News Briefs
April 5, 1996
Web posted at: 12:30 a.m. EST
Whitewater star witness says he lied to FBI
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CNN) -- The government's key witness in the Whitewater fraud trial says he lied to the FBI several times to protect himself and Whitewater defendants James McDougal and Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker.
Banker David Hale was on the stand for the fourth day and was cross-examined for the first time.
McDougal, his ex-wife, Susan, and Tucker are being tried on charges they arranged some $3 million in federally backed loans a decade ago.
The McDougals were two of President Clinton's partners in Whitewater, a failed real estate venture.
Earlier in the week Hale alleged that Clinton got a cut of an illegal $300,000 loan he sought when the president was Arkansas governor in 1986.
- Hale testifies he secretly loaned Clinton and McDougals $300,000
- Clinton's name comes up in Whitewater testimony
Clinton signs farm bill, but with reservations
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton on Thursday signed farm legislation that ends traditional government subsidies, but said he did so with reservations. "I believe the bill fails to provide an adequate safety net for family farmers," Clinton said.
Clinton said he will submit legislation to Congress next year that will "strengthen the farm safety net."
The bill, according to the White House, would authorize most agriculture programs for the next four years. The programs include commodities, credit, conservation, rural development, trade and nutrition.
The law ends government-guaranteed prices for corn, other feed grains, cotton, rice and wheat -- a staple of U.S. farm policy since the Depression. Instead, farmers will get guaranteed payments that decline over seven years and an immediate end to most planting controls. The payments total $36 billion over seven years and account for most of the spending in the $47 billion law.
Woman dragged from car by police sues state
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- A woman dragged from her car at gunpoint when she was stopped for speeding is suing South Carolina's Public Safety Department, claiming that the officer who stopped her was improperly trained. Sandra Antor, 26, of Miami filed the lawsuit Tuesday, seeking unspecified damages.
Lance Cpl. W.H. Beckwith was fired after being videotaped dragging Antor out of her vehicle, throwing her on the ground and shouting at her. Beckwith was not named in Antor's suit. The suit also alleges that the release of the videotape was a violation of Antor's right to privacy.
Antor said she was afraid to pull over for Beckwith, who was driving an unmarked car, because Florida police had warned drivers of robbers impersonating police officers.
Texas official approves castration of molester
RUSK, Texas (CNN) -- A convicted child molester slated for release from prison can undergo the castration he has repeatedly asked for before being freed, the Texas attorney general ruled Thursday.
However, the chairman of the state's parole board said the most the state can do is encourage Larry McQuay to have the castration performed before he is released to a halfway house. It cannot make the operation a term of his release.
McQuay has repeatedly requested castration at state expense, and the state has repeatedly turned him down. As his mandatory parole date approached, he warned that he might turn to rape and murder. Private citizens now have offered to pay for the castration.
McQuay, who has admitted to molesting more than 240 children, is scheduled to be released Monday.
Building blast rains debris, bomb-making literature
THE DALLES, Oregon (CNN) -- An isolated building in rural Oregon exploded Wednesday evening, shaking the ground for miles and spewing debris and bomb-making literature over the area.
The building, presumed to be a barn, was rocked by three blasts, and the ensuing fire reportedly set off more explosives.
FBI and bomb-squad personnel are expected to assist with the case, but authorities are waiting until the area is safe before moving equipment to the scene.
Report finds drop in abortion-clinic violence
NEW YORK (CNN) --Violence aimed at abortion clinics dropped significantly in the first half of 1995, according to a survey by the Feminist Majority Foundation, the New York Times reported Thursday.
The percentage of clinics reporting serious violence and harassment such as arson and death threats, fell to 39 percent in the past year. More than half of the clinics surveyed (52 percent) reported a decline in hostile actions from 1994.
The foundation attributed the decline to a 1994 federal law guaranteeing access to clinics that provide abortions and to a 1994 Supreme Court ruling upholding the legality of "buffer zones" to keep protesters away from clinics.
Organizers of the survey point to law-enforcement officials as well, saying the laws were correlated well with police action.
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