News stories from Wednesday September 13, 1978

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

President Carter won a major victory when the House overwhelmingly approved his civil service reform proposals after four days of debate, The measure now goes to a House-Senate conference committee where differences between the House bill and a Senate bill, passed Aug. 24, will be reconciled. [Chicago Tribune] The Ford Motor Co. was indicted on charges of reckless homicide and criminal recklessness by an Elkhart (Ind.) county grand jury considering the deaths of three young women in a fiery Pinto automobile crash on Aug. 10. The 1973 Pinto in which the victims died was one of 1.5 million Pintos and Mercury Bobcats made between 1971 and 1976 that Ford recalled in June because of government complaints about their fuel tanks. It was struck in the rear by a van and burst into flames. [Chicago Tribune] Floodwaters fed by heavy thunderstorms raged through Arkansas and southern Texas, killing at least five persons, closing roads, washing houses from their foundations, and stranding hundreds. All roads into Little Rock were closed, a 30-square-block area was evacuated, and National Guard troops rescued persons stranded in autos and on rooftops. More than 5 inches of rain flooded northern parts of San Antonio, blocking freeways and stranding dozens of rush hour motorists. [Chicago Tribune] Four convicts blasted their way out of a bowling alley outing at Dickson, Tenn., with shotguns planted in a restroom. They hijacked a small airplane to Arkansas and after eluding pursuing planes, apparently forced the pilot to fly until he ran out of fuel near Marianna. The convicts flagged down a pickup truck, took the driver hostage, and disappeared. [Chicago Tribune] Peter Moltke, one of the officials of the General Services Administration whose "net worth" is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, said he can account "for every penny" of his income. Denying he was worth $1 million, he did say: "I have a substantial net worth. But I earned it by a lifetime of hard work, fixing up houses and selling them and buying others." [Chicago Tribune] The House Armed Services Committee, smarting over President Carter's rejection of a $2 billion nuclear aircraft carrier, virtually shredded his shopping list for scores of alternate military projects. The committee sent Defense Secretary Harold Brown back to the Pentagon without an extra penny after one member said angrily that some of the proposed substitutes for the carrier money "are just plain turkeys." [Chicago Tribune] Marina Oswald Porter, Lee Harvey Oswald's widow, told the House Assassinations Committee that she is "not qualified" to say whether her husband murdered President John F. Kennedy. She testified that Oswald avoided any mention of the assassination and talked instead about their two children. Mrs. Porter also said her husband once threatened to shoot Richard Nixon. She said she coped with that by locking Oswald in the bathroom. [Chicago Tribune] Rep. Edward Roybal [D., Cal.] admitted under oath that he received $1,000 in cash from former South Korean rice dealer Tongsun Park in 1974 and that he did not report the campaign contribution as required by law. He said he did not know whether he kept the money or turned it over to his campaign committee, but insisted his previous, conflicting statements were not attempts to hide the donation but were signs of his lack of knowledge about the man who gave him the money. [Chicago Tribune] Stocks reversed course and turned lower in late trading as the dollar dropped sharply. However, gambling-related issues continued to gain. Declining stocks held a moderate lead over gaining stocks and the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 6.84 to close at 899.60.The dollar plunged in foreign exchange markets late in the day when a Saudi Arabian official warned that Arab and western nations would have to look at other options if the Camp David peace talks fail. While he ruled out an oil boycott, his comment still unnerved traders. There also were unconfirmed reports that the Soviet Union was selling dollars to buy French francs. Consumer confidence in both current and future business conditions rose in August, according to the latest monthly survey released by the Conference Board, and buying plans for autos, homes, and major appliances also increased. Chevrolet and Pontiac announced price reductions on subcompact models for 1979 by making some optional equipment standard and raising the sticker prices less than the value of the equipment. The move is aimed at attracting buyers away from imported cars. [Chicago Tribune] Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza declared martial law throughout his embattled nation tonight as his troops clashed with guerrilla-led rebels trying to overthrow him. The decree, which Somoza said will last 30 days, came as battle-weary troops headed for northwestern Nicaragua to dislodge rebels dug in at three cities.The Sandinista rebels still ruled the barrios of Leon, as air power was sent in by the government to back up the National Guard. The converted C-47 cargo plane was "firing on anything that moves in the city," said a Red Cross worker. After several hours on the attack, the plane's guns jammed, and it went back to Managua. [Chicago Tribune] Corrado Alunni, wanted in the kidnap-murder of former Premier Aldo Moro and reputed to be the new leader of the Red Brigades terrorist gang, was, arrested this evening just outside Milan, police said. Alunni, 30, was caught by surprise in a terrorist hideout in a suburban residential district when four police officers rang the door bell. Officers pointed pistols at Alunni as he opened the door, Police said they found "large amounts of firearms, ammunition, and important documents" in the apartment. [Chicago Tribune] A South African white man who killed a black man because the black brought him the wrong brand of cigarettes was sentenced to pay a fine of $115 or serve 50 days in jail. Hermans Louw, 27, was convicted on a charge of assault. [Chicago Tribune] Viktor Korchnoi, ending a long victory drought, routed champion Anatoly Karpov in the 21st game of their world chess title match, reviving the challenger's hopes for a come-from-behind triumph. Korchnoi now has two victories to Karpov's four. Their 15 other games ended in draws. The first to win six games gets the title and $350,000. The loser receives $200,000. [Chicago Tribune] London police said they have found witnesses who may be able to corroborate the deathbed statement of Bulgarian defector Georgi Marcov, who claimed he was stabbed spy-style with a poison-tipped umbrella. Marcov, 49, a writer and employee of the British Broadcasting Corp., died of blood poisoning Monday. Before he died he said he was stabbed in the right leg last Thursday by a man with an umbrella while he stood in a bus waiting line. [Chicago Tribune] Croatian emigre leader Stefan Bilandzic will not be extradited to Yugoslavia, the Bonn government announced today. Yugoslavia has been demanding eight Croatian emigrants living in West Germany in exchange for four German terrorists held in Yugoslavia. In Chicago, two gunmen seized the West German consulate general on Aug. 17 and held six hostages 10 hours in an attempt to force Bilandzic's release from extradition custody in Germany. [Chicago Tribune] His audiences may be made up of some of the most unliberated women in the world; nonetheless, singer Torn Jones sang at a fundraiser for the Equal Rights Amendment the other night in Washington. Before he went on, Jones, to whom women in his audiences toss roses and room keys, was asked what he might expect to fly in his direction that night. "Pies," replied the man who is still trying to live down a remark made about career women a few years ago. "I never said that all women belong in the home," he said. "I just said I would not want to be married to a career woman because that would take up too much of her time away from me." Jones was persuaded to perform by Midge Costanza. former presidential assistant for women's affairs. [Chicago Tribune]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 899.60 (-6.84, -0.75%)
S&P Composite: 106.34 (-0.65, -0.61%)
Arms Index: 0.90

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	712	18.03
Declines	867	19.78
Unchanged	373	5.53
Total Volume		43.34

* 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 12, 1978	906.44	106.99	34.41
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