News stories from Saturday April 25, 1981

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

A plan to increase the armed forces by up to 250,000 people over the next few years is under consideration by the Reagan administration. The proposal is expected to be costly and controversial in terms of reviving the issue of a peacetime draft. Officials said the increased manpower would be needed to improve the readiness of forces now in existence and to meet expanded military commitments. [New York Times] Investigators looking into the fatal stabbings of three black men and a Hispanic man in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 22, have flown to Fort Benning, Ga., to inquire about a 25-year-old white Army private who is a possible suspect in the slayings of eight black men in Rochester and Buffalo last year. [New York Times] The nation's newest attack submarine was launched in Groton, Conn., amid jeers from 1,000 demonstrators protesting the use of nuclear power and the naming of the vessel the Corpus Christi. Twenty-one demonstrators and a woman who allegedly phoned in a bomb threat were arrested. [New York Times] Anglican prelates will begin meetings Monday night at the National Cathedral in Washington to consider how much unity is to be desired in the far-flung, multicultural Anglican communion. Among the subjects to be discussed is the ordination of women. [New York Times] Indiana University's annual bicycle race has come of age. The intramural contest that became famous with the movie "Breaking Away," is now a big event. Even the old horseshoe stadium in the middle of campus that used to house the race has been replaced by a new $3 million building. [New York Times] The rising cost of pensions for Los Angeles police and firefighters has brought the city to the brink of a major fiscal crisis, according to Mayor Tom Bradley. Asserting that the city faced a deficit of $80 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1, he said that hundreds of workers must be laid off and some services would have to be reduced. "The pension system, he said, is "out of financial control." [New York Times] The Polish Communist Party is under threat from internal forces of "revisionism," one of the gravest heresies of the Soviet political doctrine, the official Soviet press agency has warned. That charge has historically been leveled by the Kremlin against their main adversaries in the world Communist movement. It was used in 1968 before the invasion of Czechoslovakia. [New York Times] If the Soviet Union invaded Poland, the Reagan administration would impose a ban on all United States trade with the Soviet Union, including a new grain embargo, Secretary of State Alexander Haig said. [New York Times] Polish government and labor leaders began talks to settle remaining disputes over work conditions for coal miners, respect for the rule of law and the Solidarity union movement's position on foreign policy issues. The discussions were the first talks in months not overshadowed by threats of strikes and reflected what appeared to be a new commitment by both sides to achieve peaceful partnership. [New York Times] Valery Giscard d'Estaing was expected to lead a field of 10 in tomorrow's first round of voting in the French presidential election. The two candidates who draw the most votes will face each other in a runoff on May 10. The country was in a one-day recess from campaigning today, and with the law forbidding the publishing of polls during the last week before the voting, it was unclear who was likely to come in second. [New York Times]