TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0531> <title> May 02, 1994: Chronicles:The Week April 17-23 </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 May 02, 1994 Last Testament of Richard Nixon </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 13 THE WEEK: APRIL 17-23 </hdr> <body> By Melissa August, John Greenwald, Lina Lofaro, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders, Sidney Urquhart NATION Richard Nixon Dies Former President Richard Nixon died in New York City after suffering a devastating stroke that had left him in a deep coma. Hillary Speaks In an extraordinary televised news conference, Hillary Rodham Clinton coolly and meticulously explained some of the financial intricacies of her commodities trading and her family's Whitewater real estate investment. She steadfastly denied that she or the President had engaged in any improprieties, but acknowledged that she had not been sensitive enough to the public's right to know. Though she initially opposed appointing a special counsel, the First Lady now says she welcomes the investigation. Crime Bill Passes House The House passed a $28 billion get-tough crime bill that would expand the use of the federal death penalty, put three-time violent felony or drug offenders behind bars for life, increase the number of police and prisons and boost funding for crime prevention and rehabilitation. In a surprise victory for liberals, the Congressional Black Caucus gained a provision that would allow death-row inmates to base challenges to their sentences on statistical evidence of racial bias. The House version must now be reconciled with a Senate bill. Gender Bias Gets Clipped By a 6-to-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution's Equal-Protection Clause forbids the use of peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on the basis of their sex. King's Damages: $3.8 Million After four days of deliberations, a civil jury awarded Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages for his 1991 beating at the hands of Los Angeles police. Jurors now have to decide whether to assess punitive damages against the police. Woolsey Spills Some Beans CIA Director R. James Woolsey made a highly unusual public disclosure when he acknowledged on NBC's Today show the existence of major espionage investigation "cases" against officials at a number of agencies resulting from evidence uncovered in the intelligence dossiers of the former Soviet Union and its once communist allies. Woolsey's loose lips infuriated congressional overseers and fbi investigators, prompting Woolsey to backtrack and say the "cases" were actually just "leads." Health-Care Maneuvers With White House blessing, Senate majority leader George Mitchell began circulating several leaner, alternative versions of universal health-care reforms, including trimmed benefits and reduced employer contributions. In the House, Energy and Commerce chairman John Dingel floated his own new compromise, which offered exemptions to small businesses. House Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski, meanwhile, argued for a tax hike to help pay for reformed health care. Rosty's Social Security Fix Rostenkowski also proposed a set of potentially controversial changes to shore up Social Security, a week after release of a government report showing that the system remains in financial trouble. Among the proposals: lower cost of living increases, lower benefits and higher taxes. Kelso Retains His Stars The Senate voted 54 to 43 to allow Admiral Frank Kelso, the Chief of Naval Operations, to retire with his four stars and full pension. But what was expected to be a low-key event turned into a bruising battle after the Senate's seven women--Democratic and Republican alike--united to target Kelso for his disputed role in the Tailhook sex scandal. Kevorkian's Stealth Defense In the first Michigan prosecution to come to trial charging Dr. Jack Kevorkian with assisting a suicide, his lawyer opened the case by claiming the death occurred in a neighboring county--not the one where he is being tried--and planned to ask for a dismissal. WORLD Gorazde's Ongoing Agony Terrified Muslim residents of the eastern Bosnian city of Gorazde, declared a "safe area" by the United Nations last May, huddled under nearly continuous attack by Bosnian Serb forces for the third straight week. At week's end NATO allies issued a strongly worded new ultimatum to Serb gunners, giving them until 2:01 a.m. local time Sunday to withdraw their forces 1.9 miles from the town center and allow U.N. peacekeepers into the besieged city. The threatened big stick: allied bombing on a far greater scale than before. Buthelezi Drops Boycott Zulu nationalist leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi canceled his boycott of South Africa's first all-race elections this week. In return, Buthelezi secured a guarantee that the largely ceremonial Zulu monarchy will be allowed to continue and that remaining constitutional differences on the powers of regions will be mediated internationally after the elections. Hopes for a peaceful ballot dimmed over the weekend when two African National Congress workers were killed and party headquarters in Johannesburg were devastated by a bomb. Killing in Rwanda In the capital Kigali, the Rwandan army shelled the national sports stadium, where more than 5,000 refugees from the country's civil war had sought sanctuary. Forty people were killed by the bombardment, and hundreds were wounded. In the past two weeks, as many as 100,000 people have been killed in the fighting, aid groups estimate. The U.N. decided to evacuate nearly all its 1,700-member peacekeeping contingent in the face of the continuing slaughter; some Belgian peacekeepers burned their blue U.N. berets in frustration before boarding their flights. On Saturday, rebels were said to have announced a conditional cease-fire to start midnight Monday. Aristide: U.S. Policy Is Racist Haiti's exiled President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, denounced President Clinton's policy of forcibly turning back Haitian refugees as "a racist policy." Shortly after Aristide's remarks, U.S. officials announced that they would ask the U.N. to impose a complete economic embargo on Haiti in an effort to restore Aristide to the presidency.The Administration permitted 406 Haitians to come ashore in Florida, but officials termed the landing an emergency rescue. Rabin Says Golan Negotiable Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told kibbutz leaders that he was willing to negotiate the issue of the Golan Heights with Syria. "To me, peace is a more important value for the security and future of Israel than this or that group of settlements," he said. Meanwhile Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in Romania to discuss the self-rule agreement for Jericho and the Gaza Strip. A final accord is expected within two weeks. Perry Visits South Korea Defense Secretary William Perry, in Seoul for two days of talks with South Korean leaders, said he does not believe a military confrontation with North Korea is likely, despite that country's continued refusal to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities. Japan Picks Next PM In the wake of Morihiro Hosokawa's scandal-induced departure, leaders of Japan's governing coalition nominated Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata as a candidate to become the country's next Prime Minister. Hata, 58, is expected to be formally elected to office by a parliamentary vote this week. BUSINESS Chrysler Soars Chrysler Corp. announced earnings of $938 million in the first quarter of 1994, highest in the company's history. Offsetting Inflation? The Federal Reserve Board raised short-term interest rates for the third time in less than three months, from 3.5% to 3.75%, causing stock and bond prices to drop. Last week's Dow Jones fell 12.79 points. Trade Deficit Rising The February trade deficit in goods and services rose to $9.71 billion, the largest in six years. Economists say this was due in part to the fact that the U.S. economy is growing faster than those of other industrial nations, and thus the U.S. is importing more. SCIENCE The New Worlds Confirming what was long believed but never proved, astronomers now have "irrefutable" evidence of the existence of the first planets outside our own solar system. Alexander Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University has identified two planets, both of which have more than twice the mass of our own, in orbit around a pulsar 1,200 light-years from Earth. He also discovered a third, moon-size body and suspects there may be a fourth. WINNERS & LOSERS WINNERS NELSON MANDELA After Zulus blink, he has chance to unite a peaceful South Africa MICHAEL MOORER Battles insecurity to become the first lefty heavyweight champ WALT DISNEY CO. Bad reviews, begone: Beauty and the Beast sets a B'way record LOSERS BORIS YELTSIN Claims of influence with Bosnian Serbs prove very, very hollow HOWARD UNIVERSITY School's lofty image tarnished by claque of anti-Semites THE SOLAR SYSTEM Unique no longer, as other planets found orbiting distant pulsar LAPD LAWSUITS: COLLECT 'EM ALL The $3.8 million awarded to Rodney King by a Los Angeles jury last week is not the first multimillion-dollar sum the city has had to pay to compensate for the actions of its occasionally too interventionist police force: -- An unidentified teenage girl, who was molested by an officer in 1989, was awarded $6.3 million by a jury in 1992 (plus $200,000 for her mother). -- Adelaido Altamirano, shot and paralyzed by an off-duty officer, settled a lawsuit for $5.5 million in 1991. -- Benny Powell and Clarence Chance, wrongly convicted of murder, settled lawsuits in 1993 for $3.5 million each. -- Onie Palmer, whose home was damaged during a drug raid, settled a lawsuit for $3 million in 1990. -- Service Employees International, a union whose members were involved in a violent confrontation with police, settled a lawsuit for $2.35 million in 1993. HALT! LABEL POLICE! There was more to the crime bill that passed the House last week than such widely publicized measures as an increase in death-penalty crimes and a federal version of "Three strikes, you're in." A sampling of the bill's 57 get-tough amendments: Amendment: Establishes stiff penalties for those convicted of fraudulently labeling products "Made in America" Sponsor: James Traficant (D.-Ohio) Raison d'etre:"This amendment will send a powerful message that Uncle Sam won't tolerate anyone misleading the American consumer." Amendment: Makes unlawful possession of explosives a federal crime and forbids felons to purchase explosives Sponsor: Louise Slaughter (D.-New York) Raison d'etre: Upstate New York saw five people killed in bombings last summer. Amendment: Urges more aggressive federal prosecution of crimes against truckers Sponsor: Peter Barca (D.-Wisconsin) Raison d'etre: "The FBI says crimes against the trucking industry are on the rise." Amendment: Authorizes Federal Government to aid investigations and prosecutions of violent crimes against interstate and foreign travelers Sponsor: Neil Abercrombie (D.-Hawaii) Raison d'etre: Abercrombie's state counts on tourism for over 30% of its economy. Amendment: Toughens penalty for the illegal sale of a Congressional Medal of Honor Sponsor: Alfred McCandless (R.-California) Raison d'etre: "We have been receiving more and more reports of medals being stolen...and put on the black market." INFORMED SOURCES Billing the Victim WASHINGTON--Admiral Frank Kelso, his pension intact, isn't the only naval officer retiring in the wake of the Tailhook scandal. Lieut. Paula Coughlin, the pilot whose charges of sexual assault launched the official investigation, is leaving the service next week, bitter because she feels her complaints were ultimately brushed off. Adding insult to injury, the Navy's personnel bureau had been claiming she owed it nearly $19,000 of a prepaid pilot bonus that she now cannot "earn" because she is leaving four years ahead of schedule. But the Navy, worried about how Kelso's and Coughlin's end-of-service accountings might compare, has canceled her "debt." Baker Gets His Feet Just a Wee Bit Wet WASHINGTON--A handful of top Republican fund raisers and political consultants, who have begun to think about attaching themselves to various of the party's 1996 presidential hopefuls, have received calls from former Secretary of State James Baker, asking them not to commit to other G.O.P. hopefuls--just yet. Baker's message: "I'm not in, but I'm not out." Rethinking Russia Policy WASHINGTON--Stung by critics who say it is too accomodating to Russia and Boris Yeltsin, the Administration has undertaken a secret reassessment of its policies toward Moscow. Its Russia experts last month began preparing reports that challenge assumptions about "everything from what happens if Yeltsin is hit by a bus to what if Russia and Ukraine go to war,'' says an official. Those papers have now gone to the President and his top foreign-policy advisers. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- A study supporting the efficacy of breast-conserving surgery (partial mastectomy, lumpectomy) for cancer patients was questioned after revelations that some of the data had been falsified. But new research confirms that, other factors being equal, survival rates after the less disfiguring procedures are at least as good as rates after total mastectomy. -- Contrary to earlier findings, a large-scale study shows no association between the pesticide DDT and breast cancer. -- Researchers now believe that blood tests to detect fetuses with Down syndrome are useful alternatives to amniocentesis, which increases the risk of miscarriage. THE BAD NEWS -- Submersible well pumps with brass parts may contain high levels of lead, according to a recent report. Because lead can cause birth defects and brain damage in children, the Environmental Protection Agency advises people who use a submersible pump to have their water tested and to consider switching to bottled drinking water until the results are in. About 6 million such pumps are used in the U.S. -- Despite advances in the detection and treatment of breast cancer, a new report shows the death rate from the disease among black women rose sharply (21%) from 1980 to 1991, while the rate for white women increased less than 1%. A major factor: lack of access to adequate care. Sources--GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of the National Cancer Institute; New England Journal of Medicine BAD: Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, A.P. ROADBLOCK THAT METAPHOR! A number of proposed high-tech business ventures have recently gone bust or been postponed. The vexing question: How many droll ways are there to say "trouble on the information superhighway"? Journalists are working hard to exhaust the metaphoric possibilities: Wall Street Journal--hurdles New York Post --obstacles, potholes Washington Post--roadblocks CNN's Moneyline--construction delays, detours New York Times --ruts, bottlenecks, traffic mishaps, speed traps, lingering roadbed damage Computer Shopper --hitting the brakes CNN Moneyweek--casualties Los Angeles Times --stalled in the break-down lane, road kill Network World --ditch, side street, dead end Houston Chronicle --pileups, jackknifing PC DIRTY DANCING "If an able-bodied person could have been up there doing it, a disabled person should have been able to also." -- RON SHIGETA, A LOS ANGELES CITY OFFICIAL, RULING THAT NUDE SHOWER DANCING AT A LOS ANGELES NIGHTCLUB DISCRIMINATED AGAINST WHEELCHAIR-BOUND STRIPPERS, WHO THEORETICALLY COULDN'T FIT IN THE CLUB'S SHOWER STALL FOOTNOTE TO HISTORY For 15 months James Ostrowski, left, had a modest enough dream--the gubernatorial nomination of New York's Libertarian Party. But last month something came between the Buffalo lawyer and his visions of matching wits with (or being ignored by) Mario Cuomo: a 900-lb., microphone-wielding gorilla named Howard Stern, who announced he was going after the party's nod. "I think I have a chance to win," said Ostrowski on the eve of the convention, held at the semicapacious Italian-American Community Center in Albany. "I feel Stern is using the party for his own purposes. I don't think he's that interested in politics. It's his diversion for the year 1994. There's something called principle. There's something called honor." There's also something called celebrity. The final vote tally: Stern 290; Ostrowski 34. </body> </article> </text>