News stories from Sunday January 17, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The coldest weather of the century gripped the nation. Subzero temperatures were recorded from the South to New England and across the Middle West, where thousands of people were without power, and many highways were impassable. In International Falls, Minn., the mercury fell to 45 degrees below zero. Hurricane-force winds, gusting to nearly 140 miles an hour, swept from the Rocky Mountains to the high plains of eastern Colorado. The winds tore off roofs, shattered windows and snapped utility poles. [New York Times]
- A post-crash search was postponed by divers because of subzero temperatures in Washington. The divers will resume tomorrow the hard task of recovering the two "black box" recorders that could provide key clues to the cause of the crash of a Boeing 737 airliner and the loss of 78 lives. [New York Times]
- Nicaraguans are being trained by Cuban exiles in southern California for what they say will be an invasion to oust the Sandinist government. About 100 exiles are said to be taking part in the exercises at a camp in a remote area of San Bernardino County that is similar to a camp operated by Cuban exiles near Miami. [New York Times]
- Housing discrimination was opposed almost 2-to-1 in a referendum in Austin, Tex. In an unusually high turnout, the voters rejected legislation that would have made Austin the first city in the country to legalize housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The plan was directed against homosexuals. [New York Times]
- A fundamentalist school's policy on admission by race appears to be inconsistent. The Goldsboro (N.C.) Christian Schools bars blacks on religious grounds, but regularly admits Oriental children. [New York Times]
- Widespread trauma in Detroit was reported by two leading psychiatrists. The physicians said that many auto executives and their spouses were displaying intense anxiety, stress and depression about their future and the future of the industry. [New York Times]
- A film on the Holocaust opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The movie, "Genocide," was produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and was narrated by Orsen Welles and Elizabeth Taylor. The film will open in New York City on Feb. 28. [New York Times]
- Poland's Primate said that new arrests were being made under martial law. At a crowded mass in Warsaw, the Primate, Archbishop Jozef Glemp, again criticized the military regime for its campaign to extract loyalty oaths from Poles. [New York Times]
- A response to the military buildup being pressed by the Reagan administraton was issued by the Soviet Defense Ministry, It published an elaborate, 79-page booklet on American military strength in which it asserts that Washington's strategy is to develop its nuclear weapons to a point that "a pre-emptive strike" against the Soviet Union becomes possible in this decade. [New York Times]
- The year since the American hostages were freed has witnessed the slaying of about 1,000 leading clergymen in Iran by underground opponents of the ruling theocracy. The fundamentalist mullahs have responded with grim repression and the execution, according to opposition leaders, of at least 2,150 people since late last spring. [New York Times]