Inside Her Trading
The Washington Post and Los Angeles
Times lead with the heightening of security measures in the wake of
last week's arrest of a man trying to enter the U.S. with the makings of
several large bombs. USA Today off-leads anti-terrorism and goes instead with
yesterday's tech-led stock surge--apparently off the Fed's decision not to
raise interest rates for now, a development the Wall Street Journal puts at the top of its front-page
business and finance news box. USAT 's headline states a stunner: "NASDAQ
UP 77 PERCENT FOR YEAR." The New York Times stuffs the one-day
financials but leads with the likelihood that the Federal Communications
Commission will allow Bell Atlantic to become the first Baby Bell to enter the
long-distance market. This would mean, explains the Times , that for the
first time since the AT&T break-up, phone customers in New York will be
able to get local and long-distance phone service from the same company. The
paper views this as auguring the FCC's approval of long-distance provision by
the other Baby Bells as well. Upshot: The L-D giants like AT&T and Sprint
will have powerful new competitors who already have service relationships with
tens of millions of customers.
The LAT lead emphasizes the anti-terror moves being made by the
Federal Aviation Administration at airports. The WP lead limns the
intensifying concern occurring across the full spectrum of the federal
government, reporting, for instance, on an anti-terrorism meeting Monday
attended by Madeleine Albright, the CIA director, and the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs. Both stories note that Customs has just reassigned some 300 extra
agents to remote spots along the Canadian and Mexican borders.
The WP lead also promotes the significance of a second border arrest, on Dec. 19, of an Algerian man and
a Canadian woman trying to enter Vermont from Quebec. The man did not have
adequate identification, and later a false French passport was found in his
jacket. And, says the Post , when two bomb-sniffing dogs were called in
to go over the car--one for detecting plastic explosives, the other black
powder--they each alerted to the same portion of the car, suggesting the
residue of explosives there. The paper gives over half its lead to this arrest,
and headlines it "2ND ALGERIAN ARRESTED ON U.S. BORDER." The LAT lead
saves the Vermont arrest until the last few paragraphs. (The NYT runs a
story about it inside.)
A NYT top-fronter reports that Democratic Party officials have
established committees that channel large contributions to several Senate
campaigns in a way that circumvents limits on contributions to individual
candidates. The so-called victory funds are, says the Times , being used for
Senate races in New York, California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, and Missouri. The paper says experts say the funds are "probably
legal" because, despite being incorporated and administered by national party
organizations, they create only an informal tie between the donor or the
national party on the one hand and the individual candidate on the other
(whereas a formal tie would be illegal, given the amounts involved). And yes,
the paper explains, the New York operation benefits Hillary Clinton--to the
tune of "several hundred thousand dollars." Gripe: Although the story makes it
clear that the Republicans have established victory funds as well, the headline
only mentions Democrats.
A front-page WP story cites unnamed sources to sketch President
Clinton's post-presidential plans: living half-time in Arkansas, where he will
oversee a new graduate program at the University of Arkansas, a public policy
center, and a public-sector fellowship program for young executives. In
addition, says the story, Clinton intends to earn large sums of money making
speeches at up to $125,000 a pop.
Both the NYT and WP front Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Andrew Cuomo's announcement yesterday that his agency will take
direct control of the $60 million earmarked for services for the homeless in
New York City, because the Giuliani administration cannot be trusted to
distribute them fairly. Mayor Giuliani responded, say the papers, by accusing
Cuomo of playing politics with the homeless programs and, says the NYT ,
by noting political ties between Cuomo and Hizzonner's likely Senate race
opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The WP and NYT fronts and USAT 's money front report
that a well-known Wall St. investment banker was indicted Tuesday on charges
that he provided illegal tips about pending bank mergers to his still-at-large
mistress, described variously as a stripper, an adult-film star, and an escort.
The story also makes the WSJ 's front-page business and financial news
box, although in the summary there, the reader is spared any reference to the
woman.
The NYT reports that newly declassified Senate testimony shows that
Janet Reno said last June that she thought federal investigators into the
possible theft of U.S. nuclear technology by China had focused prematurely on
former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee. The paper, which has run many
front-page stories in the past year suggesting that China did indeed steal U.S.
nuclear secrets, often detailing suspicious behavior of Lee, puts this one
inside. Incidentally, LAT columnist Robert Scheer noted yesterday that
the NYT has yet to write about a Stanford University research team's
critique of the principal government document making the case against Lee and
China.
A front-page WSJ story documents something pretty interesting about
schools on military bases: Although their student bodies are more racially
diverse and poorer than those in general society, their test scores are very
good. In fact, in 1998, base schools' scores in the national eighth-grade
writing exam were No. 2 in the country. And the rate of matriculation is 80
percent, compared to the national rate of 67 percent. One hidden variable the
story suggests is partially responsible: The military commands tend to support
the teachers in disciplinary wrangles with students and their parents.
The WP makes you wonder about the quality of thought behind many of
those anti-Microsoft lawsuits that came tumbling forth right after the
antitrust trial judge's finding of facts. The paper says that one hastily filed
suit says that Microsoft is a generic drug maker and another says the company's
principal location is Texas.
