News stories from Tuesday May 20, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Quebec voters rejected strongly a proposal by their separatist provincial government to put the predominantly French-speaking province on a path apart from the Canadian federation. An overwhelming majority were opposing the plan for a mandate to negotiate Quebec's sovereignty and a special relationship with the rest of Canada. [New York Times]
- George Bush delayed Ronald Reagan in the former California Governor's march to a delegate majority, defeating him in the Republican presidential primary in Michigan. Earlier, Mr. Reagan's field director, who has the most experience of any aide in recent campaigns, resigned with no explanation, but campaign sources said he was unhappy over the dominance of persons he considered inexperienced. [New York Times]
- A flash flood threatens 50,000 people in Washington cities along the lower Columbia River as a result of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, according to officials. Discussing the threat created when the outlet of Spirit Lake on the mountain's shattered north flank was clogged, a federal geological survey scientist said, "I think an overflow is imminent."
A huge cloud of gas and tiny particles of volcanic debris that burst from Mount St. Helens was dispersing in irregular patterns over most of North America. But experts predicted that the eruption would have relatively little effect on the earth's climate or weather patterns.
[New York Times] - A tentative budget accord collapsed when five liberal House Democrats balked at accepting $154 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year. In efforts to break an impasse in a guns-versus-butter dispute, House members of the House-Senate budget conference were said to have accepted and then refused to increase military spending by $6.1 billion from the $147.9 billion adopted by the House. [New York Times]
- Alleged civil rights abuses in Miami attributed to local law-enforcement officers will be investigated by a team of 25 to 35 federal prosecutors and agents, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti announced. He said that the inquiry would consider several alleged instances of police abuse in addition to the case that touched off a weekend of rioting that took at least 15 lives and resulted in major damage. [New York Times]
- More Cubans may stay in this country than might otherwise be possible, according to a White House aide. He said that the new arrivals in Florida would be treated as applicants for asylum, not as refugees, thus giving the President greater discretionary authority over how many may become permanent residents. [New York Times]
- An accord to evacuate 710 families remaining in the chemically polluted Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was said to have been reached by state and federal officials. But the negotiators were reported to be snagged on whether the relocation should be permanent or temporary, and agreement had not been reached on which level of government would assume the cost. [New York Times]
- Awards in a sex bias case were granted by a federal judge. He awarded about $6 million in back pay and $10 million in increased future earnings to 324 women bindery workers in the Government Printing Office seven months after he found the agency guilty of sex discrimination. [New York Times]
- The U.S. suffered another allied rebuff as the Italian Olympic Committee voted overwhelmingly to let Italian athletes compete in the Moscow Games. The decision left West Germany alone among the major West European countries to support the American-led boycott. [New York Times]
- The United States rebuked France for failing to consult Washington in advance of the French-Soviet summit meeting Monday in Warsaw and criticized Britain for reversing a commitment to block exports to Iran contracted for since the Nov. 4 takeover of the American Embassy. [New York Times]
- The turmoil in South Korea deepened as rioting continued in the provincial city of Kwangju and the cabinet resigned. Reports from Kwangju said that some of the 30,000 demonstrators there were clashing with army units. The chief of the national intelligence apparatus appeared to be in virtual control of the country. [New York Times]
- The Security Council censured Israel for refusing to readmit three Arab leaders deported from the occupied West Bank. It was the fourth time in less than three months that the United Nations body rebuked Israel and the United States abstained again on the ground that the resolution was not balanced. The vote was 14 to 0. [New York Times]
- At least 157 Jamaicans were killed and 14 others were missing as a fire swept through a home for poor and elderly women in Kingston. The government said that arsonists could have started the blaze, but the capital's fire chief suggested that an electrical short could have been the cause. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 832.51 (+1.62, +0.19%)
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* |
| May 19, 1980 | 830.89 | 107.67 | 30.97 |
| May 16, 1980 | 826.88 | 107.35 | 31.71 |
| May 15, 1980 | 822.53 | 106.99 | 40.91 |
| May 14, 1980 | 819.62 | 106.85 | 40.84 |
| May 13, 1980 | 816.89 | 106.30 | 35.45 |
| May 12, 1980 | 805.20 | 104.78 | 28.21 |
| May 9, 1980 | 805.80 | 104.72 | 30.28 |
| May 8, 1980 | 815.19 | 106.13 | 39.29 |
| May 7, 1980 | 821.25 | 107.18 | 42.59 |
| May 6, 1980 | 816.04 | 106.25 | 40.16 |