News In Brief

Although the eye of the storm remained offshore, hurricane Dennis pelted coastal North Carolina with rain, strong winds, and the threat of beachfront flooding. Areas near Cape Fear reported gusts up to 80 m.p.h. A tropical storm warning was in effect from North Carolina to Maryland - a gale warning from Chincoteague, Va., to Cape Henlopen, Del. Meanwhile, South Carolina began to clean up from its brush with the storm.

Teenagers who don't get along with their fathers in two-parent families are more likely to smoke, drink, and use drugs than those raised by single mothers, a new survey indicated. The survey of 2,000 teenagers and 1,000 parents by the private National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found children raised by their mothers alone are 30 percent more likely to use drugs than those living in supportive two-parent homes. But those with two parents who have poor relationships with their fathers have a 68 percent greater risk. (Story, page 1.)

The National Football League and its players' union forged a secret accord in 1995 that allowed players failing drug tests to avoid punishment, The New York Times reported. The paper said tapes from a 1995 Players Association meeting show Doug Allen, union assistant executive director, telling players that a number of them had failed drug tests but because of a private agreement with the NFL they would not be punished.

The 1990s hasn't been the boom time for average employees that it's been for top executives, a survey indicated. A joint project by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based group, found average worker pay rising 28 percent - from $22,952 a year in 1990 to $29,267 in 1998. Meanwhile, average compensation packages for the top two executives at the 365 largest US public companies rose 481 percent - from $1.8 million in 1990 to $10.6 million in 1998.

Millionaire publisher Steve Forbes bought radio spots on stations near Skaneateles, N.Y., where the President Clinton and his family are spending part of their vacation. The ads urge the president to sign a $792 billion tax cut passed by Congress earlier this month. Clinton has steadfastly vowed to veto the package in its current form. A spokesman for the GOP presidential candidate wouldn't say how much the Forbes campaign is spending on the ads, which were to run through tomorrow.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched in San Juan to demand that Clinton give unconditional pardons to 16 independence fighters jailed for sedition. He had offered Aug. 11 to reduce the sentences of all 16 prisoners - and release 11. But the president demanded that the 11 ask for clemency in writing, renounce violence, and abide by parole conditions. Independence activists said the conditions were humiliating and would forbid the pardoned militants from meeting with many pro-independence comrades who have criminal records. Meanwhile, Newsweek quoted a law-enforcement official as saying the Bureau of Prisons had secretly recorded at least some of the jailed Puerto Rican independence fighters saying they would return to violence "as soon as they get out of there."

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society