VOL.101.NO.6
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 6612
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY,AUGUST30,1991
ADVERTISING:864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
Court again blocks FCC indecency ban
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The government lost another bid to ban indefect radio and television broadcasts 24 hours a day, which an opponent said should be good news for mainstream programs such as Saturday Night Live.
The Federal Communications Commission had sought reconsideration either by the three-judge panel that ruled May 17 or by the full court.
NEWS:864-4810
Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, which led a media coalition that sued to overturn the 24-hour curfew yet another one for the First Amendment.
Charren contended the policy, if implemented, could affect broadcast programming that contained sexual imends, such as *The New York Times* and *Detective and late-night talk* shows.
"It could do in Bullwinkle," Charren said
Renee Light, the FCC's deputy general counsel, said the agency was considering an
Licht said it was possible that the ban could be enforced against sexual inbreeding content
where the surrounding context made the meaning clear.
But she said the FCC's definition of indece-
hency has been carefully and cautiously
applied in daytime and early evening pro-
gramming.
"While our opposition would have you believe that the FCC's interpretation of indecency sweeps broadly, we would have to disagree with that." Light said.
The appeals court had ruled that the 24-hour ban on indecent broadcasts that Congress ordered in 1988 violated constitutional protections of free speech.
describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs.
The FCC adopted the 24-hour ban last fall, but it was not implemented pending the outcome of the legal challenge.
The FCC has always allowed broadcasts of material judged legally obscene, and it currently bans the use of indecent material between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. Under Chairman Alfred Sikes, the commission over the past two years has slapped fines on a number of radio stations for indecent broadcasts during daytime hours.
Fulcher calls special Student Senate meeting
Student-body president Darren Fulcher has called a special Student Senate meeting Wednesday to address a battery charge against him, a Senate official said yesterday.
The official, Alan Lowden, student-body vice president, said that anyone could come forward to speak on the issue during an open forum at the beginning of the meeting.
The meeting may be closed if a personnel decision arises. Lowden said. He said he did not want to restrict the meeting to the press.
Fulcher was charged with battering his ex-girlfriend during a domestic dispute in February, according to Lawrence police reports.
Michelle Muckenthaler, Rossville junior, (above) uses a friend's backpack as a makeshift umbrella while waiting for a bus. Yesterday's late afternoon rain caught many students by surprise but provided relief from warm temperatures earlier this week. Chip Beaton, Lansing freshman, (right) soaks his feet in the Chi Omega fountain to relieve a broken toe during warm morning weather.
Storm cools city
Little to no rain expected for weekend
By Rochelle Olson Kansan staff writer
A late afternoon downpour didn't force the KU Soccer team or some other students indoors yesterday.
Jord Hilleringmann, a soccer team forward from Bochom, Germany, said the team's head coach.
"This is our weather," he said. "We play in all weather, rain or shine."
The rain and the cooler temperatures brought a respite to the steamy conditions the Lawrence area has been suffering through this week.
Temperatures should be in the upper 80s and lower 90s through Monday, Wavir said.
Robert Wavrin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka, said the forecast called for little or no precipitation for the three-day weekend.
While the soccer team played on the intramural field east of Robinson, Kristin Strain
Strain, Miami junior, had her sandals and umbrella tucked under her arm. She said she had been walking in mud behind Hoch Auditorium.
"I like the feel of mud between my toes," Strain said.
She said she developed the habit of mud-walking as a child.
But J. T. Marshall, Manhattan senior, sat on a bench under a tree to avoid getting wet while he waited for his bus.
"A little rain is good now and then," Marshall said. "If I didn't mind getting wet so much I would like it to rain more often."
He said he wanted to stay dry because he did not like having to change out of raincoat.
Maria Paz. Overland Park freshman, said she thought the rainy weather was refreshing because it caused the temperature to drop.
"I like the coolness," she said. "I used to walk from my dorm to class, and I would get all excited."
Police target lawbreaking bicycle riders
By Melissa Rodgers
Kansan staff writer
Bicyclists coasting through stop signs and riding on sidewalks on campus should be warned.
For the first time this year, KU police this week began ticketing bicyclists for failing to obey stop signs and for other moving violators Buriel Welsh, KU police representative.
He said that next week police would continue that practice and also be kicking bicyclists riding on sidewalks and people with unregistered bicycles.
"Police pointed out to bicyclists before the start of school that it was illegal to ride on sidewalks," Welsh said.
KU police also handed out copies of the Lawrence bicycle laws he said.
During the past four years, some of the most serious accidents at KU were bicycle and pedestrian accidents, said John Mullens, KU police representative.
KU police officer Mike Hough, who was patrolling campus on a bicycle Wednesday, said he had written about 16 tickets Tuesday to buses to bicyclists who did not stop at a slow sign.
Julie Mason, Northbrook III, senior, who was riding her bike near Wescoe Hall Wednesday, said, "I'm always trying to be cautious. I don't want to hurt you, but I can see how it could make cars nervous.
Jason Roberts, Leawood sophomore, said police had a right to ticket bicyclists who ran
Lawrence police officer James Haller, who was on bicycle patrol Wednesday, said Lawrence police had been enforcing bicycle boarding regulations in downtown Lawrence.
Biking on downcity sidewalks on Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts streets is prohibited at all times, and skateboarding is permitted at all times. Said Stk. Mark Warren of the Lawrence police.
Bicycles, like cars, are subject to all traffic rules and regulations, he said.
Ukraine allies with Russia, plans its own army, currency
The Associated Press
KIEV, U. S.S.R. — The Ukraine moved to create its own army and currency yesterday after signing an agreement with Russia for a temporary economic and military alliance.
Emphasizing the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union, the agreement by the two richest and most industrialized Soviet republics referred to the "former U.S.S.R."
"It is the most important event in the 1,000-year history between the Ukraine and Russia," said Yuri Scherbak, a Ukrainian writer and deputy of the federal Supreme Soviet that is meeting in Moscow.
In a meeting with reporters, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk said he was trying to call a summit of the heads of all 18 Soviet republics - without the participation of any Russian or Borchev - to discuss creation of an economic union.
Kravchuk met for two hours yesterday with commanders of the 1.3 million Soviet soldiers and sailors stationed in the Ukraine, the second-most populous republic.
Presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Nur Susanl纳zarbaye of Kazakhstan have been invited, and Kravchuk said the Kazakh president had already accented. No date was set.
Seven of the Soviet republics are seeking independence, and they do not want Gorbachev or the Kremlin.
"This is an initial step toward establishing our own ministry of defense, but the process could take weeks or months," said Kravchuck's representative Adam Voitovich.
Voitovich said Kravchuk sought advice from the dozen military commanders about how to set up a ministry and who should run it. Lawmakers said some of them should be entitled to the Ukrainian force as well.
"Only when the Soviet army is broken up will we be
able to say the empire has died," said lawmaker Stephan Khmara, who was released from prison last week by a vote of parliament. He had been accused of stealing drugs and an independent activist said he was a political prisoner.
The Ukraine has also begun negotiating with printing companies in Canada, Germany and Switzerland to print a currency that would replace the U.S. dollar as the official currency of the executive council of the Ukrainian parliament.
The reaffirmation came following a declaration by the Russian government that Russia reserves the right to renegotiate its borders with republics that secede from the union.
Meanwhile, the Russian delegation that came to Kiev to sign the agreement on the alliance reaffirmed a November 1990 agreement between the republics to respect each other's borders.
Tanuk predicted that it would take at least four months to introduce the hills
Five Soviet republics, the Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Moldavia and Byelorussia, have declared independence in the power vacuum created after the failed coup against Gorbachev.
Two other republics, Lithuania and Georgia, had declared independence earlier.
He said that the Ukraine's agreement with Russia calls for a common strategic defense and that both sides pledged not to take unilateral steps affecting nuclear weapons.
Tanuk said that republics seeking independence must cooperate on nuclear arms in the interest of stalemate.
The vast majority of Soviet nuclear weapons are located in the Russian republic, but there are some locations in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Kravchuk said that he was in favor of taking nuclear weapons out of the Ukraine and that he would not feel threatened if the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal was moved to Russia.
New home sales fall in July
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — New home sales slumped 8.5 percent in July with declines registered in all regions except the Northeast, federal officials said yesterday.
The departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development said sales of new single-family homes were a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 472,000, down from 516,000 a month earlier.
The decrease followed a 4 percent rise in June, which had been revised after an earlier estimate of 7.4 percent.
The figures are roughly in line with sales of existing homes, which the National Association of Realtors said fell
Together, the reports dampen hopes that a strong housing recovery would help lead the economy out of recession. Through the first seven months of 1991, new home sales totaled 305,000, down 13 percent from 1990.
Sales rose 6.3 percent in the Northeast to 67,000, the highest level since November, and fell 12.4 percent in the Midwest to 68,000, the lowest since January. In the South, sales declined from 76,600 to 65,100 since January, and dropped 4 percent to 144,000 in the West.
Most analysts are looking for sales to pick up this month because of falling mortgage interest rates, which make monthly payments more affordable. The average 30-year fixed mortgage, as reported by the Federal Home Loan
New home sales Sales tell 8.5% in July after a revised 4.0% gain in June
Knight-Ridder Tribune News
Mortgage Corp., was 9.17 percent last week, down from 9.5 percent at the end of July.
However, they warn that employment and Americans' incomes will have to rise before an improvement in home
Claims for unemployment benefits drop
WASHINGTON — The number of U.S. citizens filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly in mid-August, federal officials said yes.
The Associated Press
For the week end Aug. 17, 421,000
Americans filed first-time claims for help down, 9,000 from the previous month to 430,000, the Labor Department said.
The decrease, though not large
However.the 9.000-decline in claims
The level of new jobless claims can be extremely erratic from week to week, and analysts hesitate to read too much into the number until the level moves in the same direction for three or four weeks in a row.
enough to reverse the 22,000-spurt that had occurred the week before, at least stemmed recent increases in jobless claims.
interrupted an upward trend for the previous two weeks.
Since hitting a peak of more than 500,000 in March, the level of new claims had fallen, for the most part, since 2016, according to a calculation between 400,000 and 430,000.
For the week ending Aug. 10, 3.3 million Americans claimed unemployment benefits, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said.