News stories from Sunday March 28, 1982

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

Preparations for Columbia's landing Monday afternoon in White Sands, N.M., were being made by its astronauts, Col. Jack Lousma of the Marine Corps and Col. Gordon Fullerton of the Air Force. Ground controllers told them that only scattered high clouds at 12,000 and 25,000 feet were expected to stand between them and the touchdown, scheduled at 2:27 P.M. [New York Times] Rising medical costs are troubling Americans, and they appear to be willing to accept significant changes in the health care system if that would reduce costs. Nearly 6 of every 10 of the 1,530 men and women who responded to a national poll said they would be willing to have routine illnesses treated by nurses or doctor's assistants rather than by doctors, for example. The poll indicated that "health providers are out of step with the public," a health care economist said. [New York Times] A sharply critical report on the Chicago Housing Authority is being disregarded by Mayor Jane Byrne, despite warnings from federal officials that ignoring the report could deprive the city's financially troubled public housing program of millions of dollars in federal aid. The independent audit of the agency found pervasive "confusion and disarray," and it called for the dismissal of the agency's chairman and executive staff. [New York Times] College aid cuts are possible but not likely before the school year beginning next fall, according to education experts. They said that students in college and graduate school could be reasonably sure that loans would be available, but warned that Congress had not yet had its final word on the matter and still had the time and the opportunity to enact the cuts proposed. [New York Times] Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, writer of nearly 200 children's books, including many of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, died in New Jersey, where she lived in Pottersville and Maplewood. She was 89 years old. Mrs. Adams wrote books for more than 50 years under the pseudonyms of Carolyn Keene, for the Nancy Drew stories; Franklin W. Dixon, for the Hardy Boys; Victor W. Appleton II for Tom Swift Jr., and Laura Lee Hope for the Bobbsey Twins. [New York Times] Salvadorans jammed polling places in the constituent assembly elections, some to the sound of gunfire in the background. They turned out in such numbers that the government extended voting hours into the evening. Guerrillas kept voting places closed in Usulutim, El Salvador's third largest city, and voting was reportedly light in San Francisco Gotera, capital of the largely rebel-dominated Morazan Province. Guerrillas delayed voting in other places, but after government control was restored, people turned out to vote. [New York Times] Salvadorans walked for miles to cast their votes. On both sides of the Pan American Highway near Ilopango, east of San Salvador, a parade of people marched to polling places past billboards exhorting "Your vote -- the solution." Some crossed a guerrilla roadblock to vote. Others held back, although the leader said the guerrillas would not stop voters. [New York Times] Israel reaffirmed its policies in the occupied territories, its cabinet declaring that "no acts of violence or disturbances of the peace or order will be tolerated," and that Arab residents "who observe the law and keep the peace will be guaranteed their safety and accorded all possible help." Meanwhile, three Palestinian protesters were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. [New York Times]