How Electric Deregulation "Rate Cut" Will Cost You More	by Russell Sadler The State of California plans to float $7.4 billion in bonds to finance a 10 percent rate cut and begin paying off $28 billion in "stranded utility costs," the payments utilities make on bad investments like failed nuclear powerplants
1997 Was Dismal Year for Media	by Randolph T. Holhut A year when the excesses of All O.J., All The Time were topped by the saturation coverage given to the death of Princess Di
1997: An Unbalanced Media	by Walt Brasch The media -- almost all of which pretend they don't use paparazzi -- opened their pages to an almost unlimited collection of photos and in-depth stories, liberally sprinkled by speculation, rumor, innuendo, and hearsay
And You Thought You Liked Shrimp	by Donella H. Meadows For every pound of shrimp brought up in nets five pounds of other creatures come up as "bycatch" and are thrown back dead -- and that's not the worst of it
Wall Street's Bonus Babies	by Jim Hightower The real gravy is ladled out in end-of-the-year bonuses, and this year's holiday bonanza is the richest in history, with Wall Street's brokerage houses and banks serving up billions of dollars to those at the top
The Clinton Presidency at Five Years	by Norman Solomon As Bill Clinton completes his fifth year in the White House, the press is likely to tell us -- at great length -- what his presidency has meant so far. But don't expect much scrutiny of the news media's role in the Clinton era
P.U.-Litzer Prizes	by Norman Solomon Although journalists do not covet these annual awards, the competition remains fierce for America's smelliest media achievements.
Mexico's War on Journalists	by Jay Brodell The drug money has corrupted the police, the politicians and even the laborers of Mexico, and assasination of reporters is becoming commonplace
The Politics of Mexico's Massacre	by Alexander Cockburn Is the recent massacre of 45 Tsotzil Indians in Chiapas province the start of a transition by the Mexican government from a low-intensity, low-publicity war against the Zapatistas to a Guatemalan-style solution to the Indian rebellion?
The Wolf's Tale	by Alexander Cockburn The plan to trap more than a hundred gray wolves in Canada and release them in Yellowstone National Park didn't end quite the way that millions expected
Letters