News stories from Saturday April 25, 1970
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Last Sunday, four explosions ripped through the predominantly black central area of Seattle. It was the latest in a series of bombings that began a little over a year ago which has set the city on edge. There have been 20 bombings in just the last four months. The Mayor of Seattle has labeled the bombings the work of terrorists and the city's acting Police Chief has called for assistance from the FBI in tracking down the terrorists. [New York Times]
- Communist China launched a 380-pound space satellite that will orbit the earth every 114 minutes. Peking proclaimed the successful launching as a "great victory for Mao Tse-tung's thought" and for his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The satellite is broadcasting "The East is Red," a popular Chinese revolutionary song.
Communist China's satellite is no surprise to Washington since American space and defense officials have long anticipated the event. These officials see some psychological significance in the launching in that Peking has greatly enhanced its political and technological prestige.
[New York Times] - Cambodian soldiers, convinced that the ethnic Vietnamese cannot be trusted, have cut loose the floating houses of the Vietnamese in Phnom Penh and pushed many of them down the river. Many Cambodian officials reportedly would like to clear the capital of all Vietnamese. [New York Times]
- Contradictory reports are coming out of Haiti on the situation there following a revolt by Coast Guard crews. Haiti's President Duvalier reportedly told his Ambassador to Washington that the rebel vessels had left Port-au-Prince Bay and were heading for the Bahamas. The United States government, however, said it had reports of new shellings of the capital. [New York Times]
- Funds promised by President Nixon for improving the quality of education in black schools and for school desegregation may come from the Model Cities program. Sources say that the President's chief advisor on domestic affairs, John Ehrlichman, asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development about the feasibility of taking $500 million from Model Cities. The move has caused considerable alarm among urban interest groups and the matter is believed to be under high level review. [New York Times]
- A report issued by the Special Committee on Campus Tension suggests that campus tensions and frustrations that lead to unrest could be relieved through better lines of communication among students, faculty members, administrators and trustees. The report by the committee set up last fall by the American Council on Education is believed to be the most thorough ever conducted on campus unrest. [New York Times]
- According to a drug expert, about one million people have tried LSD or a similar "psychedelic" drug since the craze started about five years ago. The number continues to grow, particularly among teenagers. But many former users of the psychedlics have gotten off the kick, chiefly because they are illegal. [New York Times]