TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=94TT0430> <title> Apr. 18, 1994: Chronicles:The Week </title> <history> TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994 Apr. 18, 1994 Is It All Over for Smokers? </history> <article> <source>Time Magazine</source> <hdr> CHRONICLES, Page 19 THE WEEK:APRIL 3-9 </hdr> <body> NATION Justice Blackmun Retires Justice Harry Blackmun, the U.S. Supreme Court's senior Justice and the author of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, announced his intention to step down. During his 24 years on the high bench, the 85-year-old Justice--chosen by Richard Nixon in 1970--underwent a highly public evolution from conservative to liberal jurist, becoming one of the court's most passionate defenders of constitutional liberties for ordinary citizens. Retiring Senate majority leader George Mitchell was reported to be near the top of the Clinton list of possible replacements. Back to Work After the Clintons ended their vacation by pitching ceremonial baseballs on the opening day of the season--he in Cleveland, Ohio, she in Chicago--the President took to the road to pitch his health-care reform proposal. At one televised town meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, Mr. Clinton took some heavy hits from questioners who challenged him on foreign policy and Whitewater. "Let me be President in 1994 while somebody else worries about what happened in 1979," an irritated Clinton responded. The Medicare Gap Widens A federal advisory panel issued a disturbing report on Medicare--the second in as many weeks. The new report found that the program now pays doctors only about 59% of what private insurers pay, endangering some elderly patients' access to medical care. The Cost of Welfare Reform The President's yet to be unveiled overhaul of the welfare system, which includes a work requirement after two years, could add as much as $58 billion over 10 years to the nation's welfare costs and leave some families homeless, according to an Administration memo leaked to the New York Times. Clinton has yet to make any final decisions. A Different Voting-Rights Plan A federal judge ordered Maryland's Worcester County to adopt cumulative voting to elect its five countywide commissioners. The plan would allow each voter to cast five votes as he or she wishes--for separate candidates or, say, cumulatively for one. The method would give black voters, who constitute 21% of the county's population, a chance to elect a black commissioner without creating a black district. The county plans to appeal. No Warrantless Searches Facing a tough decision pitting personal security against constitutional rights, a federal judge came down on the side of rights, ruling that police must have warrants before searching for guns in Chicago's public-housing developments, which have become gang- and drug-war zones. President Clinton immediately ordered the Justice and Housing departments to develop a constitutionally permissible search policy to capture the guns and help protect residents. King Trial Revisionism Having testified at the Rodney King criminal trials that fellow officers bashed King in the head with their clubs, Theodore Briseno did an about-face at King's $9 million civil trial, stating this time that the blows actually hit King's arm. Why the flip-flop? Briseno said watching an enhanced version of the 1991 videotape changed his mind. Crayon Recall The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of hundreds of thousands of crayons imported from China and sold under 11 brand names, after finding they contained traces of lead that could poison children who ate or chewed them. WORLD Hosokawa Resigns After weeks of battling allegations of corruption, Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa announced Friday that he would step down. His resignation came as a blow to supporters, who had hoped that Hosokawa's election last summer signaled a departure from the scandal and corruption that have roiled Japanese politics for years. Gorazde Under Fire As the U.S. cautiously raised the possibility of using air power to enforce peace in eastern Bosnia, the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, once designated a "safe area" by the U.N., shuddered under continued attack by Serb troops. The U.S. urged the U.N. to offer some protection to the besieged city's 65,000 inhabitants by rushing more peacekeeping forces into the area. On Saturday, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali instructed U.N. troops to use "all available means" to reverse Serb gains there. New Turmoil in Israel Continued violence rocked Israel and the occupied territories on Wednesday, when a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded his car beside a bus in the northern Israeli town of Afula, killing seven and wounding 40. Islamic fundamentalists claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as for three incidents on Thursday, in which one Israeli died and five others were wounded. On Friday, Israeli soldiers and Palestinians clashed after the Rev. Jesse Jackson pleaded for peace outside the Hebron mosque where 30 Muslims were shot dead by an Israeli extremist in February. Eight Palestinians were injured in the violence. No Accident? The Rwandan capital of Kigali exploded in bloody ethnic violence Wednesday after the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi died in a suspicious plane crash. Rampaging soldiers killed thousands, including 10 U.N. peacekeepers, Rwanda's acting Prime Minister and more than a dozen priests and nuns. A cease-fire agreement lasted less than 24 hours before rebels escalated attacks on government troops. On Saturday French and Belgian soldiers began to evacuate foreigners. South Africa Clashes Escalate Political violence related to demands by some Zulus for a sovereign state in South Africa's Natal province continued to mount, with the death toll reaching 125 for the past week. Two weeks remain before the country's all-race election, but in a Friday summit, President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela failed to persuade Zulu leaders to drop their election boycott. A Tragic Lesson An Aeroflot jet pilot was apparently showing his children "the principles of flying" in the cockpit shortly before the plane crashed in Siberia last month, killing all 75 on board, according to a Russian government report. Aeroflot disputed the story. Postelection Squabbles The exhilaration among right-wingers following Italy's election of a majority conservative coalition to the Parliament was dampened as party officials bickered over who would govern. By week's end, however, two parties in the alliance had reached an agreement endorsing constitutional changes that could lead to media tycoon and populist leader Silvio Berlusconi's becoming Prime Minister. New Charges Against Wei U.S.-China relations threatened to worsen as China announced it was considering bringing new criminal charges against prominent dissident Wei Jingsheng, who was detained last week. Later another well-known dissident, Xu Wenli, was taken into custody by police. BUSINESS They're Down! They're Up! After falling 42.6 points on Monday, the Dow Jones industrials climbed more than 82 points on Tuesday and ultimately ended the week up 38.3 points. Store Sales Improve It was a positive week for big retailers. They reported that sales were up 12% over the same month last year, with chronically weak apparel sales making a strong comeback. Teamster Strike In the first nationwide walkout by truckers since 1979, as many as 75,000 Teamsters struck to protest plans by shipping companies to hire part-timers and to send more goods by rail. Many of the 22 companies transport raw materials and parts, so even though there were some delays, there was no immediate impact on consumers. Winning Bid Northrop Corp., the Los Angeles weapons maker, won the battle for Long Island, New York, military contractor Grumman. Competing with Martin Marietta for the prize, Northrop agreed to pay $62 a share, or about $2.1 billion, for Grumman--close to $170 million more than Martin Marietta, Grumman's original choice for a partner, was willing to fork over. Grumman had sought a merger to help ensure longevity in the shrinking military industry. Grumman agreed to pay Martin Marietta $50 million to forget their deal. And what will the employees of Grumman get? Most likely, layoffs. Merger Setbacks After reading 700 pages of rules governing the cable-television business, Southwestern Bell said no thanks to a planned $4.9 billion merger with Cox, the country's sixth largest cable system. "It's unlikely the cable industry can generate the cash flow we expected," concluded a senior vice president of Southwestern, based in San Antonio, Texas. This deal is the second to fall apart following the FCC announcement of another round of 7% cuts in cable rates. Bell Atlantic mentioned the rate cutbacks when it scuttled its planned $20 billion takeover of TCI last February. SCIENCE Fossil Lode in the Gobi Desert A joint expedition of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences unveiled a trove of fossil remains uncovered last summer in the Gobi Desert. Among the scores of fossils are specimens of a turkey-size creature that resembled both dinosaurs and birds. Perhaps even more important was the discovery of 140 skulls of small mammals that lived 80 million years ago. The mammal finds may provide clues to the evolutionary events that allowed mammals to flourish as the dinosaurs disappeared. SPORT Close Shave It was a mighty sweet victory, and their No. 1 fan, President Clinton, was there to see it. Monday night the Arkansas Razorbacks beat Duke's Blue Devils 76-72, to win the NCAA's 1994 Division I basketball tournament. Scotty Thurman hit the winning shot, giving the team its first national championship. THE ARTS & MEDIA Sistine Chapel Restoration After 14 years of painstaking cleaning and restoration, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes are once again on full view to visitors. A Japanese television network subsidized the project at a cost of about $11 million. Some critics complain that the restoration has made the frescoes much brighter and less nuanced than Michelangelo intended. By Melissa August, Margaret Emery, Kathryn Jackson Fallon, Eugene Linden, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn and Alain L. Sanders WINNERS LANI GUINIER Judge O.K.s "cumulative voting" plan that helped cost her Justice post CHICAGO CUB "TUFFY" RHODES A record: three homers in his first three at-bats on opening day SANTA MONICA FREEWAY Quaked L.A. artery opens 74 days ahead of schedule LOSERS CHINESE CRAYONS Pulled from Toys "R" Us as feds warn of dangerous lead levels MORIHIRO HOSOKAWA Reformist Japanese P.M. himself forced out by money scandal DALLAS' KYNG-FM Deejay stunt puts $100 in library--treasure hunters trash books THE BOYS OF WHITEWATER No one knows exactly how consequential the current scandal at the White House may prove to be, but that hasn't prevented top lawyers from finding plenty of Whitewater-related work. Will one of these men be the next Brendan Sullivan? -- LAWYER: Richard I. Beattie, co-counsel -- FIRM: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett -- CLIENT: Roger Altman, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: corporate; focus on mergers and acquisitions -- OTHER CLIENT: Paramount -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: no comment -- LAWYER: Robert S. Bennett -- FIRM: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom -- CLIENT: Harold Ickes, White House deputy chief of staff -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: white-collar criminal defense -- OTHER CLIENTS: Caspar Weinberger, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, Marge Schott -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: doesn't read Grisham but recently enjoyed Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis by Howell Raines -- LAWYER: Stanley M. Brand -- FIRM: Brand & Lowell -- CLIENT: George Stephanopoulos, senior adviser to the President -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: white-collar criminal defense; ethics -- OTHER CLIENTS: Reps. William Gray, Dan Daniel Austin Murphy and James Weaver -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: prefers reading books about baseball -- LAWYER: Edward Dennis Jr. -- FIRM: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius -- CLIENT: Margaret Williams, First Lady's chief of staff -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: white-collar criminal defense -- OTHER CLIENT: Department of Justice (prepared report on Waco) -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: The Firm -- LAWYER: Lawrence Pedowitz -- FIRM: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz -- CLIENT: Bernard Nussbaum, ex-White House counsel (and former Wachtell, Lipton partner) -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: white-collar criminal defense; regulatory -- OTHER CLIENTS: Goldman Sachs, United Technologies, Unisys, Lazard Freres -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: A Time to Kill -- LAWYER: William W. Taylor III -- FIRM: Zuckerman, Spaeder, Goldstein, Taylor & Kolker -- CLIENTS: Thomas ("Mack") McLarty, White House chief of staff; Lisa Caputo, First Lady's press secretary -- NATURE OF PRACTICE: white-collar criminal defense -- OTHER CLIENT: former Sen. Alan Cranston -- FAVORITE JOHN GRISHAM NOVEL: no comment; recently read a life of Clarence Darrow INFORMED SOURCES Grounding "Orbiting Pork" Washington--NASA's planned $17 billion space station, dubbed the "Orbiting Pork Barrel" by opponents, barely got past the House last year. This year it may not even lift off the pad of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Influential Chairman GEORGE BROWN, worried about the project's effect on other items in the nasa budget, has told the President to glean some money from elsewhere for the station--perhaps from foreign aid or environmental programs--or else Brown's pivotal vote for the project will stay grounded too. Beware of Stereotypes Washington--During a breakfast with reporters recently, Southern-born Clinton strategist JAMES CARVILLE warned against stereotyping Southerners as being ignorant and easy to corrupt. But later he told the gathering to beware of the President's enemies because of the people some of them are paying for damaging information. "You know," he said, "when you drag hundred-dollar bills through trailer parks, there's no telling what you'll find. I know those people...I used to make out with some of them." "Bumstead, You're Downsized!" The nation's businesses are currently issuing their 1993 annual reports, with prose carefully crafted by some of America's top public-relations specialists. A reader's key: COMPANY SEARS ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "Our dramatic downsizing certainly attracted a lot of attention over the last 18 months." TRANSLATION 50,000 layoffs COMPANY IBM ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "Shortly after I [CEO Louis Gerstner] joined the company, I set as my highest priority to right-size the company as quickly as we could." TRANSLATION 35,000 layoffs COMPANY BOEING ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "Boeing continues to take the steps necessary to adjust to the market downturn." TRANSLATION 28,000 layoffs COMPANY PHILIP MORRIS ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "In November we announced an aggressive restructuring program to streamline our worldwide operations." TRANSLATION 14,000 layoffs COMPANY KODAK ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "The fundamentals show that we are making real progress in reducing our cost base." TRANSLATION 12,000 layoffs COMPANY XEROX ANNUAL REPORT STATEMENT "Although 1993 was not without difficulty, we lowered our selling, general and administrative costs as a percent of revenue by more than a full percentage point, a solid step in the right direction." TRANSLATION 10,000 layoffs COMPANY GENERAL ELECTRIC ANNUAL REPORT SATATEMENT "[Our] plan includes explicit programs that will result in the closing, downsizing and streamlining of certain production, service and administrative facilities worldwide." TRANSLATION 10,000 layoffs ZHIRINOVSKY BEAT Russia's top ultranationalist, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, had a busy week presiding over a party conference and avoiding coming to terms with a sensitive personal issue... Saturday: Was unanimously elected to a 10-year term as dictator of the Liberal Democratic Party during a Moscow party conference; guests included a German neofascist and a delegation from Iraq. Monday: Raged against news reports revealing that his last name was Eidelshtein until age 18, when he dropped the Jewish surname in favor of Zhirinovsky. "It's crazy. It's not true," said the statesman, whose speeches have often featured anti-Semitic themes. Tuesday: Took part in a seminar in Helsinki on the possible admission of Russia into the Council of Europe, then stopped by King's Kakadu Club, where he and his entourage unwound with several drinks and a strip show. Wednesday: Faced turmoil within his ranks when two members of parliament quit its Liberal Democratic faction, criticizing Zhirinovsky's populist stances as too extreme. Friday: Got in a fistfight with a departing colleague in a parliament hallway, vowing to another, "I'll tear your beard out hair by hair!" DISPATCHES Execution Capital, U.S.A. BY RICHARD WOODBURY, in Huntsville, Texas Old-timers in Huntsville, Texas, like to tell tales of public hangings and lynchings at the turn of the century and to reminisce about how, on execution nights at The Walls state prison, the lights would often flicker and dim across town, a signal that the electric chair on the hill was doing its work yet again. Whether these stories are apocryphal or not, the sentiment in favor of the death penalty remains overwhelming in Huntsville, even though many townspeople are uncomfortable with their community's distinction as the execution capital of the U.S. Last year the state of Texas put 17 murderers to death here--nearly half the number executed nationwide and the most since Texas resumed executions in 1982. The quickening pace and mounting numbers have reduced what often used to be a spectacle into an almost humdrum event. Today few people in town other than Jack King, the local mortician, even know that an execution has occurred until they read about it the next day, buried on an inside page of the Huntsville Item. When a chubby killer named Richard Beavers got his lethal injection of sodium thiopental last week, the only noteworthy aspect of the event was its timing: late on the night of Easter Sunday. That might have provoked an outcry a few years ago, but a vigil for Beavers outside the penitentiary's tall brick walls drew only four candle-carrying participants. At the local Dairy Queen one block away, oblivious teenagers slurped sodas as the hour approached. "People don't give executions a second thought anymore," said manager Irene Cassidy. "They've become the norm." Of course, lethal injection, in use here since 1982, is an antiseptic procedure. It lacks the drama of electrocuting someone. One of the region's biggest tourist draws is Old Sparky, the original death chair, which sits behind glass at the Texas Prison Museum four blocks from the Big House. Visitors from around the world come to gawk and marvel at the gleaming oak contraption where 361 killers met their fate from 1924 to 1964. In the death house, Beavers, who had waived his appeals and insisted that he wanted to die for the 1986 abduction and shooting of a Houston restaurant manager and the wounding of his wife, devoured a final meal of French toast, sausage, eggs, French fries and six brownies. Then he was led into the baby-blue death chamber and spread-eagled on a gray gurney. He was tied down with white leather straps and ace bandages. As a dozen state officials and reporters watched, Wayne Scott, the prison system's deputy operations chief, appeared in a doorway and intoned, "Warden, you may proceed." A microphone was lowered and the condemned man offered a brief prayer as his last statement. Then the executioner, hidden behind a one-way mirror, released the deadly chemicals through two plastic tubes into the convict's forearms. In 30 seconds, Beavers grunted, coughed and lost consciousness. Six minutes later, Dr. Darryl Wells, a local emergency-room physician, stepped forward to pronounce him dead. As the witnesses were whisked off, morticians loaded the body into a black Astro van and carted it away into the night for cremation. INSIDE WASHINGTON Daschle's Dash Although South Dakota's Thomas Daschle is barely into his second term in the U.S. Senate, he has taken a surprising lead in the quiet but intense race to succeed the retiring George Mitchell as majority leader, the upper chamber's top job. Daschle's shrewd strategy: woo influential incumbent Senators as well as rising Democratic stars who seem likely to ascend to the Senate come November. Among Daschle's targets are two of his former House colleagues, Tennessee's Jim Cooper and Missouri's Alan Wheat. HEALTH REPORT THE GOOD NEWS -- A protein that plays a crucial role in Alzheimer's may hold the key to developing a test for early detection of the disease. The protein, beta amyloid, destroys a brain cell's ability to regulate potassium, the chemical that triggers signals governing memory. Since the protein also affects other cells, scientists hope to develop a skin test to detect the onset of Alzheimer's. -- Alzheimer's sufferers received another ray of hope in the finding that the drug tacrine can significantly--though temporarily--improve memory. Unfortunately, tacrine in high doses can damage the liver and cause such other side effects as nausea. THE BAD NEWS -- Some domestic cats in the rural Southwest have become carriers of human plague. A new report says the cats can pick up the disease from rodents or fleas and transmit it via licks, bites or scratches. Only 15 cases of plague have been traced to cats, however, and such simple precautions as removing trash where rodents thrive can limit risk to humans. -- A panel of experts has concluded that standard screening tests for ovarian cancer are too imprecise to justify their costs. Blood tests and ultrasound often produce false alarms, which prompt doctors to perform unnecessary exploratory surgery. Sources--GOOD: Journal of the American Medical Association; Science. BAD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; National Institutes of Health. BUT IS THERE A PART FOR WESLEY SNIPES? "[Joan of Arc] was not some great saint who had visions from God but rather an ordinary person who's just right to be an action-adventure hero."--SCREENWRITER LAETA KALOGRIDIS, ON THE SUBJECT OF HER NEW SCRIPT, IN NOMINE DEI, WHICH WAS SOLD LAST WEEK TO PRODUCER JOEL SILVER (LETHAL WEAPON) FOR A REPORTED $650,000 BIOSPHERE BLUES Biosphere 2, the $150 million environmental experiment hyped as a "self-sustaining ecosystem," ended its trial run last fall but continues to be plagued by the sort of embarrassing incident that characterized its rocky two years in the media spotlight. Last week two former crew members--both of whom had recently been suspended from their jobs with the project--were arrested for breaking into the sealed Oracle, Arizona, enclosure to let outside air in. Past highlights of the Biosphere: Sept. 26, 1991 Four men and four women (dubbed "bionauts") enter Biosphere 2 to live with 3,800 species of plants and animals for two years. Sept. 27 A computer engineer critical of the project resigns. Oct. 11 A bionaut injures her finger and leaves briefly for emergency surgery. November Project officials admit that just before the crew entered the enclosure, a carbon dioxide scrubber was installed to maintain acceptable air quality. Dec. 19 A director of the Biosphere acknowledges that oxygen was pumped into the complex after leakage occurred. Jan. 4, 1992 It is revealed that the injured crew member brought back supplies. July A report delivered by an advisory committee criticizes the project for lack of a serious scientific agenda. February 1993 Eleven members of the advisory committee resign. Sept. 26 Crew leaves the Biosphere. March 6, 1994 A second crew enters the Biosphere. April 1 Top project officials are accused of mismanagement and suspended by financial backer and billionaire Edward Bass. April 6 Two former bionauts are arrested for breaking into the Biosphere but claim they did so out of concern for the current crew members. Losses are placed at $80,000--mostly due to lost tourist revenues as a result of the incident. </body> </article> </text>