News stories from Tuesday February 17, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The accords with Iran will be fulfilled by the Reagan administration, according to Senator Charles Percy, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He said that the administration had told a group of Senate leaders that it would carry out fully the agreements negotiated by the Carter administration that obtained the release of the American hostages. [New York Times]
- President Reagan is to ask Congress Wednesday night for budget cuts totaling $41.4 billion next year and the largest tax cut in history. He plans to urge spending cuts in the current fiscal year only half as large as the $13 billion he promised in his election campaign and he does not project a budget surplus until the fiscal year 1984, a year later than he pledged. In the meantime, large deficits are expected. [New York Times]
- A major legislative battle is shaping up in advance of President Reagan's economic address to Congress. Statements by elements of the old Democratic coalition -- politicians, labor leaders and civil rights activists -- suggested a broad challenge to Mr. Reagan's sweeping plan. [New York Times]
- High-income Americans would receive less than the 10 percent annual tax cut proposed for individuals over the next three years, according to an acknowledgment by officials of the Reagan administration. [New York Times]
- The biggest cash rebate programs in the auto industry's history were announced by the General Motors and Ford Motor companies in an apparent response to lagging sales and pleas for assistance from hard-pressed dealers. The payments range from $500 to $1,769. [New York Times]
- Cleveland voters backed a tax increase that Mayor George Voinovich has called crucial to the city's chances of financial recovery. Under the measure, the city income tax will rise by one-third, to 2 percent. [New York Times]
- A prominent anti-abortion lobbyist, Marjory Mecklenburg, is the leading candidate to become head of the government's Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, according to government officials. [New York Times]
- Republican strategy sessions are being held to develop a plan for making the G.O.P. the nation's majority party within 10 years. Richard Richards, the Republican national chairman, said that the objective was to anticipate changes in party roles and in the electorate so that recent Republican gains could be maintained. [New York Times]
- Jurors in the Jean Harris murder trial began deliberations after the judge told them to consider charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, which do not involve "intent," as well as the charge of second-degree murder, in the fatal shooting of Dr. Herman Tarnower. [New York Times]
- A bill to reinstate the death penalty for some murder cases was approved by the New York state Assembly, but the affirmative votes were short of the margin required to override Governor Carey's certain veto. [New York Times]
- Kenneth Gibson is the fifth entry in the primary race for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey. Mr. Gibson, the Mayor of Newark, called for an equalized property tax and for a graduated net income tax to replace the state's current 2 percent levy on gross income. [New York Times]
- The Pope extolled human rights in Manila as President Ferdinand Marcos, his host, sat stolidly beside him. Mr. Marcos, who has been President of the Philippines since 1965, ended eight years of martial law last month and is preparing for an election that is expected to assure him of six more years in power. [New York Times]
- More American aid to El Salvador was backed strongly by key members of Congress. The support was expressed after a briefing by Secretary of State Alexander Haig on the Reagan administration's assertions that the Soviet bloc is supplying arms to the Salvadoran insurgents. A long guerrilla war in El Salvador seems to be in prospect. Government forces are locked into static defensive positions and the leftist guerrillas are attacking again one month after a failed offensive. [New York Times]
- Poland's leader met in East Germany with Erich Honecker, the East German leader, two days after a similar Polish-Czechoslovak conference. It was believed that Stanislaw Kania, the Polish leader, sought to convince the neighboring authorities that Poland has its labor crisis under control. [New York Times]
- Political assassinations in Guatemala have been carried out under the direct supervision of the goverment, Amnesty International charged. In an extensive report on human rights violations in Guatemala, the organization said that since mid-1978 nearly 5,000 people had been "seized without warrant and killed" by government security forces. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 939.68 (+8.11, +0.87%)
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* |
| February 13, 1981 | 931.57 | 126.98 | 33.36 |
| February 12, 1981 | 936.60 | 127.48 | 34.71 |
| February 11, 1981 | 942.49 | 128.24 | 37.79 |
| February 10, 1981 | 948.63 | 129.24 | 40.81 |
| February 9, 1981 | 947.18 | 129.27 | 38.32 |
| February 6, 1981 | 952.30 | 130.60 | 45.82 |
| February 5, 1981 | 946.76 | 129.63 | 45.31 |
| February 4, 1981 | 941.98 | 128.59 | 45.53 |
| February 3, 1981 | 941.38 | 128.46 | 45.95 |
| February 2, 1981 | 932.17 | 126.91 | 44.08 |