October 31, 1995
Web posted at: 9:35 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Commission on Presidential Debates on Tuesday recommended four debates next year: three presidential and one vice presidential, beginning September 25 and winding up October 16.
The commission suggested that each debate have a single moderator who is not be from any of television's entertainment networks. It did not rule out CNN.
The commission's recommendations were announced by its co-chairmen, Paul Kirk, former Democratic national chairman, and Frank Fahrenkopf, former Republican national chairman.
The commission also suggested:
Fahrenkopf announced 10 sites that are being considered: Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina; George Washington University in Washington; Hartford-Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan; St. Petersburg-Tampa University in south Florida; the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland; the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; the University of San Diego in California; and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
1996 Presidential Candidates
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, is once again under scrutiny on Capitol Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee opened two days of hearings Tuesday.
A Treasury official conceded that mistakes were made, but he said that reforms have been made from the top down to prevent a repeat of the fiery standoff near Waco in 1993.
Criminal justice professor Jim Fyffe told the panel that he believes that the mistakes were the product of a military mindset on the part of federal agents. "I think the job of the police is to preserve life. Catching bad guys, ending hostage situations quickly, ending barricade situations quickly, none of those things are as important as the responsibility of the police to protect life. And sometimes we forget that," Fyffe said. (184K AIFF sound or 184K WAV sound)
Fyffe also told the panel that he thinks police officers and agents start to think of themselves as soldiers. "That is a real problem, because in a Democracy, police officers should not be soldiers, because soldiers have enemies," he said.
The 51-day standoff near Waco ended in the deaths of cult leader David Koresh and 80 of his followers as well as four agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- A suburban Dallas woman said Tuesday it's finally safe to release footage she made when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
The film doesn't show the actual shooting of the president, but does show the "grassy knoll" where some think that a second gunman hid.
Patsy Paschall says that she generally kept quiet about the footage for 32 years because she was afraid someone would kill her. Paschall hopes to sell the footage for $250,000.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to prevent an infection that frequently blinds AIDS patients. The manufacturer says that Cytovene could cut the risk of CMV Retinitis by about half.
CMV infects most of the population and usually is harmless in healthy people, but it can blind people whose immune systems are under attack by HIV.
Cytovene can cause serious side effects, including anemia and reduced white blood count.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A former director of a Parkinson's disease charity faces charges he embezzled more than $870,000 in donations. Frank Williams, 54, is accused of stealing the money from the American Parkinson's Disease Association. Parkinson's disease, a degenerative brain disorder characterized by body tremors, is thought to afflict about 1.5 million Americans.
There was no indication the money went to nursing homes as intended. It was unclear what Williams did with the money, federal prosecutors said. Williams, who resigned in April, was arrested Monday. If convicted, he could be sentenced to five years in prison and fined $250,000.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- The space shuttle Columbia continued to orbit smoothly on Tuesday, NASA said. It is hoped that a series of experiments being conducted on the 16-day mission will lead to more effective drugs, fire-fighting materials and semiconductors. One of the latest science experiments carried out by astronauts examined the influence of chemicals on a liquid protein solution. The experiment used a water drop one inch in diameter, much bigger than water droplets on Earth.
Columbia is scheduled to land Sunday at 6:54 a.m. EST (1154 GMT) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
DETROIT (CNN) -- Thousands of Devil's Night volunteers are credited with keeping down the number of pre-Halloween fires in Detroit. The city, which on a normal day has 40 to 60 fires, expected to release Devil's Night numbers on Wednesday. The Detroit News reported 41 fires had been confirmed at midnight, far fewer than 182 reported last year and the 297 that burned in 1985 when the burnings of trash piles and houses peaked.
Stung by last year's failure to keep Devil's Night arson down, Detroit officials signed up thousands of volunteers to patrol neighborhoods, launched an extensive awareness campaign, and limited the dispensing of gasoline in portable containers.
In Camden, New Jersey, about 3,000 people volunteered to help in that city's campaign to prevent fires in what's known there as Mischief Night. Camden avoided a repeat of 1991 when 133 fires were reported. Six building fires were reported late Monday.
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CNN) -- "I'm not bitter ... but all the little children lose," said Jennings Osborne after being found in contempt by the Arkansas Supreme Court. The businessman turned on 175,600 Christmas lights outside his home last year -- down from more than 3 million in 1993 -- but that was still too many.
The court Monday ruled Osborne had violated an order to tone down the display. It said 175,000 lights was still "a massive commercial lighting display" inappropriate to a quiet neighborhood. Osborne was fined $15,000, given a suspended 10-day jail sentence, and ordered to pay fees and attorneys' costs totaling $7,000.
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