Law Reform

Had Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono chosen to run for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator in any previous year, his candidacy could have created problems for California television stations. They could have been required to provide equal time to his opponents whenever the former entertainer popped up in an old movie or series rerun. But that won't happen in 1992. Under revised regulations that the Federal Communications Commission put into effect Jan.

A senior federal judge has ruled that five-year minimum sentences in drug cases are unconstitutional, comparing the congressional sentencing mandate to asking judges to "cut . . . off someone's testicles, or their female sexual organs." U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk, in a ruling that the U.S.

There have been deaf musicians, legless marathon runners and even a one-armed major league baseball player. But, a blind hunter? Offhand, the idea seems preposterous. Ann Landers thought so, too. When a Wisconsin state senator recently wrote to the advice columnist about what a "dumb idea" a new law to accommodate blind hunters was, Landers responded as one might expect. "Permitting blind people to hunt does not make a whole lot of sense to me," she said. But Landers got only half the story.

A new domestic drug control strategy to be announced by President Bush Thursday will designate Los Angeles County, Houston, Miami, New York and the U.S.-Mexican border as high-intensity drug trafficking centers eligible for special aid, according to Administration and congressional officials. The designation of high-intensity regions, including the border area from San Diego to Brownsville, Tex., is one element of the Administration's drug control plan.

Sixteen-year-old Lionel Tate, sent behind bars for the rest of his life for a murder he committed at age 12, could be a free boy again as soon as today. At their Pembroke Park residence in suburban Fort Lauderdale, his mother has been readying her only child's room. "My son wants to come home. I want him home," said Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.

The City Council amended the city's 2-month-old, interim zoning ordinance on Monday to make the wording more palatable to homeowners. The ordinance now "grandfathers" homes built before the zoning ordinance was in effect, instead of making them "legal nonconforming." The terms mean the same thing legally, but the original wording drew howls of protests from a group of about 400 residents when the ordinance was approved March 26.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, condemning the failure of current criminal justice policies, on Tuesday proposed a potentially radical restructuring of the nation's local court systems to prevent convicts from shuttling in and out of prisons "again and again and again." Reno's plan essentially would create special courts authorizing judges to oversee the reentry of inmates into society and to supervise their rehabilitation through work, education and community programs, aides said.

Speaking at a drug policy forum in Albuquerque, an Orange County Superior Court judge added his voice Tuesday to that of New Mexico's governor calling for debate and reform of U.S. drug policy. Judge James P. Gray stopped short of saying he would legalize drugs, but he agrees with New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson that the U.S. drug war is a failure. Calling Johnson a traitor to the drug war, as some have, pays the governor a compliment, he said.

The bill rewriting Depression-era U.S. bank laws promises broad benefits to the banking, insurance and securities industries. A close examination of the fine print, however, shows some companies did particularly well, while others were disappointed. On Tuesday, U.S. House and Senate negotiators formally approved details of the bill, clearing the way for final House and Senate action as early as today.

Wang Xinzhou's son will probably never walk again, not after doctors at a local hospital botched treatment of his broken leg--twice. First they reset the bone so badly that the splintered ends failed to join up. A second operation was even more disastrous, triggering an infection that festered, undetected, beneath the cast for nearly half a year. The young man was finally sent home with a right leg 2 inches shorter than the left and unable to bend at the knee.