News In Brief
House majority leader dick Gephardt was expected to announce plans to stay in Congress rather than run for the White House. Several advisers, speaking anonymously, said Gephardt planned to inform Vice President Al Gore in a private discussion before making his decision public at an evening meeting of House Democrats. Gephardt has been seen as the big obstacle, among Democrats, between the vice president and the presidency.
GOP House leaders called for a tax cut that would shave 10 percent off individual income-tax rates. The proposal would use $743 billion from projected surpluses over the next decade, leaving the remainder for Social Security. President Clinton wants to set aside the surplus to shore up Social Security, bolster Medicare, and fund "universal savings accounts" to help people save for retirement. The House plan is similar to one proposed last month by GOP senators, but it would phase in tax cuts more rapidly.
A federal jury ordered antiabortion activists to pay about $107 million in damages for publishing names and photographs of abortion doctors on the World Wide Web and elsewhere. The jury in Portland, Ore., agreed with a group of abortion providers who said "The Nuremberg Files" Web site and its use of "wanted" posters depicting physicians who performed abortions violated a law meant to protect access to the procedure. Defendants planned an appeal.
Americans are increasingly critical of the impeachment trial - and Republicans are taking most of the blame, a new poll indicated. In the New York Times/CBS News survey, 56 percent of respondents disapproved of the way the Senate is handling the trial; 37 percent approved. Just three weeks ago, in a CBS survey, 46 percent approved the handling of the trial and 41 percent disapproved. In the new poll, almost a third of those identifying themselves as conservative Republicans did not approve of the way the trial is being run.
The US might want to send a "relatively small" US ground force to Kosovo if a firm peace agreement is reached there, Defense Secretary William Cohen told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Pressed to give numbers, Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested a maximum of 2,000 to 4,000 American troops might be needed if NATO decides on a peace-keeping force of 20,000.
Civil rights groups sued the University of California, Berkeley, on behalf of rejected, high-achieving minority students. The suit charges the school with overemphasizing test scores and advanced courses during the admissions process. One of the attorneys filing the suit said advanced-placement courses, worth an additional grade point in the school's admissions ratings, are far more available in predominantly white high schools.
Banking heir Paul Mellon, who died at his home in Upperville, Va., collected and gave away some of the greatest art of the century. Mellon's longest association was with the National Gallery of Art, which was founded in 1941 by his father, Pittsburgh banker and industrialist Andrew Mellon. But the younger Mellon also gave to other institutions, including the Yale Center for British Art, which he helped create.
