News stories from Tuesday September 12, 1978

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

Labor mediator James Healy moved to settle the deadlocked postal contract dispute on his own as big-city union leaders backed down from earlier threats to stage an illegal mail strike this week. He said he will make a final, binding contract decision if the Postal Service and three unions representing 515,000 workers fail to reach a settlement by Saturday. [Chicago Tribune] Former President Richard Nixon was greeted by well-wishers and asked for autographs and handshakes by passers-by as he walked the streets of midtown Manhattan, en route to signing a contract for a book on foreign policy. Nixon earlier had breakfast with Henry Kissinger, who was his Secretary of State. Nixon was accompanied by a Secret Service entourage similar to the one he had as President. [Chicago Tribune] The Democratic governors of Maryland and New York turned back challenges by their lieutenant governors as 14 states held primaries today. In what was generally a good day for incumbents, Hugh Carey in New York and Ella Grasso in Connecticut crushed their opponents, but Acting Governor Blair Lee of Maryland lost his bid for nomination to a full term. [Chicago Tribune] Expert testimony disclosed new bullet-path tests have corroborated Warren Commission conclusions that three shots were fired from behind the presidential limousine in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A photo scientist and a space agency engineer told the House Assassinations Committee that teams of experts decided after complex tests that Kennedy was hit by two bullets, one of which also wounded Texas Governor John Connally, and a third missed the limousine in which both men were riding. [Chicago Tribune] The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to hold public hearings on charges that two California Congressmen took cash and other favors from South Korean businessman Tongsun Park. The committee rejected attempts by Rep. Edward Roybal [D., Cal. and Rep. John McFall [D., Cal.] to have evidence against them presented in a closed meeting, and to drop charges that followed an 18-month investigation of Park's dealings. [Chicago Tribune] A new anti-inflation program including voluntary wage-price guidelines may be disclosed soon by President Carter, administration source reported. The sources said Carter's advisers are considering limiting wage increases to 7 percent a year and price increases to 5.75 percent. [Chicago Tribune] Famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock was arrested with 10 other protesters at the Seabrook nuclear power plant in Seabrook, N. H. The noted pediatrician and antiwar activist was freed on $100 bail. "People from all over the United States should be supporting the nearest protest against nuclear power," Spock said. [Chicago Tribune] The Internal Revenue Service entered the investigation of alleged corruption in the U.S. General Services Administration. The I.R.S. reportedly will probe the net worth of some top G.S.A. officials accused of accepting payoffs in exchange for government contracts. Included will be an attempt to determine how one career civil servant managed to amass a reported net worth of more than $1 million. [Chicago Tribune] After eight days of living in the woodsy isolation of Camp David, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel have yet to sit down alone together, or even break bread together. [Chicago Tribune] The Environmental Protection Agency banned an additive called MMT, used in about half of all unleaded gasoline. The oil industry said the ban will make unleaded gasoline more costly. E.P.A. chief Douglas Costle said he issued the ban, the first under a new section of the Clean Air Act, because MMT contributes to pollution by increasing hydrocarbon emissions in auto exhaust. The ban will take effect on Oct. 27, giving time for gasoline already containing MMT to be sold. [Chicago Tribune] The stock market eased, reflecting investor disappointment over its failure Monday to extend last week's strong rally. The United States dollar also declined, while the price of gold rose. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 1.30 points lower at 906.44.Ford Motor Co., despite spending $1.2 billion, is running a risk of failing to meet government fuel economy standards. If it fails to meet the 1979 standard, the No. 2 automaker could be fined $10 million. Texas International Airlines said it will continue its efforts to acquire control of National Airlines, despite National's recently announced plans to merge with Pan American World Airways. The airline also said it has filed a complaint with the Civil Aeronautics Board, charging Pan Am with unlawful control of National. [Chicago Tribune] President Anastasio Somoza said that government troops had all but crushed rebellious forces in Nicaragua. "What you might compare to a Tet offensive in Vietnam has been defeated," Somoza declared. Nicaraguan troops struck inside neighboring Costa Rica to pursue fleeing Sandinista guerrillas, and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo warned, "We won't let Nicaragua get away with this." [Chicago Tribune] Two assassins dressed as Colombian soldiers fatally shot former Interior Minister Rafael Pardo Buelvas, 52, as he was shaving in his home this morning, police reported. They gained entry into the house by telling Pardo Buelvas' wife that they were sent to guard him. The killing was believed to be revenge by leftist groups for the interior minister's actions as head of the nation's police during a national strike in September, 1977, when 14 persons were killed. [Chicago Tribune] Medical experts found that Bulgarian defector Georgio Ivanov Marcov died of blood poisoning, giving some credence to his hospital bed statements that he was poisoned by a man who poked him in the thigh with a lethally tipped umbrella. Marcov, 49, died in a London hospital Monday, four days after the umbrella incident. Marcov worked for the British Broadcasting Corp. [Chicago Tribune] A Moslem leader and several journalists are among scores of persons arrested in Iran in the latest clampdown on opposition groups ordered by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. [Chicago Tribune] Ruth Carter Stapleton says numbering a president among kinfolk is no asset, that her evangelical meetings now draw mostly curiosity seekers who are "anti-Jimmy and anti-me automatically." And she adds a lament for Billy Carter, who, she says, was "very secure and confident in his work and his peanut business" until Jimmy Carter became President. She told U.S. News and World Report, "Overnight, you're no longer Billy Carter, the peanut farmer, or Ruth Stapleton, a wife and a mother who has a message. All of a sudden, you're the President's brother and sister. But you can't go back. Even when Jimmy's out after six more years, there's no way to go back." [Chicago Tribune]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 906.44 (-1.30, -0.14%)
S&P Composite: 106.99 (+0.01, +0.01%)
Arms Index: 0.76

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	707	15.86
Declines	767	13.05
Unchanged	454	5.49
Total Volume		34.40

* 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
Date	DJIA	S&P	Volume*
September 11, 1978	907.74	106.98	39.66
September 8, 1978	907.74	106.79	42.07
September 7, 1978	893.71	105.42	40.30
September 6, 1978	895.79	105.38	42.61
September 5, 1978	886.61	104.49	32.18
September 1, 1978	879.33	103.68	35.07
August 31, 1978	876.82	103.29	33.85
August 30, 1978	880.72	103.50	37.76
August 29, 1978	880.20	103.39	33.78
August 28, 1978	884.88	103.96	31.76