Morning Report - News from June 21, 2002

LEGAL BRIEFS

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Hearing-Impaired Win Round in ABC Suit

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The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a lawsuit charging that ABC discriminates against disabled people who want to become contestants on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” the game show hosted by Regis Philbin.

A three-judge panel reversed last year’s decision by a Miami District Court judge, who contended that the Americans With Disabilities Act wasn’t broad enough to cover the show’s qualifying system, which uses touch-tone phones. He has been ordered to review that decision.

Disability advocates say that live operators should be used, or some other system to give the hearing-impaired a shot at the big prize money. The act permits people to sue for better access and legal fees, but not for compensation or damages.

“We don’t want to alter or make changes in the show, but we want to make it fair,” said Michael Lanham, the lawyer for Miami’s Center for Independent Living, which filed suit against the network and the show’s producers two years ago. “All we want is for reasonable accommodations to be made.”

ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover said the ruling was decided on a “narrow legal basis.... We are confident that in the end, the litigation will show that our practices comply fully with all applicable laws.”

“Millionaire” is not on ABC’s fall schedule but is expected to pop up periodically. A syndicated version is due to debut in September.

Manson Fined in Assault and Battery Case

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Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, charged with sexual misconduct for allegedly gyrating against a security guard at a Michigan concert, has pleaded no contest to being a disorderly person and to assault and battery.

Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, was ordered to pay fines and costs totaling $4,000. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt.

The plaintiff, Joshua Keasler, also has filed a federal lawsuit against the 33-year-old rocker, accusing him of sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After the hearing in Michigan, Manson was notified a civil suit filed in New York state court by a security guard accusing him of similar behavior at an Aug. 9 concert on Long Island.

Duo Behind ‘Star Wars’ Reels to Be Sentenced

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Sentencing has been set for next month for two Canadian men who pleaded no contest to charges stemming from their efforts to sell reels of “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones” for $3,000 on the EBay Internet auction site, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office in Michigan.

Amer Khawaj, 21, and Inderpreet Grewal, 20, pleaded no contest to receiving and concealing stolen property.

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TELEVISION

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Gay Parenting Debate Fuels Nick Ratings

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Controversy surrounding Nickelodeon’s “Nick News” program on gay parenting Tuesday night propelled the show to its highest viewership in three years, with an audience of 1.6 million people.

Representatives for the children’s cable channel said Nickelodeon received some 700 e-mails from individual viewers who, after watching, approved of the program. It also received a small number of negative responses, they said.

But the network said the organized campaign against the show, led by the Traditional Values Coalition, continues to generate a substantial number of form-letter complaints, in addition to the 100,000 negative e-mails, calls and petition signatures the network estimates it received in the six weeks before the show’s airing. The coalition and other critics said the program, led by host Linda Ellerbee, had a pro-homosexual bias.

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MUSIC

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Professional Musicians Aren’t Immune

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More than three-quarters of all professional musicians have suffered injuries disabling enough to require time off from work, according to a new book by Janet Horvath, associate principal cello of the Minnesota Orchestra since 1980.

During one two-minute aria in Handel’s “Messiah,” Horvath notes in “Playing (less) Hurt: An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians,” she bows 740 times. Multiply that through the rehearsal and concert schedule and she figures the tendons slide 108,000 times--twice as often as a 60-word-a-minute typist.

And the situation is getting worse, she maintains.

“I have seen a huge jump in injuries in young people,” Horvath told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “... The 12- and 13-year-old prodigy playing Tchaikovsky violin concertos is more the norm today. I’m wondering at what cost. Often bones and muscles don’t grow at the same rate in a child. It’s a formula for trouble if parents and teachers are not really vigilant.”

The solution? Warming up, cooling down and taking frequent breaks.

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QUICK TAKES

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Vanna White has filed for divorce from George Santo Pietro, her husband of 10 years.... Three landscape watercolors by Prince Charles sold for about $10,000 each at auction Tuesday.... “Night Divides the Day,” a tribute to the Doors by New Age musician George Winston, will be released by RCA Victor in October....The documentary “Amandla!: A Revolution in Four Part Harmony” has been picked up for theatrical release by Artisan Pictures. It tracks the role of music in the anti-apartheid struggle.