DALLAS—A Dallas school official pulled the plug on a student
produced television show that featured a man in a dress discussing his
homosexuality.
Robert Hinkle, an official with the Dallas Independent School Dis
trict, said he made the decision because “maybe there was a constiti
ency out there that wasn’t prepared maturely for accepting this inform*
tion.”
School officials are crafting guidelines to regulate the
dents broadcast over a school cable channel.
Lincoln High School student Tfcerilyn Tse produced the
Personal” episode with the approval of her teacher, parents and
pal.
“I didn’t do that show because I personally like gays
Tse said. “I did this show because I want you to know more. From what
I understand, education is basically teaching somebody how to go out
and get the knowledge for themselves.”
Police take over media, assault Milosevic opponents
KRAGUJEVAC, Yugoslavia—Police beat up opponents of Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic Thursday to clear a roadblock impeding
access to this central Serbian town. Officers barricaded themselves in
side a TV and radio station to keep it out of the hands of new city offi
cials.
Control of the news media is a central issue in the struggle between
Milosevic and the opposition. Whoever wins city hall controls local
radio and television stations.
Milosevic’s opponents won control of Kragujevac and 13 other cit
ies Nov. 17 in local elections. After initially annulling the vote results,
Milosevic has allowed opposition politicians to take power in sane of
the towns. i •
Milosevic has used a monopoly on the media to keep support, espe
cially in provincial towns and rural areas. He especially needs coitrol ,
this year as Serbia prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections.
<
America offline
Customers criticize AOL for glitches, betraying its standards
NEW YORK (AP) — Con
sumer-protection officials from 20
states met with America Online
Thursday to try to resolve a rash of
complaints against the nation’s larg
est online service-—even as a fresh
technical glitch further annoyed its
customers.
The meeting in Chicago was
spurred by customers’ growingdif
ficulty in getting the online access
they paid for. A new pricing plan
that charges customers $19.95 a
month for unlimited online time has
strained AOL’s network, creating
long delays in going online and
other frustrations.
The representatives from 20
state attorneys general offices tried
to get the company to “give some
relief to AOL customers who feel
the company is not living up to its
pledge,” said Dan Curry, a spokes
man for Illinois Attorney General
Jim Ryan, whose office was host to
the meeting.
Details from the meeting
weren't disclosed, and state officials
said they were waiting for America
Online’s next move. AOL said only
that the meeting was constructive
and that the company was cooper
ating with the states.
Meanwhile, AOL’s latest brown
out, which prevented customers
from receiving e-mail for two hours
Thursday morning, has only height
ened concerns about its ability to
accommodate a flood of new users.
America Online spokeswoman
Tricia Primrose characterized die
brownout—triggered by the instal
lation of new computer hardware to
increase AOL’s capacity — as a
minor problem. Overall, AOL re
duced downtime to 1 percent from
3.5 percent last year, she said.
But AOL users experienced two
other episodes of technical glitches
just last week, and at least five law
suits have been filed by consumers
against AOL this past month accus
ing the company of breach of con
tract and deceptive marketing.
“It has been virtually impossible
to log on from 6 p.m. until mid
night,” said Michael W. Fine of
Avon Lake, Ohio, one of three AOL
users in Ohio who filed suit Thurs
day.
Primrose said the company was
working to upgrade its network and
expects “to prevail in the class-ac
tion suits.”
A source close to the attorneys
general talks, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said some states were
interested in trying to get AOL to
refund some money to customers.
Any agreement would bef
America Online’s second in two
months with state attorneys general.
Last month, America Online agreed
to revise its new pricing strategy in
a settlement with 19 states that fol
lowed complaints from subscribers
that they weren’t given enough no
tice when automatically switched to
the new flat-rate plan for unlimited
Internet access.
One of AOL’s biggest rivals
tried to exploit the company’s woes.
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
A new television commercial for
CompuServe breaking in Sunday’s
Super Bowl stresses the theme that
people can get online access
through CompuServe on the first try
“97 percent of the time,” said Scott
Kauffman, CompuServe’s vice
president of Interactive Services.
Meanwhile, in a Washington
hearing, Federal Communications
Commission regulators began ex
ploring ways to ease network con
gestion by giving companies incen
tives to provide more high-speed
connections into homes.
The congestion has pitted
Internet providers and computer
companies against local telephone
companies, which contend that
soaring Internet usage could cause
a breakdown in the public telephone
network. They want Internet provid
ers to pay them for using local lines
to route Internet traffic.
iI
NEW YORK (AP)—PepsiCo Inc.
is getting out of the fast-food business
two decades after taking its Erst bite,
spinning off the KFC, Pizza Hut and
Taco Bell chains into die world’s sec
ond-biggest restaurant company.
The move frees PepsiCo to concen
trate cm its faster-growing Pepsi and
Frito-Lay businesses, while creating a
new company with $20 billion in com
bined sales — trailing only
McDonald’s Corp. In terms of units, it
will be the world’s biggest, with 29,000
restaurants.
The plan to give shares in the new
company to PepsiCo shareholders
marks the boldest step taken by Roger
Enrico since becoming chief executive
last April. PepsiCo bought Pizza Hut
in 1977 and added the others lata*.
PepsiCo also said it was exploring
the possibility of selling its food distri
bution unit, which ships more than $3
billion worth of restaurant equipment
and supplies every year.
While PepsiCo feels the future for
its restaurant business is bright, the
business can do better if separated
Pepsi spinoff
PepsiCo's restaurants, which include KFC,
Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, have traditionally
been less profitable than other divisions of
the company. The restaurant division will
have about 29,000 stores worldwide.
_gg
Restaurants
$11.3
$:• •
Snack Soft
g? tm
* in biSons
Restaurants
Source: PepsiCo Inc.
from PepsiCo’s beverage and snack
foods operation, Enrico said.
Even though the announcement
came after markets closed Thursday,
PepsiCo shares countered a broad
AP/Amy Kranz
stock downturn. PepsiCo shot up al
most 11 percent on reports the spinoff
was being considered. As the most
active issue on the New York Stock
Exchange, it rose $3.50 to close at
$35.50 a share.
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•.
Nebriskan IL
Editor: Doug Koutna
472-2588
Managing
Editor: Paula Lavigne
Assoc. News
jht Editor Anne Hjersman
FAX NUMBER: 472-1761
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