News stories from Monday November 27, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Mayor George Moscone was slain in his office at San Francisco's City Hall, and several minutes later Supervisor Harvey Milk was also fatally shot in the office once occupied by a former Supervisor, Dan White, who was charged with both murders. Mr. White had resigned, but then sought to withdraw his resignation. The Mayor had been scheduled to announce his selection of a successor to Mr. White. [New York Times]
- Guyana has begun releasing some of about 80 cultists taken into custody in the investigation of the Jonestown murders and suicides, but United States authorities say they expect "a large number" to be further detained by the Georgetown government because of the extent of the inquiry.
Jonestown will forever evoke the dread of horror. The Guyanese village of the dead will remain a ghost of pain, of a people gone mad, of dreams gone wrong. The cultists murdered their babies, their leader called for the sacrifice of the people who worshiped him and death was seen as the answer to the problems of modern man.
An apparent suicide note by a woman follower of the Rev. Jim Jones was found on the cult leader's body. The F.B.I. released the contents, which said in part, "I am more than tired of this wretched, merciless planet & the hell it holds for so many masses of beautiful people -- thank you for the only life I've known."
Top aides of the Rev. Jim Jones conferred at least twice in Georgetown, Guyana, with a Soviet Embassy official who held out the promise of approval for the exodus of the entire Jonestown colony to the Soviet Union, according to a document.
[New York Times] - An inquiry into insurance fraud has concluded that elderly Americans are paying about $1 billion a year in premiums for health insurance policies they do not need. In many cases, according to a House committee, those among the 15 million people eligible for Medicare who also buy supplementary insurance are sold many extra policies that contain fine print denying payment from more than one. [New York Times]
- President Carter told mayors not to expect new federal initiatives to aid "our troubled cities," but he promised to preserve useful programs and not to make "wholesale, arbitrary spending cuts." Mr. Carter urged the nation's mayors to join him in the fight against inflation, not to buy from concerns that fail to comply "with our wage-price standards" and to abide by his wage guidelines in negotiating contracts with unions. [New York Times]
- Cheerful Republican governors and governors-elect held their annual meeting, heartened by Election Day gains. The gathering of the 16 delegates reflected increased self-confidence among the moderates and omitted the traditional argument about how conservative the group should be. Hard-line conservatives now have less power in the group, and some conservatives just stayed away. [New York Times]
- Atlantic City disclosed a master plan with choice space zoned for casinos and other sections zoned for housing for displaced residents, but no timetable for providing the housing. When the first draft was presented a year ago, minority groups complained they were being zoned out of their homes with no new housing offered. [New York Times]
- Japan has a new political leader. Masayoshi Ohira, a 68-year-old moderate conservative, will succeed Takeo Fukuda next month as prime minister after an unexpected victory in a primary election for the presidency of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party. Mr. Ohira took speedy steps to unify the party. [New York Times]
- Reports of a power struggle in China led Deputy Prime Minister Teng Hsiao-ping to seek to dampen the speculation. He said that he and Hua Kuo-feng, the Communist Party chairman, had "always been in complete agreement over everything" and that he had declined an offer to take over Mr. Hua's other post as Prime Minister. [New York Times]
- More Vietnamese would be admitted to the United States under new quotas the White House plans to seek. The Carter administration decided to ask the support of Congress to allow 15,000 additional "boat people" into this country by next April 30, doubling the quota previously set. [New York Times]
- China was accused by Amnesty International of continued political arrests and a range of other violations of human rights. The noted organization said it had submitted a 176-page report on the violations to Peking authorities last June for comment, but that no replies had been received. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 813.84 (+3.72, +0.46%)
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* |
| November 24, 1978 | 810.12 | 95.79 | 14.59 |
| November 22, 1978 | 807.00 | 95.48 | 20.01 |
| November 21, 1978 | 804.05 | 95.01 | 20.76 |
| November 20, 1978 | 805.61 | 95.25 | 24.44 |
| November 17, 1978 | 797.73 | 94.42 | 25.17 |
| November 16, 1978 | 794.18 | 93.71 | 21.34 |
| November 15, 1978 | 785.60 | 92.71 | 26.28 |
| November 14, 1978 | 785.26 | 92.49 | 30.62 |
| November 13, 1978 | 792.01 | 93.13 | 20.96 |
| November 10, 1978 | 807.09 | 94.77 | 16.75 |