News stories from Sunday August 12, 1979

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

The American standard of living will be drastically cut in the 1980's unless productivity growth is accelerated, the Joint Economic Committee of Congress said in its midyear economic analysis. The report said that productivity in the United States is behind all the major trading nations. [New York Times] Philadelphia's police force is accused of systematic and widespread brutality in a civil rights suit the Justice Department plans to file Monday. The complaint says the entire department violated the civil rights of every racial and ethnic group in the city. [New York Times] Whether to let forest fires burn unhindered is being questioned in Idaho, where extensive forest land is being destroyed by seven of the 19 major fires burning in a half dozen Western states. The Forest Service decided last year to allow some fires to burn out when they do not threaten life or property. But Gov. John Evans of Idaho and others question that decision. [New York Times] Houston has led the nation in building for nearly two decades, unhampered by zoning laws and under city administrations that have favored real estate promoters operating under a "modified" version of the Uniform Building Code generally adopted by most other big cities. Houstonians now wonder whether the free-and-easy building regulations have not been at least partly responsible for a recent fire that destroyed the Woodway Square apartment complex and made 1,500 people homeless. [New York Times] Ku Klux Klan members submitted to arrest without violence in Montgomery, Ala., on charges of marching without a parade permit. The police and state troopers arrested 164 Klan members and confiscated weapons following a tense confrontation Saturday. A search of Klan vehicles turned up numerous pistols, shotguns, carbines and a submachine gun. [New York Times] Incentives for solar energy use are proliferating in state legislatures and in city councils. These range from benefits in income and property taxes, as well as in sales taxes, to government grants and loans, and to changes in zoning and building codes. [New York Times] Black and Hispanic residents oppose a $150 million redevelopment project in New Brunswick, N.J., on the ground that it makes no provision for them. The project's critics say that it is an attempt to "surburbanize" the city for a white middle class by bulldozing neighborhoods occupied by the poor and members of minority groups. [New York Times] Pope John Paul II's visit to New York, scheduled in October, would include a visit with some of the city's worst-off residents as well as mass meetings in Shea and Yankee Stadiums, under plans being discussed by the New York Archdiocese and the Vatican. [New York Times] Iran's oil production will be permanently restricted to its current level of four million barrels daily and could drop to 2.9 million barrels by 1985 if it continues to neglect its oil fields in the next few months, analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency said. [New York Times] A battle in Teheran between Islamic militants and demonstrating leftists injured hundreds of people. It was the most serious outbreak there since the street riots six months ago that resulted in the Shah's departure. About 4,000 people clashed and thousands of others took part in the demonstrations, called to protest new government controls on the press. [New York Times] Soviet leaders believe the arms pact with the United States will be approved by the Senate without amendments unacceptable to them. But because of the increased defense expenditures Washington is planning to make despite the treaty, the Russians are as aggressive as they would be if they thought the treaty were going to be rejected and have started a major propaganda campaign with the aim of driving a wedge between the United States and its Western European allies before the next phase of the East-West arms negotiations gets underway. [New York Times] More than 250 people died in India when an earthen dam broke, flooding a town in the northwest. Officials said the toll might reach 1,000. Pressure from two weeks of monsoon rain broke the Machchu Dam, releasing torrents of water that overwhelmed the town of Morvi, destroying many homes. [New York Times] China will limit population growth with stringent measures. The government's goal, according to a newspaper article by Deputy Prime Minister Chen Muhua, is to reduce the population growth rate to 5 births per 1,000 people by 1985. It will encourage couples to have only one child and parents who have more than two children will be punished with taxation and other economic penalties. [New York Times]