News stories from Saturday January 29, 1977

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

At least six motorists were found dead in stranded cars around Buffalo, which was struck by a blizzard Friday that made the paralyzed city one of the places in the country hardest hit by the cold. Thousands of people took shelter in public buildings, factories, supermarkets, hotels and anyplace else not closed by the storm, which put snowplows out of action. [New York Times] The snowbound Midwestern states and much of the Northeast were in the grip of near-zero and sub-zero weather, bringing ordinary activities to a standstill in many places. Supplies for natural gas for home heating were threatened. "There is no relief in sight," the National Weather Service said, but more snow was not expected immediately. [New York Times] An actual shortage of natural gas is acknowledged by critics of the industry to be a possibility. Gas companies do have stockpiles, but these are rapidly being depleted and will surely be exhausted before spring, even though production is now at its maximum rate. Without the energy legislation now before Congress, the distribution of gas cannot be shifted among pipelines to the neediest areas. It is agreed that the crisis was not inevitable, and a fierce argument is going on between government officials and the industry over why it occurred. [New York Times] The energy crisis in the New York metropolitan region was intensified by bitterly cold weather. Utilities cut off natural gas supplies to hundreds of additional businesses and industries. Hundreds of thousands of families in New York and New Jersey braced for large layoffs and other privations. No relief from the extreme cold was in prospect and widespread disruptions were expected. [New York Times] Starting at midnight tomorrow, the first concerted campaign for the repeal of the 55-mile-an-hour speed limit and its increase to at least 65 is to begin with a trucker's slowdown to 40 miles an hour. The slowdown is a legal but nonetheless attention-getting demonstration that may cause traffic jams. The protesting truckers say that the 55-mile-an-hour limit costs each independent driver -- who profits by rapid deliveries and turnarounds -- hundreds of dollars a month in lost revenue and hundreds of dollars a year in traffic fines. [New York Times] Culminating a year's investigation, a parliamentary committee in Italy recommended that two former defense ministers be put on trial on charges of having taken bribes from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It also recommended that a former chief of staff of the air force, lawyers and intermediaries stand trial for alleged involvement in the bribery scandal. The 20-member committee, by a one-vote margin, recommended that no action be taken against former Prime Minister Mariano Rumor, whose name had been connected with the scandal. He led the government for much of the time when the negotiations were under way for the purchase of Lockheed planes. [New York Times] The State Department was accused by the Soviet government's press agency, Tass, of "unsavory play" when it issued Thursday a statement defending Andrei Sakharov. Tass complained that the action had been taken "with or without the knowledge" of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and implied that it was part of a campaign aimed at discrediting the Soviet Union concerning compliance with the Helsinki agreement. [New York Times] Saudi Arabia is emerging as the dominant force in the Middle East and probably the key power on the Arab side in future Israeli negotiations, according to Western diplomats in Riyadh and other experts working there. This is also said to be the view of European leaders who have begun to pay state visits. Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany and President Valery Giscard d'Estaing believe that Saudi Arabia has become a world power. [New York Times] The World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has started to reduce sharply its staff at its Geneva headquarters and, in a major policy change, will divert the resulting savings to serve the emerging countries of the third world. The organization's executive board voted to save $13 million this year by starting to cut the staff by 24 percent by 1981. [New York Times]