Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Headline Article Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:03:26 EST Message-ID: \SE A;TOP OF THE NEWS;NATION \BY FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS S=NEW STORY Women ask Clinton for RU-486 support SAN FRANCISCO - Female physicians and breast cancer patients are urging President-elect Bill Clinton to help make the French abortion pill RU-486 available immediately for testing in the United States. The American Medical Women's Association says the political controversy over abortion has denied U.S. researchers access to the drug despite indications it may help treat a variety of diseases, including cancer. The federal government in 1989 banned import of RU-486 for personal use. The drug technically still is available for testing, but proponents say the ban persuaded French manufacturer Roussel-Uclaf to cut off supply. Representatives of breast cancer organizations, the AMWA and other physicians in favor of RU-486 urged Mr. Clinton on Saturday to send Roussel-Uclaf an informal letter welcoming the drug into the United States for research. Mr. Clinton has said he believes research and testing are appropriate. S=NEW STORY Jefferson letter may sell for $30,000 MANCHESTER, N.H. - A four-sentence letter from Thomas Jefferson to Gen. John Stark, congratulating the "venerable patriot" on his good health at age 77, goes on the auction block Friday in New York. Christie's auction house said the letter was expected to sell for at least $30,000. The president, who had never met the New Hampshire general, wrote from his home at Monticello on Aug. 19, 1805. He said he was prompted to write by a newspaper story that reported the general in good health. The note was kept by Stark family members. It recalls Gen. Stark's Revolutionary War victory at Bennington, Vt., as "the first link in that chain of successes which issued in the [British] surrender at Saratoga." Gen. Stark died in 1822, a few months shy of age 94 and 13 years after he penned the words "Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils." "Live Free or Die" is now New Hampshire's state motto. S=NEW STORY Sony chairman wants cultural understanding LOS ANGELES - Sony Corp. Chairman Akio Morita wants Japanese-Americans to help ease economic tension between the United States and Japan by promoting cultural understanding. "Japanese-Americans are important citizens for America and a great friend of Japan," Mr. Morita said Friday during a speech at the Japanese-American National Museum. He called the relationship between the two countries "the most important in the world." Mr. Morita said the experience of Japanese-Americans is a lesson both countries should remember. If Americans can appreciate the contributions of Japanese-Americans, feelings of resentment will abate, he said. Japanese businessmen have no ill will toward the United States, Mr. Morita said, adding, "Sometimes the bad feeling is taken up by politicians or journalists." S=NEW STORY California gets 13th area code LOS ANGELES - California's 13th area code - 909 - has officially gone into effect, but calls using the old 714 code will work for both areas until mid-August. Pacific Bell said the new area code that went into effect Saturday is needed because of a growing population and because people are demanding more numbers for fax machines, cellular phones, beepers and computer modems. The 909 area code covers western Riverside and San Bernardino Counties and eastern Los Angeles County The 714 code still will apply to Orange County, as well as the communities of Carbon Canyon and Sleepy Hollow in southwestern San Bernardino County and part of La Mirada in Los Angeles County. A year ago, western Los Angeles and its coastal suburbs were given the area code 310. S=NEW STORY Boeing talks to families of El Al crash victims SEATTLE - A senior lawyer for the Boeing Co. has initiated talks with lawyers representing families of victims who died in the Oct. 4 crash of an El Al 747 plane in Amsterdam, the company said yesterday. Boeing said Keith Gerrard, the aerospace company's top negotiator in accident litigation, had returned from Amsterdam where he held talks with the lawyers. "We talked about the possibility of settlement," Boeing commercial airplane group spokesman Tom Cole told Reuters. "The meeting was amicable." Boeing noted that Dutch authorities have not released an official report on the cause of the crash in which at least 50 people were killed when the jet struck an apartment complex. Dutch transport officials have said they believe metal fatigue in an engine strut may have contributed to the accident, in which two engines separated from the jumbo jet's right wing shortly after takeoff. S=NEW STORY Commedian apologizes for Clinton act LOS ANGELES - Phil Hartman doesn't want President-elect Clinton to be bothered by his "Saturday Night Live" impersonation. "I don't want him to be offended," Mr. Hartman said, noting that he voted for Mr. Clinton. "Whatever I say or do, I want him to know that I'm on his side, and I'm a fan," said Mr. Hartman. "I'm a satirist, and satire on the surface can seem cutting and mean, but it's my job to impersonate him on network TV." With Mr. Clinton moving into the White House, Mr. Hartman expects to be doing a lot of impersonating. Not lost on the comedian is the knowledge that the NBC show's Dana Carvey was paid as much as $30,000 an appearance to speak at sales meetings and business conferences as President Bush. "I can't emphasize how much I like this gig," Mr. Hartman said in an interview published Saturday in the Los Angeles Times. S=NEW STORY Christmans trees quarantined in 6 states The Agriculture Department established a quarantine in six states to prevent the spread of the pine shoot beetle, an exotic pest with a taste for Christmas trees. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Friday the quarantine would apply to pine products from 42 infested counties in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana. S=NEW STORY Professors make up secretaries' pay cuts BATON ROUGE, La. - Santa Claus' name wasn't heard very often in the solemn halls of the Louisiana State University economics department - until some professors covered their secretaries' pay cuts out of their own pockets. In the music department, too, the faculty is pitching in to reimburse its staff for the week's pay the university took away to offset a midyear cut in state funds. "Some of these are single people, and some are single mothers. And we didn't feel like this is a very good plan," said Loren Scott, who heads the economics department. Donna Burton, a secretary who is divorced, raising an 8-year-old son and taking night courses, said a $400 salary cut would have hurt. "I was starting to panic about Christmas," she said. "You know, like telling my son there's no Santa Claus. It turns out there is a Santa Claus." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM