Commuters gear up for the mayhem of a New York City transit strike. Here's a savings institutions are caught between a rock and a hard place. And I'll take a closer look today in sports. Say good bye to Roger Staubach makes it official and retires. New Jersey Nightly News with Karen Stone correspondent that's heading there and Bill Perry with sports. Good evening. At this hour there is still no progress in talks aimed at averting a walkout by 30000 bus and subway workers in New York City. The strike deadline is midnight tonight. Jack Kennedy has a report on the emergency plans for thousands of New Jersey commuters who must travel to the city tomorrow. British to meet 200000 commuters tomorrow morning will be anything but dull every workday. About 30000 of those two meters travel by car. Through the tunnels or over the George Washington Bridge. But in the event of a transit strike tomorrow. Better not be alone in the car. If you are will be turned back at screen
lines manned by Port Authority police. There will be no single passenger cars allowed in the city below 96 street. The State Department of Transportation is urging commuters to organize car pools or try to find a seat on a bus. The Meadowlands sports complex will serve as a giant parking lot to allow for carpooling. Get there early. All 5000 parking spaces will probably be filled. The D.A. has been urging commuters to plan ahead. If you haven't you may already be too late. They should have already planned their carpools in advance they should know where they're going to be picked up in the city and also at home. They should also be well aware of what the train schedules are that will get them into New York City and also aware of what bus connections there may be into the city. For example hotel rooms for the most part are booked solid. The closer to New York the less likely you will be to find a room. PATH trains will be crowded and probably late path will operate special trains which will run a shuttle service
between Penn Station in New York. In the World Trade Center via New Jersey New Jersey Transit will operate a bus shuttle from the middle lands to the Port Authority building in New York to accommodate those who can't find a space in a carpool. More advice from the d ot I should definitely plan to leave a lot of time in case the connection that they hope to make tomorrow morning doesn't quite work out. They won't be rushed or be hassled any more so the reality will be at this point no one is really sure just how bad it will be in the morning. If there is no settlement during the last strike in 1966 there were no emergency plans. This time there are but just how well they work is going to depend on the willingness of commuters to cooperate sacrifice and be patient at the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken. I'm Jack Connelly. And here are some telephone numbers that may help you through the tomorrow morning for information on Conrail trains call 800 2 4 2 0 2 1 2.
PATH trains to a 1 0 4 3 4 60 100 anti NJ bus is eight hundred seven seven to twenty two twenty two. Official say no federal laws were broken but a New York truck driver has been fired because a canister of radioactive waste was left unattended overnight in an Ocean Township parking lot. The driver an employee of an upstate New York firm decided to spend the night in a motel while in route to South Carolina where the waste from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant was to be buried. But local police discovered the canister sitting in a detached trailer in the motels parking lot and they notified other authorities. A spokesman from Jersey Central Power and Light which operates the Oyster Creek said another trucking firm has been hired for the delivery. Meanwhile five demonstrators from Friday's anti-nuclear rally in Parsippany remain in jail. They have refused to identify themselves to a superior court judge. They were among 67 arrested during a demonstration at the headquarters of General Public Utilities as the end on the anniversary of the Three Mile Island
nuclear accident. Other New Jersey residents arrested have been released on their own recognizance out of staters were released on a $35 bail each. And a decision whether to grant Jersey Central Power and Light a rate hike has been postponed until tomorrow. The State Board of Public Utilities will decide whether JCP NL customers will have to pay for a replacement power that normally would have been generated at Three Mile Island reactor number 1 although it was TMI reactor number two that was involved in the now famous accident a year ago reactor number one has also remained shut down since then. An intricate web of murder conspiracy extortion bookmaking and even loan sharking was presented to the jury by state prosecutors today. And the so called the great mob trial. Today's opening arguments in Freehold mark the real beginning of the celebrated trial after three weeks of jury selection. Phelps Hawkins reports. Deputy Attorney General John C. He didn't get 15 minutes into the state's opening argument before defense lawyers were on their feet objecting. Their concern was Sheehy statement that
there was a national significance to the defendant's criminal activities. It was a technical point. So without repeating the reference he continued his two hour recitation of the charges against the five defendants. He started right at the top and Ruggiero of Newark. The acting Council in North Jersey alleged to be Richie the boot boy auto's number two man. The Eighty nine year old boy Otto severed from the case due to age and ill health is alleged to be the head of New Jersey operations for the New York based Genovese the crime family right hand man Gerardo was charged with conspiracy maintaining a lottery and book making. Then she pointed to Anthony divvying go murder and conspiracy. He's drunk for having hit Trenton mobster plant company in 1975. Two bullets in the head from close range. Supposedly ordered by Ritchie the boot boy Argo then James Vito Mata Rondo of Long Branch conspiracy eight counts of extortion robbery armed robbery loan sharking facing maximum sentences on
charges of almost one hundred and fifty years. Rounding out the field Angelo Carmen Sica of West Orange conspiracy and maintaining a lottery and Thomas P. REED to fill ups of Bellville conspiracy book making and loan sharking prosecutor she he repeatedly referred to the thing. This thing of ours like Cosa Nostra pounding away at the notion that it is the family the secret society that plans and executes actions designed to safeguard and promote their illegal activities. That's from the state's standpoint it is the conspiracy with which all five defendants are charged. That illustrates the scope of mob activity including money coming from Las Vegas and Florida and their orders coming from the brasses in New York City. Opening arguments by defense lawyers if they are not waived begin tomorrow morning. I'm Bill Tucker. Alone allegedly arranged by State Senator David Friedland and his father Jacob Costa teamster's pension fund at $75000. That's according to the
fund's former administrator. During today's session of the free lance trial fund administrator David Sack testified the fund lost $75000 in interest because four million dollars was withdrawn just three days before savings certificates were due to mature Friedland's allegedly arranged the four million dollar loan for financier Barry marlin in return for a three hundred sixty thousand dollar kickback. Testimony in that case was rooms to morrow. New Jersey may lose 100 million dollars in federal aid under President Carter's new budget. Officials in Governor Burns Washington office expect most of the cuts to come an anti-recession aid to cities. Governor Byrd says he supports the president's aim in cutting the budget but he also says the cuts are too harsh on northeastern cities. He says he wants to see more defense spending cut. Burns says that will help alleviate cutbacks to the northeast and a half million New Jerseyans who use food stamps may not be able to get them beginning in June. State Service or Human Services Commissioner and Klein called a news conference to say the federal food stamp program has run out of money in this fiscal year.
They quoted US agriculture secretary Bob Berglund saying Congress did not appropriate enough money for food stamps last year to. Congress. Increase the cash flow line. They see. That it will be you know. They are. Available. For the money. Do. That with a lot of time. Until it used to poke fun. At. The stuff. Klein says Congress needs to appropriate 2.4 billion dollars to keep food stamps going through the summer and she added cutting food stamps to help balance the federal budget would penalize the nation's poor who are hurt most by inflation. For the first time in more than 25 years a regularly scheduled major airline will resume passenger service in Monmouth County beginning tomorrow there will be 22 flights a day between Monmouth County Airport Newark and Atlantic City. Reggie Wells has more. This is not a deserted downtown city streets somewhere this is the middle of the runway at the
Monmouth County Airport. It's not very busy here right now and it hasn't been for a long time. But tomorrow that's all going to change. Southern Jersey Airways which operates the Allegheny commuter route. Southern part of the state has gotten CATV approval to operate 11 round trips daily between Newark and Monmouth County with continuing service to Atlantic City Monmouth airport is built on 400 acres of privately owned land in the center of one of the fastest growing counties in the state. And the owner of this airport says the flights are long overdue. I have over 500000 people within 25 miles of the airport and that's quite a population to serve and that we have. We sort of feel right in the midst of that population and tween Monmouth and Ocean Counties and I'm sure their business will boom the tri state authority predicts that out of this airport there will be over a million 600000 passengers a year use this airport by 1990. The new flights here will fill part of the void created by the demise of New Jersey Airways. A
Boston based operation the voluntarily relinquished its certificate to fly after an FAA investigation turned up evidence that the airline's equipment was not being properly maintained. New Jersey Airways was flying between Newark Trenton and at Lenox city this new Allegheny commuter will fly from Newark to Monmouth and then Atlanta City. This was just a trial run today. The real thing starts tomorrow. Most of them are like you're far from being booked solid lights only a handful of people the book seats on these 22 passenger projects. But Airline officials say once the word gets around the flights will probably be sold out at the Monmouth County Airport. I'm red welts and tomorrow may be April Fool's Day for most of us but RCA Astro electronics division employees and Princeton will be celebrating the launching of the world's first weather satellite. Twenty years ago more than 200 RCA scientists engineers and space technicians worked on that first tyros satellite a small drum forty two inches in diameter and 22 inches high
filled with forty two thousand compliments. Since that day two decades ago twenty seven other Tyro satellites have been launched before the Tyros one said one of the program's early managers weather forecasting was a pretty sketchy at best two three day forecast and was still a thing of the future. And now to our own two to three day forecast. Some would say still sketchy at best. The rain should end tonight late tonight. It will be mostly cloudy breezy and cool with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s. The skies should clear up tomorrow and it should be partly sunny and pleasant highs will be in the mid 50s. And Wednesday partly sunny and mild. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF CROW season for sport hunters. Federal law makes it illegal to shoot
those passed between April 1st and August 17th. But there's a catch. Farmers can still shoot crows if they're destroying crops. And Bill Perry doesn't hunt crow but he may have had to eat it every now and then with a few of his sports predictions right Bill. I get you I don't know about you last week we've been waiting for it to be official I'm talking about Roger Staubach retirement how is this for my dream last night. At today's press conference in Dallas Roger Staubach announced that unless he's traded to the Giants he'd quit. Then I woke up what Roger actually did say was that's it. I retire Roger Staubach number 12 in his West Giants Stadium appearance. He rallied the Cowboys to a couple of scores in the last three minutes and Dallas beat the Giants 16 14 in his 11 year career Roger was 14 in two against the Giants and what about the Cowboys to 11 straight wins over the Giants the NFC East immediately gets more competitive as Roger the Dodger stop at. Home sort of. The Cosmos open their NASL season Saturday in Houston yesterday they ended their preseason play with the two don't want overtime defeat to cruise out of Mexico in the finals of the L.A. classic
Cruise Abdulla sport in the 30 minute of the first half a fluke goal. See cosmos defender now seem ready in front of his goal white jersey the ball caroms in off nobody's left the cosmos tied 40 seconds into the second half Franz Beckenbauer ahead to paly a Romero and he very nicely chips it past the goalie. It was played conservatively for the most part from that point and it went to a penalty shot shoot out. Tough to stop these but two cosmos missed and Cruz Azul got a 2 1 win as they had four of their five county shot attempts. It's all over for the Nats it's also all over for the next if the Nets had beaten Washington yesterday the next would have made the playoffs the bullets needed to win to gain the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference Washington beat the Nets 93 87 in a game that was played with playoff type intensity in the third quarter. The bullets built a five point halftime we are up to as many as 16. You're watching some super shooting by Greg Ballard. And by Kevin Greevy they were responsible for the Washington lead but in the fourth quarter the nets came back and it was former opponent Roger
Bagley was sensational He scored 13 of the 17 in the fourth twice the nets close to to one. But Washington held on and they are playoff bound it will be the bullets in the 76 years and many best of three although frankly did all he could to keep Washington out of it. It might have been something done Deepika. And won me to play live too well today or are you going to Washington to play I have a lot of friends and want to go on a basketball team and it was we had around a community and I think Washington has a fine book. I really do and I think they deserve to be in a playoff. They just played around too long at the beginning and if you get it I think it will be a good playoff team and I think they'll surprise a lot of people. Right you don't give me something to do the next couple weeks go to You gave you Jesse Owens is dad the Olympic hero four gold medals in the 36 games in Berlin succumbed to lung cancer today at the age of 66 Jesse Owens the man who made a farce about all that was dream of Arion supremacy and services today in Washington D.C. for the U.S. boxing team
members killed earlier this month in the air disaster in Poland among those killed was team manager Steve Schmidt from Clifton and a happy Passover tell all our Jewish viewers OK that sports character bill last month the presidential sweepstakes seemed like a pretty lukewarm affair. But Senator Edward Kennedy's primary wins last week if he did things up and there I am are also reports of some of that heat has Kennedy's New Jersey campaign bubbling. Then the place is alive and bustling and the phones don't stop ringing and it's just crazy. You know it's it's it's it's almost as like atmosphere. Fran Ryan Kennedy's New Jersey coordinator hears a certain sweetness in the hubbub since January she and other Kennedy workers have been sitting in their office in union watching Kennedy get knocked off like a wooden decoys in one state after another and thinking perhaps that it would be all over long before the New Jersey primary on June 3rd. But Kennedy's primary wins in New York and
Connecticut Tuesday were like x rays coming back clean. Convincing campaign workers volunteers and contributors that Kennedy did not have that fatal political disease and irreversible losing streak. I was beginning to feel up until last week that suddenly there was a perception of a loser. And. I don't know that probably was the largest of our rights over here but we don't have that in writing and finance director Tim Hall has been hearing the sweet sound of big money flowing into the campaign treasurer and individual I'd spoken to a number of weeks ago when to give me $50. I called on Wednesday morning after the primaries and asked him if he would give me the remaining nine hundred fifty allowable under the law and he said sure and send it right in. It's been very difficult for a number of months and that changed dramatically last week. The primary wins haven't changed strategy in New Jersey. Right now Kennedy people are
mailing letters to their key targets youth senior citizens minorities ethnic and labor groups. Kennedy's trying to appeal to Democrats who aren't part of the state organization which is mainly pro Carter. Senator Kennedy himself will be in New Jersey sometime in May. But his schedule isn't set yet. In Union I Mariama Rosso. And now here is a guy standing Bergen Newark with tonight's closer look at US
President Carter today signed a comprehensive bill to encourage saving by Americans and to help troubled savings institutions. The bill will phase out limits on passbook interest over the next six years. It will also permit the renegotiation of mortgages as interest rates rise. The bankers we talked to today think the legislation may be too little and too late for some of the nation's thrift institutions. Some in New Jersey include savings banks and savings and loan associations have generally been on firm financial footing since the banking reforms of the Great Depression. Most thrift as they're called within the banking industry have been making a profit for the past 45 years until now when economic problems may cause some thrift to show a loss in 1080. Thrifts primarily finance residential real estate. Unlike commercial banks they do not make loans to businesses. And unlike commercial banks thrifts depend primarily on savings deposited as the main source of the money they loan.
Before double digit inflation for if we're doing well and their principal business of making mortgage loans. Interest rates a charged range from 4 to 6 percent on loans made about 15 years ago to 8 percent on loans made in the early 1970s the rate they paid their deposit those were low are of course 26 percent of the mortgages held by thrifts in New Jersey today were made at those old interest rates. This means that a quarter of the money that the thrifts have out on loan today is not making money any longer because today the thrifts have to pay deposit those higher interest rates than the mortgages are in. In addition when the mortgage rate was 6 to 8 percent more people could afford to buy homes. Now in order to compensate for those all loans first charge higher mortgage interest driving many people out of the mortgage market for example $50000 a 30 year mortgage at the 10 and a quarter percent rate prevailing a year ago resulted in monthly payments of four hundred forty eight dollars
for the same mortgage at today's 16 percent rate. Itself and monthly payments. Six hundred seventy three dollars. Almost a 50 percent increase. Conrad Savings and Loan President Robert O'Bryant said half of those applying for loans today are being turned down and that situation is not unique to Carteret even though some of them is the right word for a loan. Roberson when the rate goes up to 14 that's a valid one fall. In an escalating rate is but a lot of worry was I must say very stubborn the financial backbone for it. But today fewer people are saving and those who do are saving less. Statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department indicate the percentage of their disposable income Americans are saving has dropped from nearly 8 percent in 1071 to nearly 6 percent in 1976
and just four and a half. Half the SATs last year. Why aren't people saving stalls. They psychology as well. Tomorrow everything is going to cost me more than inflation's I cause I better buy now to heck with saving because if I put my money in a bank at 5 and a half and inflation is at those I 13 percent of what profit that I have to pay tax. Still some people are managing to put money aside money market investments short term high interest accounts are willing savers away from their savings banks the banks are counted with free gifts retirement accounts and checking accounts with interest but overall there has been a gradual erosion of funds in savings accounts like private citizens for finding it harder to make money in 1980 and when banks have a difficult time it affects the entire economy. 19 anyone is going to be a very bad year for housing. Not only nationally but also for New Jersey. I would say an average group here
for New Jersey housing is maybe 14000 starts. I would wager that there will be less than half that this year. The three business is the main supplier. Of funds for housing. Eighty five percent of the mortgage loans are made by the business in this company. And so when we stop lending housing collapses. Today's high interest rates are a result of the government's program to try to bring inflation under control by tightening the money supply. Federal Reserve Board had Paul Volcker raise the rate for money which banks borrow from the reserve by one point in October of one thousand seventy nine. Another point in February of this year and the third one point raise is expected and the purpose of chairman's author obviously is to create such a restriction inflation will come then and then when inflation comes down we should retire hopefully to normalcy and back to normal rates. That's his that's his idea.
O'Brien is now more optimistic about the plan. And a meeting last month with Valcke O'Brien and five of the bankers from across the country expressed fears that the Federal Reserve money tightening program would deal a hard blow to the free dentist. O'Brien says Beauclerk told him that thrift and the auto and housing industries would have to suffer if the Fed's plan were to work. O'Brien says he feels Bowker expects savings banks to be the administration's sacrificial lamb to a healthier economy. It hasn't run. Yet. And unfortunately the. Roof. And housing say the economy has taken the hardest punch in this right place. I'm moving so the one thing that. Our sector has taken such a hard question that. The buying public has had to suffer some commission to be arche agree saying the profitability of a bank is secondary at three primary obligation is to meet the needs of the public about the remember our institutions and I tried it just to make and to keep themselves afloat.
Right. To convenience. Hope to continue our own. And in the situations that we are experiencing today. They are unable. To perform that. Obligation placed upon those savings bank problems and nationwide both O'Brian and beyond. You feel confident that New Jersey for us are in better shape than most other states. They cite state laws which permit threats here to make a greater variety of loans for example. Unlike other states thrifts here can offer installment and home improvement loans. Moreover New Jersey thrifts are able to expand into the suburbs almost without restriction. In some cases this mobility has helped troubled urban banks to acquire a broader base of the positives. Finally beyond He claims that state laws prohibiting out of state banks from operating here helps keep New Jersey banks profitable. However both men also say that progressive state laws can only do so much that ultimately federal regulations will determine the future of New Jersey thrifts. The bill signed today by President Carter could prove in the long run
to be a first step in that direction Carol. Thank you Gus once again our top story New Jerseyans are gearing up for a possible New York City transit strike. Information on major commuter lines can be obtained by calling the following numbers Conrail trains 800 2 4 2 0 2 1 2. PATH trains at 2 0 1 0 4 3 4 60 100 and transit of New Jersey buses. Eight hundred seven seven to twenty to twenty two. And that's the nose for Gus Henning Bergen New York and Bill Perry here in Trenton. I'm Karen Stone. Good night for the New Jersey nightly news. And.
