Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Thu, Feb 20 1992 Date: Thu, 20 Feb 92 06:16:57 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Feb. 20, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BUSH WON'T `GET HAMMERED': President Bush Wednesday said he wouldn't "lay back and get hammered by those Democrats and ... uh, uh, uh, Pat." That was the closest Bush has actually come to naming his Republican challenger Pat Buchanan. Bush, in Tennessee on his first Southern campaign swing, said "there's good signs" on the economy. "I think people feel the economy is poised for recovery." MORE IMPLANT STUDIES TO BE DONE: Silicone gel breast implant makers said Tuesday more studies of the devices will be done, including more follow-up on women with implants. Dow Corning Corp. officials are considering paying up to $1,000 to women needing removal of the company's implants. Experts, speaking on behalf of manufacturers, told a Food and Drug Administration panel most worries over the implants are unfounded. MAKE SEAT FIT FLIER: Most airline seats don't fit comfortably, according to Louis Sportelli of the American Chiropractic Association. Many coach seats curve forward at the top, the opposite of the way they should be, he says. Some tips to make the seat fit the traveler: Put a pillow against the seat back to reduce lower-back strain; use a neck pillow; and change position every half hour or so. MIDDLE CLASS IS SHRINKING: The middle class in the USA is a lot smaller than it used to be, the Census Bureau said Wednesday. Over the past two decades, many members of the middle class have joined the growing ranks of the rich or the poor. The decline of the middle class, which increased in the 1980s, was the first time the group shrank since World War II, reflecting the USA's growing income inequality. HATE CRIMES ARE ON THE RISE: A record 346 white supremacy groups are operating in the USA, up an alarming 27% in the past year, the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Also up for the fourth straight year: Hate crimes, ranging from murder to cross-burnings. "It's so alarming that we went back and double-checked the numbers," says Danny Welch, director of the law center's Klanwatch project. BUSH NOT TESTIMONY'S FOCUS: Gen. Manuel Noriega's defense lawyers Wednesday passed up perhaps their best chance to embarrass President George Bush. Retired admiral Daniel Murphy, former chief of staff to then-vice president Bush in the early 1980s, wasn't questioned about his ex-boss's relationship with Noriega. Murphy agreed with defense claims that Panama cooperated with U.S. authorities in the drug war. TSONGAS ZEROES IN ON CLINTON: Paul Tsongas Wednesday moved to cast the Democratic presidential race as a two-man showdown on economics with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. The New Hampshire primary winner asked, "How can you compete with Japan on 97 cents a day?" - mocking Clinton's support for a middle-class tax cut. Tsongas said he will not question Clinton on "character issues" such as adultery. ECONOMIC SPLIT DEEPENS: The split in Congress over economic and tax policy grew deeper Wednesday as both parties hardened their positions on helping the middle class. Democrats viewed President Bush's narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary as a boost for their middle-income tax plan. Republicans indicated that Paul Tsongas' upstart Democratic win was evidence that their economic growth package is right. IRA FUGITIVE DEPORTED: Fugitive Joseph Doherty, 36, convicted in the IRA killing of a British soldier in Northern Ireland, was secretly deported to Britain Wednesday. Doherty in 1981 escaped from a British prison where he was serving a life term. He hid in New York, where he tended bar until the FBI arrested him in 1983. The Supreme Court has ruled that he couldn't seek political asylum. OLD-GROWTH LOGGING BANNED: A federal judge in Portland, Ore., Wednesday banned logging in U.S. Bureau of Land Management old-growth forests to protect endangered northern spotted owls. Judge Helen Frye extended a temporary ban issued Jan. 30 until a full hearing and ruling. Ralph Saperstein of the Northwest Forestry Association called it "a nail in the coffin of the economies of western Oregon." SHOWERS TO HIT WEST AGAIN: The West Coast braces for another round of showers Thursday. The activity will douse northern California and Washington, skirting Oregon. In the Southeast, look for sunny skies and temperatures near 70. Along the northeastern tier, light snow showers will spill into the northern Great Lakes. The Northeast and mid-Atlantic will have partly cloudy skies and pleasant weather. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Thursday at 3230.32, after closing up 5.59 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.85, up 0.20. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 407.46, down 1.74. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 622.41, down 4.00. News Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. 08:0002200000D0220 ADVE- R O ABC-gets-moral-victory................ A D0220 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM