News stories from Friday September 19, 1980

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

The administration's urban aid policy had a big setback in a congressional conference committee meeting where a bill that would have nearly doubled appropriations for the Economic Development Administration died in a dispute between representatives who sought increased spending for politically popular public works projects and senators concerned about the possibility that the budget would be broken. The increased funds for the economic agency were strongly backed by the administration because of the increased aid they would have provided for financially strapped cities. [New York Times] Equal broadcast time was refused by NBC, CBS and ABC to Ronald Reagan's campaign manager, who requested it to respond to statements made by President Carter at his news conference Thursday. The networks told the Reagan campaign manager that they were exempt from the equal-time requirement of the Federal Communications Act because the news conference had been "a bona fide news event." [New York Times] Another indication that the recession is probably over came from a preliminary government estimate that the size of the nation's economy will be unchanged this quarter, marking a notable improvement over the second quarter. The report indicated that the economy made a dramatic reversal in the third quarter -- July through September -- from a record decline at a 9.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter -- April through June -- to clear signs of growth by August. [New York Times] Pennsylvania's lottery was rigged on April 24, a grand jury charged, by six persons, including the Pittsburgh television announcer who conducts the drawing and a state lottery official. The group allegedly won a total of more than $1.18 million. The investigation into the Pennsylvania Daily Number Game was ordered after Pittsburgh bookmakers, who use the state number in their illegal numbers game, concluded that the drawing had been fixed and refused to pay off on unusually heavy betting on the winning number, 666. [New York Times] No sign of radioactive debris followed an explosion in an underground Titan 2 underground missile silo in Damascus, Ark., according to Air Force Secretary Hans Mark. Twenty-two Air Force personnel were injured, one fatally, and about 1,400 residents within a five-mile radius of the blast were evacuated, but later were allowed to return to their homes. Mr. Mark said that "the warhead is not in danger of being ignited because it was designed with a fail-safe device." [New York Times] A $750 million fund for cleaning up oil and chemical spills in the nation's waterways was overwhelmingly approved by the House. Crucial accompanying legislation proposing a $1.2 billion fund for cleaning up toxic waste dumps, like Love Canal, is expected to be voted on in the House on Tuesday. However, similar legislation has been stalled in the Senate. [New York Times] Richard Nixon is willing to testify at the trial of two former officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who are accused of conspiring of violating civil rights, according to Mr. Nixon's attorney. The lawyer defending Mark Felt, the F.B.I.'s former acting associate director, said he might call Mr. Nixon as a witness. The trial began in Washington this week. [New York Times] Soviet movements on Polish borders have caused concern in the State Department. Intelligence reports of "increased military activity" on Poland's western and eastern borders were tentative, officials said. [New York Times] Reports of heavy border fighting are being issued daily by both Iran and Iraq. Arab diplomats in Beirut said that Iraq had deployed 10,000 troops to seize 90 square miles of Iranian territory that it felt was rightfully its own and was now preparing to repulse any counterattack. But American intelligence officials said they saw no signs of a major conflict. [New York Times] Paraguay's police took 60 people into custody for questioning about the assassination of former President Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua. Authorities said the investigation has made little progress since the police shot and killed a suspect Thursday night, except that they had traced the origin of the rocket and grenade launchers and other weapons used in the assassination Wednesday. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 963.74 (+7.26, +0.76%)
S&P Composite: 129.25 (+0.85, +0.66%)
Arms Index: 0.64

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	970	33.75
Declines	586	12.98
Unchanged	377	7.05
Total Volume		53.78

* in millions of shares

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 18, 1980	956.48	128.40	63.39
September 17, 1980	961.26	128.87	63.99
September 16, 1980	945.90	126.74	57.28
September 15, 1980	937.63	125.67	44.63
September 12, 1980	936.52	125.54	47.18
September 11, 1980	941.30	125.66	44.77
September 10, 1980	938.48	124.81	51.45
September 9, 1980	934.73	124.07	44.46
September 8, 1980	928.58	123.31	42.04
September 5, 1980	940.96	124.88	37.99