The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 2

Nation 2A Thursday, July 27, 2000 The Billings Gazette Best Bets Swiss accounts, as well as those whose belongings were plundered by the Nazis and apparently wound up in Switzerland, a wartime depository for gold and other assets. A three-year independent investigation headed by Paul A. Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, found that up to 54,000 accounts may have been opened by Holocaust victims. In May, the two largest Swiss banks Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG agreed to grant access to databases containing 2J million Holocaust-era accounts to help speed payments to victims.

On the Net http:www.swssbarikclaims.com indexsp holocaust-assets welcome.html "We're as anxious as anybody to get this money out," he said. At hearings last year, attorneys from both sides told Korman that an overwhelming majority of the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit supported a proposed out-of-court settlement reached in August 1998. The suit was filed by Holocaust victims who deposited money in Swiss banks for safekeeping as the Nazis gained power in Europe, expecting to retrieve it later. After the war, the plaintiffs claimed, they ran into a stone wall in trying to claim the assets. In some cases, they lacked detailed account information; some bankers even demanded impossible-to-obtain death certificates of people killed in Nazi concentration camps.

The settlement covers Jews and other Holocaust victims who lost money in still in the works, for dividing and distributing the settlement the final phase of a painstaking global campaign to compensate roughly 600,000 claimants. Under a distribution plan being drawn up by a court-appointed special master, Judah Gribetz, officials will use bank and other records to determine if claims are valid. A draft of Gribetz's plan is due within 30 days. Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, hailed Korman's decision as "a belated victory." "After more than a half century, a measure of justice has been achieved for the victims of the greatest crime of the century," he said. Defense attorney Roger Witten said the banks have already put $550 million in escrow in anticipation of starting payments, possibly before the end of this year.

NEW YORK (AP) A federal judge approved a historic $125 billion settlement Wednesday between Swiss banks and more than a half-million plaintiffs who alleged the banks hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims. The long-expected ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman brings Holocaust victims and their heirs worldwide a step closer to collecting claims against the banks. In the ruling, the judge said the words of Holocaust survivor Ernest Lobet best summarized his own feelings about the settlement "I have no quarrel with the settlement," Korman quoted Lobet as saying. "I do not say it is fair, because fairness is a relative term.

No amount of money can possibly be fair under those circumstances." Korman now must sign off on a plan, On the Web at: billineseazetre Meet Cheney Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has picked former Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney as his running mate. Meet the new vice presidential candidate, a solid citizen with Washington experience and loyalty to the Bush family, at www.billingsgazette.com world On the TV: Live concert The very popular group 'N Sync offers its first live TV concert in 'N Sync Live From Madison Square Garden" on HBO at 10 p.m. on Thursday. Gay Hollywood Leeza Gibbons profiles actors and others in the entertainment industry who are "out" as gay men and lesbians on at 8 p.m.

on Thursday. man, injures 14 in Minnesota 25 -f fit A 7 Associated tornado struck Granite Falls, Minn. 1 mattress hangs in a shattered tree after a Associated Minnesota National Guardsman stands duty near grain elevators and bins that destroyed by a tornado in Granite Falls. At right, the tornado touches down. weather started turning Tuesday afternoon.

midday we got the it wasn't going to be said Craig Edwards, a with the National Service. "There' was moisture and winds at 125 miles west of Minneapolis. "I got off the course and drove up toward town," he said. "I could see insulation pieces some as big as blankets falling from the sky. The winds had stopped, but things were still falling.

It was so eerie." about 50 miles per hour at 15,000 feet. That was enough energy to spin up severe thunderstorms that possibly led to the tornadoes." City Councilman Odell Rude was golfing when lightning began to flash over the community about NATION IN BRIEF Omaha police officer charged in fatal shooting OMAHA, Neb. A white police officer was charged with manslaughter Wednesday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man after a high-speed chase. Jerad Kruse, 31, a seven-year veteran of the Omaha police force, could face up to 70 years in prison. Kruse's attorney, Mike Fabian, said he was surprised by the charge.

"We'll address the facts in court," he said. Kruse had been chasing George Bibins, 35, who was suspected of car theft, on July 19. After Bibins crashed into a telephone pole, Kruse jumped out of his police car and shot Bibins while he was still inside the vehicle he was suspected of stealing, Police Chief Don Carey said. Bibins died of a single gunshot wound to the shoulder. Following the shooting, Carey had said the department's internal investigation could not find a justification for the shooting.

Press Officer's stepson admits slaying 2 sweethearts SANTA FE, NJVL The stepson of a police lieutenant pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering two high school sweethearts on a Good Friday pilgrimage. Carlos Herrera, 20, of Espanola entered guilty pleas to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 17-year-olds Ricky Martinez and Karen Castanon. The teenagers were shot April 21 as they walked along a highway near Chimayo, where Easter pilgrims annually trek to an old adobe church. Ballistics tests confirmed that Herrera's rifle was the murder weapon, and Herrera admitted in statements to investigators that he had killed the teenagers, District Attorney Henry Valdez said. He said Herrera, whose stepfather is an Espanola police lieutenant, told police that the shooting stemmed from a drug deal with Martinez.

The prosecutor emphasized that investigators found no evidence of a drug deal and no trace of drugs in the victims' bodies. Prosecutors said Herrera had been using cocaine the night of the killings. 14 buffalo break free on New York farm MALONE, N.Y. Sean Bailey was raking hay when he spied a group of animals moving in his direction fast He turned the tractor toward the farmhouse, barely keeping ahead of the beasts as he rushed for cover. Farmer James Tavernier, 58, had just sat down in his kitchen with a cup of coffee.

Bailey, he said, came flying in. He had one word to say "Buffalo!" Raised as pets, the buffalo had resisted being loaded for transport to a nearby buffalo farm, and 14 of the herd of 17 broke free Tuesday. Tavernier didn't just sit there. He called state police, then leapt into his old pickup truck and tore into the field about 80 miles northeast ofUtica. Tavernier drove straight at the beasts, eventually driving the buffalo into a wooded area.

U.S. Border Patrol agents shot and killed at least six of the animals. Tranquilizing the beasts, which weighed up to 1,500 pounds, wasn't practical because they'd be too hard to move, Press "fr your day I 'sY'in the Cabana at. Travel Cafe or our Hmwm ftuticR Spectf in tonurow's WW hi '9 Twister kills GRANITE FALLS, Minn. (AP) Mayor Dave Smiglewski was on his way to pick up pizza for his family when a white funnel cloud materialized from the west in a swirling mass of debris.

The tornado snaked along a 12-block path, killing one man and injuring at least 14 people while tearing up 300 to 350 homes. As many as five funnel clouds were spotted at one time. "It was gut-wrenching, sickening to see," Smiglewski said. On Wednesday morning, power had been restored to all-the homes where it was possible in the town of about 3,000 people, authorities said. "Really, the emergency is over," said Duane Hoeschen of the state's Division of Emergency Management.

"We are now in the recovery." No details were released on the fatality because relatives were still being notified, said Yellow Medicine County Deputy Richard Blackwelder. Neighbors said he was an elderly man who was found under his pickup truck. Fourteen people were treated for cuts and bruises, said George Gerlach, administrator of Granite Falls Municipal Hospital. As the storm swept in at about 6 p.m, 10 people and three dogs crouched in a small bath room at the SuperAmenca gas station. "We didn't hear any sirens, nothing.

The skies got real dark, real fast," cashier Amanda Velde said. 1 Gov. Jesse Ventura sent the National Guard to help with security and debris cleanup-Emergency workers went house to house through the disaster area, marking X's on the homes' where the safety of the residents could be confirmed. In many places, there were no houses to mark. 'There's at least a half dozen of them that are gone complete ly," said Paul Krogstad, the city's public works director.

The funnel also toppled por tions of a grain elevator complex before whipping trucks around like toys at the nearby United Parcel Service facility. Todays Kidman works on film in Spain MADRID, Spain Nicole Kidman is moving to Spain for three months to film "The Others," a dark picture about a pious woman whose children can't be exposed to sunlight because they have a rare disease. The movie, set on the English Channel island of Jersey in 1945, is to be filmed in Madrid and Santander, on Spain's northern coast, and will cost $20 million to produce. Written and directed by popular Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar, the film's executive producers include Kidman's husband, actor Tom Cruise. Amenabar said the idea for the film was influenced by Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock movies.

"I've never made a film of this genre before," Kidman said at a news conference Wednesday. "I think Alejandro Amenabar is one of the best directors and I'm in very good hands." Navy kicks out Playboy poser CHICAGO A former Navy petty officer is bearing the consequences for baring all in the September issue of Playboy magazine. Sherry Lynne White, 26, said she was discharged from the Navy on July 9 because she posed for a nude photo spread. She originally was scheduled to be released from duty on Oct. 3L "I felt I wasn't doing anything wrong by posing," White said Tuesday.

"I'm not making the Navy look bad by having those pictures there." Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner, a Navy spokesman in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where White was stationed, said both the Navy and White agreed to the discharge. Werner would not say what role the Playboy photos played in the agreement. Potter book goes back to presses NEW YORK Boy wizard Harry Potter is still weaving magic in his third week of release, flying off bookstore shelves and Web retailing sites at a steady pace.

The U.S. and British publishers of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the fourth 4T A A were The severe "Around feeling good," meteorologist Weather low-level 1 On the way: Christina Aguilera says the greatest thing about being a singer "is being able to interact with fans and touch peoples' lives." Find out what the young star has to say in Friday's Enjoy! About your paper Switchboard (406) 657-1200 The Billings Gazette is published daily. Our business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 401 N.

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jsS Collections If you find a factual error in a Gazette news item, tell us about it. Call the Region Desk at 657-1311 or e-mail us at cltynews 9 blllingsgazetta.com fr- tTo I son, said the song "Black Chic, White Guy" on his best-selling 1998 album "contains several graphic, inflammatory, untrue, hurtful remarks." The song described a woman who was promiscuous, had three children with three men, was beaten by a drug-dealing boyfriend and "had no man, no money and no clue." The defendants said they told the truth and did not name RusselL A Kid Rock lawyer said he is confident the case will be thrown out. Spinal Tap puts song on Internet LOS ANGELES Spinal Tap is back from the dead on the Internet. The spoof British band created for Rob Reiner's cult favorite rockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" from 1984 has recorded a new song that will be available for download starting Thursday from tongue-in-cheek www.Tapster.com. "Back From the Dead" features Michael McKean, who played Spinal Tap's lead singer David St.

Hubbins, Christopher Guest, who was lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and Harry Shearer, who was bass player Derek Smalls. "This Is Spinal Tap" parodied a pretentious hard rock band trying to soldier on despite a dwindling fan base. The movie is being re-released in theaters and on DVD and videotape in September. The group is using Tapster.com as a spoof of Napster, a site that allows computer users to download copyrighted songs for free. Tycoon goes home from hospital OMAHA, Neb.

Investors, rejoice: Multibillionaire Warren Buffett has returned home after colon surgery. The 69-year-old Buffett plans to conduct business from his home as he regains his strength. Officials with Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway said no further treatment is required. Last week doctors removed a section of his colon that contained noncancerous polyps. Associated Press Actress Nicole Kidman is working in Spain on "The Others" with movie director Alejandro Amenabar.

book in the series by British author J.K. Rowling, have already gone back to the presses for additional print runs. Meanwhile, some readers are already placing orders on Amazon.com's U.K. Web site for the unwritten fifth book in the best-selling series, expected to be released next July. The book's U.S.

publisher, New York-based Scholastic has ordered an additional 3 million copies, after having distributed all of its 3.8 million initial print run. "We have never sold this many books in such a short period of time before," said Becky Whidden, manager of The Children's Book Shop in Brookline, Mass. "With most books, we sell only five a week in hardcover." Girlfriend sues over rapper's song DETROIT Kid Rock is fighting a lawsuit brought by an ex-girlfriend who says the rapper lied about her in a song and damaged her reputation. Kelley Russell, the mother of Kid Rock's.