News stories from Thursday September 7, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- By a 206-191 vote, the House sustained President Carter's veto of the defense authorization bill that contains funds for a $2 billion nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The action sent the overall $37 billion defense authorization bill back to committee for redrafting, this time without the carrier and possibly with some new funding requested by Carter. Carter had vetoed the original bill on Aug. 17, calling the inclusion of the carrier "wasteful." [Chicago Tribune]
- House investigators have developed strong new evidence to support the disputed "single-bullet theory" adopted by the Warren Commission when it concluded that a lone assassin killed President John F. Kennedy, a source said. The theory is that the same bullet struck Kennedy in the back, passed through his body, then wounded former Gov. John Connally of Texas in the back, chest, wrist, and thigh. A scarcely damaged bullet recovered from Connally's hospital stretcher was said to be the slug that wounded both men. [Chicago Tribune]
- Sen. Charles Percy [R., Illinois] said in testimony prepared for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Friday that the number of unsafe trucks on the nation's highways is probably greater than anyone expected. Percy, testifying in support of his bill to improve truck safety programs, cited a spot highway check in which 353 of 676 trucks stopped were considered so unsafe they were not permitted to move until repairs were made. [Chicago Tribune]
- In the largest study of its kind, Harvard researchers have concluded that women who use birth control pills less than a month before conception have babies with slightly more minor birth defects than those mothers who never used the pill. But no babies face "large risks of malformation" from oral contraceptives, they concluded. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared the birth certificates of 5,535 babies of pill takers with those of 2,183 infants whose mothers never used the pill. [Chicago Tribune]
- A jury of 10 men and 2 women convicted Peter Leonard of murder and arson in the1974 fire that killed 24 young people in a discotheque on the New York-Connecticut border. It was the second trial for the 26-year-old Leonard, whose first conviction was dismissed by an appeals judge who ruled that Connecticut police had forced a confession from him. [Chicago Tribune]
- T. Cullen Davis, a millionaire industrialist, has been indicted by a county grand jury on charges that he tried to have the judge presiding over his divorce case murdered. A Tarrant County (Texas) grand jury returned the four-count indictment today charging Davis with soliciting a murder, attempted capital murder and conspiracy. His alleged target was Judge Joe Eidson. [Chicago Tribune]
- Keith Moon, the wild, raucous drummer of The Who rock group, was found dead by his fiancee hours after announcing their engagement at a party. Cause of death was not immediately known, but a spokesman for Moon, 31, said he did not die of a drug overdose. [Chicago Tribune]
- It's time "the ladies had a shot at government," according to Frank Sinatra, who was in Boston to campaign for Kathleen Sullivan Alioto, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts. Mrs. Alioto is the wife of Sinatra's old friend Joseph Alioto, who used to be mayor of San Francisco. "There have been enough men in government in the last few years who haven't been doing the best job. Maybe it's about time we give the ladies a chance," Sinatra said. "I'm not much for liberation, or anything like that, but this is different. You take budget. I think a woman knows more about a budget than any man would ever know." [Chicago Tribune]
- A Soviet court found American businessman Jay Crawford guilty of systematically violating Soviet currency laws, but the judge suspended a five-year sentence, leaving Crawford free to go as soon as he obtains an exit visa. Crawford's employer, the International Harvester Co., said Crawford was convicted on evidence "so weak and inconclusive as to be unworthy of comment" and said it does not agree with the guilty verdict. It said Crawford conducted himself in an "exemplary manner" despite "intimidation" and "tremendous pressure." [Chicago Tribune]
- British Prime Minister James Callaghan confounded public expectations by announcing that he will not call a new election next month. The decision means the Labor Party must govern without a majority in Parliament and without the support of the Liberal Party, which has abandoned a "Lib-Lab" pact. The lack of a majority will greatly increase the chances of a no-confidence vote and the fall of the government when the next Parliament convenes in November. [Chicago Tribune]
- Black guerrillas crept past a mine field and lobbed mortar shells on Rhodesia's third largest city from a hilltop Thursday night, causing extensive damage and several casualties. Police in Umtali, one mile west of the Mozambique border, said 30 mortar shells rained on the garrison town. [Chicago Tribune]
- Martial law has been imposed for six months on the capital of Tehran and 11 other cities, torn by anti-Shah rioting by conservative Moslems, the Iranian radio announced. The announcement followed nationwide demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of Moslems who defied a government ban and marched through the capital and other cities calling for the ouster of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. [Chicago Tribune]
- Once he was Secretary of the Interior and once he was Republican National Committee chairman but now Rogers C.B. Morton is just one more shotgun-packing hunter in trouble with the game warden. Maryland Natural Resources police say that Morton was issued a summons when he was caught with too many mourning doves on the opening day of the state's hunting season. A hearing was set for Sept. 25. Conviction carries a maximum fine of $300. [Chicago Tribune]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 893.71 (-2.08, -0.23%)
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* |
| September 6, 1978 | 895.79 | 105.38 | 42.61 |
| September 5, 1978 | 886.61 | 104.49 | 32.18 |
| September 1, 1978 | 879.33 | 103.68 | 35.07 |
| August 31, 1978 | 876.82 | 103.29 | 33.85 |
| August 30, 1978 | 880.72 | 103.50 | 37.76 |
| August 29, 1978 | 880.20 | 103.39 | 33.78 |
| August 28, 1978 | 884.88 | 103.96 | 31.76 |
| August 25, 1978 | 895.53 | 104.90 | 36.19 |
| August 24, 1978 | 897.35 | 105.08 | 38.50 |
| August 23, 1978 | 897.00 | 104.91 | 39.63 |