News stories from Saturday May 6, 1972

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

A hijacker parachuted from an Eastern Airlines jet over Central America with the $303,000 he had extorted from the airline. The plane landed safely in Mexico. Reports varied as to exactly where the hijacker jumped, but it was believed to be a heavily jungled, remote area populated chiefly by Indians. In another hijacking, an armed youth forced a Western Airlines plane to fly to Cuba. [New York Times] President Nixon announced that he would ask Congress to appropriate extra money for the school breakfast and summer lunch programs for needy children. The move drew immediate praise from Senator George McGovern, a resolute critic of the administration's nutrition programs. [New York Times] A survey of workers disclosed that many of them were satisfied -- or unaware of the fact -- that the Internal Revenue Service was overwithholding money from about 40 million paychecks this year. The government is concerned, however, because it fears that if this extra money is kept out of the economy it could become a drag on retail spending, which has yet to improve. [New York Times] Recycling, which has been heavily promoted as a solution to the nation's solid-waste disposal problem, was found to be economically unviable and years away from making any significant impact on the problem by a nationwide survey. Although the effort is still seen as a long-range solution, the lack of markets for recycled products has severely hampered its backers. [New York Times] North Carolina's voters went to the polls to vote in their state's presidential primary. The contest was seen as a battle between Gov. George Wallace and Terry Sanford, the ex-Governor of North Carolina, who has said that he envisions himself as a compromise candidate at a deadlocked Democratic convention. [New York Times] South Vietnamese journalists in the areas under attack by the North Vietnamese reported that many soldiers and civilians were blaming the United States for their recent reverses. They spoke of the failure of American support and even collusion between Washington and Hanoi. At the same time, American advisers have expressed doubts about the ability of the South Vietnamese to defend themselves. [New York Times] The White House announced that major European and Japanese steel manufacturers have agreed to new, three-year restraints that are intended to reduce steel imports into the United States and to cut the growth rate of steel imports in half. President Nixon was reportedly "most satisfied" with the agreements, which took nearly 18 months to negotiate. [New York Times]