News Briefs

December 11, 1995
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EST

Denny's settles last discrimination claims

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Denny's Restaurants and its parent company, Flagstar Corporation, announced Monday that they have finished paying out $46 million to claimants in two class action discrimination suits, closing cases initially settled in May 1994. Court-approved claims administrators have completed the claims administration process and distributed the checks to 294,537 people, the company said.
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Two more congressmen announce retirement

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two more members of the House of Representatives announced their retirements Monday.

Republican Rep. Jack Fields of Texas announced he would retire next year at the end of his eighth term . He becomes the seventh House Republican not seeking re-election.

Democratic Rep. Bill Brewster, the only Democrat in Oklahoma's Congressional delegation, also announced he would be leaving the House. He said he had never intended to make a career of politics and may return to private business. He is one of 18 Democrats in the House who won't seek re- election.

'King of Pop' improving in New York hospital

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pop star Michael Jackson was moved out of the intensive care unit at Beth Israel Medical Center Monday.

Doctors said he was "stable and improving," and might be released Tuesday. Jackson collapsed Wednesday while rehearsing for a television show.

Supreme Court rejects challenge to NFL blackout rule

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let the National Football League continue blacking out live television coverage of some games.

Without comment, the court refused to hear an appeal by hearing-impaired fans against a lower-court ruling that upheld the NFL's blackouts of some games in cities where they are played.

The hearing-impaired fans had said the policy discriminates against the disabled, because they cannot listen to radio broadcasts of games as an alternative to watching TV. But the lower court found no violation of a federal law protecting the disabled against discrimination.

Before recessing for Christmas, the court also upheld the creation of 62 Georgia judgeships despite a challenge by black voters. They had claimed that Georgia's election system for judges diluted the black vote.

L.A. takes first step toward hoped-for NFL team

INGLEWOOD, California (CNN) -- A 10-story hotel was imploded Sunday in the first step of what Los Angeles-area leaders hope will be a way to lure a National Football League team back to town.

Some 425 pounds of dynamite, place in 400 holes drilled in the former Park Plaza Hotel, were used to implode the building. It is being cleared to make way for a proposed professional football stadium. (663K QuickTime Movie)