News stories from Sunday September 20, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Oct. 1 is a crucial date for the Reagan administration's economic and social policies. On that day, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, a major retrenchment in government benefit programs will begin, and the effect of those policies will begin to be felt. Millions of needy Americans face the loss of some or all their government aid. But the ultimate effects might be delayed by uncertainty and confusion among state officials who will enforce the changes. [New York Times]
- Federal aid cutoff notices have been issued to families in New Jersey and Connecticut, and New York is preparing to do so in anticipation of the federal budget retrenchment. Notices have been sent to 9,300 New Jersey families that have been getting benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program or Medicaid that September's check was the last. The notices also said payments would not be continued pending appeals to "fair hearings." Connecticut sent notices to halt welfare checks for 3,000 families and to reduce payments to 4,300 other families. [New York Times]
- Hotels and the airline industry appear to be recovering from the intitial shock of of the air controllers' strike that began Aug. 3. Reorganized airline schedules that offer passengers assured flights and larger planes that accommodate more passengers have helped diminish the strike's effect. The airlines lost $200 million in fare revenues in August, normally their busiest month. [New York Times]
- The upholding of an anti-busing law approved by Washington State voters in 1978 is sought by the Justice Department, which will ask the Supreme Court to reverse lower courts that held that the law was unconstitutional. Passage of the law followed a mandatory school busing program established by the Seattle school system. Federal courts turned down efforts by citizen groups and the Washington State legislature to kill the busing plan. The Justice Department announced last week that it would join the state of Washington in its arguments against the busing program. [New York Times]
- A biography of Lyndon B. Johnson says he accepted large amounts of cash from lobbyists when he was a Senator and Vice President. An excerpt of the forthcoming three-volume biography by Robert Caro, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Robert Moses, makes the charge without documentation in the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly. The Atlantic Monthly's editor said that Mr. Caro had identified the sources of all his accusations, and that the sources would be named in later installments in the magazine. [New York Times]
- No deal was made with Israel linking the sale of Awacs to Saudi Arabia and broad American strategic cooperation with Israel in recent talks in Washington between President Reagan and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Mr. Begin said in Jerusalem after his weekly cabinet meeting. There have been statements in Washington that congressional rejection of the Awacs sale would disrupt plans to strengthen military ties with Israel. [New York Times]
- Senate opposition to the Awacs sale to Saudi Arabia may have softened, Secretary of State Alexander Haig said. He said that the list of senators opposing the sale of the electronic surveillance planes was "replete with soft spots" and that he could name a dozen senators who were "ready to reconsider" their position. [New York Times]
- An emergency meeting in Warsaw was held by Poland's leaders, the second in four days, and when it ended they issued a vaguely worded statement saying that they were prepared to take urgent measures. The Polish press agency said that the authorities were preparing major moves, but did not indicate what they might be. [New York Times]
- The execution of 149 dissidents in Iran was reported by Iran's official media. According to a newspaper report, the head of the the Islamic revolutionary courts said that armed demonstrators may face a firing squad at the "scene of their crimes" in the future. [New York Times]