Democracy Now! January 22, 1999

(14 Minutes) Police Brutality in Washinton A look at police brutality in Washinton's poorest neighborhoods, as DC's police chief asks the Justice Department for an investigation into why the nation's capital leads the country in police shootings. GUEST: Ron Hampton, former plice officer in Washington DC, and Exec. Dir. of the National Black Police Association. GUEST: Arnoldo Ramos, Exec. Dir. of the Council of Latino Agencies, a consortium of multicultural community-based organizations. He also heads the DC Immigrant Coalition on Immigration and Welfare Reform, an organization that has been conducting community workshops on police brutality in Washington DC. GUEST: Emu Getachew, Virginia resident whose brother, Anteneh Getachew, an Ethiopian immigrant, was killed by DC Police. (20 Minutes) Vernon Jordan and Power in Washington A view of power an dinfluence in the world of presidential freind Vernon Jordan, as President Clinton's lawyers deny that Jordan conspired to cover up the President's affair with Monica Lewinsky. GUEST: Ken Silverstein, Co-editor of "Counter Punch", an investigative newsletter about power in Washington. (18 Minutes) HMO's and Lawsuits In the nation's largest verdict ever against a HMO, a California jury this week awarded $120 million to a schoolteacher whose husband fuoght fruitlessly until his death against Aetna US Heatlth Care of CA for coverage of an experimental cancer treatment. GUEST: Jamie Court, from Consumers for Quality Care. GUEST: Florence Corcoran, whose baby died of fetal distress after her HMO had her released from the hospital. GUEST: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-chair of the Democratic Health Care Task Force in the House. He is co-sponsor of the Democratic version of the "Patients Bill of Rights Bill", which seeks to overturn ERISA, a law that says consumers cannot sue HMO's.