President Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, told investigators that Clinton sometimes met privately with Monica Lewinsky but coached Currie to say otherwise, according to New York Times sources. Specifically: 1) Clinton testified in the Paula Jones case that he didn't recall ever having been alone with Lewinsky, but that if he had been, it was strictly for official business. 2) Currie says that the next day, Clinton summoned her and pitched her an account of his relationship with Lewinsky by posing and answering leading questions, e.g., "We were never alone, right?" But, contrary to Clinton's account, Currie says he and Lewinsky were sometimes alone, though she doesn't know whether they had a sexual relationship. (The Washington Post's source described Currie's report of the meeting somewhat differently: "Clinton probed [Currie's] memories ... to see whether they matched his own." He "told Currie she had always been in earshot whenever he was with Lewinsky and asked if that was right. She answered yes [but] later told investigators that she was not physically in the room with them at all times.") 3) Currie has supplied investigators with a dress, brooch, and hatpin that Clinton gave to Lewinsky. 4) According to what Lewinsky reportedly told investigators, Clinton advised her that if she didn't have these gifts in her possession, she could avoid having to turn them over to the authorities. Soon thereafter, Currie took possession of the gifts. A source close to Clinton told the Post that Clinton "was trying to confirm the accuracy of his own memory, not coaching Currie about what she should say." (Also see David Plotz's "Assessment" of the presidential secretary.) (2/6)

Washington National Airport is being renamed after Ronald Reagan. Congress easily passed the bill, and President Clinton is expected to sign it Friday, Reagan's 87^th birthday. Irony No. 1: Some Democrats complained that Congress was violating Reagan's federalism principle by renaming the airport over the objections of local civic leaders. Irony No. 2: The Chicago Tribune noted that the airport renaming follows construction of the Ronald Reagan International Trade Building, "the most expensive government building ever constructed ... to honor the man who wanted to shrink the federal government." Irony No. 3: The Los Angeles Times reported that some Republican lawmakers regard the airport renaming as sad evidence that the GOP has nothing more substantive on its agenda. (2/6)

A partisan congressional fight has erupted over two bills to ban human cloning. The Democratic bill would ban implantation of a cloned embryo. The Republican bill would ban human-cloning technology altogether. Democrats argue that the Republican bill would impede progress against various diseases by preventing the cloning of useful tissues. Republicans argue that the Democratic bill would allow researchers to create embryos in the United States and then implant them abroad. Pro-lifers are backing the Republican bill as a statement that embryos are human life. (2/6)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair received a star-studded reception at the White House after lunch-time negotiations with President Clinton averted a crisis over whether the United States should return Winnie-the-Pooh and four other stuffed animals to their original British home. (2/6)

Update on the Iraq showdown: 1) Russia tried to forestall a U.S. attack on Iraq by announcing a plan under which Iraq would let U.N. weapons inspectors into a few of its presidential "palaces." Iraq then embarrassed Russia by temporarily disavowing the plan. Russian President Boris Yeltsin then warned that a U.S. attack might provoke a world war. 2) U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed easing restrictions on Iraqi oil sales in order to finance food and medical aid to Iraqi citizens. Skeptics argued that the two proposals will fail to accomplish their objectives and are disrupting the momentum toward a U.S. bombing of Iraq. But editorialists suggested that the Russia-Iraq talks are worth entertaining, and that the Annan plan is worth implementing, if only to persuade the world that the United States has shown compassion for the Iraqi people and has exhausted its diplomatic alternatives before bombing away. (2/4)

Double murderer Karla Faye Tucker was executed. She reportedly died smiling and professing Christian love for everyone. The New York Times used the occasion to rehash old criticisms of capital punishment (it's unfairly administered, and the Europeans think we're barbaric) and to suggest that Tucker's putative Christian martyrdom (she claimed to have found Jesus after wielding her pickax) might eventually persuade evangelical leaders that the death penalty is immoral. Skeptics scoffed that Tucker became a death-row celebrity only because of her gender and that equal justice demanded her execution. (2/4)

President Clinton announced his budget proposal. Key features: Zero deficit (with the small surplus set aside to shore up Social Security); no across-the-board tax cut; and tax breaks and spending for child care, new teachers, school renovation, and medical research, to be funded by the hypothetical tobacco settlement. Analysts agreed that Clinton's plan will confound the Republicans, for good reasons (the surplus is better spent on Social Security than on tax cuts) and bad reasons (every special interest gets a favor). Public-investment advocates complained that the new spending programs are long on symbolism and short on money. Deficit hawks applauded Clinton for the same reason. (2/4)

Charlie Trie returned to the United States and surrendered to the FBI after being indicted in the campaign-finance scandal. His lawyer's story: Trie's "voluntary" return proves he's not a fugitive or a spy. The real story: U.S. agents and their foreign allies were planning, if he didn't surrender, to capture him abroad. Now the question is whether he will testify and implicate officials at the White House or the Democratic National Committee. (2/4)

A U.S. military plane severed a ski lift cable in Italy, killing 20 skiers whose cable car plunged hundreds of feet to the ground. The serious spin: Italians are furious at the American "war games," and Italian leftists are demanding that NATO get out of Italy. The rubbernecking spin: According to the New York Times, "the faces of the dead were ... twisted in horrifying contortions reflecting the terror of their last moments." The naughty spin: Skiing kills. First Michael Kennedy, then Sonny Bono, now this. (2/4)

The media concluded that President Clinton has survived the scandal and began to affix the blame for his escape. Theories: 1) The public is too cynical to care. 2) Clinton's innumerable misdeeds have made the public too cynical to care. 3) Constant right-wing claims of Clinton misdeeds have made the public too cynical to care. 4) The Clinton administration's constant dismissals of its alleged misdeeds as false right-wing claims have made the public too cynical to care. 5) Starr blew his legal credibility by pursuing a political mission. 6) Starr blew his political mission (ousting Clinton) by dawdling over legal niceties ("sweating out" Lewinsky instead of granting her immediate immunity and putting her on the stand). 7) Republican leaders failed to attack Clinton. 8) Republican leaders failed to restrain other right-wingers from attacking Clinton, which helped Clinton politicize the investigation. 9) Lewinsky's lawyer is getting her to shut up and "take the fall" for Clinton. 10) Women and feminist leaders are too infatuated with Clinton's policies to criticize his sexually disrespectful behavior. 11) Since women no longer object to sexually disrespectful behavior, it's open season on women at the office. (2/2)

Lost in the spin: whether Lewinsky traded false testimony for a job arranged by Clinton's pal Vernon Jordan. The chronology--Dec. 17: Lewinsky is subpoenaed in the Paula Jones case; Dec. 28: She reportedly meets privately with Clinton; Jan. 7: She signs but doesn't yet file an affidavit denying that she and Clinton had an affair; Jan. 8: Jordan gets her an interview with Revlon; Jan. 13: She reportedly tells Linda Tripp (on tape) that she won't file the affidavit unless she gets the job from Jordan. Revlon offers Lewinsky the job; Jan. 16: She files the affidavit. (2/2)

NBC and Turner Broadcasting are discussing the feasibility of starting a competitor to the National Football League. The reason: They lost out in the bidding for the new eight-year, $17.6-billion NFL TV contracts. Skeptics note that previous NFL competitors have failed. NBC and Turner's scenario for success: 1) They have the money and distribution network to make it work. 2) There are plenty of extra players, football-hungry cities, and empty stadiums. 3) The new league might attract enough ad revenue if it draws even a fraction of the NFL's TV audience. (2/2)