EMail This Page - Print

Tom Poon

Pulse Reporter


1996

Bob Dole said Bob Dole was shocked by the election results -The GOP was stunned when conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan won the New Hampshire Republican primary. Buchanan narrowly edged Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who finished in second place.  Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander finished third, while multimillionaire publisher Steve Forbes finished fourth.

Brother can you spare a dime? - In the last year of his eight year $25 million dollar contract with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan didn't expect to test the free agency market, but said he expects his new contract would pay him a salary more commensurate with his stature. "I haven't demanded what I'm worth because I felt I had to honor my contract," Jordan said. "Now my contract states I'm free, and I'm going to maximize my value." Jordan would later resign with the Bulls for $66 million over two years and carry Chicago to three more championships.

1989

Apparently the Danish cartoonists missed the memo - UPI reported Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the death of Salman Rushdie for writing the controversial book "The Satanic Verses." The book outraged Muslims and caused deadly riots for its unflattering depiction of the prophet Muhammad. Khomeini called the book "blasphemous against Islam," and although Rushdie apologized for offending Muslims, his life was in danger. Khomeini said, "Even if Salman Rushdie repents and becomes the most pious man of time, it is incumbent on every Muslim employ everything he's got, his life and wealth, to send him to hell."

1987

Playing in local theaters - "Some Kind of Wonderful," starring Mary Stuart Masterson and Eric Stoltz; "Crocodile Dundee," starring Paul Hogan; "Hoosiers," starring Gene Hackman; "Platoon," which later won an Oscar for best movie and best director and "Mannequin" starring Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall.

Proof Bon Jovi is better than Led Zeppelin? - Behind the strength of their no. 1 hit "Livin' On A Prayer," Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" album topped the Billboard LP chart for a record breaking eighth straight week. The previous mark for longest run by a heavy metal album was Led Zeppelin's "In Through The Out Door" and "Led Zeppelin II."  That's right, Billboard considered Bon Jovi a heavy metal band.

1971

Living on $25 a month - The Daily Egyptian reported a survey by journalism students found people in Carbondale paid higher prices for products than eight other college towns in the region. Carbondale residents paid 40 cents per gallon of gasoline, $1.50 to get into a movie, $7.15 a month on the phone bill and $2.29 for liquor (6-pack of Schlitz beer and one fifth bottle of Ripple wine).  

School spirit - Paula Musto of the Daily Egyptian reported around 700 demonstrators marched on the SIUC campus to protest the Vietnam War and its expansion into Laos. The march was organized by the Southern Illinois Peace Committee and featured speakers like defense attorney Jeff Haas, SIUC philosophy professor Douglas Allen and SIUC history professor C. Harvey Gardiner.