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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 25, 1995                   TAG: 9501250071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN THE NATION

WASHINGTON - State courts recorded almost 900,000 felony convictions in 1992, nearly a third of them for drug offenses, the Justice Department reported Tuesday.

That was a 34 percent rise in felony convictions from 1988, the first year a comparable study was done. Leading the way was a 57 percent increase in convictions for aggravated assault, followed by a 53 percent rise in drug-trafficking convictions, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Drug trafficking accounted for 19 percent of the state convictions, and drug possession for 12 percent, for a total of 31 percent in 1992.

By comparison, federal courts recorded 42,000 felony convictions in 1992, 44 percent of them for drug offenses.

- Associated Press

FDA seizes hair relaxer

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has seized tens of thousands of bottles of ``Rio'' hair relaxer products after deciding they can cause severe hair loss or turn hair green.

The FDA last month warned consumers not to use ``Rio Hair Naturalizer Systems,'' a product imported from Brazil and sold through television infomercials by World Rio Corp. of Los Angeles.

While the company said it had stopped selling the products, the FDA received reports that it continued to take orders and bill consumers. Meanwhile, the agency received more than 1,800 reports of people claiming the products caused everything from severe scalp irritation and hair loss to green hair.

- Associated Press