News stories from Sunday February 13, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- John O'Leary, the Federal Energy Administrator, said the Carter administration would call for higher fuel prices as well as less comfort at home and "some way to take some of the fat out of the driving habits in this country." He left open the possibility of an increase the federal gasoline tax. [New York Times]
- A major political test awaits reform legislation that could fundamentally change public education in California. Forced by the state Supreme Court to reduce disparities between rich and poor school districts, state officials hope to use the spirit of reform to relinquish control over the schools to parents and teachers on a scale unprecedented in the state and perhaps the nation. [New York Times]
- Budgets are being carefully studied in an increasing number of states across the country, and in some, steps are being taken to control budgetary practices of their municipalities in an attempt to avoid the credit problems that have plagued New York City, "The situation in New York has generally strengthened the hands of fiscal conservatives," a federal official in Washington said. [New York Times]
- Expanded use has put the microprocessor -- a microscopic computer about the size of a fingernail -- on the threshold of mass markets and is expected to make it a billion-dollar industry in a few years. The so-called computer on a chip has been declining in price since its invention in 1971. It has been used in pocket calculators, video games and microwave ovens and "smart" cash registers, among other things. It is expected to have further uses in automobiles, telephones and utility meters. [New York Times]
- Dividends have been increased by hundreds of corporations in recent weeks and many more bigger dividends are coming, Wall Street experts say. More companies increased their dividends last month, according to Standard & Poor's, than in any January since the mid-1950's, when S&P began keeping count. Dividend increases so far this year for representative companies have ranged from 60 percent at Levi Strauss, to 22 percent at Bristol-Myers, to 5 percent at Nabisco. [New York Times]
- Spring apparel is now on full display everywhere, even though stores -- especially in the Northeast -- are still stuck with large inventories of winter wear, which sizable markdowns have failed to reduce. Spring is the second-best season, next to fall, and is the link to hot-weather business. "Spring is the key that opens the door to almost a half-year's volume," a merchant said. But retailers have not forgotten that for two springs they had much more inventory than they could sell. [New York Times]
- The seven white missionaries slain last week in Rhodesia were only a few of the civilians who died during the week's fighting. The official toll is 59 civilians, most of them black, and 30 of them killed by government guns. The picture that emerges from official communiques offers support for the argument made by many of the government's critics that neither side in the war is blameless when it comes to the killing of civilians. But the government does not acknowledge the charge made by the British Foreign Office that both sides "have been responsible for atrocities." [New York Times]
- Czechoslovak policemen ordered a correspondent for the New York Times, Paul Hofmann, off the Prague-Vienna express Saturday night, held him incommunicado and confiscated his notebook and other papers. The State Department said a strong protest would be made to the Czechoslovak government over Mr. Hofmann's detention. [New York Times]