By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO, MICHAEL QUINN, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND SIDNEY URQUHART
KERREY'S MILLIONAIRES
Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is recruiting millionaires who can self-finance their runs for the Senate. This has stirred controversy in North Carolina, where Republican war horse Jesse Helms looks vulnerable and Helms' 1990 foe, Harvey Gantt, wants to make another run at him. Gantt has edged ahead of Helms in recent polls, yet Kerrey has encouraged Charlie Sanders, a former Glaxo chief executive, to run. Insiders say Kerrey touted Sanders to big Democratic contributors at a recent retreat in Aspen, Colorado. Officially, a Kerrey spokesman says both Gantt and Sanders would be fine candidates, although he acknowledges that Kerrey's praise for Sanders "confuses people." Gantt's backers plan a bloody primary, which ultimately would probably help re-elect Helms.
Other millionaire candidates encouraged by Kerrey include:
TOM BRUGGERE of Oregon, founder of Mentor Graphics Corp.
JAMES SEARS BRYANT of Oklahoma, legal counsel for N.F.L. and N.B.A. players associations
ELLIOTT SPRINGS CLOSE of South Carolina, CEO of Island Harbor Development Corp.
WALTER MINNICK of Idaho, former CEO of TJ International Inc.
GOVERNOR BEN NELSON of Nebraska, former insurance executive and attorney with Kennedy, Holland, DeLacy & Svoboda
MARK WARNER of Virginia, founder of Columbia Capital Corp.
ANONYMOUS REVEALED! (NO, NOT THAT ONE)
The victim wasn't flashy: the Health Insurance Reform Act of 1995. Still, persons unknown had attempted to murder it with the "hold"--a secretive but deadly senatorial weapon. Technically, the hold is a Senator's request to be notified before a bill comes up for a vote--but the requester has the right to remain anonymous. Increasingly, holds are used to stall legislation or nominations that otherwise would easily pass. And in the Senate, delay can be fatal. The insurance bill, which seeks to reform allegedly unfair industry practices, boasted an almost evenly bipartisan list of 44 co-sponsors. But when chief sponsors Republican Nancy Kassebaum and Democrat Ted Kennedy started making inquiries last September about scheduling a floor vote, majority leader Bob Dole informed them that someone had placed a hold on the bill.
For the next five months, Kennedy and Kassebaum tracked down a number of conservative suspects, among them Oklahoma's Don Nickles, Arizona's John Kyl, North Carolina's Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth, and majority whip Trent Lott. But each potential culprit denied he was the one standing in the way of the bill--at that moment, at least. The hold, it seems, was rolling from requester to anonymous requester. Behind it all, Kennedy and Kassebaum believed, was the Health Insurance Association of America, which has argued that the bill will be far more expensive than advertised. The association also fears that the bill could get the whole health-reform movement rolling again. The H.I.A.A., however, sharply denies it played any part in holding up the measure.
Majority leader Dole ordered his staff early this month to work something out. But just when they thought they had a deal--poof!--another hold suddenly materialized. Only this time, word quickly got out that it was the work of Minnesota freshman Rod Grams. After that revelation, it took only a few days to work out a deal under which the bill will come to the Senate floor. And although the bill's supporters were livid over the delay, no one is talking seriously about abolishing holds. That's because almost every Senator has used it at one time or another--and may need it one day to kill again.
HEALTH REPORT
THE GOOD NEWS
Menopausal women taking estrogen without progestin should consider switching to pills that combine both hormones. Together, estrogen and progestin drastically reduce the risk of developing an excessive buildup of the uterine lining, a precursor to cancer. In contrast, one-third of the women on estrogen alone developed the uterine problem within just three years.
A new, purer vaccine against whooping cough has been shown to be just as effective--or even more so--as the current available vaccine in preventing the disease in infants. It also causes fewer of the troubling side effects, such as high fever, local inflammation and lethargy.
Always tired? Researchers suggest dimming the lights in the hours before bedtime. Exposure at night to normal indoor lighting, they found, prompts the body to stay awake past midnight and not want to fall asleep until around 5 a.m. That's just about when a lot of people wake up.
THE BAD NEWS
Another reason to get the lead out: in a four-year study, young boys found to have high levels of the heavy metal in their bones were more likely than kids with lower lead levels to engage in antisocial activities. Among them: bullying, stealing and even setting fires.
For years scientists have reported conflicting evidence on whether cutting down on fat in the diet could decrease the risk of breast cancer. The latest: it won't. A huge analysis, pooling data on 340,000 females from four countries, shows no relationship between dietary fat and breast-cancer rates. Even extremely low-fat regimens, with fat providing less than 20% of total calories, did not reduce the cancer risk.
For the first time, the government is urging everyone over age 50 to have regular screenings for colon and rectal tumors. Annual tests for blood in the stool and periodic exams, with a scope, of the rectum and colon are suggested.
Sources--GOOD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine; Nature BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; New England Journal of Medicine; Public Health Service panel
LOCAL HEROES
NADINE GOODMAN 39, MEXICO: Social worker Master's degree in hand, Goodman moved to San Miguel de Allende in 1981 to learn Spanish. Once there, the American saw a desperate need among local teenagers for sex education and health care. With a $7,000 grant she founded CASA, a counseling center and maternity hospital. Today its staff of 100, including 60 peer counselors who distribute birth control to surrounding villages, serves 50,000 people a year. Says Goodman: "It's important that these women have access to family planning, can build self-esteem and get the care they deserve."
TIMOTHY PASTUCK 49, NEW YORK CITY: Limo driver Awakened by Melida Menzies' distraught daughter, Pastuck called 911 and ran to his neighbor's apartment to find what he described as a slaughterhouse: Menzies' boyfriend Efraim Correa beating her with a baseball bat. Pastuck rushed to get his rifle. When he returned, he said, he ordered Correa to stop, and shot him when Correa refused. Menzies, badly bruised, has thanked Pastuck, and authorities have dropped gun charges against him. The injured Correa faces attempted-murder charges.
60 YEARS AGO IN TIME
HITLER'S UBERWOMAN
At the opening of the Fourth Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, all eyes were on Leni Riefenstahl, 28, an actress to whom Hitler awarded exclusive rights to film the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin as part of a propaganda epic: "That Realmleader Hitler...holds [Riefenstahl] in high esteem...is apparent to everyone...At Garmisch-Partenkirchen last week, much too occupied to engage in her customary practice of skiing up & down hill in a bathing suit to acquire a tan, she was even busier than usual, keeping an expert Nazi eye on winter sports for Fuhrer Hitler and giving visitors to Germany a startling picture of what he thinks German girls should be." --Feb. 17, 1936
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
RICHARD PETTY, 58 Retired stock-car racing ace
Same face, different race. The familiar, popular pitchman for STP, Pepsi and Goody's headache powders has thrown his trademark cowboy hat into the political ring--to pitch himself for North Carolina secretary of state. Ecstatic Republicans are hoping that Petty will whiz right into the job and help other G.O.P. candidates speed past Democrats into other top posts. Petty, who successfully underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 1995, is the founder of a conservative pac, a former Randolph County commissioner and a regular G.O.P. crowd pleaser. He intends to maintain his commercial plugs while running for the state office. Are Democrats properly geared up? Their starting position consists of a six-way primary contest among four women, a lawyer-lobbyist and a prizewinning eater who once downed 38 eggs in 29 seconds. A state Democratic senator offers this money-saving, if radical, strategy: abolish the post of secretary of state and transfer its duties to the lieutenant governor.
By Kathleen Adams, Charlotte Faltermayer, Janice M. Horowitz, Lina Lofaro, Michael Quinn, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart