T H E P O W E R O F K N O W I N G S I N C E 1 8 5 5 WWW.LSJ.COMTHURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010

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Amidseason lookat area boys hoops

S P O R T S

Holt’s Cole Darling (left) and Eastern’sLaDontae Henton have been

two of the top players inthe season’s first half.

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Mel Brooks’ ‘YoungFrankenstein’ comes to lifenext week atWharton

Monstermash

What’s On • INSIDE

TODAY’S FORECAST • Snow showers, high in themid-teens, low around 5. Full forecast • 12A

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INDEX

© 2010 Lansing State Journal, Lansing,Michigan. A GannettNewspaper.

Lottery . . . . . . . . . 2ABusiness . . . . . . . 5AOpinion . . . . . . . 10ALocal & State . . . 1B

Our Towns . . . . . . 4BDeaths . . . . . .3B, 5BSports . . . . . . . . 12BGolf . . . . . . . . . . . . 6B

What’s On . . . . . . . CTelevision . . . . . . . 6CComics . . . . . 8C, 9CClassified . .SOURCE

SPEEDREADSA daily feed of top headlines

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L O C A L

St. Johns teens wantyour unwanted jeansSt. John’s High School’s GoodWinsVolunteer Club is working to collectjeans for homeless teens. “Everybodyhas old jeans at their house and theydon’t know what to do with them,” saidsenior Krista Rann, 18. At right, DylanThelen and Biancha Moriarty createboxes to collect the jeans.— Page 1B

CeremoniesrememberHolocaustOSWIECIM, Poland— About 150 survivorsmarked the 65thanniversary of theliberation of Auschwitzby the Soviet armyduring an InternationalHolocaust Remem-brance Day ceremony.— Page 9A

Food still scarce in HaitiPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Whether lockedup in warehouses or stolen by thugs frompeople’s hands, food from the world’s aidagencies still isn’t getting to enough hungryHaitians.— Page 8A

N A T I O N & W O R L D

H A P P E N I N G T O D A Y

w 2010 Census:Make a Differencein Your Community, 6-7:30 p.m.Delta Township District Library, 5130Davenport Drive, Lansing. U.S.Census Bureau Office officials willdiscuss the 2010 Census, its impactand current job opportunities. Info:321-4014 ext. 4, www.dtdl.org.

GREG DeRUITER/Lansing State JournalJohn Edwards’wife leaves himRALEIGH, N.C.—Elizabeth EdwardssaidWednesday thatshe has separated fromhusband John Edwards,the former presidentialcandidate who liedabout cheating on her.— Page 2A

Fed pledges to hold ratesWASHINGTON— Hoping tocontinue economic recovery andlower unemployment, the FederalReserve said it will keep rates atrecord lows. The Fed kept its targetrange for its bank lending rate at zeroto 0.25 percent.— Page 6A

Apple unveils the iPadSAN FRANCISCO— Apple Inc.unwrapped the iPad onWednesday. It’sa new touch-screen tablet computerthat Chief Executive Steve Jobs saidwould revolutionize how people access

their digital content.— Page 5A

CHARLOTTE— Owens-Illinois Inc. is shutter-ing its containermanufacturing plant that employs137 people in Charlotte.The plant, located at 500 Packard Highway, will

cease productionMay 1, the company saidWednes-day. Perrysburg, Ohio-basedOwens-Illinoisman-ufactures glass containersfor consumer products.A decline in demand

among food containercustomers led to theclosure, spokeswomanStephanie Johnston said.The plant has been a

staple in the communitysince 1963, said Daryl Bak-er, a longtimeEatonCoun-ty commissioner and formermayor ofCharlotte.In addition to the burden on individualworkers,

the closingwill hurt the city, he said.“They’ve provided a pretty solid tax base for

a number of years and so you’re impacted thatway,” he said. “Amunicipality doesn’t need anoth-er bite there.”The plant is one of the company’s highest cost

operations in North America, Miguel Escobar,president ofOwens-IllinoisNorthAmerica, said in

MELISSA DOMSIC

mdomsic@lsj.com

Charlotte’sOwens-Ill.plant to shutdoorsMay 1In area since 1963, closingwillaffect 137workers, city’s income

SEECHARLOTTE I Page2A

IWHAT’S NEXTw Owens-Illinois Inc. willend production at itsCharlotte plantMay 1. Theplant employs 137 people.Most employees willreceive some form ofseverance, though detailswere not clear.

NEW YORK— Toyota dealers across the coun-try were swampedwith callsWednesday from con-cerned drivers but had few answers a day afterthe company announced it would stop selling andbuilding eightmodels because of faulty gas pedals.Toyota insisted the problem — sudden, un-

controlled acceleration— was “rare and infre-quent” and said dealersshoulddealwithcustom-ers “onacase-by-caseba-sis.” But drivers of Toy-otas and thosewho sharethe roadwith themwereleft with uncertainty.In an unprecedented

move, the company saidlate Tuesday it wouldhalt sales for the eightmodels— which make up more than half of Toyo-ta’s U.S. sales volume — to fix the gas pedals. Lastweek, Toyota issued a recall for the same eightmodels, affecting 2.3million vehicles.A private firm said it had identified 275 crashes

and 18 deaths because of sudden, uncontrollableacceleration in Toyotas since 1999.InNorthPalmBeach,Fla.,ClareRodenshowedup

DAN STRUMPF

Associated Press

Worried,waryToyota ownerswant answersAutomaker says acceleratorproblem ‘rare and infrequent’

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I INSIDEw GM offers Toyota driversincentives.w Q&A if you own a Toyota,Page 2Aw Toyota begins gearing upfor damage control,Page 5A

“His political opponents have sought totag him as a big government liberal,and you just can’t look at this speechwith its emphasis on tax cuts, sensiblefinancial regulation, and call it anythingother than amoderate speech.”

Local reaction

Charles Ballard • economist,Michigan State University Linda Lee Tarver • chairwoman, Ingham County Republican Party

“His desire to work in harmony withRepublicans and have transparencyis a year late. You can’t just standup after the election inMassachusetts and say, ‘Now weneed to work together.’ ”

STATE OF THE UNION

TIM SLOAN/Associated Press

Addressing the nation: “It’s time to get serious about fixing the problems that are hampering our growth,” President BarackObama saidWednesday during his first State of the Union speech. Obama said job growth is his topmost priority.

‘I DON’T QUIT’

WASHINGTON — Declar-ing “I don’t quit,’” an embattledPresidentBarackObamavowedinhisfirstStateof theUnion ad-dressWednesday night tomakejob growth his topmost priorityand urged a di-vided Congressto boost thestill-ailingecon-omywith a newburst of stim-ulus spending.Despitestingingsetbacks,hesaidhe would not abandon ambi-tiousplans for longer-termfixestohealthcare, energy, educationandmore.“Change has not come fast

enough,”Obamaacknowledgedbefore a politician-packedHouse chamber and aTV audi-ence of millions. “As hard as itmay be, as uncomfortable andcontentious as the debatesmay

be, it’s time to get serious aboutfixing the problems that arehampering our growth.”Obama looked to change

the conversation from how hispresidency is stalling — overthe messy health care debate,

a limping economy and themissteps that led to Christ-mas Day’s barely averted ter-rorist disaster — to how he isseizing the reins. He spoke to

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/Associated Press

Standing ovation: From right, HouseMajority Leader Steny Hoyer ofMd., HouseMajorityWhip James Clyburn of S.C., and Rep. John Larson,D-Conn., applaud during the State of the Union addressWednesday.

INSIDESpeechhighlightsThe presidentdevoted muchof his speech toAmericans’economicworries.PopulisttoneAnalysis:

President triesto reclaim

mantle of thereformer.

Gays inmilitaryObama urgesrepeal of banon “don’t ask”

policy.

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For a full text ofObama’s speechsee this story atwww.lsj.com.

OnlineExtra

SEE SPEECH I Page3A

Obama pledges tomake job growthhis top priority, seeks stimulus boost