
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994                   TAG: 9409230041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CONGRESS TURNS DOWN PAY RAISE

For the second consecutive year, congressional leaders Tuesday canceled a cost-of-living pay raise for members - avoiding a political showdown that might have jeopardized a scheduled 2.6 percent pay raise for federal workers.

Negotiators for the House and Senate Appropriations Committee agreed to language in the 1995 Treasury-Postal Services spending bill that blocks a $3,473 pay raise for members from taking effect. Most members of Congress receive $133,600 a year in salary, while a handful of congressional leaders are paid more.

- Washington Post

Harassment based on religion rule axed

WASHINGTON - Religious groups and conservative lawmakers declared victory Tuesday after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission withdrew guidelines dealing with religious harassment in the workplace.

As originally drafted, the guidelines defined unlawful religious harassment as any verbal or physical conduct that ``denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of his/her ... religion ... or that of his/her relatives, friends or associates.''

- Associated Press

West Virginia sues 17 tobacco firms

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia sued 17 tobacco companies Tuesday in an attempt to recover millions of dollars in health care costs and keep the companies from promoting cigarettes to minors.

``For decades, the tobacco companies have gotten West Virginians hooked on their products, taken millions of dollars in profits back to their companies, and stuck West Virginia taxpayers with the bill for the medical care of people made sick by tobacco,'' said Attorney General Darrell V. McGraw Jr.

West Virginia spends at least $500 million a year for health care for tobacco-related illnesses and has the highest smokeless tobacco consumption rate in the nation, McGraw said.

- Associated Press

Hundreds of rail bridges found at risk

MOBILE, Ala. - After Amtrak's worst rail disaster occurred almost a year ago, the Coast Guard found hundreds of rail bridges vulnerable to a marine crash like the one that sent the Sunset Limited careening into a swamp.

In its final report released Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a sweeping inspection of rail and highway bridges, saying the lack of such a probe likely contributed to the Sept. 22, 1993, crash that killed 47 people.

A barge lost in fog struck the unlighted rail bridge spanning Big Bayou Canot about 3 a.m., knocking the bridge's rails out of alignment. The Sunset Limited arrived minutes later and derailed, plunging into the water.

- Associated Press

by CNB