March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 They’ve got to be kidding. Wall Street’s brain trust, the loud-tie-and-suspenders crowd that is paid extraordinary sums to make sense of the economy, got some of the best news in …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 Free food and booze from business lobbyists flowed in lawmakers’ offices just off the House and Senate floors. A few legislators walked unsteadily to their desks to cast last-minute votes. …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 Cindy Danke of Weyauwega, Wis., holds her rescued cat, Blackjack. Photo by Associated Press

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 1. CdA travel agent Rhonda Sand. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Stoddard

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 Rabbi Jacob Izakson. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 Legislation authorizing cities and counties to regulate Jet-Skis easily cleared a key Senate committee Friday, and is headed for a final vote in the full Senate. “I’m delighted,” Sen. Mary …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A1 February’s floods brought lots of mud to North Idaho. But they also brought a lot of jobs. Somebody had to clean up the millions of dollars in damage done by …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A2 Friday’s snowstorm set a Boston record for snow accumulation in a season. The 9.7 inches of snow that had fallen on Logan International Airport brought the seasonal total to 99.6 …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A2 Friday’s winning “Triple Choice” lottery numbers: 865. Friday’s winning Washington Keno numbers: 5-9-13-16-19-20-21-34-35-39- 42-43-46-47-52-58-64-74-77-80.

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A2 Scores of Thai and Hispanic garment workers who toiled in sweatshops for as little as $2 an hour split up $1.1 million in back wages on Friday. State labor officials …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Police arrested a pro-Chechen hijacker early today after he released all of the 109 hostages aboard a Turkish Cypriot airliner seized 12 hours earlier. Initially, officials said four gunmen had …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 A bomb exploded in a trash bin on a busy west London thoroughfare early Saturday, and suspicion immediately fell on the Irish Republican Army. The device detonated without warning at …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Vietnam denied on Friday that it trains Cuban commandos or any other foreign forces, rejecting a recent report in the British publication Jane’s Defense Weekly. Jane’s said Vietnam has been …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Workers renovating a government building have stumbled upon a previously unknown painting by the 18th-century Spanish master Francisco de Goya. The Prado Museum confirmed Friday that the canvas, which shows …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 A U.N. arms inspection team was blocked Friday from a site in Baghdad, U.N. sources said, provoking a standoff that continued through the night. The confrontation followed an announcement by …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Iranians cast their ballots in parliamentary elections on Friday. Photo by Associated Press

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 Rescue workers dug 22 bodies from the concrete mountain of a collapsed apartment building and searched Friday for up to seven residents still missing. Police said negligence may have helped …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A3 A German man who worked for the U.S. military in former West Berlin was sentenced Friday to two years probation for passing information about his employer to the East German …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 A former congressional aide was sentenced to more than 3-1/2 years in prison Friday for robbing a bank of about $5,000 - a crime he blamed on alcoholism and mental …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 NASA officials set aside one of their own flight rules Friday, keeping the space shuttle Columbia aloft an additional day despite a failure in one of the vehicle’s four flight …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 Dr. Jack Kevorkian: “This is not a victory for me, but for those all who are suffering.” Photo by Associated Press

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 Friday’s developments: Presidential race Bob Dole suggested Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes should quit the race so the Republican Party can be unified heading into the general election this fall. …

March 9, 1996 in Nation/World on Page A4 Seeking to out-do their Senate counterparts, House Republicans on Friday announced a sweeping health care reform initiative that they say will ease middle-class fears of being priced out of the …