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Legislators Approve Bill
To Protect Tobacco Firms
The state legislature placed a $25
million cap on what N.C. companies
must pay before they can appeal
out-of-state court decisions.
By Matthew B. Dees
State & National Editor
RALEIGH - The N.C. General Assembly
ended its one-day special session Wednesday by
overwhelmingly passing a bill to shield state indus
tries from hefty out-of-state lawsuits.
Signed into law immediately by Gov. Jim Hunt,
the legislation places a $25 million cap on the bond
that N.C. companies must post to appeal another
REINVENTIN6 THE FAMILY
Once Only a Catchphrase,
Family Values are Evolving
In Nontraditional Ways
By Lauren Beal
Assistant University Editor
Eight years ago, the vice president of the United States
stood before the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
stressing the need for a renewed dedication to family values.
Nearing the end of his speech, he made a short reference to
a popular television show.
Dan Quayle questioned the message Murphy Brown’s cre-
ators were sending with an
unmarried fictional char
acter proudly deciding to
have and raise a baby
alone.
“It doesn’t help matters
when prime-time TV has
Murphy Brown -a char
acter who supposedly
epitomizes today’s intelli
gent, highly paid profes
sional woman - mocking
the importance of fathers
by bearing a child alone
and calling it just another
‘life-style choice,”’ Quayle
said.
The country erupted.
The politician’s
FAMILYMLUIS
Part six of alO part series
examining the issues that
will face our generation
in the coming millennium.
remarks became instant soundbytes and launched a nation
wide debate on family values.
One can only wonder what Quayle would say now when
faced with the nontraditional makeup of today’s families.
Gone are the “Leave It to Beaver,” “Ozzie and Harriet”
families of the 19505. America’s families have moved beyond
the traditional mom, dad, 2.5 children and family dog of years
gone by.
Divorce is a commonplace word, stepfamilies a widely
accepted concept. Ghildren are raised with one parent, two
parents, parents of the same sex or sometimes no parents at all.
Today's criticism and debate is often likely to center around
whether it’s OK for young Sally to grow up with two moms.
And those studying the family say that as the number of
nontraditional family combinations grow, so will our levels of
Proposal to Boost Pell Grant
A UNC administrator says
increased Pell Grant funding
would add to aid packages
for thousands of students.
By Gavin Off
Staff Writer
Within the next two days, Sen. Russ
Feingold, D-Wis., and Sen. Ted
Kennedy, D-Mass., plan to introduce a
proposal that could further enable stu
dents to fund their higher education.
The two senators will offer the Senate
an amendment that would raise the
amount of each federally awarded Pell
Grant by S4OO. With the increase, stu-
state’s court decision. Without the provision, an
expensive judgment could bankrupt a company
and strip it of its ability to appeal.
Although it is applicable to all state businesses,
the bill comes as a response to a lawsuit filed by
Florida smokers against five tobacco companies,
four of which have footholds in North Carolina.
A Florida jury began deliberations today to
determine whether to award $13.2 million in com
pensatory damages to the smokers. If this is
approved, it will set the stage for a class-action law
suit to seek punitive damages for the estimated
500,000 sick smokers in Florida.
N.C. lawmakers fear this ruling could force the
firms to pay whopping punitive damages upwards
See SESSION, Page 9A
acceptance.
“We all know families of
varied types; it’s reflected on
what we see on TV,” said Steve Reznick, a UNC pro
fessor of psychology. “We’ve become much more open
minded about people finding combinations that work.”
A 1999 University of Chicago study shows that
while almost half of all households in the 1970s were
comprised of a married couple with children, only
about a quarter of today’s households have a similar
makeup.
Though still a valued institution, marriage itself has
a less central role in our society. Surveys conducted by
the National Opinion Research Center show the pro
portion of adults who have never been married rose from
15 percent to 22 percent between 1972 and 1996.
Members of Generation Y are more likely to delay mar
riage, more likely to live with someone without wearing
a ring and more likely to get divorced than those of pre
vious generations.
Of those women born between 1933 and 1942, only 7
percent first lived with someone before marriage, accord
ing to the research center study.
But for women bom between 1963 and 1974, the per
centage of relationships beginning with a couple living
together rather than marrying jumped to 64 percent.
Along with the increase in cohabitation has come an
increase in the divorce rate.
“Half of all marriages end
in divorce” - the phrase is
widely accepted, common
knowledge for those of
Generation Y. And while the
figure of one out of two is a
projection of how many peo
ple will eventually divorce,
the actual percentage of
divorces is not too far off.
The research center study
shows the proportion of
adults who have been
See FAMILY, Page 9A
dents could receive a maximum grant of
$3,700. The increase would be imple
mented in the 2000-01 school year.
The Pell Grant is a federal need
based college financial aid program
begun in 1972. The nation’s largest
source of grant money to needy stu
dents, $7.7 billion in Pell Grants were
awarded during this school year - $4
million of which went to UNC students.
Feingold and Kennedy are expected
to introduce their proposal to the Senate
either today or Friday.
Shirley Ort, UNC director of schol
arships and student aid, said 2,057 UNC
students received the Pell Grant last
year, with awards ranging from S4OO to
$3,125, depending on their need. Ort
said the Pell Grant was University’s
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Speaker ProTem Joe Hackney, D-Orange, and Rep. George Miller, D-Durham, discuss a bill
in the N.C. House chamber designed to protect state industries. It passed overwhelmingly.
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largest source of federal aid.
“The Pell Grant is a cornerstone for
our financial aid package for needy stu
dents,” Ort said. “We use that to anchor
a package and add other sources. It’s
very important to students with need.”
Feingold stated in a press release that
the importance of the Pell Grant could
not be overestimated.
He stated that the award often deter
mined whether students were able to
attend college.
“Without Pell Grants, many individ
uals simply can't consider college -
post-secondary training, some employ
ers won’t consider hiring these individ
uals,” Feingold stated.
See PELL, Page 9A
Wisdom begins with wonder.
Socrates
Thursday, April 6, 2000
Volume 108, Issue 27
$307 Million Aid Bill
Faces Delay in Senate
Staff & Wire Reports
WASHINGTON - A bill providing
$307 million in Hurricane Floyd relief
for North Carolina has stalled in the
Senate because of a budget battle
between President Clinton and
Congress.
The president criticized Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott Tuesday
after Lott decided to prevent the Senate
from taking up an emergency spending
bill the president submitted in February.
The $13.1 billion bill, passed last
week bv the LIS. House, contains $2.2
billion in aid for hurricane victims and
other disaster relief, with $307 million
targeted for North Carolina’s recovery
from September’s historic flooding.
Lott said the House added too much
money to the measure, which has more
than doubled in cost since Clinton sent
it to Congress.
In addition to the disaster relief, the
emergency spending measure includes
$2.1 billion for U.S. peacekeeping forces
in Kosovo and $1.7 billion to fight drug
trafficking in Colombia.
See FUNDING, Page 9A
News/Features/Arts/Sports
Business/Advertising
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 2000 DTH Publishing Corp.
Ail rights reserved.
Congress
Taps Fresh
Leadership
New Speaker Alexandra Bell
says accessibility is her
main goal as leader of the
82nd Student Congress.
By Geoff Wessel
Staff Writer
With Wednesday’s elections of new
officers, the first meeting of Congress’
82nd session completed the transition
from this year’s student government to
the next.
Former Speaker Mark Kleinschmidt
opened the meeting Wednesday and
then turned over the chair to Rep.
Alexandra Bell, Dist 20, who was unan
imously elected as speaker.
“I have big shoes to fill, but I feel I
can make the 82nd session as effective
(as the 81st),” Bell said. “I want to bring
Congress closer to the students.
“Accessibility is my main goal.”
As the new Congress elected its offi
cers, members raised the issue of acces
sibility several times. “Students need to
have a voice in Congress,” said Rep.
Gregory Wahl, Dist. 1, a first-year law
student who was elected Student Affairs
Committee chairman.
“Just because we’re on STV doesn’t
mean everybody knows what’s going
on."
Wahl, who won a majority of votes,
despite running against five other rep
resentatives in the most contested race
of the evening, said he saw Student
Affairs as the most important Congress
committee.
“If you ask any student what the pur
pose of Student Congress is, they would
say it’s to be the voice of students, which
Vs what this committee does,” he said.
Student Affairs is also responsible for
examining resolutions, which raised
another debate. Several resolutions
have entered the campus consciousness
recently, coming under criticism for
being outside the scope of Student
Congress’s authority.
“(The resolution to call for a morato
rium on sanctions against) Iraq was the
big one last year,” Bell said.
“I think that if a dedicated group of
students brings something before us, if
enough students come should be no
problem hearing them out.”
Other such resolutions included a
call for a moratorium on the death
penalty and one asking students to boy
cott South Carolina for the state’s
refusal to remove Confederate flag from
its Capitol Building.
Wahl said that while he personally
felt Congress should not pass such reso
lutions, he supported allowing the
members to vote.
He said it was important to know the
views of the students they were repre-
See CONGRESS, Page 9A
Thursday
Looking Back
The UNC men's basketball team carried
fans on a wild ride this year. The Daily
Tar Heel revisits a season in which the
final result was typical, but the way it
happened was anything but See Inside.
Political Mudslinging
Political attack ads might become
things of the past if other companies
like Capitol Broadcasting Company
allow politicians free airtime for their
platforms. See Page 11.
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