News stories from Wednesday August 2, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A measure to aid cities suffered a possibly lethal blow in Congress. A House subcommittee voted, 7 to 6, to postpone indefinitely consideration of a key administration bill to provide $1 billion a year in "supplementary fiscal assistance" to troubled municipalities. Cities in New York state stand to lose $209 million, of which $140 million was earmarked for New York City. The vote could jeopardize the budgets of many major cities. [New York Times]
- A presidential candidacy was announced. Representative Philip Crane of Illinois, pledging a campaign against "excessive government," became the first entrant in what may become the most crowded Republican field in decades. Although he is a conservative, he insisted he was not running against Ronald Reagan. But most political experts see him as waging an uphill battle for Mr. Reagan's 1976 supporters. [New York Times]
- An alleged payoff to James Earl Ray in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death was the subject of F.B.I. documents just made public. They said the bureau received a report in 1974 that a Missouri businessman was "the individual who made the payoff of James Earl Ray after the killing" of Dr. King. The statement was included in the account of an informer's report to his F.B.I. control agent. It was based on the informer's conversation with another businessman who is now a witness before the House committee on assassinations. [New York Times]
- Furious over the dismissal of a close friend, Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the House, has refused to deal with President Carter's chief congressional liaison officer, according to a top O'Neill aide, The Speaker was Mr. Carter's most loyal ally in seeking to steer the administration's legislative program through Congress. [New York Times]
- NBC gained a key victory in its defense of an $11 million negligence suit charging that a rape scene in a television movie, "Born Innocent," was responsible for the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl. Backing an NBC contention, the judge ruled that the girl's lawyers must prove that the network had "incited" the attack and not merely that the network was negligent in broadcasting the movie. [New York Times]
- A dump for toxic chemicals at Niagara Falls was deemed a health peril. New York state Health Commissioner Robert Whalen urged that pregnant women and infants up to 2 years of age evacuate their homes in the Love Canal section of the city immediately and that a public school near the industrial waste site not open in the fall. [New York Times]
- Economic sanctions against Rhodesia would be lifted at the end of the year if a freely elected government was established, under a measure approved by the House. The vote was a setback for the Carter administration's efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the guerrilla war.
A black member of Rhodesia's transitional government defended the most recent raid into Mozambique, indicating that without such military responses, an even bloodier civil war among blacks might occur.
[New York Times] - Greece expressed "sorrow" over votes in Congress to end the American embargo on arms shipments to Turkey. The Athens government warned in a statement that lifting the embargo would make it harder to solve the Cyprus problem, because "it encourages the intransigence of Turkey." [New York Times]
- Saudi Arabia regards Egypt's campaign to reach peace with Israel as having failed and says that it is necessary now to reunite the Arabs, Carter administration officials said. Washington had been informed, they added, of the Saudi position that Israel's "intransigence" left little hope of success for President Sadat's efforts. [New York Times]
- Three former Chilean officers are being held under military arrest in Santiago for possible extradition to the United States for trial in the murder of Orlando Letelier, President Augusto Pinochet confirmed. They include the former chief of the secret police. But General Pinochet added that for extradition "there must be proof. So far there are only presumptions." [New York Times]
- Two Arabs opened fire on officials entering the Iraqi Consulate General in Karachi, wounding one official and also a police guard. The police said they had killed one assailant and arrested the other. The recent rash of attacks on Iraqi missions abroad is attributed to a split in the Palestinian guerrilla movement between radicals and more moderate factions. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 883.49 (+22.78, +2.65%)
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* |
| August 1, 1978 | 860.71 | 100.66 | 34.81 |
| July 31, 1978 | 862.27 | 100.68 | 33.99 |
| July 28, 1978 | 856.29 | 100.00 | 33.31 |
| July 27, 1978 | 850.57 | 99.54 | 33.97 |
| July 26, 1978 | 847.19 | 99.08 | 36.82 |
| July 25, 1978 | 839.57 | 98.44 | 25.40 |
| July 24, 1978 | 831.60 | 97.72 | 23.27 |
| July 21, 1978 | 833.42 | 97.75 | 26.07 |
| July 20, 1978 | 838.62 | 98.03 | 33.34 |
| July 19, 1978 | 840.70 | 98.12 | 30.85 |