News stories from Saturday March 7, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Conservatives claim major gains for their activists in the Reagan administration in the last three weeks. Long-time Reagan loyalists had been complaining that they had been overlooked in early high-level appointments by the administration. Attention apparently was paid. Conservatives now say that more than 150 of 450 Reagan supporters on their list of prospective appointees have been called for interviews in the last week. [New York Times]
- Air-pollution laws will be relaxed for industry by the Environmental Protection Agency, Vice President Bush announced. This major change in policy will affect industry nationwide and could have significant impact in California by permitting more refining of domestic oil and the retooling of two General Motors plants for the production of small cars. [New York Times]
- A major change in Medicaid is sought by Massachusetts. The state is asking the government to let it establish a fixed budget for its Medicaid program and then farm it out to private physicians. The Massachusetts plan would enroll the poor in prepaid medical groups and would help the state to control the costs of the program, which has been impossible because the law requires states to reimburse doctors and hospitals for all Medicaid services no matter where given and with no overall limit. [New York Times]
- Emergency housing must be provided for the homeless people on the streets of New York City, a study by the Community Service Society of New York has concluded, saying that the problem has reached "extradordinary proportions." The study estimates that 36,000 men and women are without homes, and says that only 3,200 beds are available in public shelters. [New York Times]
- An American missionary was killed by Colombian guerrillas. Chester Bitterman, 28 years old and a native of Lancaster, Pa., had been held hostage since he was kidnapped in Bogota on Jan. 19. He was on the staff of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, which translates the Bible into Indian dialects. The condition for his release was the institute's removal from Colombia, but the institute refused to leave. The guerrillas charged that Mr. Bitterman worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. [New York Times]
- Harassment of Polish union members by secret security policemen and other unidentified assailants was charged by the Warsaw branch of the independent union Solidarity. The Lodz chapter of the union called a one-hour warning strike for Tuesday and a sit-in Thursday that would expand to a general strike in the Lodz region by the following Monday. The action is aimed at reinstating five union members dismissed from a hospital and protesting "local repression." [New York Times]
- West Germany plans to cancel or delay several military programs because the financing is not available, Defense Minister Hans Apel announced. "There are enormous difficulties facing us," he said at a news conference after a three-day meeting in Bonn between West German generals and other experts on military development programs. He said the Defense Ministry's nominal share of the national budget would decline from 18 to 16 percent by 1984. [New York Times]
- More military aid for the Middle East, including Persian Gulf, is planned by the administration to build up security in those areas. Officials said a formal announcement as expected to be made this week. [New York Times]