Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Tue, Jul 7 1992 Date: Tue, 7 Jul 92 05:13:30 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update July 7, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LENDERS LOWERING RATES: Mortgage interest rates are falling fast. Rates on some 30-year fixed-rate loans have been sliced to as low as 7.75%, since Thursday, when the Federal Reserve cut its key discount rate to 3% from 3.5%. According to rate tracker HSH Associates, 160 lenders were offering 30-year fixed loans at 8% or less at the end of last week - triple the number from the prior week. U.S. FORCES MAY AID BOSNIA: The Bush administration Monday endorsed using military force, including U.S. ground forces for the first time, to break the Serbian overland blockade of Bosnia. An overland corridor would supplement Sarajevo airport, reopened last week by U.N. forces but too small to supply all of Bosnia. The airport received 15 relief flights Monday. NATION'S TEACHERS NOT DIVERSE: The nation's teachers are overwhelmingly white and female, says a National Education Association survey out Monday. NEA's poll of members shows 87% are white and 72% are women. "Our failure to attract and keep minority teachers threatens to deny minority students the positive role models they need," said NEA's Robert Chase. Minority student enrollment in U.S. public schools is 38.7%. AIRFARE HIKES POSTPONED: Airfare hikes set for Wednesday have been delayed until Friday. Most U.S. airlines postponed the increases ranging from 4.4% to 25%. American will raise fares Friday by 4.4% on all but 100 routes. Delta, United, Northwest and America West will match that increase. American added a twist by tacking on a $50 surcharge on 30 nonstop flights to and from its Dallas hub. CALIF.'S CREDIT RATING LOWERED: California's credit rating was lowered for the second time in five months Monday because of the state's continuing budget stalemate. Moody's Investor Service, one of three major credit-ranking agencies, downgraded California's credit rating to AA from AA1. The state was rated at AAA - the best - as recently as February. Monday, California issued 20,846 IOUs worth $30 million. HORNING SAYS HE'LL ESCAPE AGAIN: Danny Ray Horning, who taunted police for eight weeks after escaping from prison, said Monday he will escape again. He pleaded innocent to attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges. When he returns to a Florence, Ariz., prison Tuesday, he'll find conditions more harsh than when he escaped. Now, when Horning is out of his cell, he will be handcuffed, shackled and escorted by two guards. LONG SENTENCE FOR NORIEGA ASKED: Federal prosecutors Monday filed an 18-page memo in federal court saying Gen. Manuel Noriega "should be incarcerated for a term measured not in years but in decades." The former Panamanian leader's drug conspiracy was "staggering ... without parallel in modern jurisprudence," the memo said. Some observers speculate Noriega may get 40 years when he is sentenced Friday. A.C. WANTS 24-HOUR GAMBLING: With competition popping up nationwide, Atlantic City casinos are battling to offer 24-hour, 7-day-a-week action. Tuesday they go before New Jersey's Casino Control Commission to ask that a controversial decision made last month - permitting 24-hour gaming only Thursday through Monday - be reconsidered. The new hours start Wednesday and run through Sept. 10. EARTH'S TEMPERATURE DROPS: The Earth's average temperature has dropped 1 degree Fahrenheit since the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines a year ago, and likely will drop another degree within two years, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said Monday. The northern hemisphere has cooled 1.5 degrees. Temperatures should return to normal in four or five years. PAN AM DELIBERATIONS TO BEGIN: A New York jury this week will begin deliberating whether Pan Am was negligent in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Lawyers for relatives of 212 of the victims blamed lax airline security for allowing a bomb-laden suitcase on the Boeing 747. Pan Am, which went bankrupt, has said all proper precautions were taken. Tuesday: Final arguments. PRISON RIOT QUELLED: Inmates at the U.S. maximum security prison in Leavenworth, Kan., were locked in their cells as authorities probe an overnight disturbance in which one inmate was fatally stabbed and three were injured. About 300 inmates were involved. Damage: $400,000. Inmates at the Walpole, Mass., state prison also were locked up following a weekend melee in which 17 inmates and one guard were hurt. MORE SEVERE STORMS FOR MIDWEST: The Midwest will brace for yet another round of severe storms Tuesday, while the southern Plains sizzle under sunny skies. Pleasant weather is slated for much of the East coast. Warm sun will prevail throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states. Hot and humid weather will bake the Southeast and Florida. Sunshine and heat will scorch the desert Southwest and southern California. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Tuesday at 3339.20 after closing up 8.91 Monday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 227.44, up 1.03. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 382.58, up 0.03. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 563.17, down 0.18. News Editor: William Snoddy. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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