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Bush from page 3 i with strings attached. Also Monday, Bush was to meet with top aides to discuss a long-range national eneigy policy. Aides said the power crisis in California was certain to be at the center of the discussion among Bush, Vice President Cheney, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Bush has said the California crunch is a state problem, but by participating publicly in the meeting, signaled it is moving up on his agenda. “The president’s summoned the relevant Cabinet and agency heads to a session in the White House where we’ll begin to focus on this,” Cheney said on Fox News Sunday. Cheney again hinted that the administration would examine easing environmental regulations that have hindered building new power generators. “California’s probably the toughest state in the country today in which to build a power plant,” he cai/i Bush was also dispatching top energy officials to meet with governors of Western states affected by the crunch. The president was resuming his get acquainted sessions with members of Congress. Bush sees the personal meetings as crucial to getting his programs through Capitol Hill. Later in the week, he planned to formally propose a system for getting prescription drugs to the elderly through Medicare. Bush, borrowing elements of a congressional Republican plan, pledged to revamp the entire Medicare program, giving senior citizens a choice of health plans, including some that offer drug coverage. But Bush said this overhaul would not take effect for four years. In the meantime, he would give states money to help low-income seniors pay for drugs. In what he has termed a “helping hand” program, Bush would give $48 billion to states in grants, leaving it to them to design drug programs. About 23 states have drug subsidy programs for seniors; others would have to create them. Critics say these initiatives have not been very effective, and they question the wisdom of creating a whole new web of programs that would disappear four years later. Also this week, the Senate expected to vote on confirmation of additional Cabinet nominees, including his most polarizing pick, Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft. Bush aimed to hold his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Sharon, Arafat blame Barak for turmoil by Greg Myre Associated Press JERUSALEM — Palestinian leader Yasse Arafat and Israeli politician Ariel Sharon rarel; agree, but on Sunday both harshl; criticized Israel’s beleaguered Prime Ministe Ehud Barak, blaming him for the current Mideas turmoil. Barak had hoped peace negotiations this pas week in Egypt would revive his sagging electioi campaign ahead of the Feb. 6 vote for primi minister. Both Israeli and Palestinian negotiator offered an upbeat assessment of the talks tha concluded Saturday, saying they had never beer closer to an overall agreement. But a day later, Barak was under attack fron both his Israeli and Palestinian rivals. Sharon, heavily favored in next week’s election, denounced the concessions Bara! offered to the Palestinians and made clear he would remove them from the table if he triumphed at the polls. “These meetings (in Egypt) were not meant to seriously tackle the problems in front of us. This is some electoral stunt,” Sharon said. Arafat, meanwhile, unleashed his salvo from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “The current government of Israel has waged 1 for the past four months a savage and barbaric war as well as a blatant and fascist military ag gression against our Palestinian people,” Arafat said. There had been talk of a Barak-Arafat meeting this week in Sweden, but Barak’s office said Sunday night that the prime minister had de cided “not to continue political contacts with Arafat and his people until after the elections.” Sharon leads Barak by 16 to 20 percentage pouits in opinion polls that have changed little in recent weeks. Most analysts say Barak needs some sort of peace agreement to energize his flagging campaign, and the Taba talks were seen as his last real shot at a pre-election breakthrough. While both sides said the atmosphere at the talks was positive, they didn’t reach any concrete agreements and acknowledged differences remained on all the fundamental issues — especially on sharing Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees who want to return to homes in what is now Israel. “Both sides have never reached a point where we were so close to agreement,” said Barak. “It’s quite natural that these (core issues) cannot be solved in a few days.” But with the election looming, Barak was running out of time. Sharon says he will seek a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians and opposes the comprehensive peace settlement Barak has pursued. In addition, Sharon has given no indication he would offer the Palestinians additional territory — a position that would seem to preclude any possibility of a future agreement. “We will be making every effort to reach a political settlement and make peace on maybe a different basis, but, I believe, a true one,” said Sharon, who met with U.S. congressmembers Sunday in Tel Aviv. Barak “did not bring peace. What has happened is due to the mistakes that he made. He brought a war to the area.” A total of 375 people, including more than 330 Arabs and more than 40 Israeli Jews, have died since the fighting began in September. Oklahoma State students killed in airplane crash by P. Solomon Banda Associated Press BYERS, Colo. —A twin-engine plane climbed and banked hard to the right before it crashed dur ing a light snowstorm, killing 10 people, including two Oklahoma State basketball play ers, witnesses said Sunday. They told investigators the propeller plane’s engines revved and eased back several times before the fiery crash in a field Saturday night about 40 miles east of Denver. “It sounded like he was flying full power. Then I heard a thump and saw a low glow,” said Jon Carrick, who lives about two miles southwest of the crash site. Cesar Ronquillo, another area resident, said the plane's engines were whining when he heard a loud noise. “I saw the plane turning around, theq go up again but all of a sudden, go straight down,” he said. As light snow fell, a team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators began looking for clues to the cause of the crash amid twisted wreckage scattered across a quarter mile. “We have some very detailed and painstaking work ahead of us in what are not the best weather conditions,” said John Hammerschmidt, head of the NTSB crash investigation team. Police Sgt. Craig Coleman said the field was littered with body parts, seats, planning books, basketball shoes and playing cards, among other items. “It's a very gruesome and grotesque scene,” Coleman said. The Beechcraft King Air 200 Catpass was one of three planes carrying the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team and associates back to Stillwater, Okla., after they lost to the Colorado Buffaloes in a Big 12 Conference game at Boulder. Jefferson County Airport officials lost contact with the plane when it was 20 miles southeast of Denver, when it was being handed off to the Denver air traffic control center, Fed eral Aviation Administration officials said. Among the victims were Oklahoma State players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson and sports information employee Will Hancock, OSU director of basketball operations. Gore to teach class at N.Y. university by Billy O’Keefe College Press Exchange NEW YORK — Don't cry for A1 Gore Columbia University has decided to take a chance on the scrappy youngster and give him a job The former vice president, out of work foi more than a week, will teach a special non credit seminar at the Columbia Graduate Schoo of Journalism, the university announced thi: week. The seminar, “Covering National Affairs ir the Information Age,” will examine the work of politics from the eyes of botl politicians and journalists. Gore himself has been both, working in the 1970s as a reporter for the Nashvillt Tennessean. “This is a special opportunity for the school,” said Tom Goldstein, dean of the journalism school. “A1 Gore will be an incomparable resource for our students and others at this university. From his unique perspective, students will get to see how government and the press intersect.” The class will begin in February, and will not offer students credit toward their degrees. The university hasn’t announced final details on the seminar, but said it would likely be comprised of six to eight sessions. Founded in 1912, Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism administers some of the most prestigious honors in the field, including the Pulitzer Prize, J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project and the National Magazine Awards. Celebrate Black History Month For more information, please contact Office of Multicultural Student Affairs Mr. John o rewart Residential Segregation in Non-Metropolitan South RHUU 205 12 noon February 7, 2001 Dr. Ana Lopez-Defede Barriers to Health for African-American Women Gambrell Hall 152 7pm February 8, 2001 Dr. Andrew Billingsly Black Families in Wnite America Gambrell Hall 152 7pm February 12, 2001 yj < 777-4330 • www.so.sc.edu/omsa February 2001 Bloch History Months i 4 § ij: A. fii Cab Calloway Show | 7:30pm Koger Center j: [ ii.. 18 | BASIC Theatre : 'Fenced Production 6pm RHUU Theatre 25 Gospel Fest 5pm RHUU 8allrooms --- 5 Kick-Off Celebration Dr. Ml chad Eric Dyson Keynote Speaker 7pm Ballrooms 12 Black Families in White America Dr. Andrew Billingsly 7pm Gambrell 3.52 19 Sankcfe Museum on Wheels lOam-Som RHUU Ballrooms 26 B&MSS 6 Health Fair 10am-3pm Russell House 13 BH Schorrs* Bowl 6pm RHUU Theatre 20 AAAS Comedy Show 7pm RHUU Theatre 27 African American Dance Perfoimance 6pm RHUU 7 Teach-In: Residential Segregation Mr. Stewart 13P.BMVU.2S5. 1U*tui*nberth«yTcUu\+ 8pm/ KHUU TheocCr*/ 14 Js« at Noon RHUU Ballrooms Featuring USCJazz Ensemble 21 Teach-In: Levels of Hope Dr. Smith Hendricks 12n RHUU 205 Physician Social Responsibility Ml-USCSM 12N 28 Teach-In: African Americans & Environ mental Justice Dr. Cooper 12fl0n RHUU 205 8 Barriers to Health Care for African-American women Dr. Lopez-Oesede 7pm Gamfcrell 152 7Uwumh*r the, raven* 8pm, KHUU Theatre, 15 22 History of USC Athletics: From the Beck Perspective 7pm Gembrell 152 9 10 16 17 BASIC Theatre BASIC Theatre " fenced Production * fenced Production 6pm RHUU Theatre 6pm RHUO Theatre 23 24 f^tHilIlf§MiipSiI«Hri< fawwrlrtwt. < V, '!•**• «•**»« US< 0*$* „ 'x m Dr. Constance Smith-Hendricks Levels of Hope: Does Race and Gender Matter? | RHUU 205 12 noon February 21,2001 Free Lunch Mr. Harold White I USC Athletics: The Black Perspective Gambrell Hall 152 7pm February 22, 2001 Dr. Adrienne Cooper African-American & Environmental Justice RHUU205 12 noon February 28, 2001 Free Lunch Have you seen me? If not, I'll be here at USC on February 5, 2001 7:00pm Russell House Ballrooms I'm going to help you Kick-Off the BLACK HISTORY MONTH Celebration By the way, I'm Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, and I wrote From God to Gangsta Rap and The Real MLK, Jr.: I May Not Get There With You Any questions, call 803*777*4330 —-. ■