News stories from Saturday June 11, 1977

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

The authorities said they believed they were closing in on James Earl Ray and the other inmates who escaped with him Friday evening from a maximum-security prison in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Five inmates and Mr. Ray climbed over a 14-foot wall, using a makeshift ladder. One of the five was spotted by state police in a helicopter and was captured about eight miles from the prison. [New York Times] A study ordered by Congress of the Veterans Administration's hospital system says that it is wasteful and sometimes jeopardizes the lives of patients. The hospitals were also said to have too many acute care beds and that many patients who could be cared for on an outpatient basis were unnecessarily hospitalized. The V.A. was also urged to stop construction of eight new or replacement hospitals costing an estimated $1.2 billion unless they were approved by regional planners of the Health Systems Agency. The study, conducted over a three-year period, was made by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. [New York Times] A drive by industry and labor to weaken the clear air law in Congress last week was turned back mainly by the strong stand taken by the White House, which had some lobbying help from Robert Redford, the actor. "It is not often that you beat the power companies, the auto industry, the auto workers union and the Chamber of Commerce on the same day," said Charles Warren, legislative director of the Environmental Protection Agency. [New York Times] Adm. Stansfield Turner, the Director of Central Intelligence, advocates new, strongly centralized control of the intelligence community under one person and has run into strong opposition from Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and C.I.A. career professionals. Admiral Turner has taken the case to President Carter and this has set off a major institutional struggle within the administration. His proposal is backed, however, by many of the members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "We are in for very spirited debate," said an administration source. [New York Times] The Royal Dutch Marines attacked the train held by South Moluccans in the Netherlands, killing two of the 51 hostages and six of their captors. The surviving hostages included 34 men and 15 women. At the time of the attack on the four-car train near the village of Glimmen, another marine group freed four teachers held by Moluccan terrorists in an elementary school at Bovensmilde, 20 miles to the south. [New York Times] In several foreign policy statements in an interview with members of the Magazine Publishers Association, President Carter said that his "inclination" is "to aggressively challenge" the Soviet Union and other countries for influence in critical areas around the world. He said the United States should carry this challenge in a peaceful fashion to countries "crucial to us now or potentially crucial" and named Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, Algeria, China and Cuba. His remarks, released by the White House, were made in the context of an opening statement on his controversial advocacy of human rights in the Soviet Union and other countries. [New York Times]