The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, March 01, 1996, Image 4

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    4 The Daily Collegian
Al a - Yg 3 l ant e
A brief look at our world
State
Pitt. officials propose
changes in busing
PITTSBURGH (AP) Pitts
burgh Public Schools officials
have proposed changes that
could end forced busing by reas
signing students to neighborhood
schools.
Officials acknowledged that
the changes would create more
segregated schools in the dis
trict. But they insisted that par
ents would have more choices
about where to send their chil
dren to school.
After a series of public forums
on the proposal that begin next
week, city school directors
expect to vote on a final plan in
April. Most of the changes would
be made by this fall, with the
plan's implementation completed
within two years.
The plan, announced Wednes
day, divides the city into nine
clusters centered around local
high schools.
Eleven new schools would
open, and some special education
programs would be moved to
keep kids in their own neighbor
hoods.
Natian~~Y ~.x ~ ~~~^
~,
~a~. ~, ~_ ~_
Killer of Jordan's dad
convicted by jury
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) An
ex-convict was convicted yester
day of murdering basketball star
Michael Jordan's father, who
was shot during a holdup as he
awoke from a nap along a dark
highway in his $40,000 luxury
car.
Daniel Green, 21, could get the
death penalty for shooting 57-
year-old James R. Jordan in the
chest in 1993.
Demery himself was the pros
ecution's star witness. He plead
ed guilty to murder before testi
fying against Green and also
could get the death penalty.
The jury deliberated 4 1 / 2 hours
over two days before returning
guilty verdicts on all charges,
including robbery and conspira
cy. The jury is expected to
return today to consider whether
Green should get life in prison or
the death penalty.
Lawyer ordered jailed
for holding drug cash
OCALA, Fla. (AP) F. Lee
Bailey was ordered jailed yester
day for failing to turn over mil
lions in cash and stock from a
drug-dealer client. Prosecutors
say the money belongs to the
government.
The 62-year-old defense attor
ney must report to prison today
for a six-month contempt of
court sentence unless he can pro
duce the money and stock, Paul
ruled.
Bailey says his former client
gave him the assets, now worth
$3 million cash and $18.7 million
in stock, for legal fees and
expenses in a drug-trafficking
case.
Prosecutors claim most of it
belongs to the government, as
part of the forfeiture the drug
dealer agreed to in a plea bar
gain, and that Bailey was sup
posed to take only fees and
expenses and then turn over the
rest.
AIDS activists protest
lottery for new drug
SAINT-REMY-SUR-AVRE,
France (AP) Forty AIDS
activists blocked entrances and
production lines at a U.S. phar
maceutical company lab yester
day to protest a French proposal
to set up a lottery for a new
drug.
The protesters, all members of
the AIDS activist group ACT UP,
occupied an Abbott Laboratories
plant in this town about 60 miles
west of Paris.
The protesters said they were
fighting a plan for a lottery to
ensure that powerful new U.S.-
developed AIDS drugs would be
equitably distributed. French
officials are expecting a short
age.
The drugs, called protease
inhibitors, attack the AIDS virus
in a different way than medi
cines that have been on the mar
ket for several years.
Clinton warns Cuba to avoid conflict
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D.C. President Clinton
sternly warned Fidel Castro not to interfere
with a memorial service this weekend near
Cuban waters where two unarmed planes
were shot down. Coast Guard planes and
ships were ordered to be on hand to ensure
the ceremony is peaceful.
"In plain English, the United States of
America will not tolerate unacceptable
behavior by the Cuban government," White
House press secretary Mike McCurry said
yesterday. "We'll make sure that there will
not be loss of innocent lives such as
occurred last weekend."
At the same time, the government took
new steps to prevent American ships and
Candidates battle in SC debate
By JOHN KING
AP Political Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. Debating on
decidedly conservative turf,
Republican presidential hopefuls
defended all-male schools and dis
playing the Confederate flag yes
terday and talked tough about cut
ting government and confronting
Cuba. Three ganged up to label Bob
Dole a chronic tax-raiser.
"Don't malign my integrity
here," Dole retorted at one point,
recalling his Senate role in pushing
through Ronald Reagan's tax cuts
and fighting President Clinton's
1993 tax increase.
The combative lunch-hour
debate brought the four leading
Republicans hopefuls together just
two days before South Carolina's
primary a must-win event in
Dole's comeback strategy and the
scene-setter for voting in nine
states on Tuesday.
There was no doubt that the can
didates recognized the stakes,
often interrupting to rebut rivals.
Nor was there any doubt that the
campaign had shifted to the solidly
conservative South.
At one point, publisher Steve
Forbes and Lamar Alexander had a
contentious shouting match over
Alexander's personal finances and
the tax increases he adopted as
Tennessee governor.
Dole, defending his lead here,
repeatedly interrupted rivals to
counter their criticisms and twice
noted that he alone among the can
didates has served . in the active
military.
Polls show Buchanan running a
solid second in South Carolina, with
Forbes and Alexander battling for
industry works
on rating
By JEANNINE AVERSA
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Under pressure from parents
and politicians, the television
industry promised yesterday to
devise a ratings system to warn
of violence and sex.
"They're handing the TV
remote control back to Ameri
ca's parents," President Clinton
said.
The promise to rate thousands
of hours of programs by the end
of the year came during a White
House meeting between Clinton
and about 30 television and
entertainment industry execu
tives.
Clinton also pressed his inter
est in requiring stations to air at
least three hours a week of edu
cational programs for children.
Though the broadcasting
industry opposes such quotas,
TV executives told reporters
they are interested in improving
the quality of programming.
"It is not enough for parents
to be able to tune out what they
don't want their children to
watch," Clinton said. "They
want to be able to tune in good
programs that their children
will watch."
"I think (there will be) more
Brady Bunch type of program
ming than cutting edge," said
Ted Turner, chief of Turner
Broadcasting System Inc.
TV executives envision a sys
tem like the one used for
movies, but they are a long way
from agreement on whether
cartoons and news magazine
shows should be rated and how
to rate soap operas.
A task force of TV executives
will begin work today to devise
ratings criteria and symbols and
decide what will and won't be
rated.
"I think it's going to be ardu-
Dateline
"In plain English, the United
States of America will not
tolerate unacceptable
behavior by the Cuban
government."
planes from entering Cuban waters and air
space without permission. Violators will face
"firm legal action," McCurry said. Such
incursions already are illegal.
Using boats and planes, exile groups plan
to converge at the site in the Straits of Flori
Republican presidential hopefuls Pat Buchanan, left, and Lamar Alexander talk during a break in the debate.
The candidates debated in Columbia, South Carolina yesterday, primarily discussing social issues and
taxes.
third. Even third could prove lethal
to Alexander's struggling candida
cy, and his tone made clear he
knew the price of placing fourth.
"He talks like a conservative and
acts like a liberal," Forbes said of
Alexander. As they glared and
pointed fingers, Forbes suggested
system
"They're handing
the TV remote
control back to
America's parents."
Bill Clinton
president
ous, be tormenting," said
Motion Picture Association of
America President Jack Valenti,
who is overseeing the ratings
effort.
Industry executives privately
insist news and sports programs
won't be rated, but Valenti said
no decision had been made.
The system would cover pro
grams on commercial and pub
lic television and on cable. Pro
gram distributors would apply
the rating.
A new law urges but does
n't force the TV industry to
rate programs. The ratings,
however, are critical to another
requirement of the law: that
new TV sets be equipped with
the v-chip. With a remote-con
trol-like device, a person can
block such programs from
appearing on the TV screen.
Without the ratings, the v-chip
is useless.
Vice President Al Gore pre
dicted the system eventually
would reduce the amount of vio
lence and sex on television.
NBC President Bob Wright
said his network is preparing
for "some fallout" of advertis
ing revenue from a ratings plan.
The theory is that programs
that carry a tougher sex and
violence rating won't be as
attractive to most advertisers as
programming with benign rat
ings.
Major advertising groups say
they support the plan.
Mike McCurry
White House press secretary
Alexander participated in several More often than not, however,
sweetheart investment deals while Forbes and Alexander were part
governor. ners against Dole. And they
"You should be ashamed of your
self," Alexander said , taking
Forbes to task for spending mil
lions of dollars "smearing Bob
Dole, smearing me."
Agency deems Pa
relief funding
By HEIDI RUSSELL
Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG With $750 million in damages
from this winter's blizzards and floods, Pennsylvania
residents are not seeing enough funding support from
the federal government, the director of the Pennsyl
vania Emergency Management Agency said yester
day.
It is unknown how much Pennsylvania stands to
lose, Charles Wynne told the Senate Appropriations
Committee. But, he said, PEMA plans to appeal some
federal funding decisions that could hurt relief
efforts.
"The cost for fire, EMS (emergency management
services), police things like that are not reim
bursable. We intend to appeal for maximum recovery
for the commonwealth," Wynne said.
Road damages totaled $5OO million; costs to local
Gorbachev running in election
By DAVE CARPENTER
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW Mikhail Gorbachev
has decided to join the race for the
Russian presidency, undaunted by
his abysmal public rating and over
whelming evidence that says he
can't possibly win.
The former Soviet president, coy
for months about his political
plans, stopped just short of formal
ly declaring his candidacy, howev
er.
That could come as soon as
today, the eve of his 65th birthday.
Gorbachev has scheduled a news
conference to make what spokes
men called an "important
announcement" concerning the
June 16 presidential election.
"I can confirm that I am internal
ly ready" to run, he said at the Gor
bachev Foundation think tank in
Moscow. "It's just a question of the
time and the place that I will
declare."
Gorbachev remains popular in
the West as the man who brought
down the Soviet police state. But he
lost the support of pro-reform Rus-
da where Cuban MiGs destroyed two Cessna
planes. The aircraft belonged to Brothers to
the Rescue, a Miami-based group that has
rescued refugees from the waters around
Cuba and has dropped anti-Castro leaflets
over Havana.
Giving the administration's blessing to the
ceremony, McCurry said Clinton "believes
this is a very appropriate way to commemo
rate the lives of four victims of this bar
barous act by the Cuban regime."
Cuba complains that aircraft flown by
Americans have violated Cuban airspace 25
times over the past 20 months. Havana said
that it will keep a hands-off approach on Sat
urday as long participants stay in interna
tional waters, according to Cuba's press
agency.
U.S. military forces will not oversee the
received eager assistance from
Buchanan, only an occasional tar
get this time after coming under
consistent attack at a forum last
week in Arizona.
sians before leaving office in 1991,
by waffling on reforms and resort
ing to authoritarian tactics as his
government was collapsing. Hard
liners revile him for tearing the
system apart and leaving the
nation adrift.
Few Russians are likely to take
Gorbachev's candidacy seriously
he is barely an afterthought on
the current political scene. Only
Western reporters showed up at
Gorbachev's office to quiz him
about his plans.
Recent public opinion polls show
only about 1 percent of Russians
would vote for him for president.
A longtime bitter rival of Presi
dent Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev said
his platform would be "an alterna
tive to the current regime and an
alternative to Communist funda
mentalism."
The current front-runner in the
presidential race is Communist
leader Gennady Zyuganov, a
favorite with those who link the
unraveling of the social safety net,
sky-high inflation and the explo
sion in crime and corruption with
Yeltsin's economic reforms.
Friday, March 1, 1996
memorial service, McCurry said, but he indi
cated they will be on call. A Navy carrier
battle group led by the USS Enterprise
already is nearby, conducting exercises off
the coast of Puerto Rico.
The Pentagon is "very much a part of the
planning that's going into Saturday's event,"
McCurry said.
Separately, Republican Rep. Dan Burton
of Indiana asserted that Air Force jets at
Homestead Air Force Base in Florida were
denied permission to scramble last weekend
after learning that Cuban MiGs were in the
air. The Pentagon denied it.
For the future, McCurry said Clinton was
undertaking a series of steps to protect the
safety of American citizens and ensure they
abide by the law banning unauthorized entry
to Cuban territory.
. disaster
too meager
governments, residents, businesses and fire compa
nies totaled $250 million, he said.
Morrie Goodman, director of emergency informa
tion at the Federal Emergency Management Agency
in Washington, D.C., said $5B million has been given
so far to individuals and small businesses in Pennsyl
vania.
"There has been not one bit of criticism voiced by
any other state in the blizzards or floods of 1996 than
Pennsylvania," Goodman said.
Tallies of losses to individual Pennsylvanians
change by the day, but so far, 43 people have exceed
ed the federal assistance available to them. They have
$500,000 in unmet needs, Wynne said. Another 145
businesses have qualified for $6.2 million in federal
disaster loans.
And 1,600 municipalities and private nonprofit orga
nizations have applied for flood relief, as well as 573
more for blizzard damages.
Asked to rate his chances, Gor
bachev said: "If I make the deci
sion to run, then I don't just intend
to be a wedding general" a Russ
ian expression meaning ceremonial
bystander.
Keyes left
out, goes
on hunger
protest
By The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C.
Republican Alan Keyes said
he was starting a hunger
strike to protest his exclu
sion from the presidential
debate yesterday.
Keyes, who has finished
near the bottom in primary
contests to date, was not
invited to participate in this
debate.
A South Carolina business
council sponsored the hour
long debate that featured
the four leading GOP candi
dates Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole, commen
tator Pat Buchanan, publish
er Steve Forbes and former
Tennessee Gov. Lamar
Alexander.
"Is our crisis today a
money crisis or a moral cri
sis?" Keyes said. "Unless I
am on that stage, that ques
tion will not be raised."
Keyes said that he was
encouraging his supporters
to join in his fast, which he
said would not end until "I
get assurances of fair and
equitable treatment . . . to
make sure the message I
represent is heard by the
American people."
Mikhail Gorbachev
running for president of Russia