News stories from Sunday April 18, 1976

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

Most Texas politicians believe that Ronald Reagan holds a clear advantage in the campaign for the Texas primary on May 1. If he keeps his lead he will score the victory he needs to keep his presidential campaign alive. His local campaign managers predict that he will win two-thirds of the state's 100 delegates. But President Ford is gaining, and the politicians say that he could still win. [New York Times] The "re-emergence" of Congress's role in foreign affairs was mentioned often in interviews with nearly two dozen members of Congress who indicated that they believed that changes over the last six years in Congress and in the law made nearly certain a continuing struggle with the presidency over the formulation of foreign policy. Most of the members who were interviewed regarded the period of congressional docility on foreign affairs from 1947 to 1970 as an aberration and said what they had been doing in more recent years represented a reassertion of the traditional role of Congress in foreign policy. [New York Times] Over the next decade, particularly in view of "the continuing Soviet military buildup," there can be no significant reductions in either the size or the cost of the armed services, the Defense Manpower Commission, a civilian group, said in a report to be submitted today to Congress and President Ford. The report was prepared under Bruce Palmer, the commission's executive director, a retired general who was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. [New York Times] Paul Moore, the Episcopal Bishop of New York, accused corporations that leave the city of "betrayal." In an Easter sermon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine that electrified some in his audience and offended others, Bishop Moore said that businessmen who pulled out of the city were perpetuating a cycle of unemployment, crime and economic decline. "Even though they may be clothed in economic considerations, most industries' decisions to leave the city are basically immoral decisions," he said. [New York Times] An analysis of United States Census figures show that New York City's white population declined by more than 600,000 between 1970 and 1975. During that period, the Bronx became the first borough in the city's history with a majority black and Puerto Rican population. At the same time, the city's black population increased by only 30,000. This means, according to population experts, that the number of blacks leaving New York now exceeds the number of blacks moving into the city. [New York Times] Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia public school in Harlem will be renamed in honor of Pedro Albizu Campos, a Puerto Rican nationalist leader who turned to violence and terrorism in seeking Puerto Rico's independence. Delia Ortiz, chairman of Community School Board 5, said that "the board members thought there should be a Hispanic name" since about 76 percent of the 700 to 800 pupils were Puerto Rican, Dominican and of other Spanish-speaking groups. [New York Times] Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper, charged that Washington was interfering in the internal affairs of Western European countries by warning them against participation by Communists in their governments. The newspaper was obviously replying to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who recently said that the United States could not be expected to defend countries that admitted Communists into their governments. It said that such statements violated the Helsinki agreement. [New York Times]