Preview -- World News Tonight 08/17/01

Aug. 17, 2001 -- — Peter Jennings is on the road. Charles Gibson anchors the broadcast tonight and World News Tonight writer Alex Travelli has our preview.

Good afternoon.

Wildfires rage on in the West. Eight states burn today, as two battalions of the U.S. military are called into the fray. It will take them a week to become fully operational, and in the meantime the region expects hot, dry and windy weather — the very worst kind for a firefighter. The day saw evacuations of homeowners and the rescue of several endangered hikers. Bill Redeker reports from Washington state, scene of the worst of the blazes.

Another hurdle for President Bush's program of faith-based initiatives emerged today, as John DiIulio, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, quit the job. DiIulio accepted the position only six months ago. Among his reasons for leaving, he has cited frustrations with Washington politics — and a killer commute from his home in Philadelphia. It's a critical time for the administration's plan to find new and expanded roles for religious organizations in the public life of the country. An important bill for the initiative just passed the House and faces a more difficult time in the Senate. John Cochran is in Texas with the president.

Multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett made a spectacular and safe landing in southern Brazil today, but he made it about half a world too soon. Fossett was on his sixth major attempt to circle the globe by hot-air balloon — it was the fifth such flight that he flew solo. He left Australia 13 days ago, and flew almost 13,000 miles. He earned new world records with which to console himself: the farthest distance ever crossed and the longest time spent aloft on a solo balloon flight. It's a remarkable hobby he's chosen for himself. Bill Blakemore has his story.

Then to southern Florida, where police have uncovered an unnerving scam, executed on an unprecedented scale: children used by strangers to defraud the Medicaid system. The youngsters, perhaps thousands of them, were herded up in poor communities and brought to dentists' offices. There some of them underwent unnecessary treatments, for which the dentists and the round-up agents billed the government, through Medicaid. It was a dangerous abuse of the children, and of public funds. Jeffrey Kofman reports from Miami.

"A drug in search of a disease." That's what one expert called it, and its suggests a strange inversion. The disease in question is Pre-Menstrual Depressive Disorder, or PMDD, just a couple of letters different from the more familiar PMS, which afflicts millions of women every month. A decade ago, PMDD had no profile whatsoever within the medical community; it was only identified recently. Critics point to a very popular drug, and the market forces behind it, as the real discoverer of PMDD. Prozac, owned by Eli Lilly, earns more than $2 billion a year. But its value is threatened by the upcoming expiration of its patent — now it's going to share its original market with generic competitors. That's where the new disease comes in handy, say critics. Now PMDD sufferers can go to the doctor for a prescription of "Sarafem," a drug whose only active ingredient is the same as Prozac's. Sarafem, however, has a brand-new patent, and fresh potential to bring new revenue to Eli Lilly. It's an intriguing story, and we'll take a Closer Look with Michele Norris.

And finally tonight, coming home from a faraway place and an era long past. Almost 60 years ago, an elite cadre of U.S. Marines staged a stealthy and successful raid against Japanese forces stationed on a remote island in the South Pacific. The attack was psychologically significant for the Allies; at the time, the Japanese were winning battles across the Pacific theater. But the squad's withdrawal went awry. Nine of the American commandos were captured and another 19 were lost. The captured Marines were later executed on Kwajalein Island, but the 19 were never accounted for — they were missing in action. Then in 1998, with support from the lost soldiers' relatives, a group of anthropologists found their remains. Years later, the remains of six of them have been returned to their families for burial, and another 13 went to Arlington today, to join their brothers-in-arms in rest. John Martin was at the National Cemetery.

We hope you'll join us.

Alex Travelli