News stories from Tuesday February 19, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Sonny and Cher Bono have split up; Sonny filed for a legal separation. CBS announced that their television show will continue for the rest of the season anyway. [CBS]
- The Hearsts have heard no word from the kidnappers of their daughter Patricia since making a counteroffer to the Symbionese Liberation Army. Randolph Hearst met with activist groups to decide the best way to carry out the free food plan demanded by the kidnappers. American Indian Movement leader Russell Means said he doesn't want to be associated with the ransom demanded by the abductors. Hearst stated that he doesn't consider the plan as ransom money, but as a long-term plan to help the poor. Mrs. Hearst said she hopes her daughter will be returned tomorrow on her birthday.
An Indiana couple was held by Los Angeles police after attempting to impersonate Patty Hearst's kidnappers.
[CBS] - Energy czar William Simon announced a plan to ease gasoline shortages in hard-hit states, as the Federal Energy Office ordered emergency fuel allocations for 18 states. Simon explained that the gasoline will be taken from oil company reserves, not from other states, and he believes the new allocation program will ward off the need for rationing.
Local reaction to the new allocation plan was unenthusiastic. New Jersey was designated among the 18 states to receive emergency allocations. Two state senators have almost finalized plans to buy enormous amounts of gasoline for New Jersey. Some of the gasoline is being stored throughout the country, some of it is foreign-refined; the exact countries involved can't be divulged. Brokers reported that plenty of gasoline is available outside the federal allocation system, but the price is steep.
[CBS] - The emergency energy bill passed by the Senate calls for price rollbacks on gasoline and gives the President the power to impose gasoline rationing. [CBS]
- The trial of former Nixon cabinet members Maurice Stans and John Mitchell has begun in the Robert Vesco case. In New York City, the trial judge began the long process of choosing a jury. Defense lawyer John Diuguid stated that no impartial trial is likely to be found in New York because of publicity. He requested that the trial be moved elsewhere, but the judge refused. [CBS]
- The Senate Watergate Committee decided not to hold further public hearings. Senator Sam Ervin said the hearings were being ended because "the committee believes that it should be careful not to interfere unduly with the ongoing impeachment process of the House Judiciary Committee or the criminal cases which will soon be prosecuted by the special prosecutor, on which the attention of the country appears now to be focused." [New York Times]
- Judge John Sirica of the Federal District Court in Washington tried to end the public debate over findings of the court-appointed panel of electronics experts that is investigating subpoenaed presidential tape recordings. [New York Times]
- The loss of Vice President Ford's former congressional seat in Michigan to a Democrat, Richard VanderVeen, left Republicans badly shaken, while Democrats jubilantly predicted landslide victories for their party this fall. For the first time some of the top Republican leaders conceded that Watergate might indeed be a major factor in this year's elections. [New York Times]
- The League of Women Voters discovered that it had men among its members, all of them in the chapter in Perth Amboy (N.J.), where the league's women defied the organization's national bylaws by admitting men. [New York Times]
- Defense Minister Moshe Dayan of Israel served notice that he would refuse to join the next cabinet unless the ruling Labor party agrees to share power with the right-wing opposition, the Likud. This puts him in direct conflict with Premier Golda Meir, who has repeatedly asserted that a coalition including the right wing would be a "government of paralysis," incapable of making hard decisions on negotiations with the Arabs in the coming months. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 819.54 (-0.78, -0.10%)
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* |
| February 15, 1974 | 820.32 | 92.27 | 12.64 |
| February 14, 1974 | 809.92 | 90.95 | 12.23 |
| February 13, 1974 | 806.87 | 90.98 | 10.99 |
| February 12, 1974 | 806.63 | 90.94 | 12.92 |
| February 11, 1974 | 803.90 | 90.66 | 12.93 |
| February 8, 1974 | 820.40 | 92.33 | 12.99 |
| February 7, 1974 | 828.46 | 93.30 | 11.75 |
| February 6, 1974 | 824.62 | 93.26 | 11.61 |
| February 5, 1974 | 820.64 | 93.00 | 12.82 |
| February 4, 1974 | 821.50 | 93.29 | 14.38 |