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INDEXVol. 177, Number 266© 2008Detroit Free Press Inc.Printed in the U.S.

FORD CUTS LOSSBUYOUTS MAY NOT BE REPLACED SEE STORY

BELOW

How to pick abig-game TVWHAT’S COOL IN FLAT SCREENS, 1D

If you’re in the mood for a short-but-sweet summer vacation — or

want to go out and buy a luxury home— you need to take a close look at thelatest stimulus package that’s on thefast track in Washington.

On Thursday, we learned that theBush administration and Republicanand Democratic House lawmakersreached an agreement on a stimuluspackage that is designed to fight off arecession. It’s not a done deal yet, butthis proposed rush effort has some-thing for everyone — or almost ev-eryone:� We’re looking at tax rebate checksof up to $600 for individuals and upto $1,200 for couples, plus an extra$300 per child. But don’t plan to

Details of the deal, 5ACongress and the White House agree to apackage of tax rebates and housing rescueto give the economy a boost.

Deal hasrebatescomingyour way

SUSAN TOMPOR

Michiganders expectedto see big-time benefits

See TOMPOR, 14A

As Ford Motor Co. begins offeringvoluntary buyouts and early-retire-ment packages to its 54,000 UAWhourly workers — and continues trim-ming its salaried ranks — CEO AlanMulally said it’s not clear that the de-parting workers will be replaced inthese tough economic times.

“We just don’t know,” Mulally toldthe Free Press after the automaker re-leased its preliminary financial resultsfor 2007, which at a loss of nearly $3billion showed substantial improve-ment from 2006.

On Thursday, Ford reported a netloss of $2.7 billion, or $1.35 a share,compared with a record loss of $12.6billion, or $6.72 per share, in 2006.

Ford maynot refill its ranksIn tough times, hires atlower wage not a given

By SARAH A. WEBSTER

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

See FORD, 9A

Tom Walsh: Nowlet’s see a profit

Ford needs to cash in onmore than just its big trucks— and this means the auto-maker desperately needs toturn luxury brands Lincolnand Volvo around. 1E

The heads of Detroit’s 17municipal unions may decidetoday that Detroit MayorKwame Kilpatrick should beasked to step down or face re-call, as revelations that he andhis chief of staff lied under oathat a police whistle-blower trialrocked City Hall.

Also Thursday, a lawyerwho represented the officerswho sued acknowledged to theFree Press that there’s a confi-dentiality agreement contain-ing undisclosed details of the$8.4-million case settlement,which was reached in October.

City lawyers had previouslytold the Free Press no suchagreement existed.

On Wednesday the FreePress reported that their textmessages show Kilpatrick andhis chief of staff, ChristineBeatty, lied at the whistle-blower trial when they testi-fied last summer they did nothave a sexual relationship.

On Thursday, Beatty wasnot in Detroit, according to herlawyer.

Kilpatrick and his familywere in Tallahassee, Fla., try-ing to escape the public eye,but his office said they wouldreturn to Detroit Thursdayevening.

As Kilpatrick was shown inphotographs kissing his wife,Carlita, in Florida, stunned Ci-ty Council members saidThursday they were preparingfor the possibility that De-troit’s youngest elected mayormight not complete his secondterm.

Council President KenCockrel Jr., who would becomemayor if Kilpatrick left office,raised the possibility of resig-nation although he did not callfor the mayor to step down.

Cockrel said the contradic-tions between text messages

TEXT MESSAGE SCANDAL

CALLS GROWFOR OUSTER

MARK WALLHEISER/Tallahassee Democrat

Kwame Kilpatrick kisses his wife, Carlita, as they and their children prepare to leave their Tallahassee, Fla., home Thursday. A mayoralspokesman said the family would return to Detroit on Thursday night. At top, Kilpatrick waves to a photographer.

City unionsmay seekmayor’sdeparture SECRET TRIALPACT SURFACES

By JOE SWICKARD,

SUZETTE HACKNEY,

JIM SCHAEFER

and ZACHARY GORCHOW

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

See MAYOR, 8A

WDIV-TV Local 4

The scandal over the thousands oftext messages between Detroit

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and chief ofstaff Christine Beatty has a lot ofpeople wondering just how privatetheir own messages are.

For most, the answer is: Don’tworry.

Just as cell phone calls are notrecorded, neither are most text mes-sages.

Regular text messages sentthrough regular cell phones are notkept in any central repository. Whenyou zap them from your phone, theyare, in almost all instances, foreverzapped. There is no federal law re-quiring that they be stored or kept bythe cell phone provider.

Text messaging is what the wire-less companies call SMS, for shortmessage service. It has become al-most as popular as cell phone voicecommunications, with as many as 20billion text messages being sent eachmonth in the United States alone.

Typically, text messages are 140characters or fewer, sent via the data

networks of the wireless providersfrom one device to another.

In the mayor’s case, his messageswere saved because of the specializedservice the city has for wireless com-munications between city officials.Although the scandal is being dubbedBlackBerrygate by wags, strictlyspeaking the gizmo the mayor andBeatty used to communicate wasn’t aBlackBerry.

It was a SkyWriter, and although itlooks a lot like a BlackBerry, it’s adedicated messaging device fromSkyTel. The Mississippi-based wire-less company specializes in providingpaging and messaging services tolarge corporations and governmental

Most text messagesexpire privately But don’t get personal on a city-owned device

MIKE WENDLAND

See WENDLAND, 6A

DETROITERS REACT …Tony Johnson, 36, above: “We shouldnot have to pay for this. We could useit on the school system, on our roads,getting rid of some of these aban-doned buildings. …”

… AS DO AREA LEADERSOakland CountyExecutive L.Brooks Patterson:“It’s a hell of aself-made mess.… And a person

who is looking for a reason to ignoreDetroit financially and politically,they’ll grab ahold of this peccadillo.”

� MORE REACTION AND SPECIALCOVERAGE, 6A-8A� EDITORIAL AND LETTERS, 10A-11A

AT FREEP.COM:TALK TO THEWRITERS

� Join a live online chat with FreePress reporter M.L. Elrick at noontoday and with reporter Jim Schaeferat 2 p.m. � Videos, photo galleries, forums andother stories.

REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press

SkyTel The irony is that if the mayor and histop aide had used a regular cell phoneand text-messaging service fromVerizon, AT&T or Sprint, there wouldbe no record. A detailed look, 6A