Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service articles from May 1999

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service archives from May 1999

Grassroots search for extraterrestrial life spreads around the world.
May 31, 1999... MIAMI _ A grass-roots search for extraterrestrial life is rapidly spreading around the world, linking idle computers in living rooms, offices and bedrooms in one of humanity's great pursuits of knowledge and wonder. Anyone with a home...

When depression strikes kids, parents and teachers play a critical role.
May 28, 1999... WICHITA, Kan. _ Cheryl McBeth knew her son J.R. was having problems, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was troubling him. ``He would come home from school and totally withdraw,'' she said. ``He would curl up on the couch and that...

Doctors can't agree whether multiple chemical sensitivity disease even exists.
May 28, 1999... Melva Smith of Louisville, Ky., wanted to raise awareness about an illness that has made her nearly homebound. So Smith wrote to Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton, asking him to give special recognition to her malady. Patton responded by...

Wood vs. aluminum? The debate continues.
May 28, 1999... Maybe it's because some kind of natural law was violated in 1974. Baseball is a force of nature. It's timeless. Just last summer, Babe Ruth and Roger Maris were brought back to life as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased their home run...

With every shot, young people are begging us to do something.
May 26, 1999... Young people are begging, pleading for us to do something. Not so much through their words -- but by their misdeeds. Often, they seem unable to articulate the confusion, the misdirection they face in today's cultural melee. They are...

Lower your standards and you get a pretty poor product.
May 26, 1999... Every now and then, when my children were younger, they would ask me what-would-you-do questions. What would you do if someone wanted to cheat off your test? What would you do if someone gave you a piece of gum and you knew he stole it?...

Men and women who tell of fleeing for their lives, plan their own deaths.
May 26, 1999... ELIZABETH, N.J. _ A Sri Lankan asylum-seeker at the federal immigration lockup here knotted a bedsheet into a noose a few weeks ago, tied it to an overhead railing and, witnesses say, tried to hang himself. In February, a young Somali...

Engineers at work on new spacecraft that might eventually replace shuttle.
May 26, 1999... In a hangar that in previous incarnations served as an assembly site for the B-1 bomber and a sound stage for the movie ``Hard Rain,'' the future of space travel is being defined. The future looks like this: Disney World-scale resorts and...

Carrier Roosevelt heads back to air war over Yugoslavia after short break.
May 25, 1999... NORFOLK, Va. _ After a five-day break from the war, the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its 46 combat jets are rejoining the NATO air campaign over Yugoslavia. ``We're at sea in the Med and going in harm's way,''...

City tells bistro owner to take down POW/MIA flag.
May 25, 1999... MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. _ Retired Army Pvt. Gene Westfall took a deep breath before he answered, ``How terrible.'' Westfall, who was a prisoner of war for 14 months during World War II, said the city may be forgetting him and others like him....

Ethnic pride events are all illegitimate concepts that destroy genuine pride in an individual.
May 25, 1999... Today we often hear pronouncements about ``ethnic pride.'' Numerous events _ such as the ``Black Pride Day'' to be held in Washington over Memorial Day weekend _ seek to celebrate people's racial or geographic origins as a source of pride....

Waging war, even justly, means living with moral ambiguity.
May 25, 1999... At some point during the Vietnam War, I saw a television report about a war protest. Rather than citing American ``imperialism'' or civilian Vietnamese casualties _ which might have been persuasive on a moral or philosophical level,...

How to respond to violence within teens? It's time to take another look at the role of the high school jock.
May 25, 1999... ``If you're a jock, you're dead.'' That's what Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold allegedly announced on April 20, as they began their cold-blooded rampage through Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. But that's also the part of...

Drive under way to post POW/MIA flags at all stadiums.
May 25, 1999... OAKLAND, Calif. _ Bay Area veterans are hailing the return of two military flags whose removal briefly turned the Coliseum into a battlefield over the memory of their missing comrades. SMG, the company that manages the Coliseum and about...

Kernersville remembers Ga. shooter's as `nice family'.
May 24, 1999... Shocked folks in Kernersville can't believe the boy they remembered Friday as an ``All-American kid'' is now the 15-year-old accused in America's latest school shooting. ``There's nothing from his background or family life that would...

Battleship goes full circle.
May 24, 1999... For generations, Pearl Harbor has moved visitors with its USS Arizona Memorial. Now the site of the historic bombing, which led the United States to enter World War II, offers something to celebrate. The 45,000-ton USS Missouri has been...

Schools stress role of psychologists even as lawmakers seek more police.
May 24, 1999... The first line of defense in school-violence cases isn't police in the halls or metal detectors in the doors. Instead, it's school psychologists and counselors. Experts who work with troubled schoolchildren admit they might not be able...

S.C. gun sellers ponder pending gun-control legislation.
May 21, 1999... WASHINGTON _ At this weekend's Gun and Knife show at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, gun sellers will be polishing barrels and bragging about accuracy, but they'll also be dialing and faxing. In South Carolina, gun-show organizers say...

Residency rules loosened for Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Eastern Europeans.
May 21, 1999... MIAMI _ A group of immigrants, most of whom fled their war-torn homelands more than a decade ago, learned of new regulations on Thursday to help them stay here legally. An estimated 300,000 Salvadorans, Guatemalans and former Soviet Bloc...

U.S. officials find no reason to doubt authenticity of Guatemala death logbook.
May 21, 1999... WASHINGTON _ The entries in the musty accounting book of death smuggled out of Guatemala were written and typed in flat bureaucratic language. The notation for Ruben Amilcar Farfan was typical: on May 15, 1984, he ``was located, he put up...

Bill increasing penalties for school threats passes committee.
May 21, 1999... CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ N.C. schools Superintendent Mike Ward was driving Thursday to the Legislative Building to push stiffer penalties for making bomb threats at schools when the news flash came over his car radio: Six students shot by a...

Kansas Board of Ed looks for way to agree to disagree on evolution debate.
May 21, 1999... KANSAS CITY, Kan. _ When it comes to teaching evolution, Al Frisby won't compromise. A biology teacher at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Frisby starts each school year by explaining to parents what their children will learn: the...

KRT offers OnePage and online tribute to Boris Yeltsin.
May 21, 1999... Russia's first popularly elected leader, Boris N. Yeltsin, always will be remembered as the man who climbed atop a tank to stop a Communist coup in 1991 and brought the Soviet system crashing down. An epic figure of the 20th century, he ended...

Trigger unhappy.
May 21, 1999... The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Friday, 5-21: X X X Another shooting at a suburban high school. Another troubled boy, armed with guns, taking out his own feelings of inadequacy on his classmates....

A path of hope for cystic fibrosis.
May 21, 1999... Three-year-old Phillip, his blond hair tousled by sleep, cuddled on the couch with his mom, the absolute best way to awaken from an afternoon nap. In a scene undoubtedly played out between moms and kids in numerous living rooms across...

Taking him out to the ball game, with his dog .
May 21, 1999... When I WAS a kid, Babe Ruth slept at our house. As proof, there's a picture of the ``Sultan of Swat'' sitting at our backyard barbecue pit, looking straight at the camera, pulling apart a freshly steamed Maryland crab. The date reads...

Coddling kids can be recipe for disaster.
May 21, 1999... He is, we're told, a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, a church-going Boy Scout. An acquaintance says he recently broke up with his girlfriend and quotes him as saying, ``I have no reason to live anymore.'' On Thursday, he shot and...

Ask Dr. H: What is Addison's disease and what can be done about it? .
May 21, 1999... Q.Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Addison's disease. Could you please explain what it is and why I developed it? _H.M., Warner Robins, Ga. A. What we're talking about here is a deficiency in production of some very important...

Health Q&A: X-ray precautions.
May 21, 1999... Q.Are any precautions needed when taking X-rays? A. Some people worry about radiation, but when doctors and dentists order X-ray pictures they take into consideration the minute risk _ and have decided that the value outweighs the risk....

A grand vacation running the canyon.
May 21, 1999... My best vacation advice? Go have a blast. But exercise. A lot. All over your vacation playground. I like to run. I drink in the sights for free, eat all I want and come home feeling decades younger. I've jogged Florida beaches, Michigan...

Health and science briefs.
May 21, 1999... British expansionism You've heard the saying: ``A moment on the lips, forever on the hips?'' Well, that's why British women are going pear shaped. Fast food and a sedentary lifestyle are adding inches to women's waistlines and hips,...

Sex and antidepressants.
May 21, 1999... Q. Is there a way to treat sexual problems caused by antidepressant drugs, short of not taking them at all? Can Viagra help? A. Several methods have been used to alleviate the sexual dysfunction associated with antidepressant drugs. We'll...

An agency called Family Voice will help you work it out.
May 21, 1999... You're the parent of a child or teen-ager with a disability. You don't feel as if your child is being educated equally with his classmates because of health needs. You're overwhelmed by medical bills and those insurance hoops. You have no...

`A Lesson Before Dying,' premiering Saturday night on HBO.
May 21, 1999... ``A Lesson Before Dying'' begins and ends with murder _ the murder of a shopkeeper and the murder of the man accused of pumping bullets into the shopkeeper's chest. The accused is innocent, but no matter. He's strapped to a chair,...

Naturopath may be just what the doctor ordered .
May 21, 1999... Not everyone visiting the doctor's office is going to see an M.D. About 4 of every 10 Americans used alternative therapies last year, up 47 percent from 1990 and outnumbering total visits to primary-care physicians. A fast-growing...

Health Resources: Golfers will help fight strokes.
May 21, 1999... DIFFERENT STROKES: Keeping strokes to a minimum is the object in golf. But pro golfers Nancy Lopez and Corey Pavin are are adding a dimension to the game. For each birdie they make on their respective pro tours in May, the makers of Bayer...

`The Jesse Ventura Story,' airing Sunday night on NBC.
May 21, 1999... Television couldn't have done a better job creating Jesse Ventura if it had tried: Ex-Navy SEAL, ex-outlaw biker, ex-pro wrestler, ex-movie actor, ex-small-town mayor, ex-radio shock jock, governor of Minnesota. Gravelly voiced and...

Tea time: Green tea gets great reviews.
May 21, 1999... (EDITORS: ALTWATCH is a new weekly column from the Chicago Tribune that takes a brief look at alternative medicine practices. It will move Fridays as part of KRT's Health and Fitness package.) By Bob Condor Chicago Tribune The...

Tony Bui's rediscovery of his native Vietnam planted seeds of `Three Seasons'.
May 21, 1999... Tony Bui turned 25 during the making of his first feature, ``Three Seasons.'' He shrugs as if that's no big deal, and it isn't, really: There are troops of 25-year-old directors parading around out there. But there aren't many who have made a...

New handheld computer out Monday.
May 21, 1999... Joe Sipher wants the Internet to be like your kid brother on a Saturday afternoon _ always tagging along with you. At least that's Sipher's promise with the Palm VII organizer, a new handheld computer that uses a wireless connection to...

Unidentified dog recovering from hit-and-run.
May 21, 1999... CHESAPEAKE, Va. _ The veterinarians call the graham cracker-colored dog friendly, good natured, even sweet. They don't know what else to call her. They don't know her name. The dog was saved by an anonymous out-of-towner after a...

Coliseum Authority rejects rating system.
May 21, 1999... CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The Coliseum Authority on Thursday rejected a motion picture-type rating system to warn parents and others about events staged at Charlotte's publicly owned arenas. The group also decided against setting standards that...

Fox chief says Colorado deaths are affecting TV content.
May 21, 1999... Doug Herzog, Fox's top programming executive, Thursday said there has been ``a major shift of attitudes'' about violence in entertainment since the school shooting in Colorado. As a result, he said, the violent content of one of Fox's...

Ex-fugitive Green gets three life sentences.
May 21, 1999... MACON, Ga. _ The former fugitive who terrorized Fort Hill last year with a string of armed robberies received three life sentences plus 21 years in prison Thursday morning after a plea agreement was reached with the district attorney's...

SHOOTING SUSPECT GOT GUNS FROM HOME, SHERIFF SAYS.
May 21, 1999... Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service News Budget for Friday, May 21, 1999 KRT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news(AT)krtinfo.com News desk supervisor: Nation & World Editor Sharon Buck, 202-383-6087, sbuck(AT)krtinfo.com KRT Photo...

Admission standards for USMGC go back to judge.
May 21, 1999... JACKSON, Miss. _ The state College Board decided Thursday to change standards to admit freshmen to the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Park campus, which puts the issue of expansion back into the hands of U.S. District Court Judge...

THEIR CHEATING ART: DIRTY TRICKS ARE NOTHING NEW.
May 21, 1999... Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Sports Budget for Friday, May 21, 1999 KRT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news(AT)krtinfo.com Sports desk supervisor: Sports Editor Tom Peterson, 202-383-6088, tpeterson(AT)krtinfo.com KRT Photo...

Woman convicted of using her children to hide drugs.
May 21, 1999... PERRY, Ga. _ A former state Department of Corrections officer was convicted Thursday of using her three children to screen 16 pounds of marijuana she and her boyfriend had hidden in his car from police. Teleshia Barden, 25, of...

`Unhappily Ever After,' and an era for the WB, end.
May 21, 1999... Before ``Felicity,'' there was Mr. Floppy, emblem of the start-up duh-duh-dumb WB. We're talking a stuffed bunny. That era comes to an end Sunday when ``Unhappily Ever After'' _ home to Mr. Floppy and one of three shows that...

`Sister, Sister' will end sweet run on the WB.
May 21, 1999... Orphaned, orphaned by ABC, ``Sister, Sister'' lived to see another five seasons on the WB, former halfway house for urban, ``ethnic'' comedies. Now, as the network systematically severs its ties to same, it's deemed time for this...

S.C. ranks low for condition of children.
May 21, 1999... Too many children in South Carolina and in Horry and Georgetown counties live in vulnerable families headed by parents who are undereducated, not productively employed and poor, according to the 1999 Kids Count report. Too many children...

`The Jesse Ventura Story,' airing Sunday night on NBC.
May 21, 1999... Perhaps NBC's ``The Jesse Ventura Story'' isn't the worst TV movie ever made. Then again, maybe wrestling isn't really fake, either. Rushed into production after the ex-grappler stunningly won the Minnesota governorship, ``Jesse...

George Lucas takes on critics of film violence.
May 21, 1999... NEW YORK _ Repeat after George Lucas and click your heels together: It's only a kids' movie. It's only a kids' movie. Part bet-hedging device, part honest truth, Lucas' assessment of his media behemoth known as ``The Phantom Menace'' has...

Movie classic of the week: `Gigi'.
May 21, 1999... X X X GIGI 1 p.m. Saturday, June 5 TCM us.imdb.com/Title?0051658 X X X ``Gigi,'' based on the novel of the same name by Colette, is a stylish and lavishly mounted turn-of-the-century musical about an innocent...

Feature film of the week: `The Untouchables'.
May 21, 1999... X X X THE UNTOUCHABLES 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 2 HBO X X X The place: Chicago. The time: The '30s. The name of the game: Corruption. Enter Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner). An idealistic young Treasury agent, he...

Regulators propose privatization of state-run insurance.
May 21, 1999... ORLANDO, Fla. _ Nearly all 196,000 households still in a state-run insurance pool could be taken over by private companies by the start of the hurricane season, under a plan proposed Friday by state regulators. The policies would be...

Bezos touts Amazon's ambitious year of growth.
May 21, 1999... If the customer base of 8.4 million, rising revenue and long list of investments don't impress you about Amazon.com, then how about this: The Internet retailer has been the focus of a New Yorker magazine cartoon, a Jay Leno punchline and...

Tinder's rep is rising in world-music circles.
May 21, 1999... Every genre has a few entrepreneurs who have combined their business skills at running a label with a passion for the music. World music is no exception, featuring the likes of Putumayo's Dan Storper and Hemisphere's Gerald Seligman. ...

NATO CONCEDES THAT RESTRAINTS ON PILOTS HAVE STYMIED THE AIR CAMPAIGN.
May 21, 1999... Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Add to News Budget for Friday, May 21, 1999 KRT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news(AT)krtinfo.com News desk supervisor: Nation & World Editor Sharon Buck, 202-383-6087, sbuck(AT)krtinfo.com KRT...

NATO CONCEDES THAT RESTRAINTS ON PILOTS HAVE STYMIED THE AIR CAMPAIGN.
May 21, 1999... Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service News Budget for Friday, May 21, 1999 KRT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news(AT)krtinfo.com News desk supervisor: Nation & World Editor Sharon Buck, 202-383-6087, sbuck(AT)krtinfo.com KRT Photo...

Around the league: Schilling's words torch Phillies GM; let's all take a deep breath.
May 21, 1999... PHILADELPHIA _ To be sure, there are those who are unhappy that Curt Schilling spoke up in Montreal earlier this week. General manager Ed Wade, obviously, is one of them. To review, the staff ace questioned ownership's commitment to...

Trying to get a handle on the Western Conference finals.
May 21, 1999... DENVER - HOST: Welcome to the Hockey Show, where we'll talk today about nothing but the Dallas-Colorado Western Conference finals that begin Saturday. Please, fans, let's not have today be like yesterday, when we had so many geeks jamming the...

Spotlight on hot goalies as NHL enters its final four.
May 21, 1999... CHICAGO _ The NHL's conference finals feature the highest-scoring regular-season team, Toronto. They feature the most prolific playoff scoring team thus far, Colorado. Dallas' power play has been struggling in the postseason, but Mike...

Avs seem at home on the road.
May 21, 1999... DENVER _ This might be the just the way the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars want it _ with Dallas having the home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series. ``We started on the road against San Jose, and we played well on the...

Sonics' McKinney to test his luck at NBA lottery.
May 21, 1999... SEATTLE _ The last time Billy McKinney went to the NBA draft lottery, he brought along a bag stuffed with good-luck charms. It included a rabbit's foot. It was 1994, and as general manager of the Detroit Pistons McKinney won the chance...

De La Hoya returns to his pugilistic roots.
May 21, 1999... LAS VEGAS _ Remember when New Coke was introduced some years back? It was supposed to be updated and improved, but consumers didn't like the idea of anyone tinkering with a timeless classic. By overwhelming public demand, the old formula was...

No longer `must-see,' `Mad About You' comes to a close Monday night.
May 21, 1999... Let's count _ in pairs _ the ways in which ``Mad About You'' comes to a close: two deaths, two vasectomies, two talks about the birds and the bees, two snooty British neighbors, the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2021 _ and two...

`Melrose Place' looks to end with a bang.
May 21, 1999... Brooke drowned in it; Sydney was thrown in wearing her sister's wedding dress; and Kimberly seduced the pool boy who cleaned it. But nothing lasts forever, not even the ripples of the ``Melrose Place'' swimming pool. ``The minute I...

`Mad About You' and `Home Improvement' go out with their heads held high.
May 21, 1999... ``Melrose Place'' isn't the only long-running series going bye-bye this week. And while I'm not sure that anyone will be throwing parties in honor of the final episodes of NBC's ``Mad About You'' or ABC's ``Home Improvement,'' chances...

Capital to move to Jacksonville for a day next week.
May 21, 1999... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ Florida's capital is moving. But it's only for a day. On Tuesday, Gov. Jeb Bush, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, the six member elected state Cabinet and all state agency heads will be in Jacksonville, the first of many...

Judge rules against companies that overcharge insurance companies for MRIs.
May 21, 1999... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ A Broward County judge has ventured where lawmakers feared to tread. Broward County Court Judge William Herring has ruled that companies that buy time on medical diagnostic machines at a deep discount and bill...

SIXERS RETURN HOME, LOOK TO ESCAPE 0-2 HOLE.
May 21, 1999... Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Sports Budget for Friday, May 21, 1999 KRT News Desk: 202-383-6080, news(AT)krtinfo.com Sports desk supervisor: Sports Editor Tom Peterson, 202-383-6088, tpeterson(AT)krtinfo.com KRT Photo...

Sampras draws 88th ranked player for French Open opener.
May 21, 1999... PARIS _ Pete Sampras, who has a fine week of tennis at the World Team Championships in Dusseldorf, surely isn't complaining about his French Open draw. His first-round match in the only major he hasn't won is a first-time meeting with...

House dogfight likely over juvenile justice bill.
May 21, 1999... WASHINGTON _ A three-way battle is shaping up in the House over the same issue that snarled the Senate in testy debate the past week: gun control. Most Democrats and some Republicans seem willing to copy much of what the Senate adopted...

Names in the news.
May 21, 1999... Investigators are trying to figure out how the bloodied diary of Malcolm X ended up at a West Coast auction house, which has agreed not to sell it while authorities determine where it should go. The book was taken off the auction block...

Go classical this summer with music festivals in Florida and the Carolinas.
May 21, 1999... MIAMI _ America is blanketed with picturesque summer music festivals, and Europe boasts hundreds of enticing festivals, too. But if you don't plan to venture far from home this summer, no problem _ Florida will bring the world of music to...

Crosses at Auschwitz have been multiplying.
May 21, 1999... OSWIECIM, Poland _ In a gravel pit outside the walls of the Auschwitz death camp, a field of crosses has blossomed and multiplied. This, however, is not a good omen. It marks another spike of contentious recrimination between Poles and...

Biltmore gets approval for $11.2 million project.
May 21, 1999... MIAMI _ The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables received final approval Friday to develop an $11.2 million high-tech Conference Center of the Americas to attract top-level international meetings. The Coral Gables City Commission backed the...

Browns quarterback Tim Couch advances on the learning curve.
May 21, 1999... CLEVELAND _ How hard can it be? That's what I wanted to know when I asked Tim Couch about the Browns' playbook. This is football, not chemistry, right? Then Couch pointed to the playbook sitting on a shelf in his locker. That shelf...

Despite recent changes, First Union stock continues drop.
May 21, 1999... CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ After First Union in January disclosed it couldn't meet expected 1999 earnings, it took dramatic action. It cut 7 percent of its work force, promised $400 million in savings, and produced acceptable first quarter earnings....

One of television's finest series, NBC's `Homicide,' ends this week.
May 20, 1999... In its time of need _ the 11th hour _ the proverbial governor always called with a reprieve. Year after year, when push came to shove, NBC's low-rated ``Homicide: Life on the Street,'' was ultimately spared. Never guilty of the usual...

`Cleopatra,,' airing Sunday and Monday nights on ABC.
May 20, 1999... Poor, soggy Billy Zane. The actor cannot get anywhere near a boat, it seems, without the thing heading for Davy Jones' locker. The cause in the ``Titanic'' goat's latest filmed project, however, is not an iceberg, but rather the...

Details of Bank of America's six new funds.
May 20, 1999... Bank of America's Nations Funds family of mutual funds is absorbing the former BankAmerica's Pacific Horizon Funds. Six Pacific Horizon will take the Nations name. Below are descriptions of the newly named funds. Nations Asset Allocation...

`Cleopatra,' airing Sunday and Monday nights on ABC.
May 20, 1999... ABC's ``Cleopatra'' casts an alluring spell, until you try to make sense of it. The four-hour miniseries that begins Sunday is visually enticing, sensually inviting and even fairly accurate. But ultimately it is hollow at the core. If you...