1. Obama ups pressure over
North Korea missile tests
NATION & WORLD, 6A
Thousands parade to end
‘devil’ curse on Detroit
METRO, 3A
Pastor honors slain Fla.
teen; hate charge weighed
METRO, 3A; NATION 6A
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Woods gets
first Tour win
since 2009
SPORTS, 1B
MARCHING FOUR-WARD
Kansas wins
date with
Ohio State
Kentucky
will face
Louisville
Kentucky’s Michael
Kidd-Gilchrist
Washington —PresidentBarackObama’ssignature
legislative achievement, his controversial health care
law, faces the ultimate challenge as it lands today be-
fore the U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal experts say the issue is whether the govern-
ment has the power to require people to buy health in-
surance or face fines — the law’s so-called individual
mandate designed to make expanded coverage affor-
dable.
Michiganand25otherstatessaythefederalgovern-
ment is over-reaching its authority, and they’re chal-
lenging parts of the Affordable Care Act, often referred
to as Obamacare.
“I think we’ll prevail,” Michigan Attorney General
Bill Schuette said. “This is an un-
precedented effort by the federal
government to require citizens to
purchase a product.”
The administration bases its
caseonSupremeCourtprecedents
that interpret the Constitution’s
commerceclauseasgivingthefed-
eral government wide scope to
regulate individual actions affecting the nation’s econ-
omy.
Four appeals courts that have reviewed the health
care law did not reach a consensus, producing three
differing opinions. Legal experts are divided, too, with
many doubting it’ll be a total victory or defeat for ei-
ther side.
Oral arguments begin today and run for three days,
and the High Court is expected to hand down a ruling
by early July.
Thesweeping2010lawwouldextendinsurancecov-
erage to about 32 million more Americans and make
preventive care affordable. It protects children from
beingexcludedbecauseofpre-existingconditions,and
allows young people to stay longer on their parents’
plans. It calls for state-based exchanges where people
canshopforinsuranceby2014,andwouldbythenoffer
insurance to anyone who applies.
As the law reached its two-year anniversary on Fri-
day and the start of its Supreme Court review ap-
High court
totake up
health care
challenge
BY CHRISTINE TIERNEY
Detroit News Washington Bureau
Please see Health care, Page 5A
Justicesto decideif fed has
power to mandate coverage
Week ahead:
How the review
will unfold. 5A
Old debate: A
century of legal
arguments. 5A
Orion Township — General Mo-
tors Co. looks to have a winning
hand in the growing U.S. subcom-
pact market: Sales of its Chevrolet
Sonic are gaining market share, and
the automaker is readying the
launch of Chevy’s even smaller
Spark minicar this summer.
Offerings from the domestic au-
tomakers in the U.S. subcompact
market were once lackluster, but
GM and Ford Motor Co. have begun
building and selling the little cars
that consumers want to buy: cars
that are fuel-efficient, good-looking,
full of must-have amenities and fun
to drive.
The Sonic debuted in August and
replaced the nondescript Chevy
Aveo. It is built at Orion Assembly
Center, which also builds the new
BuickVeranoluxurycompactsedan.
GMsold7,900SonicsinFebruary,
the model’s best month yet; it
snagged 14 percent of the subcom-
pact segment, according to Kelley
Blue Book. And GM spokesman Jim
Cain said Sonic sales continue to
strengthen. The Sonic finished sec-
ond behind the Nissan Versa, which
was redesigned for 2012.
Some dealers say they are having
trouble getting enough Sonics to
feed customers’ appetites. Buyers
like the entry-level prices (sedans
start at $13,865; hatchbacks at
$14,765), sporty looks and fuel econ-
omy as high as 40 mpg highway,
dealers say.
Ken Ross, owner of Team Chevro-
let Cadillac in Vallejo, Calif., said
Sonic sales have been in the single
digits each month, but he could sell
more if he had them. “We’re selling
whatwe’regetting,butwe’renotget-
ting very much,” he said.
Kool Chevrolet in Grand Rapids
also wants more Sonics on its lot.
“They’re selling as fast as I can get
’em,” said Tom Baker, sales manager
for Kool Chevrolet, which is selling
six to seven Sonics a month.
Chevy has about 3,000 U.S. deal-
ers, and spokeswoman Cristi Vaz-
quez said GM is shipping Sonics to
them as fast as they’re made. The
Sonic is running at a 50-day supply,
which is slightly tight for passenger
cars, experts say.
“We’re in sort of a good place
right now where we’re selling every
one we build,” Vazquez said.
The Sonic constitutes about two-
thirds of the current volume coming
off the Orion assembly line. The
plantisoperatingtwo10-hourshifts,
four days a week; it turns out 825 ve-
hicles a day between the Sonic and
Verano.
Therehasbeendiscussionofadd-
ing a third shift at the plant, but sev-
eralGMofficialssaidincreasingpro-
duction would depend on several
factors and whether demand is tied
to fuel prices or seasonality. The
plant runs periodic overtime, said
Chevrolet Sonics head toward the end of the line at the Orion Assembly Center. Dealers say buyers like the prices
(sedans start at $13,865; hatchbacks at $14,765), sporty looks and fuel economy as high as 40 mpg highway.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
GM makes big splash
in small-car market
BY MELISSA BURDEN
The Detroit News
Please see Sonic, Page 7A
CHEVY SONIC LIFTS OFF
More online: See photos
of Sonics and Veranos at
www.detroitnews.com.
*Year-to-date through February
Source: Kelley Blue Book
The Detroit News
0
1
2
3
4
5%
’11’10’09’08’07 ’12
2.4%
5%*
Subcompact
market share
Monday, March 26, 2012 Metro Final
50% off ultimate
pampering package
at Salon Heat in
Macomb Twp.
Details, 2A
Detroit — It’s deadline day for
Detroit.
Thestatereviewteamprobing
the city’s troubled finances is re-
quired by law to recommend a fix
toGov.RickSnydertoday,evenas
city leaders scramble to hammer
out their own plan.
The stakes are high. The city is
expected to run out of cash by
mid-May and faces a $45 million
deficit. Detroit’s
debt has been
downgraded by
two agencies in
the past week, up-
ping the risk it
will need to repay
millions in out-
standing bonds at significant
cost to taxpayers.
Cityandstateleadersmetover
the weekend to negotiate a con-
sent agreement that would keep
anemergencymanageroutofDe-
troit, but the process has been
fraught with controversy. The
state Court of Appeals on Friday
cleared a path for a deal to pro-
ceed, but more legal challenges
are likely.
Also complicating negotia-
tions: the hospitalization of De-
troit Mayor Dave Bing, who un-
derwent surgery Saturday for a
perforated intestine. The mayor’s
chief of staff, Kirk Lewis, has
been negotiating on his behalf,
and Bing’s staff says he is alert
andinvolvedfromhisbedatHen-
ry Ford Hospital.
Geralyn Lasher, Snyder’s spo-
keswoman, said late Sunday that
conversationscontinuedoverthe
weekend,butshehadnoannoun-
cement. “It’s an ongoing dia-
Deadline
today for
Detroit
crisis plan
Officials scramble to
agree on consent deal
BY LEONARD N. FLEMING
The Detroit News
Please see Deadline, Page 7A
Editorial:
Review team
should seek
emergency
manager. 9A
The real cookie lesson:
Parents share the pain
YOUR MONEY, 1C
Detroit — For weeks the families
of Abreeya Brown and Ashley Cona-
way had held out hope that the best
friends, kidnap victims missing
since last month, would somehow
be found safe.
They made appeals, posted fliers,
held news conferences and offered a
$30,000 reward, begging anyone
who knew of their whereabouts to
step forward.
But a sobering reality sank in
Sunday evening as they gathered
along the Rouge River, where au-
thorities, following a tip, combed
shallow graves believed to hold the
bodies of Brown, 18, and Conaway,
22. The Hamtramck women were
last seen Feb. 28.
“We don’t have to wake up and
wonderwheretheyare,”saidKrystal
Brown, a cousin, as she looked to-
ward the wooded area where the
two bodies were buried.
Investigators have not positively
identified the victims. But Detroit
Police Ralph Godbee Jr., who joined
the search Sunday, said he believed
they were those of two females “who
fit the description” of the missing
women. Police had earlier in the day
notified relatives, some of whom
came to the scene.
“Hopefully we can bring some
closure to the families,” Godbee
said.
He did not release additional de-
tails, including the cause of death.
No one has been charged in the
kidnappings. But Brandon Cain, Co-
naway’s ex-boyfriend, and Brian
Christopher Lee face court hearings
this week for a Feb. 8 shooting in-
volving the women, and they have
beencalledpersonsofinterestinthe
kidnapping case.
The bodies found Sunday were
covered in brush and logs near the
river on the city’s northwest side, at
Riverview and Dehner, police said.
By8p.m.,theyhadbeentakentothe
Wayne County medical examiner’s
office, where autopsies were expect-
ed to be performed, they said.
The area where the bodies were
found is not far from where the
burned-out car believed to have
been used in their abduction was
found and where Brown’s mother
led a search for the women.
It’s also a block north of a search
for the missing women nearly three
weeks ago in wooded areas along
Bodies may be two missing women
Police believe shallow
graves held remains
of Hamtramck friends
BY ORALANDAR BRAND-WILLIAMS
AND MARK HICKS
The Detroit News
Please see Missing, Page 7A
Brown Conaway
SPORTS, 1B