Hill picked to lead new commission
Compiled from news services
Anita Hill has been picked to lead a newly formed commission on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.
As announced late Friday by the commission — an initiative spearheaded by producer Kathleen Kennedy, along with attorney Nina Shaw, venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein and Maria Eitel, co-chairman of the Nike Foundation — the goal of the new group is to help combat the kind of sexual misconduct that recent revelations have shown to be pervasive in Hollywood.
In her new role, Ms. Hill once again will find herself leading the charge against sexual harassment, a mission that began when she testified on Capitol Hill at the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Ms. Kennedy, in a statement, said the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace “will not seek just one solution, but a comprehensive strategy to address the complex and interrelated causes of the problems of parity and power.”
Kihuen won’t run again
Rep. Ruben Kihuen, DNev., will not seek re-election next year amid allegations that he sexually harassed women, making him the seventh — and youngest — member of Congress felled by reports of misconduct since October.
Once considered a rising star in Democratic politics, Mr. Kihuen announced Saturday that he will leave Congress at the end of his first term.
The announcement, first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, came the day after the House Ethics Committee said it had launched an investigation into Mr. Kihuen’s behavior. He plans to cooperate with the probe and looks forward to “clearing my name,” according to his statement.
Words and budgets
WASHINGTON— The Department of Health and Human Services tried to play down Saturday a report that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been barred from using seven words or phrases, including “sciencebased,” “fetus,” “transgender” and “vulnerable,” in agency budget documents.
“The assertion that HHS has ‘banned words’ is a complete mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process,” an agency spokesman, Matt Lloyd, said in an email. “HHS will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans.”
The report was published late Friday by The Washington Post. The article said that CDC policy analysts were told of the forbidden words and phrases at a meeting Thursday with senior officials who oversee the agency’s budget.
Other words included “entitlement,” “diversity” and “evidence-based.”
Prize money got away
OCEAN CITY, Md. — Phil Heasley caught the fish of his life, but the $2.8 million in tournament prize money got away.
Mr. Heasley reeled in a 6foot white marlin last year off Maryland’s coast. But in a sign of how concerned some big money tournaments are about cheating, officials made him and his crew take lie detector tests. The officials said all four men failed.
Mr. Heasley now is in a protracted court battle over the winnings and his crew’s reputation, pitting their integrity against that of one of the world’s most lucrative angling contests.
The marlin wasn’t even mounted. It went to a food bank.