News stories from Friday February 18, 1972

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

The California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional, calling it "cruel and unusual punishment". All death sentences in California are commuted to life imprisonment effective immediately. California's death row was the nation's largest, including notables such as mass murderer Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, Robert Kennedy's assassin.Asst. state Attorney General Ronald George said that capital punishment is recognized in constitutional provisions and is useful in deterring murders; he believes that the matter should be decided by the legislature. Governor Ronald Reagan noted that even countries which outlaw capital punishment reserve it for certain circumstances such as murder, and he called it useful as the ultimate deterrent. Murderers in California are now eligible for parole after seven years. Although this court decision applies only to California, the same case is currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. [CBS] The Health, Education and Welfare Department, in a report to Congress, called alcohol the number one drug problem in America; the government has launched an advertising campaign against alcoholism. The director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse says that health professionals typically view alcoholism as a character deficiency rather than a treatable illness. [CBS] The Justice Department picked nine cities as operational centers for its campaign against heroin traffic. [CBS] President Nixon stopped in Hawaii en route to China. Speaking in Honolulu, the President expressed his wish to speak twice with chairman Mao Tse-tung while in China, in addition to meetings with Premier Chou En-lai. Nixon hopes to establish a constant communications link between the U.S. and China via a satellite ground station.President Nixon's gift to China will be two musk oxen from the San Francisco zoo; Dr. Theodore Reed of the American Zoological Society will deliver them. [CBS] U.S. planes launched air strikes against enemy positions in Indochina. Seven American planes were lost, three of them in North Vietnam. Six crewmen are missing. [CBS] The British Board of Inquiry recommended a 20% pay hike for striking coal miners, but the miners want more. [CBS] British police revealed that a man who broke into a Blackpool hospital ward and stabbed three children to death was a doctor there, an eye specialist from Jordan. [CBS] Senator Edmund Muskie is campaigning in Florida from a train. The "Sunshine Special" left from Jacksonville, bound for other Florida stops. Former Los Angeles Rams star and Kennedy-backer Roosevelt Grier is on the train with Muskie. Muskie declared that George Wallace's presidential campaign is based on "fear and division". [CBS] Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty asked the state of Florida to remove his name from the presidential primary ballot; Yorty fears that he would do badly there. [CBS] Economist Arthur Oken, an advisor to former President Johnson, urged Congress to give all taxpayers a $100 rebate on their 1971 income taxes in order to stimulate the economy. [CBS] Americans saved almost $61 billion in 1971, approximately 8.2% of their total take-home pay. That is the highest rate of savings since 1946, and reflects the public's uncertainty about the economy. [CBS] Fifteen colleges have phased out their Navy ROTC programs; now the Navy won't permit officers to take graduate courses at those schools, as a result of those actions. Rep. Robert Drinan accused the Navy of "blacklisting" schools. The Navy says that the decision was based on a suggestion by Edward Hebert, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Navy Secretary John Chafee added that Hebert threatened legislation to force the boycott.Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and Armed Services chairman Hebert were questioned about the matter. Hebert admitted that Chafee acted at his insistence; Laird sidestepped the issue. The Army and Air Force have taken no steps to follow the Navy's lead. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 917.52 (-4.51, -0.49%)
S&P Composite: 105.28 (-0.31, -0.29%)
Arms Index: 0.97

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	621	6.50
Declines	817	8.31
Unchanged	302	1.78
Total Volume		16.59

* 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*
February 17, 1972	922.03	105.59	22.33
February 16, 1972	922.94	105.62	20.67
February 15, 1972	914.51	105.03	17.77
February 14, 1972	910.49	104.59	15.84
February 11, 1972	917.59	105.08	17.85
February 10, 1972	921.28	105.59	23.46
February 9, 1972	918.72	105.55	19.85
February 8, 1972	907.13	104.74	17.39
February 7, 1972	903.97	104.54	16.93
February 4, 1972	906.68	104.86	17.89