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Who said "Yes"?
Local reporters have known for months that eyewitnesses disputed the account of Cassie Bernall's "martyrdom." So why did the truth take so long to see print?
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[09/30/99]

The flood next time
Hurricanes may be the hand of God, but the disaster in North Carolina is entirely man-made
By Fetzer Mills Jr.
[09/29/99]

Bauer: I am not a slut!
Only God knows why the GOP hopeful called a press conference to deny he's having an affair with a pretty staff member.
By Jake Tapper
[09/29/99]

The dying giant
With a growing market share and high-level political connections, Service Corporation International is fighting off lawsuits and government regulators.
By Robert Bryce
[09/29/99]

Funerals 'R' Us
A small-town funeral director -- and author of "The Undertaking" -- says franchising the "death-care" business hurts consumers.
By Thomas Lynch
[09/29/99]

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Beatty gave no final word on his political ambitions. But the legendary seducer insisted that this time, he's not guilty of flirting. Rather, he claimed, during the seven weeks since the buzz about his presidential potential first began, the rumors have swirled around him -- set in motion by late-night dinner musings at the Los Angeles home of Arianna Huffington, and more late-night schmoozing at Beatty's home last month with Bill Hillsman, who helped transform Jesse Ventura into an electable commodity. There was little more than that.

"I like making movies and I want to go on making them," is as far as Beatty got to putting a stop to the rumors that he might run for the White House -- adding that his current career offered him the "improbable pursuit of women half my age."

But he didn't take himself out of the game completely. Instead, Beatty appeared to carve out for himself the role of Greek chorus and official liberal pest to the Democratic Party, laying into the administration and the two current candidates, Al Gore and Bill Bradley, for having effectively abandoned the party's original mission.

As if explaining his role, he told the audience of about 1,000 film-industry and political types that "you gotta keep talking, you gotta keep the spirit." Otherwise, he said, Democrats risk having the party become bloated from overeating big campaign money -- "the primary cancer in this sick system," he said. "Getting the money to win makes decent politicians do indecent things."

Beatty's Hollywood friends have been reacting skeptically to Beatty's trial balloon for weeks. But by Wednesday night, when Beatty arrived at the Beverly Hilton flanked by his wife, Annette Bening, and agent, Pat Kingsley, the lobby was jammed with reporters from as far away as Spain, France and Japan. "It's like 'The Blair Witch Project,'" said Dustin Hoffman (a self-proclaimed "longtime Bradley supporter") to a forest of microphones, thrust across a velvet rope. "Once it was put on the Internet, they didn't have to do any media."

Beatty was there for an event that has been largely ignored by the media for years: the presentation of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, from the Southern California chapter of the ADA, a progressive political organization founded by that first lady.

Beatty's old friends were there to offer unofficial endorsements of this year's award winner. "He's got great charisma and he's an enchanting person to talk to," said Faye Dunaway, the Bonnie to Beatty's Clyde. Jack Nicholson barked out: "I'm here to show support for the pro."

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