Scholastic Update articles from February 1999

Scholastic Update archives from February 1999

South America.
February 8, 1999... EMBRACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST SOUTH AMERICA, the giant continent at the southern end of the Western Hemisphere, has long been eclipsed, economically and politically, by the United States and other western industrialized...

Brazil on the Brink.(economic problems hit middle class hardest)
February 8, 1999... After years of instability, Brazil's economy had finally turned the corner. Now a new crisis threatens to erase all the gains. RIO DE JANEIRO--Dioniso Lemos dos Santos has borne many difficult challenges since Brazil's economy took a...

Battle for the Rain Forest.(Cofan people of Ecuador battle for their homelands)
February 8, 1999... As oil companies move ever deeper into the Amazon rain forest to drill for oil, destruction and pollution threaten the indigenous tribes who live there. Now some tribes are fighting back. Deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon rain forest, in a...

Dictatorship on Trial.(Augusto Pinochet on trial )
February 8, 1999... In the 1970s, Chile's dictator, Augusto Pinochet, waged a brutal war against his own people, killing thousands of political opponents. Can a former dictator be brought to justice? General Augusto Pinochet the worst was over. On vacation in...

Child of the Disappeared.(woman learns of horrifying past in Argentina)(Brief Article)
February 8, 1999... Abducted from her mother at birth, a girl discovers a horrifying secret about Argentina's past BUENOS AIRES, Argentina--Her name, at the time, was Nancy. Her parents told her: You were abandoned at birth. We found you in the street,...

South America: Moving Beyond the Past.(dictatorships become democracies)(Brief Article)
February 8, 1999... Moving Beyond the Past Over the past 10 years, South America's identity has shifted dramatically. Nations once led by military dictators hive become functioning democracies. Many impoverished countries are moving toward prosperity. But old...

THE U.S. VERSUS MiCROSOfT.(antitrust lawsuit)(Brief Article)
February 8, 1999... The government accuses the world's No. 1 software company of illegally stomping on the competition. Is Microsoft a corporate bully--or just the best player in the game? Suppose only one company made compact disc players. Suppose that same...

ONE WOMAN ONE VOTE.(women fight for right to vote)
February 8, 1999... Not even World War I could stop women from fighting for the right to vote. On June 7, 1916, as most Chicagoans sought refuge from a heavy downpour, 6,000 demonstrators marched through the city to the Republican National Convention....

think tank.
February 8, 1999... DRAWING ON THE NEWS In December,the nation's two largest oil companies, Exxon and Mobil, announced they would merge to form the world's largest company. If the merger is approved by federal regulators, the new company will control 13...

Values in America.
February 22, 1999... What are values, anyway? In Washington, D.C., the President is impeached for lying about an affair. Before even taking office, the designated Speaker of the House resigns as the public learns of affairs in his past, too. Backers of Salt...

Have Moral Standards Declined?(opposing views)
February 22, 1999... Two prominent writers assess the current moral climate and come away with opposite conclusions When asked to explain how President Clinton could be impeached and still enjoy high approval ratings, the former Education Secretary William...

WARNING: Viewer Discretion Advised.(analysis of television shows aimed at teens)
February 22, 1999... The controversy over Dawson's Creek fuels a debate over the media's influence on teens and their values Fade in: A video store in a quaint New England seaside town. Enter a beautiful blonde woman, wearing a nearly see through sundress....

BE LIKE MIKE?(professional athletes as role models)(Brief Article)
February 22, 1999... Today's "bad boy" athletes challenge the notion of sports stars as role models Virtually every baseball fan followed last year's home-run duel between the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire and the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa. Leaving in the...

School Daze.(the effect of UN sanctions on Iraq)(Brief Article)
February 22, 1999... Grades are dropping, hunger is increasing, as Iraqi teens feel the UN sanctions BAGHDAD, Iraq-- Ahmed Hussein, 18, used to think he had a bright future. "We used to study hard," he says. "Now nobody cares about that." At Hussein's...

Starr Shines Light on Law.(Independent Counsel Act gets analyzed)
February 22, 1999... Starr's pursuit of the President could doom a law against government crime The Senate trial of President Bill Clinton won't be the final word heard in Congress on the Lewinsky scandal, no matter what the verdict. Get ready for the trial by...

WHAT MADE THE TWENTIES ROAR?(Brief Article)
February 22, 1999... Rebellious teenagers, illegal drugs, bizarre fashions, and movies glorifying sex and violence. Sound familiar? This wild and shocking era was the Roaring Twenties. It is often called the Jazz Age, or the Roaring Twenties. The 1920s was an...