News stories from Sunday October 15, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church failed after four ballots to elect a successor to the late Pope John Paul I in their first day of voting. But the Vatican managed to confuse the world again, if only temporarily, with its failure to get its smoke signals straight. A puff of white smoke amid the black belching from a chimney made many in the crowd of 100,000 waiting in St. Peter's Square think for a moment that a new Pope had been elected. [Chicago Tribune]
- Congress passed an $18.7 billion tax cut, but the gains fail to offset next year's Social Security tax increases for many families. The wealthy, however, are assured of tax cuts. For the nation's middle classes, with incomes from $15,000 to $30,000, the cuts will range from $103 to $300 for a family of four, about the increase they will be paying in Social Security taxes. [Chicago Tribune]
- The energy legislation that President Carter had tried to get through Congress since last year finally broke through a Senate filibuster and then cleared the House this morning. The legislation contains measures regulating natural gas pricing, utility rates, coal conservation, and energy taxes and credits. [Chicago Tribune]
- Congress passed the Humphrey-Hawkins "full employment" bill, with some calling it mere "symbolism" and others a far-reaching economic charter. The bill raced through the House in 15 minutes and was approved by a Senate vote of 56-14, sending it to President Carter for his signature. Carter strongly endorsed the bill, which will for the first time set in law a specific goal to reduce unemployment -- from the current 6 percent to 4 percent by 1983. [Chicago Tribune]
- Patty Hearst will reportedly marry one of her former bodyguards in jail if she does not receive a pardon by Valentine's Day. The New York Post said that Miss Hearst, 24, plans to marry Bernard Shaw on Feb. 14, a year after she became engaged to the 30-year-old San Francisco policeman. She is serving a seven-year sentence for a bank robbery conviction. Shaw was one of 20 bodyguards who escorted her while she was out on bail pending an appeal. [Chicago Tribune]
- House Press Secretary Jody Powell says there's another story behind the tale of White House aide Hamilton Jordan's "Pyramids of Egypt" wisecrack, which he allegedly made while peering down on the bodice of an ambassador's wife's dress. In a Playgirl magazine interview, Powell says Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn wrote about the "incident" after a running feud in which Powell says he already was angry enough with her to "punch her right in the mouth." At issue, Powell says, is his refusal to call her boss and boyfriend Ben Bradlee, "Ben." Powell says he told Quinn that he'd been "brought up to refer to people that much older as 'Mister'," Powell said. "It was after that foolishness that Quinn wrote the pyramid story. Since I can't punch Sally Quinn, maybe I could punch Ben Bradlee and see if she cared." [Chicago Tribune]
- In Atlanta, a man and a woman trapped by fire in a ninth-floor apartment jumped screaming to their deaths, authorities said. A blind neighbor died of smoke inhalation, and 24 other persons were treated for injuries from the smoke, which spread through the 22-story building. Spokesmen said that two of the 24 still were hospitalized. [Chicago Tribune]
- Secretary of State Cyrus Vance huddled with four other top Western diplomats to map strategy for talks this week with the new South African government on the future of South-West Africa, Foreign Ministers David Owen of Britain, Hans-Dietrich Genscher of West Germany, and Donald Jamieson of Canada and France's Deputy Foreign Minister Olivier Stirn are seeking with Vance to persuade the Pretoria government to abandon its plan for managing elections in South-West Africa, which the West hopes to see become the free nation of Namibia. [Chicago Tribune]
- Because of the guerrilla war in Rhodesia, New Zealand is preparing to provide new homes for thousands of whites expected to flee the African nation in the coming months. Already, 1,000 whites are leaving Rhodesia each month, and some are heading for New Zealand for a new start. [Chicago Tribune]
- North Yemen's armed forces have crushed "in its infancy" an uprising against the moderate government of the strategic Red Sea state, the official state radio said. The radio, quoted by Arab news agencies monitored in Beirut, said that what it termed "a desperate attempt by hireling and infiltrating elements" had been quickly crushed and that all the conspirators were arrested. [Chicago Tribune]
- Brazil's electoral college elected Gen. Joao Baptista Figueiredo as the nation's fifth military president in 14 years of armed forces rule. Figueiredo won the six-year term beginning March 15 by a 355-226 margin over opposition candidate Gen. Euler Bentes Monteiro. Figueiredo campaigned for gradual democratic changes, perhaps culminating in free democratic elections, perhaps not, while Monteiro wanted faster and more sweeping reforms. [Chicago Tribune]