January 18, 1996
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A House panel is considering asking first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to submit written answers to questions about her role in the 1993 White House travel office firings.
Mrs. Clinton has denied having any direct involvement in the controversial firings, which are under investigation by the panel.
A former presidential aide testified Wednesday before the panel that Mrs. Clinton did not order him to dismiss the employees, but says that he felt pressured by her aides do so.
On Thursday, Attorney General Janet Reno said no one in Congress has asked the Justice Department to investigate Mrs. Clinton in connection with the Travel Office affair or the White House's handling of documents.
During her weekly news briefing, Reno said she's seen "a lot of stuff in the headlines" but not "anything that was real."
The Pentagon released addresses Thursday to enable the American people to send snail mail to U.S. soldiers in Bosnia and to their family members in Germany.
For Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps land forces:
Operation Joint Endeavour
APO
AE 09397
For Navy and Marine Corps personnel aboard ships:
Operation Joint Endeavour
FPO
AE 09398
For families in Germany:
Operation Joint Endeavor
APO
AE 09399
The Defense Department has also aet up a page on the World-Wide Web to send e-mail greetings to the troops in Bosnia.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government announced Thursday that new truck trailers will have lower rear guards beginning in 1998 to prevent cars from sliding beneath them in rear-end collisions.
The guards will hang 22 inches from the road, 8 inches lower than the current requirement.
The government says that 400 people die each year in accidents involving cars sliding beneath rear trailers. The regulation will not apply retroactively to existing trailers.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Clinton administration Thursday issued a regulatory rule requiring states to enforce laws barring tobacco sales to minors or risk financial penalties and loss of federal funding.
The rule, called the "Synar regulation" in honor of the late Congressman Mike Synar, a long-time anti-smoking advocate, stems from legislation that passed in 1992 but had not been fully implemented.
The Synar regulation requires states to provide the government with a list of all stores that sell tobacco and to submit to surprise inspections to see if they are complying with smoking laws, which forbid the selling of tobacco to anyone under 18.
Failure to comply will mean a gradual loss of federal health funding and anti-substance abuse grants for states.
The Tobacco Institute said it supports the Synar regulation, but is asking the Clinton administration to withdraw Food and Drug Administration regulations that would impose strict limits on tobacco marketing.
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- A group of students at the University of California was arrested Thursday after speaking beyond their allotted time at a hearing on affirmative action policies.
Before the board of regents were two proposals: One, submitted by student regent Ed Gomez, would rescind the July 20 vote to eliminate race and gender considerations from hiring, contracting and admissions decisions. The other, from regent Judith Levin, would impose a one-year moratorium on the new hiring policies.
During a public comment session, 10 students warned the university's regents that they would have no respite until the July vote was rescinded.
Each student was given one minute to speak, then was arrested after refusing to yield the floor.
The committee members voted 12-4 to postpone discussion of Gomez's proposal indefinitely. Levin requested that her proposal be withdrawn, saying she didn't believe it would pass.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- The man whose name became synonymous with the game of pool died Thursday.
Minnesota Fats, born Rudolf Wanderone Jr., died in Nashville one day before his supposed birthday. His exact age, though, was unclear. His wife said her husband was 82 and that he died of congestive heart failure.
The late Jackie Gleason portrayed Fats in the 1961 film "The Hustler."
ARLINGTON, Texas (CNN) -- The weary parents of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman will go to the Tarrant County Medical Examiners office Thursday to look at a body that may be their daughter. A police spokesman told CNN Thursday morning that officers feel the body, found in a creek, is that of the missing girl.
The nude body was found Wednesday when a man walking his dog saw it floating in a rain-swollen creek behind an apartment building. Arlington Police said they have no suspects.
A witness said Amber Hagerman was dragged into a dark-colored pickup truck Saturday as she rode her bicycle in a parking lot near her grandparents' home.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A cousin of Erik and Lyle Menendez testified Wednesday that the brothers accused of murdering their parents were forced to shower with their father and were told by their mother that she wished they'd never been born.
Diane Vander Molen lived with the Menendez family before the shotgun killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989. In her sometimes tearful testimony, she also said Jose once held Erik under water at a public swimming pool and that Kitty would fly into rages and scream at her sons. Vander Molen said she was told never to go near the brothers' room if Jose was in there. She said Jose and Kitty Menendez were both abusive to her as well.
This is the second murder trial of the Menendez brothers, who have admitted killing their wealthy parents but maintain it was done out of fear for their lives after years of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. The prosecution contends they were greedy and feared they were cut out of their parent's will. Their first trial was heard by two separate juries, both of which were unable to reach a verdict.
MOUNT KISCO, New York (CNN) -- Christopher Reeve, paralyzed in a fall from a horse last spring, is back in the hospital for treatment of a related problem he described as erratic blood pressure.
"My blood pressure has been stabilized and I am in no danger," Reeve said Wednesday in a statement issued by the Northern Westchester Medical Center. "I look forward to going home shortly to resume my program of breathing and exercise." Reeve, 43, said he expected to be hospitalized for a few days or a week.
Reeve's statement said that constipation caused his blood pressure to become erratic. He said the condition, called autonomic dysreflexia, affects quadriplegics and can be caused by something "as simple as an ingrown toenail, or clothing or shoelaces that are too tight." Reeve, best known for his movie roles as Superman, went home from the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, New Jersey, on December 13. He injured his neck and spinal cord when he was thrown May 27 during a jumping competition in Culpeper, Virginia.
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