Kevorkian Case Goes To Michigan High Court

THE question that Dr. Jack Kevorkian has pushed onto the national agenda with his highly publicized involvement in 20 deaths now falls to the Michigan Supreme Court:

Do people have a constitutional right to assisted suicide?

The Lansing, Mich., court will hear oral arguments today on whether Michigan's assisted-suicide law is constitutional, and whether Dr. Kevorkian can be tried on murder charges in two assisted-suicide deaths that occurred before the ban was in place.

``Dr. Kevorkian has become the figurehead in the assisted-suicide debate. However, the argument presented here goes beyond the man and arrives at the fundamental principles of liberty and the role of government in our modern society,'' Kevorkian's lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, wrote in briefs to the court.

Louisiana incumbent wins tough race

REPUBLICANS hoping to capture control of Congress this year will have to do it without Rep. Jimmy Hayes's hard-won seat.

Congressman Hayes, a moderate to conservative Democrat, turned back the only serious challenge to Louisiana's incumbents in Saturday's open primary election. The other six incumbent congressmen, three Democrats and three Republicans, coasted to victory.

``You know, politics is a blood sport in south Louisiana,'' Hayes said, referring to his tough campaign against former Rep. Clyde Holloway, a Republican aligned with the Christian right who lost his seat to redistricting.

Unofficial returns showed Hayes with 53 percent of the vote to Mr. Holloway's 40 percent. Ron Caesar, an independent, had 7 percent.

GM plants reopen after strike

GENERAL Motors Corp. still spends more to make cars than its rivals do, and the company's agreement to end a potentially crippling strike by hiring more workers could hamper its productivity, analysts say.

But GM officials insist that the settlement won't derail their campaign to cut costs, shrink their work force, and make a profit on the company's North American automotive business.

GM resumed production at its Buick City complex in Flint and began shipping parts Sunday after union members ended their four-day strike over production speedups and overtime schedules they said had threatened workers' health and safety. The Flint strike caused parts shortages that closed several other GM plants.