Friday, April 30, 1999

THE POST

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THE POST
[NATO]

Nick Ut/AP<
Children from the Higashi Hongwanji Pre-School in Los Angeles cheer and wave Japanese and American flags as Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and his wife Chizuko arrive during a visit to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Obuchi arrived in California yesterday for a six-day American tour intended to improve ties strained by the Asian economic crisis and the growing U.S. trade deficit.

Dow rise, home sales show economic growth

WASHINGTON - The amazing U.S. economy just keeps improving. New home sales climb higher, labor costs for American companies inch up at the slowest pace on record and workers enjoy a strong labor market.

That was the picture painted by a trio of new government reports

yesterday that showed the U.S. economy is still thriving in spite of global economic weakness.

All the good economic news helped lift the stock market to a third straight record close as the Dow Jones industrial average rose 33 points to end the day at 10,878.

Investors were most cheered by a report that American companies are not being battered by rising wage pressures, a potential danger that would prompt the Federal Reserve to start boosting interest rates.

But the Labor Department reported yesterday that its Employment Cost Index, which measures wages and benefits paid to workers, edged up only 0.4 percent in the January-February period, the smallest quarterly increase on record.

While such a tiny advance in pay and benefits normally would be bad news for employees, other reports show that real wages, after adjusting for inflation, are showing strong gains because consumer prices are rising at such a slow pace and low unemployment means more people are working.

Even though unemployment fell in March to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent, analysts said employees are not feeling the need to push for higher wages because of the low inflation levels.

In other reports showing a strong economy, the Commerce Department said that new home sales rose 2.1 percent in March to an annual rate of 909,000 sales, with the strength coming from a 24 percent surge in sales in the West.

Analysts said continued low mortgage rates and strong consumer demand fueled by the low unemployment levels were keeping new home sales near the record level hit last November.

A third report showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined to 294,000, a larger-than-expected drop of 20,000, indicating that labor markets remain tight.

The current economic expansion is already the longest in peacetime history with uninterrupted growth for more than eight years. Well before this point in most previous expansions, tight labor markets have triggered rising wage demands and forced the Fed to start raising interest rates to slow the economy, a process that can often trigger a recessio
'Jurassic Park' herbivores ate grass, not treetops

WASHINGTON - The books and movies are wrong. The long-necked dinosaurs, which were the largest animals ever to walk the Earth, did not go around cropping treetops but, in fact, could lift their heads only a few feet above the ground, a new study says.

Michael Parrish, a researcher at Northern Illinois University, said that he and a colleague used a computer model of the neck fossil bones of two types of dinosaurs, Diplodocus and Apatosaurus, to discover how well the huge animals were able to move. Apatosaurus was once called Brontosaurus and is one of the best known of dinosaurs.

What they found in their study, said Parrish, was that the even though dinosaurs had necks that could be 40 feet or more long, the animals could not raise their heads much above 9 to 12 feet. For the most part, he said, they held their heads straight out or down - not up.

Electric utilities deregulation bill hits a snag

COLUMBUS - The state's investor-owned utilities want too much

in exchange for their support of a bill that would bring competition to

the $11 billion electric power industry, Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White said yesterday.

He testified before the Senate Ways and Means Committee after Sen. Louis Blessing, the committee chairman, announced that a planned vote on the bill next week had been postponed while private talks continue on the issue.

White told the committee that FirstEnergy Corp.'s demand for $8 billion in recovery of investments that the Akron-based utility has made showed "brazen arrogance."

The bill sponsored by Sen. Bruce Johnson, R-Columbus, would deregulate the sale of electric power and allow customers to shop for the best deal. Power transmission and distribution would remain regulated industries.

White produced what he said was a counterproposal by the utilities that would lengthen the period that they would have to recover their "stranded costs" and use different methods of determining what those costs are.

He also said the utilities were holding back on showing their actual value.

Division of Wildlife to make pitch for funding

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Division of Wildlife, which gets less than 10 percent of its money from state lawmakers, will have to get more from the Legislature before it can obtain millions of dollars of federal money set aside for Ohio in a proposal now in Congress.

The division's assistant chief, Ken Fritz, said wildlife officials are eager to have the money, but can't lobby legislators directly for it.

However, the division, which is part of the state Natural Resources Department, does plan "to address the situation with them in a friendly manner," as Fritz put it during an interview this week.

The money would come from the proposed Conservation Reinvestment Act, which would provide additional federal money to state fish and wildlife agencies for new programs.

Fritz also said priorities for the additional revenue would include land acquisition and riverbank and wetland habitat protection and enhancement, with an emphasis on partnerships involving local parks agencies and soil and water conservation groups.

The bill "has strings attached which will guarantee that the money is used for programs not already existing," Fritz said.

The bill includes a requirement that some of the money for those programs come from the states.

Fritz estimated that the Division of Wildlife could get anywhere from $10 million to $16 million from the bill. Some versions of it require that 25 percent of that amount come from the state, with other versions reducing the figure to 10 percent.

That means the Legislature would have to provide anywhere from $1 million to $4 million in additional money to the division.

Youngstown Dem blows whistle on mobster

YOUNGSTOWN - Just weeks after a mob leader testified against his subordinates, a man offered to take the jailed mobster's place, a Democratic leader said.

Michael Morley, who is chairman of the party in Mahoning County, said he called the FBI immediately after the man approached him at a restaurant last month.

Morley said the man, whom he had never met, said he had been in contact with Cleveland and Pittsburgh members of the mob.

"He told me that they recognized a void existed and they had decided to work with him in establishing a process for a structure within which they could operate," Morley told the Chronicle Tribune of Warren.

"Then he said 'Don't worry. We're not going to ask you to fix a case if we have to whack someone."'

Lenine "Lenny" Strollo, 68, is behind bars after pleading guilty in February to running a mob operation in eastern Ohio, plotting to kill a rival gang leader, running a numbers game and bribing officials. Dozens of others have been convicted of taking part in a wide range of mob-related activities.

"If any member of organized crime attempts to renew the mob's influence with the Democratic Party, not only will they be rebuffed, but they will be exposed to federal or local police," he said. "I want them to leave me alone."

FBI spokesman Bob Hawk could not be reached yesterday.

Allied seamen to reunite 54 years after war

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - One of their numbers recently died. One can barely speak above a whisper. A third is plagued by kidney problems.

John Fievet, too, has infirmities. At 76, his heart isn't what it used to be.

But Fievet was determined to reunite once more with the shrinking band of men who survived one of the worst and least-known American catastrophes of World War II: The sinking of the HMT Rohna, in which more than 1,000 died and survivors were sworn to secrecy.

Now able to tell the truth, Fievet looked forward to the reunion beginning today in Dayton, despite the knowledge it may be the last.

"Finding these people has been the most wonderful thing," said Fievet of Birmingham. "They tell me they love me and, well, I love them too.

On Nov. 26, 1943, the Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, sank after being struck by a German missile off the coast of Algeria. The final death toll was 1,138, including 1,015 American troops.

Military officials wanted information about the revolutionary German missile used in the attack kept under wraps. The surviving 875 soldiers were told they would be court-martialed if they talked about the Rohna.

Families received telegrams saying their sons, husbands or brothers were missing in action. In 1993, Fievet obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act. The group held its first reunion in Gatlinburg, Tenn., that year.

Mom's weekend programs to include events at Ping

As part of the Ping Center's Friday Night Free-For-All, two programs are available for Moms' Weekend, free of charge.

Ingred Chorba, of Mount Nebo, will host a program addressing the health benefits of herbs. Participants will sample herbal tea during the program, and they will also be able to take it home.

As a special Moms' Weekend event, Coalition Educating About Sexual Endangerment is hosting a mother/daughter self-defense workshop Saturday. Two sessions are offered including a beginning session in the Ping meeting rooms from 1 to 3 p.m. and for those who have experience, an advanced session is offered from 2 to 4 p.m.


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