Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.news From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: news Thu, Mar 12 1992 Date: Thu, 12 Mar 92 05:46:03 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update March 12, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network BUY AMERICAN CONFUSES CONSUMERS: The craze for buying American products is turning an economists' debate into a consumer dilemma over whether it's better to buy foreign-label products made in the USA or U.S.-label products made abroad. It's the former, according to Harvard economist Robert Reich. "We should (make sure) we have the high-skilled, high-paying jobs, whoever's company they're for," he says. STORM LEAVES TOWN FLOODED: A late winter storm left much of Montpelier, Vt., underwater Wednesday after blocks of ice lodged under a bridge on the Winooski River, creating a dam. In Newark, Del., winds sent power lines onto Amtrak rails, causing delays and cancellations. Two-foot drifts clogged roads in western New York and snow delayed flights to Newark, Philadelphia and Boston for up to two hours. HOUSE MAY NAME CHECK-BOUNCERS: The House Thursday will debate whether to publicly identify at least 24 members who wrote bad checks at the House bank. A House ethics committee report out Wednesday shows that in 39 months 24 members were the worst abusers. One member bounced at least one check in 35 of the 39 months reviewed. A vote on whether to identify 24 - or more - members is expected Friday. DEVICE MAY CAUSE HEPATITIS: Spring-loaded devices used to draw blood from the finger may pass blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B if used improperly. A platform rests on the patient's finger while a needle makes a puncture to draw blood. Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine reports that not changing the platform between patients caused an outbreak of hepatitis B in 26 California hospital patients. FOSSIL FOUND IN NAMIBIA: The discovery of a 13-million-year-old fossil in southern Africa promises to open a new area of Africa for exploring the origin of the human species. Until now, the earliest pre-human fossils have been found in East Africa. Glenn Conroy of Washington University School of Medicine says the fossil is one of the closest found to an evolutionary split between humans and apes 7 million years ago. BUSH BASKS IN TUESDAY WINS: President Bush Wednesday used a White House news conference to separate himself from the election-year pack and brag about his 15 straight primary wins. He said his eight primary wins Tuesday show voters he has "the experience and leadership to take America in new directions." Polls indicate confidence in his managing the economy has reached all-time lows. TRW EXEC NOMINATED FOR NASA: President Bush Wednesday tapped Daniel Goldin of TRW to lead NASA. Goldin, vice president of TRW Space & Technology Group, has a reputation as a hard-nosed manager who builds reliable spacecraft on time and on a budget. "This is like coming home," Goldin said. He began his career 30 years ago with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA chief Richard Truly leaves April 1. USA TO WARN IRAN ON WEAPONS: Secretary of State James Baker, one day after a North Korean ship believed carrying Scud missiles docked in Iran, said Wednesday the USA will soon warn Iran not to move or sell the weapons. "I rather suspect we will pass a message through (the Swiss government) with regard to ballistic missile transfers into the Middle East, letting them know of our concern," Baker said. HOUSE TO OVERRIDE CHINA VETO: The House Wednesday voted 357-61 to override President Bush's veto of a bill setting conditions on China's most-favored-nation trade status. Although the vote was in excess of the two-thirds majority needed to override, Bush is virtually certain to win in the Senate, which sent him the bill last month short of the two-thirds needed. SADDAM PLANS REVENGE: Iraq's Saddam Hussein is using Palestinian terrorist groups to plot revenge attacks on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent Cannistraro. He says Saddam is "cornered." Attacks are being planned "now," even as Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz meets in New York with the United Nations to seek relief from economic sanctions, he says. GUNFIGHT STIRS UP TOMBSTONE: A battle is brewing in Tombstone, Ariz., over a 1977 law against carrying guns in the open. Town leaders fear that gun-carrying visitors excited by staged gunfights will take aim at actors and others - it's happened before. Gun ban opponents want the ban overturned at a Tuesday meeting of the City Council. The state attorney general has said the law violates the state constitution. COLD RETAINS GRIP ON EAST: Wintry temperatures will keep much of the East from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic seaboard and Southeast nippy Thursday. A weak low pressure system moving through Kentucky and southwest Virginia will bring some light snow to the Ohio Valley. The Great Plains, caught between the cold in the East and mild weather in the West, will see some high clouds. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Thursday at 3208.63, after closing down 22.36 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 223.55, down 1.47. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 405.85, down 2.69. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 617.14, down 6.32. News Editor: Beth Mann. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. 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