ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
As farmers across the United States started spring plantings, the House gave final approval Thursday to legislation that would phase out government subsidies for a welter of crops as part of the broadest overhaul of farm programs in 60 years.
Passage of the House ``Freedom to Farm'' bill, on a vote of 270-155, marked a historic move away from government intervention.
Subsidies would be phased out over seven years, providing $46.6 billion for farm programs. The Senate passed a similar bill Feb. 7, and congressional leaders expect no problems in combining the versions into a single measure acceptable to both houses.
- Los Angeles Times
New rule requires folic acid in breads
WASHINGTON - Enriched bread is about to get a little richer.
The Food and Drug Administration issued final regulations Thursday requiring that folic acid, a vitamin that can prevent birth defects, be added to enriched breads, flours, corn meals, pasta, grits, rice and other grains.
``It's absolutely critical to have folic acid on board very early on in the pregnancy - before many women even know they are pregnant,'' said FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler. Deficiencies cause spina bifida and other ``neural tube defects,'' in which the vertebrae fail to form completely and the spinal cord remains exposed.
- The Washington Post
Budget cut curtails IRS audit plans
WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service will audit 18 percent fewer tax returns this year because of a sharp reduction by Congress in the agency's budget, IRS Commissioner Margaret Richardson said Thursday.
The agency is planning to audit 1.4 percent of all returns this year, down from 1.7 percent last year. - a cutback at a time when the agency is increasingly concerned that long term changes in the economy could make it harder to keep track of taxpayers.
Nationwide, the IRS is cutting 8,000 jobs, reversing an effort last year to add 5,000 jobs, Richardson said. Plans for a major new audit program, in which selected taxpayers would be subject to a line-by-line audit, were canceled late last year.
- Los Angeles Times
Simpson civil trial delayed 5 months
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -The trial of the wrongful-deaths suits filed against O.J. Simpson was pushed back five months Thursday when Superior Court Judge David D. Perez ordered the proceedings to begin Sept. 9. In a brief hearing, both sides told Perez they would not be ready to try the case on April 2, as scheduled.
- Los Angeles Times
Flu deaths cause dip in life expectancy
ATLANTA - U.S. life expectancy fell slightly in 1993, the first dip in 13 years, but that doesn't mean shorter life spans - just that the projections were skewed by a large number of flu deaths.
Life expectancy for people born in 1993 was pegged at 75.5 years, down from the 75.8 years someone born in 1992 might expect, the federal Centers for Disease Control said Thursday.
The CDC blamed the decline on two nationwide epidemics in which 82,820 people died from flu or pneumonia.
Although the life expectancy figure is given for people born that year, most of those who died were older and weak from other chronic health problems. That shows the need for people in high-risk groups, especially the elderly, to get flu shots, Ms. Gardner said.
No figure has been calculated yet for 1994, but provisional figures indicate a rebound in life expectancy, the CDC said. One good sign: Infant mortality fell to the lowest level ever in 1993. The overall infant mortality rate for 1993 was 8.4 deaths per 1,000 live births.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB