Former Miami mayor ousts incumbent in upset

  John Bacon; Jonathan T. Lovitt ; Scott Hildebrand; David Field

  11/14/1997

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 03A

  (Copyright 1997)

  Former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez upset incumbent Joe Carollo in the city's

  mayoral runoff Thursday. Suarez had 53% of votes to Carollo's 47%.

  Carollo, a 42-year-old seafood exporter, was credited with leading the city out of

  a corruption scandal and severe financial problems that included a $68 million

  shortfall.

  Suarez, 48, a Harvard-educated lawyer, left the mayor's office four years ago,

  saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. "Work with us so that our

  city can be once again autonomous and we can run our own business without any

  interference from the state of Florida," he said.

  The runoff was tainted by allegations of tampering with absentee ballots in the

  Nov. 4 election. Carollo got the most votes then, but fell short of a majority.

  Suarez got most of the absentee ballots. Both deny involvement in the scandal.

  SUICIDE WARNING: Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday that her top

  drug-law enforcer should have waited for a full Justice Department review of

  Oregon's assisted-suicide law before warning doctors about prescribing lethal

  medication. Reno said she did not get advance word of a letter by Drug

  Enforcement Administration chief Thomas Constantine warning that Oregon

  doctors could lose their licenses to prescribe drugs if they dispensed such

  medications to help assist suicides. The law, first approved in 1994 but held up

  by court challenges, allows prescribing drugs for suicides. Oregon voters

  reaffirmed the law last week.

  Overturned: A speeding car ran a stop sign and hit a school bus filled with 57

  Hutchinson Elementary School students, police said. The driver of the car died.

  children were wandering around in a daze, a witness said, before they and the

  bus driver were taken to hospitals. The injuries were not life-threatening,

  officials said.

  UNABOMBER CASE: A federal magistrate in Sacramento ordered prosecutors

  to give lawyers for Unabomber defendant Ted Kaczynski a statement from an

  FBI investigator that suggests Kaczynski may not be responsible for one of the

  bombings for which he is charged. Details of the statement were not revealed.

  Kaczynski, 55, faces a 10-count indictment in four bombings between 1978 and

  1995. The four attacks killed two people and left two disabled. Jury selection is

  under way.-- Jonathan T. Lovitt

  DEADLY BLAZE: At least one person was killed and dozens were left homeless

  when fire raced through a Bremerton, Wash., apartment building. Firefighters

  using ladder trucks rescued several people from second- and third-floor

  balconies. The blaze consumed nearly half of the 140-unit Kona Village

  building, which occupies a city block. The cause of the fire, which witnesses said

  began in a third-floor apartment, was under investigation.

  SHARED NEEDLE: A Collins, Ohio, school district will pay for blood tests for

  up to 75 fifth-grade students who may have come into contact with each other's

  blood during a science experiment. Officials in the Western Reserve School

  District planned to send letters to parents offering HIV and hepatitis testing for

  students in the three classes involved. Students can be tested for HIV and

  hepatitis B. The students used the same needle to draw blood samples for

  examination under a microscope. Local health officials say the health risks are

  not great.-- Scott Hildebrand

  ALSO THURSDAY . . .

  KEVORKIAN DEATH: Jack Kevorkian helped a woman die in a church in the

  Detroit archdiocese, his lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, said. The body of Nadia

  Foldes, 72, from New York City was later taken to a hospital. Fieger did not

  name the church. The Roman Catholic Church has criticized Kevorkian's

  campaign for assisted suicide. He has acknowledged helping 55 people die.

  YOUNG REMAINS IN COMA: Coleman Young, Detroit's first black mayor,

  improved slightly but remained critically ill a day after suffering a heart attack,

  physicians said. Young, 79, has been in intensive care since Aug. 12. He served

  five terms, leaving office in 1993.

  OUT OF AFRICA: Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said he won't support

  adding air services between the United States and African nations until air safety

  there improves: "Our vision is very simple -- we want to get there and we want

  you to get here."-- David Field

  SAFE VEGGIES: The trace amounts of pesticides on fruits and vegetables pose

  practically no risk of cancer to people, an expert panel says in a study to be

  published Saturday in the journal Cancer. It would be riskier to stop eating fruits

  and vegetables, the group says.

  PHOTO,b/w,Carlos Osorio,AP; PHOTO,b/w,Larry Steagall,AP