Susan Sterner/AP
Felipe Solis directs the removal of debris yesterday from a fountain destroyed when a bus careened out of control at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles.

Around the Nation

Stamp price increased to 33 cents as of next year

WASHINGTON (AP) - Stamps are going up a penny, to 33 cents, for the millions of letters, birthday cards and other first-class mail Americans send every day. Packages will cost more, too, but vacation postcards will stay at 20 cents.

The question now is when the new rates will take effect.

The independent Postal Rate Commission grudgingly granted much of the post office's request for higher prices yesterday. But it said there is no need to make the changes until 1999 because the Postal Service has been making profits of better than $1 billion a year since the last increase in 1995.

Setting the date is up to the Postal Service's governing board, which next meets in early June.

Reno requests labor secretary investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Janet Reno requested an independent counsel to investigate whether Labor Secretary Alexis Herman engaged in influence peddling or solicited illegal campaign contributions.

Reno's decision to seek a seventh independent counsel for a high-ranking member of the Clinton administration was relayed to a special court late yesterday and described in a brief court document that was made public.

The primary allegation was that, as a White House aide, Herman took kickbacks for helping a friend's clients. Herman has denied any wrongdoing.

100-year-old man charged with molestation

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (AP) - A 100-year-old man has been charged with molesting several neighborhood girls who came to his home to help with housework.

Vincenzo Agnello faces nine counts of criminal sexual conduct, Deputy Police Chief Rick Heinz said yesterday. The alleged incidents, involving three girls between the ages of six and 15, took place between July and September of last year.

Heinz said the case surfaced last October, when several of the girls told their parents.

Heinz said Agnello, a popular neighbor who often gave children rides on a motorized scooter, invited the girls into his mobile home to do light housework.

Agnello has since moved to a nursing home. He has a personal bond, meaning he doesn't have to pay unless he misses court dates. Under a deal with prosecutors, Agnello is also allowed to visit his sons once a month. The sons, who are in their 70s and 80s, live in the same mobile home park where Agnello once lived.

That upsets some of his former neighbors, but defense attorney Kathleen Walton said the ruling was a fair one.

''You have a 100-year-old man here who hasn't been convicted of anything and asked to visit his sons for three hours a month,'' Ms. Walton said.

Around the State

After disturbance, Miami could withhold diplomas

OXFORD - Twelve Miami University students who participated in commencement over the weekend may not be graduates in the Class of 1998 after all.

They were among 45 students arrested in disturbances near campus Friday and Saturday. The university is considering disciplinary action, including withholding their diplomas.

The students' graduation status will depend on what they did during the disturbances and previous disciplinary records, Miami spokesman Richard Little said yesterday. It is possible that seniors who otherwise would have graduated may never receive a Miami diploma.

''A lot depends on previous disciplinary records and review of the (video) tapes,'' he said.

The university plans to review all student arrests, but will give senior cases priority.

Police said a crowd of about 500 students gathered and began damaging property after bars closed at 2 a.m. Friday. Twenty-three people were arrested, mostly on misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and failure to disperse.

Around Athens

Another senior class council ticket announces

Promising to bring the senior class together through a Web site, intramural league and a senior week, the Raising Ideas Out of Teamwork ticket has announced its candidacy for Senior Class Council.

Broadcast journalism major Leslie Richardson leads the RIOT ticket as the presidential candidate. Business major Adam Kirk, the vice presidential candidate; telecommunications major Stacy Berman, the secretarial candidate; and accounting major Emily Pater, the treasurer candidate, fill the rest of the ticket.

If elected, the RIOT party will design a web site that would list where seniors accepted jobs to help the class keep in contact and network with fellow students living in the same area, Richardson said.

The party also intends to plan an intramural league for seniors, create themes for senior class happy hours and a senior week, with a cookout at Stroud's Run and informational speakers, she said.

"We want to bond seniors together," she said. "We're open to suggestions. It's not just the four of us that will make the decisions; it's the class, too."

Democratic Senate candidate visits campus

Mary Boyle, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by John Glenn, will be in Athens today. Boyle will meet with OU students at 8 p.m. in the 1804 Room of Baker Center.

The event is sponsored by OU College Democrats, and is open to the public.

For further information contact Susan Gwinn at 592-4463 or 592-5401.