Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service articles from June 1999

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service archives from June 1999

For a young urban mother, an untold loss.
June 1, 1999... PHILADELPHIA _ All it took was one bullet. One heavy gray slug to rip Sigel Street apart, to kill one child and burden another with the kind of guilt that could span a lifetime. While children still ride bikes and play tag on this narrow...

Nobel biochemist turns attention from inner body to outer space.
June 1, 1999... PHILADELPHIA _ In a career switch of galactic magnitude, biochemist Baruch Blumberg, renowned for work leading to a hepatitis-B vaccine, will direct a NASA program aimed at searching for life elsewhere in the universe. ``It's one of the...

Teen pregnancy exacts a high price from all of us.
June 1, 1999... FORT WORTH, Texas _ When she was 13, Karla Ibarra had sex for the first time. Then she started throwing up so much that it scared her. When Ibarra was a girl of 14, she gave birth to her own little girl, Elizabeth, who will turn 3...

Wanted: Better science, higher ethics on the final frontier.
June 1, 1999... As the current STS-96 space shuttle crew resumes construction of the International Space Station in Earth orbit, it's time to borrow a line from a Pete Seeger folk song, ``When will they ever learn?'' In November 1957, a husky-mix dog...

How to turn any situation into a positive.
June 1, 1999... Any situation in the right context can become a positive experience. Even failure, grave loss and discouragement are potentially powerful if we will frame them correctly and accept personal responsibility for our actions and responses. ...

Stunned Colombians ask whether any place remains safe from reach of terrorists.
June 1, 1999... APARTADO, Colombia _ Army spokesmen on Monday said rebels still hold between 50 and 62 parishioners from the La Maria Catholic Church in a wealthy suburb south of Cali that they raided Sunday morning. Captives include children, two Frenchmen...

On June 4, we should remember the hidden heroes of Tiananmen Square.
June 1, 1999... The Chinese Democracy Movement of the summer of 1989 deserves to be remembered 10 years later _ especially for the presence of the urban working class in those heroic events of a decade ago. We need to recall the contribution of workers _ a...

G.I. Joe _ friend or foe?
June 1, 1999... Here, dear parents, is one more thing to worry about. As if violent video games, Internet pedophiles and bomb threats in school aren't enough in this post-Littleton world. The latest in scientific research is pointing a wagging figure at...

The new P.E. is designed to inspire lifelong activity for all students, not just slam dunks by athletes.
June 1, 1999... PHILADELPHIA _ It's a beautiful spring day, perfect for riding a bike, which is what the class of eighth graders at Maple Point Middle School is doing. They whoop and holler as they crash through woods behind the school and lunge toward a hill...

County rededicates grave of black Civil War veteran who fought for Union.
June 1, 1999... WILMORE, Ky. _ A Jessamine County native who fought alongside other black Union troops in the Civil War has been honored with a new marker at his burial site. Sgt. George Vaughn of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry, who had fought Confederate...

Spying report must be put in perspective: U.S. superiority over China is massive, and Russia is a bigger threat.
June 1, 1999... The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday, 5-27: X X X For two decades, according to a U.S. House committee report, the United States served as a Home Depot for China's nuclear weapons and high-tech...

Student with blue hair fights suspension.
June 1, 1999... SURRY, Va. _ When a 16-year-old showed up at school with blue hair, the Surry County School Board saw trouble. Kent McNew's blue 'do makes him a threat to his fellow students at Surry County High, the board has decided. In the wake of...

Boys need emotional outlet, expert says.
June 1, 1999... WARWICK, R.I. _ Dan Kindlon paints a clear picture of how differently parents deal with their sons and daughters. Imagine, he said, if a little girl walked out of her parents' bedroom wearing her father's clothes _ tie, shoes, hat. Most...

Students send message of peace to Milosevic.
June 1, 1999... PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. _ Pupils at Low Country Day School ended their school year Friday remembering messages sent overseas. Fourth-graders in Louanna Sowa's class said they hope the butterflies they sent to Yugoslav President Slobodan...

After 100 years, Scott Joplin's ragtime music remains a cultural treasure.
June 1, 1999... One hundred years ago, while Gustav Mahler pushed the symphonic tradition to monumental heights and Claude Debussy invented musical impressionism, an equally remarkable event took place in a dark, upstairs ``gentlemen's club'' for...

Scott Joplin on CD.
June 1, 1999... Scott Joplin's music is well-represented on compact disc; recordings range from solo harpsichord to brass quintet to a combination of tuba, flute and piano. Some suggestions: PIANO: For generous selections of the complete rags in their...

Permananently Spike-ing dissent? Spike Lee's call for Heston's death shows some liberals don't value free speech.
June 1, 1999... DALLAS _ Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., once remarked, ``President Clinton is an unusually good liar.'' Implicitly, we are left to believe that leftists are choirboys who usually tell the truth. Balderdash! Good liars have been the backbone of...

Graduation gifts can range from software to laptop cases.
June 1, 1999... The coolest graduation present I ever got was a spiffy leather briefcase from my parents when I got my bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. It was trim and feminine, quite elegant and utterly unusable for my chosen profession:...

Like it or not, Clinton's upbringing fits a pattern.
June 1, 1999... I was recently involved in an exchange of letters on the editorial pages of The Charlotte Observer. The first letter was from me. ``As a child,'' I wrote, ``(President) Clinton lacked an influential male adult role model, which research has...

Cholera bug's nastiness linked to genes received from viruses.
June 1, 1999... The bacterium that causes cholera was about as virulent as a lazy house cat until a virus turned it into a tiger. Researchers have found that the genes that make cholera bacteria dangerous originally came from viruses. Certain viruses...

Golden rules for grads are good for life.
June 1, 1999... Here are universal laws for graduates: _The Law of Now What. In his recent book for graduates, appropriately titled ``Now What,'' comedian Bill Cosby writes that now it is time to meet the bright tomorrow. What might that mean for you? ...

Graduation is knowledge.
June 1, 1999... Once again we have reached that time of year when graduates sit on hard seats in the hot sun and listen to boring talks from older people like me who supposedly know everything because we have lived so long. Well, I don't know everything....

Listening Library's specialty is recordings for children.
June 1, 1999... The day probably isn't far off when each child in the family car will have a separate set of earphones for listening to books or music. Not to mention staying occupied and not whining every two seconds, ``When are we gonna get there?'' ...

Where's the line between schoolyard teasing, harassment?
June 3, 1999... Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that schools can be sued if kids harass each other, I'm wondering what the statute of limitations might be on schoolyard taunts. If it's the customary seven years, I guess I'm out of luck. But if _ as...

What you study in college may be more important than where you go.
June 3, 1999... There's some good economic news for college graduates _ and their parents _ who recently received their sheepskin: Your earnings should be at least 62 percent higher than that of your peers who only have a high school education. College...

Albanians may head to base near Richmond.
June 3, 1999... WASHINGTON _ An Army base north of Richmond could be the temporary home of up to 3,000 refugees from the war in Yugoslavia, according to Army and Pentagon officials. Fort A.P. Hill, which every four years plays host to the Boy Scout...

How to keep your kids safe at the computer over the summer.
June 3, 1999... Freedom never rings so loudly as with the last bell on the last day of school. For many kids, a lot of the free summer hours will be spent in front of their computers, surfing the Internet, playing games and communicating with pals. A U.S....

A pariah, Suharto watches as Indonesians prepare to vote in national elections.
June 3, 1999... JAKARTA, Indonesia _ For the 32 years he ruled Indonesia, Suharto was both a major player on the world stage and Washington's main man in Southeast Asia. But now, as Indonesians prepare to vote in national elections Monday that could bring...

Student convicted of misdemeanor for 'hit list' comment.
June 3, 1999... VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. _ A 12-year-old magnet school student was convicted Wednesday of a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace for making a statement May 11 in class about a possible ``hit list'' of students. He is believed to be the...

Warm-water ``rings' may boost strength of hurricanes, scientists say.
June 3, 1999... VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. _ By tropical standards, it was a feeble little thing. In October 1995, Hurricane Opal was lumbering through the Gulf of Mexico, carrying winds that barely qualified as hurricane-strength. Suddenly, just 14 hours before...

Gephardt's bold, traditional vision: Unrepentant Democrat unafraid to look for big answers, even if they're expensive.
June 4, 1999... On a visit to Philadelphia last week, Richard Gephardt actually talked about raising taxes. The House minority leader made his comments in a setting not picked for maximum impact, a midday talk at a Center City bookstore. His audience...

Alternative Watch: a brief look at alternative medicine practices.
June 4, 1999... A new randomized study shows the decidedly non-invasive methods of listening to music or performing a jaw relaxation exercise can significantly reduce pain during the first two post-op days. Marion Good, a nurse researcher and assistant...

Archeologists try to pinpoint location of Sand Creek massacre in Colorado.
June 4, 1999... LAMAR, Colo. _ Bullets and other tell-tale artifacts found by National Park Service archaeologists in the last several weeks have moved officials another step closer to pinpointing the site of the infamous Sand Creek massacre. Using metal...

Agreement comes after Milosevic spends only four hours with envoys.
June 4, 1999... After 72 days of NATO bombs pummeling Yugoslavia, the Serbian parliament quickly approved a peace deal Thursday that gave in to the Western alliance's demands but left several important details unresolved. The deal fell together with...

Returning refugees to their homes will be a costly, massive task.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ The job of returning Kosovo's ethnic Albanian refugees to homes and villages that may have been bombed or burned will be massive and costly. The task is all the more difficult because of the presence of millions of landmines....

Although Milosevic accepted agreement, there's no gloating in Washington.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ There was no gloating at the White House on Thursday. Although Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepted a peace agreement intended to end the war in the Balkans, President Clinton enjoined Cabinet members and aides to...

Judge allows boy with blue hair back in school, but he'll be searched daily.
June 4, 1999... RICHMOND, Va. _ The good news for Kent McNew, 16, is he can return to Surry County High School with his blue hair. That was bad news for the School Board. The bad news for Kent McNew is that before he walks through the school doors, he...

Milosevic agrees to peace deal but several important details remain unresolved.
June 4, 1999... After 72 days of NATO bombs pummeling Yugoslavia, the Serbian parliament quickly approved a peace deal Thursday that gave in to the Western alliance's demands but left several important details unresolved. The deal came together with...

VFW planning 100th anniversary convention 'to brag on themselves'.
June 4, 1999... KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Thousands of brown military overseas caps, along with the blue dresses worn by the Ladies Auxiliary, will make vivid the veterans' pride in their numbers and their legacy as the Veterans of Foreign Wars hold its 100th...

Experts acknowledge the huge undertaking that resettlement will need.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ With Belgrade's apparent acceptance of peace, NATO is preparing to send its first troops to Kosovo as early as next week in an urgent bid to save hundreds of thousands of homeless, starving ethnic Albanians inside Kosovo. The...

An FDA decision may lower the sun protection factor in your sunblock.
June 4, 1999... There's nothing wrong with wearing sunscreen... as long as you wear something else with it like a hat with a very, very wide brim. Long pants and a long-sleeved shirt wouldn't be a bad idea either. Sunscreens do provide some protection...

Irony of ironies: Clinton now relies on military he slashed to polish his legacy in Kosovo's quagmire.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ What if they threw a war, and nobody came? As a result of current defense policies, such a scenario is not that far out of the realm of possibility. In a classic case of trying to have his cake and eat it too, President...

Ways to stay safe.
June 4, 1999... A few simple but crucial steps can help protect your family from infection by the E. coli 0157:H7 bacterium: _Use all ground beef within 48 hours of purchase. _To store ground beef, either freeze the meat or place it on the lowest rack...

Relief, but questions, on Kosovo.
June 4, 1999... If Slobodan Milosevic can be held to the deal he agreed to Thursday in Belgrade, there is a decent chance that the ``ethnic cleansing'' of Kosovo can be reversed. That is the bottom line, even though Milosevic is a master at delay and...

Tony Stewart doesn't have time to unwrap Power Bars.
June 4, 1999... Tony Stewart wasn't a fan of energy bars even before Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. After wrestling with a health bar late in the race, the next one he eats probably will have to be force-fed. Following his ninth-place finish in the...

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes a now-rare screen appearance in `Limbo'.
June 4, 1999... To see Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in ``Limbo'' is to see an actress live and breathe her character _ a drifting barroom singer with a silky voice, a sulky teen-age daughter, and a relationship with a quiet, rueful fisherman (played by David...

`The Buena Vista Social Club'.
June 4, 1999... The best musical documentaries are made from the combination of passion and humility filmmakers feel when they are seduced by performers and performances, so you can rank ``The Buena Vista Social Club,'' a film about some veteran Cuban...

`The Apple'.
June 4, 1999... The feature debut of 17-year-old Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf, ``The Apple'' is one part docudrama, one part parable, and the altogether involving story of 12-year-old twin girls whose pious father has kept them locked away rather than...

Deal the tyrant out of Kosovo pact; with peace at hand, Milosevic mustn't be allowed to escape trial.
June 4, 1999... The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Friday, 6-4: X X X Ripples of excitement flowed through Washington, Moscow and Belgrade on Thursday as peace talks in Yugoslavia yielded a tentative agreement for a NATO...

No shortcut to child's self-esteem.
June 4, 1999... Our subject today is self-esteem. And if that pronouncement leaves you feeling deja vu all over again, it's because esteem was also our subject two weeks ago. That column, in case you missed it, argued that we've become too obsessed with...

Student suspended for essay has hearing before school board.
June 4, 1999... VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. _ School Board members will decide Tuesday whether to uphold a decision to suspend a 16-year-old Tallwood High School student who wrote about a bomb on an essay exam. Attorneys for Chris Bullock are appealing a...

Return of mad cow disease.
June 4, 1999... When you cross the line into middle age, every time you misplace the car keys or fail to remember a proper noun, you panic. Has your brain finally been given its one-way ticket down the slippery slope to the old folks' home? Have all those...

Student movements fading as Indonesia holds elections.
June 4, 1999... JAKARTA, Indonesia _ He was a quiet young man, Heri Hartanto was. Not much of a student, and a bit of a mama's boy, just a normal college kid who liked to play soccer and chess and who drove his beat-up blue Daihatsu a little too fast. ...

Ten years after Tiananmen, bereaved Chinese battle government silence.
June 4, 1999... BEIJING _ A middle-aged man opened a white umbrella emblazoned with slogans _ ``Remember the student movement,'' one said _ then strode across a stone bridge Friday under the gaze of the Mao Zedong portrait on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Police...

Far-sighted talk about day that Lebanon, Israel can have normalized relations.
June 4, 1999... BEIRUT, Lebanon _ Adnan Eskandar, a Lebanese academic, is old enough to remember his high school days in the 1940s when he sat in a Beirut classroom next to Jewish students from what was then Palestine. It seems almost inconceivable, given...

Russia salvages some of its international stature with Belgrade deal, but government faces criticism at home.
June 4, 1999... MOSCOW _ By helping to broker a settlement in Yugoslavia, Russia salvaged some of its stature as an international player, asserting its credentials in diplomacy and possibly getting greater leverage in securing aid from the West. But at...

No aid to Yugoslavia unless democratic government replaces Milosevic.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ NATO could end its bombing of Yugoslavia as early as Sunday if military talks with Yugoslav generals near Kosovo succeed, and Western leaders Friday stepped up pressure on Serbians to oust President Slobodan Milosevic. Using...

Analysts say China, Russia fear that NATO could interfere in their affairs.
June 4, 1999... WASHINGTON _ NATO's apparent success in subduing Yugoslavia is sowing fears about further nuclear proliferation and prompting worries about how world leaders will view the use of force and how the U.S. role in Europe may be affected. Those...

The Duvel made me do it.
June 7, 1999... Good Catholic boy that I am, I'd never advise anyone to consort with the devil. On occasion, I've suggested that a few individuals could pay him a visit _ that guy in the white Trans Am who cut me off this morning comes to mind _ but I'd never...

Chicago to L.A. on Route 66.
June 7, 1999... DAY 1 Chicago-St. Louis: 328 miles. Overnight: Holiday Inn-Forest Park: $109. Best grub: Portobellos with basil and red bell peppers, and veal chop cutlet, $24.90; Bartolino's, St. Louis. X X X DAY 2 St. Louis-Miami,...

Barbecued Tarragon Turkey Breast; Honey-Ginger Leg of Lamb; Garlic-Mint Grilled Hens.
June 7, 1999... Get ready to wrestle a big hunk o' meat onto the grill. No wimps allowed this summer. When you're fixing to feed a crowd, a 5-pound roast makes more sense than a pile of teeny tidbits, especially if the cooking will be done outdoors....

Cheese for burgers, paring vegetables with herbs, new healthy cookbooks.
June 7, 1999... Staff Writer When it comes to topping burgers, American cheese is passe, and blue, Jack and gouda are in, according to the Southeast Dairy Association. Try these suggestions from the association for spicing up cheeseburgers. (A burger...

1996 Alamos Ridge Malbec.
June 7, 1999... Wine-lovers are beginning to perk up when they hear the words ``Argentina'' and ``malbec'' linked. To understand why, try Alamos Ridge Malbec from Argentina's Mendoza region. Produced by the quality-conscious firm of Nicolas Catena, this...

Gleaning a few gems from all this week's junk mail.
June 7, 1999... Being a travel editor has its advantages, but mail isn't one of them. On the average, I get about 100 pieces of mail a day _ news releases; tour announcements; magazines; and PR gimmicks such as stuffed animals (Shamu and teddy bears are...

Where there's a `Will,' there's a zippy, quippy Sean Hayes.
June 7, 1999... Sean Hayes, master scene thief, got his star turn as a heartsick gay photographer in the 1997 independent film ``Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss.'' An NBC casting executive saw the movie at a Sundance Film Festival screening and faxed him the...

Jar wars: Ahmed Best's role as offbeat alien triggers a hot debate.
June 7, 1999... NEW YORK _ You're in the biggest movie of the year. What's more, you're playing the most talked-about character in the biggest movie of the year. And nobody has the slightest idea who you are. But that doesn't keep people from being...

Casting director tells how she filled the lead roles in `The Phantom Menace'.
June 7, 1999... This is what Robin Gurland does for a living: She goes to obscure movies, attends British plays, and lurks in shopping malls, looking for spunky children. Gurland, a 1977 graduate of Paramus, N.J., High School, is a Hollywood casting...

`Besieged' soundtrack explores a musical schism. <Subdivision> (movie review)</Subdivision>
June 7, 1999... Bernardo Bertolucci's new film ``Besieged'' tells the story of a blossoming romance between an African-immigrant housekeeper and her employer, a dilettante English classical musician in self-imposed exile in Rome. Much of the story is told...

U.S. exports end up in Chinese missiles: It's time signal time-out on trade with China until it stops espionage and rights abuses.
June 7, 1999... WASHINGTON _ In the aftermath of the Cox Report, politicians are bickering over who's to blame for more than two decades of nuclear espionage by the Chinese government and lax security procedures by our own. While there's more than enough...

Salinger is right: Privacy is privacy.
June 7, 1999... In the Hell Hath No Fury section at Sotheby's auction house, one finds letters from J.D. Salinger to Joyce Maynard, paramour turned privacy pimp. Salinger's first published novel, ``The Catcher in the Rye'' is regarded as a literary...

`Limbo'. <Subdivision> (movie review)</Subdivision>
June 7, 1999... For a while it looks like ``Limbo,'' the latest movie from John Sayles, is going to be one of the independent writer-director's better efforts. As he did with ``Lone Star'' and ``City of Hope,'' Sayles begins by sketching out a particular...

Evan though the heady days of pharmaceutical stocks are history, many analysts recommend buying now.
June 7, 1999... The heady days of pharmaceutical stocks are history _ at least temporarily. Many pharmaceutical companies are trading about 25 percent lower than they were in late 1998 and early 1999. Concerns about Medicare price controls and forthcoming...

Like all his films, John Sayles' `Limbo' can't easily be described.
June 7, 1999... NEW YORK _ John Sayles can still remember the first movie he ever tried to get made. It was the late 1970s, and the American Film Institute was doling out $10,000 grants to help aspiring filmmakers kick-start the financing for their debut...

Upfront and hyping: Networks try to sell advertisers on their new seasons.
June 7, 1999... NEW YORK _ One has to be ready for anything when entering the unreal world of television. But what exactly is the right response after hearing Connie Chung tell a group of advertisers that maybe Richard Nixon had been right all along? Or...

Pat Buchanan fighting his old battle against a new lineup of rivals.
June 7, 1999... In the coming presidential primaries, more than in the last two rounds, the odds seem stacked against Patrick J. Buchanan. He doesn't have a recession and an out-of-touch incumbent to fuel his candidacy, the way he did in 1992. Nor will his...

`Limbo'.
June 7, 1999... John Sayles built his career on linear, straightforward storytelling with ``Return of the Secaucus Seven,'' ``Eight Men Out,'' ``The Brother From Another Planet'' and ``Passion Fish.'' That started to change a few years ago. ``City of...

Americans cling to debt cliff.
June 7, 1999... There's a late night commercial aimed at people who have something to worry about. A guy and his wife are in their nightwear. They are suffering from insomnia and agitation, like much of the audience watching television at 1 a.m. It seems...

Return of mad cow disease.
June 7, 1999... When you cross the line into middle age, every time you misplace the car keys or fail to remember a proper noun, you panic. Has your brain finally been given its one-way ticket down the slippery slope to the old folks' home? Have all those...

Hear the yowls about firearms and Hollywood.
June 7, 1999... It's been more than six weeks since the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., but the hysterical scapegoating continues unabated. Politicians have responded to the tragedy by demanding anti-gun legislation or by lashing...

Once the bombs stop, new dangers await Serbia.
June 7, 1999... LONDON _ The acceptance by the Serbian parliament of NATO's terms for ending the bombing campaign may open the way for a resolution of the Kosovo crisis. But many details remain to be resolved, and the settlement leaves open the fundamental...

Profiles of candidates in Monday's Indonesian national election.
June 7, 1999... Here's a look at the candidates running in Indonesia's national election: _Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P). As the daughter of Sukarno _ Indonesia's founding father, its first president and the man...

Indonesian economic crisis spills over to election.
June 7, 1999... JAKARTA, Indonesia _ They are just two men, really, two men from Jakarta, one a billionaire who owns luxury hotels, satellites and oil tankers, the other a construction worker who sleeps at his job site and can no longer afford meat, fruit or...

Bolstered by NATO victory, EU's leaders endorse plan for new defense policy.
June 7, 1999... COLOGNE, Germany _ As if their disagreements during the NATO airstrikes had never happened, European leaders on Friday expressed unanimous confidence in the international peace plan for Kosovo _ and hopes for a Europe more unified and powerful...

Veterans anxious to see World War II memorial completed.
June 7, 1999... WASHINGTON _ On a faraway shore 55 years ago Sunday, Donald McKee came face-to-face with death. He was a 20-year-old medic attached to the 29th infantry that was being chewed to pieces on the beaches of Normandy. It was a scene of...