News stories from Saturday January 9, 1982

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

A.T.& T.'s divestment of 22 companies to settle the government antitrust suit, announced Friday, seems sure to be closely scrutinized by Congress, which might modify the settlement to protect consumers from dramatically higher local phone rates, congressional leaders predicted. Meanwhile, some consumer groups endorsed the devistiture as a way to increase competion in the telecommunications business, but called for new arrangements to help local phone companies provide economical service to rural phone users and people who cannot afford higher rates. [New York Times] A.T.& T. agreed to the dismantling of its communications empire to settle an antitrust suit in part because it disliked the apparent direction of legislation pending in Congress and because of the effect of a recent Federal Communications Commission order, the company's chairman, Charles Brown, said. He said that the settlement announced Friday "would lift a giant cloud" hanging over the company, and allow it to enter such new businesses as data processing. Mr. Brown also said that the settlement would not by itself lead to an increase in local rates; he said they were bound to rise anyway. [New York Times] Surging unemployment threatens the security of many Americans, although the burden of inflation has begun to ease. But even if the economy improves by midyear and unemployment declines again, as most economists expect, they are concerned that joblessness will remain higher than it was before the recession, continuing a decade of increase. [New York Times] Aides expect the President to accept tax rises in the next two fiscal years. But the administration officials, who are involved in budget deliberations, have cautioned that Mr. Reagan has not approved the specific proposals that his advisers are urging. [New York Times] A prompt court challenge will follow the Reagan administration's plan to restore tax exemptions to racially segregated private schools and colleges, a civil rights law group said. The suit will be based on the ground that the reversal of federal policy is a violation of outstanding court orders and Supreme Court precedents. [New York Times] A jury will be chosen in Newport, R.I. starting Monday to try Claus von Bulow on a charge of attempting to murder his wife, the former Martha Sharp Crawford, an heiress to a Pittsburgh utility fortune. [New York Times] Enlisting church support for Poland's military government was the apparent purpose of a meeting in Warsaw between Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish leader, and the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop Jozef Glemp. In the meantime, the government announced that the reporting of foreign correspondents would no longer be subject to prior censorship. [New York Times] A Reagan-Brezhnev meeting would ease tensions in the world, Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar of the United Nations said in his first interview since taking office. [New York Times] The attempt to kill the Pope was the work of accomplices, high-ranking Turkish officials believe. They are convinced that Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who attempted to kill the Pope, did not act alone in St. Peter's Square last May. [New York Times]