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Friday August 11, 1978
. . . where the 1970s live forever!

News stories from Friday August 11, 1978


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

  • Chiefs of state and foreign dignitaries from all over the world arrived at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Paul VI as tens of thousands of Catholics crowded into St. Peter's Basilica for a glimpse of the dead pontiff.

    Among those who flew here for tomorrow's funeral was Rosalynn Carter, the President's wife and leader of the U.S. delegation. Mrs. Carter said Pope Paul's sense of social justice and concern for the poor have "left the world a better place." [Washington Post]

  • A.F.L.-C.I.O. president George Meany got a public rebuke from his closest ally in the Carter administration as relations between the White House and the veteran labor chief continued to deteriorate. The rebuke came from Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, who confirmed that President Carter is angry at Meany's continual criticism of the administration and went on to say that he too considers the criticism "unacceptable." [Washington Post]
  • A judge ordered more than 1,000 striking Memphis policemen back to work as the city is jammed with thousands of Elvis Presley fans for the first anniversary of the singer's death. An 8 p.m. curfew, however, remained in effect, sharply restricting the activities of an expected 100,000 Elvis admirers. [Washington Post]
  • In an atmosphere so politically loaded that Chief Justice Rose Bird opened by declaring, "All the threats in the world will not deter us from the important task before us," the California Supreme Court heard school, county and city attorneys argue that Proposition 13 should be overturned as a violation of the state constitution. [Washington Post]
  • Cornelia Wallace, short of campaign money and apparently discouraged, dropped out of the race for Alabama governor after a month of rebuffs. Wallace noted in a prepared statement that it would be futile for her to continue without the "endorsement and active participation of the governor," -- her ex-husband, George Wallace. They were divorced eight months ago. [Washington Post]
  • Researchers have isolated apparent Legionnaires' Disease bacteria from water used to air condition a hotel at the University of Indiana, where 21 persons have contracted the disease. The organism has also been detected in a nearby creek on the Bloomington, Ind., campus. [Washington Post]
  • Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist blocked, pending appeal, lower court orders under which more than 42,000 children would be reassigned in September to desegregate the public schools in Columbus, Ohio. [Washington Post]
  • Leslie Van Houten, now 28, who joined Charles Manson's roving band of killers as a teenager, was sentenced in Los Angeles to three concurrent life prison terms for the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, and conspiracy in the deaths of actress Sharon Tate and four others. [Washington Post]
  • A British Vulcan bomber crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Glenview Naval Air Station in Illinois, killing all four Royal Air Force crew member aboard. Witnesses said the plane developed trouble several minutes after takeoff for practice maneuvers for Chicago's lakefront festival air show and crashed into a garbage dump about a mile north of the air station. [Washington Post]
  • Georgia state Sen. Julian Bond has filed suit to try to erase the word "nigger" from American radio and television, saying the word defames "a whole race of people". Bond and the Atlanta chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. filed suit to force the Federal Communications Commission to add the word to its list of "seven dirty words" banned from the nation's airwaves by a recent Supreme Court ruling. [Washington Post]
  • Sodium nitrite, a chemical additive used in most processed meats, causes cancer in laboratory animals, according to a study conducted for the Food and Drug Administration. The results of the study means the F.D.A. must consider banning nitrites, which are used in over two-thirds of the pork and 10 percent of the beef produced in the country. [Washington Post]
  • Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) announced that he will not sign a Senate-House compromise on natural gas legislation -- a staggering and perhaps fatal blow to chances of congressional passage. The bill cannot be called up unless a majority of conferees from each chamber signs the report. [Washington Post]
  • American-born Chilean secret police agent Michael Townley calmly admitted to a federal judge that he planted what he called the "device" that exploded to murder former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and an aide in Washington, D.C., in September, 1976.

    Guarded by at least 12 deputy U.S. marshals and three F.B.I. agents in a courtroom that included members of the Cuban nationalist group Townley said helped him carry out the assassination, Townley became the first person to plead guilty to the bombing murder of Letelier and Ronni Moffitt. [Washington Post]

  • Continental Oil Co. and two other Texas oil firms pleaded nolo contendere in Houston to federal criminal charges of overpricing refined oil, and agreed to pay the government more than $3 million in fines, penalties and refunds. The case marks the first time criminal felony charges have been leveled against an oil company for violating price regulations set by the Department of Energy. [Washington Post]
  • After years of sporadic negotiations made difficult by a fear of Soviet anger, the Japanese government appeared to be ready to sign a peace and friendship treaty with China. Unless there is a last minute hitch, the treaty will be signed Saturday in Peking, where three weeks of negotiations apparently have resolved a dispute over whether the pact is directed against the Soviet Union. [Washington Post]


Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 890.85 (+5.37, +0.61%)
S&P Composite: 103.96 (+0.30, +0.29%)
Arms Index: 0.62

IssuesVolume*
Advances87119.82
Declines6188.75
Unchanged4115.06
Total Volume33.63
* in millions of shares

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
DateDJIAS&PVolume*
August 10, 1978885.48103.6639.75
August 9, 1978891.63104.5048.79
August 8, 1978889.21104.0134.30
August 7, 1978885.05103.5533.35
August 4, 1978888.43103.9237.92
August 3, 1978886.87103.5166.37
August 2, 1978883.49102.9247.50
August 1, 1978860.71100.6634.81
July 31, 1978862.27100.6833.99
July 28, 1978856.29100.0033.31


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