NEWS
September 9, 1999 | From Times Wire Reports
A proposed $1-billion cut in NASA's budget drew fire from members of Congress and scientists who warned in Washington that it would decimate the U.S. space agency. "Enacting these cuts is irresponsible and unacceptable," said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), whose state includes NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA chief Daniel Goldin has said as many as three of the agency's regional centers would close if the budget cuts go through, with significant layoffs likely.
NEWS
November 18, 1990 | SAM FULWOOD III, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Twenty-six-year-old Brendan had high hopes of success when he came here from his native Ireland as that country's economy turned sour in 1988. America is "a country where you can come and go-get-it," he says. "I want to work for myself. I want to move." But for the past 2 1/2 years, Brendan has been stymied. Although he has two years of college, he can't qualify for much more than a bartender's job. He worries about filling out medical forms.
ENTERTAINMENT
July 26, 1997 | JANE HALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The television industry plans to formally submit its ratings plan to the Federal Communications Commission next week. Although FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said he expects NBC--which refused to sign on to the agreement--to submit its alternative plan for review, NBC executives said in interviews this week that the network has no intention of doing so.
NEWS
January 24, 1991 | WILLIAM J. EATON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
In an indirect show of support for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, the House voted Wednesday to approve a 5.4% cost-of-living increase in benefits paid to disabled veterans and their survivors. The vote was 421 to 0. Several advocates said that passage of the bill would send a reassuring message to the troops participating in Operation Desert Storm that Congress will not forget them when the war with Iraq is over.
NEWS
February 1, 1998 | JEFF BRAZIL and STEVE BERRY, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Before the wildly popular Tickle Me Elmo doll hit the market, testers at Tyco Toys subjected it to a battery of grueling exams. They scratched its eyes to check for lead in the paint. They pummeled, yanked, contorted and poked, all to ensure that the doll met government safety standards for children. Four-slice toasters, bean bag chairs and thousands of other consumer products must comply with government safety requirements before ever landing on a shelf.
NEWS
July 4, 2000 | MAURA DOLAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Frank Sinatra Jr. was only 19 when he was kidnapped, held hostage and released after his famous father paid a $240,000 ransom. Now the entertainer is trying to prevent his kidnappers from making a much greater windfall from the story of the crime. Sinatra's success will depend on how the California Supreme Court, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court, decides a constitutional challenge to the state's so-called "Son of Sam" law, named after the serial killer who terrorized New York in 1977.
NEWS
November 18, 1993 | JAMES GERSTENZANG and MICHAEL ROSS, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
A painfully divided House of Representatives approved the North American Free Trade Agreement by an unexpectedly large margin Wednesday night, ending a hard-fought battle that grew into a referendum on the fundamental changes sweeping the American economy. The vote was 234 to 200, 16 more than the 218 needed for passage. The Senate is expected to act on the measure within days. Passage there is not in doubt.
NEWS
June 3, 1999 | MARK FRITZ, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The story is powerful, almost mythic, yet tragically true. A young woman goes to a fine university in a rural community and, asleep in her dorm room during her freshman year, is raped and beaten by an intruder. He strangles her with a Slinky toy. The shattered mother, Connie Clery, stands at the end of her driveway a week after the funeral and tells a friend: Something must be done. A wrong must be righted.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 11, 1998 | CHRISTINE BARON, Christine Baron, a high school English teacher in Orange County, is the co-author of "What Did You Learn in School Today?" You can reach her at educ@latimes.com or (714) 966-4550
The U.S. Senate recently rejected a proposal by President Clinton to provide funding to help renovate crumbling school buildings around the country. You really have to wonder when these senators last visited a public school. I'd sure like to take one of them along on a quick walk through my own, since a tour of a school in a relatively affluent area only represents the tip of the iceberg.
NEWS
March 25, 1995 | ELIZABETH SHOGREN, TIMES STAFF WRITER
A partisan House approved Republican welfare legislation Friday that would fundamentally change six decades of New Deal and Great Society poverty programs by ending guarantees of federal assistance and transferring most authority over social spending to the states. On a fourth day of emotional and at times fierce debate, only nine Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the Personal Responsibility Act, a central element of the House GOP "contract with America."