News stories from Saturday November 8, 1975

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

Ronald Reagan, who is expected to announce his candidacy soon, is preparing an open challenge to Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination. His initial strategy is directed at undercutting quickly the psychological advantage that an incumbent president brings to any political contest. Mr. Reagan hopes to do this by defeating Mr. Ford in the three early primaries that will be held in New Hampshire, Florida and North Carolina. It was weakness in the early primaries that was fatal to the re-election prospects of President Johnson in 1968, and the presidential hopes of Senator Edmund Muskie in 1972. [New York Times] With the unusual step of issuing a compilation of a series of statements by Americans and other non-Chinese criticizing President Ford for dismissing Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, China has emphasized its concern over Washington's policy of detente with the Soviet Union. The thrust of the 2,000-word summary, issued Friday night by Hsinhua, the official Chinese press agency, was that Mr. Schlesinger was dismissed in a gesture of good will to the Soviet Union. It was in keeping with the Communist custom of making official views known by quoting favorably from comments made by others. It also inevitably raised questions about President Ford's plans to visit China. But administration officials said that Mr. Ford would visit China as planned and that discussions were continuing with the Chinese on when to make the announcement. [New York Times] By not acting, Congress sealed into law tonight a sweeping federal plan to absorb seven bankrupt Northeast railroads into a cut-down, semi-nationalized rail system embodying the largest corporate reorganization in American history. The plan provides for a federally financed Consolidated Rail Corporation, known as Conrail, and a government-created private railroad competitor to take over from the bankrupt private lines next year most of the rail freight hauling in the 17-state region. Congress had until midnight to reject the final reorganization plan submitted 60 working days ago by the United States Railway Association, the government agency charged with restructuring the bankrupt lines. The urgency of the crisis ruled out a veto of the salvage plan. [New York Times] Labor Secretary John Dunlop has proposed that the Ford administration make a subtle but fundamental change in the way the government develops and enforces regulations affecting the pocketbooks, health and safety of millions of Americans. He says in a study circulated within President Ford's Domestic Council that the key to improving the existing regulatory effort is to give the contending parties a larger role in writing regulations and deciding how they will be enforced. His proposal was said to be still under review. It is regarded with considerable hostility by some Labor Department officials and knowledgeable union members who believe that any reduction in the public health voice of the federal government would be a big backward step. [New York Times] Governor Carey and his staff held hurried meetings with leaders of the state legislature, the municipal labor unions and the banks to work out what one participant termed a possible "compromise" with the White House to avert a New York City default in the weeks ahead. Mr. Carey said he believed there would be need for a special session of the legislature, but possibly not this week. State Senate majority leader Warren Anderson observed that the Governor seemed "somewhat more optimistic than he did a week or two ago. If he does, so do I." [New York Times] A coalition of parents and civic organizations in Forest Hills, Queens, have started a lawsuit challenging a Board of Education zoning plan that it contends is resegregating Forest Hills High School by bringing in minority-group students from other neighborhoods. The case is being watched with interest by a number of groups around New York that see it as a test of the city's commitment to keep the middle class from leaving the city. Another observer is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Accusations that racial prejudice is the issue is vigorously denied by the parents. They maintain that bringing disadvantaged students in from other areas will lower the standards of a high school that has long been recognized as one of the best of the city's non-specialized schools. [New York Times]