Copyright 1999 The Christian Science Publishing Society
The Christian Science Monitor
February 19, 1999, Friday
SECTION: NEWS IN BRIEF; Pg. 24
LENGTH: 528 words
HEADLINE:
USA
BYLINE: Compiled By Robert Kilborn and Lance Carden
BODY:
The Labor Department's
producer Price Index began the year by jumping 0.5 percent in January - the most
since October 1996 - after declining 0.1 percent for all of 1998. However, much
of the rise in prices for finished goods was concentrated in
gasoline, pork, and citrus. Excluding volatile food and energy
items, prices fell for the first time in seven months, declining 0.1 percent. As
a result, analysts said inflation in prices paid by consumers is likely to
remain muted this year.
Organized labor leaders agreed to pour
more than $ 40 million into the 2000 elections. A measure approved by AFL-CIO
executives at a meeting in Miami asks each affiliate union to donate $ 1 per
member - about $ 13.5 million a year for two years - to mobilize union voters.
Coupled with political money in regular budgets, the federation's spending for
2000 campaigns could reach $ 46 million, union officials said.
A
controversial murder case from the 1960s ended with prosecutors saying they
would not retry a Black Panther leader who spent 27 years behind bars for a
crime he swore he didn't commit. Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti said
he'd drop charges against Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt because "it would be virtually
impossible to retry the case." His move came a day after a state appeals court
said a lower court acted correctly in ordering Pratt released on bail in 1997
because he hadn't received a fair trial.
The Environmental
Protection Agency plans to propose tough new standards for cleaner cars and
gasoline - including a dramatic reduction in pollution from
sport-utility vehicles, government sources said. Speaking anonymously, they said
draft regulations that would take effect in 2004 could be sent
to the White House for review as early as today. The proposals would require
sport-utility vehicles to be as pollution-free as passenger cars and force a
dramatic reduction in the sulfur content of
gasoline.
The Democratic National Committee said
it was intensifying discussions with Los Angeles about serving as host of the
party's presidential nominating convention in 2000. The panel has been
negotiating with three cities: Los Angeles, Boston, and Denver. Announcement of
a final decision is expected early next month.
For the second
time in a week, the US took steps to increase its emergency oil reserves. The
Energy Department said it will allow companies to store as much as 70 million
barrels of oil in an underground reserve on the Texas-Louisiana coast for a year
or more in return for some of the oil as a storage fee. With prices depressed,
the option may appeal to some oil firms, industry analysts said. Last week, the
department said it planned to add 28 million barrels of oil to the reserve.
Responding to a 17-year-old's desire to refuse a blood
transfusion based on her religious faith, the Massachusetts Appeals Court set
new ground rules for future cases involving minors. Judges should consider
children's preferences and their religious convictions - and hear directly from
minors - when deciding whether they are mature enough to make an informed
choice, the court said.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: In his
sister's home in Morgan City, La., Pratt comments on the district attorney's
decision. BY BILL HABER/AP
LOAD-DATE: February 18, 1999
