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News Briefs ■ All signs indicate EgyptAir crash was deliberate North Kingstown, R.l. (AP) — Weeks after the last pile of debris from EgyptAir 990 was pulled from the sea, investigators say they are more convinced than ever of their original theory: The jet was crashed deliberately. The examination of the shattered Boe ing 767, some 70 percent of which was recovered from the ocean floor, has re vealed no signs of a mechanical failure that would have caused the plane to plum met 40 minutes into its 11-hour flight, according to three officials close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Everything leads everyone to be lieve that the plane was mechanically sound and it was doing what it was sup posed to,” one government official told The Associated Press. “There’s just no smokinggun” to indicate mechanical fail ure. The National Transportation Safety Board has said there are no plans to re construct the aircraft, which speaks vnlnmpc ahnnt thp invp^tiontinn PYnprtc Three die in Seton Hall blaze by Robert Ingrassia Knight-Ridder South Orange, N.J. — Screams drowned out the fire alarm, choking smoke filled the halls and flames shot through a Seton Hall University dormi tory early Thursday as hundreds of fresh men fled in terror. One girl plunged through a wall of flame at her door, and at least two stu dents leaped from windows to escape a blaze that left three male students dead and 58 people injured. I The fire, whose cause had not been determined, originated in a sofa in a third floor lounge in Boland Hall on the South Orange, N J., college campus at 4:30 a.m„ forcing coatless students into frigid dark ness. “The screams we heard could have been some of the people dying,” said Greg Edwards, 18, of Valley Stream, N.Y. “I'll never forget the screams. It was the worst thing I've ever heard.” A recent spate of false alarms led many students at theCatholic college to ignore the warning at first. “When people came out with black stuff on their faces and yelling, Help me! Help me!' — that’s when reality set in,” said 18-year-old Vanessa Gomez. Lisa Sepulveda, 18, of New York City, said she passed a burned young man moan ing as she fled the residence hall. “He looked like he had painted his entire body; it was purple and blue and orange.” The dead victims were all 18, from New Jersey and third-floor residents of Boland, a freshman dorm. They were identified as Frank Caltabilota of West Long Branch, John Giunta of Vineland and Aaron Karol of Dunellen. Frantic parents rushed to the college to find their children, 18- and 19-year olds who seemed much younger as they stood crying in pajamas, hugging their mothers and fathers. The blaze apparently started in the third-floor lounge in the north wing of the 600-student dorm, spreading quick ly into a hallway and sending black smoke through the building. “This was a pretty intense and fast moving fire,” said Essex County prose cutor Don Campolo. Local fire investigators and agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were probing the cause. There was speculation that someone had been smoking on the sofa. An accelerant-detecting dog failed to detect any apparent evidence of arson, authorities said. “This is an investigation that's going to take some time to complete,” Cam polo said. Two of the dead were found in the lounge; they may have tried to put the fire out, authorities said. The three so fas in that room were just charred frames; the hallway was blackened by soot. Dorm room doors left open by fleeing students revealed normalcy — computers, books and sneakers —juxtaposed with the hor rific scene. The third victim was found in a near by room; emergency personnel had at tempted to revive him, said Campolo. “I actually went back to sleep after I heard the alarm, and my roommate had to wake me up and tell me it was real,” said Pete Tomatore, 18, ofManalapan, N.J. “It could have been us,” said George Kelly, 18, of Wildwood N.J., hugging his - girlfriend who was clad in Winnie-the Pooh slippers. “This was a total reality check.” Resident assistants went from room to room banging on doors to get the students out. firefighters guided other students out by crawling with them, form ing human chains. Later, students—who 12 hours be fore had celebrated the Seton Hall Pi rates' upset win over the St. John’s bas ketball team—milled around the student center adjacent to Boland Hall, some cry ing, some in shock, most exhausted from grief and relief. -1 Ed hill KRT Firefighters stand in front of Boland Hall at Seton Hall University, where an earfy morning fire on the third floor killed three people and injured more than 50 others. ' Nursing is Chris Bean, ’99 BSN Graduate heartfelt “It finally occurred to me that the common thread running through the opportunities that capture me is the real desire to help people.” The Emory Advantage: An innovative curriculum. Over 200 clinical sites. Distinguished faculty. 100% placement. The Emory University School of Nursing offers undergraduate and graduate programs devoted to & preparing you for an exciting, rewarding career. Emory—an education worth the investment. EMORY UNIVERSITY NELL HODGSON WOODRUFF School of Nursing For more information, please contact: OFFICE OF ADMISSION | 531 Asbury Circle | Atlanta, Georgia 30322 404.727.7980 | 1.800.222.3879 | Fax: 404.727.8509 www.nurse.emory.edu | email: admit@nurse.emory.edu Transfer to Emory for our BSN program or further your nursing w education through graduate studies in the MSN program. Now accepting applications for Fall 2000! LU HILL »M\ I Seton Hall students Vanessa Gomez (left) and Nicole Ncera stand outside Boland Hall. Besides being plagued by 18 false alarms since September — including sev en times during finals week of the fall se mester — the dorm had no sprinkler sys tem. Sprinklers were not required when it was built in 1971, officials said. Also, fire hoses in the building had been disconnected from the standpipe system, but Campolo said firefighters wouldn't have used those “obsolete” hoses anyway because of uncertainty about whether they were in working order. The residence had 55 fire extin guishers; at least one of them was used in the blaze. Forty-two of the injured were treat ed at area hospitals and released. Of the remaining 16, at least three were in crit ical condition. The blaze was extinguished quick ly. Firefighters searched rooms to account for all the residents. One student apparently slept through the whole thing. He was found in his room in the dorm at 1:30 p.m. after his parents inquired about him. Classes and other activities have been suspended at least through Sunday. Boland Hail will reopen today so students can retrieve their belongings. Last night, an overflow crowd of hun dreds of students attended a solemn, half hour memorial Mass at Immaculate Con ception Chapel, just across a field from the fire-ravaged dorm. Hundreds of oth er grieving students waited outside the stone chapel. “It was a great thing for everyone to come together,” said Tricia Santiago, 21, a senior. “That's what helps.” Mourners walked out of the chapel arm-in-arm, and several wiped away tears. “Wfe just prayed for the dead and those that were injured,” said Maria Stratigis, 19, a freshman from Fort Lee, N.J. Back at the dorm, the building's ex terior displayed nothing of the day's dead ly drama. Its pale exterior walls weren't charred; the icy air had erased the odor of smoke. But bouquets of red roses and white carnations were laid at the entrance in remembrance. Clinton proposes $30 billion 'College Opportunity' tax cut by Kevin Galvin Associated Press Washington — President Clinton pro posed a tax credit Thursday designed to make college education more affordable, saying that “when we open the doors to college we open the doors to opportu nity.” The political overtones were obvi ous at the event called on the first day of his last year in office: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the man she would serve alongside were she to win her Sen ate bid, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., stood by the president as he chided Re publican leaders who have all but closed the door on his agenda. “Some in Congress, I note, are say ing that because this is an election year we really shouldn't try to do anything for the American people,” Clinton said. “'Nothing ... should get in the way of making a college education more af fordable for all Americans.” The centerpiece of the program be ing outlined by the president today is a $30 billion, 10-year initiative that would make higher education more affordable for millions, said the officials, who spoke on condition they not be identified by name. When the “College Opportunity Tax Cut” is fully phased in, a family could receive a tax deduction of up to $ 10,000 for tuition, fees and training. Alterna tively, taxpayers could seek a maximum credit of $2,800 a year. A similar pro posal died in Congress last year. “When we make college more af fordable,” Clinton said, “we make the American dream more achievable.” The president also was calling for a $1 billion increase in Pell Grants, new College Completion Challenge Grants and other federal education assistance, including work-study and a new plan for helping students pursuing dual degrees. Asked why Congress could be ex pected to pass Clinton's plan this year, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart replied: “Members of Congress who have been in their districts understand that ed ucation is the top priority for most Amer icans.” The political season has raised doubts that Congress will act on much of Clin ton's agenda. “The public wants progress,” Lockhart said. “I think there will be a political cost for those who want to walk away.” The proposal includes $35 million for the college Completion Challenge Grants, designed to spur college dropouts to return to class; $40 million for a new initiative to help minorities pursue five year dual-degree programs in fields where they are underrepresented; and $716 mil lion for the Pell Grants. Additionally, Clinton's plan seeks $400 million in increases for the Gear Up program, which helps disadvantaged youths stay in high school; TRIO, which helps them stay in college; Job Corps, a national education and job training pro gram taigeted at impoverished youths; and similar initiatives. Making college tuition tax deductible was a key campaign pledge of Schumer in his successful bid to oust Republican Sen. Alfonse D’Amato in 1998. His pro posal was narrowly defeated as an amend ment to the tax cut package last year. Schumer's plan would have allowed families to deduct up to $12,000 from their income to cover the costs of col lege tuition. That would have saved the average middle-class family as much as $3,360 per student. Schumer said his plan would cost be tween $45 billion and $50 billion over 10 years and could be paid for out of the nation's budget surplus. Mrs. Clinton is also trying to appeal to middle-class suburban voters in the New York Senate race. Polls show her trailing New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the politically crucial suburbs. said. “I think they’re fairly convinced they know what happened based on the radar data, flight data and voice data,” said Barry Schiff, a TWA pilot for 34 years who instructed trainees on the Boeing 767 and now serves as an aviation safe ty consultant. Investigators have said the cockpit voice recorder contained some utterance, perhaps a prayer, before the plane went into its fatal plunge. Schiff said the flight and radar data alone make it clear someone forced the aircraft down Oct. 31 off the Massachusetts island of Nan tucket, killing all 217 aboard. ■ U.S. ends military mission in Haiti Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP) — A ; U.S. Air Force C-141 carrying a lone sol- ’ dier and 15,000 pounds of equipment left Haiti on Thursday, marking a symbolic end to a mission that began with the 1994 U.S.-led invasion and restored elected government in this Caribbean nation. * “We’re concluding our permanent mission here in Port-au-Prince,” said Army Lt. Col. Ray Duncan. Without cer emony or fanfare, crews nearby loaded a hydraulic lift, generator and other equip ment onto the plane. The U.S. Support Group was the ex tension of a contingent of 20,000 troops President Clinton sent to Haiti in 1994 to restore the elected govern ment of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide after a bloody three-year military dicta torship. ■ uusioay ngni over Elian moves to federal court Miami (AP) — The custody fight over Elian Gonzalez has spilled into federal court, but some legal experts doubt the gambit by the 6-year-old Cuban’s Mia mi relatives will succeed Attorneys for Lazaro Gonzalez, the boy’s great-uncle, went to federal court Wednesday to challenge the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s ruling that Elian must to be returned to his father in Cuba. The legal team filed a lawsuit accus ing the INS of violating Elian’s due-process rights and asked the judge to prevent the agency from returning the boy before it gives him an asylum hearing. “It is about protecting Elian’s civil and constitutional rights, the same as if he was any other child” said Spencer Eig, a lawyer for the great-uncle. Many legal experts insist that Elian’s U.S. relatives have no legal standing be cause their rights do not trump those of his father, his closest relative. ■ Israeli president refuses to resign as investigation begins Jerusalem (AP) — Ezer Weizman steadfastly refused calls to resign Israel’s presidency on Thursday — even as po lice launched a criminal investigation in to his relationship with a French mil lionaire and some supporters openly discussed successors. In a nationally televised news con ference, Weizman’s lawyer, Yaakov Wfein roth, said the president “is innocent, spot less, and free of all impropriety.”