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ByJeffKaroub The Associated Press KALAMAZOO, MICH. The Uber ride-hailing service acknowledged Monday that it received complaints about erratic driving by the sus- pect in the random shoot- ings that killed six people in Kalamazoo, and a pros- ecutor said the man admit- ted his role in the attacks. Jason Dalton, the 45-year-old former insur- ance adjuster, appeared briefly in court by video link and was charged with six counts of murder. A judge denied him bail. During a talk with inves- tigators, Dalton waived his right against self-incrim- ination and confessed his role in the shootings, Ka- lamazoo County Prosecu- tor Jeff Getting said. Dalton admitted "that he took people's lives," Ka- lamazoo police Det. Cory Ghiringhelli told the judge. The murder charges carry a mandatory life sentence. Michigan does not have the death penalty. Dalton picked up Uber fares after the first shoot- ing and probably got more riders after the subsequent shootings, Getting said. An Uber passenger said he called police to report that Dalton was driving er- ratically more than an hour before the shootings began. Matt Mellen told Ka- lamazoo television station WWMT that he hailed a ride around 4:30 p.m. Sat- urday. He said driver Jason Dalton introduced himself as "Me-Me" and had a dog in the backseat. Mellen sat in front. About a mile into the trip, Dalton got a phone call, and when he hung up, he began driv- ing blowing through stop signs and sideswiping cars, Mellen said. "We were driving through medians, driving through the lawn, speeding along, and when we came to a stop, I jumped out of the car and ran away," Mellen said. He said he called po- lice and that when he got to his friend's house, his fi- ancée posted a warning to friends on Facebook. Uber said riders com- plained Saturday about Dal- ton's driving. When alerted to unsafe driving, company policy is to contact the driver. But Uber officials would not say whether any- one at the company spoke to Dalton, deferring to law en- forcement. Dalton passed a back- ground check and became a driver on Jan. 25. He had given about 100 rides, the company said. Since Dalton's arrest, sev- eral people have come for- ward to say that he picked them up for Uber in the hours after the first attack. The Associated Press could not confirm those accounts. Kalamazoo County Sher- iff Richard Fuller said Uber is cooperating with law en- forcement officials, and he believes the company will "help us fill in some time- line gaps." Investigators are partic- ularly interested in com- munication between Dal- ton and Uber, as well as customers he might have driven, the sheriff said. Police have not pro- vided a motive. The vic- tims had no apparent con- nection to the gunman or to each other. Questions about motive and Dalton's frame of mind are "going to be the hard- est to answer for anybody," Fuller said. He expects some answers to emerge in court, but he doubts they will be satisfying. "In the end, I ask peo- ple, because I keep hear- ing this question of why, 'What would be the answer that would be an acceptable answer for you?' They have to think about it for a mo- ment, and they say, 'Proba- bly nothing.' "I have to say, 'You are probably correct.' I can't imagine what the answer would be that would let us go, 'OK, we understand now.' Because we are not going to understand," the sheriff said. The attacks began Sat- urday evening outside the Meadows apartment com- plex on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo County, where a woman was shot multi- ple times. A little more than four hours later and 15 miles away, a father and his 17-year-old son were fatally shot while looking at cars at a car dealership. Fifteenminutesafterthat, five people were gunned down in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Four of them died. Uber prohibits both pas- sengers and drivers from possessing guns of any kind in a vehicle. Anyone found to be in violation of the pol- icy may be prohibited from using or driving for the ser- vice. KALAMAZOO SHOOTINGS Uberacknowledgesgettingcomplaintsaboutsuspect CARLOSOSORIO—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Jason Dalton is arraigned via video before Judge Christopher T. Haenicke, Monday in Kalamazoo, Mich. Dalton is charged with multiple counts of murder in a series of random shootings in western Michigan. By Richard Lardner The Associated Press WASHINGTON House Re- publicans urging a steep increase in the Pentagon's budget have received $10 million in campaign con- tributions over the course of their congressional ca- reers from defense con- tractors that would benefit from higher levels of mili- tary spending. The 34 GOP lawmakers, all members of the House Armed Services Commit- tee, are pressing for an $18 billion increase in the 2017 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The push is rooted in their position that the U.S. military has atrophied se- verely on President Barack Obama's watch, leading America's allies as well as adversaries to question the country's will. The bid also reflects the message GOP presiden- tial candidates have ham- mered relentlessly on the campaign trail, where Obama has been cast as a feckless commander in chief. Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, last week unveiled his blueprint for a "Rea- gan-style military buildup" to reverse the damage he said has been done during Obama's two terms. Cruz didn't say exactly what his plan would cost. Critics of boosting the Defense Department's budget by billions of dol- lars say Obama hasn't gut- ted the armed forces. In- stead of pressing for more money, they said, lawmak- ers should be focused on cutting wasteful programs, trimming bloated bureau- cracy, and forcing the Pen- tagon to manage its money properly. The Government Ac- countability Office has iden- tified several areas of the department as "high risk" when it comes to waste and fraud, including weap- ons purchases and financial management. It's a jarring verdict considering the mil- itary accounts for half of all the U.S. government's dis- cretionary spending. "Republicans claim that throwing more money at the Education Depart- ment won't make our kids smarter," said David Wil- liams, president of the non- profit Taxpayers Protection Alliance. "If that's the case, then just throwing more money at the Pentagon won't make us any safer." Claude Chafin, a spokes- man for the Armed Ser- vices Committee, said the interests of contributors played no role in the mem- bers' recommendation. He said the $18 billion increase is aimed at filling crucial gaps in the $583 billion de- fense budget Obama sub- mitted to Congress earlier this month. He said it's based on the amount the Defense De- partment said last year it would "need to keep Amer- ica safe," and since then, "the world did not get $18 billion safer," Chafin said. The committee's chair- man, Mac Thornberry of Texas,toppedthelistofrecip- ientswith$941,700incontri- butions made by employees of and political action com- mitteessponsoredbycompa- niesthatdobusinesswiththe DefenseDepartment,accord- ing to an Associated Press review of data compiled by the political money tracking website OpenSecrets.org. Thornberry's single largest group of donors, $153,400, are affiliated with defense industry giant Lockheed Martin. The com- pany is manufacturing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the single most expensive military project in history. Thornberry's 13th congres- sional district in north Texas abuts the 12th dis- trict, where the F-35 is man- ufactured. He was elected to Congress in 1994. Two Republicans whose districts include parts of Virginia's defense-industry rich Hampton Roads area tallied the second and third highest amounts. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, chairman of the subcom- mittee that oversees Navy and Marine Corps pro- grams, received $801,606 in defense contributions, according to the data. The chairman of the military readiness subcommittee, Rep. Rob Wittman, col- lected $701,286. WASHINGTON Republican backers of defense budget hike got millions in donations ANDRAYA CROFT — DETROIT FREE PRESS Flowers rest in the parking lot of a car dealership on Sunday in Kalamazoo, Mich. By Maeva Bambuck and Bradley Klapper The Associated Press DAMASCUS, SYRIA The United States and Russia have agreed on a new cease- fire for Syria that will take effect Saturday, even as ma- jor questions over enforc- ing and responding to vio- lations of the truce were left unresolved. Syria's warring government and rebels still need to accept the deal. The timeline for a hoped- for breakthrough comes after the former Cold War foes, backing opposing sides in the conflict, said they finalized the details of a "cessation of hostilities" between President Bashar Assad's government and armed opposition groups after five years of violence that has killed more than 250,000 people. The truce will not cover the Islamic State group, the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and any other mili- tias designated as terror- ist organizations by the U.N. Security Council. But where in Syria the fighting must stop and where coun- terterrorism operations can continue must still be ad- dressed. And the five-page plan released by the U.S. State Department leaves open how breaches of the cease-fire will be identified or punished. The announcement came after Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Pu- tin spoke by telephone Monday, capping weeks of intense diplomacy to stem the violence so that Assad's government and "moder- ate" rebel forces might re- turn to peace talks in Ge- neva. A first round of indi- rect discussions collapsed almost immediately this month amid a massive gov- ernment offensive backed by Russian airstrikes in the northern Syria. CIVIL WAR US, Russia agree on Syria cease-fire plan, but key parties still need to sign on 530-917-1138 • 616CedarStreet,RedBluff SweetDealsat Sun.-Thurs.9am-7pm, Friday 9am-5pm, closed Sat. New & Consigned Furniture, Mattress & More AmazingFinds BedroomSets onSale! 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