News stories from Saturday January 24, 1976

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

Prison officials in 17 Southern states have adopted a liberal reform policy to help relieve prison overcrowding that they agree has reached the point of crisis. Following a two-day meeting in Nashville under the auspices of the Southern Governors Conference, they unanimously adopted a series of recommendations that will be the basis of their new policy. William Leeke, director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, told the officials that "many of you don't like this, but the hard line in law enforcement is forcing us into more liberal policies. You can only cram so many people into prison." [New York Times] The College Entrance Examination Board, which has relied on multiple-choice tests, appears likely to start testing the writing ability of students. This is an indication of increasing concern over what seems to be crumbling achievement in the nation's schools. "What the teachers are saying to us," Albert Sims, a board vice president said, "is that if the College Board does not require writing as part of basic testing program, then writing won't be valued in the schools, and teachers won't require it of their students." The board has been asked to adopt a writing test by several Ivy League schools and the National Council of Teachers of English. [New York Times] Six years after the first no-fault insurance law was passed, predictions that no-fault would cause widespread dislocations in the legal profession, many of whose members bitterly opposed it, have not come true. While some marginal lawyers may have been forced out of the personal injury business, other negligence practitioners are apparently doing as well, if not better than ever. Lawyers specializing in negligence cases say the smaller, less profitable cases have been sifted out by no-fault, leaving the cases that bring larger recoveries. [New York Times] The United States was accused by Prime Minister Pinnock Eduardo of the pro-Western Angolan government of failing to establish a diplomatic or military balance in the struggle for control of the country, and of harming the pro-Western coalition. He said that the United States had neither attained its goal of persuading the Soviet Union to moderate its influence in the conflict, nor had it armed anti-Communist forces to enable them to confront successfully the Soviet-armed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and its Cuban allies. "The declarations of Ford and Kissinger even do us harm," Mr. Eduardo said. "Whenever they bang their fists on the table against our enemies, the Russians take them seriously and increase military aid to the M.P.L.A. The Americans don't match this by aid to us." [New York Times] The United States and Spain signed a five-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation that increased Spain's status in the Western defense community. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Foreign Minister Jose Maria de Areilza signed the treaty in Madrid. The treaty, the first between the two countries, affirmed that their mutual cooperation was a contribution to the Western defense, but it neither stated nor implied any American commitment to Spain's defense. The agreement gives the United States continued use of naval facilities at Rota on the Mediterranean coast, and of air facilities at Torrejon, Saragossa and Moron. In return, Spain will get $1.2 billion in credits and grants for military, technical and cultural assistance. [New York Times] United States officials believe that an early Soviet-American agreement on limiting long-range bombers and missiles may depend on whether Leonid Brezhnev retains his political and physical health in the months ahead. They were encouraged by Mr. Brezhnev's vigor and authority at their meeting with him in Moscow list week. Only Mr. Brezhnev, the Americans said, can make the necessary compromises or persuade the Politburo to continue the negotiations to successful completion. [New York Times] Patrols of the Palestine Liberation Army kept order in western Beirut as a Syrian-negotiated cease-fire continued to hold for most part in the capital and other parts of Lebanon. After Camille Chamoun, leader of the Christian National Liberal Party, announced his acceptance of the Syrian-mediated political and military agreement to end the civil war, Prime Minister Rashid Karami withdrew his resignation, which he offered last week, and said he would stay on "to build the new Lebanon." [New York Times]