News stories from Sunday February 11, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Nixon administration's claim to inherent authority to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress has persuaded Senator Sam Ervin to move toward an outright ban on the President's impoundment of funds. Mr. Ervin, a North Carolina Democrat, is head of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on separation of powers. [New York Times]
- Firemen descended into the fire-blackened chasm of a huge gas tank on Staten Island, New York, and labored through the day to recover the bodies of 40 men buried Saturday in an explosion and fire whose cause remained unknown. Officials of the Texas Eastern-Transmission Corporation, owner of the liquefied natural gas storage tank, said that 37 laborers and three safety inspectors had been buried under the rubble of the tank's collapsed concrete dome. Survivors of the explosion heard a warning hiss. [New York Times]
- In South Vietnam, the release of 27 Americans scheduled to be the first United States prisoners of war freed under the Vietnam cease-fire agreement was delayed, apparently because of a dispute over an exchange of Communist prisoners. The release had been set for 7:30 P.M. today. [New York Times]
- In Vientiane, Laotian government sources reported that the government and the pro-Communist Pathet Lao would sign a cease-fire agreement on Tuesday. Under it, fighting in Laos would cease on Friday. The sources said that a major obstacle to an agreement -- the composition of the provisional government -- has been cleared. Details of the agreement, however, were unavailable. [New York Times]