December 23, 1974

Palestinian guerrillas, taking responsibility for grenade attack on bus carrying Amer tourists in Israel, warn foreigners to stay away from Holy City; illus; map (S)

NYC Educ Bd, at request of Bronx Dist Atty Mario Merola, has revived dormant '73 audit of Edu-Force Inc, now-defunct computerized educ services co that did nearly $1.5-million worth of business with Bronx school Dists 12 and 9; Dr Edythe J Gaines, supt of Dist 12 at time of contract awards, was sister of late Frederick D Jones, who headed co at time; she welcomes completion of audit, denying any impropriety; says NYS Educ Dept and NYC Educ Bd approved $383,500 Dist 12 contract for computerized math program in '70-71 and '71-72 school yrs in knowledge that Jones was her bro; Deputy School Chancellor Bernard R Gifford says on Dec 22 that '73 audit was never completed because of difficulty in securing certain data about Edu-Force; stresses that Gaines was very cooperative; was asked by Chancellor Irving Anker to reopen audit because of Merola lr to Anker aide Dr Daniel Schreiber questioning Gaines' role, lack of competing bids, other matters; Merola says on Dec 22 that he asked for audit because matter is serious and unfinished, not because of any new information; says he has found no evidence indicating she did anything immoral or illegal; '73 audit by NYS Controller Arthur Levitt's office noted that no other contractors were asked to submit proposals and that there was no data in files to show reasonableness of contract price; Edu-Force was associated for a while in Dist 9 in program with Behavorial Research Laboratories, which was recently suspended by Anker from all dealings with dist, pending probe of suspected improprieties; Gaines' son Richard took over as pres of Edu-Force after his uncle's death (M)

Former Fed Reserve Bd member Andrew F Brimmer says he proposed to Pres Ford and Cong leaders a quick, one-time-only $13-billion stimulus for econ through 10% reduction in Fed income taxes due in Apr '75, int; under proposal, everyone's tax liability on '74 income would be reduced by 10%, regardless of amt that was withheld; example noted; plan would mean that taxpayers as whole would have $13.2-billion more to spend; under present law, refunds are estimated at $18-billion, and plan will increase this amt to more than $31-billion; Brimmer notes advantages of plan; in related development, Cong Joint Econ Com unanimously recommends $10- to $12-billion tax reduction 'immediately to check recession; in another development, former Council of Econ Advisers chmn Walter W Heller recommends $15- to $20-billion tax cut, int on NBC-TV program Meet the Press; says tax cut should be primarily for individuals but should also include 'boost' in investment credit for corps (M)

Article by Hedrick Smith, after 3 yrs as chief of NY Times Moscow bur, tracing how Soviet leaders have been able to achieve pol and econ benefits of detente without giving up their strict controls of Soviet soc (L)

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