News stories from Friday June 17, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A parliamentary maneuver by pro-abortion forces led to a vote by the House to prohibit the only remaining legal use of Medicaid funds tor abortions -- to save the life of the mother. The House also voted to prohibit the use of federal funds to promulgate or enforce quotas based on race, sex or national origin. The votes were taken as the House approved a $61.3 billion appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor and Health, Education and Welfare. [New York Times]
- A thermal discharge system for the Seabrook, N.H., nuclear power plant was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Opponents of the plant had said that the thermal discharge would endanger ocean life because the discharged water would be warmer than normal ocean temperatures. Although the E.P.A.'s approval clears the way for further construction of the plant, the final decision depends on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has indicated that it would authorize construction if the environmental agency approved the thermal discharge. The agency's ruling can be appealed in federal court. [New York Times]
- Approval in principle was given by the House Ways and Means Committee to a scaled-down version of the administration's plan to induce utilities and factories to switch from oil and natural gas to other fuels, chiefly coal. [New York Times]
- A House-Senate conference committee agreed on the $35 billion weapons bill. Senator John Stennis said that future manpower cuts would pay for the spending in the bill, which contains funds for the possible development of a large nuclear aircraft carrier and for B-1 bombers. [CBS]
- Movie stocks, led by Twentieth Century-Fox Film, registered gains while other issues generally showed little change. The Dow Jones industrial average remained unchanged for the day at 920.45, but was up 9.66 points for the week. Utility stocks were steady and the Dow Jones utility average moved up 0.32 of a point to 113.88, its highest level since reaching bottom in the bear market of 1974. [New York Times]
- A House investigations subcommittee was told by a former official of the Gulf Oil Corporation, L. T. Gregg, that he had participated in a secret international uranium cartel and helped it fix prices. The subcommittee is investigating Gulf's participation in the cartel, which allegedly was responsible for raising the world price of raw uranium from $6 a pound to over $40 a pound in a three-year period. [New York Times]
- The Alaska pipeline is scheduled to begin pumping oil on Monday. The pipeline is an engineering marvel, but where all the oil will go is uncertain. Standard Oil wants to take it to Long Beach, California, and send it eastward from there through an existing pipeline, but there are problems with that plan. Until something else is worked out, most Alaska oil will be shipped through the Panama Canal and then up to Texas for distribution to Midwestern markets. It is estimated that 300,000-600,000 barrels of oil per day will begin moving toward the Panama Canal. [CBS]
- Wernher von Braun, rocket builder and pioneer of space travel, died of cancer Thursday at a hospital in Alexandria, Va., where he lived. He was 65 years old. Dr. von Braun was born in Germany. He developed the V-2 long-range rocket, a weapon used against Britain in World War II. He came to the United States after the defeat of Nazi Germany and continued his rocket research, which resulted in the American Saturn 5 moon rocket. [New York Times]
- Vice President Mondale said that the United States believed that Israel should not he asked to withdraw from occupied Arab territories unless it could obtain "real peace" from the Arab states. He made the statement in a speech in San Francisco at a meeting of the World Affairs Council of Northern California. White House sources said the speech was both an official explanation of President Carter's policy as well as an attempt to assuage growing concern about that policy among American Jewish leaders. [New York Times]
- DES, the suspected cancer-causing female hormone, is used to fatten livestock. Male employees at a suburban Chicago plant which manufactures DES have complained of impotency and enlarged breasts. The federal government fined Dawes Laboratories $34,000 for exposing workers to potentially fatal hazards. [CBS]
- West Germany will no longer export sensitive nuclear technology that can be used to produce atomic bombs, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said, making a major concession to President Carter. He said, though, that the 1975 agreement to supply Brazil with advanced nuclear techniques would not be affected by his decision. The agreement had been opposed by President Carter. [New York Times]
- The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of a Florida man for torturing and murdering his nine-year-old daughter. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 920.45 (0.00, 0.00%)
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* |
| June 16, 1977 | 920.45 | 99.85 | 24.31 |
| June 15, 1977 | 917.57 | 99.62 | 22.64 |
| June 14, 1977 | 922.57 | 99.86 | 25.39 |
| June 13, 1977 | 912.40 | 98.74 | 20.25 |
| June 10, 1977 | 910.79 | 98.46 | 20.63 |
| June 9, 1977 | 909.85 | 98.14 | 19.94 |
| June 8, 1977 | 912.99 | 98.20 | 22.20 |
| June 7, 1977 | 908.67 | 97.73 | 21.11 |
| June 6, 1977 | 903.07 | 97.23 | 18.93 |
| June 3, 1977 | 912.23 | 97.69 | 20.33 |