Take a Look
USC filmmakers try to make an impression on industry professionals at this week's First Look Film Festival /10
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
MONDAY
♦
October 2, 2000
Of interest...
Twins Jodie and Mary share a heart. Can the government decide who lives and dies? / 4
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News Digest	2	Opinions	4
Editorial	4	Lifestyle	7
The Buzz	7	Classifieds	16
Crossword	17	Sports	20
vol. CXXXXI, no. 24 www.usc.edu/dt
Napster County-USC strike is looming
returns to court today
Trail: Outcome of case may establish regulations for Internet music services; USC keeping close watch’
Labor Thousands of Los Angeles County workers to begin rolling walk-out today; hospital employees affected Oct. 11
By FRANCESCA CIMIN0
Assistant City Editor
More than 47,000 Los Angeles County workers — including workers at the County-USC Medical Center — are set to walk off the job in the next two weeks, some as early as this morning, as they begin a “rolling strike," the latest instance of labor unrest in strike-weary Ixjs Angeles.
The workers are protesting failed contract negotiations in which they were aiming for a 15.5 percent pay raise, elimination of medical co-payments and partial childcare benefits.
The old contract expired at midnight Saturday with county officials and union leaders still grappling for a compromise between the unions demands and the county’s offer of a 9 percent pay increase and a reduction
in co-payments to between $5 and $10, according to a CBS news report.
With more than half of the 80,000 county employees unionized under the Service Employees International Union Local 660, every aspect of county services could be affected. Union members include health care workers, sheriff’s deputies, jail guards, district attorney’s office employees, child welfare administrators and animal control officers.
The health care situation is especially serious because county workers provide 85 percent of the indigent
care in the region, according to a CBS news report.
The SEIU plans to start the strike slowly and gain momentum each day, with union employees in the offices of the registrar-recorder and animal control services walking off the job this morning, one union official said. Union members at the sheriff’s department and county jails, probation services, the district attorney's office and the public defender's office will strike Wednesday, according to an MSNBC.com report
I	see Labor, page 13 I
What could have been
By BRENDAN LOY
Assignment Editor
Napster, the controversial music file-sharing software that has taken the Internet by storm this year, returns to the courtroom today in the latest phase of a precedent-setting copyright battle with the Recording Industry Association of America.
The latest court battle is an appeal of U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel's July 26 injunction ordering Napster to stop all trading of copyrighted material on its network. The injunction, which would have forced Napster to shut down, was stayed by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals pending the appeal that starts today.
The outcome of the case is likely to set preliminary ground rules in the lively ongoing debate over the future of Internet music, copyright law and intellectual property in general. Additionally, if the judges’ ruling favors Napster, it could potentially motivate various colleges and universities that have banned Napster — including USC, which blocked student use of the service in the face of a lawsuit by Metallica in April — to reactivate the service.
Bob Murphy, executive assistant in the Information Services Division at USC, said in early September that ISD is keeping a “very close watch” on the case.
Napster is banned at 40 percent of U.S. colleges, according to the issue of Time Magazine hitting newsstands today. The legal case could substantially reduce that number — if Napster is deemed legal and some colleges lift their bans in response — or, if the recording industry wins, it could render all the bans superfluous, as the entire Napster network would be taken offline.
Oral arguments in the case will begin this morning in a San Francisco courtroom before a three-judge panel, according to Yahoo News. The judges will decide whether to uphold Patel’s injunction, overturn it, or refer the case back to Patel with instructions for a more in-depth review.
The judges are not actually I see TTial, page 13 i
Few students ‘hitching’ rides around campus
Transportation: Campus Cruiser program has not seen an increase in use
By SARAH JIMENEZ
Contributing Writer
Campus Cruiser has not seen a noticeable increase in the number of students served since its “Hitch-A-Ride” program was implemented last
spring, said senior Supervisor Phillip Carnahan, a senior majoring in computer engineering and computer science, after the groups semi-annual meeting Saturday.
Introduced Feb. 7, "Hitch-A-Ride" allows students to approach a stopped Campus Cruiser when the students destination is close to where the vehicle is already headed. Drivers are given discretion in determining who gets a ride based on
whether there is sufficient room.
“1 think (‘Hitch-A-Hide’ is) really great because when there’s no calls, then it gives us drivers something to do," said driver Barbie Burdette, a sophomore majoring in political science. “People used to ask us for rides and we had to say no. Now we can say yes and that makes people happy.”
Although "Hitch-A-Ride" has not produced sweeping changes at Campus Cruiser, there are some new
developments. Cruiser has recently adopted a new policy concerning service during home football games, according to its web site.
Service will not begin until approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of home games that started at 3 p.m. or later. The change was made because it is too difficult for Cruiser cars to drive through heavy pre- and post-game pedestrian traf-I see Transportation page 13 I
Premature
celebrations.
Katia Rossi, a junior majoring in animal science, high-tives a member of the USC Spirit of Troy during a break between quarters of Saturday’s football game against Oregon State. An avid USC fan, she traveled to
Corvaillis, Ore. with her father for the game. Despite the crowd's enthusiasm, the Trojans lost to the Beavers 21-31. For more coverage and analysis of the game / 20
Wednesday: Daily Trojan open house from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in STU, Room 421