News stories from Saturday July 10, 1982

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

The economy will pick up as the year goes on and the growth will continue next year, according to the Reagan administration's relatively optimistic midyear forecast. Administration economists expect that the unemployment rate will be over 9 percent at the end of this year and will be average just below 8.5 percent in 1983, accompanied by a decline in inflation to 6.5 percent this year and next. Their outlook is more optimistic than that of many private economists. [New York Times] A baby girl was found alive in the rubble around the wreck of the plane that crashed in a New Orleans suburb Friday afternoon. The discovery of 18-month-old Melissa Trahan, who was only slightly injured when her home was destroyed, was the only bright spot in the 18-hour search for survivors in a neighborhood destroyed by the crash. The child's 26-year-old mother and her 4-year-old sister died. They were among the eight persons killed on the ground when the plane crashed. [New York Times] New cuts in federal aid to schools, totaling $315 million, will be wide and deep. Because federal education funds are generally directed to students who are poor, handicapped, do not speak English or have other special needs, districts with large numbers of such students will feel the cuts more than those that do not. [New York Times] A coded letter that led to Aaron Burr's indictment for treason 175 years ago and long believed to have been written by him was written by an associate, who was indicted as a co-conspirator with Burr, according to Dr. Mary Jo Kline, a scholar who made a handwriting analysis. The letter, known as the "cipher letter," was intended for the commanding general of the United States Army and supposedly showed that Burr was planning to seize Kentucky and Tennessee for his own undefined political purposes. [New York Times] OPEC members could not agree at a meeting in Vienna on how to hold down production in order to prevent oil prices from falling. The gathering marked the first time that a meeting of the 13-member cartel failed to result in any form of agreement. This means that production limits that were in effect would now be voided, at least temporarily. [New York Times] Negotiations in Lebanon made no progress and there were indications that the Palestine Liberation Organization has no intention of withdrawing from Beirut without some major political concessions. Meanwhile, Israeli forces and P.L.O. fighters exchanged intermittent artillery fire after a night a fierce Israeli shelling that inflicted widespread damage. [New York Times] Mercenaries have been enlisted by the P.L.O. from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other countries, according to documents given by Israel to United States intelligence officials. Israel also told American officials that its forces had seized huge supplies of arms at more than 100 P.L.O. storage depots in Lebanon. [New York Times]