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 Fri, Nov 6 1992 Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 05:29:35 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update Nov. 6-8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TRANSITION GAINING GROUND: President-elect Clinton's transition operation is gathering steam this weekend. He is expected to name a transition director within a few days. And the transition offices are being outfitted for full operation, expected by Monday. But key appointments to a new administration will wait. Among Clinton's first tasks may be settling a power dispute among his aides. CLINTON CONTACTS LEADERS: Thursday, President-elect Clinton returned a round of phone calls to foreign leaders, thanking them for their congratulatory messages. Included: Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Clinton said the conversations were not substantive. But Moscow TV showed Yeltsin's side of the conversation - in which the two discussed such matters as arms control and a possible summit. FRIENDS LIKELY TO JOIN CAMPAIGN: Some of Bill Clinton's campaign heavyweights and friends and policy soulmates are almost certain to play a central roles in Clinton's transition team. Some key players: Campaign communications director George Stphanopoulos; friend, former law partner Bruce Lindsey; and campaign chairman Mickey Kantor. All three are being talked about as possible chief of staff. SMOKING SUIT DROPPED: A landmark lawsuit against three tobacco companies was dropped Thursday because of the enormous cost ($5 million) of 10 years of legal maneuvering. The suit was filed in 1983 by New Jersey resident Rose Cipollone against Philip Morris, Liggett Group and Lorillard Tobacco, which made the cigarettes she smoked for 42 years. She died of lung cancer in 1984 at age 58. AAA WARNS MOTORISTS OF I-295: A rash of sniping and rock-throwing on a Florida highway has terrorized motorists and sent baffled lawmen scrambling for answers. And the AAA has taken a rare step - urging drivers to avoid the road. One motorist has already been killed on I-295 in Jacksonville. Another sniping came Wednesday, but nobody was hurt. AAA warned motorists to use caution on I-95 - the alternate route. OFFICIALS MUST LEAVE DOCUMENTS: Top Bush administration officials are being warned not to destroy official documents or take papers as they leave office. Public interest groups may go to court soon to prevent what often happens between administrations: Wholesale removal of papers that legally belong to the people. The problem has grown with the rising use of easily erased computer files and electronic mail. SPECIAL PROSECUTOR LIKELY: Appointment of an "Iraqgate" special prosecutor, long resisted by the Justice Department, appears likely now with Bill Clinton's election. Uncertain, authorities say, is whether it will come sooner rather than later. The special-prosecutor law expires Dec. 15, but congressional insiders expect a reauthorization bill next year - if for no other reason than Clinton says he favors a probe. SHONEY'S LOSES SUIT: The largest class-action racial discrimination suit in U.S. history was settled this week against Shoney's, the Nashville-based restaurant chain. Shoney's agreed to pay $105 million to employees and job applicants who claimed they were discriminated against in hiring and promotions and were harassed on the job. Shoney's employs about 30,000 people in more than 1,800 restaurants. IOC WANTS ATHLETE RESTRICTIONS: The International Olympic Committee has a message for the world's winter athletes: Make the cut, or buy a ticket. Meeting this week in Acapulco, Mexico, the IOC executive board urged world sports federations to set qualifying standards before 1994 and weed out Winter Olympians who border on impersonation. Puerto Rico's bobsled team and Senegal's skier were mentioned as examples. 1 IN 5 CARS MAY NEED TEST: One in five cars may need auto repairs to comply with stricter auto emissions tests ordered for 181 metropolitan areas with dirty air, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. The EPA ordered the new tests be phased in over four years. Goal: Cut smog-causing emissions by 28%; reduce carbon monoxide releases by 31%. The test will cost about $17 and take 10 minutes, the EPA said. KKK MEMBERS GET JAIL: Five Ku Klux Klan members were sentenced to jail Thursday for burning a cross at the home a black family that moved into a white neighborhood in Marshall County, Ala. Terms ranged from four months to nearly nine years. A federal judge in Birmingham said cross burning is "an age-old symbol or racism" and called the March 1991 incident "an act of terrorism in the middle of the night." CREWS SEARCH FOR HUNTERS: National Guard helicopters searched Colorado parks for more than 50 hunters stranded by recent snow. Three hunters last seen at White River National Forest are presumed dead. Two were airlifted from the Flat Top Wilderness area north of Glenwood Springs, but up to 50 remain stranded. Others are stranded in Routt National Forest, and in the Grand Junction area. ARIZONANS APPROVE KING DAY: Arizona took 20 years to establish an annual Martin Luther King Day, which led critics to single out the state as racist. But pro-King Day forces are claiming a new distinction. State voters approved the day by a landslide, and became the first state to approve a King holiday by popular vote. In 48 other states, state officials adopted the holiday. New Hampshire is the lone holdout. LABELING WILL HELP WITH DIET: Consumers should be better able to judge a food by its package with new food labeling regulations, expected to be announced in the next few days by the Food and Drug Administration. The rules include a new food label panel, which will appear on most processed foods, and definitions for terms like low-fat, light and low-sodium. The purpose: To make it easier to eat a healthy diet. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3243.84 Friday after closing up 20.80 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 230.37, up 0.58. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 382.69, up 0.75. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 614.08, up 8.56. EAST TO BE CLEAR AND COLD: Colder air and sunshine will flood into the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. Across the Southeast, pleasant weather is expected. Clouds across much of the Great Lakes and Midwest will only slowly break. Clouds and chilly weather will remain in the Plains this weekend. In the Northwest, showers will press inland. In the Southwest, Great Basin and California, a warming trend begins. 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