News stories from Wednesday February 22, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Opponents of the Panama Canal pacts suffered a procedural defeat in the Senate. They mustered 30 votes, just four short of the number needed to defeat the treaties, in a losing effort to upset the leadership schedule for Senate consideration of the pacts. Senator Howard Baker Jr., the minority leader, said that the 67 to 30 vote showed that the prospect for ultimate approval was "a cliffhanger." The vote showed no visible results from the debate over allegations linking Panama's leader with drug trafficking. [New York Times]
- Major coal operators have refused to renew direct bargaining with the miners' union to end the prolonged coal strike and have rejected a "bottom line" union offer, Labor Secretary Ray Marshall announced. His statement seemed to mark the end of weeks of federal efforts to settle the increasingly disruptive strike by voluntary collective bargaining. [New York Times]
- A key presidential adviser has become the target of gossip and the butt of dozens of jokes and stories as a symbol of a pub-prowling, party-loving, wise-cracking "good old bad boy." He is Hamilton Jordan, and he sets a style that is the iconoclastic antithesis of the Carter administration's emphasis on piety. After a young woman anonymously accused him of making a pass and spitting a drink at her, the administration issued a 33-page document designed to disprove the story. [New York Times]
- The B-1 bomber program died after two years of controversy. Voting 234 to 182, the House agreed to rescind $462 million that Congress once appropriated for construction of the two last B-1 strategic aircraft. Last year, the Senate voted by a wide margin to rescind the funds. [New York Times]
- Stock averages showed minimal changes as big price swings in securities affected by takeover news were in the Wall Street spotlight. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.26 points to 749.05, registering its ninth successive loss. The major development was a drop of 8⅜ points to 19⅞ in Marshall Field, the retail chain, after Carter Hawley Hale Stores withdrew its proposed acquisition offer. Carter Hawley rose ⅞ to 16¾. [New York Times]
- Joan Little was ordered extradited to North Carolina by Governor Carey of New York, who cited his "constitutional obligation." Miss Little, who had been convicted of breaking and entering, fled from a prison that she said had singled her out for abuse. Her lawyers said they would appeal, but the legal grounds for blocking her extradition are narrow. Miss Little, who is black, gained national attention in 1975 during her trial and acquittal in the murder of a white jailer who she said had tried to rape her. [New York Times]
- Questioning of G. William Miller, President Carter's choice to replace Arthur Burns as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, is being continued by the Senate Banking Committee. The panel decided to recall Mr. Miller for further questioning about a $2.9 million payment made in Iran by a subsidiary of Textron Inc., which Mr. Miller heads. The investigation focuses on whether he or the Textron hierarchy was aware that an Iranian general was the secret owner of an Iranian sales agency to which the Textron subsidiary made the payment. [New York Times]
- Washington and Bonn have agreed privately to end their long public dispute over whether the West Germans are doing enough to stimulate the world economy, a high West German government official said. Essentially, he said, the accord means that the United States will stop suggesting publicly that the projected West German growth rate of 3.5 percent for 1978 is insufficient to help the international economy and, as such, represents a shirking of Bonn's responsibilities. [New York Times]
- A harsh anti-terrorism policy has been put into effect in Rhodesia. The government has warned blacks living in a tribal area on the eastern border that adult curfew violators will be shot and that their children will be shot if they leave their villages, even in daylight. The warning was given in a pamphlet read in Parliament by a black member. He warned that such measures are seriously undermining support for the government initiative for an accord for eventual transfer of power to the black majority. [New York Times]
- Egypt broke diplomatic relations with the Greek Cypriot government in protest over the clash in which 15 Egyptian commandos were killed by Cypriot forces on Sunday. The break followed a Cairo funeral for the slain men that erupted into an angry demonstration against Palestinians as well as Cypriots. Tens of thousands of Egyptians shouted "Down with Cyprus" and "No Palestine after today." The Cypriots attacked the commandos when they tried to assault an airliner hijacked by two Palestinians. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 749.05 (-0.26, -0.03%)
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* |
| February 21, 1978 | 749.31 | 87.59 | 21.86 |
| February 17, 1978 | 752.69 | 87.96 | 18.50 |
| February 16, 1978 | 753.29 | 88.08 | 21.58 |
| February 15, 1978 | 761.69 | 88.83 | 20.17 |
| February 14, 1978 | 765.16 | 89.04 | 20.47 |
| February 13, 1978 | 774.43 | 89.86 | 16.81 |
| February 10, 1978 | 775.99 | 90.08 | 19.48 |
| February 9, 1978 | 777.81 | 90.30 | 17.94 |
| February 8, 1978 | 782.66 | 90.83 | 21.30 |
| February 7, 1978 | 778.85 | 90.33 | 14.73 |