Week of March 21, 1983

More than 300 Palestinian schoolgirls are hospitalized for nausea and dizziness

caused by a mysterious poison gas that struck three high schools in the Israeli-

occupied West Bank of the Jordan River.

A crowd described as hostile forces former Vice President Walter F. Mondale

and democratic mayoral candidate Harold Washington to abruptly cut short a visit

to a Palm Sunday church service in Chicago. The crowd of about 150 persons

was mostly white.

The Israeli Parliament elects Chaim Herzog , the

candidate of the opposition labor party to the largely

ceremonial post of president of Israel. It’s a stunning

parliamentary defeat form Prime Minister Menachem

Begin, who is said to be shocked by the vote for

Herzog as President.

President Regan nominates Bill Ruckelshaus as EPA

administrator.

Medical - At University of Utah Medical Center -

Barney Clark dies some 112 days after becoming the

first recipient of a permanently implanted artificial heart.

In vitro fertilization - The United States’ first “test-tube” twins - a boy and a girl -

are born at North shore University Hospital on Long Island, New York. Her name

is Heather Jane and the boy is Todd. Both weighed over 7 pounds.

Braniff Airways says that it has agreed in

principle to sell 20 of its grounded 727

jetliners for $80 million to People Express

airlines - a 2-year-old airliner serving the

Northeast and Florida. Braniff is in

bankruptcy protection and now says it

plans to submit a reorganization plan

calling for the sale or lease of its aircraft

and related engines and spare parts.

Looks like “E.T.” the video game is doing poorly in sales. It has been on the

market since the holiday season and a New York analyst reports that $40 million

Week of March 21, 1983

to $50 million worth of E.T. video game cartridges are gathering dust in

distributors’ warehouses.

Entertainment News -

Woody Allen files suit claiming that last December, the USA Cable Network

broadcast an unauthorized interview with him. Allen charges that USA presented

the interview - conducted in Toronto last summer to its national audience despite

an oral agreement that the interview would not be shown in the U.S.

Music news -

Motown’s 25 th anniversary concert - an incredible assemblage of talent is held at

the Pasadena (CA) Civic Auditorium. Performing - Michael and all the Jacksons,

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and others. The

show will be broadcast by NBC in May.

Let’s face it, when it comes to the Culture Club, Boy

George is the one everyone’s interested in. About his half

masculine/half feminine unique look, the soulful singer

says - “It’s important to me as a person. It makes me feel

good. I’ve gotten

things I want

being this way.

I’ve been to great

parties. I’ve met

lots of interesting people. Looking like

this makes some people want to know

me.”

Television news - The first

installment of ABC’s “The Thorn Birds

beat the opening episode of “The

Winds of war,” the most watched

miniseries of all time. “The Thorn Birds”

runs for a total of 10 hours. But wait,

McDonalds has advised its franchise

holders not to advertise in connection

with “The Thorn Birds” unless their

spots are placed early in the program

before the Roman Catholic priest

portrayed by Richard Chamberlain

breaks his vow of chastity.