News Digest
Page 2 Daily Nebraskan Friday, January 12,2001
- <k*|.
AOL, Time Warner merger approved
■The FCCs approval will allow
the media giants to enhance
Internet access through TV sets.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON —
Communications regulators
have voted to approve the $106
billion deal between America
Online and lime Warner, allow
ing the two companies to seal
their massive media merger,
sources familiar with the review
said Thursday.
Federal Communications
Commission Chairman William
Kennard was expected to
announce the decision
Thursday evening, after a day of
trying to end a deadlock over the
conditions the agency would
attach to the deal.
A resolution will enable the
commission to give final clear
ance to the combination, which
European and U.S. antitrust reg
ulators already have approved.
Kennard had the backing of
Susan Ness, a Democrat, in vot
ing to go ahead with the deal
with certain enforceable condi
tions, but he needed at least one
other member to support that
position.
The chairman was engaged
Thursday in talks with the other
Democratic commissioner,
Gloria Tristani, who had tenta
tively voted against the deal
because she felt the conditions
did not go far enough, sources
said.
Tristani has wanted the
agency to impose broader
requirements forcing AOL to
open its popular instant mes
saging service to all competi
tors.
Kennard and Ness have
favored a more tailored
approach that would require
AOL to make its instant messag
ing product operate with offered
rivals, but only for advanced
services, such as video confer
encing, delivered over Time
Warner's high-speed cable lines.
The chairman’s office also
was reaching out to a
Republican commissioner,
Michael Powell, for any possible
common ground on conditions,
sources said.
Powell and his GOP col
league, Harold Furchtgott Roth,
support approving the deal but
have concerns about the agency
going beyond its jurisdiction in
imposing any requirements on
the companies.
Most believe Furchtgott
Roth cannot be swayed to sup
port conditions on the deal. But
an agreement potentially could
be reached with Powell by mak
ing the language of the condi
tions looser, sources said.
A commissioner can switch
his or her vote if other members
make changes to the deal.
All five members must vote
for a final decision to be
reached.
As part of its merger review,
the FCC is also weighing broad
er rules that would ensure that
cable companies will not steer
viewers away from competing
content in the emerging market
for interactive television.
The combined AOL Time
Warner is expected to get a
foothold in the new market that
allows consumers to access the
Internet from their television
sets.
Kennard’s intense work with
his colleagues comes on what is
likely his last major project as
the agency's chairman. He is
expected to resign after the FCC
renders its verdict on the merg
er.
As Kennard presided at his
final open meeting Thursday,
his colleagues credited the first
black chief of the agency for
bringing the benefits of the
telecommunications revolution
to more Americans, including
Native Americans and those
with disabilities.
Powell, son of Secretary of
State-designate Colin Poweil, is
seen as the leading contender to
fill the chief's role under
President-elect Bush.
Clinton bids adieu,
thanks the people
* -
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DOVER, N.H. — Like the
scrappy politician of a decade ago,
President Clinton returned to
New Hampshire on Thursday to
promise anew that after he leaves
the White House he will still stand
by the people “until the last dog
dies."
“After eight years, and with
almost exactly nine days to go, the
last dog is stdl barking,” Clinton
proclaimed to a crowd of about
2,000 in the Dover High School
gymnasium.
Clinton’s visit was the latest
round of his farewell tour, allow
ing him a chance to talk about
what he did for the country during
his eight years in office.
He plans to visit Arkansas, his
home state, before turning the
presidency over to GeorgeW Bush
- son of the incumbent president
he defeated-on Jan. 20.
“It was a tough time, eight
years ago, for our country when I
came here,” Clinton said. “It was
also a fairly tough time for me. I
was taking a whipping in the
press, and I was dropping in the
polls. But I said then, and I would
like to say again, that was nothing
compared to the punishment that
the people of this state and this
nation were enduring.”
It was in Dover in 1992 that
Clinton, dogged by criticism of his
deferred Vietnam draft status, his
purported affair with Gennifer
Flowers and his Whitewater real
estate dealings, delivered one of
his best-known campaign
speeches.
He argued that the elder Bush
had ignored social decay in
America and pledged that, if given
the White House, “I won’t be like
George Bush.”
“I’ll never forget who gave me
a second chance, and I’ll be there
for you 'til the last dog dies,”
Clinton said then. He used a
strong second-place finish in New
77/ never forget who
gave me a second
chance, and 77/ be
there for you 7/7 the
last dog dies”
Bill Clinton
President
Hampshire’s primary- 6 percent
age points behind Paul Tsongas’
34 percent - to reinvigorate his
campaign.
He declared himself Nthe
Comeback Kid” and went on to
defeat Bush in the general elec
tion.
On Thursday, Clinton was
awash in the memories of that
speech. “The place was packed.
And I didn't have any notes, and all
the experts said I was dead,” he
recalled.
"But I said what we really
needed was to think about what
we were going to do as a people.”
He said after that speech, he
told his wife Hillary - who now
serves in the Senate - that he
believed he had a chance.
“By the way, my wife said to
tell you hello and thank you and,
when you really need it, you might
have a third United States senator
now," Clinton said.
Under his watch, Clinton said,
more than 22 million new jobs
have been created, American
homeownership is at an all-time
high, unemployment is at its low
est level in 30 years, welfare rolls
are shrinking, poverty is at a 20
year low, the crime rate is at a 26
year low, and infant mortality and
teen-age births are down consid
erably.
"I came here... to thank you
for making me the Comeback Kid,
and far more important to thank
you for making America the
Comeback Country,” Clinton said.
Sean Gaflup/Newsmakers
Demonstrators on Prague's Wenceslas Square applaud the announcement that controversial director of CzechTelevision JiriHodac
resigned earlier Thursday.Appro»matety1()0^demonstrators again filled central Prague to voice support for independent media.
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DAILY NEBRASKAN
Prison employees charged in scandal
■Thirteen accused of allegations
involving inmates having sex at
governor's residence.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gov. Jim
Hodges angrily fired South Carolina's
prisons chiefThursday after two guards
were charged with letting inmates have
sex at the governor’s residence.
The charges deepened a prison sex
scandal that began last summer when
child killer Susan Smith told investiga
tors she had sex with two guards.
A total of 13 guards and other
prison employees have been charged
since the investigation began.
“I am mad as hell, for die sanctity of
my home has been violated,” Hodges
said in firing William “Doug” Catoe and
appointing former FBI agent Dodge
Frederick to head the Corrections
Department.
Hodges, who re-appointed Catoe in
1999, had stood by the prisons director
even as the state investigation into sex
ual favors and drugs behind bars
widened.
But reports that inmates who work
in and around the Governor's Mansion
and the governor's temporary resi
dence had sex while he was not home
were “the straw that broke the camel’s
back,” Hodges said.
“We’ve got to get confidence back in
the Department of Corrections, but the
first and most important thing to me is
to get these folks out of my house," the
governor said.
Catoe, a 30-year veteran of the
Corrections Department, first was
appointed to the $122,404-a-year job
by then-Gov. David Beasley in
December 1998. He said Hodges called
him Thursday with the news he was
fired.
“I’ve always tried to do my best,"
Catoe said. “I can look in the mirror and
know I did a good job."
Weather
TODAY
Partly cloudy
high 48, low 39
TOMORROW
Showers
high 42, low 35
Bush fills labor trade positions
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—President-elect Bush,
completing his economic team and re-con
cluding his Cabinet, chose former Peace
Corps Director Elaine Chao as labor secre
tary and Robert Zoellick, a diplomat in two
previous Republican administrations, to be
U.S. trade representative.
TWo days after his first labor nominee
withdrew under fire, Bush also mounted a
spirited defense of two other nominees who
have generated opposition: former Sen.
John Ashcroft, R-Mo., as attorney general
and former Colorado Attorney General Gale
Norton as interior secretary.
“You know, what happens in this town is,
the voices of the special interests like to tear
people down,” Bush said, showing irritation.
Chao, the wife of a Republican senator,
was Bush’s second selection for Labor and
appears likely to be confirmed. He picked
her after his first choice, Linda Chavez, with
drew following disclosures that she provided
shelter and cash to an illegal immigrant who
did household chores.
World/Nation
The Associated Press
■ Northern Ireland
Offices of Catholic party
bombed, no injuries
BELFAST, Northern Ireland
—A bomb damaged offices of the
main Northern Ireland Catholic
party Thursday night, but caused
no injuries, police said
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility, but legisla
tor Alban Maginness of North
Belfast accused the outlawed
Protestant Ulster Defense
Association of staging the attack
on the office of the moderate
Catholic Social Democratic and
Labor Party.
The bomb caused extensive
damage to the hallway and rein
forced door in the building.
Maginness said he had no doubt
the attack was linked to his com
ments earlier in the week when he
welcomed the parole board’s
decision to keep notorious anti
Catholic militant Johnny “Mad
Dog” Adair in jail
Protestant legislator Cecil
Walker of the Ulster Unionist
Party said he and his colleagues in
North Belfast “unreservedly con
demn this attack.”
I Colorado
McVeigh denies opportunity
to appeal bombing case1
DENVER — Convicted
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh let expire a Thursday
deadline for resuming his
appeals, and his attorneys said he
now wants a date set for his exe
cution.
McVeigh had until 5 p.m. to
file a notice with U.S. District
Judge Richard Matsch, who
presided over his trial. District
Court Clerk Jim Manspeaker said
McVeigh didn’t act befor^ the
close of business but his attorneys
still could do so before midnight
Thursday.
“ If they deliver it to my house,
I would file it, and it would be up
to Judge Matsch to determine if it
was timely,” Manspeaker said.
Nathan Chambers, McVeigh's
attorney, said that during a meet
ing at the federal prison in Terre
Haute, Ind., McVeigh ordered
there be no more appeals on his
behalf.
"He made it clear this was his
decision. I tried to talk him out of
it and get him to resume his
appeal, but it was his decision not
to file,” Chambers said.
■ Oregon
Researchers create first
genetically altered primate
PORTLAND, Ore. — Pushing
science to the brink of altering
humans, researchers have creat
ed the world’s first genetically
modified primate - a baby rhesus
monkey with jellyfish DNA that
glows green in the dark.
The Oregon Health Science
University researchers who creat
ed ANDi - for "inserted DNA,”
spelled backward - said their goal
is not to tinker with the human
blueprint but to use monkeys in
the laboratory to advance med
ical research and wipe out dis
eases.
The researchers hope to intro
duce other genes in rhesus mon
keys that could trigger diseases
like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, breast
cancer or HIV Then, those mon
keys could be used in experi
ments aimed at blocking diseases
at the genetic level.
■ Georgia
Turner sells WCW after foiling
to compete with WWF j
ATLANTA—Ted Turner gave
up his attempt to take Southern
fried wrestling nationwide
Thursday, selling World
Championship Wrestling, whose
aging, balding stars couldn’t com
pete with the lurid storylines and
catchphrase-spouting young
sters of the World Wrestling
Federation.
WCW, once a Southern-only
circuit with stopovers in places
like Augusta, Ga., and Greenville,
S.C., became the No. 1 pro
wrestling brand after Turner
spent millions to lure away estab
lished WWF wresders like Hulk
Hogan.
But the WWF, which airs on
UPN and TNN, wrenched the top
spot back by promoting young
stars like The Rock and salacious
plots involving everything from a
wrestler marrying the owner’s
daughter to a wrestler impregnat
ing an elderly woman.