News stories from Saturday August 21, 1976

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

Jimmy Carter will formally start his presidential campaign in Warm Springs, Ga., on Labor Day and then will concentrate on the states where President Ford seems strongest, Mr. Carter's press aide, Jody Powell, said. Major investments of time and money would be made in those areas, Mr. Powell said, "that look to be the most hotly contested, from California, running through the industrial midlands, up into the Northeast." The choice of Warm Springs as a campaign starting point was announced on the eve of a four-day trip by Mr. Carter to the West Coast and Iowa. He will speak in Los Angeles on Monday, Seattle on Tuesday and Des Moines on Wednesday before returning to his home in Plains, Ga. Warm Springs was a favorite retreat of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died there 31 years ago. Its connection with Mr. Roosevelt apparently was a factor in choosing it as the setting for the start of the campaign. [New York Times] Jimmy Carter is courting Congress well before the November elections and more warmly than any other presidential candidate in recent years. He is going to unusual lengths to aid Democrats running for the Senate and House, as well as discreetly soliciting the cooperation of key committee chairmen and party leaders. The power changes in Congress will be the most sweeping in years. There will be changes in the Democratic leadership of both houses, 50 changes in chairmanships and perhaps 100 new members. Mr. Carter, realizing that he cannot take congressional cooperation for granted, is moving quickly to head off problems before they may arise. [New York Times] President Ford relaxed in Vail, Colo., a resort in the Rocky Mountains. He played golf and planned to open campaign strategy sessions this week. His campaign chairman, Rogers C. B. Morton, was also in Vail, and Senator Robert Dole, his running mate, will arrive this week. Mr. Morton denied reports that Mr. Ford, in selecting the Kansas Senator, had written off the Northeast and the South. "We haven't written off anything," he said. "We're going to campaign on Carter's doorstep." [New York Times] Democratic Party leaders in Missouri chose Warren Hearnes, a former Governor of the state, to take the place of the late Representative Jerry Litton as the party's candidate for the Senate. Mr. Hearnes finished second to Mr. Litton in the Aug. 3 primary. Mr. Litton and his family were killed in a plane crash on the way to a victory party. Mr. Hearnes was chosen over James Spainbower, the State Treasurer, who had many Litton supporters rallying behind him in an attempt to stop Mr. Hearnes from resuming his long hold over the state's Democratic machinery. [New York Times] The value of nearly all types of New York City property has declined in the last two years, persuading many of the city's banks to reduce their investments in local real estate, according to a study of the city's lending institutions. Overbuilding, high real-estate taxes and the city's fiscal difficulties were given as the main reasons for the decline in office-building values. Rent control and deteriorating neighborhoods were said to be the principal causes for the decline in the prices of apartment houses. Consequently, most banks believe there are no good opportunities for investment in the construction of offices or apartment houses in the city. [New York Times] The United States conducted a major show of force in support of the cutting of a tree at the spot in the demilitarized zone in Korea where two American army officers were killed Wednesday by North Korean troops. Those officers were attacked while conducting a tree-pruning operation. Officials in Washington said that the military display was intended to show American determination to use force if necessary if the North Koreans had tried to interfere with, the tree-cutting -- which took place without incident. American authorities deployed B-52 strategic bombers from Guam, F-4 Phantom and F-111 fighter-bombers, helicopter gunships, and about 300 troops. [New York Times] Rioting broke out in Bangkok between rival groups of students as the controversy over the sudden return a week ago of a former military strongman continued to grow. At least one student was killed and 38 wounded by gunfire and plastic explosives in the brief but violent clash at Thammasat University. The police broke up the fighting. The crisis for the four-month-old coalition government of Prime Minister Seni Pramoj began nearly a week ago when Field Marshal Prapas Charusathien, the former deputy Prime Minister and the power behind Thailand's last military dictator, Thanom Kittkachorn, returned secretly from exile in Taiwan. [New York Times] The leaders of South Africa's tribal homelands, representing nearly half the country's 18 million blacks, said that the reaction of Prime Minister John Vorster's government to the unrest in the black townships showed that the only language they were prepared to listen to was violence. In a strong condemnation of apartheid, the homeland leaders demanded full human rights and rejected government concessions that could no longer satisfy the aspirations of the blacks. The group demanded an early meeting with Mr. Vorster, followed by a national conference attended by the black leaders who have been detained by the security police since the rioting began. [New York Times]