News stories from Saturday May 21, 1977

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

President Carter has ignored the White House patronage tradition by giving cabinet officers and agency directors almost total control over filling positions in their departments. Normally the new appointees would be Democrats. But a substantial number of Nixon-Ford administration appointees have been held over to help the new cabinet officers and other agency directors through administrative intricacies. This has upset some Democratic Congressmen who have difficulty finding administration jobs for their constituents and supporters. [New York Times] One of Manhattan's newest and biggest discotheques, Studio 54 at Eighth Avenue and 54th Street, was closed personally by the head of the State Liquor Authority for selling liquor without license. Michael Roth, head of the authority, went to the club accompanied by a plainclothesman. More police officers followed later and they arrested the owners and two bartenders. Their liquor license application was pending. [New York Times] An uneasy South Africa was host to Andrew Young, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He was there to tell business leaders that they held the key to social change in their country, a change he said would be necessary to prevent its economic collapse. [New York Times] Reassignment was ordered by President Carter for Gen. John Singlaub, the Army chief of staff in South Korea, who had publicly disagreed with his plans to withdraw American troops from South Korea. The reassignment announcement followed a 30-minute meeting at the White House between the President and the general, who was accompanied by Defense Secretary Harold Brown. It was evident that the order was intended as a stern reprimand for the highly respected two-star general. [New York Times] President Carter believes that the Western system of alliances established after World War II under United States leadership is no longer adequate. He believes that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of 15 nations is too exclusive and that the United States should take the lead in developing a new, wider international system involving more countries and a greater degree of collaboration. His views on the Western alliance and other aspects of this country's foreign policy are contained in a speech prepared for delivery tomorrow at Notre Dame University's commencement exercises. [New York Times] More than $1 billion in damage claim by individuals asserting that their rights were violated by illegal government spying and harassment are pending in the courts. The General Accounting Office said that it would cost millions of dollars to appoint lawyers to represent the government and present and former government officials named as defendants in the 143 civil suits. [New York Times] Political observers agree that Bella Abzug and Mayor Beame are the front-runners in New York City's Sept. 8 mayoral primary and, therefore, most likely to qualify for the two-candidate runoff on Sept. 19. They assume that no candidate will get at least 40 percent of the vote in the initial primary. If a candidate does get 40 percent there will be no runoff. That leaves other candidates -- New York's Secretary of State Mario Cuomo; Representative Edward Koch and Borough President Percy Sutton of Manhattan -- trying to become, in effect, the alternative to Mrs. Abzug and Mr. Beame. [New York Times] Major differences are still holding up the conclusion of new Soviet American strategic arms accord despite agreement on a new formula to break the deadlock in negotiations. The delay was acknowledged by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko at the end of their three-day meeting in Geneva. Mr. Vance's remarks on the meeting were far more positive than Mr. Gromyko's, but it was clear that no breakthrough had been achieved and that further detailed talks still have to be held. [New York Times]