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 Fri, May 8 1992 Date: Fri, 8 May 92 05:31:37 EDT Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: News USA TODAY Update May 8-10, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network A 1789 PROPOSAL MAY BE RATIFIED: Michigan Thursday became the 38th state to ratify what could become the 27th amendment. Passed in 1789, it bans lawmakers from voting themselves a raise that takes effect in the same session. But "there's a strong argument that an amendment that hasn't been ratified in a reasonable time is dead," says A. E. Dick Howard, University of Virginia. Currently there's a seven-year deadline. BUSH SAYS, `WE ARE ASHAMED': President Bush returns to the White House from Los Angeles Friday shouldering the expectations of those who want him to help relieve urban despair. "We are embarrassed by interracial violence," Bush said. "We are ashamed." Bush told black leaders that the case against the police officers who beat Rodney King isn't closed. CLINICS MAKE GOOD THEIR VOWS: Health clinics are making good on threats to reject federal funds rather than comply with a Bush administration "gag rule" on abortion counseling. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Thursday turned down $2.25 million in Title X money. Tuesday, Northern New England Planned Parenthood rejected $676,000. Scores of abortion clinics may follow suit. Many had vowed to refuse federal money. TOXIN MAY PREVENT STUTTERING: Stuttering may be more physical than psychological, meaning a drug could help half the USA's three million sufferers, preliminary research shows. Dr. Mitchell F. Brin, of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, injected tiny amounts of botulinum toxin - which causes botulism poisoning - into seven patients, blocking the nerve signals that cause stuttering. All seven patients improved. IRANIANS MAY HAVE AIDED BOMBING: State Department officials Thursday said evidence indicates Iranian diplomats collected information to help set up the March bombing of Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people and wounded 252 others. The bombing was carried out by the Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, the officials said. Known members of the group visited several Latin American capitals, the State Department said. GULF PILOTS WON'T TESTIFY: The Pentagon said Thursday it has sent documents to a British coroner's inquest but will not send pilots to testify in a "friendly fire" case during the Persian Gulf war in which nine British soldiers were mistakenly killed by U.S. aircraft. Defense Department spokesman Pete Williams said the names of the pilots would be kept secret for several reasons. SEAWOLF SPARED THE AX: The House Thursday approved, 412-2, a measure cutting $5.8 billion from this year's federal budget, but saving one of two Seawolf submarines President Bush wants scrapped. The bill, which also cuts domestic programs, could lead to a compromise between Bush and Congress over the sophisticated submarines. The Senate's $8.3 billion spending-cut bill would build both subs. CONGRESS HAS REAGAN TAPES: Ten hours of FBI tapes, including a conversation apparently between then-Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and a man believed to be an Iranian, have been given to Congress, Reuters reported Thursday. A task force is probing whether Republicans delayed the freeing of U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980. HOUSE APPROVES OWL PRESERVE: A U.S. House committee Thursday approved creation of a 9-million-acre preserve for rare northern spotted owls in Western Washington, Western Oregon and Northern California. The Interior subcommittee bill would cut logging to about 25% of the 1980s level. A different House panel Wednesday voted for an 8-million-acre preserve. Opponents say it could cost 60,000 timber-related jobs. WOUNDED MOTHER, BABY OK: Elvira Evers, 39, and 8-day-old Jessica are recovering after being shot during Compton, Calif., rioting after the King verdict. A neighbor drove Evers to the hospital, where doctors delivered Jessica by Caesarean section and removed a bullet from her right elbow. "I didn't know I was shot," Evers said Thursday. Mother and daughter went home Monday. The bullet pierced the placenta. ENDEAVOUR MAKES MAIDEN VOYAGE: Space Shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:40 p.m. EDT Thursday on a mission that will include a record three space walks. Weather woes and a computer glitch delayed launch for 34 minutes. Sunday, the crew will try to save a $157 million satellite stuck in a low orbit. The crew also will test methods of assembling space station Freedom. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Friday at 3363.37 after closing down 6.04 points Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 229.08, down 0.48. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 394.12, up 0.35. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 587.16, down 2.20. TEMPS FIT NICE-AND-WARMLY: The chilly East warms this weekend, as the West cools. Heavy snow will dissipate in the Great Smokies of North Carolina. Scattered rain will dampen the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Florida conditions remain sunny and slightly cool. Showers will douse the lower Great Lakes and eastern Midwest. Sunny and warm weather will cover the upper Great Lakes southward into the Mississippi Valley. 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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