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 19 1992 Date: Thu, 19 Mar 92 05:57:39 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update March 19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DINGELL QUESTIONS BILLS: Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. has called a hearing for Thursday to look into questionable charges billed to the U.S. government by CH2M HILL for cleaning up toxic waste sites. The firm has billed the government at least $2.3 million for sports tickets, party refreshments, a reindeer suit and other "overhead" costs, Dingell says. The firm says taxpayers have paid only legal costs. FED RELEASES GOOD REPORT: The Federal Reserve Wednesday released its first positive regional economic report since last summer. A slow recovery was seen across almost all regions and in many industries. Among the Fed's findings: Nearly all regions "report some improvement in economic conditions" from late January through early March; retail sales, home sales and manufacturing were all stronger. BUTTOCKS NEEDS WORDY DEFINITION: Lawmakers in St. John's County, Fla., took 136 words to flesh out a law regulating display of the buttocks in an anti-nudity ordinance debated Wednesday. Part of it read: "The area at the rear of the human body which lies between two imaginary lines running parallel to the ground, when a person is standing." It would be the county's answer to erotic waitress attire, for one. CYSTIC FIBROSIS DRUG PROMISING: An experimental drug may fight lung congestion caused by cystic fibrosis, suggests research in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The drug, called recombinant human deoxyribonuclease, is a copy of a molecule that breaks up mucus in lungs. If proven safe in further studies, the drug, manufactured by Crystal and Genentech Inc., may be available in two years, say researchers. FAMILIES LARGER, HOMES SMALLER: American families have been growing smaller for decades. And at the same time, homes have been getting larger. But the 1980s saw a twist, according to 1990 Census figures. For the first time in 50 years, the proportion of "crowded homes" - more than one person per room - went up to 4.9% from 4.5% of U.S. households. The increase reversed what had been a steady decline since 1940's 20%. OLD-CAR BUYBACK ANNOUNCED: President Bush announced Wednesday a "cash-for clunkers" program giving industrial polluters credit for junking old cars. He said the program will "allow states and industries to buy old ... cars, take them off the road and use the resulting pollutant reductions to satisfy clean-air standards." The rationale: Absence of the car emissions would lead to cleaner air overall in the USA. BANDIT USES BLOOD AS WEAPON: A bandit in Northridge, Calif., has pulled at least eight robberies this week by brandishing a syringe he says is loaded with AIDS-infected blood. Wednesday at a convenience store "he tried to stab me," the owner said. The bandit took $300 and fled in a 1983 gray Mercury Capri taken at syringe-point Monday. The district attorney's office considers the syringe a deadly weapon. HELMSLEY SENTENCE STANDS: Hotel queen Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday for evading $1.7 million in taxes. Ironically, she will begin serving the time on tax day, April 15. The 71-year-old president of Helmsley Hotels, Inc. collapsed as she was led from U.S. District Court where Judge Thomas Griesa refused to set aside her jail term. Her lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, is seeking a new trial. LOAN TURNDOWN COULD AFFECT MANY: The White House, in rejecting Israel's request for $10 billion in housing loan guarantees to settle Soviet Jews, may have set up a ripple effect. Aid to the former Soviet Union could be affected. So could contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's re-election chances. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., says Bush negotiated the loan in bad faith. CHINA VOTE VETO SURVIVES: China's most-favored-nation trade status will remain. The Senate Wednesday fell seven votes short of overriding President Bush's veto of a bill placing conditions on renewal of benefits. Bush has survived 26 veto override threats and lost none. Critics cite China's poor human rights record and weapons sales among reasons to end its lower tariffs on goods sold in the USA. TED KENNEDY STILL MARRIED: Sen. Edward Kennedy and Washington, D.C., lawyer Victoria Reggie, recently engaged, may have to forgo a Catholic wedding ceremony. Kennedy has been divorced from Joan Bennett Kennedy for 10 years. But he's still married in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Bernard Law, archbishop of Boston, says Kennedy is "not free" to marry again as long as he is still married. STORM TO HIT EAST: Stormy weather will pound the eastern third of the USA Thursday, with snow blanketing northern Pennsylvania, southern New York and southern New England. Rain and thunderstorms will soak spots along the southern Atlantic coast, reaching into Florida. The Southwest looks fair, mild and sunny. Central and southern California will see clouds with a chance of rain by nightfall. News Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM