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 Wed, Oct 14 1992 Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 04:48:25 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Oct. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network VICE PRESIDENT DEBATE IS BRAWL: Vice President Quayle and Sen. Al Gore turned Tuesday's debate in Atlanta into a split-screen, finger-pointing verbal brawl. Ross Perot's running mate, James Stockdale, chimed in calmly, sometimes haltingly. He added patrician maturity to a spectacle some might otherwise have mistaken for "American Gladiators." Gore and Quayle were pitbull surrogates for Bill Clinton and President Bush. QUAYLE, GORE TAKE STABS: Vice President Dan Quayle ripped into the Arkansas governor's plan to raise taxes and veracity over his draft record in Tuesday's debate. "Bill Clinton has trouble telling the truth," he repeated half a dozen times. Sen. Al Gore charged the incumbents led the U.S. to "the worst economy since the Great Depression" and revisited President Bush's broken no-new-taxes pledge. FORMER HOSTAGES TO SUE IRAN: Two former Lebanese hostages - citing a litany of torture and death threats during their captivity - say they will file a $600 million federal lawsuit Wednesday against Iran as the agent controlling their captors. David Jacobsen, released in 1986, and Joseph Cicippio, freed in 1991, say they've suffered financially, emotionally and physically from their captivity. BUSH ADMITS KNOWLEDGE OF SWAP: President Bush Tuesday admitted knowing that arms were being swapped for hostages in the Iran-contra affair, contradicting what observers say is a long history of denials. Later, Bush counsel C. Boyden Gray said Bush misspoke and didn't mean to say he knew of the swaps while vice president. Democrats demanded Bush release testimony he gave to federal investigators probing the scandal. BAKER RETURNS TO SPEECHMAKING: James Baker will do something he hasn't done since his Aug. 13 State Department farewell: Deliver a public speech. After Sunday's presidential debate, he gave his first TV interviews since becoming White House chief of staff in an attempt to rescue Bush's campaign. Baker's speech is expected to outline how he'd push domestic affairs - especially economic policy - in a second Bush term. PROPERTY RIGHTS GO TO COURT: The Bush administration ran into tough questioning Tuesday when it told the U.S. Supreme Court the government has the right to confiscate property from innocent people as part of the war on drugs. The Justice Department argues it can take the home of an innocent person if a previous owner bought the home, car or boat with drug profits or committed a drug offense on the property. BECKER WINS NOBEL FOR ECONOMICS: University of Chicago professor Gary Becker, who has explored the economics of everyday life from marriage and divorce to crime and punishment, won the 1992 Nobel Economics Prize Tuesday. In awarding Becker the $1.2 million prize, the Swedish Academy of Sciences said Becker had "extended the sphere of economic analysis to new areas of human behavior and relations." COLLEGE PRICES FLY HIGH: The tab for a year in college for kids living on campus now averages $17,027 at four-year private schools, and $8,071 at public schools, a new study by The College Board says. It found tuition and fee increases again outpaced inflation - up 7% at private schools to $10,498 a year and 10% at public schools to $2,315. The College Scholarship Service adds that financial aid has risen, too. NAVY HOOKS UP HOT LINE: The Navy Tuesday announced the establishment of a toll-free hot line for sexual harassment complaints. Acting Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe said the hot line, to be installed by December, will give "advice and counseling" and track complaints. The Navy announced reviews of: Base sales of sexually explicit materials; how cutbacks will affect women; and recruiting policies to attract women. MASS. REP. SEEKS FORGIVENESS: Massachusetts voters are famous for overlooking shortcomings of public officials, but this fall Rep. Nicholas Mavroules has put that legendary forgiveness to the test. The 14-year incumbent Democrat says he's done nothing wrong, but six weeks ago federal prosecutors hit him with a 17-count indictment charging extortion, racketeering and tax evasion. He maintains his innocence. ALCOHOLISM LINKED TO GENES: Genetics play a major role in determining whether a woman becomes an alcoholic, suggests the largest study ever done on females and alcoholism. The study in The Journal of the American Medical Association says genes account for 50% to 61% of a woman's risk of becoming an alcoholic. The remaining risk can be explained almost entirely by environment factors, the study says. DUBIOUS SCIENCE IS BEFORE COURT: Bendectin, an anti-nausea drug prescribed to millions of pregnant women, was pulled off the market nine years ago after lawsuits charged it caused birth defects. The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a case that could result in a landmark ruling on the use of scientific evidence in trials. The drug is often cited as a good product driven off the market by dubious science. I-70 GETS EXPENSIVE EXTENSION: Opening Wednesday is one of the USA's most technologically advanced and expensive highways ever built. The stretch of I-70 between Gypsum and Glenwood Springs, Colo. - one of the last unfinished major portions of the nation's interstate system - took 12 years and $490 million to build. Gov. Roy Romer and Federal Highway Administrator Thomas Larson will host the ribbon-cutting. QUEEN PROTEST HITS EAU CLAIRE: Rather than crown a pregnant high school student homecoming queen in Eau Claire, Wis., some Memorial High School officials rigged the election. The school principal resigned, others were disciplined, and the wronged girl, April Schuldt, 17, is wanted for TV talk shows. Schuldt said she protested because she wanted to "show that someone different could be homecoming queen." DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3201.42 Wednesday after closing up 27.01 Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.31, up 1.03. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 366.83, up 0.85. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 576.44, up 2.60. SOUTHEAST TO BE PLEASANT: Delightful conditions will move into the lower Mississippi Valley and through the Southeast Wednesday. Morning clouds will yield to a mild afternoon across the mid-Atlantic. Clouds and showers will touch N.Y., Penn. Northern and central Plains will be partly cloudy and cool. Mild air covers the southern and central Rockies. The Pacific Northwest will be partly cloudy and chilly. 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