ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512040097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
CODY, Wyo. - Republican Sen. Alan Simpson announced to a hometown crowd Saturday that he will not seek another term after 17 years in Congress.
Simpson made the announcement before a crowd of more than 200 at a Cody Country Chamber of Commerce meeting. He is the third senator in the past month, after Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., and Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., to announce plans not to seek re-election in 1996.
As a senator, Simpson, 64, became known for his quick wit and sharp criticism leveled at those in both parties he believed were acting irrationally. He was a driving force behind the effort to overhaul immigration laws.
His support for abortion rights cost him Republican backers in Wyoming and Washington, and his moderate views cost him his position as GOP whip when Republicans took over as the majority party in 1994. - Associated Press Tobacco company cleared in death suit
CHICAGO - The nation's fourth-largest tobacco company was cleared of any wrongdoing in the death of a public relations executive who smoked cigarettes with asbestos-laced filters in the 1950s.
The federal jury's decision Friday capped a four-week trial in which survivors of Norman Braun had sought almost $6.7 million in damages from Lorillard Inc. and the company that supplied the filters to the cigarette maker.
Braun, 63, died Feb. 27 of mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer with a long latency period that is frequently caused by exposure to asbestos. He smoked Kent cigarettes from 1952 to 1956.
The ``micronite'' filter, containing asbestos, was used on Kent cigarettes during those four years. In 1956, it was replaced with a cheaper synthetic filter. - Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS FATALITYby CNB