Heavy fog in delays flights in upper Midwest
     MINNEAPOLIS - November 29, 1997 3:47 p.m. EST -- Dense fog pre-
 vented dozens of airline flights from landing at the Minneapolis-St.
 Paul International Airport for part of Saturday, delaying thousands
 of travelers.
     Northwest Airlines, which accounts for 80 percent of the air-
 port's flights, had diverted 34 flights and canceled 59 by early
 afternoon, spokeswoman Kathy Peach said. About 3,500 to 4,000
 passengers were affected.
     The fog began lifting by early afternoon, and airplanes that had
 been diverted to Sioux Falls, S.D, and Fargo and Grand Forks, N.D.,
 were able to return to the air, Peach said.
     Would-be passengers waiting for those flights packed the air-
 port's bars and restaurants.
    "They're not cranky, but they want to get out of here," said bar-
 tender Jeremiah Fasching.
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                       Carry-On Crackdown
     Airlines might be gaining a new weapon in the battle over the
 growing presence of carry-on baggage. The Federal Aviation Admin-
 istration will soon publish proposed new guidelines which would
 encourage airlines to place stricter controls on in-cabin luggage.
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      U.S. blimp may allow Cubans to watch anti-communist TV
     KEY WEST, Fla. - November 29, 1997 11:35 a.m. EST - Cubans may
 finally be able to watch U.S. government anti-Communist television
 programming thanks to a new remote-controlled blimp.
     The Americans have been broadcasting Spanish-language "TV Marti"
 from southern Florida to Cuba since 1990 at a cost of some $10
 million a year.
     But up to now the station, operated by the U.S. Information
 Agency (USIA), has been a waste of money: the government of Presi-
 dent Fidel Castro has succesfully jammed the station signal, pre-
 venting viewers on the island from tuning into the station's four
 hours of daily transmissions.
     Cuban officials have long maintained that the station offers
 distorted anti-Castro progaganda designed to encourage people to
 topple the island government.
     Now the USIA has a new weapon in the transmission war: a helium-
 filled blimp nicknamed "Fat Albert."  The blimp will climb 10,000
 feet over Cudjoe Key, some 20 miles east of Key West, on the sou-
 thern tip of Florida carrying a 1,200-lb., $2 million transmitter.
     U.S. government officials are keeping the blimp's launch date a
 secret, though it is expected to be in place early next year.
     "Apparently, the system works," said Herminio San Roman, director
 of the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting. "But we will not have any
 conclusive evidence until we conduct further tests."
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