Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Wed, Apr 8 1992 Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 05:46:40 EDT Message-ID: 04-08 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update April 8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network TAX FORMS CAN BE FAXED: At least two businesses - The Detroit Free Press and Forms on Demand - offer faxed copies of the most commonly used tax forms in time for the April 15 filing deadline. up to two forms from the Free Press are $2.95; it's $5 per form from Forms on Demand. Call 800-477-4502 for Forms on Demand. For The Detroit Free Press, call 800-554-6636. NEW PHONE FEATURES A HOT MARKET: While basic residential service is growing at a scant 3.5% a year, the market for new telephone features is growing by 25% annually, according to Link Resources Inc., a market research firm. This year alone, new services are projected to generate $300 million in revenues for phone companies. Among the fastest-growing areas are 900 numbers. FEWER WHITES CHOOSE ADOPTION: The number of white unwed women putting their children up for adoption has dropped drastically in the last couple of decades, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, but the number of black unwed women doing so increased. Before 1973, 19% of whites did; that number was down to 3% for 1982-88. For black women, it was 2% before 1973; 0.2% from 1973-81; and up to 1% from 1982-88. MINORITIES GAIN IN NEWSROOM: Newspapers have trimmed their staffs the past year,but they have made gains in the percentage of minorities in the newsroom, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. ASNE's 1992 newsroom employment survey says minorities are 9.4% of employees, vs. 8.7% last year. Total newsroom employment dropped 2% to 54,530, but the number of minorities rose 5% to 5,120, a gain of about 200. FIRST-JOB PERCENTAGE UNCHANGED: Minorities - Asian Americans, blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans - accounted for 22.7% of all journalists hired for their first full-time newspaper job last year, according to a survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. That's about the same percentage as a year earlier, but the total hired fell from 630 to 446 because newspapers hired about a third fewer journalists. AVALANCHES CLAIM SKIER LIVES: In search of greater challenges and fewer crowds, more and more skiers are wagering their lives to ski pristine back-country slopes - and more are losing. The avalanche death toll has climbed from five a year in the late 1960s to 11 in recent years. Seventeen have died this season. "It's a numbers game," avalanche forecaster Dale Atkins says. "The more people, the more accidents." SEMINARS ARE POPULAR: Ski buffs trying to combat the rising casualty rate have developed such equipment as homing beacons for skiers to carry. Hot lines warn skiers away from dangerous areas. And ski buffs teach avalanche seminars; participation has doubled since the mid-1980s. But caution can be costly. Beacons alone go for $200, meaning some skiers ignore the equipment for financial reasons. KLEIN HAS FRESH TOUCHES: In what seems to be a giant conspiracy, all of Seventh Avenue wants women to dress like women of intrigue in long, slit spy skirts and Mara Hari berets. Calvin Klein Tuesday gave the flashbacks a fresh look with plum, navy, gray and brown, the last so prominent as to possibly be seen as the "new black." Trendy touches: Tortoise-shell glasses, vests worn over jackets. SPORTS, MARKETING MEET: There's a new business forming in the former Soviet Union with attempts to "professionalize" soccer and hockey just beginning. Several sports-marketing groups have formed in Moscow in the former Soviet Union and Moscow's first sports business conference will be held in November. For information, write to the Laboratory of International Sports VNIIFK, 103064 Moscow, Kazakova St. 18. BEEF WITHOUT THE FAT: There's another ingredient in the casserole of approaches increasingly used in healthier eating and lifestyles. A natural substance that gives beef its meaty taste has been identified and synthesized in the lab, says researcher Arthur Spanier. Spanier says the substance can trick the taste buds so those who want to cut dietary fat still can get beef's satisfying flavor. COLLEGE FUNDING GETS WORSE: Heads of 16 public colleges Tuesday warned that state budget trauma is undermining U.S. economy and a higher education system they call the best in the world. Classes are disappearing, buildings are deteriorating and minority access to college is being threatened, the presidents said. They called for increased federal spending on higher education. WINANS PUT GOSPEL ON CHARTS: For a decade, The Winans - four brothers - have led in the modernization and popularization of gospel, along with siblings BeBe and CeCe. Gospel's answer to the Jacksons has boosted the music into the mainstream. Together, acts including Mom and Pop Winans and another brother have sold close to 3 million copies of 16albums and sent gospel high onto Billboard's R&B charts. Trends & Marketing 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