News stories from Sunday April 6, 1980

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

Iran's Revolutionary Council decided after a long meeting that Ayatollah Khomeini should settle the dispute over whether the American hostages should be taken from their militant captors and placed in government custody. President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr is scheduled to discuss the issue with the Ayatollah tomorrow and then, Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh said, "the final view on the hostages" will be announced. [New York Times] Thousands more Cubans seeking to leave their country jammed into the grounds of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, joining others who had started gathering there Friday morning. Diplomatic sources estimated that 10,000 people, including many children and infants, were in the crowd. Many more people entered the grounds apparently when they heard reports that the Cuban government would allow them to leave the country if they could get visas from other countries. [New York Times] Primary victories in Louisiana were won by President Carter and Ronald Reagan. Mr. Carter was ahead of Senator Edward Kennedy by a margin of more than 2 to 1, reinforcing the view that the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 could be a make-or-break contest for Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Reagan defeated George Bush by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 in the Republican primary. [New York Times] A heavy migration of blacks from Washington, D.C., to the Virginia and Maryland suburbs, which were once almost entirely white, is indicated in an analysis of census figures by the Greater Washington Research Center. It finds that in 1977 only 57 percent of the 811,400 blacks in the Washington metropolitan region lived in the District of Columbia as against 76 percent in 1970. The black population in the suburbs doubled between 1970 and 1977, to 347,000, as incomes rose. [New York Times] The biblical theory of creation is being advocated in a sophisticated nationwide campaign. Public schools in virtually every state are being asked to revise biology curriculums so the theory can be included as an explanation for the origin of life. The advocates of the creation concept have developed what they say is a science of their own, "scientific creationism," that they say is no less valid than the evolutionary biology Darwin outlined. [New York Times] The curbs on investigative reporting that were expected to follow recent court decisions restricting the press appear to have taken effect in various ways. A reporters committee said that no newsroom has been searched since the Supreme Court ruled in May 1978 that police seeking a reporter's confidential information could obtain search warrants even if no one at the newspaper had been suspected of a crime. But a Court ruling in July 1979 that court proceedings may be closed to the press and the public has been more susccessful. Since then, there have been 239 such motions. Meanwhile, libel suits are proliferating under recent decisions that have narrowed the definition of a public figure. [New York Times] Nuclear arms technology is spreading, American officials say, and the number of nations that could acquire the ability to build atomic weapons in the coming decade is steadily growing despite the administration's efforts to control the spread of the technology. In the next five years, the officials said, Taiwan, South Korea, Pakistan, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina could build nuclear arms, and before 1990 Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Libya could acquire the means to make them. [New York Times] The heaviest traffic jams since the transit strike started last Tuesday are expected in New York City on Monday. The M.T.A. and the union representatives of 33,000 transit workers prepared for a major bargaining effort this week. "Givebacks" -- the non-wage productivity concessions demanded of the union -- are a major issue. Easter services were crowded despite the transit strike, and the traditional Easter Parade overflowed Fifth Avenue as the strike continued to be taken in stride. Cyclists and roller skaters filled streets and parks, but automobile traffic was light. [New York Times]