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ByLisaLeff TheAssociatedPress BERKELEY The Univer- sity of California, Berke- ley, is running a $150 mil- lion deficit this year and must undertake a top-to- bottom review of expenses if it hopes to sustain its na- tional standing as a pre- mier public institution, the school's chancellor warned Wednesday. The university faces dif- ficult decisions as it works to preserve its long-term fi- nancial footing, Chancellor Nicholas Dirkssaid.Consol- idating academic depart- ments, evaluating spend- ing on athletics, shedding staff and admitting fewer doctoral students are some of the changes that will be considered, he said. "We are fighting to maintain our excellence against those who might equate 'public' with medi- ocrity," Dirks wrote in a let- ter to the campus. "What we are engaged in here is a fundamental defense of the concept of the public uni- versity, a concept that we must reinvent in order to preserve." Inadequate state fund- ing and other factors have created "a substantial and growing structural deficit" at UC Berkeley, Dirks said. Toaddress it,thechancellor said he was initiating a re- structuring process aimed at cutting costs, increasing revenue and preserving the strongest programs. A budget review pre- pared by Berkeley admin- istrators blames the deficit, which represents 6 percent of the campus' $2.7 billion operating budget, on re- duced state funding for in- struction and construction, increasedpensioncostsand five years without in-state tuition increases. After a series of increases during the recession, tu- ition and fees for under- graduate students from California has remained $12,291 since the 2011-12 academic year. It is not ex- pected to rise until 2017-18 under a deal UC President Janet Napolitano struck with Gov. Jerry Brown. In response to a public outcry, Napolitano, who is a former U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and Ar- izona governor, also capped the percentage of higher- paying students from out- side the state that Berkeley and UCLA could enroll. Along with looking at how the university spends money,thereviewDirkshas ordered also will appraise opportunities for the cam- pus to bring in more rev- enue through licensing, donor-supported athletic scholarships and online courses, he said. 'INADEQUATE STATE FUNDING' Chancellor: Cash-strapped UC Berkeley faces tough decisions By Julie Watson The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Christy O'Donnell, a single mother with lung cancer who be- came a prominent figure in the California right-to- die debate, has died. She was 47. Her brother Jay Watts said in a Facebook post- ing Monday that O'Donnell died Saturday. Watts did not include details of her death in the posting, but he said health care work- ers providing her hospice care "were absolutely won- derful in doing what they could to help make Chris- ty's final days as comfort- able as possible given the circumstances." He could not be reached by The Associated Press. Jay Watts told People Magazine that her death was peaceful and that she passed away at her Santa Clarita home, north of Los Angeles, with her daughter, Bailey Donorovich, 21, hold- ing her hand. Watts was by her side as well. O'Donnell campaigned for a bill signed by the gov- ernor last year to make it legal for the terminally ill to seek medical aid to end their lives. The law is ex- pected to go into effect later this year, making California the fifth state in the nation to provide such a right. O'Donnell in her final message posted on Face- book said that when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2014 it had metastasized to her brain and later to her spine, rib and liver. She said she took advantage of medical sci- ence to prolong her life. "Yet, I have suffered more emotional and physi- cal pain than anyone should have to endure," she wrote. "My daughter and I fought very hard during the last months of my life to try to bring about positive change in this World. My daughter has unselfishly given up her time with me to all of you, so that no child will ever again have to watch the per- son they love suffer at their death. I ask you all to con- tinue making your voices heard for those who are suf- fering." The former Los Angeles police officer, who later be- came a civil rights attor- ney, testified before state lawmakers and filed a law- suit in a state court last year so California residents who are terminally ill could le- gally obtain life-ending drugs from a doctor when they determined the time was right. Religious groups and ad- vocates for people with dis- abilities opposed the bill. O'Donnell vowed repeat- edly to never break the law. Watts told the magazine that had the law been in ef- fect she would have "taken the option a month ago when her seizures started." "Our hearts are breaking at the loss of this amazing woman who did so much for others even as she was facing her own death," said Toni Broaddus of Compas- sion & Choices, a right- to-die advocacy group which worked closely with O'Donnell campaigning for the law. "It's a tragedy Christy could not take ad- vantage of the new law she so bravely fought for during the last months of her life." The End of Life Op- tion Act sponsors, Assem- bly member Susan Tala- mantes Eggman, D-Stock- ton, and Sens. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and Bill Monning, D-Carmel, said in a joint statement: "Christy was an amazing fighter and will be tremendously missed. Her advocacy in support of the End of Life Option Act was inspiring. That she cham- pioned this law knowing it would likely not take ef- fect in time for her to bene- fit from it is a testament to her courage and humanity." OBITUARY Br ot he r: R ig ht -t o-d ie advocate O'Donnell dies By Ken Ritter The Associated Press HENDERSON, NEV. A mur- der suspect who was mis- takenly released from a California jail told a judge Wednesday he won't fight his transfer in custody from southern Nevada back to Los Angeles for retrial on an overturned murder conviction. Steven Law rence Wright, 37, wasn't repre- sented in Henderson Jus- tice Court by a lawyer, and he didn't speak about the charges against him as he waived extradition. Justice of the Peace Rod- ney Burr gave authorities two weeks to move Wright to California. Wright's lawyer in Los Angeles, Stacie Halpern, said by telephone she be- lieves Wright has a good chance of being cleared in a new trial in the 2011 shooting death of a 47-year- old man in Pasadena, Cal- ifornia. Police have said Wright and the victim were rival gang members. She won a retrial after showing that a key witness lied in Wright's trial, Halp- ern said. Halpern said she didn't believe her client deserves to face any charges stem- ming from his release from jail on Jan. 30 because of what jailers said was a pa- perwork mistake. "I don't know what they could possibly charge him with," Halpern said. "It wasn't his choice to be re- leased from the county jail. They released him of their own accord." A Los Angeles sheriff's official, Cmdr. Keith Sw- ensson, has said authori- ties didn't plan to file ad- ditional charges because Wright didn't escape and there was no indication he committed crimes while he was free. Wright was arrested Monday by a southern Ne- vada regional fugitive ap- prehension team in Boul- der City, a Nevada town near Hoover Dam about 30 miles east of Las Vegas. MISTAKENLY RELEASED Fugitive jail inmate facing transfer back to Los Angeles RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Christy O'Donnell, who has terminal cancer, breaks out into tears a er lawmakers advanced right-to-die legislation that she supports, at the Capitol in Sacramento. By Brian Witte The Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, MD. Car-lock- ing systems have stopped more than 1.77 million peo- ple from driving drunk since states first passed laws requiring offenders to install them in 1999, Moth- ers Against Drunk Driving said in a first-of-its-kind re- port on the devices nation- wide. The data come from the 11 major manufactures of the ignition interlock sys- tems, and the report was released Wednesday. The devices, the size of a cell- phone, are wired into vehi- cles. A convicted drunken driver must blow into the device to get a blood alcohol content reading before the vehicle will start. The sys- tem sends a signal back to its manufacturer with the reading. Twenty-five states have laws that require ignition interlocks for all offend- ers following any drunken- driving offense. Every state has enacted some kind of ignition-interlock law, but some require the devices only for certain levels of offenses and blood alcohol levels, or give judges discre- tion. MADD is calling on those other states to tighten their laws. "MADD knows ignition interlocks save lives, and they could save even more lives if every offender is re- quired to use the device af- ter the first arrest," said Colleen Sheehey-Church, MADD's national president. The National Transpor- tation Safety Board recom- mends states require man- datory ignition interlock devices for first-time of- fenders. NTSB vice chair- man Bella Dinh-Zarr said the technology enables people to continue driving to make a living and get around, but it separates the person from his or her drinking and driving. "Ignition interlock, al- though many people may think it's an extreme mea- sure for people who are first offenders, it prevents them from becoming a second of- fender or a third offender," Dinh-Zarr said. In Maryland, where the group released the report, lawmakers are pushing to require all drunken driv- ers with blood alcohol con- tents of 0.08 or greater to have the devices. State law now requires them for those with a BAC of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit for driving. The systems stop driv- ers with a BAC of .025 or higher. The report says more than 1.77 million peo- ple have been stopped from driving with a BAC of 0.08 or higher, but the figures are higher for those who blow at least 0.025: More than 12.72 million stopped. Lawmakers sponsoring the Maryland bill noted they have been trying to tighten the law since 2009, but they have faced opposi- tion from lobbyists for the alcohol industry. "There is no gray area. Either you're on the side of the angels or you're with the liquor lobby," said Del. Ben Kramer, a Democrat who is sponsoring the bill. Sheehey-Church said res- idents and visitors in states such as Maryland, Florida, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania "deserve the same protection offered in states with strong ignition interlock laws — such as Texas, Arizona, West Vir- ginia and New Mexico." The group also is focus- ing on Maryland because of the December death of Of- ficer Noah Leotta. He was killed while working on a driving-under-the-influence assignment. The Maryland measure is dubbed "Noah's Law." At a news conference, Noah's father, Rich, tear- fully described the pain of losing his son, who po- lice say was hit by a drunk driver with two previous convictions. "It's a very simple thing, and it saves lives," Leotta said. "It could have saved Noah's life. He might be here today if this was in that person's car." FIRST REPORT MADD: Car-locking systems have stopped 1.77 million drunk drivers BRIAN WITTE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Andrew Wisniewski, an operations manager for Smart Start of Maryland, demonstrates how an ignition interlock device works on Wednesday in Annapolis, Maryland. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2016 8 A