Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1997)
your quick guide to news from around the world Welfare reform puts mothers in work force 1SAN FRANCISCO — Welfare reform appears to be achieving one of its intended effects — push ing more mothers into the labor market, a Federal Reserve Bank of ficial said Monday. The bank’s western district, headquartered in San Francisco, looked at changes in the labor force and compared it to the Aid to Families With Dependent Chil dren caseloads. “There has been an increase in labor force participation by women with families, and we know there has been a decrease in AFDC rolls,” said Joe Mattey, edi tor of the bank’s Western Econom ic Developments newsletter. Welfare reform “appears to have the effect intended by Con gress,” he said. The study by researcher Mary Daly found an unusual increase in the number of people entering the work force starting in September 1996 — when the welfare reform law known as the Personal Re sponsibility Act went into effect. After years of flat numbers, the total percentage of Americans working or looking for work jumped by 0.6 percent to a record 67.25 percent in March and April of 1997. The number of women main taining families who entered the labor market skyrocketed — from 8 million to 8.5 million in that pe riod, or 16 percent. At the same time, the nation’s AFDC rolls shrank by 640,000, Mattey said, not far from the 500,000 increase. “It’s not necessarily welfare recip ients, but if you look at the caseload figures and the number of AFDC re cipients ... it likely accounts for a portion of it,” Mattey said. Heidi Hartmann, director of the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research, viewed the numbers with caution. She said the changes could sim ply be a combination of a recover ing economy and long-term trends that have developed over decades. “Women are increasing their la bor force participation every year, except in recessions,” she said. “Another long-term trend is that especially mothers are (increasing participation), and another long term trend is that the poor are in creasing their participation,” Hart mann said. Court to discern when police can enter home 2 WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Mon day to use an Oregon case to clari fy what evidence of danger must exist before police with search warrants can break into a home without knocking first. The court agreed to hear federal prosecutors’ bid to use weapons seized from a man’s home as evi dence against him in a gun-pos session case. The prosecutors say the seizure was proper even though police with a search war rant broke a window in the house without knocking first. Hernan Ramirez was charged in 1994 with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Police with a search warrant went to his home in Boring, Ore., on a tip that an escaped inmate may have been there. Officials said the inmate had struck a guard, stole a vehicle and threat ened to kill police officers and others. The 45 officers arrived early in the morning and began announc ing over a loudspeaker they had a search warrant. Without waiting for a response, one officer broke a garage window and began waving a gun through the window. Ramirez said he and his wife thought they were being burglar ized. He ran to a closet, got a gun and fired it into the ceiling. Ramirez then realized the win dow was broken by police, and he surrendered. Genetic defect that causes obesity found 3 NEW YORK — For the first time, scientists have identified genetic flaws that make people fat. One defect showed up in an 8 year-old girl who weighs nearly 200 pounds. She has already had surgery on her overburdened legs and liposuction just to help her get around. The genetic defects are de scribed in two reports, each deal ing with a different gene. One re port caps an intensive worldwide search for flaws in the gene that tells the body how to make the hormone leptin, while the other gives a new hint for understand ing the complex process that con trols a person’s weight. Experts said the newfound de fects cause obesity only very rarely and do not apply to the vast major ity of fat people. “They’re real landmark papers” said Dr. Albert Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. But there’s "no big public health or therapeu tic message. ... The average mid dle-aged, overweight woman is not likely to see much benefit from this.” Genes do play an important role in ordinary human obesity, but that probably comes from subtle variations in their functioning rather than major defects like the newfound mutations, said Rudolph Leibel of Rockefeller University. Answers still lacking in tampering case 4TUMWATER, Wash. — A po lice investigation into how a piece of metal found its way into a Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treat is at a standstill after two months. On April 30, Susan Shaw bought a box of eight Kellogg’s treats from a grocery store. She said her 5-year-old son, Jared, cut himself on his cheek after biting into one of them. The Tumwater woman report ed the incident to police and su permarkets pulled the packaged treats off their shelves. Now, almost two months later, the cut is healed and the snacks are back on store shelves, but in vestigators still don’t have any an swers. They say that after initial ly cooperating, Shaw has refused to talk with detectives. “We have no idea why she is no longer cooperating,” Detective Thor Gianesini said. He said questioning was “low-key” and the mother was never considered a suspect. But Shaw and her attorney, Rick Cordes, say police have ha rassed her and seem to be trying to implicate her in the alleged product tampering. The incident is considered to be isolated, and Kellogg’s has said it has received no similar com plaints. Cordes said he and Shaw have not discussed filing a law suit against either Kellogg’s or the supermarket where the treats were purchased. Inmate at center of murder investigation 5 SPARKS, Nev. — A California inmate serving a lengthy prison term for murder is the prime suspect in an 18-year-old murder case here and may have been involved in as many as 12 unsolved killings across the West, authorities said Monday. “We believe he is a viable sus pect in eight to 12 other murders across the West,” Sparks Deputy Police Chief Bob Cowman said at a news conference. Cowman and Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick refused to reveal the inmate’s name, where he is in prison, or information about the other killings that occurred in the late 1970s. They would only say that the inmate is 41 years old and was sentenced in 1985 to 44 years in prison for a 1984 murder in Cali fornia. But Cowman said he is the prime suspect in the 1979 killing of a Winnemucca woman whose body was found in a ditch be hind a Sparks warehouse. Rulan McGill, a 32-year-old wife and mother, drove to Reno on July 10, 1979, for a dental ap pointment and to shop. She was reported missing the next day when she failed to return home. Two days after she left home, her abandoned vehicle was found behind a warehouse. The follow ing morning, the victim’s stepfa ther and an uncle discovered her body in a nearby ditch. The case remained unsolved for 18 years, but this past January, California prison authorities told Cowman’s department that the in mate claimed to be involved. Cowman said the prisoner has corroborated evidence gathered from the 1979 murder scene and said another person witnessed the murder. “We believe this person has provided sufficient detail to make him a viable suspect,” said Cowman, who described the in mate as “an absolute predator killer.” He said the inmate wants to talk to investigators without fear of prosecution — a concession au thorities are unwilling to make. “We certainly do not believe our duty to the victim and the family has diminished with the passing of time,” Cowman said. ^ Basic UNIX X Computer Viruses X Computer Maintenance & Troubleshooting fcf V X HI 25 0* Z < HI Z oc Ui UJ I z o CD O < 0 Q the UO Library and University Computing INVITE YOU TO CHECK OUT The IT Curriculum Information Technology & Computing Workshops http://libweb.uoregon.edu/it/ ♦ Free-open to UO students, staff and faculty. ♦ Mo registration required-just show up! ♦ Pick up a copy of the schedule at Knight Library or the Computing Center. For more information contact the Office of Library Instruction, 346-1817 or cbell@darkwing.uoregon.edu & BEGINNING WEB PUBLISHING X INTERMEDIATE WEB PUBLISHING X ADVANCED PUBLISHING'S} : ■ . ' . : • We're always 75c Wash All Day Every Day! ★ FUUY ATTENDED ★ QIAN RESTROOM ★ TV i WAITING AREA ★ DROP Off LAUNDRY SERVICE ★ ESPRESSO, IUICE, SNACKS, l MORI citeck out the Wash (am Buy 10 washes and jet one free. See attendant for details 165 E. 17th Behind Safeway & Hiron’s Hours 7am to ltpm lie hope to sec you there! John
