News In Brief
The US
A government-formed review board filed charges against Teamsters president Ron Carey shortly after he announced a leave of absence to fight allegations of wrongdoing. The Independent Review Board alleged Carey schemed to divert $885,000 in union treasury money to his 1996 election campaign. Earlier, an independent auditor was named to oversee Teamster finances.
Gross Domestic Product, the broadest measure of national economic activity, expanded at a 3.3 percent annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department said. Strong consumer spending and the largest business investment in equipment in nearly 14 years were cited for the healthy growth. Meanwhile, the Conference Board, a private business research group in New York, reported consumer confidence rose in November, indicating Americans aren't concerned about the effects of turmoil in Asian economies.
Five reputed members of the mafia and six Wall Street stockbrokers were indicted in New York on charges of manipulating the stock of HealthTech International Inc., federal prosecutors said. The group allegedly drove up the volume and price of the stock and then sold it at artificially high prices. The 25-count indictment names 19 people, including alleged members of the Genovese and Bonanno "crime families," plus brokers from the firm Meyers Pollock Robbins, and Gordon Hall, head of Mesa, Ariz.-based HealthTech, which operates health clubs in several states.
Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona will close major sites to private vehicles by 2000, a park spokesman announced. Instead, a six-mile electric rail system and alternative-fuel buses will transport the park's 5 million annual visitors, Rod Torrez said. A parking lot and roadways will also be removed and the land returned to its natural condition. The effort is expected to cut noise and pollution.
Mayor Bill Campbell won a second term in Atlanta after beating City Council president Marvin Arrington in a runoff election. The election received national attention when the candidates, both of whom are black, accused each other of race baiting.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service announced a federal probe into potential civil rights abuses during a controversial roundup of illegal aliens. The INS, Border Patrol, and Phoenix police arrested 432 immigrants in a joint operations in Chandler, Ariz., in July. Several US citizens of Hispanic descent were also taken into custody. Individuals were targeted because of their race, Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods said in a highly critical report. Agents barged into homes, businesses, and schools in the four-day period without probable cause or warrants, he said.
Army Secretary Togo West objected when Defense Secretary William Cohen intervened in July to help a Republican congressional aide bury his father in Arlington National Cemetery, the Associated Press reported. In a memo, West cautioned against intervening because it would be "a big deal for veterans." A qualified veteran was bumped from the future burial spot to accommodate Robert Charles's father, who wasn't a decorated-enough veteran to qualify for such a site. Charles assists a House subcommittee that oversees the Pentagon.
