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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1991)
News Digest Bush OKs $1.4 billion food aid for Soviets WASHINGTON — President Bush approved an additional $1.4 billion in food aid Wednes day for the Soviet Union, and for the first time gave the assistance directly to the Soviet re publics rather than the central government. The House also voted 350 to 78 to normalize trade with the Soviet Union by approving the granting of most-favored-nation status, which would reduce tariffs to the lowest possible level. The action also must be approved by the Senate. The Senate Finance Committee approved ■ the measure by a voice vote. The measure was expected to win approval in the full chamber within a few days. The administration’s aid package is intended to help the disintegrating country cope with food shortages this winter. Agriculture Secretary Edward Madigan said there already is “evidence of hoarding” in the Soviet Union. In Congress, there were warnings of famine and political disintegration threatening control of the Soviet nuclear arsenal. Intelligence sources likened the current atmosphere in the Soviet Union to that of the dismal 1930s and said there was a potential lor anarchy if food shortages spread during the winter. Mindful of the political backlash against foreign aid, the administration portrayed the assistance as a boon for hard-pressed U.S. farmers. “This is not a foreign program that we’re talking about here,” Madigan said, announcing the aid at a White House briefing. “This is a domestic program that has as its intent moving U.S. grain out of the U.S. market to the benefit of American farmers who will make these sales and then will spend that money in the American economy buying pickup trucks and buying other things that arc manu factured in urban areas,” the secretary said. The United States has committed itself to nearly $4 billion in loan guarantees over the last year for Soviet purchases of U.S. farm products. Two of three in AP poll say economy still getting worse NEW YORK — With finan cial news grim and politicians badly divided on how to re spond, two in three Americans in an Associated Press poll say the economy is getting worse, but they think the government can help. Of throe proposals for changes to help the nation’s economy, the most popular is a cut in federal taxes paid by middle income Americans, which 79 percent say they want. A cut in capital gains taxes paid by investors, which Presi dent Bush favors, has 41 per cent support, with 40 percent opposed and 19 percent unsure. Cuts in interest rates appeal to 76 percent, with 17 percent opposed and 7 percent uncer tain. Asked whether any of these proposals would succeed in helping the nation’s economy, 64 percent say yes, and only 23 percent say no. For the poll, ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa., interviewed 1,012 adults in a random national sample. The * margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll was conducted from Friday, when the stock market’s Dow average suffered its fifth biggest point decline ever, through Tuesday, when Bush tried to allay fears with upbeat talk. “Inflation is down,” Bush said. “Interest rales are way down. Personal debt is down. Invento ries arc down. Quality is up. Exports are up.” The poll found that 69 per cent say the economy is getting worse, 5 percent say it’s getting better, and 25 percent say it’s staying the same. Asking people whether they think the nation’s economy is getting better or worse is influ enced not just by such develop ments as the stock market plunge, but by personal experiences such as knowing someone who has been laid off, or being unable to gel full-lime work or a raise. The results show growing gloom since the AP poll of June 26-30, when 47 percent said the economy is getting worse, 18 percent said better and 33 per cent said it would stay the same. In a comparable poll in Septem ber, only two in live thought the economy was worsening. - In another poll released Wednesday, the ABC News AP Money magazine Consumer Com fort Index tied its all-time low, as a record 89 percent rated the economy’s con dition as “not so good” or “poor.” Hundreds rescued in bombed-out Croat city ZAGREB, Yugoslavia — Relief workers evacuated hundreds of sick and wounded Wednesday from a bombed-out hospital in the Croatian city of Vukovar, where they were trapped for weeks by a Serbian siege. A European Community spokes man said 19 ambulances and 20 buses loaded with patients pulled out of the shattered city and were believed bound for Sremska Mitrovica, a Serbian town near Belgrade. About 60 of the 400 sick and wounded remained behind, apparently too weak to travel. Officials had planned to evacuate the wounded, mostly Croats, to Croatia, but that was deemed unsafe due to the continuing war between Croatian forces and Serbs and thcirallics in the federal army. More than 2,000 people have died since Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on June 25. Croatian and federal army authori ties had agreed Tuesday to evacuate those trapped in the shelled hospital on the Danube River border with Serbia. After taking Vukovar, the Serb dominated army took control of the hospital, and Croatian and army ne gotiators declared it a “neutral area” under the auspices of the Interna tional Red Cross. A cease-fire held Wednesday around the hospital, said the EC spokes man, Ed Kocstal. But he added that EC teams reported seeing empty ambulances and buses being shot at while heading toward Vukovar. It was not clear by whom. Army and Croatian officials met in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, to decide on the route of the evacuation vehicles, which will be accompanied by EC monitors, Koestal said. The army and Serb militants ap peared almost totally in control of the eastern Croatian town, which fell over the weekend after a three-month siege. An army officer in Belgrade, speak ing on condition of anonymity, said 2,000 to 2,500 Croatian fighters had either surrendered or were captured in the past two days. About 5,000 people have report edly been evacuated from Vukovar so far. More than 10,000, including 2,000 children, were reported to have been there when it fell. U.N. special envoy Cyrus Vance, in Zagreb, met the Croatian foreign minister and premier Wednesday to discuss deploying a peacekeeping force. Vance visited Vukovar on Tues day, and said later that the trip con vinced him of the need to deploy peacekeepers as soon as possible. Vance, a former U.S. secretary of state, said the devastation and human suffering were “worse than anything we could have expected.” Prospects for remaining hostage releases ‘brighter’ BEIRUT, Lebanon — In another sign that the hostage saga is drawing to a close, the umbrella group for the hostage-holders said Wednesday that the three remaining American captives will be released soon. Iran indicated that one, Joseph Cicippio, could be let go next week. In Washington, the White House said pros pects for freedom for the remaining U.S. hos tages “look brighter than they have for a long time.” American Thomas Sutherland, one of the two hostages freed Monday after an exhaustive diplomatic effort by U.N. Secretary-General American possibly could be freed in the next week Javier Perez dc Cuellar, recounted his ordeal to reporters at the military hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he is recuperating. “I could almost say it’s been worth wailing for, but it was a heck of a long wait — 2,347 days,” said Sutherland, 60. He described being kept in chains and in dark cells, and of once being beaten until he screamed in pain. The other hostage freed Monday, Church of England envoy Terry Waite, spent a quiet day Wednesday with his family at a British air base. Waite's family said he wanted to respond to suggestions that Waite’s own efforts to free hostages were compromised by his contacts with former White House aide Oliver North, who was at the center of the Iran-contra arms for-hostages affair. The family indicated that Waite would spend more time recuperating before making public statements about the matter. In Beirut, Abbas Musawi, secretary-general of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God, said fulurc hostage releases would not be linked to the release of Arabs detainees held by Israel or an accounting of missing Israeli servicemen. Since Perez dc Cuellar’s mediation drive began in August, hostage releases had been part of a complex overall deal involving the Arab detainees and Israeli servicemen. That has changed, the secretary-general told report ers on Tuesday. “As the kidnap factions have clearly stated, the issue of the Western hostages is heading to a final solution in the coming few weeks,’’ Musawi said at a news conference. Quindlen Continued from Page 1 home. Quindlen said she took “a quan . turn leap in her psyche” and became one of the first columnists to regulate her work “based on pre school eligibility.” “It has always seemed necessary to shape my work life around my family,” she said earlier in an inter view. ' But Quindlen said choices to shape career and motherhood are not available to all women. Shaping career and motherhood has been possible for her with “some diffi culty and a good deal of money,” she said. With all the societal changes for women, she said a lot of effort to help families lies with the men. NelSfakkan Editor Jana Padarsan Night News Editors Chris Hoplanapargar 472-1766 Cindy Kimbrough Managing Editor Diana Bray ton Alan Phelps Assoc. News Editors Stacey McKenzie Dionne Searcey Kara Walla Art Director Brian Shelllto Assistant Sports Editor Chuck Oraan Classified Ad Manager AnrWtte Sueper Arts & Entertain- Publications Board ment Editor John Payne Chairman Bill Vobe|da Diversions Editor Bryan Paterson 476-2855 Photo Chief Shaun Sartln Professional Adviser Don Walton Subscription price is $50 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan. Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St ,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1991 DAILY NEBRASKAN Multicultural channels said needed By Kim Spurlock Staff Reporter A need for multicultural program ming on television exists in Lincoln, a spokeswoman for Black Entertain ment Television told about 100 UNL students, faculty and Lincoln resi dents Wednesday. Angela Scott, affiliate marketing manager for BET South Central re gion, addressed an eight-person panel at the Lincoln Public Schools admini stration building, 5901 O St., about the need for BET in Lincoln and other cities. “I believe the cable industry can not be totally diversified without the presence of Black Entertainment Television and other cultural net works,” she said. Scott said that 31.6 million people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands subscribed to BET and that 60 percent of the subscribers are not African-Ameri can. BET provides some of the cultural diversity needed today, Scott said. It is th is kind of programming “that promotes the positive images of Afri can-American people as they relate to society,” she said. “And if our society is to grow and prosper, we need this type of programming for all cultures.” Other members of the panel in cluded representatives from the Lin coln Public School Board, the mayor's office, the cable advisory board, City Counciland Cablevision. Although panelists agreed that BET would help increase the knowledge of different cultures, Jeff Jarccke sales and marketing manager for Ca blevision, said that adding BET to Cablevision’s offerings may take several years. Jarcckc said that Cablcvision is in the process of doubling its channel size and that BET has met the criteria for Cablevision and is being consid ered as an addition. “We ran into some time limita tions. ... That’s not to say that we re never going to have BET,” Jarcckc said. “I guess my message to you an right now is to bear with us as we try to proceed forward,” he said. Some UNL students complained of being “forced” to subscribe to Cablcvision to have belter reception on their televisions. And, students said, Cablcvision is supposed to please its subscribers, and it’s not pleasing those who want BET. Some members of the audience said that if Cablcvision continued to fail to meet their needs, they might cancel their subscriptions.
