Yakima County may not be as bad as it's portrayed.
The director of youth services at Project Change says statistics can be deceiving.
Across the state, part-time college faculty protest today to get higher wages.
Some YVC instructors are taking their case to the governor.
You'll find several businesses online in Yakima every year.
More and more companies jump on the internet.
Satis Creek is causing the first flooding of the season.
Water is spilling over the banks.
And the stretch of West Satis Road is closed, so hopefully we won't have too much more of that.
Yeah, a little bit okay.
Actually, it's not okay for the people that are suffering in that flooding right now.
No, but...
Have to worry about those closed roads.
Well, we've had worse.
Yeah.
Up next, ABC's World News Tonight.
Stay with us.
On World News Tonight this Wednesday, more of the country's best-known companies announce major cutbacks.
Why are so many Americans losing their jobs?
The battle against terrorism.
What can go wrong when the FBI and the CIA try to share their secrets?
One of the hottest trends in cosmetic surgery.
How safe is it?
An ABC News investigation.
And gun makers making a big pitch to win new customers.
Guess who they are after?
From ABC News World Headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
Sitting in tonight, Charles Gibson.
Good evening.
We are going to begin tonight with a question.
Why are so many people being laid off when the economy is still so strong and the job market is still so tight?
Just today, BF Goodrich said it's cutting 775 jobs.
Kellogg, the world's largest cereal maker, is cutting jobs.
And the industrial giant ITT today joined Boeing in announcing big job cuts.
In fact, already this year, well over half a million workers at major companies have been told they are not needed.
On the Money Tonight, ABC's Betsy Stark.
Today, the bad news came from Battle Creek.
Kellogg said shrinking sales of its cereals around the world were forcing it to cut more than a fifth of its workforce.
The cuts were about discontinuing work that no longer needed to be a part of this organization's growth strategy.
ITT also announced layoffs today.
Yesterday, it was Boeing, Exxon, and Mobil.
On Monday, Deutsche Bank and Banker's Trust.
Corporate America is on course to make 1998 the worst year for layoffs in a decade for three big reasons.
The first, 1998 is also shaping up as a banner year for mergers.
When a merger occurs, inevitably there is a lot of duplication.
That means job cuts.
The Asian crisis is the second reason the toll is mounting.
Seven thousand steelworkers have been laid off this year for the same reason tens of thousands more Americans have lost their jobs making computer chips and electronics.
Asian customers have stopped buying.
Asian competitors are selling a cheaper product, which means American companies cannot raise prices, so they have to cut costs.
Labor is about three quarters of the cost of production.
And so when firms decide to cut back on spending, then labor is often the first thing that they turn to.
Finally, blame Wall Street for the spike in layoffs.
While workers complain the cutbacks have gone too far, management keeps cutting under pressure from investors and industry analysts to keep earnings and stock prices high.
For all the headlines layoffs have been grabbing, it's important to remember that this is still an economy that creates more jobs than it loses.
Analysts now worry the gap may be closing.
Betsy Stark, ABC News, New York.
President Clinton said today he was very concerned about the prospect of more layoffs at Boeing, which is the nation's biggest exporter.
Mr. Clinton said an economic recovery in Asia is the key to getting companies like Boeing back on track.
But Asia is not the only problem.
At Boeing headquarters near Seattle, here's ABC's Brian Rooney.
For the people who make Boeing's jets, this is a familiar cycle of boom and now the bust.
The whole time that I've worked here, it's been hire a bunch of people, lay them off.
Hire a bunch of people, lay them off.
I grew up with this. My dad's a retired Boeing engineer and he was laid off.
Boeing blamed much of its trouble on the downturn in the Asian economy.
Two dozen jets parked in the Arizona desert are evidence that with a slump in air travel, several Asian airlines can't afford to buy the planes they ordered.
But much of this is the result of internal problems that came during the boom, while Boeing tried to fill record orders for airplanes too quickly.
Usually when they produce the sort of the peak of the cycle, when they're producing the most airplanes, they make the most money.
Well, that didn't happen this time because of the production problems.
In a two year period, Boeing hired 45,000 new workers, many of whom had to be trained.
And at the same time, the company was having trouble getting parts.
And so basically what they do is they put a plane together, then they have to take the plane apart to put a particular component in it.
One Boeing official said this morning that it's taken 20 to 30 percent more hours of labor to build jets than it did in 1992.
And some analysts said Boeing announced bigger layoffs than expected just to impress Wall Street with its determination to cut costs and increase profits.
Today, Boeing stock closed down 17 percent for the day.
Analysts also questioned whether Boeing actually will lay off 48,000 employees.
Despite cutting back, the company still plans its biggest commercial production run ever next year.
And given the production problems, it could be hard to make more planes and more money with so many fewer workers to do it.
Brian Rooney, ABC News, Seattle.
Still on the money, investors on Wall Street today reacted negatively to predictions of declining profits at Boeing and the giant department store chain Sears.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 69 points to close at 9064.
On the NASDAQ, stocks were down eight and a half points.
In some places, the price of gas is now so low that people are paying more in tax than they are for the gas itself.
In New Jersey today, stations were selling it for as little as 63 cents a gallon.
More than half of that is tax.
In Washington today, a huge legal victory for a former member of the Clinton administration.
Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was found not guilty on 30 counts of corruption.
He was charged with accepting illegal gifts, sports tickets and travel from companies that did business with the government.
Mr. Espy was forced to resign in 1994 over the allegations.
Independent counsel Donald Smaltz spent four years and 17 million dollars on the investigation.
Mr. Espy had this to say about his battle against the independent counsel.
Stand up to the schoolyard bullies, whether they're in the playground or whether they're in the public courtroom.
Whether they have five cents or whether they have 20 million dollars. If you're not guilty, you should say so and you should not quit.
If our investigation and prosecutions dissuade corporations from giving gifts to their regulators
and the regulators from accepting gifts from those who are regulated, I believe that the costs we have incurred are worth the price.
Mr. Smaltz was able to convict some of the companies and lobbyists who gave things to Espy.
President Clinton said today he was pleased by the jury's verdict and that Espy had served the country with distinction.
Finally, from Washington, the Justice Department's secret memos on possible campaign finance abuses have been open to the Congress.
A judge ruled impeachment investigators could see them.
One Republican and one Democratic investigator immediately went to do so and they will report back to the House Judiciary Committee.
In a moment, secrets and spies. What happens when someone is left out of the loop?
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Overseas Israel said tonight it will call off all further troop withdrawals from the West Bank after a particularly violent episode there today.
Palestinian students were protesting Israel's refusal to release more prisoners when a car with Israeli license plates showed up.
The students ambushed the car and Israeli soldier was trapped inside.
The students beat him, stole his assault rifle and wrecked his car, but the soldier eventually limped away.
In China today, there has been an extraordinary reaction to the arrest of two pro-democracy activists.
Now nearly 200 other protesters, risking their own safety, have joined the challenge.
ABC's Jim Lorry is in Beijing.
Xu Wenli is the best known dissident still in China.
He's been trying to form the first opposition political party in 50 years, and that's why he and his colleagues are in jail.
In an open letter released today, 190 democracy activists wrote, the arrests exposed the hypocrisy of the Chinese government.
19 others said they plan to stage hunger strikes.
It was the boldest expression of dissent since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
The movement to form a political party began when President Clinton came to China last summer.
It gained strength when China signed the International Covenant on Human Rights in October.
But that treaty may not matter much.
The head of China's parliament, Li Peng, warns groups that want a multiparty system will not be allowed to exist.
Jim Lorry, ABC News, Beijing.
And we have a report tonight about keeping secrets.
In the battle against international terrorism, the FBI and CIA have been trying to get along to cooperate and share their secrets more than ever before.
Most people say it's working, but a lot can go wrong.
And ABC's John Miller reports tonight on one case where it has, in a big way.
After the bombing of the two U.S. embassies in Africa, the CIA called on all cooperative intelligence services to share whatever information they had
about suspected terrorists with connections to Osama Bin Laden.
Some of the most alarming information came from this apartment house in Turin.
Italian intelligence agents had placed bugs in an apartment where they suspected Bin Laden's terrorists were planning an attack.
The Italian intelligence agency Sisti brought the CIA into the loop.
The CIA then brought the FBI into the loop.
Then the FBI went out of the loop, passing the information on to the Italian national police.
The Italian police raided the house, arresting three suspected terrorists and seizing weapons and ammunition.
The problem was the FBI did not tell the Italian police about the Italian intelligence operation.
In fact, the Italian intelligence agents first learned of the raid live when their bugs recorded the sound of police breaking down the door.
Italian intelligence had hoped the bugs would help them identify more members of Bin Laden's terrorist cells and felt the raid blew their investigation.
Officials at the FBI and the CIA told us today there was a lack of communication between the two agencies in this case.
But they weren't taking all the blame.
They pointed out that communication in this case between the Italian intelligence service and its own police wasn't much better.
John Miller, ABC News, New York.
U.S. troops in Bosnia arrested a Serb general today, the highest ranking officer to be captured since the end of the Bosnian War.
Rotoslaw Krstic was arrested in Bosnia.
He is charged with genocide, accused of leading the massacre of Muslims at a U.N. safe haven in 1995.
The U.S. Navy has worked out a deal to end an embarrassing sex scandal and keep Admiral John Scuddy out of prison.
Scuddy was accused of awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars in Navy contracts to his mistress.
In a hearing today, Scuddy was found guilty of ethics violations and adultery.
He agreed to a forced retirement at a lower rank with a reduced pension.
Up next, an ABC News investigation.
How safe is the alternative to silicone breast implants?
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When we were traveling cross country, we stopped at a place. They had the business channel we started watching.
The market was going down and we said, there are these stocks we wanted to buy. And from the road we called up.
Called Schwab because we didn't have a phone modem in the motorhome. So we couldn't trade online. Where were we?
Utah.
Utah. On a pay phone. Talking to Schwab. Buying the stocks.
There was a feeling of exhilaration. Hey, we've done it. You've committed to it. Then we got back in the motorhome and traveled on our way.
And those purchases have done well.
Tonight we are going to continue our investigation into breast implants and questions about their risks.
The government, you may recall, banned the use of silicone implants for cosmetic surgery six years ago because of safety concerns.
But a completely different kind of implant made from saline has stayed on the market and gained acceptance as the safer alternative.
There has been a boom in breast implant surgery of late. An estimated 120,000 women have received saline implants this year.
ABC's John McKenzie reports there are now questions about these implants and the problems they may cause.
The number of breast implant operations has now more than tripled since the silicone scare of the early 90s.
That's because of the growing popularity of saline implants. Pouches of common salt water that can be inflated right in the operating room.
But even these implants have had problems. Valves can leak and the implants have to be removed.
That can mean more surgery, more scar tissue and thousands of dollars more in expenses.
The Mentor Corporation is a major supplier of saline implants.
ABC News has learned that work has begun on a national class action lawsuit expected to allege the company made defective leaf valves.
And that a separate front suit charges the company did not reveal the extent of the problem.
Executives at Mentor declined to be interviewed on camera.
They did say any suits against them are without merit and that the valve problems were related to certain surgical and sterilization techniques used by doctors.
But a University of Toronto study of failed saline implants published last year in the Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery showed that the leaf valves can leak even without those techniques.
So today the company said there may be other unknown ways that doctors can affect the implants.
Although Mentor insists implants made with leaf valves were safe, they stopped making them three years ago.
But by then they have been implanted in more than 50,000 women.
The FDA has cited Mentor for violations in the way it makes its saline implants.
The company has agreed to correct its manufacturing problems by the end of this month.
But there is a second issue totally apart from this one company.
What happens when any saline implant leaks or ruptures?
Back in 1992, health authorities reassured women in a leak or rupture of saline implants, what's released is basic salt water easily absorbed by the body.
But surprising new research at Washington University in St. Louis suggests that salt water is not always so safe.
That salt water can be a breeding ground for harmful microorganisms.
A look at some saline implants removed from Canadian women suggests just how contaminated they can become.
And if these bacteria and fungi were released into the body...
There would be a risk of an infection which would manifest itself as an increase in size of the breast, fever, redness, pain, those kind of things.
Mentor says reported infection rates from saline implants are low.
I don't think anybody knows how often this happens.
When there are no studies and no data, nobody can say.
And that poses a basic dilemma for women.
Whether there's enough reliable evidence regarding the safety and effectiveness of saline breast implants.
John McKenzie, ABC News, New York.
When we come back, marketing guns to young people.
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The makers of certain baby rattles and teething toys are being asked by the government to take them off store shelves because they may pose a risk of cancer.
Last month, 2020 reported the chemical phthalate, which is used to soften some toys, has caused cancer and other health problems in lab mice.
Several stores have already stopped selling those toys.
Not many would think of guns as a product for children, although many parents do encourage their kids to learn how to handle them safely.
But still, there are questions tonight about gun makers and their campaign that sells to children.
Here is ABC's Deborah Amos.
The Acorns Junior Rifle Club trains on guns they are still too young to buy.
Legally, they're under my dad's name, the two guns that I own.
Attaboy.
And dad is the coach here at the National Rifle Association's range.
This 13-year-old marksman says she loves the sport and reads gun catalogs to keep up.
They show pictures of people shooting and make it sound interesting.
There is a tradition in many parts of the country of fathers teaching children to shoot.
But anti-gun activists say something new is going on here.
With gun manufacturing in a slump, they say for the first time, gun manufacturers, gun lobbyists, gun magazines are marketing a gun culture to kids.
So they'll buy firearms when they're adults, a charge that's likely to be tested in court.
Specifically, they point to these images in gun catalogs, semi-automatic handgun competitions for juniors.
This video promoted by a sports shooting group, youth magazines, and shooting clubs of the NRA.
If it was any other product, whether it was tobacco or alcohol, we saw these exact same types of effort being made.
People would be shocked. But because it's guns, people still think it's different.
But gun enthusiasts say getting kids interested in sports shooting is nothing new.
There isn't a recreation industry in this country, be it the golf industry, the tennis industry, you name it,
that doesn't have to look ahead and say who are the customers of our future.
Adult males are the traditional customers, but that market is saturated.
Gun sales to women never took off.
The same way that the tobacco industry needs replacement smokers, the gun industry needs replacement shooters.
So sports shooting is a battleground for activists because national studies show if you don't buy a gun by the time you're 21,
you probably won't buy one at all.
These people are attacking 4-8 shooting programs, Boy Scout shooting programs, NRA safety and hunter safety programs.
I mean, my gosh, get a life.
And both sides are after the same target, kids.
Deborah Amos, ABC News, New York.
The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending immediate safety changes on Boeing 757 jets.
The problem is those emergency passenger slides.
They are supposed to deploy, as you know, during emergencies on the ground.
But six times in the past five years, slides on the 757 model have opened up in mid-flight.
In a moment, anchors away, the Navy goes all out.
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Shopping during the holidays can be really expensive.
Buy something for Dad?
Something for Sis?
When are you gonna do something for yourself?
Well, during the Chevy, make your money count year end of age.
Treat yourself to the Chevy car or truck of your dreams.
With APR financing as low as 0.9% or big cash back on a huge selection of Chevrolet vehicles, the perfect Chevy is waiting just for you.
So do something for yourself this year.
Let your Chevy dealers make your money count year end events.
It's the season for you.
Tonight, did technology secrets from American companies help China build better rockets and could they be aimed at America?
What has the effect of all this been on U.S. national security?
Well, let's say.
A major investigation on 2020 tonight.
A brief review of our top story.
So many companies cutting jobs.
Today, BF Goodrich, Kellogg, and the industrial giant ITT announced big layoffs.
More than half a million job cuts have been announced already this year.
And despite the strong economy and low unemployment, we are on course to have the worst year for layoffs in a decade.
Finally tonight, a last word about jobs, government jobs.
And more to the point, how to get young men and women to take Navy jobs.
The Navy needs more than a few good men.
Naval recruitment is off by 7,000 this year.
So the Navy has produced a new recruiting film from which it is going to produce TV ads.
Next year, it will spend 80 million dollars to broadcast those ads.
Focus groups tell the Navy young people don't like the idea of all work and no play.
So what do the pictures show?
Basketball.
Skating.
On the town in New York.
And endorsements of a new Navy.
You can have a family and live in a nice townhouse in a good town.
I go bike riding.
I go skating.
Old salts may be asking where are the pictures of swabbing decks, painting halls, polishing and repolishing brass?
Don't they do that in the Navy anymore?
Of course they do.
There is still a big difference between recruiting and reality.
Aye, aye. That is our report on World News tonight.
Don't forget 2020 tonight.
Then later on Nightline, a popular radio talk show host and a medical mystery solved.
I'm Charles Gibson. Have a good evening and we'll see you tomorrow night.
Tomorrow.