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The Senate Whitewater hearings, which have been digging for political pay dirt for months, may have found some. Armed with newly uncovered telephone records, Republican members grilled two close advisers of Hillary Rodham Clinton about conversations they had with the First Lady shortly after the suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster. The G.O.P. claims the phone records suggest the First Lady herself put a stop to a search of Foster's office in order to protect Whitewater records--an assertion the White House has long denied.
HEY, BILL--SHHHHH!!!
What's a handler to do with a President who is addicted to bouts of over-the-phone self-analysis with not always friendly reporters? Sigh--and then insist the reporters have taken key phrases out of context. Such was the White House response after columnist Ben Wattenberg published excerpts of a telephone call he recently received from President Clinton. According to Wattenberg, the voluble Clinton offered a self-critique of his first two years: the President had "lost the language" appropriate to a moderate New Democrat; he had become too interested in the "legislative scorecard"; he had erred by behaving "like a Prime Minister, not a President." Clinton press secretary Michael McCurry asserted that Wattenberg had condensed some "very nuanced discussions."
TURNING UP THE HEAT
More and more Republicans have come to the conclusion that Colin Powell intends to run for President. That's why a group of archconservative politicos staged a news conference to attack the former general's military record as too cautious and to blast his stances on such issues as abortion and affirmative action as too liberally spiced for the G.O.P.'s appetite.
SCHOOL BUS TERROR
For 75 frightening minutes, a man desperate over his debts to the IRS hijacked a Florida school bus with 13 disabled children aboard and threatened to blow it up. Police shot the hijacker dead--and freed the children, none of whom were seriously hurt--when the bus came to a stop outside a Miami Beach restaurant where the hijacker had worked. It turned out he was unarmed.
BUSINESS
VICTORY FOR MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
Citing major improvements in a program that had been plagued by delays and cost overruns, the Pentagon awarded McDonnell Douglas an $18 billion order for 80 C-17 transport planes. That's good news for thousands of workers in Southern California but bad news for Boeing, which lost the bid.
DOW MUST PAY HUGE DAMAGES
A Nevada jury ordered Dow Chemical Co. to pay $10 million in punitive damages to a woman who claimed severe injury after receiving silicone breast implants manufactured by Dow Corning, a company jointly owned by Dow Chemical and Corning Inc. Three days earlier, the jury had awarded $4.1 million to the woman in compensatory damages. As part of its defense strategy, Dow Chemical cited numerous studies that have failed to link silicone implants and health problems. A spokesman said the company would appeal.
DAIWA BANK DEPORTED