CollegeBoy.com
The Wall Street Journal
puts atop its "Worldwide" box the first indictments in the Russian money-laundering case, a story
fronted by the other papers. The New York Times leads with Secretary General Kofi Annan's
announcement that the United Nations will have to take complete
control of East Timor--an effort expected to cost nearly $1 billion, of which
the U.S. is obligated to pay 31 percent. The U.N. had been expected to play a
role in Timor's transition to independence, but Annan says pillaging by
Indonesian troops after August's plebiscite has left the Timor government in
disarray. (For a Timor primer, click
here.) The other papers stuff this story. The Washington Post leads
with the House GOP's partial capitulation on "patient rights" legislation: In
the face of more sweeping legislation sponsored by Democrats, the House
leadership reversed position and wrote an alternative bill giving patients the
right to sue their HMOs. (The Los Angeles Times fronts, and the NYT reefers,
this story.) The LAT leads with the Federal Reserve's warning that inflation may be on the horizon--an advisory
delivered along with a decision not to raise interest rates. (The markets
dipped and then recovered.)
A federal grand jury indicted former Bank of New York Vice President Lucy
Edwards, her husband, and a business associate with conspiracy to transmit
about $7 billion illegally. The indictment--which falls short of federal
money-laundering charges--accuses the Russian-born couple and their friend of
operating three money-transfer businesses without a state license from 1996
until August, when the investigation became public and the BoNY fired Edwards.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities raided a Moscow bank--known for its political
connections--as part of its investigation into related money transfers. It
doesn't end there: The WSJ reports that Swiss authorities are
investigating suspicious BoNY accounts held by the husband of Tatyana
Dyachenko, Boris Yeltsin's daughter and political confidant. (To learn more
about money laundering, click
here.)
The NYT and the Post front George W. Bush's provocative speech on education, in which he proposed a
major expansion of federal loans for charter schools and criticized the GOP for
the second time in a week. "Too often, on social issues, my party has painted
an image of America slouching toward Gomorrah," Bush said. "Too often, my party
has confused the need for limited government with a disdain for government
itself." He also proposed federal incentives for states to participate in
national elementary-age testing programs. Writing in USA Today,
sometime
Slate
contributor Walter Shapiro laments that
Bush's remarks were over-rehearsed and "totally skirted such contentious issues
as public schools run on a for-profit basis and the merits of teaching to ace
tests." (For
Slate
's take on Bush's education policy,
click
here.)
The LAT reports that former President Jimmy Carter has been
lobbying President Clinton to pardon Patty Hearst, the newspaper-magnate scion
who in 1974 was famously kidnapped and "brainwashed" into robbing a bank with
her captors (the "Symbionese Liberation Army"). Although many Justice
Department officials are opposed to a pardon, Carter says Hearst--now Patricia
Hearst Shaw--has been a model citizen and mother since he commuted her sentence
in 1979. Shaw, notes the LAT , is a potential but reluctant witness in
the upcoming trial of Sara Jane Olson, a recently captured former SLA member.
Olson's attorney accused Shaw of trying to sell her testimony for a pardon.
All the papers report that college tuition and fees rose less than 5
percent this year--twice the rate of inflation but the lowest rate of growth in
many years. (How many years? The LAT says 27, the NYT says
12, the WSJ and USAT say 4, and the Post doesn't
specify.) Cuts in administrative and educational expenses at private schools
and increased state funding of public schools account for most of the gains,
says the College Board, which conducted the survey. "About 50 percent of people
who go to college pay about $4,000 for fees and tuition," says an expert in the
NYT , "which is $16,000 over four years. If a person works for 40
years, they'll probably earn over $1 million on that $16,000." On the
Post opinion page, David Ignatius drives this point home by quoting Nicholas Lemann's new
book on meritocracy (buy it here): "Here is what America looks like today," writes
Lemann. "A thick line runs through the country, with people who have been to
college on one side of it and people who haven't on the other. The line gets
brighter all the time. ... As people plan their lives and their children's
lives, higher education is the main focus of their aspirations (and the
possibility of getting into the elite end of higher education is the focus of
their very dearest aspirations)." (Lemann's book was also discussed in
Slate
's
Book Club.)
The Journal profiles one youth who didn't buy into the meritocracy
racket. On Sept. 24, Kevin Prigel--a 20-year-old who turned down Harvard for a
full scholarship at Texas Christian University--broke the news that America
Online was looking to buy part of Excite at Home in a deal with AT&T. His
scoop, which was posted on his new website StreetAdvisor.com and later
confirmed by the companies themselves, caused Excite at Home's stock to rise
$4.2 billion in a week. Who says you need a guild card to be a
journalist?
