News stories from Tuesday January 9, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Wholesale prices in December rose 1.8% overall, mainly due to farm prices which jumped 6.8%. Bad weather is blamed for the increase. In the past year, the price for farm products was up 7% in the first quarter, 4.8% in the second quarter, 17.4% in the third quarter, and 30.1% in the fourth quarter. A White House spokesman said that the President will take steps to deal with rising food prices in 1973. Press secretary Ron Ziegler reported that the question of farm prices was discussed by President Nixon and his advisers today. Import duties may be lifted on some items, and farmers will be allowed to cultivate more land. But for the short term, food prices will keep going up. [CBS]
- North Vietnam stated that the current peace talks are unlikely to be satisfactory. Henry Kissinger met with Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy today in Paris; the atmosphere was very icy. President Pompidou of France said that he hopes the talks will be successful, and he does not want to see the bombing of Hanoi resumed. Reporters believe that the icy atmosphere outside the meeting is partly contrived. Inside, the talks are businesslike. Compromises could bring a settlement. [CBS]
- American planes struck targets in North Vietnam below the 20th parallel. [CBS]
- Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed Congress privately for 5½ hours on last month's intensive bombing of the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. Moorer's meetings with the House Defense and Appropriations committees were kept secret. He stated that the bombing strikes were aimed at destroying the ability of North Vietnam to launch ground attacks on South Vietnam, and said that photos show that a POW camp in Hanoi was not hit.
The Senate Armed Services Committee began hearings on the confirmation of Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Elliot Richardson as the new Secretary of Defense. Richardson has said in the past that he feels Congress and the American people have a right to know what the administration is doing, but he answered Senator Symington's question regarding the Vietnam bombing with vague generalities. Richardson said that President Nixon's efforts to achieve peace in Vietnam are wise. A housewife spectator tried to ask a question about peace; police removed her from the room. Senator Harold Hughes asked Richardson if he was going to answer any questions regarding the bombing; Richardson replied that he would not. Hughes claims that the U.S. has spent $500 million in just the last three weeks on Vietnam, and he wants to know what the administration's plans are if the peace talks fail again.
[CBS] - The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the fifth amendment against self-incrimination does not extend to tax records held by an accountant. Justice Powell wrote the majority decision. Justice Douglas dissented and called the ruling another invasion of privacy. [CBS]
- New Orleans returned to normalcy, but the city is mourning the deaths of the six persons who were killed by a sniper at the downtown Howard Johnson hotel. It was discovered today that the sniper had been killed on Sunday. He was identified as 23-year-old Mark Essex.
A rifle found with Essex's body is the same weapon that killed a police cadet and wounded a police officer on New Year's Eve. There is a theory that a conspiracy exists in the city to kill policemen, and police superintendent Clarence Giarrusso says he believes that such a conspiracy exists. Earlier Giarrusso said that there were two snipers on the roof of the hotel; now he is not sure. UPI reporter Joe Manguno says that he saw another sniper after the first sniper was killed, and he heard the sniper yell out "Power to the people." A hotel guest heard a sniper tell a hotel maid that "the revolution" had come. Patrolman Paul Persigo, who was killed by the sniper, was buried today.
Mark Essex had never been arrested for a felony, nor is he believed to have belonged to any militant organization. His Navy record does note character disorders, however. Essex grew up in Emporia, Kansas, where he led a normal life. One of his teachers said that Essex got along well at school.
[CBS] - The jury in the Watergate case has been seated; the panel of eight men and four women (10 blacks, 2 whites) was sworn in by Judge John Sirica. Until the end of the trial the jury will live on the top floor of the Washington, DC courthouse. Former White House consultant G. Gordon Liddy drew sketches while the jury was being selected. The judge selected the jury quickly by asking questions to the group of prospective jurors as a whole, a selection process which may later be grounds for an appeal. [CBS]
- Senate Republicans today took a step toward reforming the seniority system. They voted to let Republicans on standing committees choose their own ranking members. [CBS]
- The federal government fined four small airports for failure to comply with the strict new anti-hijacking regulations. Airports in Aspen, Colorado; Tyler, Texas; Marquette, Michigan, and Prescott, Arizona, are being fined $1,000 a day until they comply. [CBS]
- Last month the Price Commission allowed Ford and General Motors to raise the prices of their 1973 cars. The Consumers Union and Ralph Nader's Public Citizens Lobby has filed suit seeking to overturn that decision. [CBS]
- The fuel crisis and electric power crisis are major concerns all over the country. Part of San Francisco's power comes from geothermal power (using the heat of the earth for energy). Pacific Gas & Electric and Union Oil have been doing this for 10 years. This year the Interior Department will release 50 million acres for geothermal exploration. Geothermal power is cheap and clean, but plants are noisy, smelly and unsightly, and some pollution from them is unavoidable. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1047.11 (-0.75, -0.07%)
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* |
| January 8, 1973 | 1047.86 | 119.85 | 16.84 |
| January 5, 1973 | 1047.49 | 119.87 | 19.33 |
| January 4, 1973 | 1039.81 | 119.40 | 20.23 |
| January 3, 1973 | 1043.80 | 119.57 | 20.62 |
| January 2, 1973 | 1031.68 | 119.10 | 17.09 |
| December 29, 1972 | 1020.02 | 118.05 | 27.55 |
| December 27, 1972 | 1007.68 | 116.93 | 19.10 |
| December 26, 1972 | 1006.70 | 116.30 | 11.12 |
| December 22, 1972 | 1004.21 | 115.83 | 12.54 |
| December 21, 1972 | 1000.00 | 115.11 | 18.29 |