Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994 TAG: 9405250052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TAVARES, Fla. - A teachers' union is seeking to overturn a requirement ``to indoctrinate'' students that American culture is superior to all others.
The 1,400-member Lake County Education Association sued the county's School Board on Tuesday, saying the board violated the U.S. Constitution and Florida law by adopting the policy.
The school board voted 3-2 on May 10 to require teachers to ``instill in our students an appreciation of our American heritage and culture such as our republican form of government, capitalism, a free enterprise system, patriotism, strong family values, freedom of religion and other basic values that are superior to other foreign or historic cultures.''
The union asks a Circuit Court judge to prohibit the board from implementing the policy. The suit contends the policy ``requires teachers to suppress ideas ... to portray certain minority groups as inferior and to indoctrinate students to a particular viewpoint.''
- Associated Press
Report confirms Gulf vets' claims
WASHINGTON - U.S. troops were directly exposed to chemical agents, mostly from rocket attacks, more than a dozen times during the Gulf War, a congressional report claims in concluding that such agents are a cause of illnesses afflicting thousands of veterans.
The 160-page report, to be released today by Sen. Donald Riegle, D-Mich., includes testimony from 30 Gulf War veterans who say that apparent Iraqi missile attacks were followed by chemical agent detectors sounding, the air filling with fumes and burning sensations on their skin.
Almost all are now suffering from the debilitating symptoms of what has come to be known as ``Persian Gulf Syndrome.''
- Associated Press
Post office in deep trouble, panel told
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service is in ``serious financial trouble,'' facing a huge deficit and an uncertain future, witnesses told a House committee Tuesday.
William H. LeBlanc III, the senior member of the independent Postal Rate Commission, sent one of the strongest signals of any witness that the Postal Service's finances are more troubled that previously thought.
``It is my view that the Postal Service could hardly be worse off financially and I see nothing on the horizon that will significantly improve its present position," he said. A Reagan appointee who has served on the five-member regulatory panel since 1987, LeBlanc predicted the Postal Service is headed for a $2.4 billion loss this year, well above the $1.3 billion loss that Postmaster Marvin Runyon had expected.
- The Washington Post
EPA rules waste ash must follow rules
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that municipal solid-waste incinerators that produce hazardous ash must soon start disposing of it under stringent federal hazardous waste-disposal rules rather than simply dumping it in conventional landfills.
The EPA decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in early May that ash from energy-producing municipal waste plants can be considered hazardous waste if it is found to contain certain metals or other toxic substances.
- The Washington Post
by CNB