WINNERS & LOSERS
WHEN THE GRIDLOCK BROKE
[WINNERS]
BILL CLINTON Keeps promise of "ending welfare as we know it." But will it now be worse than we knew it?
SENATORS KASSEBAUM & KENNEDY Their portable-health-insurance bill, once stalled by the industry, wins final passage
MINIMUM WAGE After much wrangling, the 90[cent]-per-hour increase will at last become law
[& LOSERS]
SENATOR DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN Thirty years of erudition on poverty shoved aside in what he calls "welfare repeal"
LEGAL IMMIGRANTS Welfare bill will prohibit their receiving federal assistance until they become U.S. citizens
CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REFORM Bipartisan commission comes up empty, and House rejects Gingrich's compromise
THOSE MISSING FLIGHTS
While most airlines almost immediately jettison the flight numbers of planes involved in disasters, TWA only last week decided to take Flight 800 off its timetables. The reason for the delay? "Our first concern was with the investigation and the families," said a TWA spokesman. After a slew of prank calls, however, the designation was changed to 924. Other numbers retired after tragedies:
--AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 191. Crashed when one of its three engines fell to the ground just after takeoff from Chicago on May 25, 1979; 275 people killed.
--KOREAN AIR LINES FLIGHT 007. Shot down over Soviet airspace, Sept. 1, 1983; 269 killed. The company later changed its name to Korean Air.
--NORTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT 255. Crashed on takeoff from Detroit on Aug. 16, 1987; 156 killed.
--PAN AM FLIGHT 103. Bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988; 270 killed.
--USAIR FLIGHT 427. Crashed as it was preparing to land in Pittsburgh on Sept. 8, 1994; 132 killed.
HEALTH REPORT
THE GOOD NEWS
-- A safe-sex campaign aimed at prostitutes has worked. The rate of HIV INFECTION among young men in Thailand, home to one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS epidemics, is half what it was in 1991. That's when the government unleashed a media blitz and began providing condoms to brothels.
-- Two studies suggest that Kaposi's sarcoma, which commonly afflicts aids patients, is caused by a sexually transmitted HERPES VIRUS known as herpes 8. If confirmed, doctors may be able to block the virus before the cancer ever takes hold.
-- Move over, Prozac. German and American researchers report the herb known as Saint-John's-wort may be effective in treating DEPRESSION--but only in mild to moderate cases.
THE BAD NEWS
-- Looks like the wonder drug ASPIRIN can't do it all. It may lower the risk of colon cancer and heart attack, but researchers report, in a reversal of previous findings, that the drug does nothing to protect against breast cancer.
-- Parents may no longer chalk up a bad case of the "TERRIBLE TWOS" to a kid's inherent temperament. Researchers now say the fault may lie with the adults. Parents with high levels of anxiety, hostility and work stress are more likely to produce tear-your-hair-out two-year-olds.
-- The government says the number of deaths from PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH complications could be as many as 23.5 per 100,000 births--twice as high as previously reported.
THE FABRIC OF GLORY