News stories from Sunday October 10, 1976

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

President Ford's campaign manager acknowledged that the campaign had hit a "bump" during the last week with the resignation of Earl Butz as Secretary of Agriculture and the President's remarks on Eastern Europe, but he expressed confidence that his candidate would win. Earlier, Mr. Ford listened as the pastor of the nation's largest Baptist Church denounced Jimmy Carter and gave what amounted to an endorsement of the President. [New York Times] Jimmy Carter has stepped up his attacks on President Ford in an effort to achieve maximum political gain from his apparent victory in the second debate. In the days since the debate, Mr. Carter has overstated the President's low-profile campaigning and has drawn increasingly sharp comparisons between Mr. Ford and former President Nixon. He has used such vibrant language that some of his aides have encouraged him to tone his words down. [New York Times] Southern schools have closed the gap in higher education that a panel of experts found in the region 15 years ago, but as yet there are no Harvards below the Mason-Dixon line. A regional educational board, which set up the original 1961 study, has found that Southern schools have come a long way in overcoming the crippling disparities in expenditures and teaching salaries. [New York Times] The $68 million Giants Stadium opening in New Jersey's Hackensack Meadowlands went smoothly with only minor operational problems and a loss by the home team to mar the day. The 76,042 fans who watched the Giants lose to Dallas, 24-14, arrived early and the anticipated monstrous traffic jams never materialized. [New York Times] In New York City, a harsh new program of drastic cuts and other steps that would produce $500 million in savings is being drawn up by the Beame administration. Amid fears that the worst budget crises are still ahead, city officials started the process of selecting those services that would be cut. Although officials said it was too early to give any kind of specifics, they said almost everything about city finances in the months ahead was clouded with uncertainty. [New York Times] A vigorous debate has been taking place for the last six months over the country's economy. Some economists contend that the recovery is still underway, others say it is only in a "pause," while a few fear a new recession is threatening. Current discussions have revolved around a recent set of unpromising statistics that normally are closely watched for indications on the direction of the economy. Economists say that two broad trends -- the stagnation in consumer spending and the lag in capital spending -- are largely responsible for the malaise. [New York Times] Competition has increased between the New York and American Stock Exchanges even as they have begun studying a possible merger. During the last seven weeks, four stocks have been traded on both exchanges and a fifth will begin to be dually marketed next week. Until both exchanges changed their rules last summer, the practice of dual listing had been forbidden since 1911. Another development will come tomorrow when two specialist firms begin trading in the same stocks on the New York Exchange. [New York Times] Faced with the worldwide spread of nuclear reactors for the production of electricity, the United States is confronting major decisions regarding new policies to forestall an accompanying spread of material that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. According to specialists, two fundamental questions are whether to foster reactors that use plutonium despite the fact the material could be used for weapons, or to use its leverage to create tougher international controls over the spread of material that could be used for weapons. [New York Times] There were signs of confusion and possible conflict surrounding the apparent selection of Prime Minister Hua Kuo-feng as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Wall posters praising the selection were regarded by some analysts as signs that the choice of Mr. Hua was either being pushed by his supporters or being opposed by another faction. So far there has been no official announcement, a fact regarded as unusual by the analysts. [New York Times] Only some of the demands made by Rhodesian black nationalists were conditions for attending the British-sponsored Geneva conference on Rhodesia's future, one of the nationalist leaders said. Robert Mugabe, who is regarded as the political spokesman for a Rhodesian guerrilla group, said the British government knew which of the demands were conditions for attendance, but he would not specify which issues they were. [New York Times]