Path: bloom-picayune.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 Thu, Oct 1 1992 Date: Thu, 1 Oct 92 04:57:26 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Oct. 1, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SITES PROPOSED FOR DEBATE: Top emissaries from the Bush and Clinton campaigns met late Wednesday to discuss the presidential debates in what could be the first breakthrough in a month-long standoff between the two. With just four-and-a-half weeks left before the election, the number, site and format for debates is still undecided. The states proposed by the Bush campaign are: Calif., Mich., Mo., N.J., Texas and Wis. LARRY KING SHOW CONSIDERED: Talk show host Larry King announced President Bush would appear Sunday on "Larry King Live" for the first time since 1987, when he was vice president. When Bill Clinton heard the news, he said he ought to be included. King's show, Clinton said, provided "the best of both worlds: One moderator and millions of questioners." Bush nixed the idea. The show airs at 9 p.m. ET on CNN. THORNBURGH ACTED AS SHIELD: Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh tried to shield a scheme which sent $5 billion in loans to Iraq prior to the Gulf War, according to documents in federal court Wednesday. An Atlanta federal judge was told that Italian officials met privately with Thornburgh in early 1990 to seek assurances that their bank wouldn't be implicated in a Justice Department probe of the loans. SENATE APPROVES AID TO BOSNIA: Turning up pressure on President Bush to intervene in war-torn former Yugoslavia, the Senate voted Wednesday to authorize U.S. military aid to the battered state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. On a voice vote, senators said the current arms embargo on the region is serving only to maintain a military imbalance in favor of Serbia, which has 1,000 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces. CONGRESS, BUSH HOLD POSITIONS: The 102nd Congress is grinding to a halt with a series of veto confrontations more likely to produce gridlock than good government. True to form, neither President Bush nor Democratic leaders have compromised on key issues in the session's waning days. Instead, Bush has increased his list of vetoes to 35. And the House fell 27 votes short on the vetoed family leave bill. DEMOCRATS HOPE TO SPILL BUSH: Democrats hope they can call President Bush's bluff on one of several bills before Congress leaves town next week, so they can portray him as weakened. Before next week is out, Bush probably will have vetoed more than three dozen bills, including a half-dozen in the last few days, without suffering an override. Veto confrontations: abortion, cable TV, China, education. CONGRESS `GRATUITY' IS ALIVE: When employees die, Congress supplements insurance payments with a "gratuity" to the family of up to one year of the deceased's salary. In 1991 alone, Congress paid more than $1.35 million in gratuities, according to a study by Gannett News Service. For lawmakers, payment usually equals a year's salary - now $125,100. For staff, the average in 1991 was about $31,000. N.J. CLAMPS DOWN ON WELFARE: New Jersey, enacting sweeping welfare reforms, Thursday becomes the first state to stop raising welfare grants for women who have more children. Most controversial in the state's Family Development Program is the provision that would deny women who have more babies the additional monthly $64 per child they used to get. A 10-month grace period means that mothers pregnant now won't be affected. JUDGE, SENATE DISCUSS GAG RULE: A federal rule takes effect Thursday banning counselors at federally funded family-planning clinics from discussing abortion. But a federal judge in Washington is to rule on a request to prevent enforcement of the "gag rule," and the U.S. Senate will try to override President Bush's veto of legislation that would repeal the ban. VANDALS FIRE AT CLINIC: Vandals sprayed a Grand Rapid, Mich., Planned Parenthood clinic with gunfire early Wednesday - the most dramatic example of the escalation in violence against abortion and family planning clinics. Employees arrived to find a glass door and several windows shattered by large-caliber bullets. Nobody was in the building at the time, but tens of thousands of dollars in damage was done. FORT DIX CHANGES DUTIES: For more than 3 million soldiers, Fort Dix (N.J.) was the place where they stumbled in as boys and marched out as men. Americans trained for five wars here, from World War I to the Persian Gulf. Thursday, Fort Dix's role as one of the biggest boot camps in U.S. history ends. The base formally begins a mission as a summer and weekend training center for National Guard members and reservists. AIDS IS AMONG TOP KILLERS: A new report says AIDS is now among the top 10 killers in the USA. It gained that dubious distinction in 1991, moving from 11th to ninth on the list compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics. There were 29,500 deaths from AIDS last year. The top causes of death are heart disease; cancer; stroke; accidents; lung disease; pneumonia:flu; diabetes and suicide. PILL MAY CUT CANCER RISK 50%: A woman who takes birth control pills for five years may cut her risk of ovarian cancer in half, a new study says. And the effect seems to last at least 10 years after a woman stops taking the pill, say researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health. The study in the October Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology proves the strength of the protection researchers already know about. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3271.66 Thursday after closing up 4.86 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 229.46, up 0.56. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 375.72, up 1.11. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 583.27, up 5.64. WARM IN MID-ATLANTIC, SOUTHEAST: The nation's mid-section will seem like summer over the next few days. The Northeast will remain cool, but sunny weather will arrive in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Gulf Coast temperatures will reach the 80s. The Great Plains enjoy sunny skies, with temperatures in the 80s; the Northern Plains may hit the 90s. Sunshine and temps in the 70s and 80s will cover the Rockies. News Editor: Kate Coughlin. (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. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM