EchoStar and G.M. In Talks on DirecTV
Date: 13 June 2001
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
EchoStar Communications Corp and General Motors Corp are in preliminary talks about possible merger of EchoStar and Hughes Electronics' DirecTV unit; EchoStar would vie with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which is in talks to buy GM's Hughes stake and merge it with its Sky Global unit (S)
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Justices' Ruling Is Good News to Small Town's Pastor
Date: 12 June 2001
By Kate Zernike
Kate Zernike
Decision by US Supreme Court that public schools must open doors to after-school religious activities on same basis as any other after-hours activity that school policy permits is praised by Rev Stephen D Fournier, who says it represents victory for everyone since freedom has been upheld; says not allowing his Good News Club to meet in elementary school in Milford, NY, was denying him same basic right that other groups enjoy; school district weighs barring all groups; superintendent Peter N Livishin comments; photo (M)
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THE McVEIGH EXECUTION: CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK -- THE COVERAGE; The Oklahoma Bomber's Final Hours Are Hardly Television News's Finest
Date: 12 June 2001
By Caryn James
Caryn James
Critic's Notebook column on television coverage of execution of Timothy J McVeigh, condemned for 1995 bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City, Okla, which killed 168 people; says networks helped McVeigh achieve fame by turning him into celebrity, even though they pretended not to; photo (M)
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Hughes Warns of a Slower Rate of New Subscribers for DirecTV
Date: 12 June 2001
By Andrew Ross Sorkin
Andrew Sorkin
Hughes Electronics Corp, unit of General Motors that owns satellite broadcasting service DirecTV, says it is adding new subscribers at considerably slower rate than it previously forecast; attributes poor performance in part to amount of attention company's top officials have recently paid to sorting out details of possible takeover bid by News Corp, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch (M)
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Watching Bush's Language, and Television
Date: 13 June 2001
By Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges
Public Lives column profiles Mark Crispin Miller, author and editor of several books on mass media; photo (M)
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Proselytizing in the Schools
Date: 12 June 2001
Editorial says US Supreme Court has 'lurched alarmingly' in opposite direction, year after its 'proud decision' refusing to allow organized student-led prayers before public high school football games, by allowing religious use of public schools it says will pose far more serious practical threat to principles of religious neutrality and church-state separation
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Top Court Gives Religious Clubs Equal Footing in Grade Schools
Date: 12 June 2001
By Linda Greenhouse
Linda Greenhouse
US Supreme Court, rules 6-3 that public schools must open doors to after-school religious activities, including those that involve young children, on same basis as any other after-hour activity that school policy permits; extends to elementary school property same constitutional principle already applied to public high schools and colleges, namely, that expression of religious viewpoint is speech, protected by First Amendment against discrimination and entitled on neutral basis to access to public facilities open to other speakers; overturns lower-court ruling in case involving Good News Clubs, upholding decision by Milford, NY, school district barring evangelical Christian organization, Good News Clubs, from using room in school building on same basis as other groups; upholds, 5-4, constitutionality of provision of immigration laws that treats differently mothers and fathers of children born out of wedlock overseas when only one parent is US citizen; acting on basis of decision in case of retarded death-row inmate Johnny Paul Penry, overturns death sentence of Mark Robertson, Texas inmate whose sentencing jury received same deficient instructions on how to consider mitigating evidence (M)
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It's Lights, Camera, Economic Analysis!
Date: 13 June 2001
By Patrick McGeehan
Patrick McGeehan
E*Trade Group and other financial firms are racing to enhance their Web sites by adding video clips of interviews with executives, stock analysts and mutual fund mangers; are also transmitting newscasts provided by financial Webcasting companies; other efforts to combine Webcasting with financial services noted; photos (M)
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World Briefing | Asia: Nepal: Court Keeps Editor In Jail
Date: 13 June 2001
By Celia W. Dugger (NYT)
Celia Dugger
Editor and two publishing executives of Nepal's largest newspaper, Kantipur, will be held until June 15, when government is required to file formal charges against them for publishing article by Maoist rebel who asserted that massacre of royal family on June 1 was foreign-inspired conspiracy (S)
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BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY TO BUY ROOFING MATERIALS COMPANY
Date: 13 June 2001
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Warren E Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquires MiTek, maker of roofing components, for $378 million, from Rexam PLC (S)
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