Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the May 2002 issue

Assets

False Positive

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld nukes the Pentagon's new Office of Strategic Information after it is criticized as a potential source of false stories and propaganda.

Tube Boobs

The Virginia legislature rejects a call to turn off TVs for a week. "You're asking us to approve something not a single person up here would comply with," one state lawmaker says. The TV-Turnoff Network, a nonprofit group that says TV hurts kids, put forth the failed resolution.

Word Play

A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rules that a California public relations firm may use the domain EntrepreneurPR.com, regardless of trademarks held by Entrepreneur magazine. The panel decided that use of the word entrepreneur wouldn't confuse consumers.

Fine Tuning

The D.C. Court of Appeals shoots down two Federal Communications Commission rules on the ownership of cable and broadcast TV stations. The rule limiting each company's combined audience to 35 percent of the national market is removed, as is the ban on cable/broadcast cross-ownership in local markets.

Whistle Stop

Senators from both parties want new controls on the FBI, including an inspector general's office with teeth. Under proposed legislation, FBI employees would also be protected by the Federal Whistleblower Act for the first time.

Stunning Development

United Airlines doesn't wait for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to start training pilots to use stun guns, which will be locked in the cockpit. With an FAA OK, stun guns could be on United flights by summer's end.

Liabilities

Securing Secrets