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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1999)
A crafty break Sharon Kolbet/DN MARK ANDERSON, a junior fine arts major, takes advantage of the four day fall break to work on a large clay project. Anderson said he spent most of the weekend in the ceramics studio. At least 79 die after India cyclone NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Residents in eastern India searched for the dead and gathered food packets dropped from helicopters Tuesday, while officials totaled the damage inflicted by a cyclone that has killed at least 79 people according to news reports. At least 1,000 others were injured and hundreds left homeless, reports said. Ganjam district in Orissa state bore the brunt of the 125-mph winds that tore down electrical and tele phone poles, disrupted train and road services and smashed huts, Indian news agencies reported. At least 71 people were killed in Ganjam and five others died in other parts of Orissa. Thirty-three deaths were reported from the town of Berhampur alone, United News of India reported. The town was marooned and awash in 5 feet of water, the Press Trust of India said. The death toll was expected to rise as communications are restored in Orissa and rescuers search collapsed buildings. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ordered federal and state officials to make an aerial survey of Ganjam, United News reported. Air force helicopters have been placed under state control for rescue operations and food drops. U.N. officials, Lincolnites examine laws on refugees ByGwenTietgen Staff writer Several organizations in Lincoln are doing their part to make sure refugees won’t be sent back to the countries where they were persecuted. Community members who work with refugees had an opportunity to lis ten Tuesday to officials from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees talk about the history of the office. Officials also discussed the exact definition of a refugee, the conse quences of the 1996 laws affecting refugees and asylum-seekers an<Lthe practical ways the UNHCR is protect ing and assisting refugees. Community members asked the officials questions about refugee issues and could attend one of two seminars presented by the officials. One of the seminars focused on how refugees are granted asylum. The other looked at how countries determine the status of refugees. Regina Germain, senior legal coun selor for the UNHCR in Washington, said that 80 percent of refugees are women and children, and only one in 200 refugees has resettled. The UNHCR creates solutions for refugee problems such as voluntary repatriation, when refugees return to their country, as well as resettlement, when refugees go to a different country. UNHCR also assists refugees with basic needs such as medical care, food, shelter and education. Most refugees are from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia and Burundi, according to the UNHCR. Most refugees who are resettled in the United States are from Eastern Europe, including Bosnia and Kosovo, and from the Soviet Union, Africa and Southeast Asia, with most of those refugees being from Vietnam. There are 20 million refugees in the world according to the UNHCR Out of that 20 million refugees, 11.5 million are outside their countries and cannot return because of a well-founded fear, and 1.9 million want to return to their countries. About 1.3 million are asylum-seek ers, people who have left their native countries and applied for recognition as refugees in other countries, and 6.7 mil lion are displaced within their countries. Lincoln resettled about450 individ uals through Catholic Social Services and 161 individuals through Church World Services. Julie Skonard, executive director for Church World Services, said it takes one to five years to adjust to living in Nebraska, with language being the biggest challenge. New refugees go through a two week orientation class and are given aid until they find jobs. Volunteers, who were once new refugees themselves, might meet them at the airport or help them find an apart ment. Maria Diaz, die state refugee reset tlement coordinator, said the number of refugees that are allowed into Nebraska is decided by the national office at the beginning of the year. Diaz said Lincoln has begun to diversify services, such as offering books in different languages in the city library and offering translators through the phone system. Larry Yungk, senior resettlement counselor for the UNHCR in Washington, said the workshop was a good chance for people who work with refugees locally to learn more about the situation of refugees internationally. “And it’s an opportunity for us who work internationally to see what’s hap pening at the local level with refugees,” he said. Officials call for more child care r Washington (ap> - just 15 percent of low- and moderate-income children eligible for government financed child care are getting the sub sidies, the government reported Tuesday. Almost 9.9 million kids qualify, but just over 1.5 million actually got the help last year, said the report released by Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, who used the findings to urge more spending on childcare. “The clock is ticking for Congress to act,” she said. “For working parents and their children, there’s not a moment to lose.” Participation rates varied consider ably across the country, from West Virginia, where 45 percent of eligible children were enrolled, to Mississippi, with just 5 percent Under the programs, states offer child-care subsidies on a sliding scale, with the aid phasing out as a family’s income grows. States were slow to begin spending extra money allocated for child care in the 1996 welfare overhaul. Now they have spent virtually every dollar avail able, and then some, the HHS report said. Last year, states spent $3.5 billion in federal and state money. Much of the state spending was required to qualify for federal dollars, but states spent $686 million more in welfare money in order to help more children. In his budget proposal for 2000, ii Children are priceless, and we shouldn’t nickel and dime them when it comes to providing safe and affordable child care,” Christopher Dodd tJ.S.senator ' President Clinton asked Congress for $ 19 billion over five years in increased child-care money. That included more for subsidies and more in tax credits for working parents and for parents who forgo a second income to stay home with children. “Children are priceless, and we shouldn’t nickel and dime them when it comes to providing safe and affordable child care,” said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who joined with Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., to push for more spending. Congressional Republicans have shown interest in the tax credits but are wary of increased subsidies, noting that subsidies already were increased in 1996. They note that many states have excess welfare money that can be used for child care. “States have plenty of money to spend on child care in the coming years as more and more welfare beneficiaries return to work, and I’m working on ways to provide even more flexibility to states so they can meet this growing need,” said a statement from Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., chairwoman of the House Ways and Means welfare subcommittee. Clinton pushed for major new child-care spending last year too, but none was included in the deal he nego tiated with the GOP at the end of the year. This year it will be a priority, said Melissa Skolfield, HHS spokeswoman. She said since prospects for a signifi cant overhaul of Medicare have fallen, child care will rise as a priority for the department and the White House. In its HHS spending bill, the Senate approved $1 billion in increased child care subsidies, although how to pay for it was unclear. The House bill included no new money, and the two bills are being reconciled Under federal law, any family earn ing 85 percent of the state’s median income qualifies for the child-care sub sidy, meaning about four in 10 families qualify. States can impose tighter requirements, and all but nine have. Aid ottice says it s Y zK-compliant Y2K from page 1 and they would have to pay double tuition out of their own pockets.” Craig Munier, scholarships and financial aid director, said the test was an important step in die prevention of Y2K problems. “All our communications with the U.S. Department of Education are electronic,” Munier said. “So (the test) is pretty fundamental with what we do.” For the test, employees created phony names for financial aid applica tions and plugged those into a software program that used the year 2000. The test, completed in June, is one of several ways the office is trying to make sure records won’t be lost when 2000 hits. Along with the U.S. Department of Education test, the office has also taken several other steps to ensure Y2K compatibility. Work was completed in January to make the Student Information System mainframe software compliant. The software keeps records such as stu dents’ schedules and grades. Munier said the work-in January was more important than the test in June. “If we would have had to choose between working on the Student Information System mainframe or tak ing the government test, we would have definitely chosen the Student Information System,” Munier said. “It is much bigger.” The office has also replaced sever al older computers with Y2K-compli ant ones, installed Y2K-compliant ver sions of personal software, made Windows 95 Y2K-compliant and test ed the Y2K compatibility of electronic products such as fax machines and copy machines. Munier said that although the office has taken every step to prevent Y2K problems, the millennium could still bring a chance malfunction. “There’s always that element of chance,” Munier said. “But we’ve worked very hard to make sure the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid is ready” Munier said the worst part ofY2K may be the hype and misconceptions surrounding it “I think the biggest problem with die year 2000 is fear,” Munier said. “I think we are more at risk to that than the actual symptomatic problems. But we have taken all the appropriate actions, nonetheless, to ensure that we are ready.”