Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 1

Lara mi Tuesday May 10, 2005 Showers possible High in the upper 70s. Paqe 6B YEARS 50t THE POWER OF KNOWING SINCE 1 855 www.lsj.com oiuiirra Rasheed Wallace SPORTS Construction crews rip into more area streets I PISTONS TAKE GAME 1 VS. PACERS U.S.-led offensive killslOO militants inlraq By Alexandra Zavis Associated Press a i nil) Richard Hamilton's 28 points lead Detroit to 96-81 win, 1C LIVING I DOWN TO FOUR ON 'IDOL' It's anybody's guess who will win on Fox's hit show, ID BUSED mm BECKY SHINKLansing State Journal Closed: A worker loads pavement into a truck Monday on Walnut Street downtown. As part of the newest phase of the $8.8 million Capitol Loop project, crews began ripping up Walnut Street, which will be closed between Allegan and Ottawa until late June. Whoad ij- WORK Road work season brings frustrations Lynne Martinez's bid shakes up Aug.

2 primary, analysts say Road woes Lansing-area road construction projects. flj 1 OIct GrandRiver II fa I 77. sfrwmif irEast Lansing Headaches grow as barrels crop up to mark projects By Kevin Grasha Lansing State Journal The beeping sound that's awakened Kathy Foren about 6 a.m. every day for the last few weeks has not been her alarm. It's been the sound of trucks and bulldozers as they back out of the lot across the street from her house to begin a new day's work.

She and her husband live in the construction zone that once was Hosmer Street. The city is rebuilding the municipal sewer system right in front of her house. "We've had our headaches," she said, standing on her front porch, less than 20 feet from a long stretch of Note: Map does not contain all road construction projects. BAGHDAD, Iraq Hundreds of U.S. troops backed by helicopter gun- ships and warplanes swept into remote desert villages near the Syrian border Monday, hunting for followers of Iraq's most wanted terrorist and reported ly killing as many as 100 militants smce the week end operation began.

The U.S. military said some foreign fighters were believed among the insurgents killed in the first 48 hours of the assault, which began late Saturday in the border town of Qaim, about 200 miles west of Baghdad. At least three Marines were killed in the region, it said. U.S. officials, described the area as a known smuggling route and a haven for foreign fighters involved in Iraq's insurgency.

Meanwhile, militants claimed in an Internet posting to have captured a Japanese man after ambushing an international British security company's convoy in western Iraq. A spokesman for the company confirmed the employee was missing. The U.S. offensive was being conducted by Regimental Combat Team 2, a joint force of about 1,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers commanded by the 2nd Marine Division, and expected to last several days, said Capt Jeffrey Pool, a Marine spokesman. A senior military official in Washington said the offensive was targeting followers of Abu Mus-ab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq.

Acting on information from a captured al-Zarqawi associate, U.S. forces moved into Qaim overnight Saturday. On Sunday, troops moved into villages in and around Obei-di and started to pushed north across the Euphrates River, according to The Chicago Tribune, which has a reporter embedded with the combat team. The push comes amid a surge of militant attacks that have killed more than 310 people since April 28. Associated Press Aftermath: A destroyed police car is taken away Monday after a car bomb exploded in Baghdad, Iraq, killing three Iraqis.

Index (Main A Lottery 2 A Opinion 6A I Local Deaths I Sports Living Advice 2D Movie ads 3D Television 5D (Business Today 8D (Classified Source Lansing State Journal Home Delivery: 1.800.234.1719 "40901 "051 32 9 Copyright 2005 Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan. A Gannett Newspaper Imnhlf Sign of the season: A sign tells drivers traveling north on Larch Street of road work ahead. Inside A list of area road projects. Page 5A er work started Monday along Larch Street, near East Grand River Avenue. Mid-Michigan's orange-striped barrel and detour-sign season hit full bloom this week with several road paving and widening projects along with the sewer work Centipede theOfy Reducing both directions of U.S.

127 south of Lansing to one lane has created a new phenomenon, said Doug See ROADS Page 5A Stuck in traffic Los Angeles area travelers still had the largest annual delays in 2003, but had a five-hour improvement from 2002. Annual hours of delay per traveler by urban area H3 2003 EZ 2002 Los Angeles San Francisco (l Washington, D.C Atlanta Houston Dallas 160 61 Chicago 55 Detroit 5I Boston 51 Miami Source: Texas Transportation Institute Associated Press 66 64 1M The Martinez file Age: 56 Occupation: Michigan children's Family: Divorced, two sons Party: Democrat Background I Michigan children's ombudsman since April 7, 2003 Executive director, Capital Area Youth Alliance and the Commission for Lansing Schools Success, 2001-03 State representative, April 1994 to December 2000 I Ingham County commissioner, January 1985 to April 1994 3 in race so far As of Monday, three people had filed for Lansing mayor: Tony Benavides, Virg Bernero and Dale Abronowitz, a city maintenance worker. Lynne Martinez, the Michigan children's ombudsman, said she will file today. Abronowitz, 35, who works for the city's Public Service Department, said he would take a 50 percent pay cut and give up the mayor's vehicle if elected. The mayor's position pays about $107,000.

"I want to put the heat on the other candidates," Abronowitz said. "They won't deal with the issues of the common working-class person, but I will." Those who wish to file have until 4 p.m. today to do so. You must file in person in the City Clerk's Office on the ninth floor of City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Ave.

Those with questions may call the office at 483-4131. I BIG WINNERS Seven $1 bets were made that picked the top four finishers in Sunday's Kentucky Derby. Each ticket was worth $864,253.50. Below are the record-setting payouts for $2 wagers, the standard bet amount: I Giacomo, at 50-1 odds, to win the race: $102.60 I Exacta (selecting the top two finishers in order): $3,814.80 I Trifecta, (picking the top three finishers in order): $133,134.80 I Superfecta, or selecting the top four finishers in order. $1,72830 Drivers sitting in traffic longer in smaller metropolitan areas By Tom Lambert Lansing State Journal The battle for Lansing mayor is about to heat up.

Lynne Martinez, the Michigan children's ombudsman and a former Democratic state lawmaker, said she will file for the post before today's 4 p.m. deadline. That means it's no longer a two-person fight between incumbent Tony Benavides and state Sen. Virg Berne-ro, political insiders In fact, if Martinez raises enough money, she has a chance of knocking one of the men out of the Aug. 2 primary, experts say.

The top two vote-getters from the primary move on to the Nov. 8 election in the nonpartisan race. "The primary was going to be a joke," said Mark Greb-ner, a political analyst and Democratic Ingham County commissioner. "Now it becomes much more serious. The three candidates are all going to be walking around looking for a seat when the music stops." Also filing for the post is Dale Abronowitz, a city maintenance worker.

Martinez, 56, offered few details of her platform, but said she'd try to boost economic development, bring more people downtown and work with the City Council on the city's financial crisis. "It's important that we have another credible voice in this race," she said. Martinez said she already has told her boss, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, that she will resign from her state post in the next few weeks. Martinez oversees a $1.2 million annual budget and staff of 12.

The Office of the Children's See MAYOR Page 5A official told mutuel clerk Brenda Reagan that her machine had a superfecta winner. Track owner Jack Simms told Hertzog, but when he returned to the table, the tickets were gone. Workers gathered all the trash bags, and Hertzog and others picked through them. The next day, Reagan noticed two tickets lying next to her machine. One of them was Hertzog's winner.

"What a roller coaster ride this has been, just unbelievable," Hertzog said. After taxes, Hertzog received over $604,000. Study shows huge increase in delays since '82 By Leslie Miller Associated Press WASHINGTON Sitting in traffic, an annoying part of life in many big cities, is becoming a major headache in places not usually lumped in with New York, Washington and Los Angeles. Take Omaha, Neb. Each year, motorists in one of the country's most wide-open LansingStateJournal Foren's experience could become the norm for many more residents and some business owners across the city this summer.

New sew- five in 1982. Among the newer entries: Colorado Springs, Virginia Beach, Charleston, S.C.; New Haven, Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and Cincinnati. "That's where the growth is," said Tim Lomax, one of the report's co-authors. "The medium cities are about 10 to 15 years behind the big cities." And 10 to 15 years is about how long it takes to complete transportation projects that reduce congestion, he said. The numbers, from 2003 See JAMS Page 5A "What a roller coaster ride this has been" Chris Hertzog winner of a $1 Kentucky Derby bet that paid $864,253.50 ers in order.

Two of the other winning tickets were sold in New Jersey, one each was sold at Philadelphia Park and Suffolk Downs, and two others came through clearinghouses in Maine and Nevada, Churchill Downs spokesman dirt that used to be blacktop. "But when they're done and out of here, I figure we'll have a better neighborhood because of it." states spend the equivalent of nearly a full day in highway gridlock, according to the annual Urban Mobility Report released Monday by the Texas Institute. Omaha Online An interactive map of some of the nation's most-gridlocked areas: wid.ap.org interactives 2005traffic.html is among a growing list of metropolitan areas where drivers are delayed at least 20 hours a year. There are 51 such places now, compared with just wondering how he could've let $864,253.50 slip away. "I couldn't believe I lost this once-in-a-lifetime payday," the 39-year-old Hertzog said in a statement Monday.

According to Turf Paradise, the clerk who sold him the ticket came to the rescue Sunday, finding the misplaced slip of paper next to the machine where Hertzog had placed the wager. Hertzog bought one of seven $1 tickets to hit the Kentucky Derby superfecta, which yielded the highest payout in Derby history, by picking the top four finish- Clerk finds bettors lost $864,000 Derby ticket John Asher said. The payoffs came after 50-1 long shot Giacomo sprang the second biggest upset in Derby history, edging 72-1 longer shot Closing Argument No one picked the top four Derby finishers in order on a $2 ticket, which would have paid more than $L7 million, Asher said. Hertzog made 100 $1 bets 50 superfectas and 50 tri-fectas all in random computer-generated quick picks. When he thought he'd lost, he left the tickets on a table.

Later, according to Turf Paradise in Phoenix, a track Track employee returns winner to Phoenix man By Chris Duncan Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. Chris Hertzog figured all was lost as he sifted through the trash at Turf Paradise, frantically searching for his winning Kentucky Derby superfecta ticket The Phoenix firefighter gave up after two hours, A'.