The Post: Briefly

Thursday, October 7, 1999

THE POST

Athens, Ohio An Independent Daily Newspaper Ohio University

Briefly
THE POST

AP Elizabeth Dalziel/POST
A firefighter rescues a woman from her flooded apartment in Tulancingo, in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo. Torrential rain flooded rivers, caused dams to overflow and sent mudslides rolling over houses in central and eastern Mexico, killing at least 49 people.

At least 70 feared dead in London train collision

LONDON - Searchers working their way through a train carriage transformed into an inferno in a rush-hour collision reached a grim conclusion yesterday: The death toll may exceed 70.

Twenty-eight people are known to have died when the two commuter trains collided at the height of rush hour Tuesday morning near London's Paddington Station. They are likely to be some of the missing 70, but police have not yet identified the bodies recovered.

Authorities also have received reports from friends and relatives about another 100 people who may have boarded the trains.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter was asked at a news conference if the final death toll would be as high as 170.

House approves tax breaks, Democrats object

WASHINGTON - Steel-state lawmakers are so worried about the possibility of American negotiators capitulating at new world trade talks that a few of them plan to voice their concerns outside the official conferences.
''I will go to Seattle to ensure the administration's position does not change on this important issue,'' Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, said yesterday about protecting anti-dumping laws.
Regula, who heads the congressional Steel Caucus, said he and other caucus members want to make sure "administration officials do not allow any weakening of our trade laws'' when finance ministers meet Nov. 30 through Dec. 4 for World Trade Organization talks.
The United Steelworkers of America has said it intends to send about 500 of its members to lobby outside the talks.

Congress passes health care for uninsured

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled House approved a package of tax breaks yesterday to help the uninsured afford health care coverage, overriding complaints from Democrats that the plan would be financed out of surplus Social Security funds.

The vote, 227-205 and largely along party lines, served as a prelude to a clash today over a White House-backed bill to strengthen patients' hands in dealing with their insurance companies.

"The American people are concerned about the fact they can't gain access to affordable health care,'' said Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., arguing on behalf of a measure that GOP leadership said was essential to help the estimated 44 million Americans who lack insurance.

But Democrats contended the GOP bill would do little to solve that problem.

"This bill does nothing except help the insurance companies and the well-to-do and the healthy,'' said Rep. John Dingell of Michigan. He and other Democrats added it would rely on funds in the Social Security surplus to finance tax breaks, a step Republicans have promised not to take and which is the subject of a GOP advertising campaign.

County recorder returned to regular work schedule

DAYTON - The Montgomery County GOP will try to oust the county recorder, who refused to go to work for about three months because she said the job had no purpose.

Recorder Joy Clark returned to her office Tuesday and promised to resume a regular work schedule. She had been there only once since July 2, and last week the county removed her from the payroll.

"We think it's good that she's back to work,'' state Rep. Jeff Jacobson, chairman of the county Republican Party, said yesterday. "But she did so only after her paycheck was threatened. We don't believe it takes care of her misconduct in office.''

Meeting will be held to inform voters about levy

An informational meeting on the Athens City School District levy and bond issue will be held at 8 tonight at the Christ Lutheran Church hall, 69 Mill St.