News stories from Wednesday August 25, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A major retrenchment for Exxon calls for the closing of 850 service stations in the Northeast and Middle West and a sharp cut in production capacity at the corporation's major New Jersey refinery. This year Exxon, the world's largest industrial concern, has suffered sharp earnings declines and has cut back capital spending and exploration programs. [New York Times]
- A $4 billion oil industry merger is planned. After two weeks of negotiating over price, the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and the Cities Service Company announced they had agreed to merge in a cash and securities arrangement. The venture, if consummated, would create the nation's eighth-largest oil company. [New York Times]
- Regional differences are increasing in many key social and economic areas, according to accumulating evidence. For example, the data show that the West has gained key advantages over other regions of the country in level of education, in proportion of young people, in affluence and in natural resources. The Reagan administration has contended that regional differences are fading. [New York Times]
- A long-term civil rights position of the Reagan administration was firmly opposed by an attorney appointed by the Supreme Court. In a court brief, the attorney, William Coleman, argued that granting tax exemptions to private schools that discriminate by race would violate the tax laws and the Constitution. [New York Times]
- A national identity plan designed to detect illegal aliens is strongly opposed by the Reagan administration. The issue involves a provision of a Senate-approved immigration bill that would require the administration to devise a system for verifying the identity of all job applicants, including United States citizens. [New York Times]
- Four police officers pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of a man who was reportedly beaten when policemen from two Boston suburbs raided a motel party. Witnesses have said that the brawl was touched off by a barroom fight involving one of the officers from Everett, Mass. They said he left the motel and returned with 12 other officers. [New York Times]
- A study on alcoholism was repudiated by a researcher who organized it. Dr. Halmuth Schaefer said a new inquiry by other researchers had left "no question" that the widely quoted 1970-71 experiment had concluded wrongly that alcoholics could be taught to drink in moderation. [New York Times]
- Frederick Richmond resigned as the Representative from Brooklyn's 14th Congressional District and pleaded guilty to three federal charges. In an unusual plea bargain that followed an eight-month Justice Department investigation, Mr. Richmond acknowledged he had evaded federal income taxes, possessed marijuana cigarettes and made an illegal payment to a Navy employee to help obtain contracts at the former Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Mr. Richmond is a rich businessman who gained wide attention for civic activities. In Brooklyn, politicians said he had been an effective Representative for his district, but in Washington, congressional staff members said his effectiveness had waned since his 1978 admission that he had solicited a young man for sex acts.
[New York Times] - A ruling in construction job bias was handed down by a federal judge. He found a sheet-metal union local and an industry management group of 121 companies in contempt for "willful disobedience" of a 1977 order to increase the number of non-white workers to 29 percent and he fined the defendants a total of $150,000. [New York Times]
- A brilliant fireball seen Tuesday evening from Massachusetts to Maryland was probably an asteroid that began disintegrating after it plunged into the earth's atmosphere, according to astronomers. [New York Times]
- Israel has begun to release "sizable" numbers of the 7,000 Palestinian and other detainees held in southern Lebanon since the Israeli invasion began June 6, according to officials in Jerusalem. The development was one of several that suggested that Israel was now reducing the scope of its operation in Lebanon. [New York Times]
- American Marines entered Lebanon for the second time in 24 years. The first group of a contingent of 800 Marines joined French troops as part of the multinational force that is monitoring the withdrawal of Palestinian guerrillas from west Beirut. [New York Times]
- About 600 Palestinian guerrillas left Beirut for Syria aboard a Greek Cypriot ship as the evacuation of the trapped P.L.O. members continued peacefully. [New York Times]
- Firm opposition to a Siberian pipeline to supply Western Europe with natural gas was again expressed by the Reagan administration. It said that penalties would definitely be imposed if a French subsidiary of Dresser Industries proceeded with a shipment of compressors for the Soviet project, and the Commerce Department put the penalty process in motion. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 884.89 (+9.99, +1.14%)
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* |
| August 24, 1982 | 874.90 | 115.34 | 121.65 |
| August 23, 1982 | 891.17 | 116.11 | 110.30 |
| August 20, 1982 | 869.29 | 113.02 | 95.88 |
| August 19, 1982 | 838.57 | 109.16 | 78.26 |
| August 18, 1982 | 829.43 | 108.53 | 132.68 |
| August 17, 1982 | 831.24 | 109.04 | 92.86 |
| August 16, 1982 | 792.43 | 104.09 | 55.42 |
| August 13, 1982 | 788.05 | 103.85 | 44.72 |
| August 12, 1982 | 776.92 | 102.42 | 50.04 |
| August 11, 1982 | 777.21 | 102.60 | 49.04 |