News stories from Thursday December 16, 1982
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Senate Republican leaders bowed to a conservative filbuster and withdrew from the floor a bill to increase gasoline taxes to finance highway repairs, perhaps jeopardizing the measure. The Senate leaders then introduced an omnibus spending bill needed to keep the government operating beyond midnight tomorrow. They feared that once the spending measure was approved, it would be impossible to keep the Senate in session to act on a gasoline tax. [New York Times]
- A contempt of Congress citation was voted by the House against Anne Gorsuch, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency. A cabinet-level official has never before faced such a charge. The citation followed Mrs. Gorsuch's refusal, at the direction of President Reagan, to surrender to a House committee documents about her agency's efforts to enforce a law requiring the cleanup of hazardous waste dumps. [New York Times]
- The Senate inquiry on Abscam and other undercover investigations of political corruption concluded that the Abscam inquiry, while flawed, did not involve serious government misconduct. [New York Times]
- Opposition to the MX missile has increased steadily since the Reagan administration proposed a so-called "dense pack" basing system for the weapon. The planned system has become a symbol of frustration and failure that now threatens the future of the missile and is one of the biggest setbacks suffered by President Reagan. White House officials cited reasons for the setback. [New York Times]
- Four F.B.I. agents were killed along with two other men in the crash of a light plane into a bookstore in the Cincinnati suburb of Montgomery. The two other victims were a retired Chicago police officer and a man accused of embezzling who was said to be leading the law enforcement officers to $50,000 in buried cash. [New York Times]
- The chances of plane crashes in landings or takeoffs on ice-covered or other slippery runways would be reduced under recommendations adopted by the National Transportation Safety Board. [New York Times]
- A.T.& T. told its shareholders how it would distribute stock in the local telephone companies it is to sell off. In court papers, the Bell System said it would give one new share in each of the seven new regional phone companies for every 10 shares of A.T.&T. stock now held. [New York Times]
- Grandparents may seek rights to visit grandchildren in cases of divorce or a parent's death by appealing to the courts of about 40 states. But eight grandparents testified at a House hearing that the state laws were inconsistent and judges were often unsympathetic. The witnesses urged the enactment of federal laws to cover cases where parents take children across state lines. [New York Times]
- The New Jersey state Senate voted, 27 to 8, to override Governor Thomas Kean's veto of a bill to require the observance of a daily minute of silence in public schools. The action transformed the bill into law. It is expected to be challenged in the courts. [New York Times]
- Polish officials seized Lech Walesa, preventing the leader of the outlawed Solidarity union from giving a speech in the shipyard at Gdansk. There was no official word on his whereabouts throughout the day, but he was returned to his home by evening, his wife said. [New York Times]
- Soviet firmness on Afghanistan was restated in an editorial in Pravda. The editorial reaffirmed the Soviet Union's conditions for withdrawal of its troops and said that the United States and Pakistan were responsible for the continuing strife. [New York Times]
- Israel's role in Central America is widening, according to State Department intelligence officials. They said Israel was enlarging its military training missions and role as a principal supplier of arms to combat anti-government insurgents in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica and was offering sizable stocks of weapons captured from Palestinian forces in Lebanon. [New York Times]
- Argentine policemen firing tear gas dispersed an officially sanctioned rally in Buenos Aires attended by tens of thousands of Argentines pressing demands for a return to civilian rule by next October. The police reported one demonstrator fatally shot, 30 protesters and 35 policemen injured and 120 protesters arrested. [New York Times]
- The lives of 20,000 children could be saved each day by adoption of four simple, low-cost health measures that have proved successful in limited trials in several developing countries, the United Nations Children's Fund said. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 990.25 (-2.39, -0.24%)
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* |
| December 15, 1982 | 992.64 | 135.24 | 81.05 |
| December 14, 1982 | 1009.38 | 137.39 | 98.38 |
| December 13, 1982 | 1024.28 | 139.95 | 63.13 |
| December 10, 1982 | 1018.76 | 139.57 | 86.43 |
| December 9, 1982 | 1027.96 | 140.00 | 90.31 |
| December 8, 1982 | 1047.09 | 141.81 | 97.43 |
| December 7, 1982 | 1056.94 | 142.72 | 111.62 |
| December 6, 1982 | 1055.65 | 141.77 | 83.89 |
| December 3, 1982 | 1031.36 | 138.69 | 71.57 |
| December 2, 1982 | 1033.11 | 138.82 | 77.60 |