News stories from Sunday April 9, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The nation's money supply and whether it will mushroom this week is of concern to Wall Street money market economists. An oversupply is inflationary, and tends to result in Federal Reserve action raising interest rates. Early last April, the basic money supply expanded by $5.4 billion, and short-term interest rates jumped to 5 percent from 4.5 percent. Jeffrey Nichols, chief economist of the Argus Research Corporation, said money supply figures to be reported on Thursday could show a "substantial rise." The money supply has increased sharply in the first week of each of the past four quarters. Mr. Nichols "would not be at all surprised" if it happened again this week. [New York Times]
- Anti-abortion groups are closely watching the murder trial in Santa Ana, Calif., of Dr. William Waddill, a prominent obstetrician and gynecologist in Orange County. He is accused of killing the newborn infant of an 18-year-old woman. She told the doctor that she was 22 weeks pregnant. He injected a saline solution to induce an abortion. Instead of a 22-week fetus, the mother delivered a three-pound infant, 28 to 31 weeks old. Dr. Waddill said the child could not have survived the saline injection. But he is accused of strangling the infant. Some anti-abortion groups maintain that some fetuses have survived saline abortions and then have been killed. [New York Times]
- Potential Senate candidates in Minnesota, both Democrats and Republicans, were relieved by Muriel Humphrey's announcement that she would not run for the remaining four years of her late husband's term. Politicians in the state had been betting that Mrs. Humphrey, who has a slight blood pressure problem, would not take on the rigors of a campaign in which she would have to face the strong opposition of Representative Donald Fraser for the nomination of her own Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. A recent poll had shown that Mr. Fraser was as strongly backed by the party for the nomination as Mrs. Humphrey. [New York Times]
- Washington's mayor is facing a scandal in the indictment of Joseph Yeldell, his general assistant. Mayor Walter Washington, who was first elected in 1967 and is expected to seek re-election this fall, said that he did not believe that Mr. Yeldell's indictment would affect his decision. Mr. Yeldell and Dominic Antonelli, a multimillionaire parking lot and real estate operator, were indicted last week on bribery and conspiracy charges in an allegedly illegal awarding of a city lease. [New York Times]
- The Philippine police arrested hundreds of demonstrators as they marched through Manila protesting irregularities in Friday's election for a National Assembly, which turned into a bitterly fought test of President Ferdinand Marcos' martial-law rule. Six leaders of the opposition People's Force Party were among the 600 arrested. The marchers violated a presidential decree against political demonstrations and face a trial before a military tribunal. Only 5 percent of the vote had been tabulated by a government commission 48 hours after the polls closed. The delay was said to have been caused by a bomb threat and the need to be accurate. But one of the People's Force candidates charged that "Marcos has the ballots and is trying to decide what to do with them," and that "the election showed he doesn't have popular support any more." [New York Times]
- A coup in Somalia attempted by army officers was crushed by loyal troops, the country's official radio said. The revolt's leaders were influenced by "foreign powers," according to the radio. President Mohammed Siad Barre said in a broadcast to the nation that the insurgents had been captured and that "all is well, all is normal." [New York Times]