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December 5, 1995
Web posted at: 9:30 p.m. EST
PORTLAND, Oregon -- A veteran Democratic congressman and Oregon's State Senate president Tuesday declared victory in a special primary being held to fill the seat vacated by disgraced Republican Sen. Bob Packwood.
Multimillionaire Republican businessman Gordon Smith, president of the State Senate, and seven-term U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden of Portland said they will face off next month in a vote-by-mail general election.
DEARBORN, Michigan (CNN) -- National Rifle Association President Thomas Washington died Tuesday of a massive heart attack at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan.
Washington, 58, had been in the hospital since November 16 after suffering a heart attack during a hunting trip in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Washington, a native of Michigan, was first elected as president of the NRA's board of directors in 1994 and then re-elected last May.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate Whitewater Committee wasn't getting any answers from a former White House lawyer Tuesday. William Kennedy told the panel that he can't discuss a 1993 Whitewater meeting because it would violate the attorney-client privilege.
Kennedy said the meeting was aimed at "getting the lawyers up to speed" on the affair involving President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Kennedy had begun looking into the real estate deal and its possible problems at Mrs. Clinton's request in 1991, when Mr. Clinton was considering running for president.
Kennedy said that he has been instructed by Clinton attorney David Kendall and the White House not to divulge information about the meeting.
Senate Republicans heatedly disagreed with Kennedy's position. They said the attorney-client privilege was invalid because four presidential aides were at the meeting and because a White House spokesman commented on the meeting to the media.
Last week, Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey refused to discuss a two-hour meeting on Whitewater that he had with the Clinton's personal attorneys in November of 1993.
STARKE, Florida (CNN) -- Florida has executed its second inmate in two days. Phillip Atkins, 40, who was convicted for kidnapping, raping and beating a 6-year-old boy to death in 1981, died Tuesday in Florida's electric chair.
Atkins kidnapped Antonio Castillo from his Lakeland, Florida, home in 1981, took him to some nearby woods, and sexually molested him. When the boy threatened to tell his parents, Atkins beat the child to death with his hands and a steel pipe.
Before he was executed, Atkins apologized to Castillo's family, who were present, in a long and rambling statement. He said he was "ready to go on to the other side and meet the Lord, my master."
On Monday, Jerry White, 47, who is an inmate at the same prison in Starke, was executed for the 1981 murder of a convenience store customer during a robbery. He also shot the store owner, who was left paralyzed from his wounds.
Atkins is the 36th person in Florida to die since the state resumed capital punishment in 1976.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States Postal Service is in the black for the first time since 1989. Postmaster General Marvin Runyon said that the agency finished fiscal 1995 with profits of $1.77 billion on revenue of $54.9 billion. It's the biggest gain ever for the service, which lost $914 million a year ago.
Higher stamp prices and more business were said to have fueled the increase. "We had the largest net income in the history of the Postal Service," Runyon said. "Early results for the current fiscal year show that they are keeping the momentum going."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Starting next year, about 23 million taxpayers who use Form 1040EZ will be eligible to file their returns by touch-tone phone, the IRS says. The 10-minute calls are available in English and Spanish and the IRS estimates that about 3 million Americans will take advantage of the high-tech, low-maintenance procedure.
Taxpayers will end their call to Uncle Sam by using a personal identification number, which will substitute for a signature.
Until this year, taxpayers had to follow up a telephone return by mailing a signature form, but now the procedure will be completely paperless.
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- The so-called "pillowcase rapist," released from prison in California though still considered dangerous, said on arrival in Las Vegas that he was just passing through.
Police who met Reginald Muldrew's plane Monday told him he was not welcome. Muldrew did not say where he planned to go. He left the airport with one bag and went to an undisclosed hotel. He said he does not have family in Las Vegas area.
Muldrew was linked to as many as 200 sex crimes in the Los Angeles area from 1976 through 1978, sometimes several in one night. He was convicted of four rapes and 13 related sex, burglary and robbery offenses in 1978 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Under the sentencing law at the time of his conviction, he shortened his term through good behavior and was eligible for parole in 16 years. If sentenced today, he would be sent to prison for 25 years to life. Muldrew does not have to report to California parole officers and cannot be restricted in his travel or residence. However, if he remains in Nevada for 48 hours, he would have to register with police. California and many other states have similar laws.
NEW YORK (CNN) - A six-year-old girl who was jabbed with a hypodermic needle on a New York City subway train was to be tested Tuesday for the AIDS virus. A homeless man, Angel Coro, 51, was arrested and charged with Saturday's assault in midtown Manhattan. Collette Lopez will be tested for HIV infection and hepatitis and will receive a physical exam and counseling. Dr. William Borkowsky, director of pediatric and infectious diseases at Bellevue Hospital, said the test would show whether Lopez had already been exposed to the AIDS virus and not whether she was infected during the subway attack. That, he said, would require follow-up testing in the coming weeks and months.
Borkowsky said the odds of HIV infection from a needle stick are low, depending on the amount of blood and virus introduced into the body through the syringe. At present, it is unknown if the needle contained infected blood. Lopez's parents told reporters that they were aware of the possible consequences of the needle stick and couldn't understand why it happened. The girl, who was jabbed in the leg with the syringe, said she is feeling fine.
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