News In Brief

Can't we all just GET ALONG?

It's not often that North Dakota makes news. But that doesn't mean the state's people like being slighted - and some of them believe they have been. At issue is a fund-raising campaign for the 10-acre, $15 million National Peace Garden in Washington. In its advertising, the campaign refers to the proposed garden as "America's first monument to peace." That is too much for North Dakotans, whose No. 1 tourist attraction is the International Peace Garden, the 2,300-acre botanical park that has straddled the border with Manitoba since 1932. In fact, North Dakota's nickname is the Peace Garden State, and that slogan has appeared on its license plates for 43 years. "We're very angry," the Dakota park director says. Replied his counterpart at the one slated for the nation's capital: Sorry; no offense intended.

Some US cities appear to be lagging in Y2K preparations

Less than six months before 1999 ends, the General Accounting Office (GAO) told a special Senate panel last week that only two of the nation's 21 biggest cities - Boston and Dallas - have completed efforts to prepare for potential 2000 computer problems. The GAO said nine others - Houston; Indian-apolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; Milwaukee; New York; Philadelphia; San Diego; and San Jose, Calif. - report expectations of completing Y2K preparations by Sept. 30. In a letter to the special committee, the GAO said: "Completing Y2K activities in the last months of the year increases the risk that key services will not be Y2K-ready in time for 2000." The 10 cities saying they expect to be ready by Dec. 31:

Baltimore

Chicago

Columbus, Ohio

Detroit

El Paso, Texas

Los Angeles

Phoenix

San Antonio

San Francisco

Washington

- Reuters

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society