January 2006

For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org

PRIVACY
Congressional Agency Questions Legality of Wiretaps
Gore's Challenge
High Wiretap Act
Feds Want Google Search Records

INTERNET
Consumers Want Congress to Protect Right to Access
Information, Services on Internet
Advocates of Wi-Fi in Cities Learn Art of Politics
Talk of Taipei: First Citywide Wi-Fi Access
US Courts Ready to Extend Jurisdiction Online
In Threat to Internet's Clout, Some Are Starting Alternatives
A Universe of Good Intentions, A World of Practical Hurdles

OWNERSHIP
New Group Eyes Adelphia Conditions
NBC Buying Denver TV Station
Walt Disney Is In Serious Talks To Acquire Pixar
Putin Ally May Control Big Mobile-Phone Stake

CABLE/SATELLITE
Consumer Union Leads Group Criticism of Family-Friendly Tiers
Technology Changes 'Decency' Landscape For The FCC
EchoStar, DirecTV to Offer Family Tiers
Strong Today, Gone Tomorrow?
The Premium Advantage

MEDIA & CHILDREN
Activists Plan to Sue Viacom and Kellogg Over Ads to Children

QUICKLY -- CPB Reform Efforts Fall Short; More Choices Hit the Radio
Dial; 67 Percent "Enjoy Watching TV Commercials"

PRIVACY

CONGRESSIONAL AGENCY QUESTIONS LEGALITY OF WIRETAPS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Dan Eggen]
The Bush administration appears to have violated the National
Security Act by limiting its briefings about a warrantless domestic
eavesdropping program to congressional leaders, according to a memo
from Congress's research arm released yesterday. The Congressional
Research Service opinion said that the amended 1947 law requires
President Bush to keep all members of the House and Senate
intelligence committees "fully and currently informed" of such
intelligence activities as the domestic surveillance effort. Also,
the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it would file a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit today demanding information about
the NSA spying.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR200601...
(requires registration)
* Report Questions Legality of Briefings on Surveillance
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/politics/19nsa.html?pagewanted=all

GORE'S CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David S. Broder]
[Commentary] Former vice president Al Gore has turned himself into a
one-man grand jury, ready to indict the Bush administration for any
number of crimes against the Constitution. Whether you agree with
Gore's conclusions or not, the speech that the 2000 Democratic
nominee for president gave this week in Washington was as
comprehensive a rundown of George W. Bush's ventures to the limits of
executive authority as anyone could hope to find.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR200601...
(requires registration)
* Who Will Stand Up for the Constitution?
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/opinion/19herbert.html

HIGH WIRETAP ACT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] The WSJ editorial staff comes out firmly against suits
filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for
Constitutional Rights concerning NSA wiretaps. The lawsuits are
frivolous, they write, because 1) the plaintiffs have no evidence
they have been wronged and 2) the Totten doctrine which says a
lawsuit can't proceed if it would inevitably lead to the disclosure
of sensitive intelligence matters. The battle over the al Qaeda
wiretaps isn't in fact a legal issue at all. It is basically a
political battle between Congress and the White House over supremacy
on matters of national security. President Bush has forthrightly
defended the use of wiretaps as essential to fighting the war on
terror. If the ACLU disapproves, it has every right to lobby Congress
to exert political pressure on the White House to reverse its policy.
But its charge of "illegality" is nothing but a political weapon
designed to suggest something more nefarious.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763435529450406.html?mod=todays_us_op...
(requires subscription)

FEDS WANT GOOGLE SEARCH RECORDS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Howard Mintz]
The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order
Google Inc. to turn over a broad range of material from its closely
guarded databases.
The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child
protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their
content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the
Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online
searches. Google opposes releasing the information on a variety of
grounds, saying it would violate the privacy rights of its users and
reveal company trade secrets.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/13657386.htm

INTERNET

CONSUMERS WANT CONGRESS TO PROTECT RIGHT TO ACCESS INFORMATION,
SERVICE ON INTERNET
[SOURCE: Free Press press release]
Two-thirds of Internet users have serious concerns about practices by
Internet network owners to block or impair their access to
information and services, and the majority of those surveyed support
congressional action to prevent this practice, according to a new
poll released today by consumer and public interest groups. The
nationally representative survey found that more than 75 percent of
Internet users polled are seriously concerned about not being able to
freely choose an Internet service provider or being required to pay
twice for certain Internet services. Another 70 percent were
concerned about providers blocking or impairing their access to
Internet services or sites, such as Internet telephone service or
online retailers like Amazon.com. Fifty-four percent want Congress to
take action to ensure that Internet providers are prohibited from
engaging in these practices. The results were released amid upcoming
congressional consideration of legislation that would prohibit
network owners from blocking or impairing consumer access to content
and services on the Web -- known as "network neutrality." The groups
said the Federal Communications Commission's adoption of network
neutrality principles last year fell short because the FCC refused to
include enforcement mechanisms. Fueling the concern are recent
reports that dominant network owners Verizon and AT&T intend to
charge Internet content and services providers, like Google and
Yahoo, fees for high-speed service in addition to Internet access
fees charged to consumers. The groups called on Congress to swiftly
move forward on meaningful legislation to prohibit network discrimination.
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=111
* FCC Commissioner Copps Praises ISP Access Study
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6300504?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)
* Internet freedom seen at risk
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=moreover&guid={18490F6D-B4C0-46AA-B1CD-82C6C330BD62

ADVOCATES OF WI-FI IN CITIES LEARN ART OF POLITICS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Glenn Fleishman]
The idea of building citywide wireless networks from the community
level was suspiciously simple back in 2000, although the plans
sounded like the work of underground revolutionaries. First, build
home-brew Wi-Fi antennas and develop software to make outdoor
wireless networks affordable and practical. Second, persuade
thousands of people in each city to stick Wi-Fi antennas out their
windows, on their roofs or in their places of business to serve
collectively as the nodes of a network. Third, link those thousands
of nodes into neighborhood networks that would themselves connect
into a cloud of free citywide Wi-Fi coverage. But Step 2 was never
completed. While attendance at some community networking groups has
plummeted and some smaller groups have disappeared, their technical
and political impact has never been higher. Wireless advocates no
longer dangle dangerously from rooftops mounting antennas built
inside potato-chip cans, although some still provide technical help
to business owners and nonprofit groups in creating free Wi-Fi hot spots.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/technology/circuits/19wifi.html
(requires registration)

TALK OF TAIPEI: FIRST CITYWIDE WI-FI ACCESS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jason Dean jason.dean( at )wsj.com,
Jesse Drucker & Chiu Piling]
The Taiwanese capital of Taipei is building what is expected to soon
become the world's first citywide wireless-computer network in a
major metropolis. The network, initiated by the Taipei city
government and built by a private company, already includes more than
3,300 wireless "access points" that cover half the city's 106 square
miles. The devices use the wireless Internet technology known as
Wi-Fi to let Taipei's 2.6 million residents surf the Internet or send
emails from the privacy of their living rooms or the public comfort
of their favorite park benches. Although the project has encountered
some glitches and delays, city officials say that when it is
completed around midyear, it will cover more than 90% of Taipei.
Taiwan's efforts have put it ahead of big cities in the U.S., where
dozens of local governments have announced plans to build citywide
wireless networks to provide the public with low-cost Internet
access. The trend is prompting Internet companies like Google Inc.
and EarthLink Inc. to enter the fray, offering Internet services in
direct competition with the high-speed access provided by existing
telecom and cable carriers like Verizon Communications Inc. and
Comcast Corp. The Wi-Fi networks also threaten to vie for customers
with wireless broadband services offered by companies like Sprint
Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless, owned by AT&T Inc. and BellSouth
Corp. The first movers in the U.S. were mainly smaller towns --
places like Granbury, Texas, and Scottsburg, Ind. -- that had little
or no access to high-speed service from telephone and cable
companies. In the last year or so, however, Wi-Fi plans have been
announced for some of the country's biggest cities.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113762531033150131.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

US COURTS READY TO EXTEND JURISDICTION ONLINE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Richard Waters]
A federal appeals court in San Francisco last week weighed in on a
long-running case involving Yahoo in France. In the process, it sent
a strong signal about the willingness of US judges to intervene in
ways that may have an impact beyond American borders, say legal
experts. At first glance, the ninth circuit court of appeals appeared
to duck the issues raised by the Yahoo case. However, two elements of
their opinion sent a clear message that the US courts may become
bolder in exerting a right to influence life on the Internet. One
concerned jurisdiction. Eight of the 11 appeals court judges ruled
that the US courts had a right to hear Yahoo's case, an opinion that
legal experts say could have an impact well beyond cases involving
the Internet. The second notable element of the opinion was the
apparent view of a substantial minority of the judges that the French
courts had indeed contravened Yahoo's first amendment rights in the
US, with five of the 11 expressing a dissenting opinion. That should
give US Internet companies more confidence that they will be able to
count on support from local courts in the future, said Tim Wu, an
expert in international Internet law.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/666b0eb2-884a-11da-a25e-0000779e2340.html
(requires registration)

IN THREAT TO INTERNET'S CLOUT, SOME ARE STARTING ALTERNATIVES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Christopher Rhoads
christopher.rhoads( at )wsj.com]
"The Internet is no longer the kind of thing where only six guys in
the world can build it," says Paul Vixie, 42 years old, a key
architect of the U.S.-supported Internet. "Now, you can write a
couple of checks and get one of your own." More than a decade after
the Internet became available for commercial use, other countries and
organizations are erecting rivals to it -- raising fears that global
interconnectivity will be diminished. The reasons for the trend
include unease with the U.S. government's influence over a global
resource, antipathy toward the Bush administration and more and more
computer users who don't use Roman letters (think China and Arab nations).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763907007950547.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

A UNIVERSE OF GOOD INTENTIONS, A WORLD OF PRACTICAL HURDLES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR:Leslie Walker]
One great thing about the Internet is how anyone can try to make it
better. A group of scientists, academics and nonprofit groups is
making its attempt with a new Internet directory it calls the Digital
Universe. The group's goal is to provide information vetted by
experts on all major topics of human knowledge in a new format
allowing people to browse it in a more visual way. Released in pilot
form Monday, this new directory ( http://www.digitaluniverse.net )
aims to collect the best of the Web in one spot. It differs from
other search engines and directories in two key ways -- by rejecting
advertising and by putting its content under the editorial control of
a self-organizing network of experts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR200601...
(requires registration)

OWNERSHIP

NEW GROUP EYES ADELPHIA CONDITIONS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
coalition announced Wednesday that includes DirecTV and EchoStar
Communications is putting pressure on regulators to condition the
takeover of Adelphia Communications Corp. by Comcast Corp. and Time
Warner. DirecTV and EchoStar -- the country's largest satellite-TV
providers, with 26 million subscribers combined -- fear either losing
access to regional sports networks carried by Comcast and Time Warner
or getting access but paying unfair rates. For several years, the two
satellite carriers have complained about their inability to
distribute Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. The coalition is
formally called the Competition and Diversity Coalition on the
Adelphia Transaction (CADCAT). It also includes The America Channel,
which claimed that it can't get carriage from Comcast and that it is
being unfairly treated by the 22 million-subscriber cable giant.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6300508.html?display=Breaking+News
(requires subscription)

NBC BUYING DENVER TV STATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
NBC will buy KDEN, the Telemundo affiliate in Denver, from Longmont
Broadcasting. The acquisition, pending FCC approval, would give NBC
its first owned-and-operated station in Denver, Nielsen's No.18 TV
market. KDEN would be NBC's 17th Spanish-language TV station. The
company owns Telemundo outlets in most of the top markets, including
New York and Los Angeles, and has been eyeing more acquisitions in
fast-growing Hispanic markets such as Denver, the 16th-largest U.S.
Hispanic market. If the NBC purchase goes through, the station would
replace the company's current Telemundo stations, low-power outlets
KMAS and KSBS.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6300392?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

WALT DISNEY IS IN SERIOUS TALKS TO ACQUIRE PIXAR
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Merissa Marr at
merissa.marr( at )wsj.com and Nick Wingfield]
Walt Disney is in serious discussions to buy Pixar Animation Studios
after months in which the two animation giants have been exploring
ways to continue their lucrative partnership. In the deal under
discussion, Disney would pay a nominal premium to Pixar's current
market value of $6.7 billion in a stock transaction that would make
Pixar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs the largest
individual shareholder in Disney. That would vault Mr. Jobs into an
even more influential place in the media world, where he already
holds tremendous sway as head of Apple Computer. Yesterday, Apple
reported that net income nearly doubled in the latest quarter on huge
demand for its iPod music players. An acquisition would give Pixar
and Mr. Jobs a way to cash in on the company's unbroken run of
blockbuster, computer-animated films. Mr. Jobs would likely join the
Disney board. An acquisition also would give Disney greater access to
a stable of new characters that could be leveraged across the Disney
empire in the same way it built franchises around its own characters.
It would also ensure that Pixar is involved in making sequels to its
movies -- something Disney currently controls -- and give Disney
access to cutting-edge technology.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113764205313450605.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

PUTIN ALLY MAY CONTROL BIG MOBILE-PHONE STAKE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Glenn R. Simpson
glenn.simpson( at )wsj.com, Gregory L. White and David Crawford]
Russia's telecommunications minister was secretly named by his own
law firm as the true owner of a Bermuda-based mutual fund that has
amassed control of a large share of Russia's mobile-phone industry.
Leonid Reiman, a longtime close confidant of Russian President
Vladimir Putin, also was described by his own lawyers during a
confidential meeting as standing to gain financially from companies
since accused of stripping Russian state telecom assets. Several
countries are conducting criminal investigations into the movement of
$1 billion or more of Russian telecom assets to the Bermuda fund,
through a series of European tax havens, trusts and holding
companies. The developments also emerge against a backdrop of
mounting concern in Western capitals about perceived abuse of power in Russia.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763657133550478.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
(requires subscription)

CABLE/SATELLITE

CONSUMERS UNION LEADS GROUP CRITICISM OF FAMILY-FRIENDLY TIERS
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Doug Halonen]
A coalition of watchdog groups led by Consumers Union on Wednesday
panned the cable TV industry's new family-friendly programming tiers,
saying they fail to provide enough programming choices. The members
of the coalition, which also include the Consumer Federation of
America and Free Press, said a la carte-giving consumers the right to
choose and pay for only the programming they want-would be a better
way to allow consumers to control what programming comes into their
homes. In a statement, the groups also urged the Senate Commerce
Committee, which is holding indecency hearings Thursday, to address
contractual provisions in programming contracts that currently bar
cable operators from offering programming a la carte. "The
programming lineup of family choice tiers unveiled to date offer only
limited channels and may discourage families that want greater
control from subscribing to the tier because it lacks other
general-interest programming they may desire," the coalition said.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9217
(requires free registration)

TECHNOLOGY CHANGES 'DECENCY' LANDSCAPE FOR THE FCC
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Cable industry players hate indecency law, but believe that the
Supreme Court would protect them. In 2000, the high court struck down
a law limiting the hours that the Playboy Channel could cablecast
sexually explicit programs. That is why the giant cable operators
told Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) that they would
not oppose a cable indecency law as long as it did not mandate the
per-channel approach or a family tier. Sen Stevens and ranking
Democrat Daniel Inouye of Hawaii declined the deal. The cable
industry is concerned over per channel pricing proposals because they
say the plans would undermine their business model of assembling a
package of niche channels such as news, sports, music videos,
learning, science fiction, and local programming. Meanwhile, the FCC
has not totally abandoned extending indecency rules to the satellite
sector. In a Friday interview, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the
commission conceivably could reverse a decision last year that said
satellite was exempt.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-HMBU1137611803632.html

ECHOSTAR, DIRECTV TO OFFER FAMILY TIERS
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Following the lead of the two leading cable operators, the two
dominant direct-broadcast satellite companies on Wednesday said they
were rolling out programming tiers shorn of explicit sex and
violence. The announcements of family-friendly tiers by satellite
leader DirecTV and No. 2 EchoStar Communications come as Congress
prepares to resume scrutiny over racy programming with a hearing
Thursday before the Senate Commerce Committee. TV executives see
family tiers as a way to lessen pressure from lawmakers who have
suggested applying indecency regulations to cable and satellite. The
regulations currently affect only traditional broadcasters.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10018...

STRONG TODAY, GONE TOMORROW?
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: R. Thomas Umstead]
While VOD is currently the preferred platform toy for kids-targeted
networks to offer exclusive content and sneak-peaks from popular,
established shows, network executives say such programming could move
to a more lucrative pay-per-view Internet model if operators continue
to favor offering free on-demand product.
http://multichannel.com/article/CA6299452.html?display=Special+Report&re...
(requires subscription)

THE PREMIUM ADVANTAGE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: George Winslow]
Premium channels are sometimes described as raunchy because of their
penchant for uncut blockbuster films and original programming that
test moral boundaries. Yet, at least one premium channel executive is
hoping that the political firestorm over violence and sex on TV might
actually help a certain gentle corner of their business -- kids and
family services.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6299450.html?display=Special+Repor...
(requires subscription)

MEDIA & CHILDREN

ACTIVISTS PLAN TO SUE VIACOM AND KELLOGG OVER ADS TO CHILDREN
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison
sarah.ellison( at )wsj.com and Janet Adamy ]
Moving their fight for healthier food into the legal realm, a group
of consumer activists and parents have notified Kellogg and Viacom
that they plan to file a lawsuit over food marketing aimed at
children. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Center
for a Commercial-Free Childhood and four Massachusetts parents
yesterday sent letters to Sumner Redstone, Viacom's chairman and
chief executive, and to James Jenness, CEO of Kellogg, notifying them
of their intent to file suit in Massachusetts State Court in Boston
under state consumer-protection legislation. The letter accuses the
companies of directly harming kids' health by marketing food of "poor
nutritional quality" using characters such as Nickelodeon's SpongeBob
SquarePants. Massachusetts law requires that parties be notified 30
days before a suit is filed. The prospective plaintiffs in the
suit aren't taking issue with the products themselves, but rather
with the advertising of the products to children, which the letter
calls inherently unfair and deceptive. The prospective plaintiffs are
seeking $25 for each time a child under 8 sees an ad for a
nutritionally poor food on Nickelodeon or in another Viacom medium.
(Violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act rewards
damages of $25.) The suit also seeks damages for each time a child
sees an ad for a nutritionally poor Kellogg product during children's
programming on any media, or simply sees a Kellogg package with a
Nickelodeon character on the box. CSPI says its primary goal isn't
monetary damages, but rather an injunction against marketing and
promotional tie-ins using Nickelodeon characters.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763884339250539.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
* A New Way to Fight Junk-Food Ads
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR200601...
* Kellogg and Viacom to Face Suit Over Ads for Children
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/19/business/media/19kellogg.html?pagewant...
* CSPI Suing Viacom, Kellogg For $2B
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6300496?display=Breaking+News...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

QUICKLY

CPB REFORM EFFORTS FALL SHORT
[SOURCE: Free Press press release]
New guidelines for improving its internal governance are tepid and do
little to restore the public's faith in the scandal-ridden
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Common Cause, Free Press and the
Center for Digital Democracy stated. At its meeting on Jan. 9, the
CPB Board of Directors approved new guidelines regarding the types of
matters that require the approval or notification of the Board, and
established two new board committees -- an Executive Compensation
Committee and a Corporate Governance Committee.
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=110
* View an analysis of CPB's actions
http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD442989366...

MORE CHOICES HIT RADIO DIAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride sarah.mcbride( at )wsj.com]
The nation's big radio companies are about to roll out their answer
to satellite radio -- a new technology called "multicasting" that
allows them to cram two or three stations onto FM frequencies that
today carry just one. For listeners, that means dozens of new
channels are coming onto the air, starting this week. But there's a
catch: They need to shell out several hundred dollars for new radio
sets that pull in the digital signals, which regular radios don't
pick up. This week, Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Corp.'s
CBS Radio and other major radio broadcasters are starting to spell
out what formats they will use for the new stations that will be
created to take advantage of the emerging digital technology. Clear
Channel today will begin multicasting 10 new stations in New York and
San Francisco, with 15 more rolling out in the next few days, and
will detail plans for a bigger push later. CBS Radio will also unveil
new multicast stations in several markets. In all, more than 250
multicast digital stations will soon be available in 28 large
markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the HD Radio
Alliance, a trade group of major radio companies, said yesterday.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763826582650518.html?mod=todays_us_pe...
(requires subscription)

67 PERCENT "ENJOY WATCHING TV COMMERCIALS"
[SOURCE: PRNewswire]
Sixty-seven percent of consumers enjoy watching television
commercials and 74 percent of consumers receive most of their new
product information from television, according to the 2005
Schneider/Stagnito Communications Most Memorable New Product Launch
Survey. While many say the 30-second spot is dead, consumers in this
poll disagree. Eighty percent indicated TV ads were the leading
factor that influenced their decision to purchase.
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/main.jsp?resourceid=3121236
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually accurate, their often informal tone
does not always represent the tone of the original articles.
Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang headlines( at )benton.org -- we
welcome your comments.
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