News stories from Sunday August 23, 1981

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

Foreign air controllers agreed to back the American controllers' strike at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations in Amsterdam, but they did not specify what action they might take. The group urged the resumption of negotiations between the American controllers and the government and offered mediation or negotiation services. [New York Times] U.S. airlines will use larger planes to increase passenger capacity while staying within projected new guidelines based on fewer flights issued by the Federal Aviation Administration over the weekend. The agency asked the airlines for an adjustment in schedules over the next six months in keeping within reductions in authorized flights during the air controllers' strike. [New York Times] Efforts to reduce military spending below the levels favored by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger will be discussed by him and Budget Director David Stockman this week in Santa Barbara, Calif., a White House official said. Both are scheduled to arrive there Wednesday. The meeting with Edwin Meese, the White House counselor, apparently is an indication that the administration is cutting back the size of increases in military spending proposed last spring in its tentative budget for the fiscal year 1982. Nevertheless, the military budget will be larger than in previous years. [New York Times] More troubles besides the fruit fly burden California's vast Central Valley agricultural center. The valley's 50,000 square miles are greatly "overdrafting" water -- using more ground and surface than is being replaced and rainfall and snowmelt. Irrigation has damaged much of the land. The fruit fly invasion, while small in relation to the total acreage of the valley, has stirred deep fear and apprehension among farmers, who are particularly critical of the handling of the problem by Gov. Jerry Brown. Some producers think that permanent damage has been done to California's agricultural reputation. [New York Times] Blacks' expectations have declined under the Reagan administration, while many whites are now more optimistic on the nation's future, according to analyses of several national polls and interviews with leading students of black opinion. Black Americans are also growing increasingly gloomy about the present condition of the nation. An important factor in their outlook is their view of the President, who, many of them believe, is "no friend of black people," according to one expert. [New York Times] Philadelphia's teachers might strike over 3,500 layoffs in the teaching and other school staffs ordered by the financially troubled school system. The layoffs were ordered despite a job security clause in a union contract. The schools superintendent, Michael Marcase, said the layoffs could have a devastating effect on the quality of education and that "the schools could become little better than a babysitting service." [New York Times] Support of Soviet-style Communism was demanded by Moscow in a warning to its Eastern bloc allies that they must strictly maintain orthodoxy to prevent another upheaval similar to Poland's. The message was published on the front pages of Soviet newspapers. Western diplomats said that the warning was the clearest indication yet of Moscow's concern that the disorder in Poland could spill over into other Eastern bloc countries and undermine Soviet domination. [New York Times] Civil war has resumed in Lebanon between the country's political factions since the recent Israeli-Palestinian truce. Nearly 100 people have been killed in the past month in sporadic political fighting, most of it between leftist groups. [New York Times] Israeli reaffirmed its autonomy plans for the Palestinian Arabs living in the Israei-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The autonomy issue will be discussed this week by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. [New York Times]