You're on KVIITV, Channel 7, Amarillo.
This is Pro News, the Noon Edition, with Ev Avera, Andrea Miller, meteorologist Dave Harmon,
and the Stock Report with Jess Miller.
Good afternoon.
Randall County District Attorney Randy Sherrod is still not commenting on a lawsuit filed
against him Tuesday.
He is accused of racketeering and a host of other allegations leveled in a federal lawsuit.
Two Lubbock police officers and defense lawyer Millard Farmer filed a suit claiming they're
fighting to expose a cover-up of former pathologist Ralph Erdman's misdeeds.
The suit names 12 defendants, including 47th District Judge David Gleason and five members
of the Amarillo Special Crimes Unit.
The suit asks for indictments against Farmer and the two officers to be thrown out as well
as unspecified damages.
Farmer is to stand trial in Judge Gleason's court on Monday.
The search continues for a local attorney who was also a former Moore County Court-at-Law
judge.
Police suspect foul play in the disappearance of 39-year-old David Lewis.
He was last seen Thursday night at Amarillo College where he teaches class.
Lewis' vehicle was found Tuesday in the parking lot of the new Potter County Courts building.
His wife told police he had received death threats over the telephone recently.
If you have any information regarding Lewis, please call the Amarillo Police Department
at 378-3038.
The capital murder trial of parole killer Kenneth McDuff continues today in Houston.
In opening arguments Tuesday, prosecutors said McDuff told others he was looking for
crack cocaine and a woman the night a Waco convenience store clerk was abducted, raped,
and killed.
The victim's mother, Brenda Solomon, testified yesterday her daughter was a happy, hard-working
woman.
McDuff told reporters he was innocent but never looked at Mrs. Solomon during her testimony.
The House Public Education Committee has passed the controversial Robin Hood plan and sent
it on to the full House for debate next week.
The proposal was passed along party lines with eight Democrats on the committee voting
for it and three Republicans against.
The plan would call for a constitutional amendment allowing some local property tax money to
be redistributed among school districts statewide.
The same idea was cut down by Republicans during the last special legislative session.
Democrats say a state income tax is another option.
Meanwhile students at West Texas State University are staging a rally on the campus in Canyon
at this hour in support of more funding for higher education.
Today's event is a preview of a larger rally taking place Friday on the front steps of
the capital.
About 60 WT students will be traveling to Austin to protest against cutting higher education
budgets during the current legislative session.
Pro News has a crew in Canyon today and we'll have more on this story this evening at 6.
The Clinton administration isn't saying a lot about economic plans but we'll tell you
what they are saying in just a moment.
And from Los Angeles the civil trial against four police officers involved in the beating
of Rodney King gets started.
Stay with us.
It's now just two weeks until President Clinton gives Congress his complete plan on how to
get the economy going again.
Thirty one billion dollars is the newest estimate on how much it's going to cost to stimulate
the economy but the White House is tight-lipped about the actual figures.
The President hasn't made any final decisions yet on the amount of the program.
I think that he is working on and looking at a stimulus program.
I think it will be divided between a spending investment program on jobs in the short term
and will also include private sector incentives like an investment tax credit as he talked
about during the campaign but the President hasn't made any final decisions on numbers.
This morning President Clinton spoke to the Office of Management and Budget.
He says in a few days he'll announce plans for White House budget cuts.
He says should set the tone for more cuts on a grander scale.
Meanwhile Congress began work on the family leave bill this morning.
The Senate rejected the Republican alternative to the bill which would have provided tax
breaks to companies who voluntarily grant leave to employees.
And that clears the way for the version President Clinton is pushing.
Ann Compton has more on what the bill could mean to American business.
For parents like Mitch Philpott of Atlanta the family leave bill comes too late.
In a conference call with President Clinton Philpott told how he lost his job while his
small son was in a coma.
To be going through that situation when your child is bad enough, the money part of it
is bad enough, but to know that after it's all over you've got to go find a job is really
tough.
But small businesses like JR's Steakhouse in McLean, Virginia are worried.
With 55 employees JR's would be covered by the new law although some employees have been
given leave time for years.
Owner Jim Wordsworth now fears the high cost of training many temporary replacements.
To be a waiter or waitress here takes about 10 days to learn the menus, the computer system,
the station pickups, the service techniques and those kinds of things.
The cost of 10 additional days of training just for to replace one slot is an onerous
cost, an absolute onerous cost.
President Clinton is eager to sign the legislation that will guarantee unpaid leave, up to 12
weeks of it, to anyone in a company with more than 50 workers.
Both benefits would continue, the salary could not be cut.
There is a catch, companies that employ more than 50 people account for only 5% of all
American companies and they employ only half of the US workforce.
The other half, the ones who work for small businesses, get no guarantees on family leave.
And come to ABC News, the White House.
Los Angeles is bracing itself for another trial of the four white police officers accused
of beating black motorist Rodney King.
Jury selection began this morning, this time the hearing is taking place in federal court
on charges the officers denied King his civil rights.
But will this time be different?
Brian Rooney reports.
What burned in Los Angeles last spring is still rubble.
The youth of South Central have no jobs for the present and little hope for the future.
The city enters this new trial with the same problems it had last spring and the same doubts.
There's a great deal of cynicism at this point in time among most African Americans, no matter
what they're stationed in life, that it's hard to get justice.
After two years and thousands of press reports about the Rodney King beating and its aftermath,
the court must impanel a jury that has not made up its mind.
And if necessary, will not be afraid to arrive at a verdict that could spark another riot.
Just because people have opinions about the case does not mean they're not going to be
able to sit as fair and impartial jurors.
If a fair and impartial jury hears this case, it still might not arrive at a decision everyone
agrees with.
And that's what has Los Angeles worried.
The four white police officers acquitted last spring now face charges in federal court that
when they beat Rodney King, they intended to violate his civil rights, something that
may be hard to prove.
And while the cops are on trial, the trial of three young black men accused in the videotape
beating of truck driver Reginald Denny is scheduled to start.
The talk of Los Angeles is that justice itself is on trial and more than a verdict rests
with the jury.
What occurs here in Los Angeles and Southern California, I really believe is a precursor
to what's going to occur in other cities.
Williams has some fear that what may occur is another riot and his entire police department
is getting training to handle it.
Ryan Rooney, ABC News, Los Angeles.
Meanwhile a reputed gang member has admitted to spitting on Reginald Denny as the truck
driver was beaten during the riot.
Anthony Lamar Brown pleaded guilty to assault and robbery charges for attacking two other
men.
Brown could be sent to prison for up to two and a half years when he's sentenced February
23rd.
Five others arrested in the attack on Denny are still awaiting trial.
Georgia fire authorities say a space heater may have started the blaze which killed seven
people this morning.
Five children, one adult and one teenager were killed in this house fire this morning.
Officials say the victims apparently died of smoke inhalation.
The blaze spread quickly through the Woodframe House in a small community in northwestern
Georgia.
Investigators are trying to verify that the electric space heater did indeed spark the
flames.
Some confirmation today on the question surrounding cellular phones and brain tumors.
People are being told not to push the panic button but to push the dial button a little
less.
That is the word today from the National Cancer Institute.
Doctors there say there is little or no evidence to support claims cell phones may cause or
accelerate growth of brain tumors.
But they also say if you're still worried just use your phone a little less.
After spring light temperatures are returned to winter as in the forecast, meteorologist
Dave Harmon is in next.
We'll also show you the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in the Philippines.
Experts say a big one is in the future.
Compared to the Buick Le Sabre, the only thing grand about the Mercury Grand Marquis is the
price.
For thousands less, the Buick Le Sabre gives you better gas mileage.
The Buick Le Sabre gives you standard ABS brakes.
Grand Marquis doesn't.
The Buick Le Sabre also has more interior room for your passengers.
On top of that, you now can get one grand cash back.
No pun intended.
On the Buick Le Sabre, the number one selling car in its class at your Southwest Quality
Buick dealers.
One, two, three, four.
Let's roll.
Bowling.
Bowling in the woods.
America's first great sport.
Bowling.
Rolling through the USA.
Wednesday nights are special at Western Bowl.
You can bowl every game for 99 cents and all draw beer is 99 cents.
Come join all your friends for the Wednesday night 99 cent special at Western Bowl.
Canyon E-Way and Western, Emerald's first and finest family bowling center for over 30
years.
Got the Alamo carpet advantage during our huge carpet price blast.
We've blasted prices on every square yard of carpet in stock with no down payment and
no interest for 90 days.
Save 40 to 60 percent over 200 rolls of carpet.
Every color, every style, and every brand is drastically reduced during our carpet price
blast with no down payment and no interest for 90 days.
They're there to sell service and that's what they give you and that's the bottom line.
They want a satisfied customer and I am a satisfied customer.
A volcano in the Philippines exploded without warning today.
Rescuers recovered 30 bodies after the Mayon volcano erupted spewing ash and some steam
15,000 feet into the air.
Superheated debris tumbled down the slopes onto farming communities near this city 200
miles southeast of Manila.
The Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines.
The government's chief volcanologist says signs point to a major eruption within days.
Well Dave Harmon's in and Dave yesterday we kind of made fun of the groundhog but he may
be right.
Looks like that old booger might be right so far.
Anyway I wonder where that guy got his degree.
I don't know.
Penn State maybe?
I think so.
Probably.
Somewhere around there.
Maybe Pitt.
Anyway back to the Panhandle.
We've got mostly clear skies.
There's a lot of sunshine and our temperatures have been warming rapidly.
We're up to 45 already.
Dew point's 29 degrees.
Relative humidity started out this morning at 100 percent.
Now it's down to 53 and our pressure is falling.
Winds are out of the north.
They've really kicked up 24 miles an hour gusting to 30 miles an hour and it makes us
feel like we're down to 30 degrees with the wind chill kicked in there.
Well we started out at 29 degrees.
That's another day of above normal low temperature.
51 is the normal high.
Now we may get to 51 but I kind of doubt it but the way our temperatures are rocketing
up right now we just might make it to that.
We're definitely not going to make it to the record.
81 set in 1934 and 4 below zero just four years ago that was set and that's our record
low.
Some other lows around the area.
Everybody 20s and 30s virtually everywhere except Hobart 48 degrees and Wichita Falls
53 but 29 in Amarillo 26 in Boys Ranch and Dalhart 31 in Clayton New Mexico 30 in Dumas
Guymon Oklahoma 29 degrees.
As of 11 a.m. 42 down here in Lubbock and then 61 in Midland so there is a real kind
of a weak cold front that is down there.
That's bringing some cold air in and our wind is out of the north.
Some clouds are coming down too all the way to 59 in Wichita Falls 53 in Big D in the
other end of the spectrum 29 up there in Denver Colorado.
Here's what the clouds look like from the satellite.
Quite a few coming into southern and eastern Texas and it's raining there too.
There's a lot of rain in other parts of the state.
Mostly clear skies right now for much of the panhandle but that may not be the case for
too long.
You can see the southern half of the storm system that came out of Colorado and is in
Nebraska now and that is rotating around.
That's bringing the clouds in from the north and northwest and here's the wide scale view
of that.
You've got a real good view of that spinning around and the clouds coming up into southern
Texas.
More clouds coming into the northeast and they're going to have more cold and snowy
weather with lake effect snows and some clouds moving onshore in the west as well and it's
starting to rain out there.
But the majority of the rain and the most widespread rain of all anywhere in the country
is in the Lone Star State and it stretches from Brownsville all the way up through Dallas
and into Oklahoma and Kansas and the Ozarks area as well.
Some of that up here around western Nebraska where the storm is centered is snow and there's
also some snow falling around Colorado still.
Here are the clouds coming in.
They're starting to rain in the bay area right now and the jet stream shows you with these
clouds it's going way up to the north but it's not going as far north as Alaska and
if you're starting to feel sorry for us because of the cold temperatures check these out.
50 below zero in yellow Fort Yukon.
57 degrees below zero.
56 below zero in Mayo in the Yukon.
That's in Canada but extremely cold temperatures here.
That cold air and all those cold temperatures will eventually get to the east coast riding
through Canada.
We're not going to be anywhere near that for our low temperatures but we will be in the
30s and upper 20s around here and then tomorrow Punxsutawney fill was right at least for tomorrow.
Winter seems to be coming back and we're going to have snow in northeastern New Mexico and
most likely for all of the panhandle most of it anyway and we'll be lucky to get into
the mid 30s for our high temperatures tomorrow.
Here's the forecast then increasing cloudiness increasing northerly winds and a high temperature
well 45 degrees but that's where we're at now and we will probably get a few degrees
above that.
Then tonight we've got a chance of some snow low temperature 28 degrees and tomorrow snow
is likely to fall and we might get one maybe even three inches of accumulation.
Five-day outlook shows that maybe another chance of some snow on Friday then it starts
to clear up we get up to about 50 by Saturday but this is going to be kind of a significant
snow event for us.
It looks like the furry creature was right for at least for now.
He was right for now.
Okay thanks Dave.
Doctors in Houston are experimenting with a new drug to help stop depression.
Mary Ellen Conway reports on Paxil and its success on patients without causing many side
effects.
The treatment of depression has changed radically over the years.
Doctors now know relapses can be prevented if only patients can be convinced to stay
on medication long term.
That used to be a harder sell.
Well most of the treatments we've had available have so many side effects weight gain sedation
blurred vision constipation and so forth that people can't stay on them very long they're
just too uncomfortable.
Depression can occur when levels of an important brain chemical serotonin are low.
Paxil is the newest entry in a class of compounds designed to fight depression by keeping more
serotonin circulating in the brain.
Basically we're trying to do is boost it up and keep it boosted back up into the normal
range.
You would like while you're doing that to do as little else as possible.
Taken on a once a day basis Paxil has been able to do just that with relatively few side
effects.
We're told some people experience mild headaches or upset stomachs symptoms which decrease
over time.
Paxil is the most selective the most specific and therefore the best tolerated the most
incisive the drug that goes where you need it to do the job that you need done and does
as little else as any of the medications that are available and as a result is a significant
advance.
Doctors are also hopeful that Paxil will wind up proving effective in treating obsessive
compulsive disorder.
I'm Mary Ellen Conway reporting.
The Don Harrington Discovery Center is in need of volunteers to assist with supervision
of exhibits orientation of school groups administrative work and setting up and removing exhibits.
If you enjoy learning about the planet and the solar system this is the perfect volunteer
opportunity for you.
For more information please call the Volunteer Action Center of the United Way at 376-6714
and if you're over 60 call the Retired Senior Volunteer Program or RSVP at 373-8389.
Twenty five years ago a big celebrity came to Lake Edna.
KFC is commemorating that day with the amazing founders feast.
For a limited time buy two pieces of original recipe chicken mashed potatoes with gravy
coleslaw and a biscuit.
A complete meal just $2.99.
You can get a slice of apple pie and a Pepsi absolutely free.
The KFC founders feast just $2.99.
A feast fit for a king or a colonel.
My name is Tammy Novak and I've lost 87 pounds in eight months.
I've lost 12 inches in my hips and I just feel a lot better about myself.
I can go do my favorite sport which is shopping and I don't have to go into the fat lady store
anymore.
I can go into any store.
You too can lose weight just like Tammy did with the help and caring of the staff at the
Doctors Clinic.
Call today at 355-8263 or come by and see us at 4714 Southwestern.
It's the all new Tri-State Furniture at Westgate Mall.
We're finally in our new space and we're excited to bring you the latest in home furnishings.
New styles, new fabrics and best of all the best prices in Amarillo.
If you've ever moved you know how confusing it can be.
The only thing we're not confused about is the prices we're offering.
While we're moving in we'll guarantee you the lowest prices of any furniture store in
Amarillo, Texas.
Come to the signature at Westgate, Tri-State Furniture, Westgate Mall.
Yes Miller joins us now with today's stock report.
And the market has been good lately and today may be a record high.
Well it's still a ways from it but we're seeing we're still about 60 points away from a record
high but it's quietly creeping back up there towards the 3400 mark.
Stock prices are sharply higher this morning and heavy trading as the market continues
to draw support from signs of a strengthening economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average which took a rest and dipped a little over three points
in yesterday's session has jumped about 43 points today.
It stands at 3372.
Gainers that number declining issues on the big board by almost a two to one margin.
We have 212 million shares trading in the first four hours.
Analysts note that evidence continues to accumulate pointing to a sustained recovery in business
conditions.
On Tuesday the Commerce Department reported that the index of leading economic indicators
jumped 1.9 percent in December for its sharpest increase in nearly 10 years.
Many economists believe some of the strengths shown by the economy at the end of 1992 may
not be sustained through the first half of this year.
However recent data still suggest that momentum has built up that has been lacking ever since
the 1990-91 recession.
There was little in the way of economic news to influence the market today.
The main attention will likely be on the Treasury Department's quarterly refunding announcement
this afternoon when the details of next week's auctions will be released.
Stock prices drew support from overseas markets with significant gains in Tokyo, Frankfurt
and London.
Also U.S. Treasury issues are steady this morning after slipping yesterday.
Bond prices are mixed.
The 30-year long bond is up about one-eighth of a point to yield 7.323 percent.
Among blue chip issues IBM is up one-eighth.
Walmart has gained three-eighths.
Walt Disney is ahead one.
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing has jumped two and one-eighth.
And AT&T has risen one.
E-Systems has dropped one and one-quarter.
Germany is said to be abandoning development of a surveillance system for which the company
was to be the main contractor.
Among the most active issues on the New York Stock Exchange include Chrysler Motor, Glaxo
Holdings, Merck, Pfizer and Bristol-Meyer Squibb.
Again, stock prices are sharply higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Lodge is up about 43 points.
It stands at 3372.
We have 212 million shares trading in the first four hours.
Thanks Jeff.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Well, if you like the music of San Francisco, you'll want to stick around for our final
report.
It's a San Francisco treat right after this.
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Probably today the next time you make it out to the west coast you might want to visit
the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.
There is a toll to get across but you get your money's worth as Wayne Friedman explains.
Welcome to the angry zone.
Oh you've been here.
Even when it isn't rush hour you approach the Bay Bridge filled with memories of your
last big backup.
As such when we arrive at the toll plaza we tend to do so in bad temper because it's safer
that way.
Hello there.
Have a nice day and thank you.
Car checking in the bank.
She however does not seem to have gotten the message.
I'm singing because I'm happy.
I'm singing because I'm in a glee.
Do you ever get requests?
No.
Hey Steph.
Yeah?
Go ahead and sing.
Car checking in the bank.
By now those who work on the Bay Bridge and especially those who pass through every day
have crossed paths with Stephanie Dabney.
She's been doing this for five years but it only takes one time to make an impression.
Car checking here.
Car checking there.
Car checking everywhere.
Lock your doors you know the song.
One night I was on a graveyard shift and I seen all the light shining at me.
I just used my imagination that I was on stage so I took a bow when I opened up my barrier
and everybody applaud me.
And a star was born.
Zoom.
Zoom, zoom.
Boom.
Boom, boom.
One amazing thing about Stephanie's act is the effect it has on her customers.
Many people arrive with a frown and leave with a smile.
For men especially that's hard not to do when she takes their money and sings.
You make me feel, you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman.
How about I say?
Okay so you know Aretha Franklin.
Yes.
You do rap.
Yes.
You do what else?
I shake my rock.
You pitch.
You're in my head.
The toll may still be a dollar but the concert is free.
On the Bay Bridge, Wayne Friedman, Channel 7 News.
And that is our time for now.
Thanks for watching.
Please join David Green and Elizabeth Duncan and the rest of the Pro News crew at 6 for
all the latest.
See you then.
Ciao room.
You're on KVII-TV, Channel 7, Amarillo.