Economist , March 7 (posted Saturday, March 7) Echoing U.S. News , the cover editorial applauds HMOs for reducing medical inflation. Suggestion for improvement: unregulated competition, which would force HMOs to compete over quality as well as price. ... A story deplores the U.S. government's plans to control encryption software on the Internet. Federal agencies want the right to read encrypted messages, much as they currently have the right to tap phones. A free market for encryption is a better idea: It would produce more reliable encryption software and protect electronic commerce from criminals. New York Times Magazine , March 8 (posted Thursday, March 5) Yet another special issue. The subject is--we're not kidding--business travel as a way of life. Sixteen features look at the nomadic ennui of the frequent business traveler. An article claims airports are our new cities: The Dallas/Fort Worth airport is bigger than Manhattan. Executives can fly in, eat meals, get a massage, hold meetings, and stay overnight--all without leaving the terminal. A story says execs are high-end restaurants' best customers. They eat faster than most and drink overpriced liquor--on the expense account, natch. A piece marvels at the popularity of plane-disaster novels ( Airframe , Mayday ) in airport bookstores, theorizing that fictional air terror must "inoculate a troubled mind with a homeopathic dose of angst." Also, a writer tries to break his personal record of West 86 th Street, Manhattan, to Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D.C., in one hour and 47 minutes. Keys to success: Sit in a front seat on the shuttle and dictate an optimum route to cabbies. Time , March 9 (posted Tuesday, March 3) A blockbuster 75 th -anniversary issue. Among the nearly 200 pages of hagiography: 1) letters to Time from Harpo Marx, Salvador Dalí, William Randolph Hearst, and Frank Sinatra ("as usual your information stinks," Frank wrote in 1961); 2) an array of great cover images; 3) Time 's most and least prescient comments (in 1983, a prediction that the paparazzi would kill a member of the royal family, and in 1933, a prediction that Hitler was destined for obscurity); and 4) a list of Time neologisms ("socialite," "televangelist," and "World War II"). Time 's two best-selling issues were both on Princess Di's death. The worst-selling issue? A 1994 cover on the black cultural renaissance. Newsweek , March 9 (posted Tuesday, March 3) On the cover: A smiling Bill Gates proclaims, "Why We Will Win." Inside: A story tracks Microsoft's growing D.C. PR campaign: Gates is visiting Washington this week for schmoozing and a Senate hearing. (For Gates' D.C. diary in Slate , click here.) In an interview, Gates reiterates the Microsoft line, "We need to keep innovating to stay alive." ... Newsweek offers a detailed account of the Kathleen Willey episode, supposedly consistent with Willey's deposition in the Paula Jones case. After Willey said, "I'm really kind of desperate. The bottom line is, I need a job," Clinton allegedly fondled her breasts and placed her hand against his erect penis. Willey pulled away when there was a knock at the door of the president's private study. ... Just when you thought you were safe, Newsweek finds yet another health scare: your malicious thyroid. Thyroid problems can be hard to detect and can cause severe, unexplained depression. U.S. News & World Report , March 9 (posted Tuesday, March 3) A Jekyll-and-Hyde cover package rehashes the usual praise and criticism for HMOs. An article cheers HMOs for cutting costs to both big employers and HMO patients. A former medical director slams HMOs for making heartless, profit-motivated decisions. ... A story worries that foreign exchange students might gain weapons-building knowledge at U.S. colleges. Students from Iraq and North Korea (some learning nuclear physics) currently go unwatched once they enter the United States. ... Also, tax advice: Claim lots of dependents and don't get married (tax laws favor singles). The New Yorker , March 9 (posted Tuesday, March 3) An absolutely terrifying article describes the old Soviet bioweapons program and speculates that rogue nations are now employing its scientists. Chilling descriptions of bioweapons abound: "Veepox," a cross between smallpox and a brain virus, and "Ebolapox," a cross between smallpox and Ebola--as fatal as Ebola and as contagious as smallpox. The bioweapons could be deployed quickly, surreptitiously, and cheaply; and America is totally unprepared to deal with them. (The article is by Hot Zone author Richard Preston, the master of biological horror stories.) ... An essay pegged to the Lewinsky scandal mourns the end of loyalty. Presidential aides used to fall on their swords for their boss; now they stab him in the back. Why? We are a "Free Agent Nation": Shifting, fluid acquaintanceships have replaced firm, lifelong loyalties. Perfect example: Bill Clinton has thousands of friends, but no really close ones. ( Slate 's "Chatterbox" has strong views on this article. Click here.) ... A profile of Judge Susan Wright says she will make sure the Paula Jones trial is narrowly focused and extremely short (perhaps only a week). Those hoping for months of tawdry sex revelations will be disappointed. Weekly Standard , March 9 (posted Tuesday, March 3) The cover story says the Lewinsky case has exposed feminists' partisan agenda. The piece chews over the much chewed-over comparison between Clarence Thomas and Bill Clinton. (Feminists denounced Thomas but defend Clinton.) (For Slate 's ruminations on this topic, see this "Gist.") ... Also, Hillary Clinton is no longer a feminist icon: She's now "the very model of the Victorian little woman, denying it happened, blaming the floozies, absolving her husband of blame." ... An article claims that Dick Armey will not be the next speaker of the House, despite heir apparent Bill Paxon clearing the path by resigning. Armey doesn't schmooze well enough with colleagues and has a fatal flaw: He's bad on TV talk shows. ... A story says GOP leaders are itching to start impeachment hearings once Kenneth Starr finishes his investigation. They just need a few Democratic votes so they can claim bipartisan support. --Seth Stevenson