News stories from Tuesday June 28, 1977

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

Production of the B-1 supersonic bomber was supported in a vote by the House after a heated, sometimes emotional debate. The chamber acted within 48 hours of President Carter's expected decision on the future of the expensive bomber, which the Air Force hopes will succeed the B-52 as the nation's major strategic bomber. The full cost of the program could reach $1100 billion over 30 years. [New York Times] Frustrated in hunting a killer, the New York City police began an extraordinary canvass of 2,000 government agencies, businesses, clubs and other groups in the United States and Canada. In a questionnaire, the police sought to trace all 28,000 .44-caliber Charter Arms Bulldogs -- the type used in shooting -- that have killed five persons in the Bronx and Queens and wounded six in the last 11 months. More than 100 policemen are now trying to find the murderer who calls himself "Son of Sam." [New York Times] Cost-of-living raises for members of Congress, federal judges and other top government officials were rejected in the House by a vote of 397 to 20. The chamber acted in advance of a vote tomorrow on a proposal to roll back a $12,900 congressional raise that took effect earlier this year. [New York Times] Government control over Richard Nixon's presidential papers and tape recordings was upheld by the Supreme Court by a vote of 7 to 2. In holding the 1974 law constitutional, the Court found that Mr. Nixon was "a legitimate class of one," different from other presidents and subject to special treatment by Congress because of a possibility that his materials might otherwise have been destroyed. Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice William Rehnquist each filed vehement and detailed dissents. [New York Times] The sheriff of Mobile County, Ala., and eight aides were indicted by a federal grand jury, which accused them of plotting to allow a prisoner to escape from the Mobile jail and then fatally shooting him from ambush. The prisoner, Louis Wallace, who was serving a life term for first-degree murder, was killed last Oct. 12. [New York Times] Residential users of heating oil would be exempt from a proposed new tax on domestically produced oil if Congress sustains a vote by the House Ways and Means Committee. The panel thus reversed a decision of two weeks ago under heavy pressure from Northeastern and rural Southern Congressmen. They had threatened to kill the tax on domestic oil if their constituents were not protected against increased heating costs. The rural representatives got an exemption for users of propane from the new taxes. [New York Times] The nation's only federal prison exclusively for women, at Alderson, W. Va., will within a month become the only maximum security facility for women in the federal prison system. It will begin receiving convicts regarded as dangerous, serving long terms and of such notoriety that their escape would embarrass officials in Washington and at the prison. [New York Times] Rates for moving crude oil through the trans-Alaska pipeline proposed by oil companies were sharply cut, at least for the present, by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Interim rates set by the commission in a 9 to 0 decision are not expected to cut fuel costs to consumers, but would raise by many millions of dollars a year the oil revenues of the State of Alaska. The oil companies are likely to appeal the ruling in court? [New York Times] A grand jury inquiry by the Justice Department of criminal tax fraud allegations against General Motors was ordered continued by Federal District Judge James Churchill. But the judge barred any disclosure of the grand jury's findings to the Internal Revenue Service while the investigation was proceeding, except when it was needed to obtain "technical assistance" and then only with his permission. [New York Times] Stock prices retreated sharply as weakness in steel issues spread to other heavy industry groups and many blue-chip stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.48 points to 915.62, bringing its decline in the last two sessions to more than 14 points. [New York Times] An American-Soviet summit meeting may soon be in prospect. The White House said that President Carter would like to meet with President Leonid Brezhnev, possibly this year, but that no time or place had been set. Officials said that the two leaders might hold an informal meeting in Alaska, similar to the three-day conference President Ford held with Mr. Brezhnev in Vladivostok in late 1974. [New York Times] Israel denied that it was unwilling to discuss all occupied territories in any peace talks with the Arabs. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said there was no basis for the State Department to have made such an assumption in a statement issued Monday by the Carter administration. [New York Times] Loans to aid Chile's poor farmers have been blocked at least temporarily "to see what changes might develop in the human rights situation in Chile," Hodding Carter III, the State Department spokesman, disclosed. The nearly $10 million in loans have been approved by Congress, and the department's decision to defer action on them for 30 to 60 days came after a dispute within the Carter administration. [New York Times]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 915.62 (-8.48, -0.92%)
S&P Composite: 100.14 (-0.84, -0.83%)
Arms Index: 1.48

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	524	5.38
Declines	920	14.00
Unchanged	443	3.29
Total Volume		22.67

* in millions of shares

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*
June 27, 1977	924.10	100.98	19.87
June 24, 1977	929.70	101.19	26.49
June 23, 1977	925.37	100.62	24.33
June 22, 1977	926.31	100.46	25.07
June 21, 1977	928.60	100.74	29.73
June 20, 1977	924.27	100.42	22.95
June 17, 1977	920.45	99.97	21.96
June 16, 1977	920.45	99.85	24.31
June 15, 1977	917.57	99.62	22.64
June 14, 1977	922.57	99.86	25.39