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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2004)
COLLEGE 10 NATK yifVfWibrttxospori.edu BC wants to be your college of choice. CONVENIENT Choose BC for affordable academic COST-EFFECTIVE transfer programs, job skills training, and COMPREHENSIVE cultural enhancement. Our outstanding CUSTOMER-ORIENTED faculty and staff are ready to help make COMPETITIVE PU CO your choice of BC a choice for success. Register On-Line www.braxosporf.edu BRRZOSPORT COLLEGE a • a* s • i • s ONLINE RCCESS STODENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 979-230-3000 500 College Drive • Lake Jackson 77566 Wednesday, March 3, 2004 THE BATTAll Senate Republicans scuttl gun bill after losing vote By Jesse J. Holland THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Senate defeats gun bill WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans scuttled an election-year bill to immunize the gun industry from lawsuits Tuesday after Democrats amended it to extend an assault weapons ban and require back ground checks on all buyers at private gun shows. The National Rifle Association began pressur ing senators to vote against the bill after Democrats won votes on the two key gun control measures. The 90-8 vote against the bill virtually ends any chance for gun legislation to make through Congress this year. “I now believe it is so dramatically wounded that I would urge my colleagues to vote against it,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the sponsor of the gunmaker immunity bill. Democrats won close votes on their amend ments to change the Republican legislation, a strategy aimed at pressuring the GOP-dominated House to accept the restrictions to gain passage of the gunmaker-immunity bill. While Democrats won’t get the gun ban exten sion and the gun show legislation, they called the vote a success. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “The immunity bill was a terrible bill. We’re better off at the end of the day than we were at the beginning of the day.” Underlining the importance of the day to ■Democrats, presidential contenders John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina broke away from the campaign trail to cast their first Senate votes of the year, joining the 52- 47 majority on the assault weapons ban and the 53- 46 majority on the gun show bill. A dozen Republican senators voted for one or both of the provisions, allowing minority Democrats to gain victories on the amendments. The House last year passed a bill to shield gun- makers and dealers from liability suits by crime victims. But Republican leaders in the House refused to allow a vote on continuing for another decade the assault weapons ban, which is to expire in September. Democrats had hoped their victories in the Senate on gun shows and assault weapons would force Republicans to let the House also vote on them. But the White House said the two amend ments would only kill the effort to immunize the Although the Senate voted Tuesday to extend thesemlauta assault weapons ban, it is still scheduled to expire on Sepi because the legislation it was attached to was defeated. The bans 19 specific weapons and their copies and semiaulwj pistols and rifles with a detachable ammunition magazine ml* or more military style features. Banned semiautomatic weapons UZI Specific guns including AK-47s, UZIs, Tec-9s and Street Sweepers. Pistols with twoonn| features suchasa threaded barrel cap® j of accepting a Haiti i suppressor, lowaid I handgrip orsilencatf Rifles with at least two features such as a folding or tel'" stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor. Detachable magazine Specifically excluded weapons ► A list of 670 rifles and shotguns ► Those made before Sept. 13, 1994 ► Guns made for use or experimentation by the federal govemi SOURCE. U S Swum iiore i ’ Arkais jjiei gun industry from lawsuits. "Some are simply more interested inundei ing that piece of legislation than they are innccea ily getting the other legislation passed,” White in spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. On the final roll call, only three Republio voted for the bill: Sens. George Voinovicl Ohio, John McCain of Arizona and RichardLi] of Indiana. Democrats who voted for the i package were Minority Leader Tom South Dakota and Sens. Mark Pryor of John Breaux of Louisiana, Joe Liebermaii Connecticut and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas “While we will continue to worktosavi U.S. firearms industry, we have said fromthesa that we would not allow this bill tobecomeavfi cle for added restrictions on the law-abidingj« pie of America,” NRA Vice President Waynel LaPierre Jr. said after the vote. The gunmaker-immunity package was an tion-year priority for the White House, congressia al Republicans and other conservative groups as»i as the NRA. All contend the gun industry is sued out of existence for making a legal prodi)|jj though gun manufacturers have yet tolosealawsi Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was indicted on charges stemming from the company's accounting Communication breakdown [lie power Much l ithers. on g for pi kader prol tie preside hee kho wants House: Ge During irogressiv lovote for re fie lobe the T ther th lush feeli Four ye ,{f | Americans ■.. Not imnecessat Gore had l never occu and the pn sh’s tax Despite on NBC N is con 1 Iwarf the < willing to I The nut ^ ton presidency LDDS acquires more than a half-dozen communications companies, including IDB WoridCom. LDDS changes its name to WorldCom Inc.,, with Ebbers as CEO. Ebbers« charged# securities fraud. I Bush’s fav '83 '84 '85 '86 ’87 '88 '89 '90 '91 92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02'03'04 Ebbers and other founders work out plans for starting Long Distance Discount Service. Ebbers resigns as CEO; WorldCom admits to inflating earnings by $3.8 billion; SEC files fraud charges against the company; WorldCom files for bankruptcy, SOURCE: Associated Press Former WorldCom chief Ebber charged with securities fraud By Larry Neumeister THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was charged Tuesday with falsify ing the books at the long-distance company in the biggest corporate fraud case in American history, and his chief financial officer pleaded guilty and agreed to testi fy against him. Ebbers was accused in a fed eral indictment of taking part in a scheme to falsely inflate earn ings by $11 billion. He was charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and making false fil ings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Former chief financial officer Scott Sullivan agreed to plead guilty to the same charges and cooperate with prosecutors in hopes of reducing a potential 25-year prison sentence. “I took these actions, knowing they were wrong, in a misguided effort to preserve the company to allow it to withstand what 1 believed were temporary financial difficulties,” Sullivan, 42, of Boca Raton, Fla., said in court. In a steady voice, Sullivan said he was motivated to plead guilty by “sincere remorse and a deep sense of contrition.” Ebbers, 62, of Brookhaven, Miss., was to be arraigned Wednesday. Ebbers resigned from WorldCom in April 2002, well after its stock price had begun a steady decline and soon after questions began to swirl about the company’s finances amid a slew of corporate scandals. Two months later, WorldCom announced it had uncovered nearly $4 billion in hidden expenses — the beginning of a spiral that would uncover a fraud now estimated at $11 bil lion, the biggest in U.S. history. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indict ment in New York, saying, “America’s economic strength echn ing 1 and impressive fersonal c< processors ar invente quickly bei for most c< 4* C 0 depends on the integrity lit t marketplace.” No one, Ashcroft sal “stands above the law.” ’ , asa thl Ebbers’ attorney, Reid! P™rear Weingarten, said no “fair-ni ,r ed jury” would concludethatl Wessnes client acted with criminalii ^ging ti “We know the evidence iiil Med by sj case, we know our client and' leU.S. gc know that Bemie Ebbers im nonopoly sought to mislead investors,nc nentswith sought to improperly manipuli lain^ WorldCom’s numbers, if* y t | improperly took any money; , oi Q . never sought to hurt the conf . j- he built,” he said in a statemeU , ! )rotc Lawyers in the case s a eR 0 ‘ Sullivan had agreed to sell! ^ntis lavish $15 million BocaRai ®P ro pert estate, which has a movie f ^^cast ater and six Jacuzzis, andusel 'ghttocoj proceeds to reimburse victim U.S. Di WorldCom, parent of Ml Uston has the nation’s second-bi$ sinvioiat long-distance telephone coffli dillenniur ny, filed for bankruptcy in29 iavetb ec( WoridCom changed i!s n* ^ j 1 MCI last April and moved headquarters from Mississi) 1 1 ' 11 to Ashbum, Va. y 'P rote e alm ofb “ayusefc PA and ru lovernmer Pg it. 0 itnilar dev Ri be T e : ti SUPERCUTS Has Limited Appointments for FREE Haircuts by Licens Cosmetologists. 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