News stories from Sunday February 21, 1982

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Taxes and military spending were ruled out as issues to be discussed at the winter meeting in Washington of the National Governors Association, but the governors unanimously rejected a Reagan administration appeal that they put their unhappiness with President Reagan's 1983 budget out of their minds when they consider his "new federalism" proposals. But the Governors agreed to deal with those proposals without considering the overall problems of the economy, a tactic that some Democrats insisted was impossible. [New York Times] A ban on all mining and drilling in federal wilderness areas until the end of the century will be sought in Congress by Interior Secretary James Watt. Mr. Watt said in a television interview that he would ask Congress for a moratorium on all oil and gas drilling and mining of coal and other minerals in the nation's wilderness areas -- which total nearly 80 million acres -- until the year 2000. His move is expected to ease a stormy confrontation between him and conservation groups and communities near the wilderness areas. [New York Times] Dismissals or demotions based on age have soared in the last two years, according to discrimination complaints received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, bringing on renewed congressional scrutiny of of stronger measures against such action by employers. Complaints received by the commission rose to nearly 9,500 in 1981, an increase of 75 percent over 1979. Discrimination because of age, according to a report by the House Select Committee on Aging, occurs in all workplaces and affects workers of all ages, but it is most common among people in their 50's. [New York Times] New York City Mayor Edward Koch will run for Governor. He is expected to announce his candidacy tomorrow at Gracie Mansion. His decision will have a profound effect on potential candidates on the Democratic state ticket and even possibly on candidates on the Republican ticket. [New York Times] An escaped convict was employed by the House of Representatives last year with the help of Representative Frederick Richmond of Brooklyn, according to official records, law enforcement officials and others. Mr. Richmond, according to these accounts, also found him a rented room in Washington and gave him the use of his car. The convict was subsequently arrested in Manhattan on a charge of homosexual prostitution and returned to prison in Massachusetts to continue serving a a term for assault with intent to kill. [New York Times] Polish Communist leaders will meet formally this week for the first time since martial law was imposed Dec. 13, the official news agency announced. The meeting is apparently intended to demonstrate that the party has not permanently ceded its leadership to military rulers. Political sources said that it could bring about a clash between the moderates who predominated before martial law was declared and hard-liners. [New York Times] A writer admitted fabricating an article about a trip with Khmer Rouge guerrillas to Cambodia that appeared in The New York Times Magazine Dec. 20. The writer, Christopher Jones, a freelance, confessed when confronted by a Times editor and two Times correspondents. He said he had not visited Asia last year in preparation for the article and that he had concocted it without even leaving Spain, where he has been living. [New York Times] Mexico is willing to promote detente in Central America, President Jose Lopez Portillo said in Managua, Nicaragua, as he began a major initiative to reduce political tensions in the region. He warned that this could be the "last opportunity" to avoid "conflagration" in the region, and called for a broad process of negotiations to bring peace to El Salvador and to improve United States relations with Nicaragua and Cuba. [New York Times]