News stories from Sunday April 11, 1982

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

Cost-of-living adjustments devised for Social Security and other federal benefit programs are one of the most intractable and politically explosive problems facing Congress. Most of the adjustments were provided in the last decade to insure that inflation would not erode the buying power of beneficiaries. They have largely achieved that purpose, according to several studies, but some critics contend that they have gone too far by making beneficiaries more prosperous than wage and salaried workers. For that reason, the practice of "indexing" federal benefits, tying them to fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index or other measures of inflation, has come under attack by the Reagan administration and other critics. [New York Times] California faces a potential deficit of $1.4 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1. This is one of the consequences of the recession and four years of cutting taxes that supported municipal governments, officials warned. Mary Ann Graves, Director of Finance, who projected the $1.4 billion deficit, urged the legislature to make substantial cuts in the state's proposed $27 billion budget for the new fiscal year because California law requires the state to have a balanced budget. [New York Times] The breakup of law enforcement units established by the states will follow the shutdown of the the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration this month. The agency is being disbanded for budget reasons, but many states are continuing their panels in an altered form. How those that remain fare may provide an insight into the future of the Reagan administration's "new federalism." [New York Times] Britain's blockade of the Falklands became effective. Its navy was ready to fire on any Argentine warship that approached its 200-mile zone around the disputed archipelago. It appeared increasingly unlikely that the Argentine fleet intended to enter the area, where nuclear-powered submarines were stationed. [New York Times] Alexander Haig flew to London from Buenos Aires with some negotiating "ideas" as the deadline approached for the British blockade of the Falkland Islands. Argentine officials and foreign diplomats in Buenos Aires were not optimistic about the prospects of a settlement based on the negotiation positions the Secretary of State was taking to London. One includes a simulataneous pullback of the British navy and a withdrawal of Argentine forces, but only after Britian recognizes Argentine sovereignty. [New York Times] The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, a mosque on the Temple Mount, was sprayed with gunfire by a gunman in an Israeli soldier's uniform who killed at least two Arabs and wounded at least nine other people. The attack on one of Islam's most sacred shrines set off demonstrations by Arabs. The gunman, quickly captured by Israeli policemen and troops, was identified as Alan Goodman, 37 years old, who reportedly moved to Israel from Baltimore in 1977. Among his belongings found in his lodgings were leaflets of the Kach Movement, an extremist group of Israeli ultranationalists led by Rabbi Meir Kahane. [New York Times] Israel has no plans to attack Palestinian guerrillas positions in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Menachem Begin was quoted as saying to the United States Ambassador to Israel, Samuel Lewis. Mr. Lewis said he was assured by the Prime Minister that the Israeli cabinet has made no decison to go into Lebanon "in any way, shape or form." [New York Times] An Israeli attack in Lebanon was expected by Yasser Arafat "within hours, maybe 24 to 48 hours." But Mr. Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Oranization, said in an interview in Beirut that Palestinian guerrillas would not be the ones to break the United Nations cease-fire. He said Israel had "three to four divisions" along the Lebanese border. [New York Times] Throughout the world on Easter worshipers reflected on themes of life, death and rebirth. In Rome, Pope John Paul II made a plea to Britain and Argentina to settle their dispute over the Falkland Islands without bloodshed. [New York Times]