LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Republican-controlled Michigan House approved a $15.1 billion education budget that includes an increase in funding for state universities, community colleges and public schools Tuesday, passing the first piece of the state budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

The plan was passed on a bipartisan 65-43 vote, sending it to the Republican-led Senate for consideration, where it is likely to get a vote Wednesday. But some House Democrats attacked the plan, saying it didn't go far enough to correct past cuts to the state's education system.

"This budget is only passable and I mean acceptable if you buy into the concept or the new paradigm that the Snyder administration has put in that we should have diminished expectations for public school funding," said Democratic Rep. Brandon Dillon of Grand Rapids.

Under the plan, Michigan's 15 public universities would receive about $31.1 million or 2 percent more in overall funding next fiscal year but would be expected to keep their tuition rate increases at or below 3.75 percent to get some money that is tied to performance, such as the number of completed degrees.

Republican Rep. Al Pscholka of Stevensville said restraining tuition increases will help make college education more affordable, "which is good for students and families."

Michigan's public schools would get slightly more than 3 percent more in overall funding next year, including $140 million from a pot of nearly $700 million in extra funding that the state has thanks to better-than-expected tax collections.

School districts that now get the minimum amount of state aid could get as much as $60 more per student, raising the per-pupil grant from $6,966 to $7,026. The actual amount each district gets is determined by a number of factors, including whether a district meets "best practices" incentives, such as providing online learning opportunities for students. But the budget includes $6 million to ensure that all districts see at least a $5 per-pupil boost.

Skipping out on a class required for graduation is the kind of thing youd expect from a slumping senior, but not the high school itself.

Students at a high school in Gothenburg, Sweden, were outraged to learn that their school forgot to teach them a required religion classdays before the students were about to graduate, according to .

Principal Christel Berver of the publicly financed, privately run, free high school said it was all a big misunderstanding. "When you read the law, it can be interpreted that you can switch religion with social science," she told the Local.

It turned out she was wrongwhich some of the students had suspected.

"The last two years I've wondered, 'Aren't we supposed to have religion?'" said student Patricia Kjellby to the Local, who now worries that she won't be able to wear the white graduation cap.

The seniors have been given two choices: Use the few days before graduation to make up the work. Or, accept a failing grade and take the class next fall. Were guessing students will be praying for a miracle.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Zachary Quinto has transitioned swiftly from a television villain into an unlikely action film star in J.J Abrams' rebooted "Star Trek" franchise, playing the series' most recognizable half-Vulcan, Spock.

The 35-year-old actor, who gained fame as super-villain Sylar in sci-fi television series "Heroes," will reprise his role as the pointy-eared first officer of the starship Enterprise in "Star Trek Into Darkness," which will be released in theaters on Friday.

The actor spoke to Reuters about the challenges of playing Spock and why he chose to go public about being gay.

Q: "Star Trek Into Darkness" has more action, set pieces and destinations than the 2009 reboot. Is that right?

A: You're right. It's a larger scale version of the "Star Trek" story. The first one was about re-conceiving people's perceptions of "Star Trek," and trying to infuse it with new energy. The self-contained and more intimate nature of that film made sense. Now, people are more familiar with us as these characters so this movie builds on that and expands on it.

Q: What is Spock struggling with in this film?

A: I think he's learning how to be accountable and responsible to the people he loves and cares about. He is learning to embody and live the qualities of what it means to be a friend and what it means to be responsible to other people emotionally, because that's not the place from which he leads. He needs to learn how to integrate that part of himself and honor the feelings he has for the people he loves.

Q: What do you learn from Spock on a personal level?

A: I have an inherent understanding to his nature, which is one of duality - the head versus the heart. That is certainly something I can relate to. As someone who has been considered pretty intellectual and wordy, I also have a deep well of emotional life. I understand what it means to be in constant relationship to both of those aspects of myself.

Q: Which of Spock's qualities do you aspire for yourself?

A: The equanimity with which he deals with every situation in front of him, and the thoughtfulness and care he gives to measure his reactions. Sometimes I can be a little extreme in my reaction to something. I respect his reservedness and pensive consideration, which is an aspect of me but outweighed by my instinctual or impulsive reactions to things sometimes.

Q: In this film you're jumping into volcanoes and off of barges. You're fighting, running, chasing. Did you ever think of yourself as an action star?

A: I can't say I ever planned on that. But I will say I really thrived in that environment. I enjoyed those specific challenges and the relentlessness of it. I don't necessarily know I want every movie to be that way, but I wouldn't mind revisiting that again at some point down the line.

Q: How close are you with the cast?

A: We are very, very good friends in real life. When the first movie happened, it was a life changing experience for all of us. We were going through it at the same time and relied on each other for support and for the excitement of that time. That energy is starting to kick back up again. We look forward to spending time together on these extended periods where we're traveling around the world.

Q: You used your "Star Trek" clout to form a production company, Before the Door Pictures, whose first film, 2011's "Margin Call," was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar. Did that change things for you?

A: I think "Margin Call" did similar things for my production company that "Star Trek" did for me as an actor. The way that film was received really did authenticate my company and allowed us more access and more connections than we might have had otherwise.

Q: In between the two "Star Trek" films, you made some headlines when you said you were gay. Was coming out a big deal?

A: It was obviously a very big deal. It wasn't about formality or stopping rumors because I don't really pay attention to rumors in the first place. It was a very specific move that I made because there was a rash of teen suicides at the time (the victims were gay).

Q: How did that relate to you?

A: I felt it incumbent upon me to do something about that if it was in my power, which is was. So for me that was a very specific and emotional time. I felt very grateful for the response that it generated and the work on behalf of the LGBT community it has allowed me to do subsequently.

Q: Some actors feel that by coming out it could impact the roles they get to play. Did you feel it hindered your career?

A: Not one bit.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy, Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Bert and Ernie of "Sesame Street" fame, the stars of "Fraggle Rock" and other puppets, costumes and items from throughout Muppets creator Jim Henson's career have been donated to the Museum of the Moving Image, which is building a new gallery to house them, the institution announced Tuesday.

Encompassing almost 400 items ranging from original puppets to behind-the-scenes footage, the gift is a boon for the 25-year-old museum, which saw attendance skyrocket during a temporary exhibit in 2011 and 2012 of Henson's work. And it fulfills a cherished goal for Henson's widow and collaborator, Jane Henson, who died last month at 78.

"She loved the Muppet characters as though they were part of her own family," and the actual puppets themselves were very special to her, one of the couple's daughters, Cheryl Henson, said at a news conference. "It was her dream to have these dear friends find a good home where they could be seen and enjoyed, and where new audiences could learn about the many facets of my father's work."

The exhibit is to open next year at the museum in the Long Island City neighborhood, across the East River from midtown Manhattan. The city is chipping in $2.75 million toward the $5 million cost for a project.

"The only major item that I know will not be represented is the Muppet that they made of me," Mayor Michael Bloomberg joked at the news conference, where he bantered with Miss Piggy about the city's film and television industry and reminisced about their joint work in the 2008 TV special "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa," which featured Bloomberg as himself.

"You were wonderful almost lifelike," the porcine prima donna quipped Tuesday. (For the record, Bloomberg's personal Muppet has a nice home of its own, in a reading room at the mayor's Manhattan town house.)

A puppeteer, screenwriter and producer, Henson introduced a raft of beloved and familiar characters during a career that spanned from the 1950s until his death in 1990, at 53. Some, including his Muppets and Fraggles, appeared in both television shows and movies among them the 1984 film "The Muppets Take Manhattan," which depicted the fuzzy crew striving to stage a Broadway musical.

While being a shrewd and innovative businessman, "Jim Henson created indelible, memorable characters that live with us throughout a variety of media," said Carl Goodman, executive director of the Museum of the Moving Image. Henson's career showed "that you can march to the beat of a different drummer and succeed in this world," Goodman said.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is to become the first country in the European Union to ban branding on cigarette packages by using plain packaging and uniform labeling, the government said on Tuesday.

All trademarks, logos, colors and graphics will be removed from tobacco products sold in Ireland under the new rules, the Health Ministry said, after the proposal secured backing from the government.

Smoking was a central part of Ireland's pub culture until the country became the first in the world to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, public transport and workplaces in 2004.

Over 5,000 people still die every year from tobacco related diseases, the Health Ministry said.

The law will need to be approved in parliament before it can come into effect, but the governing coalition enjoys a strong majority.

Under the plan, the brand name will be presented in a uniform typeface in packs of one plain neutral color, which has yet to specified.

The British government is considering banning branding on cigarette packets, but the proposal was omitted from the government's legislative agenda laid out in parliament earlier this month.

Australia introduced plain olive green packets for cigarettes and tobacco products last year, prompting anger from tobacco firms.

Companies such as Philip Morris and British American Tobacco fear that plain packaging would eat into sales of higher margin brands and say it would encourage the global black market in tobacco.

Cuba, whose luxury cigars are world renowned and feature distinctive packages, has launched a challenge against the Australian law at the World Trade Organization.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved a decision to subpoena Fox News telephone records as the Justice Department investigated an unauthorized leak regarding North Korea, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Justice Department did not mention the subpoena when it issued a statement on Friday describing how Holder had vetted a decision to seek a search warrant for the contents of an email account used by Fox News reporter James Rosen.

The revelation that Holder approved subpoenas that sought Fox News phone records shows that his involvement was broader than the Justice Department had earlier acknowledged publicly, as details continue to emerge in the controversy.

A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, current and former law enforcement officials said that under Justice Department procedures, the attorney general's approval is required before a subpoena is issued for journalists' records.

A second official confirmed that in the Fox News leak investigation, the government had issued subpoenas for "toll records for five phone numbers associated with the media."

Rosen reported in June 2009 that U.S. intelligence officials believed North Korea would conduct more nuclear tests in response to U.N. sanctions.

Stephen Kim, a former State Department analyst who was Rosen's alleged source, is scheduled to go on trial as soon as next year on charges that he violated an anti-espionage law. Rosen has not been charged.

The administration has also been under fire for a separate subpoena of Associated Press phone records as part of a different investigation of an alleged unauthorized leak.

Both incidents have sparked an outcry from journalists, but the Fox News case has proved more concerning to some because investigators described Rosen as a suspected "co-conspirator" in the leak of secret government information.

ACCUSED OF INTIMIDATION

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said in a statement on Thursday that the Obama administration was attempting to intimidate Fox News and its employees.

Another law enforcement official said that subpoenas issued for Fox News covered telephone records for two days during 2009. The official said that a certified letter and fax notifying the general counsel of News Corp, parent of Fox News, about the subpoenas was sent on August 27, 2010, the day Kim was indicted.

Authorities emailed Rosen at his work address with a similar notification, the official said. News Corp has said that it has found no record of such notifications, though it is not disputing government officials' accounts.

Mark Corallo, a Justice Department spokesman between 2002 and 2005, said that during his tenure, any request from any part of the Justice Department for the issuing of subpoenas against a news organization had to be submitted to his office for approval.

Corallo said that of "dozens" of requests from prosecutors for subpoenas directed against news organizations, he approved only one during his tenure.

President Barack Obama said last week that Holder would begin a review of Justice Department procedures related to media records. Holder, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said he hopes to meet this week with media organizations about the review.

"We're going to have a real frank, good conversation about this," Holder said. "And I think we're going to make some changes. I'm not satisfied with where we are."

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Additional reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Karey Van Hall and Eric Beech)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Close to two-thirds of women favor making contraceptive pills available over the counter, according to a new nationally-representative survey.

In addition, about 30 percent of women using either no birth control or a less effective method - such as condoms - said they would likely take the Pill if it was sold without a prescription, researchers found.

"Of course it's a hypothetical question, and it remains to be seen how this would play out in reality," said Dr. Daniel Grossman, from the University of California, San Francisco and the nonprofit Ibis Reproductive Health, who led the new study.

But the finding "gives us some indication that making the Pill over the counter could help improve use of more effective contraception and help women use the method they'd like to use," Grossman told Reuters Health.

It could also potentially reduce unplanned pregnancies, he noted.

"There's mounting evidence that this is safe, this is effective and women really want it."

The results come amid news on Wednesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is appealing a court order directing the agency to make the "morning after" emergency contraceptive Plan B available over the counter to women of any age.

Late last year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a statement recommending that birth control pills be available over the counter (see Reuters Health story of November 20, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/UH0Zz9).

For the new study, researchers surveyed just over 2,000 women aged 18 to 44 about their attitudes toward over-the-counter access to the Pill. None of those women was pregnant or trying to become pregnant, and all had been sexually active with men in the past year.

About 31 percent of participants each said they were "strongly" or "somewhat" in favor of women being able to buy birth control pills without a prescription, according to findings published in the journal Contraception.

"It shows that, just as I think physicians' attitudes seem to be changing over time, women's attitudes are also changing over time," said Dr. Kavita Nanda, a contraception and family planning researcher at FHI 360 in Durham, North Carolina.

Women in the study said over-the-counter access would make getting the Pill more convenient, save time and money and prevent unintended pregnancies. However, they also noted some downsides, such as women possibly choosing a pill that's wrong for them.

Nanda, who wasn't involved in the new research, said resistance to making birth control pills more accessible has stemmed from concerns that women need a doctor to determine whether the drugs are safe given their particular situation, and that the women won't go to regular check-ups if they can get pills without a doctor's help.

But those theories haven't played out in other studies, she told Reuters Health.

Research suggests, for example, that women are able to look at a checklist of contraindications and determine if the Pill is safe for them, she said. Having uncontrolled high blood pressure or a history of breast cancer or blood clots may all make birth control pills less safe, she noted.

Grossman agreed with Nanda that any safety issues have largely been addressed.

"There was one piece that was missing from the research that had been done to date, and that was really documenting the demand for this among women," he said. "Women really are interested in this."

Close to half of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I see this issue, of moving the regular birth control pill over the counter, as the next big advance in improving access to effective contraception," Grossman said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YejQYh Contraception, online April 23, 2013.

Danny Werfel, the agency's new acting commissioner, told IRS employees in an email Thursday that he has selected a new acting head of the division.

Ken Corbin will be the acting director of the agency's exempt organizations division. Corbin is currently deputy director of submission processing in the wage and investment division.

A congressional aide said Lerner has been placed on administrative leave. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

It has long been a mystery exactly what causes the formation of cirrus clouds, the wispy billows of ice that can be seen high in the sky. But new research, detailed in the May 9 issue of the journal Science, finds that theand freeze, or nucleate, on very specific mineral and metal particles high in the atmosphere. That makes cirrus clouds unique: Most other clouds form primarily by , said study author Dan Cziczo, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It's important to know how these clouds form, as they can cover up to 30 percent of the Earth's atmosphere at any given time, and have a big effect on the climate, Cziczo told OurAmazingPlanet.

Clouds and climate

In fact, clouds have about 10 times the impact on climate that man-made greenhouse-gas emissions do, said Brian Toon, a researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder who wasn't involved in the study. "The largest uncertainty in understanding climate change is understanding clouds, since they are so much more important," he said. []

The new study shows, however, that humans actually impact the formation of cirrus clouds (just asand vice versa, in little-understood ways), by sampling the ice crystals making up the clouds and seeing what particles they formed on. Although mineral particles have always found their way into the upper atmosphere, where cirrus clouds hang out, humans have increased the amount of mineral dust that arrives there through land-use changes such as deforestation and land development, Toon said. Cziczo estimates that the level of these minerals has increased by about 50 percent since the beginning of industrialization. Metallic particles are also introduced by humans through the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial activities, he said.

But how does this affect the amount or size of ? It's too early to say, Cziczo said, but the data from the study will help improve computer models of climate change. Toon said more mineral particles kicked up by humans could equate to more cirrus clouds, although there are many other factors that complicate the situation.

It's also unclear how cirrus clouds might affect the climate. Depending on their location in the atmosphere, they can either help cool the Earth or warm it up. Unlike liquid water clouds, which generally cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, ice clouds can help warm it up by absorbing reflected heat, Toon said.

Particle man

Cirrus clouds are unique in that they are made up of ice crystals, whereas most other clouds contain condensed droplets of liquid water. When most people think of clouds, they picture these liquid water clouds, which exist closer to the Earth's surface and are responsible for rainstorms and other weather, Cziczo said.

Like all clouds, water clouds need particles upon which to condense. Recent research has shown that these , sulfates (chemicals emitted by volcanoes and human activity) and other organic materials, Cziczo said. As this study shows, however, cirrus clouds need very specific particles upon which to nucleate and freeze.

Analyzing chemicals within high-altitude ice crystals is no easy task. To do so, Cziczo and his colleagues partnered with NASA to use two of its research airplanes. Up in the air, they used a device called a counterflow virtual impactor. This device acts like a hair dryer, Cziczo said.

"The inlet flows gas out the front of the plane. This stops the small particles we don't want to sample and only lets in the big ice crystals, he explained. You can imagine that if you drop a Ping-Pong ball on a hair dryer, the flow of air stops the Ping-Pong ball. But if you drop a bowling ball on the hair dryer, it has no effect. Same thing for particles versus ice crystals."

The warm air then melted the ice, and the researchers analyzed the particles using a mass spectrometer they took up in the airplane with them, Cziczo said.

Email or follow him onor . Follow us , or . Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Whiskey Beach" by Nora Roberts - (Putnam, $27.95)

2. "Daddy's Gone a Hunting" by Mary Higgins (Simon & Schuster, $26.99) 1

3. "Talking Eve" by Iris Johansen - (St. Martin's, $27.99)

4. "Starting Now" by Debbie Macomber (Ballantine, $26.00) 3

5. "Don't Go" by Lisa Scottoline (St Martin's, $27.99) 2

6. "Six Years" by Harlan Coben (Dutton, $27.95) 5

7. "Unintended Consequences" by Stuart Woods (Putnam, $26.95) 4

8. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 7

9. "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson (L.B./Reagan Arthur, $27.99) 6

10. "The Burgess Boys" by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, $26.00) 9

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 1

2. "LeaderShift" by Orrin Woodward & Oliver DeMille (Grand Central/Business Plus, $25.99) -

3. "The One Thing" by Gary Keller (Bard Press, $24.95) 13

4. "The Fast Metabolism Diet" by Haylie Pomroy (Harmony, $26.00) 2

5. "It's All Good" by Gwyneth Paltrow (Grand Central, $32.00) 3

6. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

7. "The Athena Doctrine" by John Gerzema & Michael D'Antonio (Jossey-Bass, $27.95) -

8. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Bird Street Books, $26.00) 5

9. "Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha" by John Romaniello & Adam /Bornstein (HarperOne, $27.99) -

10. "Relish" by Daphne Oz (William Morrow, $27.50) -

Week ended April 21, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2012 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Chris Michaud and Bill Trott)