Operation Desert Veterans

As leader of a six-man Persian Gulf reconnaissance team, Cpl. Ben Jones helped lead Iraqi POWs from abandoned bunkers, scouted the enemy's position from allied observation points on the border and got caught in the cross-fire between the two warring sides. But for sheer drama and adventure, the 23-year-old San Juan Capistrano man said his journey home this weekend to be with his wife for the tricky delivery of their first child was "more exhausting than the whole ground war combined, honestly."

Betty Jane Williams and Annette (Nini) Cutter might be considered pioneers of the feminist movement, standard bearers of the small band of women who pushed into the young world of aviation from the 1920s to the 1940s. To others perhaps, but not to themselves. Williams of Woodland Hills flew military missions in the United States during World War II to free male pilots for oversea duties. Cutter of Sherman Oaks guided airline pilots as one of the nation's first female air traffic controllers.

Betty Jane Williams and Annette (Nini) Cutter might be considered pioneers of the feminist movement, standard bearers of the small band of women who pushed into the young world of aviation from the 1920s to the 1940s. To others perhaps, but not to themselves. Williams of Woodland Hills flew military missions in the United States during World War II to free male pilots for oversea duties. Cutter of Sherman Oaks guided airline pilots as one of the nation's first female air traffic controllers.

As leader of a six-man Persian Gulf reconnaissance team, Cpl. Ben Jones helped lead Iraqi POWs from abandoned bunkers, scouted the enemy's position from allied observation points on the border and got caught in the cross-fire between the two warring sides. But for sheer drama and adventure, the 23-year-old San Juan Capistrano man said his journey home this weekend to be with his wife for the tricky delivery of their first child was "more exhausting than the whole ground war combined, honestly."

More than 135 Los Angeles city employees who participated in the Persian Gulf War were honored Friday during a ceremony at City Hall. Mayor Tom Bradley presented certificates of appreciation to the employees, most of them police officers. City Atty. Jim Hahn said that the ceremony was the city's way of offering an official welcome home to Operation Desert Storm veterans.

The Senate passed legislation Thursday night making armed carjackings a federal crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison and sent it to President Bush. Rushing to adjourn, the Senate on a voice vote approved the House-passed bill as the chief anti-crime measure to emerge from the 102nd Congress because Democrats and Bush could not agree on broader crime legislation.

An Assembly committee has approved legislation to require in-state commercial truck drivers to be tested for drug use to help prevent serious highway accidents. A 12-1 vote sent the bill (AB 347) by Assemblyman Jerry Eaves (D-Rialto) to the Ways and Means Committee. Federal law currently requires interstate truckers to participate in pre-employment drug testing with an automatic two-year follow-up and more tests if drug usage is suspected by qualified supervisors.

ARCH HUMOR: Taking a cue from a restaurant chain famous for the McMuffin and McNugget, the White House has a new in-house name for the subsidy package publicly known as the "middle-class bill of rights." Around the Executive Mansion, it's called McBor (Mick-BORE), a name that doesn't exactly throb with excitement.

Va Lee was a Hmong born in a Southeast Asian village. He came to the United States as a child, arriving with his family, whose men had been fierce warriors in their native Laos, fighting as the CIA's secret army against communist forces. Lee also was a fighting man. A Marine, he survived unscathed the battle for Kuwait International Airport during the Persian Gulf War. After his return, Lee, 22, was looking forward to the end of his four-year enlistment this Friday.

Emboldened by signs that his campaign has at last begun its ascent, President Bush emerged Friday from the Republican Convention to sound a blunt call for voters to "send Bill Clinton back to Arkansas." Appearing at a joint rally with Vice President Dan Quayle in Gulfport, Bush mocked pundits he said had prematurely "written off" his reelection prospects and gave a throaty welcome to new polls showing a sharp narrowing in Clinton's lead.

Yo, Bart Simpson. You could be in deep, deep trouble. Ken Czar, vice president of one of the largest novelty manufacturers in the United States, says you're not the hottest thing on the retailing block these days. "Last year, we were racing to get the Simpsons, Ninja Turtles and New Kids on the Block onto store shelves," says Czar, head of marketing for Button Up Inc. in Troy, Mich. "This year the product to promote is patriotism."

Va Lee was a Hmong born in a Southeast Asian village. Hecame to the United States as a child, arriving with his family, whose men had been fierce warriors in their native Laos, fighting as the CIA's secret army against communist forces. Two weeks after graduating from Kearny High School in 1987, Lee enlisted in the Marine Corps. He survived unscathed the pitched battle for Kuwait International Airport during the Persian Gulf War.