Week In Review A Look Back At The Top Stories From The Last Week

ENTERTAINMENT Acting! Genius!

The week began with big news in the entertainment industry as the Oscars went independent and Playboy went to court. “The English Patient” won nine Academy Awards, including Oscars for best film and best director, even without Demi Moore. 20th Century Fox, which supported the film early on, lost its chance to claim an Oscar-winner when it decided it wanted more commercial casting to make it more of a box-office movie.

Reportedly, the studio wanted Moore to do for “Patient” what Keanu Reeves did for “Buddha.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that adult programming like the Playboy and Spice networks could be exiled to late night if it couldn’t be blacked out entirely when young viewers are watching.

POLITICS Look, up in the sky

On Tuesday, former President George Bush made headlines and good on a promise to himself when he jumped out of an airplane and into the hearts of fellow members of the World War II generation.

Unfortunately for Democrats, Bush was wearing a parachute and survived to lambaste President Clinton later in the week over campaign fund raising.

COURTS I did it Yahweh

Also Tuesday, attorneys for the Spokane Valley bombing suspects decided to bring one of the “ambassadors of Yahweh” to the stand. The previously credible defense went off like a pipe bomb when Verne Jay Merrell testified that God believes charging interest on borrowed money is a crime punishable by death. When asked during cross-examination if he would have killed any cops who tried stop him, Merrell responded, “I don’t know.” Not surprisingly, the other two ambassadors were never called to the stand. Thursday, the bombing trial went to jury.

TRAGEDY The away team

Wednesday, the bodies of 39 cyber-cult members were discovered in an exclusive Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., mansion. Led by “the representative” from beyond, they had committed mass suicide in the belief that a spaceship hidden by Comet Hale-Bopp had come to take them away. Late in the week, investigators were still translating the New Age manifesto they had posted on the Internet.

POLITICS Out with the Al, in with the Newt

Vice President Al Gore, who was in China all week passed House Speaker Newt Gingrich on the way out.

HEALTH Mammograms endorsed

Thursday, the National Cancer Institute laid to rest one of the most fractious national debates in recent medical history by endorsing regular mammograms for women in their 40s.

ECONOMY Good news or bad?

Good economic news, including the largest increase in existing home sales in more than a decade, was more than Wall Street could bear. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 140 points. Stockholders were spared the Via Dolorosa of more good economic news the next day - Wall Street was mercifully closed for Good Friday.

See Business, Pages E1-12

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos

MEMO: The week in review is compiled by News Editor Kevin Graman. For more information on these stories, see Virtually Northwest, The Spokesman-Review’s online publication, at www.virtuallynorthwest.com.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by News Editor Kevin Graman