News In Brief

MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW

You've heard the jokes - some of them in questionable taste - about lawyers' place in society. Well, lawyers hear them, too, and don't find them amusing. So it is in that spirit that the first Friday of every November now has been designated as National I Love My Lawyer Day - a time to, in its sponsor's words, "Call and say thanks for a great job, or even send ... a gift of flowers." But just so the occasion isn't one-sided, the American Lawyers Public Image Association is asking attorneys to reciprocate with one hour of pro bono work or by donating the equivalent in cash to Child Reach, a nonprofit group for disadvantaged youth.

GO IN PEACE

Palestinians despise all Israelis, right? Wrong. When winds blew paraglider Adi Ben-Yosef off course and onto their turf near Jenin in the West Bank last Saturday, security officials ensured that he was unhurt, gave him a cup of tea, and sent him home without interrogation or confiscation of the glider.

Ranking the best companies on how they treat minorities

For the second year in a row, the parent company of Denny's restaurants - Advantica Group - has been ranked as the best US company for minority employees by Fortune magazine. Denny's once faced charges of racial bias against customers and paid $46 million in 1994 to settle related claims. Fortune reported that 48 percent of Advantica's 46,000 workers are minorities and a third of Denny's restaurants are minority-owned. The magazine assessed 1,200 companies in such categories as minority representation among executives and level of diversity training. The best workplaces for minorities, according to Fortune:

1. Advantica Restaurant Group

2. Fannie Mae

3. McDonald's

4. Southern California Edison

5. Sempra Energy

6. Xerox

7. Silicon Graphics

8. SBC Communications

9. Lucent Technologies

10. BellSouth

- Business Wire

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