The Marines Should Have Landed
USA
Today leads with an unprecedented court decision reinstalling in the
Miami mayor's office the former incumbent defeated at the polls last November.
The Washington Post leads with the finding by military
accident investigators that the crew of a Marine jet was at fault in the deaths
of twenty civilians in the Alps last month. The New York Times
leads with word that the American Stock Exchange and the National Association
of Securities Dealers are discussing a stock exchange merger. The Los Angeles
Times goes with California Gov. Pete Wilson's executive abolition of
affirmative action in the awarding of state contracts. Wilson's announcement
came just days after the courts said such a move would be legal.
The WP reports that accident investigators found that the Marine jet was flying too
low--only 300 to 400 feet when it was supposed to be at 2,000-- and too
fast--more than 100 miles per hour over the prescribed limit for the
route--when it struck that Italian cable car wire. (By the way, the Post
is wrong to say the plane was going "100 knots per hour" too fast--a "knot" is
a (nautical) mile per hour.) As a result, says the paper, they recommend that
the crew face "some sort of punishment." The NYT , LAT , and
USAT are, in their front-page pieces on the finding, all clearer about
what kind: court-martial and prison. In addition, say the papers, superiors in
the aviators' chain of command are also likely to be subject to further
administrative action. Everybody notes that authorities hope the tough stance
will ease Italian demands to try the aviators in the Italian courts.
None of the papers are very clear on why not only the pilot but also the
other officers in the plane's crew could plausibly be held accountable. None
mentions that the EA6B only has one set of flight controls and that therefore
the three electronic warfare officers on board cannot control the plane's
speed, altitude or course. The Post barely brushes this topic,
speculating that the investigators may have concluded the tragedy resulted from
a decision by the entire crew. But for all the papers say, the finding makes as
much sense as holding a stewardess responsible for a commercial pilot's flight
violations.
The NYT lead quickly becomes a primer on the history of the
relevant stock markets and the differences in mechanics and culture among them.
But inexcusably, the piece delays until the ninth paragraph any hint of why the
possible merger could be of interest to the general public: it could mean
savings for investors. The merger story is also a leader at the Wall Street Journal , but doesn't make anybody else's
front.
A USAT inside piece on Linda Tripp reveals that she never labeled the
tapes she made of her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky, but did keep
her TV on during the calls, knowing that the World Series broadcasts and sitcom
episodes audible in the background would enable the particular calls to be
dated.
The WSJ reports that last year, the purchase of the average-priced new vehicle took almost
exactly half a year's worth of median family income. That sounds high, so the
real surprise is that, according to the Journal , this is the lowest
level since 1980.
The WP reports the results of a joint Associated Press-Center for
Responsive Politics survey on lobbying, which show that interest groups are
spending $100 million a month to pressure the federal government on pet issues.
The number one noodge is the American Medical Association, which, in the first
half of 1997, the most recent available reporting period, spent $8.6
million.
The NYT has a big illustrated front-page piece on the recent
discovery that an asteroid, called "1997 XF 11," is likely to pass within
30,000 miles of Earth (that's eight times closer than the moon) on October 26,
2028. What's more, there's a possibility it will hit Earth then. (The asteroid
story also makes the USAT front and is inside the WP .) The
astronomer making the announcement is quoted saying there is "no immediate
cause for alarm." (That's right--the cause for alarm is thirty years from now.)
We have, he says, plenty of time "to improve our knowledge of this thing and
take steps, if necessary." Steps, like, says the Times , blowing up a
nuclear bomb near the asteroid. The Times also mentions that two movies
coming out later this year deal with the scenario of threatened interstellar
collisions. The producers of those movies must just be sooo upset about
this news.
TP thinks the big question isn't whether 1997 XF 11 will hit us in
2028--it's how will it affect Ken Starr's investigation.
