Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.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, Nov 5 1992 Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 05:22:46 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Nov. 5, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CLINTON BEGINS TRANSITION PLANS: President-elect Bill Clinton began mapping his transition plans Wednesday while urging continuity in foreign policy and economic stability until his Jan. 20 inauguration. Clinton asked foreign governments to continue to recognize President Bush as the sole voice of U.S. policy and said he and Vice President-elect Al Gore are ready to go to work. CLINTON GATHERS HIS TROOPS: President-elect Clinton met with leaders of his pre-transition planning team Wednesday, including campaign chairman Mickey Kantor, former assistant secretary of state Warren Christopher and former Urban League chairman Vernon Jordan. Clinton is expected to name his transition team soon. Leading candidates to head the effort: Kantor and campaign chief of staff Eli Segal. IRAQ CELEBRATES BUSH LOSS: There was dancing in the streets of Baghdad Wednesday as Iraqis celebrated President Bush's defeat. "Bush out, but Saddam lives forever!" shouted Iraqis dancing in morning rush hour traffic. President-elect Bill Clinton, amid reports of Baghdad celebrating, warned: "The greatest mistake any adversary could make would be to doubt America's resolve during this period of transition." MINORITIES TO INSPIRE CHANGE: Leaders of Congress' racial minority groups celebrated Wednesday over their historic gains in Tuesday's election, and new members predicted they'll become a powerful voting bloc for change. But the minority freshmen seem more interested in getting things done. Even the first ex-Black Panther elected to Congress, Bobby Rush, D-Ill., says his first priority will be attending to constituents. NUMBER OF MINORITIES INCREASE: Counting non-voting delegates, the new Congress will have a total 68 black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American members and the possibility of one more. The election for the non-voting delegate from Guam was postponed to Saturday because of a typhoon. That's an increase of 21 over the last Congress. Only 72 African Americans have ever served in the history of the Congress. OFFICE SPACE RACE BEGINS: The real congressional race begins Thursday: The scramble for better office space. Winning means a Capitol-view suite in the Senate's ancient Russell Building, or a spacious office in the House's Rayburn Building. Losing means the fifth floor of the House's Cannon Building. Or in the Longworth Building. The swap will be bigger than ever this time, after a 111-member turnover. UNITED WAY IS FALLING BEHIND: The grim economy and a year of scandal is taking its toll on the nation's largest charity. With most annual campaigns under way, The United Way's 2,100 local agencies are scrambling just to match last year's $3.17 billion in donations to feed the hungry, clothe the poor and shelter the homeless. Final giving totals won't be known until January. CROSS-BURNING CASE OVERRULED: Federal prosecutors Wednesday secured a guilty plea in a cross-burning case in which the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down a city's "hate-crime" law. At issue: A June 1990 cross burning at the St. Paul, Minn., home of a black family. Federal prosecutors, using a civil rights law, got Arthur Morris Miller III to plead guilty to conspiring to interfere with the family's housing rights. MAN INDICTED IN STUDENT DEATH: A Baton Rouge grand jury indicted Rodney Peairs, 30, on a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of a Japanese exchange student. Yoshihiro Hattori, 16, was killed Oct. 17 when he and a friend got lost and stopped at Peairs' home on the way to an early Halloween party. Peairs admits he shot Hattori, but says he thought the boy was an intruder. GULF WAR HEALTH REGISTRY PASSES: President Bush signed into law a bill Wednesday that will establish a registry of health information on Gulf war veterans. Many who returned from the war complained of health problems they attribute to polluted smoke of Kuwaiti oil fires. The law authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to counsel women who were sexually assaulted or harassed during their military service. HELMSLEY LOSES PAROLE BID: A New York federal judge Wednesday rejected a plea by self-styled hotel queen Leona Helmsley to be paroled before she completes at least one-third of a four-year prison sentence for evading $1.2 million in federal income taxes. Helmsley, 72, entered prison April 15 and is eligible for parole from the Danbury, Conn., facility after 16 months. OVERWEIGHT TEENS ARE RISKS: Men who were overweight teens may face twice the risk of early death from heart disease and other causes as men who were lean teens, a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine suggests. Previous findings linked weight gain between the teen years and early 20s as particularly risky. This study finds teen-age obesity has an independent effect on developing diseases. BEER DRINKING NOT A NEW FAD: New evidence confirms beer drinking was a trend 5,000 years ago. The evidence is calcified yellowish residue found in a broken Sumerian pottery jug. Thursday's Nature magazine reports the residue is the earliest chemical evidence of beer brewing found. The Sumerian sign for beer is a jar with lines criss-crossing on the inside. Sumer is the oldest literate civilization in the world. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3223.04 Thursday after closing down 29.44 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 229.79, down 1.45. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 381.94, down 0.89. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 605.52, up 0.94. RAIN HITS MUCH OF THE EAST: Storms continue to develop over the East Thursday. A developing storm system brings rain to the Southeast, through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by evening. The rain may be mixed with snow along the Ohio Valley and parts of Pennsylvania and New York. Light snow will linger in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes, but sun should warm Texas. Light snow will dust the northern and central 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