News stories from Friday March 20, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Reagan "kitchen cabinet" was removed from the space it occupied in the Executive Office Building near the White House on the order of Edwin Meese, the President's counselor, who said that the private, informal group of presidential advisers could not legally occupy government property. The removal was seen as another move by the President's aides to lessen the influence of his wealthy California friends on the administration's appointments and policies. [New York Times]
- Exxon abandoned an electronic control it had developed for electric motors and had introduced two years ago as an energy saver, and had invoked as justification for its controversial $1.2 billion acquistion of the Reliance Electric Company. Exxon said that it would be too costly to apply the energy saver to industry and that an alternative was being developed. [New York Times]
- North Carolina politicians have rallied to protect the state's tobacco growers from possible administration budget cuts. Foremost among them is Senator Jesse Helms who repeatedly stressed in a speech at the annual meeting in Raleigh of the Tobacco Associates, a lobby, that "there is no tobacco subsidy," and the audience repeated it each time the Senator asked it to. The Senator was emphasizing the industry's position that that the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loans to tobacco producers over the years are, in fact, market regulators that just about pay their way. [New York Times]
- 13 men dressed In jungle fatigues and practicing hand-to-hand combat were arrested on a cattle and timber ranch in Inverness in west-central Florida on trespass charges. The group of 11 men and two instructors was organized by Joseph Camper, a veteran of Special Forces duty in Vietnam, who charged the students $350 each. Federal agents and reporters swarmed into the town when rumors spread that the men were mercenaries or terrorists. [New York Times]
- Jean Harris was sentenced in White Plains, New York to a minimum 15 years to life for the murder of Dr. Herman Tarnower, her longtime companion. [New York Times]
- Defendants in 61 of 192 gun cases prosecuted in New York City under the state's seven-month-old gun control law received less than the so-called mandatory sentences of one year in jail, a report released by the city showed, and Mayor Koch accused the judges of sapping the law's strength, and asked the legislature to severely restrict the judges' discretion in such cases. [New York Times]
- Ontario's Premier was re-elected de-spite the criticism by opposition parties of William Davis's conservative government. His Progressive Conservative Party will occupy 70 of the legislature's 125 seats, an increase of 12. The Liberals again won 34 seats, and the socialist New Democratic Party won 21 seats, a decrease of 12. [New York Times]
- A nationwide strike alert in Poland was ordered by the Solidarity union in response to a police attack on union activists in Bydgoszcz, in north-central Poland. Meanwhile two-hour strikes were held in four northern industrial regions. Solidarity announced suspension of all talks with government officials and told all union chapters, representing 10 million workers, to be ready to strike by Monday. [New York Times]
- Meetings with Arab leaders and Israeli officials have been approved by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, the Labor Party's candidate for Prime Minister, said, following reports over Israeli radio and television that he had flown to Morocco for a meeting with King Hassan II, and that he had spoken in London with a brother of King Hussein of Jordan. [New York Times]
- Food assistance to Mozambique was suspended by the administration in retaliation for the expulsion of United States Embassy personnel there two weeks ago on charges that they were working for the Central Intelligence Agency. It emphasized the administration's determination to be firm with Cuba and the countries that solicit its assistance. The State Department said the expulsion was instigated by Cuban intelligence agents. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 992.80 (+6.22, +0.63%)
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* |
| March 19, 1981 | 986.58 | 133.46 | 62.44 |
| March 18, 1981 | 994.06 | 134.22 | 55.74 |
| March 17, 1981 | 992.53 | 133.92 | 65.92 |
| March 16, 1981 | 1002.79 | 134.68 | 49.94 |
| March 13, 1981 | 985.77 | 133.11 | 68.29 |
| March 12, 1981 | 989.82 | 133.19 | 54.63 |
| March 11, 1981 | 967.67 | 129.95 | 47.39 |
| March 10, 1981 | 972.66 | 130.46 | 56.61 |
| March 9, 1981 | 976.42 | 131.12 | 46.17 |
| March 6, 1981 | 964.62 | 129.85 | 43.93 |