News stories from Friday April 16, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Ford decided against higher tariffs or other restraints on foreign shoes -- about 40 percent of all non-rubber footwear sold in the United States is imported. Although the six-member International Trade Commission had found unanimously that the domestic shoe industry was being injured by import competition, the White House said that the President's decision was "based on his evaluation of the national interest," including the likelihood of higher prices for consumers if restraints were imposed. [New York Times]
- The Justice Department filed a civil rights suit against organizations representing the country's principal real estate appraisers and savings and loan associations on the ground that they have violated the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The organizations are the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers of the National Association of Realtors, the United States League of Savings Associations and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. They were charged with using "racially discriminatory standards" in assessing residential property and making mortgage loans in integrated areas. [New York Times]
- Jimmy Carter told a meeting of minority medical students in Washington that he favored nationwide mandatory health insurance financed through employer and payroll taxes in addition to general tax revenues. Mr. Carter proposed that the government set doctors' fees and establish controls to monitor the cost and quality of medical care. He would, however, preserve the patient's freedom to choose his own physician. [New York Times]
- Thirteen men were killed inside a survival capsule from a sinking oil drilling rig when it flipped over in a storm in the Gulf of Mexico off Port Aransas, Tex. The Coast Guard said 22 others were rescued. The rig was being towed in 20-foot waves and 50 to 60-knot winds. It sank in 10 seconds. A second survival capsule, a saucer-shaped enclosure launched from the rig, hit the water upright, saving 16 men. [New York Times]
- A noise control measure that prohibits late-night takeoffs and most late-night landings at San Diego's Lindbergh Field has had none of the dire economic effects or serious inconveniences predicted by airlines and other opponents of the ban when it was imposed four months ago. The possibility that a similar ban might be adopted by other cities has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to prepare measures to prohibit such bans because they may bring chaos to the national air transport system. The F.A.A. may deal with the issue by issuing new airplane noise standards. [New York Times]
- New York has filed a suit against New Jersey in the United States Supreme Court seeking more than $225 million that New Jersey has collected in income taxes from New Yorkers who work or have worked in New Jersey. The suit contends that the New Jersey commuter tax on New Yorkers is unconstitutional because New Jersey is taxing non-residents while it does not have an income tax on its residents. [New York Times]
- Syria and the Palestinian guerrilla movement announced agreement on moves to end the Lebanese civil war and said they would take a unified stand against any party that resumes military operations. But the communique issued by both sides made no mention of the presence of an estimated total of 2,000 to 4,000 Syrian and Syrian-controlled Palestinian troops that have recently entered Lebanon. Western diplomatic sources predicted that these forces would remain to guarantee that there would be no major resumption of fighting. [New York Times]
- The Indian government outlined a broad new birth control policy that is intended to give "top national priority" to slowing the rapid growth of the country's population. The government proposes to raise the marrying age and give more incentive money to people who voluntarily submit to sterilization. It stopped short of compulsory sterilization, which had been hotly debated, but the government made it clear that it had no objection to legislation in several Indian states that would compel sterilization of people who have had children. [New York Times]