Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news,americast.usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Fri, Sep 11 1992 Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 04:33:18 EDT Message-ID: Lines: 119 DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Sept. 11-13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BUSH ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC PLAN: In a major speech Thursday, and five-minute TV ads Thursday night, President Bush proposed a modest 1% across-the-board tax cut, cuts in government workers and salaries, and vowed to expand free-trade with Eastern Europe. Bush said economic output could nearly double to $10 trillion if the U.S. works to be "a military superpower, an economic superpower, an export superpower." FEW NEW PROPOSALS SET FORTH: Bush, under political pressure to provide a vision for America's economic future, offered few new proposals in Thursday's speech and did not detail spending cuts to offset reduced taxes. Instead, as designed by Chief of Staff James Baker, Bush used his speech at the Economic Club of Detroit to show "how all the pieces fit together." CARJACKING CONDEMNED: The brutal killing of a Maryland woman whose car was stolen at gunpoint as she drove her 22-month-old daughter to pre-school was condemned by U.S. leaders Thursday. As shock turned to anger over the slaying of Pamela Basu, a U.S. House panel heard support for a bill to make carjacking a federal crime and strengthen other anti-car theft laws. HARVEST LOOKS BOUNTIFUL: Farmers are looking at a bountiful harvest this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday. Corn, the most important U.S. crop because of its use as feed grain, will hit 8.77 billion bushels, 17% more than 1991. Average yield: 121.4 bushels per acre. The soybean crop, source of high-protein meal and vegetable oil, is up 5% from last year, to 2.08 billion bushels. HOMESTEAD BASE FUNDS BATTLED: A Senate committee shot down President Bush's promise to rebuild Homestead Air Force Base Thursday, setting up a fight for $480 million. The full Senate may review the decision next week. The estimated cost for rebuilding the base is $800 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a commission on base closures to decide. ANDREW MAY HAVE BEEN TOPS: Hurricane Andrew, packing winds up to 200 mph, may have been one of the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the USA, scientists say. Bob Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center, led a team of experts who conducted a wind survey of south Florida. Sheets says the nation may be entering a cycle of increased wind activity like in the 1940s, when seven major hurricanes struck Florida. CONGRESS SENDS ON FAMILY BILL: Congress on Thursday sent a family-leave bill to President Bush for an expected veto that Democrats hope will embarrass the self-proclaimed "family values" president. The bill, which would guarantee workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to override: It passed the House by a vote of 241-161, 49 votes short. POST OFFICE HEAD INDICTED: A federal grand jury Thursday indicted the former chief-of-staff at the post office, signaling an expanded probe at the plagued operation. The indictment names ex-House Post Office chief of staff Joanna O'Rourke, and alleges conspiracy involving "co-conspirators and others, including legislative officials." It is unclear if "officials" means members of Congress or Capitol Hill aids. DRUG STRATEGY CALLED FAILURE: The Bush administration's drug strategy was dubbed a $32 billion failure Thursday by a Senate report citing national increases in crime and addiction. Since 1989, it said 3 million more people became addicted to cocaine or heroin, and 1 million addicts couldn't get treatment. Bob Martinez, director of the White House office of National Drug Control Policy, said total use dropped 13%. CHAMBERS STILL `MENACE': "Preppie" killer Robert Chambers is still a "menace to society," and he shouldn't be released early from prison, says the grandfather of Jennifer Levin, the young woman found strangled by Chambers in Central Park in 1986. Chambers is eligible to be released in February. He is serving a 5-to-15-year sentence at a New York prison and his lawyer calls him a "model" prisoner. MARTIN EXPLORING GLASS CEILING: Labor Secretary Lynn Martin said Thursday she has sent letters to 26 media-company chief executives and 20 college presidents, asking for ways to remove glass ceilings at their organizations. Donna Shavlik, of the American Council on Education, wants more. Of about 3,000 colleges, women are presidents at 348, minorities at 325, ACE says. Women were 18.4% of newsroom managers in 1991. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3305.16 Friday after closing up 33.77 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 230.78, up 1.68. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 384.87, up 1.99. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 581.24, up 6.35. EARLY AUTUMN EXITS PLAINS: Summer weather returns to the northern and central Plains this weekend, but a cold front will push through Sunday, ending the heat. Cool conditions will usher sunshine into the Midwest through the Appalachians and into the Gulf Coast states. Sunny, seasonable conditions will embrace the eastern seaboard. Hot weather is slated for the Southwest, sunshine and warmth for California. News Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. 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