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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1999)
Hie Battalion s TATE Page 7 » Thursday, December 2, 1999 You’ve got the EDUCATION. in. jBush’s tax-cut plan oins mainstream BUSH WASHINGTON (AP) — George Bush’s five-year, $483 billion tax |cut places the Re- 3ublican presiden- Itial front-runner in Ithe mainstream of IGOP tax cutters — Ifar less aggressive Ithan flat-tax lacolytes such as ISteve Forbes. “You’re going Ito get a big debate Inow — do you go with a flat tax ap- [proach or do you go with the tax cut approach?” Stephen Moore of the llibertarian Cato Institute said. Democrats A1 Gore and Bill iBradley, meanwhile, continue Pres- lident Clinton’s approach of using Imodest tax breaks to accomplish so- jcial goals, such as protecting land [from overdevelopment or helping [the poor. In a speech yesterday in Iowa, [Bush never mentioned the flat tax [but labeled his own plan to use [projected budget surpluses to gradually reduce income tax rates, abolish estate taxes, double the $500 per-child tax credit and enact other tax breaks as “realis tic and responsible.” “For me, tax cutting is not some ab stract cause,” the Texas governor said. Bush emphasized his plan’s benefits for the working poor and middle class, maintaining half of his income-tax cuts will benefit people trying to work themselves out of poverty. He said 6 million people would no longer pay any income taxes, eas ing the burden on one in every five families with children. “We will take down the tollgate on the road to the middle class,” Bush said, adding no middle-class family would face a federal income- tax rate higher than 25 percent. An analysis by the labor-funded Citizens for Tax Justice, however, es timated the plan’s cost at $1.7 tril lion over 10 years and projected people earning $89,000 or more would get 61 percent of the benefits, compared with 11 percent for those earning less than $38,200. Families wait for information of mass graves CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — It has been years since they disappeared. Leticia Lucero de Medina’s husband. Ivan Ki- hara’s brother. Saul O. Sanchez Sr.’s son and daughter-in-law. For now, the families of as many as 100 missing people from Ciudad Juarez are left to closely watch the news as the FBI and Mexican officials search desert ranches for bodies. “I hope they don’t find his re mains there, because I have faith that he might be living somewhere else,” Sanchez, 73, of Laredo, said of his son. With so many people van ishing from this border city since 1993, and with the police providing little or no informa tion about the cases, relatives of “los desaparecidos” — “the disappeared” — formed a group in 1997 and bombarded Attorney General Jorge Madra- zo with letters. But Do You Know How to Build a SUCCESSFUL CAREER? Get insights from successful women in Information Technology in an informal workshop specifically designed for female INFO seniors Plan NOW to attend the Women in Information Xechnology Career Building Workshop Tuesday afternoon, February 15, 2000 George Bush Presidential Conference Center for more information: cmis.tamu.edu Newspaper article sparks lawsuit *e Wednesday J DENTON (AP) — A weekly Dallas newspaper is be- [ing sued for a satirical article two elected Denton Coun ity officials allege defamed them. The Dallas Observer's Nov. 11 edition included an ar ticle that attributed fictitious quotes to District Attorney Bruce Isaacks and Juvenile Judge Darlene Whitten, but was not clearly labeled as satire and was published in an area of the Observer usually reserved for news sto ries, the lawsuit alleges. The article was identified as a parody in subsequent editions of the newspaper. The story was a takeoff on a real story about a Ponder boy who was jailed for nearly a week after writing a Halloween story in which he shoots his teacher and other students. Judge Whitten ordered 13-year-old Christopher Bea mon jailed. Isaacks ultimately dropped the case, and the youth was released. The Observer story had a fictitious section about a 6- year-old Ponder girl jailed for writing a book report on the children’s story Where the Wild Things Are It contained quotations from the judge, who accord ing to the story, ordered the girl’s detention, and from Isaacks, who was quoted as saying officials were trying to decide whether to file charges against her. A Dallas radio station and the student newspaper at the University of North Texas reported the story to be true. “As a direct result of this story, there has been harm to my reputation,” Isaacks said. Mike Whitten, Judge Whitten’s husband and attor ney, said he asked the Observer for a retraction. When the newspaper refused, he sued Tuesday on behalf of his wife and Isaacks, who are seeking un specified damages. Observer editor Julie Lyons acknowledged the news paper received correspondence from readers who be lieved the article was true but said the paper will fight the lawsuit on the. grounds any reasonable reader “would have known tlie story was not true.” The article was “a legitimate editorial on an actual news event,” she said. “It is not libelous.” Listen up, Ags... Draw your tickets now for the biggest basketball games of the season—Men’s games like Texas (Jan. 12) and Kansas (Jan. 17) and Women’s games like Oklahoma (Jan. 26) and Texas Tech (Jan. 29). In fact, all Men’s and Women’s December and January games are available now. Reed Arena’s Box Office is open 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., with 30-minute free parking. You can also get tickets at G. Rollie White and MSC Box Offices. Take your friends’ all sports passes for group seating. The Men’s Kansas game will be on ESPN. Fill every seat and Reed will rock on national television. Remember Reed’s First Law: Get your tickets early and avoid the lines. LOOt% ack to whatewX Your Site for Digital Audio, Free Audio Software and Other Things to Stick in Your Ear. .cram Tfte UJortd i/% Li/stewting