing to a Florida court that he needs more time to prepare. The move means it could be October at the earliest and likely much later before the start of his second-degree murder trial.

intentions were outlined in two brief documents that attorney, Mark filed Tuesday in Seminole County, circuit court. The actions we- a surprise to legal experts, who said such moves are common even in less-complex, lower-profile felony cases. rules of criminal procedure require that suspects charged with a felony be brought to trial within 175 days of their arrest, unless those defendants ask that the right be waived. Zimmerman turned himself in to authorities on April 11, charged in the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was walking in neighborhood, and whom Zimmerman said he considered to be suspicious. Zimmerman, 28, was released from jail after posting $150,000 bond.

He admits he shot Martin, 17, but claims he did so in self-defense. He has pleaded not guilty in court documents, making his appearance unnecessary at arraignment hearing. VAN DER SLOOT CASE Confessed killer to fight U.S. extradition Confessed murderer Joran van der Sloot told a judge Tuesday that he will fight extradition from Peru to the U.S., where he faces extortion and wire fraud charges in connection with the disappearance of American Natalee Holloway, his lawyer said. Van der Sloot remains the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of Holloway in Aruba.

He faces an indictment in the U.S. on charges of accepting $25,000 in early 2010 in exchange for an unfulfilled promise to lead her lawyer to the body. Judge Zenaida Vilca informed Van der Sloot of the U.S. extradition request during a closed-door meeting at Piedras Gordas prison just north of Lima. The 24-year-old Dutchman told the judge he would fight extradition, his lawyer, Maximo Altez, said.

Quick hits MISSING GIRLS: The net widened Tuesday in the case of a Mississippi man suspected of killing a Tennessee woman and her teenage daughter and fleeing with her two younger girls as authorities charged his wife and mother in connection with the abduction. KIDS ON HOOD: An Indiana man accused of driving three blocks with four children strapped to the hood of his car was being held in jail Tuesday on charges of drunken driving and neglect, police said. Ft. Wayne police said the mother of three of those children also was being held on neglect charges. The other child belonged to the man.

None of the children aged 4, 5, 6 and was injured, police spokeswoman Raquel Foster said. Awitness called police Monday evening after seeing a man and woman using a tow strap to tie the children to the car in a liquor store parking lot and drive away, Foster said. HIV PREVENTION DRUG: A pill that has long been used to treat HIV has moved one step closer to becoming the first drug approved to prevent healthy people from becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that Gilead Truvada appears to be safe and effective for HIV prevention. On Thursday, a panel of FDA advisers will consider the review when it votes on whether Truvada should be approved as a preventive treatment for people who are at high risk of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse.

BAHAMAS ELECTION: The leader of the former main opposition party has been sworn in as prime minister, promising to strengthen the tourism-dependent economy, reduce crime and improve prospects for unemployed people. The unemployment rate has risen to nearly BEAR HOTEL: A 200-pound black bear that swiped some blankets and pillows from a western Montana cabin to line his makeshift den in the crawl space has moved on. Cabin owner Judy Wing of Missoula told the Montana Standard that now that the bear, dubbed Blue, has awakened and left the cabin, going to bear-proof the seasonal cabin on Georgetown Lake. from reports by Free Press news services WASHINGTON North Carolina voters decided overwhelmingly to strengthen their gay marriage six-term Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana was routed by the right flank of his own Republican Party on Tuesday a conservative show of enthusiasm and strength six months before the nation chooses between Democratic President Barack Obama and GOP foe Mitt Romney.

Romney swept three Republican primaries in Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia, moving ever closer to sealing his nomination. have no regrets about running for re-election, even if doing so can be a very daunting the 80-year-old Lugar said Tuesday night as he conceded to state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, the tea party- backed GOP opponent who ended his nearly four-decade career in the Senate. North Carolinians voted to amend their state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, effectively outlawing gay unions. Also Tuesday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett won the Democratic primary in historic recall election, emerging to face Republican Gov. Scott Walker on June 5.

Walker easily defeated token opposition in the GOP primary Tuesday. win sets up a rematch of the 2010 race in what will be the culmination of an effort to oust the first-term Republican that officially began more than six months ago. The recall, triggered by the collection of more than 900,000 petition signatures, was spurred by anger over proposal passed last year taking collective-bargaining rights from public workers. If defeated next month, Walker would be just the third governor recalled in U.S. history.

Republicans in Wisconsin and across the country have rallied to his defense, helping him to collect $25 million in campaign donations, mostly from out-of-state donors, and shatter state fund-raising records. Barrett had of the vote in preliminary results. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, who was the favored candidate of the unions that pushed the recall, came in second with of the vote, with precincts reporting. know that the real battle is really going to be a battle for the values of Barrett said shortly after the race was called. view is Scott Walker has done a lot of damage to the Wisconsin be fixed as long as Scott Walker is Walker planned to speak later Tuesday night.

The contests overshadowed continued progress toward the GOP presidential nomination. He won the GOP presidential primaries in Indi- ana, North Carolina and West Virginia, drawing close to the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination. He was likely to win 100 or so delegates of the 288 he still needed. The outcomes of far-flung voting gave clues about the state of the electorate and highlighted the political minefields facing both Republican and Democratic candidates with the presidential contest well under way. Republicans need to gain four seats to take control of the U.S.

Senate, and the Lugar loss Democrats a pickup said Sen. Charles Schumer, Elsewhere, North Carolina voters moved in the opposite direction from a string of states Democratic-leaning places such as New York and well as conservative Iowa where same-sex marriage is now legal. Six states and Washington, D.C., now recognize gay unions. North Carolina law already bans gay marriage, but the amendment on the state ballot effectively slammed that door. In the days before the North Carolina vote, two top administration officials Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan expressed support for gay mar- riage.

Obama supports most gay rights but has stopped short of backing gay marriage. The Biden and Duncan comments sent the White House into damage-control mode as gay rights advocates pressed for Obama to publicly support same-sex unions before November. Aides also tried to use the focus on the issue to criticize equivocations on gay rights over the years. Romney, in turn, emphasized his position that marriage should be solely between one man and one woman. He has said that he supports a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Conservative voices speak loudly in primaries WM. WIS.) POST-CRESCENT Election inspector Jean Vander Heiden watches as Pam and Steve Reetz submit votes in Appleton, Wis. Democrats picked Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to take on Gov. Scott Walker in his recall election. CHARLOTTE OBSERVER VIA AP Voters wait in Conover, N.C.

A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage passed. DARRON PRESS The 36-year career of Sen. Richard Lugar, is coming to an end after he lost in the Republican primary to a tea party-backed have no regrets about running for Lugar said. By Kasie Hunt and Tom LoBianco Associated Press DAMASCUS, Syria International envoy Kofi Annan gave a bleak assessment Tuesday of the crisis in Syria, saying violence remains at unacceptable levelsand warning that his peace plan is the last chance to avert a disastrous civil war. Annan insisted there is still hope and said the presence of United Nations observers has had a calming effect on the crisis, which has killed at least 9,000 people since March 2011.

is a profound concern that the country could otherwise descend into full civil war and the implications of that are Annan told jour- nalistsin Geneva, Switzerland, after briefing a closed-door session of the UN Security Council in New York by video conference. The observation mission, he said, the only remaining chance to stabilize the About 60 UN observers are currently in Annan said Tuesday that a full deployment of 300 should be on the ground by the end of the month. He said even the small number of observers have had an effect so far. Syria has become one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Arab Spring, and world powers have been unable to stop the violence. Syrian President Bashar Assad still has a firm grip on power, and his regime portrays his opponents as terrorists out to weaken the country.

Although the death toll mounts daily, the UN has ruled out any military intervention of the type that helped bring down Moammar Gadhafi, in part out of fears that it could worsenthe conflict. Annan said a civil war in Syria would affect only Syria. It will have an impact on the whole region and this is why we should all be so concerned for the Syrians, for Syria, and for a region geopolitical should all be concerned Annan decries violence, praises UN help By Bassem Mroue and John Heilprin Associated Press Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana was defeated in the Republican primary Tuesday, ending the 36-year career of a GOP elder statesman and handing the tea party movement its biggest upset victory so far in the 2012 elections. Lugar was ousted by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, whose campaign against the veteran lawmaker was backed by conservative groups including the Tea Party Express, the anti-tax Club for Growth, the National Rifle Association, the tea party-aligned Freedom Worksand ex-Alaska Gov.

Sarah Palin. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks election spending, outside groups invested $4.5 million in the race. the people of Indiana in the United States Senate has been the greatest honor of my public Lugar said in his concession speech, in which he struck a largely positive tone about the merits of public service and the need to solve problems facing the country. Lugar is the longest-serving senator in history; in the Senate, he is the longest-tenured lawmaker alongside Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Senate career is largely defined by his foreign policy work. He has twice served as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and now serves as the ranking Republican on the panel. One of his signature legislative achievements was a 1991 law to reduce and dismantle nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction held by Russia and other nations. victory will redouble effort to pick up Indiana this November in their ongoing battle to maintain their Senate majority, currently held at 53-47. U.S.

Rep. Joe Donnelly ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face Mour- dock in November. Longtime senator Lugar ousted in Indiana By Susan Davis USA TODAY.