4B
Tuesday, September 27,1994
NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Couple charged with child endangerment
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A couple who vanished for more than two weeks, leaving their four children with an eighth-grade baby sitter who used her wits and her own money to care for them, turned up Monday and were charged with child endangerment.
Bonnie Railing and James Figan originally had said they would be gone only three days, and offered no explanation for their 16-day absence. Figar's employer said he was working in New Jersey until Saturday installing floor coverings.
The couple were arrested when they appeared at a custody hearing for the children, who range in age from 2 to 10.
The sitter, 14-year-old Angela Morris, tried to maintain the household,
enlisting the help of friends, skipping
school and keeping the secret from
authorities, hoping to keep the children
out of foster homes.
"In the end, that's what happened anyway," she said in an interview.
The gas had been shut off at the house, so the teen improvised to feed and bathe the youngsters, at one point heating bath water in an electric coffee maker.
Police acting on an anonymous tip came to the house Friday and removed the children. Describing the neighborhood as a well-kept working class area, police said the house was filthy. The baby sitter took the blame for that.
Railing and Figar were arraigned Monday on four counts each of endangering the welfare of a child. Each count carries five years in jail.
Bond was set at $10,000 for Railing and $15,000 for Fignar, and both were being held in Allegheny County Jail.
"It was hard to keep the house clean, especially with the little ones," Angela said.
Bond for Fignar was higher because he also was charged with failing to appear at a hearing earlier this year on a 1993 domestic violence charge.
Family Court Judge Joseph Jaffe ruled Monday the children must remain in foster care at least until another hearing Oct. 4, said Mark Cancilla, a lawyer representing the children.
The couple had no comment as they left the hearing. The children attended, and the oldest was crying, said their grandmother, Dorothy Brooks.
The couple learned about the custody hearing, which was closed, from the children's grandmother, who said she tried to have the children turned over to her last week.
"The kids are obviously quite traumatized after having been removed from their home." Cancilla said.
"But it ended up being extended every other day until it ended up being 16 days," Angela said.
The baby sitter said the couple left their two children, ages 2 and 3, and Railing's two older children, aged 9 and 10, in her care on Sept. 7, with the promise they'd return in three days. Her payment was to be $75.
Last week, Mrs. Brooks had asked police to release the children to her care but was turned down. She said she didn't realize how long the parents had been away or how young the baby sitter was.
Mobster gets sentence reduction
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano, the mob turncoat who helped put John Gotti and dozens of others behind bars, got his reward yesterday: 15 years off the 20-year prison term he negotiated for his testimony.
Gravano could be released into the witness protection program as early as next spring. He has already served nearly four years since his arrest.
Judge Leo Glasser said he'd "seen a very significant change" in the former Gambino family underboss and multiple murderer, so he gave him five years in prison, three years' probation and a $50 fine.
He noted that Gravano agreed to testify even though "to cooperate with the government is a violation of the criminal code punishable by death."
The sentence was passed after a hearing at which Gravano was praised by both his lawyer and a
federal prosecutor as a witness and informer who always told the truth.
His cooperation "was not just a hollow attempt to help himself ... but to make amends for his past criminal actions by helping the fight against organized crime," said his attorney, Larry Kranz.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gleeson, lead prosecutor in Gotti's 1992 trial, told Glasser that after a career that included 19 murders, Gravano made a decision "to do what he could to help the government. . He abided by that agreement from Day One."
Prosecutors have called Gravano, 49, the best witness ever against other mobsters — notably Gotti, former head of New York's powerful Gambino family.
Self-employed get tax burn
"Gravano has been the most significant witness in the history of organized crime in the United States," U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter said in a 31-page sentencing memo.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Several million self-employed Americans may be in for a rude surprise when they file their taxes next year. They will no longer be able to deduct a penny of the money they pay for health insurance.
The 25 percent tax deduction for the self-employed expired at the end of 1993. Lawmakers in both parties had expected to restore it and provide an even more generous break this year as part of health reform.
But the tax deduction for the self-employed has been buried for now in the wreckage of the health reform bills.
"It's kind of a shock," said Rebecca Anderson, a legislative analyst for the National Association for the Self-Employed. "It was being held hostage to the health care debate. Now we're down to the wire... everyone is saying it's not going to happen."
dent Business. "Not only is there no health care reform, but we lost even the very meager incentive that small, self-employed people had to purchase health insurance."
"It's a crime," said John Motley, vice president for government affairs of the National Federation of Independ-
Corporations can deduct 100 percent of the costs of providing insurance for their employees.
Many health reform bills, including President Clinton's and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole's, proposed giving the self-employed a 100 percent tax deduction. It was trimmed to 80 percent in a House Democratic leaders' plan and 50 percent in Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's proposal.
The 25 percent tax deduction, which applied to insurance bought by the self-employed for themselves, spouses and dependents, cost the Treasury about $500 million a year. Expanding it to 100 percent would cost $2.5 billion a year.
More than 12 million Americans are self-employed for part or all of their livelihood, and almost 3 million have no health insurance, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
WASHINGTON — After half a century as the main source of development loans, the World Bank is getting welcome competition from private lenders and shifting more attention to human resources and the environment, its president said yesterday.
World Bank to slow lending
The Associated Press
"The world is changing, and the bank is changing with it," Bank President Lewis T. Preston said prior to his departure to this week's anniversary meeting of the 179-nation bank and its sister agency, the International Monetary Fund, in Madrid.
Preston said increased private capital flowing into Latin America, east Asia and other areas is allowing the bank to step aside and concentrate on areas still ignored by private investment.
In recent years, the bulk of borrowing among developing countries has shifted dramatically to private creditors.
According to the Institute of International Finance, which represents major bankers, private
institutions lent $17.4 billion to developing countries in 1990, compared to $35.2 billion by governments and multilateral institutions. This year, the countries' borrowing from private sources is put at $55.5 billion, compared to $19.6 billion from official creditors.
Despite decreasing development lending by the bank, Preston said, budget constraints in the developed world still pose a challenge for the bank in meeting new demands for capital in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.
"We are prepared to lend in countries that can use the money," said Preston, "but there is no point in shoveling it at countries who could get private-sector funds."
Preston said the bank is willing to provide guarantees against political risks, with private lenders assuming the commercial risk.
This includes bank participation, for example in a toll road project, where the bank takes on the risk of the government meeting its commitments while the private lender assumes the risk of the road having enough traffic to pay for itself.
Financial institutions to help poor
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Regulators yesterday issued the first top-to-bottom overhaul in 17 years of the rules requiring commercial banks and savings institutions to serve minorities and poor people.
A Clinton administration regulator said the new rules stressed performance over paperwork but at least one agency predicted more paperwork for many bankers. And activists complained the government let bankers talk it into watering down an earlier version of the rules.
"In total, it's a big disappointment because we thought we were going to move forward and not just stay
with the same lax regulation we have now," said attorney Michelle Meier of Consumer's Union.
The four agencies overseeing banks and savings institutions released for 45 days of public comment the regulations for enforcing the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. If approved in final form, they would take full effect July 1, 1996.
Comptroller of the Currency Eugene A. Ludwig, whose agency is part of the Treasury Department and oversees nationally chartered banks, said regulators met President Clinton's July 1993 challenge to simultaneously reduce banks' paperwork burden and hold them to higher lending standards.
For less than a dollar a day both will give you the power you need to survive this semester.
With an Apple Computer Loan, it's now easier than ever to buy a Macintosh* personal computer. In fact, with Apple's special low interest and easy terms, you can own a Mac" for as little as $23 per month†. Buy any select Macintosh now, and you'll also get something no other computer offers: the Apple student software set. It includes a program designed to help you with all aspects of writing papers. A personal organizer/calendar created specifically for
students (the only one of its kind). And the Internet Companion to help you tap into on-line resources for researching your papers. It even includes ClarisWorks, an integrated package complete with database, spreadsheet, word processing software and more. All at special low student pricing. With an offer this good, it's the best time ever to discover the power every student needs. The power to be your best. Apple
Academic Computer Supplies, Service & Equipment
Burge Union * Level 3 * 913/864-5690
Offer expires October 17, 1994. Available only with applicable latex. © 1994 Apple Computer Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the apple logo, Macintosh, Performax and "The power to be your best" are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. AppleDesign and Mac are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. ClarityWorks is a registered trademark of Clarke Corporation. £23 per month is an estimated bonus on an Apple Computer Loan @ $485.81 per system. Price loans and amount are accepted without notice. Student loan refranchiser or representative for current system prices. A 5% loan origination will be added to the required loan amount. The interest rate is variable, based on the commercial paper rate plus 5.5%. For the month of August 1994, the interest rate was 10.0%, with an APR of 13.6%. Your loan term with no prepayment period. The monthly payment should assume no deferment or interest. Students may defer principal payments up to 4 years, until graduation. Delivery will change your monthly payments. The Apple Computer Loan is subject to credit approval.
1