News stories from Thursday August 24, 1978
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A conclave of cardinals begins Friday to elect a new Pope for a changing Roman Catholic Church. Not all cardinal members of the electoral college are agreed, however, on how innovative the new pontiff should be nor on how much change should be allowed. One hundred and eleven cardinals will be sealed in the cloistered, heavily guarded section of Vatican City that will house them for the next few days. Most of them are new to the election process.
If the College of Cardinals is listening, the Rev. Billy Graham has a message: The next Pope should have television charisma. "I would be hesitant to make any suggestion to the great church, the Roman Catholic Church," Graham said. "But I would hope that they would keep in mind the changes in the world and select someone who has a great deal of charisma on television." The evangelist said the media represent an important tool for any religious leader. If television had not increased his exposure and given birth to a "new age of evangelism," Graham said, "My ministry would have been over 10 years ago."
[Chicago Tribune] - The Senate approved what President Carter calls his top domestic priority, a comprehensive revision of the federal civil service System, strengthening the hand of managers and making it easier to fire incompetents. The vote was 87-1 and came on the eve of the Senate's recess, making it more likely Carter will get some bill through this session. A similar bill is before the House. [Chicago Tribune]
- The Senate approved a five-year $52.5 billion program of federal aid to elementary and secondary schools after refusing to kill experimental projects in teaching the "three Rs" and several offbeat subjects. The education bill, adopted 86-7, will have to be reconciled with a somewhat smaller version approved by the House in July. [Chicago Tribune]
- A 15-year-old youth was arrested in his Washington DC home by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged in the mugging last month of Rep. Robert Michel [R., Illinois]. Michel. 55, the Republican whip, was hospitalized after he was beaten by two muggers at 12:45 a.m. on July 21 in an alley behind his townhouse. [Chicago Tribune]
- In Wichita, Kansas, a cloud of toxic, corrosive propellant gas escaped from a Titan 2 missile silo, killing one person, injuring six, and forcing the evacuation of more than 100 residents of the nearby town of Rock, officials said. Air Force officials reported late in the day that the red-yellow cloud, which was a half mile long, drifted for eight hours before breaking up. There was no explosion, officials said, and there was no danger of a nuclear accident because the missile did not have a warhead. The missile was being fueled when the fuel line apparently ruptured. [Chicago Tribune]
- Neither a tropical storm nor menacing landslides prevented play at the 16th game of the world chess championship, but the battle was adjourned after five hours. Challenger Viktor Korchnoi appeared to be holding the game to a draw despite titlist Anatoly Karpov's slight advantage in playing white. Korchnoi sealed his 42nd move, and it will be opened when the game resumes Friday. [Chicago Tribune]
- The White House has decided to support a bill to increase penalties for the illegal sale of a drug known as angel dust, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen [D., Tex.] said. Bentsen's bill passed the Senate unanimously last month and is now before the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. [Chicago Tribune]
- A panel of experts said that suntan lotions and screening preparations may help prevent skin cancer and premature aging of the skin, and recommended that a statement as to their relative effectiveness be required on labels. The findings of the panel, appointed by the Food and Drug Administration, concluded a five-year study. The FDA will seek public comment on the findings and then issue labeling and marketing requirements. [Chicago Tribune]
- Hancho Kim, 56, was fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to a charge of tax evasion stemming from the Korean influence buying investigation. A one-year prison sentence was suspended. Kim, 56, a naturalized American, was convicted last April of conspiring to corrupt congressmen and lying about receiving $600,000 for the plot. The plea and punishment had been agreed upon earlier in exchanger for dropping tax charges against Kim's wife, Soonduk. [Chicago Tribune]
- Twenty-five leftist terrorists freed hundreds of hostages from Nicaragua's capitol building and flew to Panama after the government granted a cash ransom and the release of 59 political prisoners. President Anastasio Somoza said at a news conference in Managua that he allowed the guerrillas to leave "to save human lives." [Chicago Tribune]
- Syrian President Hafez Assad is terminally ill with leukemia and is not expected to live more than another year, Western diplomatic sources said. Assad, 50, has been in seclusion for several months in the northern Mediterranean port city of Latakia, appearing only for emergency meetings. Middle East observers say his illness is likely to set off a power struggle in Syria, where Assad's minority Alawi sect? has been in political control since 1970. [Chicago Tribune]
- Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, made her debut on British television. Film of her birth a month ago at Oldhamm General Hospital, 160 miles northwest of London, gave millions of Britons their first glimpse of the world-famous infant as she entered the world exercising a healthy pair of lungs. Viewers saw Louise's mother, Lesley Brown, wheeled into the delivery room. The birth by caesarean was edited out, but the baby was seen being carried from the mother, bathed, and weighed. [Chicago Tribune]
- Kate Jackson, one of the stars of television's "Charlie's Angels," was married Wednesday night to Actor Andrew Stevens, son of Actress Stella Stevens. She is 29; he is 23. [Chicago Tribune]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 897.35 (+0.35, +0.04%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| August 23, 1978 | 897.00 | 104.91 | 39.63 |
| August 22, 1978 | 892.41 | 104.31 | 29.62 |
| August 21, 1978 | 888.95 | 103.89 | 29.44 |
| August 18, 1978 | 896.83 | 104.73 | 34.66 |
| August 17, 1978 | 900.12 | 105.08 | 45.27 |
| August 16, 1978 | 894.58 | 104.65 | 36.13 |
| August 15, 1978 | 887.13 | 103.85 | 29.78 |
| August 14, 1978 | 888.17 | 103.97 | 32.32 |
| August 11, 1978 | 890.85 | 103.96 | 33.55 |
| August 10, 1978 | 885.48 | 103.66 | 39.75 |