News stories from Tuesday October 3, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- William and Emily Harris, who a month ago said they were proud they kidnapped Patricia Hearst, were sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for the crime. Harris, 33, and his 31-year-old wife smiled broadly as the sentences were read. They had plea-bargained Aug. 31, and officials said they could probably be released from prison in five years. [Chicago Tribune]
- Supporters of an extension of time for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment won two preliminary victories in the Senate but conceded they faced a tougher test Wednesday. A 64-26 Senate vote rejected an amendment to recognize the rescinding of E.R.A. by four states and the Senate then voted 58-33 against an amendment to require a two-thirds vote of both houses, instead of a simple majority, before the extension could be approved. [Chicago Tribune]
- Billy Carter's much-publicized beer drinking almost broke up his marriage until he sought help briefly from Alcoholics Anonymous, his sister writes in a just-published book titled "Brother Billy." President Carter's only brother, after whom Billy Beer is named, attended A.A. meetings for three months, Ruth Canter Stapleton says. [Chicago Tribune]
- James Earl Ray, the convicted murderer of Martin Luther King Jr., will marry a courtroom artist within the next two weeks, his brother and lawyer said. Jerry Ray and later Mark Lane identified the bride-to-be as Anna Sandhu, 32, of Knoxville, a free-lance artist who has done work for two local television stations. They said the wedding will take place inside the penitentiary. [Chicago Tribune]
- Congress is ready to give consumers an income tax credit for making their homes more energy efficient, but not as much as previously approved by each chamber. House-Senate negotiators, heeding calls for trimming the federal budget, agreed to make the maximum tax credit for such purchases $300 instead of the $400 in the earlier versions. [Chicago Tribune]
- A series of fiery explosions felt for 30 miles killed at least three workers at an oil refinery in Denver, authorities said. Plant officials said a malfunctioning valve may have leaked gases into the air, triggering the blasts. The explosions at the Continental Oil Co. facility created brilliant orange fireballs and sent thick black smoke thousands of feet into the air. [Chicago Tribune]
- Heavy rains for the third day raised the possibility that the planned outdoor funeral of Pope John Paul I will have to be moved inside St. Peter's Basilica. The funeral is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday in St. Peter's Square, but forecasters said showers and thunderstorms were expected to continue across Italy for the next seven days, A decision will not be made until the last minute, Vatican aides said. [Chicago Tribune]
- The stock market declined slightly in another quiet session. Losing issues took a small lead over gainers on the New York Stock Exchange late in the session, The Dow Jones industrial average closed 3.48 lower at 857.90.
Gold climbed to a new high of $222 an ounce while the dollar sank to a new low against the German mark. Dealers said the dollar's drop had nothing to do with the United States economy, but reflected a switching by currency traders from the Swiss franc to the German mark.
[Chicago Tribune] - Scotland Yard is investigating the second death in London of a Bulgarian defector in three weeks. The first one was reportedly murdered with a poisoned umbrella, and the second, Vladimir Simeonov, died in a fall down his stairs. A third Bulgarian defector survived a poisoned dart attack in Paris in August, and Scotland Yard is evaluating the case of a fourth man who flagged down a police car in London Monday and said he was being threatened. [Chicago Tribune]
- Exhausted, swollen, and terribly sunburned, marathon swimmer Stella Taylor abandoned her second bid to be the first person to swim from the Bahamas to Florida. Miss Taylor, whose body had been ravaged by cramps, salt water and jellyfish stings, was lifted aboard one of her support ships at 1:40 p.m., exactly 51 hours after entering the water at Orange Cay, a small island in the Bimini chain of the Bahamas. [Chicago Tribune]
- Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shook up his military leadership to put "new blood" in a revised government that Is to be sworn in Thursday, the Middle East News Agency reported. Gen. Ahmd Badawi replaced Gen. Mohammed Aly Fahmy as chief of staff, Gen. Mohammed Abdel Ghany el Gamassy, minister' of war and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was named military adviser to Sadat. The agency said Gamassy's likely successor would be intelligence chief Gen. Kamal Hassan Ali. [Chicago Tribune]
- Turkey has agreed to the reopening of four electronic surveillance bases the United States had used for gathering intelligence information from the Soviet Union until they were closed down in 1975, Pentagon sources said. The bases were shut down by the Turkish government in retaliation for the U.S. arms embargo imposed against Turkey after that nation invaded Cyprus in 1974. Congress voted to lift the embargo last week. [Chicago Tribune]
- Syrian forces and Christian militiamen battled through the night in some of Lebanon's fiercest fighting, and the Christians said they had surrounded a 500-man Syrian force trying to control a strategic bridge. Artillery shells damaged a power line, plunging the divided capital into darkness and cutting off communications with the outside world for most of the night. [Chicago Tribune]
- President Carter must be doing something right -- at least as far as the Custom Tailors Guild is concerned. Criticized rather sharply by the group last year for falling to provide "proper leadership for fashion-conscious men," the President finds himself this year on the organization's list of 10 best-dressed men. Vess Duro, guild president, said, "President Carter has obviously heeded good advice, and now dresses himself as our nation's leader should. He has made a great comeback. We welcome him to our list." The Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of Operation PUSH, also made the list, otherwise composed mostly of entertainers and celebrities. [Chicago Tribune]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 867.90 (-3.46, -0.40%)
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* |
| October 2, 1978 | 871.36 | 102.96 | 18.52 |
| September 29, 1978 | 865.82 | 102.54 | 23.62 |
| September 28, 1978 | 861.31 | 101.96 | 24.33 |
| September 27, 1978 | 860.19 | 101.66 | 28.37 |
| September 26, 1978 | 868.16 | 102.62 | 26.33 |
| September 25, 1978 | 862.35 | 101.86 | 20.97 |
| September 22, 1978 | 862.44 | 101.84 | 27.96 |
| September 21, 1978 | 861.14 | 101.90 | 33.65 |
| September 20, 1978 | 857.16 | 101.73 | 35.08 |
| September 19, 1978 | 861.57 | 102.53 | 31.66 |