1996 Year

Some of the images can be read in an instant--a candidate stumping for the highest office in the land, an out-of-control wildfire racing across a dry and vulnerable hillside. But some images from 1996 are more complex, harder to read. There is the mother who greeted her son at the airport after the crash of TWA Flight 800. His best friend was on that fatal flight and, reunited with her son in Los Angeles, her face is a mixture of mourning and relief.

An appeals court sentenced 19 people, including the emir's cousin, to death for a failed 1996 coup. Twenty other defendants were given life sentences and 28 were ordered freed, according to a court order. Death sentences have to be approved by the emir, Sheik Hamad ibn Khalifa al Thani. The emir's cousin, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, had served as economy minister and as a police chief. He was thought to be the mastermind behind the coup attempt.

Nineteen ninety-six was a glorious year for glamorous teams, the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bulls among them. It was also a year for famous individuals to sacrifice their titles, from Don Shula and Tommy Lasorda stepping aside to Mike Tyson being knocked flat. But when a homemade bomb exploded July 27 at an Atlanta public park, interrupting the first Summer Olympics held in any U.S.

In a case being closely watched by local governments, the California Supreme Court is set to decide whether a 1996 voter initiative unfairly blocked a Fontana accident victim from seeking damages because he had no insurance. The appeal turns on Proposition 213, the 1996 initiative that prohibited uninsured drivers from suing for "noneconomic" harm, such as pain and suffering. The proposition permits uninsured motorists to obtain compensation only for damages such as wage loss.

Three years after starting to crawl out of recession, California is heading into 1997 in the best economic shape of this decade. Job growth in 1996 ran at a robust 2.7%, spurred by entertainment, high-tech manufacturing and international trade, the new pillars of California's economy. UCLA economists predict the state will do even better in 1997, outstripping the nation for the second straight year.

Fast-growing California companies drove the market for initial public offerings last year, and their stocks' initial gains were well above the national average. In California in 1996, a record 184 companies went public, raising a total of $7.3 billion. Computer, telecommunications and biotech firms led the way.

Calling all taxpayers. If you didn't file a tax return in the recent past, perhaps because you earned so little that you were not required to file, you might want to reconsider--in a hurry. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that U.S. taxpayers will lose $2 billion this year because they failed to claim federal tax refunds they were due from the 1996 tax year.

Just for fun, I decided to look back at my 1995 "10 Best Bets" list to see how well my hunches of a year ago panned out: Six of the exhibitions encored last week on my list of the year's best shows. Of the remaining four, three were disappointments; one show was canceled. Not bad, as predictions go. I consider not only the theme of the show but also, like any handicapper, the track record of the organizer.

The Orange County jazz scene, encompassing various clubs, restaurants, college auditoriums, outdoor festival sites, hotel ballrooms and the O.C. Performing Arts Center, was a varied lot in 1996. The year was packed with dates from fine, Southern California-based artists as well as a good number (though not nearly enough) of internationally known figures playing the larger venues. The most promising trend was the growing number of places where jazz is played.

Who'd imagine that the Bolshoi Ballet could go broke dancing 19th century classics in Shrine Auditorium while German modernist Pina Bausch could pack the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by presenting a nonlinear ensemble epic lasting nearly four hours?

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday recommended sweeping efforts to improve electrical wiring on airliners--particularly older ones--to avoid a catastrophic explosion like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800.

Calling all taxpayers. If you didn't file a tax return in the recent past, perhaps because you earned so little that you were not required to file, you might want to reconsider--in a hurry. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that U.S. taxpayers will lose $2 billion this year because they failed to claim federal tax refunds they were due from the 1996 tax year.

AirTran Airways, the low-cost airline once known as ValuJet, and SabreTech, a former maintenance contractor for ValuJet, have settled multimillion-dollar lawsuits over the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 into the Florida Everglades that killed all 110 people on board. Orlando-based AirTran said it will receive an unspecified cash payment and added that none of the parties to the lawsuit admitted fault or liability. Terms of the settlement agreement were confidential, it said.

Members of Protestant congregations gave a slightly larger portion of their incomes to their churches in 1996 compared to the previous year, a new study reports. "The State of Church Giving Through 1996," a study by Empty Tomb Inc., a Christian service and research organization based in Champaign, Ill. also reveals a continuing decline in contributions to benevolences, which includes general denominational support, such as local and international missions.

* Glenn Adriatico, Jr., WR, Burroughs: With quarterback J.K. Scott now at Washington, Adriatico saw his production dwindle. He was selected to The Times' All-Valley second team after rushing 34 times for 184 yards and catching 46 passes for 695 yards. * Waking Bailey, Sr., DB, Kennedy: Bailey fit right into the San Jose State offense, becoming the Spartans' second-leading receiver with 34 catches for 380 yards. He also returned 11 kickoffs for 238 yards. * Ricky Bednarek, Sr.

A couple of recent government reports indicate that spending in Orange County has continued at a robust pace, but inflation remains dormant. A report by the State Board of Equalization showed that the county's taxable sales for all of 1996 totaled $32.5 billion, up 8.6% from nearly $30 billion the previous year. The increase outpaced the 6.7% rise in taxable sales for the state as a whole.

The International Council of Shopping Centers said specialty-store sales for the week ended Dec. 14 at the nation's malls increased 0.6% over the same period a year ago. Shoe stores, whose sales rose 3.5%, were the best-performing category. Jewelry stores were next, with a 2.8% increase. For the holiday season so far, sales are up 2% over the same period in 1996, the trade group said. The results do not include sales at mall anchor department stores.

The Salvation Army raised $1 billion in 1996--up more than $250 million from 1995--putting it at the top of the list for the fifth straight year in the Chronicle of Philanthropy's top 400 charities. Americans donated $25.9 billion in 1996 to the nation's 400 largest charities, the Washington-based Chronicle reported. The American Red Cross placed second, raising $479.9 million, followed by the American Cancer Society, which took in $426.