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Show Julie Andrews rejects Tony award nomination Provo council approves utility tax Increase Page AS Learn about hidden hazards in your home Page AQ Jazz to face Spurs again this evening Page B1 Page C1 he Daily Herald Clinton waits on Congressto repeal tax Stricter By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — President Clinton is ready to go along with a gasoline tax rollback, but Democ- ratic and Republican lawmakers still can’t agree on how to makeit happen. Some economists doubt the savings will be passed along to motorists anyway However, with soaring pump prices generating election-year heat, a key House committee today was ready to vote on temporarily repealing a 4.3 cent per gallon gasoline surcharge that was imposed three years agoas part ofa Clintondeficit-reduction package. In the Senate, the issue continued to be bogged down in squabbling over whether the tax should be linked to a proposal increasing the federal minimum wage. On Wednesday, Clinton said he would agree to the temporary tax repeal, but would signthe bil! oniy if he also got from Congress sepa- rate legislation increasing the $4.25 an hour minimum wage. And he said both bills must be without added, unrelated provisions — which he called “poisonpills” — that would force a presidentialveto. “Tam offering a way to break the logjam,” Clinton declared at a White House news conference. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., today accused the president Warmth goodfor surgery patients By DANIEL Q. HANEY AP MedicalEditor BOSTON — At65 degrees, an operating room may be quite comfortable for a heavily gowned surgeon, but new research suggests the nippy air slows the patient’s recovery andincreasesthe risk of infection. Doctors who wondered about the possible ill effects of lying cold so long during surgery conducted an experiment: Some operating room patients got the usual treatment; others were kept warm. The difference was surprising. The patients kept around a normal 98 degrees during their operations recovered faster and had fewer post-surgical wound infections. Besides being effective, the extra attention was cheap. Heating up thepatients’ intravenous fluids and covering them with special, air-heated blankets cost $30. “Isn't it amazing that something thatis risk-free and has such trivial cost provides such benefit?” said Dr. Daniel I. Sessler, one of the researchers. Typically, operating rooms are kept cool so surgeons won't sweat underthe bright lights. Some also think the lower temperatures slow the growth ofbacteria. However, anesthesia interferes with the body’s ability to regulate its own temperature. So in the chilly operating room patients often cool down to around 94.5 degrees. Sessler, an anesthesiologist at the University of California at San Francisco, described the experimentin today’s issue of the New EnglandJournal of Medicine. Being cold inhibits the body's defenses against germs.It decreases blood flow tothe skin, lowering the supply of oxygen, which is necessary to fight infection. Cold also interferes with blood clotting; warm patients bleed less. Sessler predicted that keeping patients warm will soon be rou- tine. An editorial in the journal agreed, provided more studies show the same thing (UAL of “phony posturing” in claiming his remarks were non-political Interviewed on ABC's “Good Morning America,” Gingrich said, “| think that’s why people sometimes are tired of Washington, because so much ofit is misleading and phony and so muchofit posturing.I frankly thinkit’s sad.” Gingrich also defended the proposed gastax cut. He said Republicans would cut spendingtooffset the loss of revenue and said the plan is consistent with GOP thinking — lower taxes and smaller government. After a breakfast speech, Gingrich told reporters he expects a gas tax cut to reach the House floor in two weeks. The measure probably will not include any extraneous provisions opposed by Clinton, he said The 4.3 cent surcharge was enacted in 1993 without a single GOPvote. Under the GOP rollback proposal, the tax would be lifted through the endofthe year. A permanentcut in the tax would be taken uplater. Senate Majority Leader Bob Study shows links to local deaths By DONALD W. MEYERS The Daily Heraid An air pollution study showing Young public health the gasoline tax issue into the spotlight when hecalled for a rollback two weeks ago,said he mightoffer the opportunity to offer amendments. University C. Bryner. apolitical science professor and member of tah County Clean Air Coalition’s Boardof Directors, said the Natural Resources Defense Council’s study of premature death in cities with air pollution confirms earlier research that existing pollution standards are not protecting Dole, R-Kan., who had brought separate bills. But Senate Democrats said they still wanted to have air rules needed president Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham he would agree to the temporary gas tax repeal, but Clinton acknowledge the applause of those attend- would sign the bill only if he also got from Con- ing a reception held at the Saxephone Club in Washington Wednesday. . Clinton said Wednesday Button, button gress sepsrate legisiation increasing the $4.25 an hour minimum wage. The report, Breath Taking, PreMortality due to Particu l 239 American d by the NationDefense Council day moming. Bryner was a wr to the study while act- ing as an NRDC visiting scholar. (See AIR, Page A2) Mandela loses the support of white-led party By ALEXANDRAZAVIS Associated Press Writer CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The National Party, which governed South Africa for four decades under apartheid, said Financial markets were volatile today as investors weighed the implications of a National Party pullout Party leader F.W. de Klerk, the country’s deputy president andits last apartheid president, today that it would withdraw from President Nelson Mandela’s announcedthe decision a day after South Africa adopted a new consti- national unity government Mandela’s African National Congress has a large majority in parliament and can continue to govern with a wide base of support. Still, the defection of the white-led National Party threatened to create the perception of a tution that his party helped to Shepherd through despite strong Tservations. There had been indications earlier that the party, which has been chafing under the ANC’s dominance, would withdraw from the goverment once the charter was crisis because the participation of adopted. minority parties in the government had been astabilizing force in the transition to democracy Mandela said before the announcement that the move would be regrettable Diary indicates Byrd didn’t reach N. Pole By RON VAMPLE Associated Press Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio — Richard Byrd, whowashailed as a nation al hero as the first person to fly over the North Pole 70 years ago today, actually flew short of his goal and knew it at the time, say researchers of his recently discov ered flight diary Scholars say the diary, foundin January among papers at Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, indicates Byrd and his pilot were concemed about an engine leak and turned around about 150 miles from the top of the world. “It’s quite clear to me he exag enate om naviga tion scl nnis Rawlins, who was coro bythe univer- sity to study the diary. “I would say Byrd sawvirtually to the pole from the height he was at, but this diary breth his claim that he reached pole.” Since engine noise made com- (See BYRD, Page A2) Lifestyle . ie ... Movies Weather ‘ , mostly ne “ oh Air Quality quality today ae County. The calls for increasing pollution levels with a clearing decreasing. § |