Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1989)
P?e XT ATA7C I^ll (TP^f Associated Press NcblcISkari l 2 X v W J) t ,/ ■ .p, m L- J Edited by Diana Johnson Friday, March 24,1989 House votes to raise hourly minimum I WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to raise the hourly minimum wage from $3.35 to $4.55 by October 1991, rejecting a more modest increase proposed by Presi dent Bush and sending the partisan battle to the Senate. The House adjourned for a week long Easter recess after voting 248 171 for a bill that included compro mises long resisted by its Democratic sponsors but still left the Democratic congressional leadership and the Republican president far apart on the issue. Bush proposed raising the mini mum wage to $4,25 an hour by 1992 provided newly hired employees could be paid a subminimum wage for six months. That plan was offered by Republicans as a substitute for the bill supported by the House leadership but was defeated 218-198, with more than 40 Democrats defecting to the GOP effort Bush has insisted his offer is his last and says he has the strength to sustain a veto of minimum wage legislation he considers unaccept able. But the House sponsors refused to accomodate the president and the showdown now shifts to the Senate, where floor debate is scheduled early next month on a proposal to raise the hourly minimum wage to $4.65. The Senate sponsor, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., hailed the House action and urged Bush to re frain from further veto threats until he secs the final measure, which is likely to undergo further changes. “This is an excellent opportunity for Congress and the administration to demonstrate that they can work together and in doing so achieve a fair increase in the minimurn wage and an honest training wage,” Ken nedy said. Before the House gave final pas sage to the bill, the chamber ap proved by a 240-179 vote a leader ship-backed amendment cutting the bill’s target from $4.65 an hour to $4.55. The amendment added a pro vision allowing new entrants in the job market to be paid a subminimum wage for two months. Debate centered on Republican assertions that too big an increase in the minimum wage would fuel infla tion and force employers with mar ginal profits to slash hundreds ol thousands of jobs. “ 1 “X T 1 . Democrats disputed those argu ments and said that by failing to in crease the minimum wage for eight years Congress had forced the work ing poor to get by on a wage that has lost nearly 40 percent of its buying power. . . “It isn’t enough but it certainly is better than nothing,” House Speaker Jim Wright said of the Democratic bill. “I’m asking you for this vote today for one simple reason. Vote for this bill because it is right and you know it.” . The revisions represented signifi cant retreats by the sponsors, who last year proposed raising the minimum wage to more than S5 by 1992 and long have opposed a two-tiered sys tem allowing lower wages to be paid to newly hired workers. But they agreed to the amendment » • 10 stem detections by modcrate-to conservativc Democrats, largely from Southern states, to the Republi can effort to win passage of the Bush plan. Forty-three Democrats defected any way, and Republicans insisted the majority Democrats eventually would have to accept the Bush pro posal or see a ninth year pass without an incfcasc in the minimum wage now $3.35 an hour. Current law exempts service busi nesses with annual sales of less than $362,000 from the mini mum-wage law; the House bill increased that level to $500,000. The provision is rarely used, however, because of confusing regulations lawmakers have said would be simplified in conference committee if the Senate passes a minimum-wage bill. Hall: Shredding ‘no big dear WASHINGTON - A weeping Fawn Hall praised former boss Oliver North Thursday as an inspirational, tireless and selfless man and said their wholesale shred ding of Iran-Contra documents “was no big deal.” Alternately crying and spitting back sharp responses, Hall twice appeared un able to go on with her testimony at North’s trial, causing impromptu recesses. Her sympathies throughout were obviously with North, though she hardly ever looked at him. “It’s lough when people portray you as a witness for the prosecution when you arc a witness for the truth,” she said outside the courthouse. “Hopefully, the good guy will win.” She called North’s firing by then-Presi dent Reagan on Nov. 25, 1986, unfair. “I was very upset,” she recalled. Hall, who was North’s secretary at the National Security Council for nearly four years, admitted that when attorney gen eral’s investigators were closing in on Nov. 21, 1986, she altered documents to soften recorded versions of North’s involvement with the Nicaraguan Contras. She also said she helped him in what has been called “a shredding parly” of Iran-Contra docu ments. The former Marine lieutenant colonel is on trial on 12 charges, including destroying documents and lying to Congress about his activities. Atone point Thursday, she became upset when prosecutor John Keker confronted her with a transcript of “your words” in previ ous testimony. She had testified then that North may have directed her to shred some documents, but she said on Wednesday that North had given no such instructions. I for helpful extras. Now through March jlst, when you buy an Apple* computer system, you not only get a powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use computer, you get something extra You get cash rebates of up to $800 per system during the Apple Pays Half promotion Because when you buy a qualifying Macintosh* computer system', Apple will send you a rebate for up to half the suggested retail price of select Apple-branded penpherals you purchase* It’s simple Buy a qualifying Apple 9 system, add on a peripheral, and Apple sends B you a check. What better way to get everything 9 you need—all in one trip. 9 So hurry in for further details about Apple Pays Half, going on right now through March 31st. Because extra help from us. can help you get a lot of extras. I The Computer Shop I University Bookstore, Lower Level - Nebraska Union 472-5785, Hours: 8 am-5 pm •Si4 to mead the maximum rrfcUr aJkaeameun dw qualifying ivuemt \U punhaar, nui he made at ihr none nmr {All produt a may n.4 f* Mailable at all panu ifuong mdhonged Apple VBBlk nneilen ertam mmchom apply .ill nrhatei areiubgnt to ami amphamr uUh the Terms and i anJuumt of the Sppte Penn Hdf (.uukitrm m-adablr al your authorized Hll w/irr ‘ ifier nod uhert fmdiibued by lau ClW Apple ( imputer In* Iffk ihr \ppir logo ipple lha laterWiUrr and Ma* mkah an rrguimed tntdemnrhi uf ippte I omptaer In* AUthOflZtd f kejlef |9| leusm campaign iiigiingins ■ discontent with Soviet system I MOSCOW - “Spcts! Spots! Spots! Spcts!” Boris N. Yeltsin rasped at a gathering of 1 ,()(X) workers, using Russian slang to critic i/.c the network supplying special food, consumer goods, cars and drivers to Communist Party officials. His voice cracking from overuse, the former Communist Party boss of Moscow demanded the privileges be eliminated. “All of them have to go,” Yeltsin said. The workers applauded. Days before Soviets vote in the first multi candidate elections, Yeltsin has become a lightning rod for people resentful of plenty for a privileged few and empty store shelve for the rest. The election is Sunday, and Yeltsin is run ning against Yevgeny Brakov, director of the ZIL plant that manufactures the ultimate sym bol of power and privilege: the shiny black ZIL limousine. Yeltsin received a warm welcome when he criticized official privileges at Brakov’s plant nr__ .j _ • l • j • * • i 1 U^5Ud> ill 1115 UIINC IU ld|HUIC III d HJUII election a scat representing all of Moscow. Olga Ulliova, who joined a pro-Yeltsin demonstration in downtown Moscow on Wcdnesday.praisedhimasthe “only one in 70 years of Soviet power who did not take the privileges offered by his position.” Yeltsin rallies, speeches and campaign posters are all over the Soviet capital. The campaigning is an unprecedented sign of po litical activity after years when Soviets duti fully went to the polls to mark their ballots for the only choice available, the candidate ap proved by party officials. The burly 58-ycar-old Siberia native has become an issue himself. For or against, it is Yeltsin who voters arc discussing. “For me,Comrade Yeltsin isarcal national hero,” N. Barinov, a disabled World War 11 veteran wrote to the Vcchcrnaya Moskva newspaper. But in a letter printed just above it, retiree I. Pidcvich wrote tnat a cult ol personality already has begun to form around him. “His personality is already covered by something that doesn’t correspond to reality, an unrealis tic halo -- the basis of a cult.” Those arc charged w-ords in the Soviet Un ion. For more than 30 years ‘;cult ol personal ity” is the term by which Soviets have referred to Stalin’s reign of terror. It was Yeltsin’s criticism of the party and warning that a cult was developing around President Mikhail S. Gorbachev that got him fired as Moscow party chief in November 1987. j He charged into Moscow in late 1985 from the industrial city of Sverdlovsk as Gor bachev’s choice to take over from the corrupt city administration of Viktor Grishin. He won admirers for his energetic attacks on bureauc racy and food shortages, and was among the strongest supporters of Gorbachev’s policy of “glasnost,” or greater openness. After his firing, Yeltsin went back to his oriemal profession — construction -- and was given a job as the first deput> chairman of the State Construction Committee. That job has the status of a government minister, but nowhere near the prestige. Yeltsin arrived at the ZIL plant in a black Chaika - a limousine, but a step below the status of the factory’s ZIL. He admits to ac cepting special health services and a country home but says he turned down special lood supplies, access to other special stores and services. Yeltsin is no more popular now with the party hierarchy than he was when he was accused of mistakes in his work as Moscow party chief and being overly ambitious. But a Yeltsin victory would be proof that under Gorbachev the party can tolerate diverse opin ions. The maverick communist says he recog nizes Gorbachev as the Soviet leader and docs not intend to challenge him. --- Prosecutor dropping case against Adams . DAL,LA5 -Jcxas will not retry Randall Dale Adams tor the 1976 slaying of a policeman, a prosecutor said Thursday, two days after Adams’ court-ordered release irom prison on grounds his first trial was unfair. Dallas County District Attorney John Vance said the case has been dropped because there is not enough evi dence to try Adams again. Adams was convicted and sentenced to die in 1977 for the murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood, a crime to which another man has virtually confessed. Adams once came within three days of his execution date. Adams has maintained that he is innocent. His ease drew national attention after it was portrayed in the movie documentary “Thin Blue Line ’’ y isrjKsrsupprcsscd cv,dcncc and wiincsscs «, personal recognizance bond ’ ^ Adams has repeatedly said he'd welcome a second Drove S/^Adamic H°'r* w'n an(^ • believe we can proven, Adams said alter his release. Nel?fa&kan Editor Curt Wagner 472-1766 Managing Editor Jane Hlrt Assoc News Editors Lee Rood Bob Nelson Editorial Page Editor Amy Edwards Wire Editor Diana Johnson Copy Desk Editor Chuck Green Sports Editor Jef< Apel Arts & Entertain ment Editor Mlckl Haller Diversions Editor Joeth Zuceo Graphics Editor Tim Hnrlmann Photo Chief Connie Sheehan Night News Editors Victoria Ayotte Chris Carroll librarian Anne Mohrl Art Directors John Bruce Andy Manharl The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144 °®0L'S published by the UNL Publications Board, we braska Union 34, 1400 R St.. Lincoln, ■ Monday through Friday during the ucadt year, weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit ideas and comments to the Daily Neb by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a rn ana pm Monday through Friday The a,-or has access to the Publications B?d information, contact Tom Macy, 4 / s • Subscription price is $45 for one yea Postmaster Send address change R Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 3 , St .Lincoln, NE 68588 0448 Second class postage paid at Lincoln, NE _ ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1989 DAILY NEBRASKA _J