News stories from Tuesday August 22, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Consumer confidence in the nation's economic outlook showed a "sharp erosion" in July from June, according to the Conference Board's monthly survey of 5,000 families across the country. It said consumers have cut back sharply on plans to buy such big-ticket items as cars, houses and appliances in the next six months. [Chicago Tribune]
- The National Letter Carriers Association, second largest of four major postal workers unions, has voted to reject a three-year contract proposal and to mandate a strike deadline next Tuesday if the government refuses to reopen negotiations, union officials said. Postmaster General William Bolger has said the government will not reopen negotiations if any of the postal unions reject the contract. [Chicago Tribune]
- Sen. S.I. Hayakawa [R., Cal.] said Tuesday he has asked President Carter to pardon Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress serving a seven-year prison term for bank robbery. "I believe such a pardon would be not only be just to her but also in keeping with the President's often-professed stand on human rights," Hayakawa said in a statement released by his office. [Chicago Tribune]
- State welfare auditors in Massachusetts concluded that Sen. Edward Brooke's late mother-in-law fraudulently received more than $72,000 in Medicaid payments, but they found no evidence that Brooke knew about it, the Boston Globe said. The auditor's report said most of the Medicaid forms were prepared by Brooke's former wife, Remigia, and one of his two daughters. [Chicago Tribune]
- President Carter and his family went rafting down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in the Idaho wilderness today, but ran into some foul weather. They got drenched and fled to a nearby lodge to dry out and warm up with some coffee. But the day was not lost because the first family did get in some good fishing. [Chicago Tribune]
- Gov. David Boren, who dismissed charges that he was a homosexual as "gutter politics," finished first in the race for the Democratic Senate nomination in Oklahoma, but may face a Sept. 19 runoff. Lt. Gov. George Nigh led the field of Democrats seeking to succeed Boren, and also faced the possibility of a runoff. [Chicago Tribune]
- Despite objections from consumer advocate Ralph Nader that it is not enough, Ford Motor Co. said it is proceeding with the recall of 1.5 million Pintos and Bobcats for a fuel tank modification that federal officials say should make the cars safer. A Ford spokesman said repair parts are being assembled that will make the fuel tanks on 1971-1976 Pinto and Bobcat models less susceptible to explosions and fires that have killed at least 59 persons since 1975. [Chicago Tribune]
- Obscenity charges against Hugh Hefner, Playboy magazine publisher, and Robert Guccione, publisher of Penthouse magazine, have been filed, in Georgia, it was revealed. Solicitor General Hinson McAuliffe of Fulton County [Atlanta], Ga., explained that the offense is a misdemeanor of a "high and aggravated nature," carrying a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a $5,000 fine. [Chicago Tribune]
- The Senate approved and sent to the state legislatures a constitutional amendment that would allow District of Columbia voters to elect Senators and Representatives to Congress. The vote, 67-32, was one more than the required two-thirds majority of the 99 Senators present. State legislatures have seven years to act on the proposed amendment, which would allow the district to elect two Senators and one or two members to the House of Representatives, depending on population trends. Three-fourths of the state legislatures must ratify the amendment for it to become part of the Constitution. [Chicago Tribune]
- Robert Vesco, fugitive America financier, lost his last chance Monday to escape extradition to the United States when Costa Rica's highest tribunal on such matters rejected his appeal for citizenship. He had already been turned down once on a lower level. Vesco, who was last reported to be in the Bahamas, is wanted in the U.S. on charges of embezzling $224 million from a mutual fund he controlled and of illegally contributing $200,000 to former President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. [Chicago Tribune]
- Three American balloonists, in an emotional journey to the field where they ended their historic trans-Atlantic crossing, sipped champagne and received a heroes' welcome from thousands of cheering Frenchmen. Accompanied by their wives, the three New Mexicans circled the field in a French air force helicopter, then landed at a nearby air base and drove to the five acre field. [Chicago Tribune]
- With Anatoly Karpov halfway to victory in the world chess championship, challenger Viktor Korchnoi exploded on Monday to protest the Soviet champ's squeaking chair and then curtly drew the 15th game of the match. The challenger erupted at the eighth move, when he rushed to the chief arbiter gesticulating and shouting. He charged that the noise being produced by the champion in his chair was .a move to disturb his concentration. Karpov agreed to minimize his movements. [Chicago Tribune]
- In the first successful demonstration of its kind, American military scientists have reportedly destroyed a high-speed missile in flight using a powerful prototype laser-beam weapon. The successful test was disclosed in an article by Philip J., Klass in Aviation Week & Space Technology. A laser weapon powerful, practical, and cheap enough to deploy against missiles could neutralize such primary attack and deterrent systems as submarine-launched ballistic missiles and land-based intercontinental missiles -- and all such systems could become obsolete overnight. [Chicago Tribune]
- Defense Secretary Harold Brown said that any new SALT agreement with Russia must permit the United States to deploy mobile, land-based missiles." Brown said the U.S. believes the wording of the proposed pact would allow such missiles, which could be easily moved, thus forcing the Soviets to guess where they are. Though his remarks were prepared for delivery to the American Legion in New Orleans, they were thought to he aimed also at Moscow's Kremlin. [Chicago Tribune]
- Leftist guerrillas stormed the National Palace with guns blazing and took most of Nicaragua's 67 Senators hostage after a one-hour battle with police, U.S. Embassy sources and witnesses said. Four persons, including two National Guard officers, were killed, and at least seven others were wounded in the gun battle that raged for one hour until a cease-fire was declared to allow the evacuation of wounded from the palace. [Chicago Tribune]
- President Jomo Kenyatta died in his sleep early today, the government announced. Kenyatta, who 10 years after his conviction as a Mau Mau terrorist led Kenya to independence in 1963, presided for 15 years over one of black Africa's most effective and stable governments. He was believed to have been in his 80's, though he said he did not know his age. He had suffered a series of heart attacks in recent years. [Chicago Tribune]
- Rep. Sonny Montgomery [D., Miss.], leader of a congressional delegation visiting Hanoi, said, "I think it is the general feeling of this group that there are no more Americans still alive in Southeast Asia." But not all of the eight congressmen agree. "I just have a gut feeling that one of these MIAs is going to show up someday," said Sam Hall [D. Tex.]. [Chicago Tribune]
- A major earthquake shook Costa Rica, sending thousands of residents of the Central American nation's capital into the streets in panic. There were no immediate casualty reports and the extent of damage could not be estimated. The United States Geological Survey estimated the strength of the earthquake at 7.0 on the open-ended Richter scale -- a magnitude reached only by temblors capable of causing widespread, heavy damage. [Chicago Tribune]
- Abadan, Iran, police said that five persons described as "Islamic Marxists" have confessed to setting off firebombs that destroyed the Cinema Rex Saturday night. Unofficial sources said the death toll rose to 422, although the official government count remained at 377. Abadan's police chief, Gen. Rezi Razmi, told the government radio the five who confessed were among 10 suspects arrested in the case. He said the fire in the crowded theater began when bombs were set off simultaneously at the corners of the building. Previous reports said arsonists poured gasoline around the outside of the building and then set it afire. [Chicago Tribune]
- Almost overlooked in the news of Louise Joy Brown's test-tube conception and birth was the fact that she was a normal, healthy baby. Though the scientific breakthrough heartened many infertile women, its real significance lies in the progress it promises in the elimination of birth defects, many experts believe. [Chicago Tribune]
- Communists in Iceland have agreed with two other parties to form a majority government in this strategic NATO country, political sources said today. [Chicago Tribune]
- First, there was a Reggie bar, named after baseball star Reggie Jackson. And now, the Muhammad Ali Crisp Crunch bar. The 2½-ounce bar, a peanut and crisped rice confection, will be available in major markets next month, will cost 59 cents, and will carry the former champ's signature. Meanwhile, Ali said that he plans to donate his wealth to charity and become a goodwill ambassador to the world when he retires from the ring. "The world is waiting for me. I always knew God had a purpose for me. I thought it was to be a boxer, but now I know it's more -- to be a world man." [Chicago Tribune]
- It's not difficult to draw 150 people to a discussion of water problems -- not if your name is Robert Redford. That's Robert Redford, the actor, who also is Robert Redford, sewer commissioner of Provo, Utah. The shaggy-haired heartthrob has been all over promoting environmental causes and recently he turned up at the annual Vail, Colo., symposium on national problems. The jean-clad Redford says there's nothing contradictory about a screen star taking an interest in the world -- that, "too often there is a stereotyped image about what an actor is, and too often it means giving up citizenship papers." [Chicago Tribune]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 892.41 (+3.46, +0.39%)
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 21, 1978 | 888.95 | 103.89 | 29.44 |
| August 18, 1978 | 896.83 | 104.73 | 34.66 |
| August 17, 1978 | 900.12 | 105.08 | 45.27 |
| August 16, 1978 | 894.58 | 104.65 | 36.13 |
| August 15, 1978 | 887.13 | 103.85 | 29.78 |
| August 14, 1978 | 888.17 | 103.97 | 32.32 |
| August 11, 1978 | 890.85 | 103.96 | 33.55 |
| August 10, 1978 | 885.48 | 103.66 | 39.75 |
| August 9, 1978 | 891.63 | 104.50 | 48.79 |
| August 8, 1978 | 889.21 | 104.01 | 34.30 |