News stories from Sunday January 29, 1978

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

Corporate profits were running at more than $100 billion a year in the fourth quarter of 1977, reaching an annual rate as high as $108 billion a year, according to preliminary estimates. Profits of almost every major industry increased and the quarter's results would have been more encouraging if it had not been for concern over inventory profits, currency losses and profit squeezes. [New York Times] School districts complain that a new federal law providing handicapped children with special services will be too costly. More than 3.5 million children have been found to be eligible for aid under the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, which covers a wide range of disabilities, emotional as well as physical. State officials complain that the government is paying only 9 percent of the extra costs, and though Washington's contribution, now $250 million, is to rise sharply each year, the bulk of the expense will be carried by states and local districts. [New York Times] The would-be hijacker of a Piedmont Airlines plane in Washington was foiled when a flight attendant threw a drink in his face and pinned the startled man's hands against the cockpit door. The hijacker, identified as Sam Dawkins, 49 years old, of Wilmington, N.C., was forced to the floor and his hands were tied. He said he had a gun but was found to be unarmed. The quick-thinking attendant was Stephen Adonna, 25. [New York Times] Consumers and lawmakers who hailed the formation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission five years ago are having second thoughts. Instead of winning a powerful "watchdog," consumer advocates say, they got a confused bureaucracy hampered by industry pressure, bad administration and what a Congressman says is "gross timidity." [New York Times] The disintegration of a pair of shoes worn by a member of Newark's arson squad who was investigating a fire in a vacant lot was found to be caused by illegally dumped toxic chemical wastes. This has led to a statewide drive by New Jersey's law enforcement officials to halt the dumping of flammable, lethal wastes in streets, on vacant land and in sewers and waterways. The crackdown is now moving from field investigations into the courts. [New York Times] The return of the Israeli military delegation to Cairo for a resumption of peace talks with Egypt was approved unanimously by the Israeli cabinet. A decline in what had been regarded as anti-Jewish attacks in the Egyptian press apparently influenced the vote. It was expected that Defense Minister Ezer Weizman would go to Cairo in the next few days. [New York Times] President Carter expressed personal concern to Prime Minister Menachem Begin about reports that a new civilian Israeli settlement was being built on the West Bank near Shiloh. Sources in Washington said the President was worried that if Mr. Begin had approved the new settlement he would be breaking a personal agreement that he had made to Mr. Carter against further West Bank settlement, except on a limited number of military bases. [New York Times] The Soviet spy satellite that broke up over Canada last week was one of several classes of military space vehicles being built by Russian spacecraft engineers. The Soviet Union has also developed hunter-killer satellites, experimented with orbital bombardment vehicles and is believed to he testing laser weapons in space. The United States is trying to build even more sophisticated hunter-killers and laser weapons, but American security officials are said to be extremely worried about the Soviet lead in such technology. [New York Times]