News stories from Saturday March 31, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The plant was slowly cooling down, federal nuclear safety experts at the Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania said, but they warned there was still a "crisis." It will be two or three more days, they said, before the nuclear system is cool enough to end the danger of a pressure explosion, not to be confused with a nuclear explosion, or the danger of large amounts of radiation escaping into the Susquehanna River Valley south of Harrisburg.
Leading Congressmen demanded new laws and tighter federal control over the operation of nuclear reactors and more emphasis on coal as an energy source. The chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Nuclear Regulation, Gary Hart, said that he would introduce legislation requiring the government to maintain continuous monitoring of reactors and to assume full control immediately in a crisis, such as the one in Pennsylvania.
A reactor on Columbia University's Manhattan campus is now opposed by Columbia's president, William McGill, because of the "anguish" and "apprehension" of students. He said that he would ask the engineering faculty not to proceed with their plans for a nuclear reactor, and that he expected them to agree, though he believed it would be "completely safe."
[New York Times] - A "selective strike" was called by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters against an unspecified number of trucking companies after contract talks broke down. Bernard Henderson, press secretary for the union, said that the names and number of the companies that are being struck would not be disclosed immediately. [New York Times]
- A generation gap dividing Congress has important implications for the future of the direction of public policy. The split between the younger and older members of Congress has its roots in different backgrounds, experiences and constituencies. [New York Times]
- A bitter dispute over welfare reform between Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and the Carter administration could seriously weaken prospects for Congress' approval of any revisions in the welfare laws this year or next. Senator Moynihan says that President Carter's $5.5 billion package of welfare changes is "derisory" toward New York interests. [New York Times]
- All relations with Egypt will be severed by 18 Arab nations in retaliation for the signing of the peace treaty with Israel. Foreign ministers of the Arab countries and representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization declared a total economic boycott of Egypt, including an end to economic aid, trade and oil supplies, and they will shun any Egyptian concern that deals with Israel. The Arab nations also announced the immediate withdrawal of their ambassadors from Cairo. [New York Times]
- Iranians are overwhelmingly in favor of an Islamic republic, according to incomplete returns from a referendum on the issue. It was reported that 99.7 percent of the voters in 11 small provincial towns voted in favor of the republic, and several districts in Teheran approved the proposal by a margin of 99 to 1. [New York Times]
- Tanzanians and Uganda exiles fighting in Uganda have been pushed beyond artillery range of Kampala by Libyan troops fighting for President Idi Amin, diplomatic sources reported. Radio Uganda declared that the "enemy is in retreat." [New York Times]