News stories from Saturday May 5, 1979

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

The administration may abandon a new intercontinental missile, the MX, and replace it with a more deadly submarine-launched missile, according to White House and Defense Department officials. The dropping of the mobile missile was one of five options for American strategic forces discussed at a White House meeting. [New York Times] Loosening of radio regulations will be acted on this week by the Federal Communications Commission. An experiment in program deregulation proposed last year by the F.C.C.'s chairman, Charles Ferris, would lift the traditional F.C.C. rules requiring radio stations to offer a certain amount of news and information programming, to limit commercial advertising carried each day, and coverage of important issues in their communities. [New York Times] A consumer hotline to Washington is getting 500 calls a day from people complaining about high gasoline prices. The toll-free line was set up by the Energy Department to monitor possible price gouging at service stations. After starting slowly in the winter, the calls have steadily increased through the spring. A deluge is expected this summer. [New York Times] The efficacy of pesticide controls is doubted in some major agricultural states, a study has found. The federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act of 1972 was widely assumed to have established comprehensive federal jurisdiction over the use of pesticides. The law set "tolerance" levels but left supervision of pesticides largely to the states, which differ widely in controls on their use. [New York Times] The alleged leaders of a narcotics ring in Florida have been indicted with 12 others on 40 counts of narcotics-related charges. The reputed leaders of the "Black Tuna" gang, Robert Meinster and Robert Platshorn, and their associates, are accused of 408 allegedly overt criminal acts in a 105-page indictment that provides a rare picture of the rise and apparent fall of what the indictment describes as a large "criminal enterprise." [New York Times] Robert Byrd denied linking his support for a new strategic arms limitation treaty to a relaxation of pollution controls for coal-fired industrial plants in talks with the Environmental Protection Agency. The Senate majority leader is from West Virginia, a major coal state, and will have a key role in the Senate's consideration of the proposed arms treaty. His denial at a news conference was backed by a top E.P.A. official. [New York Times] The Coast Guard was ordered to help New York City haul garbage aboard sanitation barges immobilized by the 35-day-old tugboat strike. Transportation Secretary Brock Adams responded to appeals by Mayor Koch and the Sanitation Commissioner. [New York Times] Britain's new cabinet was announced by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who sought a balance between right wingers and moderates. There was no job among the 22 posts for former Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had campaigned unusually hard for the Tories and had hoped to be included. Mr. Heath was an obvious candidate for Foreign Secretary, but that job was given to Lord Carrington, considered one his party's ablest administrators. [New York Times] Further talks with Turkish officials will be held this week in Ankara by Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, whose second visit to Ankara in four months reflects the administration's growing concern about Turkey's economic difficulty and political unrest. [New York Times]