News In Brief

I WANT A DIFFERENT CELLMATE

Apparently, a gang of eight-legged critters thinks the inmates at Galveston (Texas) County Jail haven't had punishment enough. Since October, brown recluse spiders have bitten 33 of them. But the jail is fighting back. Earlier this week, a SWAT team - well, two jail employees and an entymologist - swept the place, eliminating three spiders and a web containing egg sacs. Jail officials also plan to try a more effective pesticide.

GUESS HE DIDN'T GET AN 'A'

Driver-trainee Charles Conyers couldn't figure out why an alarm went off as he stuffed his tractor-trailer into the Holland Tunnel under New York's Hudson River. He knows now. His too-tall vehicle became stuck, backing up other motorists for an hour. Eighteen deflated tires and three traffic tickets later, the rig was freed. Where was his instructor through all this? Sound asleep.

Want to make good money? Head up a trade association

A rising tide, it's said, lifts all boats. That appears especially true of the compensation paid to chief executives of trade associations. In its fifth biennial survey of CEO salaries in that field, the publication National Journal found 42 who are paid at least $500,000 a year based on 1998 figures, (led by Gene Upshaw of the National Football League Players Association and NFL Players Inc., at $1.8 million). In the publication's last previous study, only 25 reached the half-million-dollar mark. The top average CEO salaries by trade-group sector as of 1998:

Finance/insurance/real estate $491,665

Communications 401,366

Health 328,451

Energy/natural resources 323,099

Manufacturing 297,899

Sales/service/construction 297,805

Agriculture/food/beverage 290,660

General business/professions 275,899

Transportation/defense/aerospace 274,755

Labor unions 254,635

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