News stories from Friday July 23, 1971

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

An FBI agent killed a hijacker in New York City. The hijacker had forced a plane bound for Chicago to return to LaGuardia airport, and he rode from there to Kennedy airport where he demanded a plane to take him to Italy; the hijacker was identified as Richard Obergfell. [CBS] The Labor Department reported that the cost of living was up 0.6% for June. The sharp increase was primarily due to an increase in the cost of groceries. Labor Secretary James Hodgson said that while the price increase is not good, the half-year cost of living figure was the best since the last half of 1967.Senator Jacob Javits asked Federal Reserve chairman Arthur Burns whether he disagrees with those who believe that the administration's economic policies are working. Burns replied that little progress is being made and inflation is continuing at a dangerous rate. [CBS] Defense Secretary Melvin Laird supports Deputy Defense Secretary David Packard's position on granting only Lockheed Aircraft Corporation a government loan.Laird said that men with expired deferments may be drafted if a new draft law is not passed soon. He added that drafting those who have expired deferments will begin if Congress fails to act when it reconvenes in September. Although enlistments are continuing at a normal rate, there still could be a 100,000-man military manpower shortage by the end of the year if no new law is passed. [CBS] Three U.S. Air Force men who were convicted of refusing to obey orders at Phu Quoit, South Vietnam, claim to be conscientious objectors. [CBS] Four leaders of the coup in Sudan were executed by the government. [CBS] Cuba will ask the United Nations to consider granting Puerto Rico's independence from the United States. [CBS] At Cape Kennedy, Florida, astronauts David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden continued practicing for their moon landing; the astronauts will land among mountains on the moon, and will stay for 67 hours. [CBS] 16-year-old Brad Perry of Albemarle, North Carolina, is also going through the pre-launch countdown. Brad studied Apollo 15's flight plans, and he and his father built a spacecraft simulator in the basement of their house. Brad will stay in the simulator throughout the actual Apollo 15 flight; he says that his mother knows how to prepare the same meals the astronauts will have during their flight. NASA flight technician Robert Eurnell stated that Brad's understanding of spacecraft features and procedures is amazing.Brad says that he wants to be an astronaut. [CBS] The 1972 Republican National Convention will be held in San Diego, California; county Republican committee member Mrs. Virginia Taylor said that she will seek an injunction to prevent the convention from being held there. [CBS] Six people were killed in a motel fire in New Orleans. The fire started in a room which had been vacated by two men after a dispute with the motel manager. [CBS] Jewish Defense League leader Rabbi Meir Kahane was fined $5,000 for conspiring to manufacture bombs. [CBS] The government halted the trading of gold coins at the West Coast Commodity Exchange. [CBS] Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife are expecting their first child in December. [CBS] Liberian President William Tubman died at age 75. [CBS] Actor Van Heflin died at age 60. [CBS] A chicken feed company in Wilmington, North Carolina, shut down after discovering that a dangerous chemical, PCB, had been leaking into its feed for 2 ½ months; the government is checking PCB levels in chickens in 12 states. [CBS] Indians dislike high school students doing an archeological study of Indian ruins. American Indian Movement members in Welch, Minnesota, charged that the students desecrated sacred burial grounds and they forced students to fill in their excavations. Archeologist Dave Nystuen says that some kids changed their sympathetic view of Indians as a result of what happened. American Indian Movement spokesman Clyde Bellecourt says that Indians wouldn't dig up white men's graves out of respect for the dead and mother earth. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 887.78 (+1.10, +0.12%)
S&P Composite: 98.94 (-0.17, -0.17%)
Arms Index: 1.16

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	559	3.90
Declines	770	6.23
Unchanged	310	2.24
Total Volume		12.37

* in millions of shares

Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish.

Market Index Trends
Date	DJIA	S&P	Volume*
July 22, 1971	886.68	99.11	12.57
July 21, 1971	890.84	99.28	11.92
July 20, 1971	892.30	99.32	12.54
July 19, 1971	886.39	98.93	11.43
July 16, 1971	888.51	99.11	13.87
July 15, 1971	888.87	99.28	13.08
July 14, 1971	891.21	99.22	14.36
July 13, 1971	892.38	99.50	13.54
July 12, 1971	903.40	100.82	12.02
July 9, 1971	901.80	100.69	12.64