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 Thu, Oct 15 1992 Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 04:48:41 EDT Message-ID: Lines: 153 DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Oct. 15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CLINTON LEADS GOING INTO DEBATE: Presidential contenders meet in a Richmond, Va., debate Thursday at 9 p.m. ET as a USA TODAY:CNN:Gallup Poll suggests President Bush's support is stalled. The poll, conducted Sunday through Tuesday, doesn't measure fallout from the vice presidential debate. Bill Clinton's backed by 46% of voters; Bush by 34%; Ross Perot by 13%. Margin of error: Three percentage points. CLINTON'S FILES SOUGHT: Bill Clinton's passport files sparked a new political firestorm Wednesday as the State Department defended and the Democrats decried an international search for his records as "a witch-hunt." State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Tamposi called U.S. embassies in London and Oslo asking them to look for Clinton files. DEMOCRATS STRIKE BACK AT BUSH: The search for Bill Clinton's passport files came in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from three news organizations. Democrats tried to one-up the White House by suggesting the administration release records more important than the files of an Oxford student. They demanded release of a personal note President Bush wrote to Saddam Hussein days before Iraq invaded Kuwait. REPORT SAYS PEROT TAXES LOW: Ross Perot pays a smaller share of his income in taxes than most Americans, says New York Newsday. The newspaper used computer data to predict Perot would pay even less under his proposed economic plan. The newspaper says Perot paid about $15.8 million in taxes in 1991 on estimated gross income of $230.4 million. That's 6.8%, far below the 11% average paid by all taxpayers. COURT ASKED TO BAN `GAG RULE': Abortion-rights activists Wednesday asked a Washington federal appeals court to overturn the Bush administration's restrictions on abortion counseling at federally funded family planning clinics. The Supreme Court last year upheld the "gag rule." At issue now: Whether a March modification is legal without a public hearing. HEARINGS RESUME ON POWS: Senate hearings resume Thursday on 2,265 missing Vietnam War servicemen. The focus: Reports of satellite photos - from 1973 through this year - of what could be distress signals from missing pilots. The hearings come after the committee was given a list last month of 67 men the Nixon administration asked Vietnam to account for in June 1973 - three months after Nixon declared all POWs home. KILLERS GETTING YOUNGER: A new pattern of more homicides being committed by younger teens has emerged from FBI and Census data. The homicide arrest rate for 17-year-olds jumped 121% between 1985 and 1991 - from 34.4 per 100,000 to 76.1 per 100,000. Rates among those 15-16 grew faster. COURT AVOIDS BATTLE WITH SENATE: Supreme Court justices seemed unwilling Wednesday to get into a battle over the Senate's impeachment power. The court was hearing the appeal of Walter Nixon Jr., a judge who was impeached in 1989. Nixon claims the Senate violated the Constitution by delegating his impeachment trial to a committee. Several justices indicated the court won't second-guess how the Senate carries out impeachments. BEIRUT BOMBER WAS IN CUSTODY: A Palestinian who bragged he was behind the 1983 bombing of a Marines barracks in Beirut was jailed on U.S. drug charges and then released last year, a Miami lawyer charged Wednesday. Samir Houchaimi, 57, made separate jailhouse confessions to two inmates in the mid-1980s that he planned the attack that killed 241 Marines and sailors, said Ellis Rubin, who represents the two felons. HERTZ CUTS DROP-OFF FEES: Hertz is getting rid of drop-off fees - charges of up to $1,000 for not returning a rental car to the city where the person picked it up. At the same time, the nation's largest car-rental company is raising its daily rates for one-way rentals, leading competitors to say dropping drop-off fees won't really save customers money. National Car Rental says Hertz copied its similar move. BLAZES RANSACK SEATTLE: This is the worst fire season in Seattle history. The culprit: Arsonists blazing a path across the region, torching more than 80 homes, churches and businesses since early August. Damage tops $7 million. A local and federal task force is investigating arsons in a 20-mile strip from north Seattle to Everett. Investigators think at least a third were set by one person or group of people. HAWAII HAS HEALTH CARE ANSWER: Hawaii was a laboratory for getting people health insurance coverage back in 1975. Hawaii solved a problem that has Mainland governments still stumped. Under a state law, every employer in the state has to provide insurance to every person who works more than 19 hours a week, and the employer pays at least half of the premiums. The unemployed are covered by a state-funded plan. 98% OF RESIDENTS ARE COVERED: Today, 98% of Hawaii's 1.2 million residents have health insurance and the lowest health-care costs in the country. It has the lowest death rate from breast cancer due to early detection, one of the lowest infant mortality rates and citizens far less likely to be hospitalized than residents of other states. It does struggle to cover mental health and drug abuse services, though. KING HIRES NEW LAWYER: Rodney King's new lawyer says he was hired for his experience as a courtroom battler, but he may never get that far. Orange County lawyer Milton Grimes replaces Steve Lerman, his lawyer of 19 months. King has demanded $83 million from Los Angeles. MARCUS WINS NOBEL FOR CHEMISTRY: Rudolph Marcus, 69, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday, while Frenchman Georges Charpak, 68, captured the prize for physics. Marcus, of the California Institute of Technology, won the $1.2 million chemistry prize for his work on the transfer of electrons between molecules. His theories include: how plants store energy from light; corrosion causes; and how fireflies luminate. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3195.48 Thursday after closing down 5.94 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.39, up 0.08. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 366.17, down 0.66. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 576.22, down 0.22. SNOW IN THE PLAINS AND ROCKIES: Winter weather will pass through the Northern Plains Thursday. Colder air will cover the central Plains with possible showers. Morning snow will fall in the northern Rockies. Coastal California will remain cloudy and cool. Clouds and rain will dampen the Great Lakes eastward into New England. Summer-like conditions continue to blanket the mid-Atlantic through the Southeast and Texas. 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. 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