News stories from Sunday June 19, 1977

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

The Deep South has been hit by the worst drought in a quarter of a century that is seriously damaging major farm crops like corn, peanuts, soybeans and hay. The drought has followed the longest, harshest winter Southerners can remember. Farmers are as badly off as farmers in the Rockies and Far West, where lack of rain also threatens agriculture disaster. [New York Times] Howard Hughes's heirs have agreed to a division of his estate in an out-of-court settlement "to prevent years of litigation," according to an article in the Alabama Journal published in Montgomery. Estimates of the estate's value range from $168 million to $2.5 billion. The largest share, 23-5/6 percent, would go to Mr. Hughes's aunt, Annette Lummis of Houston. [New York Times] Intelligence reports say that President Park Chung Hee of South Korea curtailed allegedly illegal lobbying operations in Washington in behalf of his country early this year after a senior Korean intelligence officer defected and began talking to federal investigators. Sources who have seen the reports said President Park ordered the Korean Central Intelligence Agency to take a low profile in the United States. [New York Times] Two questions that have hung for many months over the Alaska oil pipeline project that begins operation tomorrow -- the cost of putting the oil through the 799-mile pipeline, and who will get the oil -- are expected to be answered by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the White House. The I.C.C., amid increasing criticism of the proposed transportation fees, this week will consider the tariff applications of the eight oil companies that own the pipeline. President Carter has said he would announce in the near future whether he will recommend an export plan. [New York Times] A potential major competitor of the New York Stock Exchange would be the Pacific Stock Exchange, with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, if and when a national marketing system for securities goes into operation. The Pacific exchange, geographically the farthest from the other market centers, is fighting to handle more trades. It envisages a link among the various exchanges as the way to achieve this goal. [New York Times] Difficulty in getting information from some of the banks that dealt in New York City securities has delayed completion of the 17-month investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into possible fraud surrounding the city's financial crisis, according to sources close to the investigation. The commission has not decided whether to bring fraud charges, but the sources said it was highly unlikely that charges would be brought against city officials. Charges against banks or underwriters were a possibility. [New York Times] Israeli Foreign Ministry officials said that Vice President Mondale's recent speech on the Middle East contained nothing substantially new and was a recitation of "well known positions" stated earlier by President Carter. In the speech., described by the White House as an explanation of the President's policy, Mr. Mondale reiterated President Carter's belief that Israel should return to its pre-1967 borders with "minor modifications." "The positions are the positions we know," said one foreign ministry official in Jerusalem. [New York Times] A movement that started in Philadelphia more than 90 years ago in support of sainthood for Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann, who died there in 1860, culminated in his canonization in Rome. Thousands of Americans, including many from Philadelphia, were at the outdoor solemn high mass at St. Peter's Square in which Pope Paul VI declared Bishop Neumann, known for his help to the poor, a saint. [New York Times] Genetic messages that control all life processes are being interpreted with increasing rapidity by scientists in England and the United States who are using a newly developed set of chemical manipulations. Identifying the genetic bases of birth defects and cancer is one of the long-range goals of this revolutionary field of biology. [New York Times] Population pressures on limited resources of land, water and capital are increasing dramatically in Latin America despite national family-planning programs that are slowing birth rates in some countries. Only about a fifth of the 80 million Latin American women of childbearing age are believed to be using contraceptive methods. [New York Times]