Click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS World News Roundup – January 6, 1997 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
Starting off the first full week of the new year in 1997 with the roller-coaster ride known as Capitol Hill.
Beginning with news on the age-old battle over Social Security reform. One solution being bandied about was suggesting it go Private and that funds be invested in the Stock Market. Yes, you heard that right. Needless to say, after two years of haggling, the government advisory group couldn’t agree on a single fix to the system. So they were getting ready to offer a grab-bag of suggestions, including the rather bone-headed Wall Street one, to Congress with the hopes they’d sort the mess out.
Meanwhile, behind another set of closed doors was the investigation of Ethics violations leveled at House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The charges were serious enough to cast Gingrich’s re-election as House Speaker in doubt. Twenty Republicans were needed to sink re-election hopes. But nobody was saying anything to anybody. House Republicans were quickly pointing fingers at Democrats, claiming they were mounting a dis-information campaign. And amid all the sound and fury it was generally acknowledged Newt would be around for a second term.
In other news – former 60s radical-turned-State-Senator Tom Hayden announced his intention to run for Mayor of Los Angeles, facing off incumbent Richard Riordan for the mostly thankless job of Potentate Between the Debris and the Sea. And January was only getting started.
Speaking of California – the weather was making news for the Sunshine State on this January 6th, primarily in the area of flooding, thanks to torrential rains hitting the Central Valley, breaking through levees and reeking havoc up and down the state. But California wasn’t the only one getting a slice of Winter. The Midwest was digging itself out of a mass dumping of the White Stuff with drifts upwards of 15 feet high in some places.
The OJ Simpson Wrongful Death trial was continuing in Santa Monica with the big debate over shoes this time. Celebrity Question Mark Kato Kalin was scheduled to make another appearance later on in the week. The circus was back in town.
Merger news for this day – Raytheon was planning on merging with Texas Instruments‘ Defense Electronics wing. And Alamo Rent-a-Car was merging with National Rent-a-Car. And where are they all now? Testimony in a Florida Trial over the Tobacco Industry claimed Tobacco companies could have issued warnings years, if not decades sooner, regarding the health hazards of smoking. But they decided not to.
And that’s just a sampling of the madness called another Monday in January, via The CBS World News Roundup for January 6, 1997.
