Court docket

A provision of a new communications law enacted in February and aimed at regulating "indecent" American content on the World Wide Web was struck down by a federal district court June 12 as unconstitutional. At the Supreme Court, justices handed down three key rulings. They reversed court-ordered minority congressional districts in North Carolina and Texas as improper interpretations of the Voting Rights Act; they held that police officers may use routine traffic stops as justification for vehicle searches; and they allowed Washington state to continue enforcing its ban on doctor-assisted suicide while legal challenges to the law are resolved.

Dole's day

Bob Dole formally ended his 35-year career in Congress June 11; in his honor, the balcony outside the Senate leader's office was named "Dole beach." At a party following his farewell speech, well-wishers presented Mr. Dole change-of-address cards with the White House as the forwarding address, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Change-of-address cards for Sheila Frahm showed her moving from Topeka to Washington; the Kansas lieutenant governor was immediately sworn in to fill the Senate vacancy created by Mr. Dole's retirement. Pro-life Republicans hope to mark those cards "return to sender": Rep. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) will challenge the new pro-abortion senator in an Aug. 6 Republican primary. On June 12, Mississippian Trent Lott won the leadership battle in the Senate, replacing Mr. Dole as majority leader. Other changes in the Senate were prevented by voters in Virginia and South Carolina, where John Warner and Strom Thurmond defeated primary challengers with two-thirds of the vote each. Before he left, Sen. Dole gave the Balanced Budget Amendment one last try. But on June 7, for the second time in two years, the amendment was voted down. It fell three votes short of the necessary two-thirds margin to approve an amendment to the constitution. Last year, it fell two votes short; since last year's vote, Democrats picked up one seat. The consequences of fiscal irresponsibility were displayed in another way June 5: The annual government report on the health of the Social Security and Medicare systems predicted that in the year 2029, just as the last baby boomers hit age 65, Social Security will be bankrupt; in 2001, Medicare is predicted to go bust.

Church fires

President Clinton appeared June 12 at the rededication of a South Carolina black church that was burned down a year ago. The day before, members of the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation giving the government more power to investigate and prosecute church arsonists. Meanwhile, in Enid, Okla., a June 13 fire destroyed the First Missionary Baptist Church.

Freemen, jailbirds

All 16 remaining members of the Freemen "Christian Identity" group left their compound near Jordan, Montana June 13, concluding without bloodshed an 81-day standoff with federal agents. Many "Christian Identity" followers, such as the Freemen, believe they are the true "Israel" and that the land occupied by the United States was promised them by God. Since 1994, the Freeman had waged an intimidation campaign against local, state, and federal officials, claiming a right to self-government. Twelve of the 16 members taken into custody face charges of financial fraud and threatening public officials. A more serious charge will be lodged against Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski. The Justice Department prepared to indict the former Berkeley math professor for the April 1995 mail-bomb murder of California Forestry Association President Gilbert B. Murray.

'By man shall his blood be shed'

An army paratrooper who staged a sniper attack on his own unit last October, killing an officer and wounding 18 of his fellow soldiers, was convicted and sentenced to death. The death penalty for Sgt. William Kreutzer, issued by a court-martial jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., will be appealed automatically. As a jury in San Jose, Calif. deliberated the future of the confessed killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, the slain girl's father vented his emotion on the Internet. "Regardless of the verdict, the truth is clear," wrote Marc Klaas, calling Richard Allen Davis a "beast" who "is guilty of heinous crimes against a little girl...." The message, part of a daily journal, appeared on the web site of the Klaas Foundation for Children. In Wenatchee, Wash., a 13-year-old girl who was the key witness in two highly publicized sex-ring cases now says she lied under pressure from her police detective foster father. Detective Bob Perez was the chief investigator of the alleged sex crimes. The girl and her young sister had implicated more than 90 adults, including a pastor and his wife who were later acquitted. At least 20 adults have pleaded guilty or have been convicted. Mr. Perez's attorney dismissed the girl's new claims as "false allegations."

Healthy bottom line

Well-known evangelist and educator Jerry Falwell, a one-time opponent of racial integration, has thrown his support-and five-million-name mailing list-behind an economic venture created by five black denominations. The fledgling Revelation Corporation of America, a for-profit company, seeks to pool the purchasing power of black consumers with the corporation receiving a small percentage of each transaction. As black family incomes continue to rise faster than incomes for white families, the income difference between black and white households is getting smaller. 1994 figures just released by the U.S Census Bureau put the median income for two-earner black families at $49,692, equal to 88 percent of the median income for white two-income families. For single- income families, median black income was at $24,698 in 1994, 60 percent of the median income for one-income white families.

The anti-family family business

"Anti-family" is the term Southern Baptists used to describe the Walt Disney Company at the denomination's annual convention, held in New Orleans. More than 13,000 delegates representing 16 million Southern Baptist members voted June 12 to threaten a boycott against Disney if the entertainment giant continues its "promotion of homosexuality" and the release of films with "questionable material." Also, a special offering was received to help rebuild black churches destroyed in the recent spate of church fires. Last year, convention delegates passed a resolution apologizing for past racism among Southern Baptists.

Pander bear

Any similarity between the 1992 Clinton campaign the 1996 campaign of Russian President Boris Yeltsin seemed to be purely intentional. The Russian president even went so far as to use Mr. Clinton's now-famous empathetic phrase: "I feel your pain." Mr. Yeltsin went out of his way to court the youth vote, even to the point of dancing on stage at a rock concert. Winning the votes of the young was key to the Yeltsin strategy because many older voters sided with Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov because they long for the days of subsidized food prices. In Germany, meanwhile, welfare-state supporters took to the streets for a massive rally protesting reductions in now generous state-run welfare programs. Chancellor Helmut Kohl said the cutbacks are needed to combat soaring unemployment and economic stagnation.

Insecure security

As Israeli Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu worked toward forming a coalition government and formally taking power, Lebanese guerrillas June 10 mounted an ambush in Southern Lebanon that killed five Israeli soldiers. The attack came only hours after gunmen identified as Palestinian terrorists shot an Israeli couple in a car on a secluded road. Netanyahu won election on a platform of "peace with security" that he said would better protect Israelis against attack. Elsewhere, a coalition government finally coalesced in India, winning a vote of confidence in Parliament. The vote ended a month-long power struggle that has caused virtual suspension of government activity since elections last month.

Scandal watch

White House chief of staff Leon Panetta apologized June 7 for the administration's trolling through the confidential FBI files of more than 300 former Bush administration and Republican Party employees-including top officials such as former Secretary of State James Baker. The information surfaced June 4, when House Government Reform and Oversight Committee chairman William Clinger (R-Pa.) discovered the extraordinary file request among the 1,000 pages of White House documents surrendered to the committee in late May concerning the Travelgate scandal. On June 5, FBI director Louis Freeh promised a "thorough inquiry" into the matter. On June 11, the Senate Whitewater Committee ended its 14-month-long public hearings and began preparing the final report due by midnight June 17. As the committee wrapped up its work, chairman Al D'Amato said "there will undoubtedly be some referrals" of perjury evidence to special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Media reports suggested three key figures may face an investigation into charges they lied to Congress: Deputy White House chief of staff Harold Ickes; Hillary Clinton's chief of staff Margaret Williams; and friend of Mrs. Clinton Susan Thomases. Congressional Whitewater counsel Michael Chertoff said June 13 the committee wants Mrs. Clinton to answer in writing and under oath questions concerning her legal work on a non-Whitewater-related real-estate deal known as Castle Grande. President Clinton was ordered to provide more videotaped testimony July 7 in the criminal trial of two of his political appointees in Arkansas. Jury selection in the trial of Herby Branscum and Robert Hill, who are accused of illegally funneling $50,000 to Mr. Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign, begins June 17. Republicans also had brushes with scandal: The husband of first-term Republican Rep. Enid Greene, Joe Waldholtz, pleaded guilty June 5 to four felony counts against him with respect to fraudulent financial dealings involving the couple personally and his wife politically. Upon the plea, a Utah court granted the couple's divorce. Rep. Greene is not running for reelection. And Arizona Gov. Fife Symington was indicted June 13 by a federal grand jury on 23 felony counts, including fraud and attempted extortion. Mr. Symington will remain in office while fighting the charges.

Revoking a license to kill

The Florida Board of Medicine revoked the medical license of a doctor who secretly took over the abortion practice of a slain colleague. Steven Chase Brigham was charged with failing to notify state authorities when he continued the practice of John Britton, an abortionist shot and killed in 1994 by anti-abortion activist Paul Hill. Medical board actions also have been brought against Dr. Brigham in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Mr. Hill was convicted of Dr. Britton's murder and sentenced to death.

Whoa, Canada

The Presbyterian Church of Canada overturned the ordination of its first acknowledged practicing homosexual pastor. He had been ordained by a local church near Montreal.

Funding human-rights violations

A United Nations human rights committee criticized China for widespread child abuse, including infanticide. According to Reuters, a report from the Geneva-based U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child also expressed alarm at "the very high mortality rates" in Chinese orphanages and said that state "family planning policy must be designed to avoid any threat on the life of children, particularly girls." China's coercive population control program is funded in part by another U.N. subset, the Fund for Population Activities. It's estimated that more than 14 million abortions are performed in China each year.