News stories from Sunday March 26, 1978

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

Senator Edward Kennedy and his allies in organized labor are working with the White House to revive national health insurance legislation. Government officials say the negotiations between Mr. Kennedy's team and the President's staff are being conducted independently of Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health Education and Welfare, who is nominally in charge of coordinating the administration's efforts to draft a national health bill this year. Mr. Kennedy's proposals are said to be substantially different from those he previously introduced. His principal change is the major financing role that would be given to private insurers. [New York Times] Restrictions on price competition in gasoline sales were written almost unnoticed into a Senate Energy Committee bill. The amendment's adoption last week by a vote of 9 to 8 came despite warnings from both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission that the amendment was anti-competitive. The amendment was offered by Senator Peter Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, and supported by Democrats including Henry Jackson, the committee's chairman. The Oil Jobbers Council, which drafted the amendment, said that it was designed to preserve competition by barring "subsidized" sales to refiner-affiliated stations. [New York Times] Rioting protesters in Japan destroyed vital control tower equipment of Tokyo's new international airport, which was scheduled to be opened formally on Thursday. A half dozen helmeted leftists had occupied the tower. Riot policemen firing tear gas guns dispersed them in a three-hour fight. The government had mobilized 14,000 riot policemen in anticipation of an attack. The airport has been opposed because of its uprooting of farmers and for environmental reasons. [New York Times] The Air Force's secret investigation of alleged "excessive drug use"' and espionage at an intelligence base in Colorado has led to charges of a witch hunt, a service inquiry into methods of its Office of Special Investigation and a strong rebuke from the Defense Department. The inquiry brought about the dismissal of 48 civilian employees last September at the heavily guarded Buckley Air National Guard Base near Denver, but 39 have been reinstated. Dr. Hans Mark, Under Secretary of the Air Force, concedes that the Air Force had "erred" in the investigation. "Obviously things happened that were wrong," he said. [New York Times] Seniority in Congress is not as rewarding as it used to be, and the decline apparently has helped persuade 39 Congressmen to retire at the end of this session. The latest is Frank Evans, who has served seven terms and was soon to become chairman of a subcommittee of the powerful Appropriations Committee. The main reason for the departures is that the rules of political life in the House have changed dramatically in recent years. A Congressman's job is much tougher and frequently less rewarding than ever before. [New York Times] Baron Edouard-Jean Empain was freed by his kidnappers on the outskirts of Paris and the Baron, using a small amount of money his captors had given him, took a subway to the center of the city. The 40-year-old Belgian industrialist was kidnapped on Jan. 23. He was described as exhausted but in good health, but may have had the tip of a finger cut off. No ransom was paid, the Paris police commissioner said. The police prevented the handing over of an $8.6 million ransom in Paris Friday night in a gunfight in which one of the suspected kidnappers was killed. [New York Times] Israel's cabinet backed unanimously Prime Minister Menachem Begin's positions on Middle East peace issues, which differ from those of Washington. A cabinet communique said that "the cabinet re-emphasizes its effort to reach a full and comprehensive peace in the Middle East." It reaffirmed that Mr. Begin's peace plan, which he feels has been brushed aside by Washington and Cairo, presented "a fair basis for negotiating with the Arab states." [New York Times]