Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, will orbit Earth again. NASA will send him on a space shuttle mission this year, 36 years after he became the first man in orbit. He will be 77 years old. The official rationale: He will help NASA learn about the relationship between aging and space travel. The unofficial rationale: He will tap the country's nostalgia and rekindle its spirit of adventure. Killjoys complained that space missions are no place for "national joy rides" and "entertainment." Cynics speculated that this is Glenn's payback for protecting President Clinton in the campaign-finance-scandal hearings. Comedian Bob Somerby anticipates a new chapter in the Glenn legend: "First man to break his hip in space."(1/16)

Internal documents show that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. explicitly targeted kids. One document proposed a new brand aimed at teen-agers as young as 14. Another urged action to reverse the company's loss of smokers aged 14 to 17. Editorialists pronounced the documents "devastating" (the Washington Post) and "breathtaking" (the New York Times). The political forecast: Outrage over the documents will 1) provoke Congress to refuse to grant the industry immunity for its past behavior, thereby 2) eliminating the industry's incentive to fulfill its $368-billion settlement, thereby 3) forestalling the cigarette price hike (to cover the settlement costs) meant to deter kids from smoking, thereby 4) forcing Democrats to propose raising cigarette taxes to achieve the same effect, thereby 5) turning the tobacco debate into a tax debate, just as Republicans wanted. (1/16)

Labor Secretary Alexis Herman is this week's scandal-piranha bait. ABC aired an interview Wednesday in which businessman Laurent Yene claimed Herman gave him access for clients in return for money. The network also announced that the Justice Department had begun investigating the charges. Follow-up newspaper stories pointed out Yene may have been out for revenge and that government investigators had failed to verify his related allegations last year. Lawyers for Yene's former business partner accused Yene of extortion, misappropriating funds, and sexual harassment. Justice officials pleaded that they had to launch a probe of Herman anyway, because the independent-counsel law sets such a low standard. ABC's standards were not similarly explained. (1/16)

Israel hardened its stance against concessions to the Palestinians. The Israeli Cabinet announced that Israel 1) won't withdraw from any more of the West Bank until Palestinians fulfill dozens of conditions and 2) will never give up West Bank zones such as military bases, settlements, and sacred "historic sites." The Palestinians rejected these terms and urged President Clinton to read Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu the riot act. U.S. officials criticized Israel's "in-your-face" behavior. Conservative pundits came to Netanyahu's defense, assailing the Israeli anti-Netanyahu lobby and its amen corner in the United States. (1/16)

Through genetic manipulation, scientists have caused human cells to live far beyond their normal life span. The visionary spin: It's a "fountain of youth," allowing us to live 200 years or perhaps forever. The practical spin: By rejuvenating cells, we can soon mitigate age-related diseases such as degeneration of retinal cells. The small hitch: Making cells immortal doesn't necessarily make people immortal. The big hitch, according to the Washington Post: "Cellular immortality has a bad name in medicine: It's called cancer."(1/14)

Saddam Hussein is acting up again. Iraq has resumed blocking a U.N. weapons-inspection team, claiming that there are too many Americans on the team and that the leader, Scott Ritter, is a spy. Commentators groaned that we're back where we started. Editorialists called for a hard line and a united front against Iraq's intransigence, this time with more willingness to use force. The U.N. weapons-inspection team chief also says there's evidence that Iraq may have been testing chemical weapons on its prisoners. (1/14)

Television networks coughed up nearly $18 billion for the rights to broadcast National Football League games. This doubles previous NFL broadcast fees and "dwarfs any previous sum paid by the networks for any other kind of programming," according to the New York Times. ABC and its cable sibling, ESPN, are shelling out $9.2 billion, more than their combined value as of two years ago. Analysts agree that all the networks will lose money on the NFL deals (possibly causing layoffs) but that they're forced to do so in order to attract male viewers, to whom they can pitch their other programs. The consensus spin: Sports is king, and players will reap even fatter salaries. NBC lost the bidding war but made up for it by paying $850 million to keep its popular drama ER. (1/14)

The Republican Party is regaining control of its civil war over partial-birth abortion. Pro-life hard-liners are pushing a resolution to deny GOP financial support to candidates who oppose banning these abortions. However, the top two pro-lifers in Congress--Reps. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., and Charles Canady, R-Fla.--have virtually killed the resolution by declaring that it would cost the GOP its congressional majority. The Wall Street Journal scolded backers of the resolution for copying Democrats' "litmus test liberalism." The New York Times' Frank Rich reported that Republicans miss Ralph Reed, who knew how to cut a deal. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld used the feud as an opportunity to get another 15 minutes of attention. (1/14)

The movement to ban human cloning is gaining momentum. 1) Responding to a human cloning project launched by Chicago physicist Richard Seed, President Clinton urged Congress to pass a ban. 2) House Majority Leader Dick Armey said Congress will comply. 3) Seed said he'll move his shop to Mexico if the U.S. ban is enacted. 4) Nineteen European countries signed a pact forbidding human cloning. Germany refused to sign the pact, claiming it's weaker than Germany's domestic ban on human embryo research. Britain refused to sign, reportedly because it opposes restrictions on scientific research. 5) French President Jacques Chirac called for a global ban on human cloning, to prevent clinics from moving to countries where cloning isn't regulated. (Read Nathan Myhrvold's "Human Clones: Why Not?" in Slate.) (1/12)

Plea-bargain talks for accused Unabomber Ted Kaczynski have resumed. Last week, Kaczynski tried to hang himself with his underwear and to fire his lawyers and represent himself. Consequently, his lawyers reportedly persuaded prosecutors to reopen discussions on a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence instead of execution. Previous plea talks had failed because Kaczynski's team demanded extra conditions, which prosecutors refused. The Justice Department reportedly has decided that a plea bargain may not be such a bad idea since Kaczynski's antics have complicated the trial and created possible grounds for appeal if he's convicted. (1/12)

Today's college freshmen are lazy, greedy, apathetic bums, analysts concluded from a new survey. The data: 1) Nearly twice as many freshmen say they're focusing on launching lucrative careers as say they're focusing on developing a philosophy (the reverse was true in 1968). 2) Percentages concerned with following and discussing politics have reached record lows. 3) Classroom boredom and the number of people missing class because of oversleeping have reached record highs. "Call them the Disengaged Generation," lamented the Los Angeles Times. Theories on the cause: 1) Television and computer entertainment lead to isolation. 2) College has become so expensive that kids are already thinking about how to recoup their investment. Most interesting backspin: Last year, researchers touted an increase in students' community-service work in high school. This year, they suspect the kids are doing this work only because it's a graduation requirement. (1/12)

The Denver Broncos will play the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. Pundits' spin on the Broncos' 24-21 semifinal upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers: The wily, old Broncos quarterback (John Elway) outfoxed the reckless, young Steelers quarterback (Kordell Stewart). Pundits' spin on the Packers' 23-10 semifinal victory over the San Francisco 49ers: The tired, aging 49ers couldn't keep up with the aggressive, young Packers. Sportswriters predicted that once again, the Cinderella team (the Broncos) will be steamrollered in the Super Bowl. (1/12)