A Ballot Measure and the Line It Draws
Closed mid-December 1996 · On stands late December 1996
The Front
A Pill Against Forgetting
The FDA approves donepezil, the first drug cleared to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
The Meridian Index: January
Heating-oil deliveries in the upper Midwest, unclaimed December lottery tickets nationwide, the average January gym-membership sign-up
The Most Expensive Picture Ever Made
Trade-press rumor traces the overruns on a December-bound Atlantic-set epic still filming in Nova Scotia; the studio won't confirm a number
The Essay
The State Line
California's Proposition 215 legalizes marijuana for medical use over federal objection; the vote is read as a test of how much room a state has to disagree with Washington on drug policy
The Foreign File
The Road from Goma
Laurent Kabila's rebellion sweeps the Great Lakes borderlands as Mobutu's army retreats and the Rwandan refugee camps empty
The Feature Well
The City
Subject: A first look at the year's co-op board season and the new questions boards are asking applicants
The Back
Books: A round-up of the winter's political memoirs · Art: Notes from the January print fairs · Film: The awards-season pictures, briefly considered