News stories from Thursday December 7, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Cultists' deaths at Jonestown were preserved on a tape recording found among the ruins of the jungle commune, American government sources disclosed. A Guyanese government official said that $2.5 million in cash had also been found at the commune. The Americans said that shrieks of children pervaded the recording, gunshots could be clearly heard and the voice of the Rev. Jim Jones exhorted mothers to calm their children. [New York Times]
- A major air-pollution dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Valley Authority is approaching a settlement, T.V.A. officials announced. The proposed accord over emission standards would mark the largest pollution clean-up in American utility history. The cost, estimated at $950 million, would increase the electric bills of consumers for a decade. The six-year battle involved standards changed by the agency. [New York Times]
- Policies involving homosexuals began to be reviewed by the military services after a ruling by a federal appeals court that said homosexuals could not be summarily dismissed without "some reasoned explanation" or specific reasons. Pentagon legal officials said that the decision had "complicated" the issue considerably without overturning the law barring homosexuals from the military. [New York Times]
- Requests for improved radar in San Diego were rejected on the ground that the funds could be better spent elsewhere, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration testified at a House hearing. A collision of two planes over San Diego on Sept. 25 killed 144 persons in the worst air disaster in this country. Specialists believe the accident could have been averted if radar there had been more modern. [New York Times]
- Democrats compromised on most of their rules fights over the party's weekend midterm conference. The accord was reached after John White, the national chairman, pledged to give liberals a floor vote on their positions on inflation, national health insurance and energy monopolies. [New York Times]
- Dr. Mario Jascalevich was backed by the jurors who had found the New Jersey surgeon not guilty of murdering three patients. In a letter sent to the state medical authorities, the jurors said they were "outraged" that the doctor had been refused the right to resume his practice, and they demanded that his license be restored. [New York Times]
- A huge cache of marijuana was stolen from the federal government, according to officials. They said that thieves had seized about 1,300 pounds of Colombian marijuana being held in a Brooklyn warehouse as evidence for federal drug prosecutions. The street-sale value is $300,000 to $400,000. [New York Times]
- Israel and Egypt were warned by President Carter that if they failed to reach accord on the text of a peace treaty by Dec. 17, the date specified in the agreements at Camp David in September, it would create "a very serious matter" with far-reaching and adverse consequences. Mr. Carter told reporters that such a failure would " cast doubt on whether the Egyptians and Israelis would carry out the difficult terms" of a pact. Washington also reproached U.N. members, saying they seemed bent on undermining the peace talks between Egypt and Israel. [New York Times]
- A Western summit meeting will be held, the French government announced. It said President Carter would meet with the leaders of France, Britain and West Germany on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Jan. 5 and 6 for informal talks on a wide range of issues. [New York Times]
- A new policy on American dependents in Iran was announced by the Pentagon. It said that families of American military and civilian personnel may leave that country at United States government expense during the political turmoil there. [New York Times]
- Japan has a new Prime Minister. Masayoshi Ohira was confirmed by Parliament after a bitter dispute within the governing Liberal-Democratic Party. Mr. Ohira persuaded other party leaders to accept his decision to appoint a member of his faction to the influential post of the party's secretary general. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 816.09 (-5.81, -0.71%)
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* |
| December 6, 1978 | 821.90 | 97.49 | 29.68 |
| December 5, 1978 | 820.51 | 97.44 | 25.66 |
| December 4, 1978 | 806.83 | 96.15 | 22.02 |
| December 1, 1978 | 811.50 | 96.28 | 26.83 |
| November 30, 1978 | 799.03 | 94.70 | 19.90 |
| November 29, 1978 | 790.11 | 93.75 | 21.16 |
| November 28, 1978 | 804.14 | 95.15 | 22.74 |
| November 27, 1978 | 813.84 | 95.99 | 19.79 |
| November 24, 1978 | 810.12 | 95.79 | 14.59 |
| November 22, 1978 | 807.00 | 95.48 | 20.01 |