The Meridian Archive
MER
December 1996
The First Since '78

The First Since '78

Closed mid-November 1996 · On stands late November 1996

The Front

Index of the Vote

Turnout by county, ballot initiatives decided nationwide, the margin in the states that mattered, the retail price of the season's must-have Tickle Me Elmo

The Essay

A Channel Built to Argue

The Fox News Channel launches, and the case that cable news was always headed toward a point of view

What Proposition 209 Actually Repeals

California's Proposition 209 passes, ending state affirmative-action programs, and the argument over what colorblindness costs the colorblind

The Foreign File

The Camps Empty Into War

A stringer's dispatch on the eastern Zaire refugee crisis, as Rwandan Hutu camps empty under rebel advance and aid agencies scramble to follow

The Feature Well

The House That Waited

A profile of the Yankees' front office through the eighteen years between titles

The City

The First Since '78

The Yankees win the World Series, their first title since 1978

Last Call at Bradley's

Bradley's, the University Place piano bar, closes

A Casino, Reviewed as Architecture

Mohegan Sun opens near Foxwoods, drawing the magazine's attention chiefly for its architecture and the competitive threat it poses to Atlantic City

The Back

The Season's Small Print

A books column on the year's baseball writing

The Networks' Thursday Problem

A television column on the ratings war for Thursday at nine, and what a single sitcom slot is worth in ad revenue