News of the Day

Excerpts from News around the World

Copyright 1996-1997. Bruce A. Epstein. All Rights Reserved.

Last Updated August 6, 1997

Note: All "News of the Day" is constructed from facts available to the general public. It is not copied verbatim from the news sources cited below, nor is it in violation of their respective copyrights.

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Jeanne Calment, oldest person in the world, died today. She was 122 (years!) No official cause of death was given.
-- 08/04/97

(The cause of death was unofficially reported as "Being Freakin' Old as Hell". It must have been a shame for her to see loved ones pass away at the tender age of 100 .-- BAE)

Psychologists for John W. Hinckley Jr. have testified that his mental health has improved since he shot President Reagan and he should be allowed to visit his parents outside a mental hospital where he was been confined since 1982.

Prosecutors said the risk is still too great, arguing that he has shown an unhealthy interest in a hospital pharmacist who resembles actress Jodie Foster.

Kirk Heilbrun, a psychologist who is testifying in Hinckley's behalf, noted that the woman ``has some resemblance to Jodie Foster,'' the actress Hinckley stalked before shooting Reagan. But he said he didn't think Hinckley's actions amounted to stalking, although Hinckley's and the woman's descriptions of the relationship differed.

AP 06/10/97

The Supreme Court let stand a US District Court's ruling that Rodney Dangerfield was entitled to only $45,000 in presumed damages in a libel suit against Star magazine. Star ran an article under the headline, "Vegas Casino Accuses Caddyshack Funnyman: Rodney Dangerfield Swills Vodka by the Tumblerfull, Smokes Pot All Day and Uses Cocaine." While the lower court ruled that Star published it "with at least reckless disredard of the truth," there was no evidence that the article had caused extensive emotional distress or damage to the comedian's reputation.

04/29/97

The Graffiti Removal Service of Albuquerque, NM painted over what they thought was graffiti. But it was actually a mural entitled "Renaissance of Youth," which the city had commissioned three years earlier at a cost of $15,000. (in all fairness, it was allegedly worn and chipped).

05/11/97

Love the Shoes, Babe

Hillary Clinton toured the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula today. She marveled at the 125-foot tall Pyramid of the Magician, but did not climb its precarious stairs, telling reporters, ``I wore the wrong shoes."

Reuters 05/05/97

A breathalyzer test is administered to all high school students attending the prom in Grant, Nebraska. It was instituted in 1992 when apparently intoxicated students swallowed live goldfish used in table centerpieces.

-- Associated Press 04/21/97

Phillipine President Fidel Ramos was an hour late for an appointment with the Red Cross. Ramos had apparently arisen at 4 a.m. to watch Tiger Woods win the US Masters golf tournament, and then returned to bed, but subsequently overslept. Ramos had declared April 12-18, "National Punctuality Week" to remind Filipinos that they had to stop being habitually late if the country was to become globally competitive.

-- Newark Star-Ledger 04/18/97

John Doyle, a truck driver for 18 years, was killed on the day he was scheduled to get a 10-year safety award when he failed to yield the right of way to a school bus.

-- Associated Press 04/13/97

Scientists have levitated a frog, using a giant magnetic field. The researchers from universities in Britain and the Netherlands have also levitated plants, grasshoppers and fish, without any apparent ill effects. The large magnetic field alters the orbits of electrons in the animals' atoms, generating an electric current which in turn generates a magnetic field. Because the induced magnetic field repels that of the giant magnet, cauing the object to levitate.

-- Reuters 04/11/97

Singer Courtney Love was acquitted of misdemeanor battery charges stemming from her allegedly jumping off the stage and slugging two concert goers in November 1995.

The trial judge ruled that the plaintiffs were "not exposed to any more violence than a reasonable person should expect at a grunge-rock concert".

- Paraphrased from the Newark Star Ledger March 7, 1997