Informed Soures

DEAR LEON -- BUZZ OFF, LOVE CHRIS

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Warren Christopher has written a stern letter to Leon Panetta, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, complaining about the OMB's desire to cut the State Department's annual budget 10%, along with that of all other agencies. Despite its weighty content, the two-page, single-spaced letter, a copy of which was obtained by TIME, is addressed Dear Leon and signed simply Chris, the Secretary's familiar name.

THE ULTIMATE CRANK CALL

POTOSI, MISSOURI -- With 20 hours remaining until he was to be executed, Lloyd Schlup, dozing in his death-watch cell in Potosi State Correctional Center, received a call on the phone that 12 hours later would bring his reprieve by the Governor. A voice mentioned Schlup's family, staying nearby, and said, "The state will take care of you tomorrow. We'll be glad to put them out of their misery." In terror, Schlup began to vomit. Who were the resourceful telephone ghouls? Almost surely prison employees.

LARRY THE SHRINKING VIOLET

WASHINGTON -- The night of the Administration's nafta victory, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and his wife welcomed Washington's brightest and best to their 50th wedding anniversary party. Among the 250 guests gathered at Blair House were both Clintons, most of the Cabinet, and ... dressed down in a cozy white warmup outfit, CNN's Larry King, who astonished fellow guests by exclaiming, "They owe it all to me!" Presumably King was referring to NAFTA and not the Bentsens' half-century of marriage.