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 22 1992 Date: Thu, 22 Oct 92 04:38:37 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Oct. 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MINORITY VOTING LIKELY TO RISE: As little as they've been courted in this presidential race, minorities still may join whites in record high voting. Because under the skin - with scarce jobs, bad economy, high-cost health care, struggling schools - discontent is the same. The motivation and the increased minority registration may make for a record minority vote - even without candidates' race-tailored appeals. DISTRICTS DRAW MINORITIES: Local minority candidates, newly drawn districts and tight congressional races are all drawing in minority votes. In Alabama, a majority-black district will elect the first black Alabama congressman since 1876. And a record 29 Hispanics are seeking seats in the House, where 14 currently serve. And 1.5 million more Hispanics are registered this year than in 1988. MISSILE CRISIS `UNDERESTIMATED': Thirty years ago Thursday, President Kennedy announced U.S. spies had spotted Soviet missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from the U.S. coast. Kennedy said they had to go - or else. Former defense secretary Robert McNamara says the situation was worse than even pessimists then imagined. "It's clear now that even we underestimated it," McNamara recalled recently in an interview. COLUMBIA SET FOR LIFTOFF: Space shuttle Columbia and six astronauts are set to launch Thursday on a mission to launch an Italian mirrored satellite and test a Canadian robotic vision device for the shuttle's arm. The 10-day mission carries experiments - including tests to assess the earth's ozone layer, measure bone loss in rats and heat and chill a variety of liquids and metals. Liftoff is set for 11:16 a.m. ET. GARRISON DIES AT AGE 70: Flamboyant former prosecutor and judge Jim Garrison, whose theories about John F. Kennedy's assassination inspired the movie "JFK," died Wednesday. Garrison, 70, a former New Orleans district attorney, was bedridden most of the past two years with an unspecified illness. He never stopped believing that CIA assassins killed Kennedy to keep the United States involved in Vietnam. BUSH HITS CAROLINAS ON TRIP: President Bush began the 13th day before the election in the Waffle House restaurant in Spartanburg, N.C., paging through photo scrapbooks and exchanging riddles with customers. Bush continued a Harry Truman-invoking train trip through rural Georgia and the Carolinas - states he easily won in 1988. His trip includes stops in Louisiana and Alabama Thursday - reliable GOP areas. GORE GRILLED ON MTV: Al Gore appeared Wednesday on MTV, answering questions ranging from the French abortion pill RU-486 to his favorite rap artist. Gore said he supports handing out RU-486 on a "medical and scientific basis" in a session with 171 18-to-30-year-olds. His favorite rapper is Hammer. Gore also defended wife Tipper, saying she never encouraged censorship, just labels on albums. CLINTON TOURS WITH GOVERNORS: Democrat Bill Clinton flew state to state with seven Western and prairie-state governors Wednesday, smiling and clasping hands in a virtual celebration of both Clinton and incumbency. It came on a two-day swing through usually rock-solid Republican states, a trip designed as much to unsettle President Bush as to boost Clinton's chances of winning a bloc of Rocky Mountain states. PANEL BLASTS GATES: Los Angeles' leadership - from the mayor to the police chief - failed miserably during the April 29 riots, a special investigative panel said Wednesday. The 222-page report blasted former Police Chief Daryl Gates for failing "to provide a real plan and meaningful training to control the disorder." The key stumbling block: Mayor Tom Bradley and Gates hadn't spoken for a year. PANEL ISSUES RIOT BLUEPRINT: An investigative panel, headed by former FBI and CIA Director William Webster, issued recommendations expected to serve as a blueprint for riot response in major cities. Suggestions include: Increased police patrols; improved emergency communications systems; a riot response plan developed before controversial riot-related trials end; cooperation among city officials. COURT RULES REDLINING ILLEGAL: Denying homeowners insurance or charging higher premiums in minority or poor neighborhoods is against federal law, an appeals court ruled Wednesday. The discriminatory practice, known as redlining, is alleged to have been used by American Family Mutual Insurance against several black homeowners in Milwaukee. A federal court in Chicago said redlining violates the Fair Housing Act. SAVINGS SLIDE EVENS OUT: The long, painful slide in savings rates might be over. Average yields on bank certificates of deposit - sliding for 3 1:2 years - stalled this week, according to Bank Rate Monitor's sampling of 100 big-city banks. Yields for the week ended Tuesday were unchanged: 3.0% on six-month CDs; 3.23% on 1-year; 3.92% on 2 1:2-year. The average yield on 5-year CDs edged up to 5.25% from 5.24%. USA REACHES 26TH EXECUTION: The Missouri execution Wednesday of Ricky Lee Grubbs was the 26th in the USA this year, the most since capital punishment resumed in 1976. Not since 1962 have there been more. Grubbs, 34, died from lethal injection for the beating death of Jerry Thornton, 46, who was robbed and his home set afire. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a stay that had delayed the execution for 19 1:2 hours. TEEN CONVICTED IN MOB BEATING: A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., jury Wednesday convicted Bradley Mills, 18, of second-degree murder in the mob beating death of Vietnamese college student Luyen Phan Nguyen, 19. Mills is the first of seven white youths to be tried for the Aug. 15 death. Mills, who faces a possible life prison term when he is sentenced Nov. 23, has said he tried to stop the fight. The prosecutor called him a "murderer." DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3187.10 Thursday after closing up 1.08 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 228.60, up 0.02. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 373.42, up 2.02. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 597.15, up 4.45. INDIAN SUMMER ARRIVES: Temperatures in the Plains and Midwest will rise Wednesday as Indian-Summer weather arrives. Sunshine sweeps the mid-Atlantic and Southeast with 60s, 70s, and 80s expected. Showers and warm temperatures sweep the southern and central Rockies. California will see sunshine with 70s and 80s expected. The interior Northwest will be sunny, but rain will occur along the coast. 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